927 8 Ways to Be Calm and Prepared During Crisis

This is a special 5 minute Friday about the 8 ways to be calm and prepared during a crisis, specifically the pandemic we are facing now known as the Coronavirus. We discuss things like how to have compassion for people, how to simplify, and how to keep your mind healthy and strong while others around you may be in a panic. Get more from Lewis! Get my New York Times Bestselling book, Make Money Easy! Get The Greatness Mindset audiobook on SpotifyText Lewis AIYouTubeInstagramWebsiteTiktokFacebookX

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Lewis Howes?

  This is episode number 927, 8 Ways to Be Calm in Moments of Crisis. We are foregoing the 5 Minute Friday format right now in order to really educate people on what's happening in the world right now. There's been a lot of news, there's been a lot of stress, fear, concern, chaos happening, especially in the last few days, typically, all on this coronavirus information. And in this episode, we wanted to do a special coffee conversation where me and Matt Cesaratto get together and break down the facts from what the CDC is saying on their website

• 0:41Lewis Howes?

  on health habits for your home, for your family, for your school, for your work. We also want to talk about how to be a leader in your life, in your relationships, at home and at work. And really, again, these 8 ways to stay calm emotionally, how to set yourself up and be prepared, how to have compassion for people, how to really have an abundance mindset and live like a leader during times of chaos. So we hope you enjoy this episode. Please subscribe, please share this with your friends, get the message out to help people be prepared during these times of crisis in the world. And let's dive in to this coffee conversation.

• 1:27Speaker 01

  See you, Los Angeles emergency hotline.

• 1:45Lewis Howes?

  We are rolling, and right as we started rolling this coffee conversation, the phone rang. And I said, "Why is the phone ringing?" And it just had a voice message to, what, everyone? Did that go out to the whole world?

• 1:56Speaker 01

  City, Los Angeles, this was our landline.

• 1:59Lewis Howes?

  City, Los Angeles landline, just came out to us. And it essentially said everything we're about to say on this episode.

• 2:06Speaker 01

  Incredible.

• 2:07Lewis Howes?

  Of the notes we have, of what we're talking about. This is really, in my opinion, 8 Ways to Be Calm and Prepared During Chaos.

• 2:16Lewis Howes?

  And the coronavirus. So this is what we're talking about. In the last 48 hours, it's been crazy what has, how much fear has come up in people's minds. And I'm not saying you shouldn't be concerned, you shouldn't be prepared, you shouldn't be worried about the coronavirus. But in this coffee conversation, me and Caesar, cheers.

• 2:37Speaker 01

  Cheers.

• 2:37Lewis Howes?

  Cheers to coffee conversation in the new studio. We are going to be talking about these different eight things that we came up with on how to really be calm. And also, Matt's going to break down what is on the government's websites.

• 2:52Speaker 01

  CDC.

• 2:53Lewis Howes?

  CDC of exactly what you need to know and you should be concerned about so that you don't get the virus. And here's what I'll start with. You cannot control what happens in your world or in your life, but you can control how you respond to every situation, to every event, to every experience, to what people say, what people do, attacks that happen, all this stuff. You can't control what other people do, but you can control how you react. And I think that's what I want to come across today. So the first, Matt, Caesar is going to break down a few of the practical things that you need to be aware of in your life, in your work, in your house, with your schools,

• 3:33Lewis Howes?

  so that you are protected, prepared, and aligned to being safe. That's what it's all about. Then what I'm going to do is I'm going to break down these eight different ways that you can be emotionally safe, mentally and spiritually safe and aware, so that you're prepared in your inner world. So Matt's going to talk about the outer world of how to respond to the situation. We're going to talk about the inner world next. So what are some things that we can do?

• 4:00Speaker 01

  Again, this is coming from the CDC's website.

• 4:02Lewis Howes?

  Yes.

• 4:03Speaker 01

  Easily found on a Google search or just go to CDC's website. And ultimately, this just tells you how to keep your home safe, keep your workplace safe, keep safe at school. Obviously, a lot of people are, a lot of states, a lot of counties are shutting down schools, universities.

• 4:22Lewis Howes?

  In Ohio, we just got word that schools are getting shut down for three weeks minimum.

• 4:25Speaker 01

  Incredible.

• 4:26Lewis Howes?

  We just saw today that was the NBA shut down, MLS, hockey, baseball.

• 4:33Lewis Howes?

  NCAA, like every major sporting event is being canceled.

• 4:36Speaker 01

  All major events. South by Southwest.

• 4:40Lewis Howes?

  Expo West, all, on the last 24 hours, people, it wasn't until yesterday when people really started to freak out. And I'm not saying people shouldn't be canceling all these things, they should be, so things don't spread. And I don't have all the data and facts on this, on if things should be canceled, but I think it's smart, because we never know who has the virus and who could spread it in a public setting. So I think it's smart that they're canceling all these things. And I don't want to cut you off, because I'm going to talk about this in a second, but what are, what do we, can we do to make sure that we're protecting ourselves?

• 5:11Speaker 01

  Absolutely. I think this is important. Uh, just inform yourself. It's just, these are very simple habits that the CDC is reinforcing, that it's just normal, like, so you don't catch the flu or any other sickness.

• 5:23Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 5:24Speaker 01

  It's just the normal habits that people kind of forget about and neglect over time. I mean, even myself, it's like, you don't even realize, just washing your hands a couple more times a day. Not rubbing your eyes, so I guess.

• 5:35Lewis Howes?

  All the time, yeah.

• 5:36Speaker 01

  That, I mean, it's a hard.

• 5:37Lewis Howes?

  My hands on my face, sitting here all day long, like.

• 5:39Speaker 01

  I know. I, I do that right, you know, you grab your mouth, you know? You just scratch your nose, and you don't even realize, like, that's the way that anything you've touched across.

• 5:48Lewis Howes?

  Well, I think if you have hand sanitation a, an access, and you're putting it on throughout the day, if you touch someone or something and you put it on, then you, you're okay to touch yourself, but.

• 5:58Speaker 01

  And that's, that's number one on their list. Clean hands, uh, you know, every time, you can think about it, pretty much. When you're touching door handles, when you're going out in public places. If you can clean them regularly, that's like number one on what they're saying to do, uh, to keep your home safe. Create habits, reminders to avoid touching your face. Cover your cough, cover your sneezes. Disinfect surfaces like doorknobs, tables, handrails regularly.

• 6:27Lewis Howes?

  Money, wallets.

• 6:28Speaker 01

  You're touching your wallet, just think of the money that's passing person to person.

• 6:32Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 6:32Speaker 01

  And that's, that's where your mind kind of gets carried away, because, I mean, recently now, now that your family's calling you, friends are calling you. I'm getting text messages saying, be safe. It's like. I think in those moments, it's just kind of like, things are like hitting critical mass right now. And I think we just need to take a deep breath and just kind of simplify the process. So, again, increase ventilation by opening windows, adjust air conditioning. And then it goes on to say, if you're in a household that's vulnerable for seniors, there's some, you know, significant underlying conditions that include health, lungs, kidney disease, diabetes, and conditions that suppress the immune system.

• 7:16Speaker 01

  So have healthy people in the household conduct themselves as if they're, were significant risk to the person with underlying conditions. So just be more conscious and aware of the things you're doing every day. Those are the little things. So you can be a, you know, remember, it's like be a buddy, like be a good friend. Right. Be a leader. And if you're someone who is healthy, like, don't neglect that other people around you have, you know, lesser immune systems. So it's saying, wash hands more frequently before interacting with someone who's, you know, has a compromised immune system. You know, especially if you're feeding or caring for that person.

• 7:56Speaker 01

  If possible, provide a perfect, I'm sorry, protected space for vulnerable household members, like quarantine them. You know, last time I was sick, you know, in January, it's Kendra just, she like creates this like sick area on the couch and I just stayed there. It's covered with sheets. Right. And you literally quarantine yourself. So, let's see, ensure that utensils and services are clean regularly, like just the normal stuff. Just try to be more clean in your actions. Yes. And then it says, households with sick family members, you know, if you already are sick, give them their own room if possible, keep the doors closed, have only one family member care for them at a time, you know, not to infect. Yeah, smart.

• 8:41Speaker 01

  Consider providing additional protections and more intensive care for household members that are over 65 years old with underlying conditions. So, this is coming again from the CDC's website. It's important practice. Same thing, it's really a reprise of the same things when you're talking about your commercial establishments. It talks about if you're at work or you travel a lot. I'd say right now you see that, you know, we're cutting down travel internationally as a country, so.

• 9:14Speaker 01

  Let's see, it says avoid crowd, you know, major crowds. Use online transactions wherever possible, like cha-ching Amazon, you know what I'm saying? Walmart.com, I don't mean to, you know, promote one or the other, but. It says, consider limiting attendance to large gatherings. You were supposed to go to LA Galaxy.

• 9:34Lewis Howes?

  LAFC Soccer Game Tonight, they canceled this morning and all MLS games for the season.

• 9:40Speaker 01

  That's crazy. So again, it's just these little habits for transportation. You know, when using buses, taxis, it says, keep windows closed when possible when you're traveling in your car.

• 9:53Lewis Howes?

  Keep it closed, why is that?

• 9:55Speaker 01

  I'm sorry, keep windows open.

• 9:56Lewis Howes?

  I was gonna say.

• 9:57Speaker 01

  Good call. My apologies, yes. Increase ventilation, not decrease ventilation. And then disinfect services. Let's see what else we got here. Obviously with food, limit food sharing. Let's see.

• 10:12Lewis Howes?

  A lot of people are saying cook at home more.

• 10:15Speaker 01

  For your kids at school, it's saying, you know, limit food sharing, you know, don't share your stuff in the lunchbox if your kids are still in school. Strengthen health screening for the cafeteria staff. And their close contacts, ensure cafeteria staff and their close contacts, practice strict hygiene. If you're feeling sick, stay home. Don't send your kid to school sick.

• 10:39Lewis Howes?

  Don't go to work, don't go to school.

• 10:41Speaker 01

  Don't go to work. You know, your mom was sick, you know, just recently this week and I talked to her, I was like, just stay home, just, you know.

• 10:46Lewis Howes?

  You know what's crazy? She sent a photo, I think she sent it to both of us.

• 10:49Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah.

• 10:50Lewis Howes?

  Where she went to the urgent care and it said, if you're feeling these symptoms, do not come in.

• 10:54Speaker 01

  That was incredible.

• 10:55Lewis Howes?

  It said, call this number, said, do not come into the urgent care if you think you might have coronavirus.

• 11:01Speaker 01

  Talk about something that would terrify you if you saw that. You're sick, you really need help, and they're saying, don't come in.

• 11:07Lewis Howes?

  It's crazy. So here's, here's some things. I literally was just going to, Dr. Oz had a post on Instagram today that I saw. That was sharing about the symptoms. If you're having these symptoms, you might have coronavirus. I just clicked on the post. And it literally sent me to this that says, "Looking for coronavirus info." And it's telling you where to go. Even on social media now, they're trying to help people. Anything with a hashtag, they're saying, "Go to cdc.gov." See posts. They're gonna have the most up-to-date stuff. So, this is what's information that's out right now. But if you go to cdc.gov, it's going to give you more up-to-date stuff. So I would go there first.

• 11:46Speaker 01

  That's the thing, keep it simple. I mean, here's the other thing. People are gonna be sharing their own places to go get information. You have so many news outlets sharing information about statistically what's going on. Obviously, it gets a little overwhelming for me. It's like, there's so much news happening right now. I just figured, go to the CDC and make sure...

• 12:05Lewis Howes?

  They have everything there.

• 12:07Speaker 01

  It's just an easy way.

• 12:08Lewis Howes?

  And don't read into media. Read into the facts the CDC has of the day. There's four common symptoms of the coronavirus that are different than the common cold and the flu, which is what I saw from Dr. Oz's post. The fever is common. A cough is common, but it's usually dry. Fatigue is common. Those are the three main common things. And sometimes, there's shortness of breath. So those are the kind of symptoms you're gonna face if you think you have the coronavirus now.

• 12:40Speaker 01

  And just to finish this up. So we talked about to keep safe at home. What to do if you've got, you know, older seniors at home or sick people at home. Keeping the workplace safe, that's the last thing we wanted to talk about. Stop handshaking. So this is funny because...

• 12:57Lewis Howes?

  We did a foot shake this morning.

• 12:59Speaker 01

  Right, right. We had a couple of interviews today and it's like, "Hey, how you doing?"

• 13:02Lewis Howes?

  Exactly. Are we supposed to hug? Are we supposed to handshake? Are we supposed to elbow shake? There was a guy in the elevator I'd give a foot handshake to. He just like... Tap each other's foots.

• 13:13Speaker 01

  Who was in last week? You got, I mean, we got fist pumps.

• 13:15Lewis Howes?

  Damon John, when he was like, "Ah, I don't know what's going on."

• 13:18Speaker 01

  Right, so.

• 13:19Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, so just be careful of these things.

• 13:21Speaker 01

  Clean your hands, I'm just going through disinfecting, I mean, we've got Purell in the office, a massive tub.

• 13:27Lewis Howes?

  Spraying it every thirty minutes.

• 13:29Speaker 01

  Exactly, be careful with meetings and travel, so, obviously, I mean, my brother works at Amazon. Amazon completely like closed their offices, from what I heard, and you can read that online, Twitter, same thing. So, I was reading online, it's like, I mean, you're gonna get used to video conferencing. It's funny, we only have video conferencing because we basically had your home studio before, and now we have an office.

• 13:52Lewis Howes?

  And we're all coming to the office still.

• 13:54Speaker 01

  So, we're still coming, I mean, here's the thing, just don't come in sick, you know?

• 13:58Lewis Howes?

  That's it.

• 13:59Speaker 01

  Be a smart contributor, wash your hands regularly.

• 14:02Lewis Howes?

  Don't sneeze on each other.

• 14:04Speaker 01

  Right, exactly, don't cough, don't sneeze, just cover that stuff. So, again, limited food sharing, and the last piece was, stay at home if you're feeling sick. And if they have a sick family member at home, you should also consider not coming in because you may have an incubation period sickness that would come out in the air too.

• 14:23Lewis Howes?

  That's it, we're seeing, you know, again, this is going to get, in my mind, it's gonna get worse in terms of media and fear hype. Then it's gonna be, you know, sooner than later, it's gonna get worse. And here's my thoughts, literally, last night was the first night it was like getting bad. And I'm here doing interviews yesterday, and Jeanette, my girlfriend, is FaceTiming me every twenty minutes when she saw something in the media. "Oh my gosh, Tom Hanks has it now, oh my gosh, the president says you can't travel to Europe for thirty days, oh my gosh." She's like, every twenty minutes she FaceTime me, and I'm like, babe, relax, breathe, you're gonna get sick just thinking about this.

• 15:06Speaker 01

  Yeah, create that disease in yourself.

• 15:07Lewis Howes?

  She created the disease in herself, and literally, I get home, and she's still obsessing over this conversation in the media. And I say, listen, it's okay to be concerned and be prepared and have worry for friends and check in, all these things are good. What's not okay is, we react with a lot of fight or flight, fear, stress, anxiety, worry, because that's not gonna help us get prepared for what's to come. Whether more bad things happen, or this ends tomorrow.

• 15:39Lewis Howes?

  And literally, this happens for a couple hours, we order food. She has a little bit of soup. She doesn't eat anything solid. She's just drinking soup. And right away she goes, oh, my stomach is hurting me. I'm like, what is going on? Did you eat something? I have a little taste of it. Everything's fine. And for three hours, she's in like fetal position cramped mode, like she's on her period essentially feeling. And I'm like relaxing, trying to calm her. And it's fine a few hours later. She goes to bed, fine, everything. But I go, you literally just created so much stress in your mind and your body where you made your stomach sick.

• 16:15Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah.

• 16:17Lewis Howes?

  And it was just like, we need to be prepared. And we're talking with these eight things you can do to be calm, prepared during type of chaos in your life, whether it's coronavirus or any traumatic experience happening, or any media frenzy or fear, whether it's real or not real.

• 16:34Speaker 01

  What's the way that you, if you're in a situation or you're stressed or something's happening for you personally, and you feel it coming to a culmination and you don't know what to do in that moment, what's your go to?

• 16:45Lewis Howes?

  Last night, I was just like, there's, I've done so much practice, me and Tip were talking about this today. Last night, I was just like, there's nothing to worry about. There's things to be concerned about. There's nothing to worry about because worry does not do anything good for you or anyone else around you. It causes more stress, more anxiety, more pain, more disease when you worry. And worrying about something that hasn't happened yet is a great crime for yourself because it's distracting you from your vision. It's distracting you from being in a loving environment. It's distracting you from giving to your friends and family. It's distracting you from your dreams, your goals, your routines, all these things of keeping you healthy. So worry is a crime. It's.

• 17:29Lewis Howes?

  It's necessary to be prepared, be educated, be concerned, be ready. All those different things is great. But you can't be prepared and ready if you're worried at the same time. It's really hard, I think. If you're coming from a fight or flight, ah, freaking out, you're always like, what's going on? What's going on? And so that's why when I got home last night, I was just like hugging Jeanette. I was just like, it's all gonna be okay. You know, let's be prepared. Let's get educated, let's be concerned, but let's not worry. Because that's not gonna do anything for us right now. And the more you worry, the more you become, um, your immune system gets weaker when you have stress in your mind and your heart.

• 18:14Lewis Howes?

  And that's going to be susceptible to getting a disease.

• 18:17Speaker 01

  Of course.

• 18:17Lewis Howes?

  Getting a virus, a cold, whatever. So you want to keep your immune system strong. So here are the eight ways to be calm and prepared during chaos in your life. The first one is, something to consider is defensiveness and denial. Now, I'll be the first one to admit, a few days ago, before all this craziness in the media came out, I was like, this is not gonna be a big deal. People are blowing this out of proportion. I was probably a little bit, um, less considerate to not having the full picture on what's happening. I was like, this is not a big deal. It's not gonna affect me, my life, whatever, right? And I was in a little bit of denial, which was not the best thing to do.

• 18:59Lewis Howes?

  So don't get defensive or be in denial.

• 19:04Lewis Howes?

  And don't downplay the situation.

• 19:06Speaker 01

  Don't poo-poo somebody who's, listen, here's the thing. I think people immediately, their knee-jerk reaction if they hear somebody overly buying goods or, you know, I mean, my wife went to Target today and she's like, all the paper goods are gone.

• 19:19Lewis Howes?

  She said, the photo, there was no paper goods on the rack.

• 19:22Speaker 01

  My daughter Bella, she's in the little cart and there's like nothing on the shelves. It's almost like post-apocalyptic. So obviously, there is concern, but I think for some people, they're like, oh my gosh, these doomsdayers, these people who are overly preparing, calm down, and they get defensive and they live in denial. And they, they almost create this false sense of security for themselves instead of doing the right thing, which is just educate yourself. Take positive committed action to preparing yourself, right? So, I mean, I agree. I think that's a good one.

• 19:52Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, and this is a serious, you know, it's a serious situation for other people. Even if this is not personally affecting you, or not personally connected to someone you know or a friend of yours, um, who's maybe not impacted by it, doesn't mean it's not real. And people and businesses are being impacted by it. So, not being denial about it and having compassion around it, that's number two. The second point is to have compassion for people. So, you know, again, my girlfriend was like, last night, she was like, "I'm gonna be in fear tonight, let me be in fear, and tomorrow I'm gonna go back to normal life. I'm gonna go back to school, to class, she's doing English right now. She's like, I'm gonna go back to the gym, my routine, but I just need a moment to be in fear."

• 20:35Lewis Howes?

  And I said, "Okay, like, stress, look at the news, be frantic, and then, let's move on." You know what I mean? Let's be prepared now. And so have compassion for people, don't play into the fear, but beware of your behavior in times of chaos. I think what can you do when someone else is fearful? Don't make them wrong.

• 20:56Speaker 01

  Right. Don't try to fix them in that moment. Let them have.

• 20:59Lewis Howes?

  Let them have their.

• 21:00Speaker 01

  Tell them you're there for them. And be, just listen, like, at some times when people are going off, they're going off the deep end.

• 21:06Lewis Howes?

  Deep.

• 21:07Speaker 01

  They just need someone to listen to them and hear them out. That is like a basic human instinct for people.

• 21:12Lewis Howes?

  So, don't try to avoid the situation, don't try to deflect it. Listen, like you said, I think it's great, and check in on family and friends. My family was texting, a group text today, I'm sure your family was too.

• 21:23Speaker 01

  Friends, family, yeah.

• 21:24Lewis Howes?

  "Hey, schools are being closed, hey, how's it going in LA? Here's what's happening in Ohio, you know, so we're getting on that." So, I think check in with friends and family and don't make people wrong for their experience, what they're feeling, be a support, be a compassion for them. And the best thing you can do is help people calm their nerves. Help people calm their nerves because it's hard to be creative in chaos. It's hard to be calm when you're, uh, high stress. So.

• 21:55Lewis Howes?

  Do your best to listen and show peace. If you are the steady ship, when the waves are crashing, then people are gonna wanna jump on your ship and be, feel comfortable and relaxed around you. So be a leader in this experience, not someone who just follows the crowd of being scared and nervous all the time.

• 22:13Speaker 01

  That's it.

• 22:15Lewis Howes?

  And I think, uh, supporting your local businesses. People are really gonna be hurting for a while. We have friends who are big time speakers, who all their speaking gigs have been canceled for the next six months. If they're in the event business, every event is being canceled. Comedians, speakers, magicians, canceled, everything. And that's people's livelihoods.

• 22:38Speaker 01

  Sure.

• 22:38Lewis Howes?

  So having compassion for people. Local businesses are suffering. People aren't gonna be going out for maybe, maybe it's a week, maybe it's a month, maybe it's, who knows how long. So make sure you support the people in your life and have compassion for them.

• 22:52Speaker 01

  Be kind, just honestly, just be kind to people in times of crisis. Because a lot of times, we're isolating ourselves, obviously, based on healthy habits, trying to stay out of crowds and things like that. But it doesn't mean you can't be kind to people. It's like, let's be human to each other and see if someone needs support or needs help. So again, I think in that moment, just reach out to family members you haven't heard from. Just check in on them, ask them if there's anything you can do for them, you know?

• 23:16Lewis Howes?

  That's it. Just be a support.

• 23:17Speaker 01

  That's it.

• 23:18Lewis Howes?

  Emotional support. The third thing is to reduce your exposure. You talked about this in here, staying at home, not trying to go to big public gatherings. This is a, this is just a wise mindset thing. Part of me is like, I wanna go to my workout classes, I wanna go to the gym. And the gyms are still full, from what I'm seeing online. But it's like, just be smart. If you're gonna do it, be aware of the,

• 23:41Lewis Howes?

  the challenges you might face, be aware that there's gonna be people there and you might pick something up. Make sure you bring, wear gloves, sanitize, all the equipment is being touched by lots of people. Just be aware of that. And reduce the exposure as much as possible. That's just what I would say.

• 23:55Speaker 01

  You're talking about workout classes. I mean, we, we went Barry's Boot Camp like a ton last year. And, yeah, we did that thirty days in a row.

• 24:01Lewis Howes?

  People are sweating.

• 24:02Speaker 01

  Can I tell you, there was one time, so you do the transition, and I got off the treadmill and I didn't wipe, wipe it down fully or completely. And the person literally like confronted me and honestly, it was like,

• 24:11Lewis Howes?

  Hey man, wipe this down.

• 24:12Speaker 01

  It was like a negative way, like they attacked me and I was like, oh, my apologies, like I'm sorry. And in that moment, I was like, wow, I need to like do a better job, especially if I'm. Pissing somebody off.

• 24:23Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, exactly.

• 24:23Speaker 01

  Because, you know, obviously they're using that. So I think in those moments, just being smarter and also knowing that a lot of times you can't help what other people are gonna do. Only person you can be in ownership of is yourself. So be a leader, be a stand for being better. Yeah.

• 24:39Lewis Howes?

  I love this. Okay, number four is keep life simple and clean. So for the last two months, my girlfriend moved in. We've had more things we've been collecting. I've been getting more clothes, you know, sponsors send gifts and products and all these different things. And I keep looking at my closet saying, I want to clean this out. I want to clean this out. I've got all these things that I'll never wear. I need to clean this out. And now this weekend, it's like, I'm gonna do a spring cleaning now. Like, it's time to clean out your space. Throw away the old, use only what you want to use moving forward. Get rid of stuff that doesn't support you. Throw out the trash, throw out the excess stuff that's in the corner of your apartment, whatever it is. Get back to whatever name is Maria condo, you know.

• 25:23Lewis Howes?

  Just clean and organize your, your space, your living space and create, make, make your life simple. I'm talking about your, your physical space, your financial space. Go in your bank accounts and make sure, am I organized with my, my bank accounts? Am I setting things up on auto pay for my investments, whatever it is? Am I paying off my credit cards? Or are things piling up in my financial space, my physical space, emotional space? I say get back to your simple routines.

• 25:55Speaker 01

  Yeah. In times of crisis or chaos, try to simplify and organize to the best of your ability. Otherwise, it's going to be a compounding effect on you.

• 26:03Lewis Howes?

  More chaos. So clean your environment, clean your space, your financial space, your relationship space. Conversations you need to have, all that stuff is important. You don't need to do it all at once, but start thinking about it and taking steps. Also create a very, get back to a very powerful morning routine and evening routine. The more calm you can create, the more routine you can create, the better. Stay, stay on track on being productive. Don't allow yourself to be overwhelmed and consumed with the media hype and the fear that other people might have. Be a leader by, by keeping life simple and clean. Check in how much you're spending, what are your habits, self-care, all these different things. Make sure you're taking care of that. Number five, prepare for the worst. Now.

• 26:49Lewis Howes?

  I'm not the type of guy who's gonna go shop out of Target and have my whole place stocked with toilet paper. That's not who I am.

• 26:56Speaker 01

  You're gonna call me if the apocalypse comes.

• 26:57Lewis Howes?

  I'm gonna call you, cuz your dad and your wife and you are gonna be prepared for the worst. Now, I think, but I did tell my girlfriend because she's worried and concerned. I said, you know what? Let's go to Whole Foods tonight, or Target, or wherever we need to go. And let's buy some stuff that we're prepared for like the next month. Okay, like, so you feel safe, you feel protected, you feel like, okay, if something horrible happens, we're good for a month. Like, let's go do that. Cool, I'm down. So, that's what we're doing tonight. So, prepare for the worst. We always talk about this in sports. It's like you prepare for the worst.

• 27:30Speaker 01

  Expect the best.

• 27:31Lewis Howes?

  Expect the best, prepare for the worst. And I, we think about this as someone of greatness. It's like, okay, what if the lights go out? What if the slides go down? What if the video goes out? What if the audio goes out in this podcast? We're always thinking about what's the backup? What's the backup? And then what? And then what? How are you gonna handle any situation? So you wanna prepare for the worst. Here's the thing, we have no clue what's gonna happen in the stock market with prices of milk and eggs. I have no idea. Prices might go up. And you may be making less money right now. So, you've gotta figure out how to prepare and make sure you're ready for that. Don't wait till the last minute to buy something.

• 28:09Speaker 01

  And I think the best way to prepare sometimes is just take inventory. Take, I mean, some people go through life, they don't check the funds regularly. They don't know what they have, or, you know, they don't have, they don't know what they have in their closets, or rather, their pantries as far as food. Just make a list, you know? Prepare for it. Take a look at your bank accounts. See where you're at. Find out how many days, weeks, months you can live.

• 28:35Lewis Howes?

  Exactly.

• 28:35Speaker 01

  You know, just prepare in that way.

• 28:37Lewis Howes?

  And hopefully this will get you ready, once this is all over, cuz this will end someday. This will be all over at some point, just like swine flu was, just like, what was it Ebola? Or all these different things that happen every three, four years. Creates this big scare and then it's over. So, this will be over at some point. And so, number six is to hope for the best and prepare for the best as well. So, choose love, not fear. Continue to stand in love, not fear. Have a growth mindset in this time, even though you might be afraid. And you don't want to completely avoid the news because I'm the type of guy that doesn't like to watch anything in the news. You don't want to completely avoid it. You can check in on every couple of days or ask your friend what's really happening.

• 29:18Lewis Howes?

  But I would not sit there and obsess over because it's only going to feed you fear. So you keep watching. Cause they want to keep making money. Keep watching all the fear. So.

• 29:29Speaker 01

  But there has to be a healthy dose of information. You know, it's like not living in denial and going and diving into Netflix because you're working from home, right? Your office is closed.

• 29:37Lewis Howes?

  Exactly, right?

• 29:38Speaker 01

  You know?

• 29:39Lewis Howes?

  Yeah. So be prepared. Check out the CDC and just have that information there. So that's number six to, to, you know, hope for the best. Number seven is business as usual. We talked about this. Stay productive. Keep adding value to the world, whether that's to your friends and family checking in. But staying productive with your routines. It's easy to go down the rabbit hole of the world is ending. That's just not the case right now. The world is struggling and there's challenges in different parts of the world for sure. And people are dying and people are going through hard times. It is not ending. So don't get caught up in the media and panic. And here's something I will say, this is going to be one of the most important things that people hear.

• 30:22Lewis Howes?

  Is in this time, you want to find ways to keep income coming in. You want to find ways to find a side job if you need to, because businesses might shut down for a while. So you gotta get, this is a time for you to get creative, pick up a new skill. Learn editing for video, learn graphic design, learn communication, public speaking. Learn something that you can make money on the side in the future with. Learn a language, whatever it is, pick up a new skill. Because when, when things get like uncertain and you're not sure of the future. Skills is what's going to get you out of that in the future. When you have a talent that people are going to need to hire you for. So have a new skill.

• 31:04Lewis Howes?

  And as well, stay humble, stay humble during this situation. Now this is number eight. My, my opinion, probably the most important is to keep giving. It's hard to.

• 31:18Lewis Howes?

  Have an abundant mindset when you feel scarce. But that's when you need to think abundantly. With resources, time, energy, effort, love. If we can think and be abundant in a time of scarcity, that's where true richness lives in. So always keep giving.

• 31:38Speaker 01

  That's our humanity, man.

• 31:40Lewis Howes?

  That's it, man.

• 31:41Speaker 01

  That is our humanity.

• 31:41Lewis Howes?

  And it can be giving, just like saying hi to people. Again, the person who came in the elevator today, I was just like, he literally had a piece of paper and touched the button in the elevator. Cause he didn't want to touch the button with his finger. So he put the button here, the paper over the button and touched it through the paper. And I did it with my elbow on the button. And we just kind of laughed and I was just like, hey, man, like, I want to hug you, but let's give it a little foot five five, you know? And we just had like a moment of giving to each other. Like connection.

• 32:09Speaker 01

  Being human.

• 32:09Lewis Howes?

  Even in a moment of like fear maybe, right?

• 32:11Speaker 01

  Right.

• 32:12Lewis Howes?

  So keep giving, stay abundant. When you feel scarce, find ways to give more to people in those moments and it'll always come back to you. So those are the eight ways to be prepared, to be calm during chaos with all this coronavirus stuff. You gave some great stuff that was on the CDC's website. And what else? Again, you can't control what happens in the world or the events that happen or what people do, what people say. But you can always control how you respond to those situations. And I think that's what we need to remember. But what are you going to do as a dad and a husband with your family?

• 32:53Speaker 01

  We've been preparing for the last week, you know?

• 32:55Lewis Howes?

  Really?

• 32:55Speaker 01

  Yeah, oh yeah.

• 32:56Lewis Howes?

  You started a week ago. See, I'm just like, okay, let's go tonight and get this done.

• 32:59Speaker 01

  My brother works at Amazon, so he was like, oh man, I'm working from home now. So I knew, you know, things, you kind of understand things are starting to go in a direction of... I mean, obviously, it's a pandemic now, but you start realizing there are decisions you need to make for yourself to be protected, be safe. I've got the responsibility as a husband, a father, and even a leader of this team. I mean, we live in an office right here, and we're in closed quarters, and we're a small team, but we can still do the things, the simple things, put those into practice.

• 33:33Lewis Howes?

  Sanitize everything, yeah.

• 33:34Speaker 01

  Sanitize, wash your hands. It's just a little part that you can play for yourself and for everyone on this team, everyone around you, your family. So, we're also preparing with our paper goods, our canned goods, rice, things like that.

• 33:51Lewis Howes?

  How should we prepare as a business? And how should businesses be prepared? As the operator of the business, what are you thinking about in terms of team safety, in terms of financial safety as a business to keep going? Because it seems like a lot of businesses, I mean, all these NBA, NFL leagues are essentially going to lose billions, it seems like.

• 34:11Speaker 01

  Of course.

• 34:12Lewis Howes?

  Over the next few months, because they're not playing their games.

• 34:14Speaker 01

  Of course. It's going to be a lot of loss as far as revenue for businesses, absolutely billions of dollars.

• 34:23Lewis Howes?

  Stock market going down, and all these things.

• 34:25Speaker 01

  Airlines that aren't taking flights internationally right now. So, as a business, you just have to be smart and put into practice good financial habits, making sure that you do cut expenses that don't need to be had right now.

• 34:39Lewis Howes?

  That's good. Cut the fat.

• 34:41Speaker 01

  You know, make sure that you can hit your payroll, make sure that we can pay people. People are the most important part of any business, so taking care of our team, taking care of our people is always top of mind. Cutting expenses, like I said.

• 34:57Lewis Howes?

  What are the two or three things that we've done well to be prepared for this type of moment, maybe that we were planning for, not planning for, but we just did a good job and we were ready for it? And what are a couple of things that you're like, oh, had I known this was going to happen six months ago, I would have done this and this for our business by now?

• 35:17Speaker 01

  You know, at this point, I don't know that there's a, having the same information now as six months, I don't know that I would have done much differently. We're a media business, we're an online media business as well. We'll see what the impact is on advertising for our podcast. A lot of things are yet to be seen, but again, it's just... Beyond just also falling into scarcity and you know not getting too caught up in scarcity. Obviously, cutting expenses, making sure you can make the payments that you need to make. Figure out payment plans if you need to cut, you know, cut some payment out at any given time. And the other thing that is just, you know, like number seven, it's find a new skill.

• 36:01Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 36:02Speaker 01

  We can lean into other things as a business. We do have multiple revenue streams.

• 36:05Lewis Howes?

  Create something new, we can sell something new.

• 36:08Speaker 01

  There's undoubtedly an impact revenue wise and what this is doing for the entire world and our business. There is a direct impact that we can measure. And right now, it's just making sure that we don't get caught up in scarcity and we're still growing. We're living in abundance, like you said.

• 36:24Lewis Howes?

  Investing in people, yeah.

• 36:25Speaker 01

  Investing in people, realizing that this will pass and just being committed to the success of your organization, of your life, your family and doing it with love too. I mean, at the end of it, it's like we need to be kind and compassionate in times of crisis, in times of chaos. So.

• 36:46Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, and I think we're having fun. We had fun today. You know, Tiffany bought pizza for people.

• 36:50Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 36:51Lewis Howes?

  We kept it light, we had music on.

• 36:53Speaker 01

  We had a pizza party, you know, and we did it washing our hands and being safe and you know, but take inventory of where you're at, where you're at financially for your family. As businesses, take inventory of where you're at. What are your next monthly expenses that are coming out? Take a look right now at what's due in the next 30 days. What can you renegotiate if it's looking tight based on the expectation of limited or limiting income? So that's it.

• 37:24Lewis Howes?

  That's it.

• 37:24Speaker 01

  Just little habits.

• 37:26Lewis Howes?

  I love it. If you guys enjoyed this, leave a comment below on the YouTube channel. Share this with a friend. I think this is powerful information. Again, for me, it's about not reacting to events. It's responding and you get to choose how you want to respond in every situation. And they're all, you know, Chris Lee would coach and say that every event is a neutral event and we get to decide if we want to make it a bad or scary moment or a loving and learning moment.

• 37:55Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 37:56Lewis Howes?

  And again, it's not saying what's happening is not challenging and hurtful and scary for some people and their realities, but you get to control your own reality and give yourself the, the power to choose how to navigate through it all in a leadership role or in a scarcity limited role.

• 38:17Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 38:18Lewis Howes?

  And you're always going to be stronger emotionally, spiritually and physically. Your immune system is going to be stronger if you come from a place of clarity and love and chaos. And I think that's what's allowed me and I think you to be able to handle a moment like this, at least up to this point, is our sports background of being under pressure a lot of situations. You cannot perform well in a sporting event if you stress out in pressure. You just can't. That's when you have to slow your heart rate down, see the big picture, see the whole field. That's the only way you're going to perform well.

• 38:55Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 38:55Lewis Howes?

  So I'd say breathe every day, breathe a lot, slow your heart rate down.

• 39:00Speaker 01

  Yeah. Meditate.

• 39:01Lewis Howes?

  Meditate.

• 39:01Speaker 01

  Pray.

• 39:02Lewis Howes?

  Pray. Set an intention of how you want to show up this day, every single day when someone comes to you with, did you see this news? Did you see this? And they freak out. Tell yourself, when someone comes to me with this type of information, I'm going to choose to respond in calm because that's what's going to get us through it in a better way. If I respond in chaos, like this person is reacting to me, it's only going to cause more chaos.

• 39:27Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 39:28Lewis Howes?

  Don't be in denial about what they're saying. Don't shut them down.

• 39:33Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 39:34Lewis Howes?

  But respond with calm love.

• 39:36Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 39:36Lewis Howes?

  And supportiveness. So.

• 39:37Speaker 01

  We can be leaders in our community. We've got leaders in the world. We've got leaders at our government level, but as individuals, we can all be leaders in our homes, in our workplace, in our communities. And I think that's. I have to say, that's the beauty of moments like this. We really start to support each other. You see human beings lifting each other up, supporting each other, doing the smart things to get through a pandemic, a time of crisis, because that's what this is.

• 40:07Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 40:07Speaker 01

  And so.

• 40:08Lewis Howes?

  What's the difference between a pandemic and epidemic?

• 40:12Speaker 01

  Epidemic, I think, is just like small communities. You know, when it spreads in small communities or city. Pandemic is worldwide, so this is a worldwide.

• 40:22Lewis Howes?

  This is a pandemic.

• 40:23Speaker 01

  It's a pandemic, yeah.

• 40:24Lewis Howes?

  It's an epidemic and a pandemic.

• 40:27Speaker 01

  It's transition from epidemic to pandemic, from what I understand, yeah.

• 40:32Lewis Howes?

  So it's spreading worldwide, all right?

• 40:33Speaker 01

  It is.

• 40:34Lewis Howes?

  Coffee Conversations. Caesar, with the knowledge, the experience, appreciate you.

• 40:38Speaker 01

  Appreciate you.

• 40:41Lewis Howes?

  Thank you, gang, so much, guys, for listening to this Coffee Conversation. If you enjoyed it, please share it with a friend. You can text someone right now. You can post it on social media. You can tag me at Lewis Howes and subscribe over on the School of Greatness. Plus, leave us a review. We'd love to hear your thoughts on what this is and how this is helping you over on Apple Podcast review section. We really talked about the eight ways to be calm and prepared during a crisis of the coronavirus. We talked about really having compassion for people, reducing your exposure, healthy habits, keeping your life simple and clean, reorganizing your habits, cleaning out certain things that maybe has too much excess in your life, being prepared for the worst, hoping for the best,

• 41:25Lewis Howes?

  business as usual, developing new skills, and continuing to live with a giving heart. I hope you guys enjoyed this very much. Again, we want to help people have the best information possible to live a better life during any time of stress and worry. We hope you enjoyed this special Five Minute Friday turned into a Coffee Conversation for these times. Again, I love you so very much. I hope you know your loves. You know what time it is. It's time to go out there and do something great.