This article is written by Ramanuj Mukherjee, CEO, LawSikho.

Shakespeare wrote Macbeth while he was quarantined and Newton came up with his theory of calculus working quietly in self-isolation. 

In every difficult situation, there are some opportunities hidden, but it takes consistent work to be able to take advantage of those opportunities.

To most people, opportunities just look like daunting tasks. 

The opportunity right now is that you are likely to have a lot of time in your hand to work on yourself, on side projects, on business development, towards putting your business in order, to address important things that day-to-day busywork leaves no room to address.

For example, want to start your own law firm someday? But you don’t get time to think through how you are going to pull it off? 

Great, how about you sit down for a couple of hours and write down the vision, mission and a business plan for your law firm? 

Even if you think you are going to start it many years later, the act of putting your vision down in pen and paper itself is likely to fast forward the process. 

At LawSikho, mandatory work-from-home days have given us an opportunity to catch up on some very important aspects of our business that often get neglected. 

For instance, we are doubling down on building good coordination systems, speeding up the implementation of a visual project management tool called KanBan board, and focus on process rather than just results. The situation is forcing us to prioritize this, although we always knew that this was very important, and at the same time not as pressing or urgent as some other things. 

And now it is pressing too. 

Apart from this, we have taken the opportunity to organize lots of webinars, because our learners are at home and free to attend, while we have access to amazing resource persons who are now relatively free and available at home. So much so that they can participate in a webinar in the middle of the day if we invite them.

So we have decided to take this opportunity to rapidly grow our content repository. 

We are also speeding up the launch of our judiciary and government test prep course, which is called Lord of the Courses (for a very apt reason, and you can read why inside this link) because we know that physical coaching classes may have to be shut down for months and this is a great time for us to make what we are doing available to the students at large.

Look, the storm will pass and you will be standing here when it is all over.

The world by then is going to look quite different though. Are you preparing for what is to come? Are you taking full advantage of the situation so that you come ahead and on top of the situation when the dust settles?

I hope you are thinking this through, and that you develop a good strategy about this. It is going to be critical.

Lenin once said, about the Russian revolution, that sometimes nothing happens in decades, and then sometimes decades happen in weeks. 

These are the weeks ahead. Don’t take this lightly.

We are here to help as usual, with ideas about how you can make the best of even a terrible situation. We need people who would plan ahead and execute through thick and thin. 

We, in LawSikho, will do that anyway. If you are our kind of people, join us in this journey of turning the tides. We will make the world a better place because we will think ahead and invest in solutions that will not only change our own lives but that of those around us, including our clients, colleagues, and bosses. 

You are saving commute time – can you use it for self-development?

When I used to travel to work, it would take me around two hours to go to and come back from the office. These days, those two hours are not wasted inside the bus, playing 8 Ball Pool on my phone or looking at strange passengers every day.

I utilize it by doing yoga for an hour. And then, read a few pages from the Tools of Titans. 

So, how are you going to spend all the free time that you have on your hand? Here are a few tips for you.

Read a book. The more books you read, the more you get to know about yourself and the world. After all, books are concentrated sources of wisdom. A few books that have really helped shape my life are Think and Grow Rich, 7 Habits, Living The 80/20 Way, and Who Moved My Cheese.

Learn a new language. Spanish, French or Chinese—choose anyone you like and put a few minutes into learning it every day. It keeps your brain active and also exposes you to interesting foreign culture and literature. 

Pick up a new hobby. Hobbies are not only for recreation but also to help you grow physically, mentally and spiritually. Football, gardening, programming, dancing, singing—what fancies you? 

Start a new course. Always wished to join that 3-month online course but could not because of lack of time? Now, you do not have the excuse. Go for it.

Develop an exercise routine. Please, please don’t sit on your couch and watch movies on Netflix all day. Do some pushups or pullups, or rope skipping perhaps, every day. Make your body move. 

Write a letter to yourself. What surprises me is that most of us interact with lots of people every day but we never do it with our own selves. Write a letter asking what you really want, or what really bothers you, or discovering where you want to see yourself in a year or two. 

Speak with your Self. It has got a lot to say to you.

These are only a few though. Click here for a massive list of 365 self-improvement tips. 

But when we are talking about self-improvement, how can we not talk about business development, right? In my opinion, for an entrepreneur, it’s a part of his self-improvement even.

How can we do business development from home so we have more clients when the lock-down is lifted?

Yes, yes, I understand that you cannot meet with your clients over a cup of coffee anymore. But if you are really serious about growing your business, you WILL find a way (or, ways for that matter) I am sure.

Why not start with the following list?

Write articles for publications. If you have something to say on a particular topic related to your field, why not write about it? Publish it on your own blog, or better, submit it to be published on a third-party publication with high popularity.

Become active on social media. We are locked in our homes, which means we will spend more time on social media for networking with our friends and family. In other words, your prospective clients are on social media. What about you?

Go live on Facebook or Instagram. Are you camera-friendly? You can always use the world’s biggest social network—yes, Facebook serving 2.37 billion monthly active users—to your advantage. Instagram is arguably the 5th largest social media site in the world and over 200 million people visit business profiles on it at least once daily. 

Run webinars. Do like LawSikho rebels do—webinars every day! Your prospective clients still need your help. Reach out to them via online seminars. Just get Zoom (free) app and start recording.

Click Above

Do YouTube videos. If you are not comfortable with live videos, prepare a script and record a video instead. Submit it on YouTube and rinse and repeat for the next 30 days (or as long as this lockdown sustains). 

Reach out to industry experts and influencers. Talk to them, raise a few questions, and get noticed. Marketing is all about getting the attention of your target audience. Whether you do it online or offline, it does not matter.

However, whatever you choose to do, keep doing it consistently.

Great time to start working on that LLM  or MBA application

LLM and MBA applications normally start around the first week of August or September every year, and it’s only March now. 

So you have around five or six months in hand to prepare for the same.

What are you doing about it? How good are your preparations?

Have you already found out what the admission process at your favourite university is?

Tell me, are you really ready to bell the CAT or crack the LLM admission code of your favourite university?

Buy textbooks, join online coaching classes and start studying while you still have time.

Once this lockdown is over, the daily rush will resume. And you will say those same words again, “Boy, I don’t have enough time.”

Now you do. Utilize it properly.

Can you start a side project on the internet?

Did you always want to write your own bestseller? Go, write it. All you have to do is start putting words on paper or on the Word app. 

Did you want to start your first blogging business? Go, start it. Not as tough as it sounds. Start with a website first. The rest will fall into place, sooner or later.

Wanted to conduct interviews of some of the industry experts in your profession? Go, do it now. They are stuck in their homes like you are, and probably looking for someone to talk to.

Ever thought of building an online community? One of LawSikho’s students did that. He built a WhatsApp group consisting of only men who have been hit by false cases by their wives. While he is providing free advice to such men, they later become his clients when they want to file lawsuits or need protection against one.

Do understand that this time can turn out to be totally unproductive only if you choose it to be. Start investing in yourself during this unplanned, free time, and you will reap the benefits later on.

Can you invest in yourself now, and learn new skills to reap the benefits later?

For me, it is always doing the one thing that helps me in becoming the best version of myself. To achieve my goal, to make my dreams come true.

And for that, I love upgrading myself with new skills every day.

Whether it is reading a poem every day and learning how to string words together in a better way…

Or, joining an Udemy programming course and learning to develop websites…

Or, working with a chess coach to improve my chess playing skills…

I love learning new stuff every single day.

For you, it might be about learning the practical side of the law in order to be able to apply it in your daily professional life.

Start going through legal journals.

Read more case laws every day.

Finish the Common Law volumes.

Or better yet…

Join a LawSikho course. 

With 24/7 online access, weekly live classes, doubt-clearing sessions, practical assignments, personal feedback, unlimited jobs and internship opportunities…

Our courses are 100% unique in nature and focus on preparing you for a lawyer’s life in the most realistic way possible. 

LawSikho helps you to develop a deep understanding of the law with practical insights on real-life clients’ issues.

But you won’t know unless you try any of our courses. 

Do note, all our courses are covered under a 30-day full money-back guarantee. So, you can try 100% risk-free!

BTW, if you are interested in becoming a LawSikho student, do it now. There will be a 20-50% hike in fees of all our courses from April 1st. Even if you plan to start a bit later, it makes sense to book your slot now.

Anyway, the main point of this letter is that you should not treat this lockdown and work-from-home days negatively but rather take it in a positive light.

It’s all in the way you see it.

Glass, half empty or half full.

P. S. Confused about where your career is heading? Want to talk to a career counselling expert who can answer your questions and guide you to take your career to the next level? Give us a call at +91 11 4084 5203 and we will get back to you ASAP.