Winston Churchill first said it in a meeting with Roosevelt and Stalin in regards to the opportunity of forming the United Nations. What a trio. I always saw the term as a term that the rich, powerful or influential used to maximise their advantages, while others were disadvantaged. I saw it as us vs them type of mentality - although, I never really knew who  ‘us’ or ‘them’ was.

But this whole Covid-19 event has got me thinking. I have seen everyday people flourish, I have seen families rest and relax, I have seen friends start projects that they have been talking about for years, but never finding the time or the motivation to start. I have seen everyday people “ not let a good crisis go to waste”.

Now, I am not brave enough to talk about the social impact Covid-19 and the lockdowns have had on some groups of people, I only really like to speak from experience, and I do not have enough to comment. I do know my heart goes out to everyone affected.

What I do want to discuss is the amazing mindset and attitude of most of the people I know around me, including my clients. They have been an inspiration to me.

From what I can tell people at the beginning of the lockdown split into two groups ( or a spectrum). One group chose to shut down, they shut down aspects of themselves, because their world had been interrupted and they put everything on pause, they numbed themselves with booze and tv, became quite depressed and only focused on the negative aspects. The other group were let off the leash. They cautiously assessed risk and then started to play, plan and create. They were happy and positive.

We know that for a property investment company we talk a lot about mindset. We talk more about this than the nuts and bolts of investing. This is for two reasons, we know how you think is going to determine your success a lot more than us spouting different investment strategies. Also, we are called Property Lab - and the lab part is extremely important - we formulate solutions specifically for each of our clients. We aren’t trying to squeeze you into a lead funnel and push out the same outcome. That just doesn’t work in today's environment (we speculate that it never actually worked for clients, just shady property experts).

Getting back to the crisis and taking advantage of the great Covid-19 pause of 2020.

A good mindset is available to everyone. You don’t have to be Winston Churchill to see opportunities. Just because you are starting out, young, or an everyday person, doesn’t prevent you from looking at ‘breaks’ from the planned and seeking opportunities. We all get to be flexible with our thinking, we all get to course correct, we all get to leverage what resources we have available to us. We don’t even need a crisis to wake us up and look at ways to do things better. We are free to create a reality, where we are prosperous.

I've been thinking about the people in my life that have been an inspiration to me over the past 3 months. They have a few things in common:

• They ask for help
• They take responsibility for themselves,
• They surround themselves with other proactive people
• They aren’t fixed to a single plan - more a direction they are heading
• They are having fun.