by Justin Batt

Watch this message on video here.

A few days ago, I had a chance to watch a video from several respected leaders, where they were sitting down to look over their two-year plan for their business. They were also strategizing about how to take advantage of the opportunity that the Coronavirus and quarantine situation has brought on, so they can come out of this epidemic in a positive way.

I love that idea for several reasons:

• Because I’m a business guy and I thrive on great ideas like this.
• Because they’re finding positive, productive and forward-thinking actions to take even in the middle of a situation that’s challenging for everyone and tragic for many.

My wife and I have done similar things in the businesses that we run, and there’s a great application here for all dads as well.

One of the driving principles for what I do at Daddy Saturday is to apply good business principles to family life. So we sat down as a family in front of the whiteboard in my home office, took out markers and laid out the Batt Family Two-Year Plan. The main idea was to put together ideas and set goals for how we can come out on the other side of this epidemic stronger, having more focus, more discipline and fewer distractions, and be more united as a family around achieving those goals.

A brief caveat: If you decide to do this, keep in mind that this isn’t an actual business meeting. How many of us have sat through work meetings that seemed like they would never end—and we’re adults? So, while it’s good to challenge our kids and expect some engagement, we should also take their age and attention span into account.

At our house, we organized our ideas into the four categories of Faith, Family, Fitness and Finances. I’ll give you a few examples of what we discussed for each of these:

For Faith, we said we wanted to attend church weekly, and for now that means we’re going to have to do it virtually online, which is fine for now as long as we participate in a worship service every single week.

Under Family, we’re going to focus on using what we have in and around the house to do date nights, to do one-on-one time with each of my kids, and really focus on those activities. It’s important to build on what we’re learning about minimizing distractions during this time and keep that momentum going once we get out of this quarantine situation.

For Fitness, we had a number of big Spartan races and running events planned for the coming months, most of which have been cancelled or postponed. These kinds of challenges are a passion for me, and my kids are getting involved as well. But now we’ve had to look for different events to work toward, and then we talked through a different training plan and schedule to be ready for those. Also, we created a daily fitness routine for the whole family using what we have around the house.

In the Finances category, we looked at our budget. What’s our cash flow plan right now as a family? What investments can we make strategically during this time? What we can do as a family in terms of new ventures or opportunities? All of our kids have launched online businesses recently, and my wife and I have also started some new ventures during this time.

Dads, you can view this quarantine time as a problem, or you can be proactive and make the most of the time you’ve been given at home with your family. Copy some of our ideas or come up with your own and adapt it to your unique family. But use the tools that work for you in business to draw your family together as a team and set some goals, so you come out of this challenging time in a positive light.

Justin Batt is founder of Daddy Saturday (DaddySaturday.com), a platform to create intentional fathers who raise good kids that become great adults. Daddy Saturday is also the title of his first book. In addition to being an author, Justin is also an entrepreneur, business advisor, healthcare consultant, and public speaker. He and his wife Heather have four children and live in South Carolina.