Pandemic diaries: RateGain boss took up free courses on holistic living and strategic leadership

Bhanu Chopra, Founder and Chairman of RateGain, uses his free time to read, and implement the lessons at his work.

Taking Charge
“The pandemic has impacted each of us in different ways, some personally as they struggled with the restrictions of getting out and meeting friends and family. Quite a few others struggled professionally, with increased hours of work, loss of revenue or uncertainty in their industry. I was uniquely placed to face both these struggles in the last six months, thanks to my very own revival kit, which I call ‘Insanely Awesome’. As part of this kit, I focused on four things during the pandemic and did them in the order to gain control of my mental and physical well-being.”


Health-Builder
“The first thing I focused was on fitness. I have always loved running but could not step out for the first two months, so I installed an At-Home Gym to work out on core body strength. I also picked up on cycling and now enjoy going with my son and friends running in and around India Gate and Rashtrapati Bhawan.”

A Book A Month
“Once my health was taken care of, all the time I had saved from not travelling, I invested in reading. I not only started reading but actually translating what I learnt to see how we can apply them at our organization.”

Constant Learning
“As a result of the pandemic leading institutes like Harvard Business Review made a lot of their content available for free. So I used the opportunity to learn a lot of new courses on self-help, holistic living and strategic leadership.”

Community Building
“I have always been passionate about the startup community, and frequently invest time in helping my peers and aspiring founders build on their vision. This is not only the need of the hour, but critical for the survival of this community. Therefore, for my own learning and for the larger community, I started a web series called “Insanely Awesome Chats” organizing chats with established founders, who understand what a crisis looks like and how to survive and thrive in them.

Web Series
“These chats with Founders of companies like Policy Bazaar, Zerodha as well as GoIbibo have not only helped me feel optimistic about the future and helped in reviving my energy but also given golden nuggets of business knowledge that each of us can apply in our daily lives to stay insanely awesome.”