Adapting to Covid | Legal Cheek x LYLG Vlog Competition | Transcript

Introduction

Hi, my name is Dylan

I’m completing law with senior status at Cambridge University and run an EdTech startup called OmniSpace. Today I’m going to be sharing some of the new habits and skills I’ve developed during Covid along with the new challenges I’ve embarked on. In a nutshell, I’ve been a lot more intentional about checking in on my friends, family and carving out time for self-care and reflection

Let’s start with my morning routine.

Morning

I usually get up between 8–9am depending how late I’ve slept (I have to admit I’m a night owl) and aim to complete 3–4 focused study sessions (6–8 hours) of uninterrupted study using the pomodoro technique and 1–2 focused extra-curricular sessions (2–4 hours)

To help me achieve this level of productivity, my morning routine consists of 6 principal habits that have only been reinforced by the pandemic

1. Cold shower

Taking a cold shower helps to jolt me awake and eliminate any feelings of grogginess that’s commonly felt in the morning.

2. Blinkist book summaries

I’ve been listening to at least one book summary / day on Blinkist in a diverse range of subjects like artificial intelligence & machine learning, venture capital, black British history, stoic philosophy, narrative economics

This has been especially helpful in boosting my creativity and curiosity and it’s had tangible results for my business and legal studies

3. Finimize and FT daily briefs

I also listen to daily briefs by Finimize and FT to keep on top of commercial and political news. Most recently I’ve been following Netflix’s lacklustre first-quarter subscriber growth and what that says about consumer habits post-Covid. I’ve also been reading about the unrest in Northern Ireland and it’s made me even more concerned about the constitutional status of the UK post-Brexit.

4. Vision board

Reviewing my vision board daily has been an effective way to renew my sense of optimism and purpose for the day. Vision boards are very effective in that they give you a visual representation of your goals. We all know that images are powerful, they speak a 1000 words and the brain has a way of encoding the deeper meaning and symbolism behind images

5. Journal writing

I use my journal for five things

1. Declare
2. Plan
3. Celebrate
4. Reflect
5. Track

It’s important for me to declare the impact that I want to have on the world and to remind myself daily of my mission, which is to be a steward for positive social change. But it’s not enough to have a vision so I make a plan. I like to plan my weeks in advance using my journal, Google Calendar + Asana (a task management software) always applying the SMART framework

Google Calendar and Asana allow me to schedule lectures and supervisions, business meetings, and other time-sensitive tasks. My journal enables me to prioritise 3–5 main tasks for that day. I also use my journal to celebrate my wins and describe the things for which I’m grateful. These range from winning prestigious awards to something as seemingly small as the monochrome framed photo of my parents on my desk

Journaling gives me space to reflect and introspect. I like to write down any quotes or observations I make during the day. I’ve found that putting my thoughts + feelings on the page provides an outlet for what’s on my mind

Allows me to see things from a different perspective, to challenge negative self-talk and ask myself meaningful questions like

• What bad habit did I curb today?
• How am I better?
• Was I present?
• Did I behave justly?
• How can I improve?

This style of journaling is very much inspired by Ryan Holiday’s book the Daily Stoic, which I’ve read every day since last May

6. Mindfulness

I’ve been using Calm religiously since October 2020 and it’s been revolutionary. Like journal writing, mindfulness has helped me stay anchored in the present. The breathing exercises along with the guided meditation sessions have helped me

• relieve stress
• improve focus
• combat anxiety
• experience better sleep

I especially love it when the mindfulness instructor explores these topics in detail and critiques traditional notions associated with them by skillfully discussing scientific studies and personal stories. I also enjoy the philosophical discussions around the nature of impermanence especially during a time when it feels like we’re in a permanent state of despair

By practising mindfulness I’m constantly reminded that no suffering is permanent and no adversity is final, and that my feelings however compelling they seem in the moment should be treated with curiosity and caution more so than blind trust and confidence, and that I ought to befriend the present moment and look inward to achieve lasting happiness.

Afternoon

After my first focused study session in the morning, I’ll have lunch either in my bedroom while watching a sitcom: I’ve rewatched Modern Family about 5 times and The Office about 2 times back to back in the last 12 months, an achievement that I wear as a badge of honour.

If I’m not rewatching a sitcom I’ll hang out with some of my favourite Eddies (an affectionate term for students at St Edmund’s College). I’ve made a habit of checking in on family and friends in London, too and at the risk of sounding rather like a social addict, Covid has made me cherish every ounce of human interaction I can possibly get

My afternoon also consists of doing a workout on FizzUp, which is a great app that recommends workouts based on my fitness goals — I tend to do HIIT workouts and strength training.

Evening

After completing my focused study sessions for the day, I like to do a quick Duolingo lesson as I’m trying to rekindle my Spanish and French and I’m also learning Latin for the first time as I desperately want to be able to read Cicero in his original texts

Once I’m done with Duolingo, it’s time to do some journal writing and reflect on the day. For the last 6 months, I’ve been an avid user of 16Personalities to improve my self-awareness. I like to relate their resources and expert insights on personality types to observations I’ve made during the day. As an Assertive Protagonist, my strengths include leadership, reliability and altruism and that’s reflected in various projects I’ve embarked on while pursuing the law

But I can also fall victim to excessive idealism and extreme selflessness — these are real problems for me as it can mean I can spread myself too thin or set unrealistic expectations. That’s why journaling and planning has been so crucial to me especially in the last 12 months as they force me to confront these tendencies head on and devise thoughtful solutions to curb these traits.

Weekend

My weekend routine is not that different from my routine during the week — Covid has pretty much blurred the boundaries and time feels like an amorphous blob. I typically spend more time working on OmniSpace and other projects.

New challenges and skills

1. Content creation

I thoroughly enjoyed producing a music video as part of St Edmund’s Intercultural Podcast Competition in March. Alicia, Karl and Gustav and I submitted our rendition of Nick Mulvey‘s Fever to the Form. I first heard Fever to the Form in 2016 when I had just embarked on my first degree at UCL and I chose this song as it has resonated with me for years

It explores themes like the duality of the human soul, which spoke to my hyphenated British-Congolese-Rwandan identity and how we often fear the things we desperately rely on like love and companionship

Finally, there’s a subtle allusion to the order and chaos of life by way of the first line ‘So whether music or madness we live by one of the two’ and as a young Englishman and future lawyer I see myself as belonging to a generation that’s committed to restoring order and bringing healing to a country that continues to grapple with its legacy of slavery, colonialism, and classism

We produced everything from the vocals, the background track, the instruments, and the sound mixing

I was very proud of what we achieved and for coming in second

2. Entrepreneurship

I founded OmniSpace — an EdTech startup — to help humanity thrive by empowering individuals and teams to achieve their most ambitious goals and to unlock the polymathic potential in every student on the planet. It’s been a very exciting time for us

The team and I are building a web and mobile app that I believe has the potential to revolutionise the way we learn, memorise and synthesise knowledge

We were selected to participate in this year’s Collision conference and startup program — one of the world’s biggest tech conferences. I’m most excited by the opportunity to hear some industry-leading speakers, attend insightful masterclasses and create meaningful connections with like-minded individuals from across the globe who share our drive for positive social change.

As part of our inaugural coaching program — OmniProject — we’ve helped 23 clients pro bono, three of whom surpassed their crowdfunding goals (£47,875, £49,000 and £71,092) to study at the universities of Oxford and Warwick and complete a pilot programme.

3. Political commentary

I’ve enjoyed applying my legal studies to provide commentary on current affairs and engage in important debates like BBC 1 One’s Big Questions debate on whether lockdowns in the UK have disproportionately curtailed civil liberties, the Guardian’s Covid Series and the Demographica Network’s podcast on the government’s race report

It’s been very important for me to use my background in law, philosophy and history and my social media platforms to provide some nuance to often very polarising issues

I’m keen to maintain these habits and continue developing these skills to achieve more impact and advance a collective purpose of progress and innovation

Thanks for watching!