COVID Reinvention
We’ve been in COVID Hell for six months now, maybe feeling a bit shopworn like we’ve been hanging on the same hook for six months. Becoming saggy, faded, and wrinkled. Unemployment stimulus payments have been cut off, at least for the foreseeable future, and we’ve grown fatter and possibly lazier due to lack of hope. Forty-plus million out-of-work or underemployed Americans are understandably anxious and depressed.
Even if vaccine manufacturers get a hit with the vaccines in trials there will be months, maybe years before we gain herd immunity. We may be stuck in a constant state of whiplash as parts of the country reopen only to shut down after organizers of major events refuse to cancel to keep citizens safe. Consider South Dakota’s Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, where 250,000 motorcycle enthusiasts gathered collectively saying, “If we get it, we chose to be here.” Except that those 250,000 fans returned to 61 percent of the nation’s counties after the rally.
But there is hope. There is always hope. In all of this horror, there is opportunity. I don’t mean we need to revert to Civil War carpetbagging or Viking plundering, but we can begin to see opportunities if we open our eyes and think beyond our comfort level.
Right now, there are opportunities in:
Teaching virtually, sharing what you know with people you don’t know
Upgrading technology to ensure we have enough bandwidth to accommodate exponential increase in online work (our grid is far more fragile than industry leaders admit)
Hospitality, in designing attractive, safe environments inside and outside to stimulate traffic to eateries (because there’s only so much parking lot dining we can do)
To start take advantage of low hanging fruit, those contacts of yours, both personal and business for they are ripe for the picking. Get out your virtual Rolodex, close your eyes and pick a person at random. Before you dismiss the randomly selected person as inappropriate to your cause, think again. This is about out-of-the-box thinking. Talk to that person. Maybe he or she knows of someone who knows of someone who can help you. Everyone needs to pool resources now to help each other. Offer to help a few people in their quest for new beginnings and you might be surprised to find that they may actually reciprocate. It’s a new world now.
Get more tips about getting out of your own way in Your Self Sabotage Survival Guide by Karen Berg: https://tinyurl.com/y786t4ax