Adapting to Uncertainty

 2020 Pandemic Recession put life’s uncertainty in front of us daily. Most of our careers, plans and routines are on hold or canceled. Add in a contentious 2020 Presidential Election (aren’t they all?). 

Parents trying to remote work and school children from home. Plexiglas checkouts in stores. Family, friend and/or ourselves not having work. Missing seeing family, friends, classmates and coworkers. Putting in extra hours to make working from home as productive as in office. It’s not and can be stressful.

2020 has been disruptive. But that is how life is lived. From one uncertainty to another.

 

Be kind to yourself and family. Create routines and include down time, fun and exercise. Workdays get up usual time and wear Friday casual clothes to go in my home office. Missing volleyball, so added lifting dumbbells and Sunday morning run before Facebook church services. Along the way take pictures of views, flowers and wildlife to share online for fun. My sister and aunt on east coast are fans of flowers. Have Sunday calls or video calls to family and friends.

 

Breaks are important too, find every 45 minutes to 1.5 hours need to get away from screen, stretch, read, drink or eat something. Same as in office. Had to work long hours including Saturday and Sunday to meet a Tuesday deadline. This weekend staying away from office computer to refresh. You work more productively refreshed.

 

People are more resilient than you know. Look more at what you accomplished than the to do list. Put away endless news programs scaring you for ratings. This election will take longer to count because of more mail in ballots. However the results will come, and regardless of who wins the US has checks and balances to correct overreaches. If you are struggling talk with friends or a professional. No one is not struggling now.

 

Life will go on and more discoveries and technologies will improve our future. Look at uncertainties we have overcome - wars, pandemics and recession: 

 

Cold War 1947-91

Asian Flu 1957

Recession 1958

Vietnam War 1959-1975

Recession 1960-61

Seventh cholera pandemic 1961

Cuban Missile Crisis 1962

Korean DMZ Conflict 1966-69

London Flu 1968

Recession 1969-70

Recession 1973-75

Smallpox 1974

Soviet Flu 1977

Anthrax 1979

Recession 1980

HIV/AIDS 1981

Recession 1981-82

Intervention in Lebanon 1982-84

Invasion of Grenada 1983

Bombing Libya 1986

Yellow Fever 1986-87, 2012, 2016

Tanker War 1987-88

Invasion of Panama 1989-90

Bosnian War 1992-95

Recession 1990-91

Gulf War 1990-91

Cholera 1991-93, 2001, 2004, 2006-08, 2010-20

Bubonic Plague 1994, 2008, 2014-17

Intervention in Haiti 1994-95

Kosovo War 1998-99

Dengue Fever 2000, 2004-05, 2007-09, 2013, 2017

Recession 2001

SARS 2002-2004

Afghanistan 2001-20

Iraq War 2003-12

Ebola 2004, 2007, 2013-16, 2018-20

Malaria 2006

Recession 2007-09

Mumps 2009

Swine Flu 2009, 2015

Measles 2010-14, 2019-20

MERS 2012-2020

Chikungunya 2013

Intervention in Syria 2014-20

Zika 2015

Seasonal Flu 2017

SARS Covid 19 2020

Recession 2020 

 

Total 14 conflicts, 22 diseases and 9 recessions during my life. There will be more and we will overcome. 

Living with Uncertainty

My co-workers and I have been living with uncertainty. The project ~45 of us have been working on ends October 20^th. Fortunately last month was told no one else gets laid off.  We just do not know if we will be working 787 or the other programs.  Next week may find out.

~20 of my co-workers will be working in Renton, about 26 miles from the Everett Plant. May be one of them, at least have a job. Several other co-worker have been laid off or taken voluntary layoff. We have been working most of the year with this hanging over our heads.

Surprisingly productivity has still been good. My co-workers and I kept up with our workload. Research was done on openings and what happens if we got layoff notices. Discussions happened around the water cooler. But until people had to prepare for changes, work got completed on time.

Humor has been a coping mechanism. Co-worker said this week, “They told me they were arguing who I would work for. But they didn’t tell me if they were arguing to get me or who got stuck with me.” Most people now know where they are going. So been telling people, “feel like the little kid picked last for teams” :) for the last couple weeks.

Always been more comfortable with uncertainty than most engineers. Every project has required a redesign or changes from customer feedback. No one knows how well new products will sell. We start projects based on best guess. Economies change, competitors offer new products, and life happens.  Results do not turn out as expected. Best sellers are often version of the original. WD-40 is the 40^th version of the lubricant.

To deal with uncertainty with resilience, focus on what you are doing now. You can’t control the situation. Helps to plan if the worst happens what you will do. Apply for jobs in advance, update your resume in case, and cut optional spending. You only need one job. Another opportunity will show up. The worst usually does not happen.

Sometimes it helps to image talking to an older you several years after this was resolved. What did you learn from the change? Should I have worried so much? (Usually no.) Every job change has expanded my knowledge and added new skills that helped my career. Did not feel good at the time, but worked out for my benefit.

My faith is another reason am not worried. God has a plan for us, and since I gave these challenges to God, my life is so much better than I would have expected. Working in 7 states (so far) was not my plan, but met great people because I moved. Hard to give up friends and co-workers to move, but thankful for all my opportunities.

Summarizing - You can’t control what happens to you. You can only control how you react and think about it. Resilience happens when you try to Find the Good, the Humor and Have Faith It Will Work Out. If nothing else you have another story to tell your children and friends.