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. 

Resilient Companies

Vibrant companies act differently. Even with a long history behind them, you sense they are current or even state of the art. How do companies stay resilient through all the changes in technologies, different styles, consumer fads, business practices, and new customers every day?

Simple, they are not the company they were yesterday. Vibrant companies avoid the ‘Status Quo Bias’ that affects us all. Keep looking for the new. Looking for the opportunities. Looking out for your customers. Finding better ways to take care of them. Seeing what competitors offer, then offering simpler or better value products/services to compete.

Second vibrant companies take care of their people. Provide benefits and onsite service that free peoples time to work. Simplify processes and procedures to allow creativity. Celebrate & learn from their successes and failures. Avoid overworking people, even if our culture is celebrating overwork.

Why take care of employees? Who takes care of the clients? Burnt out employees are not creative, and do not go the extra mile to make clients happy.

How do companies stay resilient? Create a culture obsessed with pleasing the customer. Truly care about customers and employees.

The Resilient Employee

Do you want an employee who over-reacts to provocation from a customer? How much business could you lose because of one overstressed reaction? No one really wants to find out.

Resilient people do good work on bad days. They don’t take it out on customers, nor on their co-workers. You can tell they are tired, you can tell they don’t feel well, but they still do good work with a minimum of drama. Tomorrow they are back at it, feeling better, listening, collaborating and doing good work.

Resilience comes from having survived tough times, coming back from events out of our control, and preserving through failures and bad experiences. It is a faith that we can make it through crazy customers, clueless bosses and co-worker visiting from outer space. Just another day folks, nothing to see here. (or is there more?)

Emotional strength and intelligence comes from knowing life is about more than you. Common Goals and values drive better behavior. It is taking care of others. Serving the public. Loving people. Especially when they don’t deserve it.

What do you do when your world changes? Where do you find your resiliency? Is it in your history? in your family’s stories? Your uncle who served in the war? Your neighbor who is always calming and interested? Or is peace something deeper. After all God is Love.

Lift Off Donavan Livingston Ed M

Try to find inspiration to share and encourage everyone. We grow and stretch to become more the person God wants us to be.

Donavan Livingston exceeds that and his rousing graduation speech is well worth a listen.

http://www.gse.harvard.edu/news/16/05/lift

Thank you Donavan so much.

Please everyone Lift Off today.

What is the Best Lesson to Give?

 

"If you view all the things that happen to you, both good and bad, as opportunities, then you operate out of a higher level of consciousness." - Les Brown

Parents wonder what to give, what to teach, and how to raise their kids. What is the best we can give them? Computers, games, toys, nice clothes, jewelry or experiences?

The best gift is model what we want them to be. Model good behavior for your children, neighbors and co-workers.

We all have bad days, failures, bad news, illnesses, things break and there are disappointments. Be emotionally intelligent about how we respond at the moment.  Take a deep breath. Pause. Express your disappointment, be calm, and remind them (and yourself) bad times don’t last forever.

If something is your responsibility, own it. Be responsible and think about how you can make it right.

My father is the reason I am resilient. He was honest beyond reason. He would leave a restaurant or store, and then realize they gave him too much change. Did not matter he was an executive and it was a small amount, he went back to make it right.

My mother was very sick many times in their marriage. We lost count how many surgeries she went through. Dad often came home from a long day at work, did the housework and cooked for us. No big deal in an era when men did not do housework. Never heard one complaint. Life was often difficult, but he would do what was needed and persevere in good humor.

Dad was happy when our friends were over. He would play with us. Remember him diving into the pool to splash us all. The joke was he was “The Big Kid”.

My father did not tell us what he did. Went to my parents old home to move some possessions that did not fit in the moving van. The couple who bought their home told me during the closing, the lawyer read the terms on the deed (on a 1950’s house). There was a restriction that the deed could not be transferred to a Jew or Negro. The room was silent. My father was the first to speak up, “That is not right. That has to go.” That was impressive.

Kids are always watching and learning from us. Especially when it is serious or stressful. Teach them to live well by your actions. My dad taught us well.

Pick Your Theme

There are phases, sayings and words that resonate with you. During hard times they may lift you and encourage you.

My phase that has been helping me with my challenges: 
“I am Resilient”

What is yours?