First, we were told to wash our hands. A lot. We did. In fact, we emptied stores of soap and hand sanitizer.
Then, we were told to work remotely and social distance ourselves from other people. We did. (The six feet isolation radius does not apply to comforting toys.)
As panic continues to overwhelm our collective psyche, most do not have the option of using this time to focus solely on self-care or mental well-being. Many parents are now scrambling to suddenly figure out childcare as more schools continue to close up during the lockdown. Many have elderly parents to worry about while maintaining their own careers. A subset are sandwiched between both: needy offspring and vulerable relatives.
Personally, I had been pushing for my body to fully recover from a serious accident last year. I finally made meaningful progress this month. I used my renewed energy to focus on pivoting my professional life into helping entrepreneurs develop compelling business narratives to establish credibility; showcase leadership; and differentiates strengths. My website Clover Canal was scheduled to launch today, on St. Patrick’s Day. I planned to offer clients in-person, bespoke workshops to create individualized toolkits to help them cultivate favorable opportunities in ever-evolving landscapes of unprecedented change.
Now, I must take my own advice to stay mentally strong and nimble while inevitable circumstances become new obstacles. It’s so important to adjust intelligently while navigating towards effective solutions. Rather than meet in person, I’ll have to rely on phone and video conferencing until the pandemic dies down.
In my professional community, I’m seeing most people use technology as the answer to bridge mandated social distancing. Current digital tools such as Google Hangouts, Zoom, and WhatsApp have been useful solutions to bringing together teams working remotely in the same town or even internationally.
While globalization has been driving the growth of better and better communication platforms, the current necessity is really highlighting how technology supports ongoing business activities.
Disrupt CEO Tony Delgado concludes, “Focusing on leveraging the digital economy is how we are going to survive in this crazy climate. Since people are quarantined at home they are going to be spending even more time shopping online looking for solutions in e-commerce and digital products. I expect a big boom in online education and online shopping in 2020.”
P.S. Don’t forget to hydrate!