”Where to? In which direction is the world heading? Where is the company? What about me, during this period?

The answer is one that will get on people’s nerves: It depends.

Depending on what? Of several levels:

  • What will the world powers do?
  • What will the government of the country do?
  • What will the society, in which I live, do?
  • What will the management of my company do?
  • What will I do?

The only level that I can control is the last one: what will I do. Of course, I can bring my contribution to two other levels: my company and society, depending on the role that I play.

It is how our grandparents said: “As you make your bed, so you must lie in it”. How we act now will be decisive for how we will be in a few months, next year, or the next one.

I know it’s hard; I know, we live in uncertainty, the inertia that seems to paralyze our will, our power of action.

I know, we have various fears: for our health, the safety of ourselves and our loved ones; for financial sustainability; for our workplace; for our future competitiveness; for what and how will our children learn and how we will manage the family in an apartment if we are going to live all together again for months, and so on.

Of course, we prepare, we take part in webinars, courses, we do coaching, mentoring, we go to a psychologist, we talk to a friend. Those are all good initiatives.

Beyond all this, there is another thing that matters: personal discipline, what I do every day. I believe it will be better for those who care to do things differently but also to do other things. I think that if we search, we put the inertia aside, the cloud above our heads, if we escape the valley of despair and start taking various actions, there will be better chances of finding our ways to a better future. But to find ways, it’s good to ask questions. If we do not ask questions, the answers will not come. It is like the joke with the one who complains about not being lucky in the lottery; God appears and says: ‘try playing the lottery to know whether you are lucky or not’.

You need to have a horizon of expectations, to make some efforts, to meet the creative ideas, those moments that will help you.

Saint Augustin once said: ‘God, I wouldn’t search for you if I hadn’t found you’

The ideas that differentiate us, the people who help us, who shape us, come before those who search for them and are preparing for the meeting.

Nothing falls from the sky; we will not receive something without effort, beyond the first few years of life. At that point we are similar to swallow chicks: we sit in the nest and wait for the swallow to bring us food.

The effort requires discipline. It’s like when you want to learn to drive a car: you take driving lessons, you drive accordingly, even if you find it difficult, you learn, take your exam, and then drive on your own; slower, carefully, at first, fearless, relaxed afterward. If later we want to learn how to drive a motorcycle, we go through the same discomfort, the same learning.

I have a few questions for personal reflection:

  • What types of activities have you had since March?
  • What did you learn new? I know, you will say: to work online. Congratulations, it’s a big deal but it’s not a differentiator, we all do that. Think of something else. If nothing comes to mind, think about what you could learn from now on.
  • What did you do to make sure you remained relevant?
  • How many people did you keep in touch with? I mean family, friends, colleagues, customers, suppliers.
  • How much did you network? Those ‘weak ties’ that Malcolm Gladwell was talking about may bring you ideas, opportunities. If we keep in touch only with the same small circle, it’s as if we always wash in the same water. We need to refresh, to bring other people around us, besides our small circle. After all, we are the sum of those around us.
  • How would you like to be in 2 years? Allow yourself to visualize yourself in a good scenario. How would you be? What would you do? What would be the same, what would be different?
  • If you were a product, what would you look like? If you were to build a portable self, which would help you depending on the context, what would you put there? What would you learn new?

This portable ‘self’ means that you have developed a lot, you have invested in yourself, you know and you can do more, you have high mental flexibility, curiosity, openness to explore; you didn’t stick to what you learned in college but you continued to learn, to keep up with your times. It is a kind of a Renaissance man adapted to our times.”

via: Revista Cariere