14 Lessons That I’ve Learned From COVID This Year
1. You’re not doing enough. I wasn’t performing at my highest level. The very first lesson I learned during COVID came from my dog Missy, I almost lost her to a coyote attack and I left her for dead. She came back to life and survived and this made me realize that I was giving up too quickly with many aspects of my life. Chances are high that you are giving up too quickly on things whether it’s your business, your family, your health, or something in your life. It’s time to analyze and get real with yourself.
2. Life is short. I’ve lost friends to COVID and I’ve seen others suffer badly. Don’t wait to enjoy your life, don’t wait to thank those around you, don’t wait to do what you’ve been waiting for, and don’t wait until your family and friends are gone to wish you had spent more time with them.
3. People matter. Do I really have to say more? Life is all about relationships. Make as many amazing relationships and nurture those for the rest of your life. Family, friends, colleagues, strangers, etc…
4 It’s up to you to succeed. It’s easy to point fingers and blame a situation for your current status in life. The fact is it’s up to you and it’s your responsibility to make a difference in your life. You want things to change then change them. You want your life to get better, well…it’s your responsibility. This was the most apparent to me in COVID. You fail because you aren’t resourceful, not because you don’t have resources. Human emotion is the biggest resource so work on that. Don’t look at people’s resources, look at people’s resourcefulness. That’s the key. People succeeding massively in a fast-changing world and others complaining and making themselves victims. Which one are you?
5. Take time for yourself … each day. I think we were all forced to slow down and enjoy time by ourselves. Many of us had time to think and be still for longer than we were used to. I finally took the time to work out and it’s changed my life. What have you taken the time to do for yourself?
6. There’s a lack of true leadership.While there were some people who stepped up their game to lead the way in a COVID world, there were many people who didn’t know what to do and others still don’t realize that this is real or even that things need to change. Do me a favor, don’t wait for people to lead you. Take hold of life and be the leader you want others to be, it’s up to you!
7. It’s easy to get mad at people. for not having your standards or even your opinion. To me, this was the most apparent culture shift that I saw on Social Media. People giving out opinions with no factual information and others getting extremely mad at people with a different opinion than theirs. People are going to do what they’re going to do and don’t let that change you. We don’t have to love their behavior and we have to cut that off or it will continue to et us up from the inside out. We need strong reasons so that our happiness is not tied to other people’s actions.
8. Talk about mental health. It is important for leaders to speak openly about mental health challenges, including awareness and support. There are more people suffering from anxiety and depression than ever before. It’s important for leaders to openly talk about their challenges no matter how big or small those challenges are. The more people understand that those things are normal the more they have hope that they can beat it and get through rough patches. Be there for people that need help and be willing to talk to them and most importantly be there to listen!
9. Kindness above all else. This has been one of my biggest missions in life. Lead with kindness means that you listen to people, you treat people kindly, you don’t place your expectations on others, you understand that there are two sides to most situations and you do your best to see both sides. Kindness is not overreacting to situations and treating people with respect. Kindness means you can have civil and fun conversations with other people regardless of who they want as president of the United States. Kindness is being generous, considerate, loving, sincere, helpful, and above all else being empathetic.
11. Be ready to adapt at the drop of a pin. These last few months have really tested my ability to shift and pivot quickly. I’ve always embraced that disruption and change are part of life and those big opportunities usually come with rapidly changing situations. The world is changing at a quick pace, things that would typically take years now only taking months. The world rewards those that adapt quickly so embrace it! My lesson here is to embrace change by doing things that are uncomfortable to you. Challenge yourself daily!
12. Ready, Fire, Aim! You’ll never be 100% ready so it’s ok to get going on what you want to do. You’ve heard people talk about analysis paralysis well that people have been paralyzed all throughout this covid period. Don’t use COVID as an excuse to not grow. I’ve witnessed people grow amazing companies in the span of a few months and the one thing that’s been extremely apparent is that they aren’t waiting until an idea is 100% ready to go. I’ve learned to just go and get started and launch things. The key to Ready, Fire, Aimis to make sure you continue tweaking your aim so that it gets better and better.
13. Not everyone deserves superpowers. Only the noble and kind-hearted deserve it. This sounds funny, but it’s a conversation I had with a friend a few days ago and it’s been very clear who should never have superpowers, especially in a time of disarray. There are good people and there are bad people. In troubled times somehow the good and the bad are accentuated. Be sure to support the good and stand up against evil.
14. What you fail to learn might teach you a lesson…MIGHT! The human race can be very ignorant. I’m a historian by profession and also by nature and one thing that is clear about our history is that diseases have run rampant in our world for thousands of years. The unbelievable part is that even during most of those periods you still had people refuse to believe that those pandemics were real. It’s tough to tell all the lessons this COVID era will bring, but the one that it’s teaching all of us now is really more of a reminder that the human race is extremely resilient! We will get through this and there will be many more lessons to learn.
As we continue through this COVID era remember that it’s our duty to lead: leaders anticipate and losers react. Take time to process what is happening and think deeply. Our language sometimes magnifies our emotions, so be careful what you let into your mind and do your best to treat others as you would want to be treated. -sited from a brilliant tribe
