Where To Focus During A Pandemic
I'm seeing a lot of emails and webinars on how to stay productive, how to focus, and how to set up your desktop space to maximize productivity during the COVID pandemic. I'm not sure that they all address an underlying root issue, though: where to focus during a pandemic.
I'm not saying they're bad, I actually wrote one or two or those kinds of posts, myself.
But there's an important focus that is being ignored during this crazy time.
We're all stuck in our homes.
Some of us were laid off.
Some of us are scared to go to the grocery store.
Some of us are the ones picking up groceries for others.
Some of us are unaffected and bored (for now).
Some of us are on the front lines and watching their friends get sick.
How do I focus on what's important during a pandemic?
Yes, we should be productive.
Yes, we should be helpful.
Yes, we should do our part.
But even more important, during a time like this, is relationships.
With a little extra time on our hands, checking in with the people we love in our lives is even more important.
Isolation exacerbates fears and anxieties. It also can make you just plain crazy.
I don't know about you, but when I have extra time to think and work, it can make me overthink and overwork.
Anxiety, fear, and overthinking can make you lash out and be defensive. It can make you fight with the people who are on your own team.
Instead of indulging in excess Instagram, excess work, excess frozen pizza, or excess whatever you indulge in . . .
Try connecting with your family and friends to check-in.
When all of this is over, you will remember the fight and those who helped you through it.
Feeling motivated by a community is much more helpful than setting up your desk with just the right wood and just the right monitor and just the right headphones.
When the dust settles, the people around you will remember how you handled this stress and pressure--not that you used the pomodoro technique or even how much work you actually accomplished .
So, when we think about how this applies to our day-to-day, consider how it feels to have interacted with you.
This is a leadership opportunity.
The more we empathize and connect with each other, the more likely we are to trust one another.
The more we trust one another, the more we'll be able to rebuild our communities and world.
2 Minute Action:
Text a friend.
Leave a thank you note for your partner in the kitchen.
I guarantee that it can only take 2 minutes or less to make a difference to someone.
Say thank you.
And mean it.
Read This If You Have No Idea What You're Doing
Hint: the answer ISN'T: "no one knows what they're doing, so you're justified. Just keep going."
Well, for starters; congrats.
This is the part where I go on and on about how no one knows what they're doing.
Like this kid in the picture. Get real. He doesn't know how to read that book.
I'll then go on to conclude one of a few platitudes:
- No one knows what they're doing, so you're justified. Just keep going.
- No one knows what they're doing at first, so you're justified. Just monitor yourself until you get there.
- Some people know what they're doing but that's because they worked really hard and now they know things.
- We each have our unique "thing" that we know how to do and life is about finding that thing and sharing it with the world.
Oh, man. I feel like I could keep going, but I'll just stop at 4.
All I want to do is ask you to pay attention to how you're feeling about this.
Where does this feeling of "not knowing what you're doing" come from?
- Is it literally a lack of expertise?
- Is it because you've never done anything like this before?
- Is it imposter syndrome?
None of these questions are impossible to answer.
And none of the answers are impossible to reconcile.
These feelings are just indicators. They're kind of like the check engine light in your car.
They tell you something is wrong, but then you have to actually run a diagnostic check to figure out what's going on. You might be able to do this at home, but you may have to enlist help.
2 Minute Action:
The point I'm making is that I'm not going to tell you "keep trying!"
I'm telling you to identify the feeling and go after it.
Understanding the indicator will help you chase the solution.
If you're afraid, follow the fear.
If you're confident, follow the confidence.
Your 2-minute action might be literally taking 2 minutes to reflect.
It might also be taking 2 minutes to schedule a phone call with a mentor or close friend to talk through this feeling and help you identify it.
Whatever you're doing, it can take just 2 minutes to get the ball rolling.
Why I Publish Bad Blog Posts
Yes, I’ve written bad blog posts and published them.
For any of you who follow me or read my blog, this shouldn’t be a surprise.They can’t all be “War and Peace.”
The thing that’s difficult isn’t writing good content and publishing it—it’s publishing work that’s not that amazing.
It hurts me sometimes if what I write doesn’t feel massively inspiring, insightful, unique, or actionable.
The goal is to get to a place of consistent, high-quality output.
That can’t happen without publishing the bad stuff along the way.This is not a cheap, disguised excuse to pump out crummy content—that would be deliberately cutting corners to reduce the effort required.That would be consistently low quality.Seneca said something like: “in order to know and understand good wine, one must drink a lot of bad, even terrible wine.”I think you get the point.If you want to be great, you have to forgive yourself for not being great right at this very second and understand that you’re going to have to be embarrassed for a little while as you figure it all out.
2 Minute Action
Publish something today.Perform the speech that’s not quite ready yet.Implement a new lesson plan that’s almost all the way there.Unless you’re a brain surgeon, the risk of failing isn’t that high.Go for the gusto, today.