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.
What The Heck Is "Delivery Sauce" And How Can It Change Lives In Under 2 Minutes?
"Hi! How are you? I'd love a small, black coffee, please.""Uh, yeah, I'll be with you in a second."
Has this ever happened to you?
You bring the courtesy and it's not returned?Your job, whether you're on the clock or off the clock is to treat people with respect.
If you're in the service industry, it's your job to go above and beyond that benchmark.
Let me explain how this is relevant to life and how it's not just me complaining.
Our job is to deliver value, not just create it.
If you make the coffee and deliver it with a smile, the coffee tastes better and people want to come back to your cafe.If you make the coffee, push it to the counter and yell "CHRIS!" you're not making customers for life.
Just creating the deliverable isn't enough.
You need to DELIVER it in a way that your customer, student, client, patient, or user can accept and enjoy.It's like adding bearnaise sauce to a steak, or Caesar dressing to a salad. It will work by itself, but the enhancement is a differentiator from the usual.You need to add your special delivery sauce!
2 Minute Action
How can you add more delivery sauce to your work?Is it reading an article on bedside manner?Is it sending a follow-up thank you email to customers after their first purchase?Is it getting a coffee with the teacher in the grade ahead of you to see how to you can better "on-ramp" students from your class to his?
Do you know what doesn't even take 2 minutes?
A smile. A fist-bump. A pat on the back. A "thank you." An anonymous post-it note on the monitor of your colleague.You have all the resources you need to improve the state of the world around you.And you can make a difference right now.
When You Break Something Of Value
Today, it broke.It was a cheap rubber wristband that I have been wearing for the past few months.Nothing this cheap was meant to last longer than that.If you know me at all, you know that I actively try to remove excess stuff from my life--so you might be wondering why I care or why I have a cheap rubber wristband in the first place.
Here's what happened:
I was running one of my team's LEGO® shows for kids in St. Paul, MN.Part of our shows makes room for displayers of all ages. It helps get locals out to be part of the show and it helps kids network with other builders who are in their community. Pretty cool, right?Well, one kid was so excited to be there that he brought these rubber LEGO® wristbands to give out.
When I spoke with him and thanked him for his hard work, he gave me one of his wristbands.
"Thanks for inviting me, I'm SO excited to be here," he said.It's moments like these when you realize that what you do helps other people be themselves and be part of a community that encourages learnings, that you smile and realize it's all worth it.This kid had the time of his life connecting with older builders and meeting other kids just like him.So no, it doesn't matter that the wristband broke--because I will never forget that kid.Take this as a reminder that it's easy to confuse the value of stuff with the value of experiences.
2 Minute Action
It doesn't have to be a wristband, but what can you give to someone around you to let them know you appreciate them?
- It could be a handwritten "COUPON - Good For 1 Free BackRub."
- It could be a flattened penny.
- It could be a pack of Juicy Fruit gum.
It doesn't matter what the vehicle is, it just matters what sentiment you gave it.It will take you 2 minutes to write a post-it note or give someone a wooden nickel with a story that holds meaning.