We faced new decisions in March 2020 due to a monumental break from the norm.
“What do I do with my business?” became “How do I hang on to my business?”
“Do I grow my workforce?” became “How do I flip to a remote workforce?”
“Do I take my kids out of school?”
“How do I exercise without access to a gym?”
“Do I really need to queue for toilet paper?”
With every day arrived a completely new challenge. Our human instinct took us deep into survival mode and our fatigued minds were given a break from the never-ending merry-go-round of decisions.
Dare I say, it felt slightly intoxicating. It cut through complexity. We were left to make simple – very important – decisions like “How do I protect myself and my family?”
And now, a shift to ‘the new norm’.
UGH! The phrase stirs the pit of my stomach.
I don’t want norm.
Yes, I want safety. Yes, I want health. Yes, I want personal and professional security.
But I do not want ‘norm’.
With norm returns decision-making fatigue. Yes, those old challenges that are still too big to comprehend.
I quite like them being quashed by a global pandemic – I might actually have to face up to them.
Shit! Right now, all I see is a big fuck-off roadblock.
But maybe these roadblocks are not as big as I picture them. What if I changed the angle by stepping a metre to the right so that I could see past them? The picture – previously unbeknownst to me – is not as bad as I feared. I could drive over the roadblock, under it, round it, through it. Or… I could choose a completely different path.
The new norm might be the new buzzword, but it doesn’t have to be that way for me – or you. This is business as unusual – and this is opportunity for individuals.
We don’t have to jump back on the conveyor belt that could lead us to a world of decision fatigue, conflict, mistrust, fear and vulnerability.
The external world pressed pause – and now we get to choose how to start how our internal world starts again. We can use the ‘unprecedented’ to look at everything in a different light. We can decide to see opportunities where we once saw roadblocks.
We can choose to be concise in decisions that matter: “Do I exit my business or invest in it?”
“Do I invest in my job or invest in myself, to better manage my energy?”
“How do I build a legacy that really matters?”
We can choose to create the picture we imagined… before being knocked off track.
We can build trust in our own counsel and develop an infinite source of calm and confident personal leadership.
We can choose to see how to take action and be responsible for taking action aligned with what matters most.
