2020 - Turning lemons into margaritas

Yes, I know I’m supposed to turn lemons into lemonade but if I’m going to be drinking my calories, I may as well do it with alcohol involved so margaritas it is.

2020 has been a crappy year. I’m not just talking about the emotional and personal toll of the many lives lost and those who have lost their livelihoods. For those of us fortunate enough to keep our jobs and have at least some sense of stability in that sense, it remains a year of lost opportunities and turmoil. I’m a person who always has a list of goals running. They’re broken into year periods but not news years’ resolutions. I work through them with focus through the year gaining comfort from ticking them off, all while remaining flexible and changing the goals as the world changes around me. This year though, there’s been a lot of change.

For those of us who are active participants in industry, there were lost opportunities to present at or attend conferences. Conferences present not only learning opportunities but validation that you are amongst an industry of peers who share your drive for improving the world around us. I work in stormwater management and to be honest, being the water quality designer on a road project makes you as popular as a cough on public transport. You have to fight to be included. Industry conferences are an opportunity to stop fighting for a moment and feel supported and validated by your peers.

Through 2020, we have lost team members as a result of the economic uncertainty. Several companies are downsizing and that brings with it a feeling of broken family. We spend years building trust and relationships in a team so any changes to that, are moments of sadness. Suddenly, our structure needs to adapt and the way we go about working needs to change. Whilst people leave jobs all the time, anyone leaving against their will brings with it a sadness that you’ve let the team down in some way, whether true or not, and a feeling that no one is ‘safe’. Having been through this process multiple times and being made redundant once myself, this feeling remains each time.

Our personal life has also taken a toll. There were no social sporting games happening, no gigs to play at, no games night at your friends’ houses. That opportunity for pressure relief outside of work disappeared and for many, was replaced by added responsibility of home-schooling and becoming therapists of children who couldn’t understand this sudden change in their level of freedom. We carried on as there was a light at the end of the tunnel and we didn’t think it would last forever but now, 6 months in, it’s getting harder and harder to push through. We’ve gone from a sprint to a marathon without much of a break (although I’m incredibly grateful that school has returned in QLD).

So in a year without so much job security, without the industry validation, without our social releases and with so much more work on a personal level, how can we make margaritas?

• Take stock and then move on. Have a look back at 2020 so far and try to make a list of things that you’ve achieved / survived / done for others during this time. It should be a lot but it will look different from previous years. It may be new skills such as making sour dough, teaching your kids grammar and maths, learning how to shop online, maintaining your team’s workload etc. Once you’ve done that and realised you’re not so bad after all, stop looking back. Focus on what we can do from here.
• Dial into as many industry webinars and training sessions as you can and ask a question. Be included and get feedback even when you can’t get the face to face time. It’s amazing how nice it can be just to hear someone acknowledge your name in a webinar and feel as though you’re part of a greater conversation.
• Look for opportunities to contribute and be included, even if virtual. This could mean joining new industry committees as a virtual attendee (I did this myself while on maternity leave to stay connected). You could also set up some regular meeting invitations at all times of the day to catch up with colleagues in your circle that you may have caught up with while making coffee in the office. If it’s scheduled in, it’s not so weird to randomly call someone just to chat ??
• Set yourself small goals. There aren’t going to be as many opportunities for scholarships, promotions, international training or pay rises so find the wins somewhere else. Is there an initiative you’d like to see happen at your office? Could you be working towards your RPEQ (for engineers)? Could you find an opportunity to present a webinar? Find something that you can work towards and tick off so that you keep moving forwards, no matter how slow.
• Look out for others and praise your colleagues as much as you can. We’re not in the same boat but we’re in the same storm and it sucks. A little acknowledgement here and there could make a world of difference.
• Finally, plan like hell for 2021 and beyond. You don’t even need to start work on anything now, but have a plan. Why not prepare a conference paper outline. You don’t have to know which conference you’ll present at but when the call for abstracts comes, you’ll be ready to go at a moment’s notice. Pull together an awards submission, even if you won’t be submitted it until next year’s awards cycle. Look at what training sessions you might want to attend based on past year offerings and what skills you want to learn in 2021.

You can choose to write off 2020 and just survive but if you’re like me and need a little validation and push, start looking forwards now and find ways to get involved. I have a feeling that the wheels will start turning and accelerating quickly once things open up and I, for one, want to be prepared for what comes and ready to jump back in.

#motivational #2020 #goalsetting