Building blocks between 20 and 21

As we reflect on 2020, a year of many disorders and changes that every one of us unavoidably experienced, I keep coming back to choices and decision-making as a key take away. Most of us have been asked to make tough choices, whether at work or at home or for the most part in both environments. Such as whether to visit family members versus staying away for extended periods for their protection. Such as restructuring of teams at work, for the balancing of medium-term plans and priorities versus longer-term cash-flow and income outcomes. In essence, a year that has seen our plans, our habits, and our values disrupted, challenged, and in some cases changed forever.

Before going much further, I want to share my deep sympathy with all who are dealing with the more severe consequences of this pandemic.

The year 2021 will be different again. In my mind, it is a year that sounds straight out of a sci-fi movie. This means we do not know how it will unfold and what awaits us, from week to week. This post is certainly not an attempt to forecast or predict a host of developments nor outcomes, while it is more about our personal choices that rest at the heart of it all. 

At a dinner party a few months back, one of our guests asked whether 2020 would be seen as a major milestone in history. The debate ensued and references to biblical proportion followed. As the discussion developed to include several guests’ personal experiences, both negative and positive, views on this matter remained divided. The practical reality is that it was a devastating year when 1.7 million people died worldwide, 73 million were infected, by a virus whose full long-term effects we still do not understand, and economic damage measured in trillions of dollars was unleashed. For my part, that is rather biblical and will stand out as a 2-year chapter in the columns of world history.

During these tumultuous times, a set of tough choices and decisions were taken that will bring surprisingly positive change for our future. Stunning scientific advances were made in developing and distributing effective vaccines against Covid-19. Which will benefit the fight against other diseases too. As Bill Gates sites “Humans have never made more progress on any disease in a year than the world did on [corona] this year.” Traditionally, vaccines can take up to 10 years to develop. Here, scientists and leading organisations created multiple Covid-19 vaccines, in essence in less than one year. A massive inspiration for millions, relying on such medicines and systems.  

Such events inevitably affect our perspectives and our thinking. On the one hand, it is all about the ‘art of the possible’. Some folks seeing the art of the impossible. While the other aspect, of course, is the world will never be the same again. I remain hopeful and positive at the outlook ahead of us and the transformational capacity that such events have on small local groups and equally on large groups of people (nations). As I am writing this post I am drawn to the definition of values we hold and how they will change, probably through changing habits resulting directly from a tumultuous 2020.

What I wish to run through are a few stand-out habits that for me will make a difference across our ecosystems. Just a shortlist for the next 2 to 3 years. God forbid I were to infer we should think in much longer time frames. ??

I happen to discuss this first one with my kids just a few days ago. The habit of thinking of life as a linear progression is clearly challenged. If you live long enough, you will inevitably experience twists and turns in your life (work or personal) that on occasion, substantially alter your planned course through life. If you are a child or even a young adult, the experience of locking down large parts of the planet, to a standstill, in an attempt to slow down a dangerous and vivacious virus, was certainly a wakeup call. That’s not to say we can’t make plans or set goals, but don’t expect things to unfold perfectly as you’ve predicted, and be prepared to pivot. The habit is to expect non-linear developments across many of our journeys.

A related habit is how most of us approach and deal with uncertainty, which is usually with reservation and apprehension. Uncertainty is a funny idea really. In business, many use it as a motivator, to strive further, to validate further, in essence, to drive more certainty in key outcomes. And there is nothing wrong with that. While the habit I am referring to is how to look at uncertainty. There is much wisdom in uncertainty. Life without uncertainty is just repetition. The repetition of the known, the outworn memories with no evolution. That eventually leads to stagnation. In my view, uncertainty is a good thing that can often lead to many new possibilities. This is why many great leaders embrace uncertainty, delve into the unknown, dig into new territories, appreciating the wisdom that follows. Consider uncertainty as a must-go destination on your monopoly boards. 

During the pandemic, the number of work meetings increased by nearly 13% on average, according to research from Harvard University (https://www.hbs.edu/covid-19-business-impact/Insights/Your-Work-Life) and New York University. Moreover, most of us have experienced a lengthening of the working day. Much analysis and research are already available around work-habits and related aspects of productivity, attention, and motivations. Personally, the habit that I suggest we need to go back to is the idea of ‘you are your calendar’. When we complain about drags on productivity, interruptions, long days, and too many meetings, take a minute to reflect on your calendar. Assume your calendar is a reflection of what you want. Then ‘make it so number 1’, as a famous Sci-Fi captain from StarTrek would quip. It is your calendar - you shape it. Big gaps, small gaps, solitary time, early starts, time blocking, replace all 60mins meetings with 45mins meetings... it’s your calendar. But in the end, it is a reflection of you. You are your calendar, think about it. So, pandemic or no pandemic, we are still running businesses, working with partners, working with clients, and with colleagues. Where the days are the same length, we still want to enjoy some leisure time, we still need to eat 3 times a day, for most of us ?? The triangle between productivity, energy, and impact, on the whole, is still in our hands. It’s less about time management, it is more about impact management. Eg: do I really need to book that next 60 mins with my product manager, to make my impact today? Looking forwards, we are inevitably going to roll on the working-from-home processes well into 2021. The habit here is to rotate away from time management and into impact management

The next habit is about learning more about our spirit, about the soul, our body, about karma, about meditation, about cold showers, and specific breathing techniques. This is where some of you are thinking, I am going to pause and get me that next coffee. That is ok. A norm that will affect just about every one of us, is the total convergence of work and home life, especially for workers who switched to entirely remote working. Blending what were naturally separated zones in our lives, into a new life smoothie (blending work, schooling, training, parenting, housework, exercise, and leisure activities). The core challenge is around boundaries. For example, as we would previously commute to work, natural boundaries would ensue – before the train or tube ride it is home, after the train or tube ride it is work, say. Leaving the house to go to the gym to work out, or going to a bar to meet friends, are again what we perceived as natural separating boundaries.  When this type of behaviour in pre-Covid is unpacked, it boils down to focused choices for deeper enjoyment and fulfillment. In 2021, when it is blended together into a new life smoothie, it is very often challenging to reach that deeper enjoyment and fulfillment. This is where new habits and methods that can adapt to our new working environment will need to be adopted. Examples include: to energise, to dial down, to stimulate creativity, to indulge in social interactions, to exercise with passion, and many more. There is much written about this, ironically, many decades before the Covid crisis hit. The fun here is to discover these new methods and habits and trying them out.  

This next one is about our values and value systems. The values we operate within (principles, judgments, standards, norms) and the value we attribute to things (usefulness, it deserves, specific time at situation) are connected. The next few years will require much transition for most of us. This is less about psychology and more about the fabric of our societies and our economies. I believe we have all delved into our personal value system in some manner during the last 12 months. This may have come about through two forces a) Putting complete socio-economic systems, complete industries, plans, and dreams for millions of people, on hold will do that to you. b) Secondly, the unraveling and crystallization of the climate change debate and the worsening state of our planet would do it too. Values and Value are intrinsically related. Our values on the whole determine the value of things around us. A great lecture on this is offered by Marc Carney Ex-Governor of the Central Bank of England recently in the UK, as part of the Reith Lectures < https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000py8t >. Appreciating those changes and the adjustments we can help accomplish individually in our industries, in your companies, orchestrated by powers that be, it is worth learning and converting into new habits. A good starting point is what firms like Unilever and Danone have started to do in this regard. Another recent example in the changing value equation is learning that “over two-thirds of all philanthropic dollars donated to this Pandemic came from the corporate sector” Brittany Hill CEO at Accelerist. Quite a feat in a year that has seen much corporate devastation. When we challenge our Value System, when we revisit the value we personally attribute to material and non-material facets of our lives, we often unlock positive change, rejuvenate forward-looking ideology, to help us climb out of possible lows/stagnating impasse, to more fruitful partnerships and relationships.    

To finish, I want to bring it all back to personal choices. Changing habits is not a walk in the park, granted. And sometimes it takes extreme conditions to get critical momentum, which we recently witnessed in full colour. But on a more personal basis, on a more day to day and practical basis, we cannot really recreate those extreme conditions to spur dramatic momentum and change. We need to think differently. The following example brings several of the habits I mentioned above in one scenario. The setting is social media and the habit is the ‘likes’, the ‘swipes’, the ‘taps’ – which we are looking to moderate. As we think about personal choices, our time, our priorities, and the value we attribute ask how your behaviour would change - if every swipe, every like, or tap, or click or nudge costs $1 USD. The intrinsic relationship here is value and habit. Would you go on spending 15, 25, or more dollars per day, every day? 

There is much to be done in business and industry for our generation and for our children’s generation. It all starts with the now and the present. If we continue with what we were doing pre-Covid crisis, we will stagnate. Pure and simple. We can intend for things to be different in the future but in the current moment, it starts by accepting things as they are, learning and exploring new habits for the right reasons. Habits are the compound interest for self-improvement. Habits determine routines that consumes our most valuable resource – Time! Furthermore, we would benefit from more humility, more in-person interactions, and thus hugging is a great habit! Human interaction was taken from us in 2020 and I think people are craving to have it back. At its core, it is about rolling our sleeves up and jumping in to help other folks, near and far. Let’s go!

Should you have any further thoughts or observations on habits for the near future, I would love to hear about them and your application.