Chicken counting after a train wreck

Ok, it is WAY too early to be counting chickens... Although, one could argue the first murmurs of egg hatching are on the horizon.

Most of you who know me know, I am always that silver lining kind of guy, and that is the topic today.

So, covid was a train wreck, generally, genuinely, a train wreck. They will write books about leadership in crisis and overcoming something and bettering something else, but, having sat through it, train wreck.

However, I want to talk about what I see as the one positive to come out of it.

Personal understanding of what a person needs over what they think they need.

People having and taking the time to understand the work life balance, to adjust the scales of what is important to them.

*Insert reference to Maslow's hierarchy of needs, feel superior*

If I think back to the year or 2 before the pandemic, I had soo many conversations with friends, co-workers, even my mirror about how hard life was. The job was expecting overtime, the commute was a nightmare, took a second job because holidays are expensive (ooh the irony), the list goes on.

Then, 2020 happened, the perpetual train wreck.

Furlough, working from home, redundancy, a communal tectonic shift in reality.

Scary, confusing, insert nearly any adjective, there was a lot to digest.

Now, some businesses got caught on the hop, I know, I got soo many calls from people about needed to move their infrastructure to accommodate working from home, big inhale, then, the big exhale.

Suddenly, a bit of peace. What work could be done, was getting done, but, it was different.

Personally, I still got up at 5:30 (I'm weird), but I went for a hike, 8 miles with a 20kg ruck, every day (no gym, needed something), caught sunrise nearly every day from the top of Scrabo tower near where I lived, it was, peaceful. Then home for breakfast a shower and at my desk to work.

Of course there were things I missed, but that was outweighed by being home, saving 2ish hours of commuting every day, spending more time with my family, I even read a book, for the sheer pleasure, rather than the information it would give me.

continuing the chicken thing, I thought of a very smart compare and contrast. In 2019 we were all battery hens, now we are free range, I know which one makes better eggs.

Now, as we return to a semblance of normality, or a new-new-normal (I hate myself), the conversation as turned to what working looks like, and that is pretty amazing.

The value to what is at home is no longer diminished, and striking a balance into the new world is an active conversation we are having.

More time to get the school run done, home in time to eat with your family, because a Hybrid work model works for everyone, and more power to the elbow of companies who embrace it.

The work place has its place, I love coming in and seeing my co workers, but I also value my time at home, and the balance is key, and has put me, and many I know, in a much happier place, and the happier we all are, the better we work, which ultimately, benefits the boss.

It is a win, in a year of so many losses, but as I see it, it is a big one.

#hybridwork