Covid 19 – Change in our life and twist in our lifestyle

I was going through some blogs whilst we all were (still are) in the Corona phase, blogs and articles about how Covid-19 has impacted our lives and how individuals are trying to give others the positive side of this scenario. Well, I would just say this virus has changed “us”, changed our “perception” of life and changed our lifestyle.

As I look back at 2020, I did buy 6 things that I could have thought of buying 20yrs back (most of it). And here I am trying to relate these six with my professional life and giving it a much-needed twist.

1)   Desktop – Throughout my career, I never felt like buying a computer of my own! I did learn some computer skills from an institute and they had their own machine, and then came in my first company and others for almost 10 years where I had my fingers moving on the keyboard. The next 10years I was holding a baby on my lap and yes it was a “Laptop” a miniature version of the big machine. New development happened and work from home was the key, had to purchase a desktop to save my life here (the new back to normal).   

2)   Bicycle – High Alert on the health part. Everyone has to take care of their own health and what better way of doing it than by feeling the fresh air on your face while riding your bicycle. We meet different cycling groups on the way and it’s good to see how people bond and try to motivate each other to take an extra mile to achieve the set target. But when you really want to achieve things as an individual, you have to change the gear and push the paddle as fast as you can. People will join in the way but in the end, you are alone in your path. Realise what you can accomplish, have faith and just go ahead

3)   Gym Weight – Cycling would be the best cardio possible but one need to keep balance and weights are your best friend here. Weight training at home to have a balanced and toned body. Again, a good example of Individual contribution + Multi-tasking. Organization prefers employees who are multi-skilled and are ready to learn more.

4)   Guitar – Time to challenge your own self? Tried to find out what best I can learn, something which can be creative & innovative and where I can balance my work and life. Needed patience check as well? Guitar levels divided in a years’ time, the first 4months for beginners, next for intermediate and the last for advance. I had to attend the jamming sessions with people who are nearly half of my age and the biggest competition was that they played the guitar 4 hours a day and I did only 10 hours a week. Can I compete with them?

5)   Badminton – I would relate this to job enrichment and enlargement. Weight training and cycling will get you blocked and things would seem monotonous. Your weight would be stagnant at one point of time with little fat burn. It’s just like you being into a new role and you take approx. 8 hours to complete a task but 6 months down the line you can finish it in less than 6 hours. With nothing new to learn employees start using the company’s internet facility to search for another job for them. Enrich the role – the people I play badminton with are of average 24yrs of age, the fact that they are too fast and young. Playing with them gives a horrible feeling as they do not wish to slow down and don’t wish to play with me either, but I still try to cope up with them and I haven’t given up. Slowly and gradually I have enhanced my performance and now I can play for 1-2 hours in a stretch with a target count of 1500 calorie burn in a day.

6)   Smart Watch – If you can’t measure, you cannot improve it. Set standards of calorie burn with the actual performance, this is the right tool to do so. Performance appraisal – Setting up of standards – End result.

So here we are, a throwback on what all I have been doing since Mr Virus has come into our lives and given us all a run for what less we’ve known of ourselves. Go out, give your best shot, learn something new, live your life and pause for a while. I believe we all deserve to do that at least once a while........................ Cheers!