The Gifts of COVID-19

I have been at home or rather between home & grocery shopping for the last 117 days! These 117 days have been filled with moments of stress, fleeting happiness, high degree of tentativeness, some dark moments of reminiscing past failures, a strange emptiness which is asking me if I am slipping in my zone of failure? At last, there is a strong surge of hope which gives me a conviction that ‘This too shall pass’! As I begin to reflect about the last 117 days, I realized COVID-19 has given humanity a miscellany of rare gifts which should be enlisted!

GIFT 1 – The Gift of Humility

• COVID-19 proved to be a great equalizer, it proved that nature’s punishment is beyond the economic prowess of a country, net-worth of an individual, the so called ‘scientific wherewithal’, technological advancements, the fame of a person or one’s accomplishments! Suddenly the ‘Mighty Man’ felt ‘Deeply Insignificant’ at the hands of nature!

• It felt as if it was nature’s message to mankind to stop taking oneself seriously and messing up with it's way of working! A lot of times, I claimed to be humble in the past (with oodles of pride beaming in my heart over my limited so called ‘accomplishments’), but this period definitely made me reflect on humility and I realized that I am just a tiny speck in the universe!
• When this phase is over, I want to deeply remember to not take my accomplishments seriously and not carry them as an invisible globe on my shoulders like Atlas! I wish to remember that I must pursue promising roles, meaningful work, opportunity to create impact rather than getting fixated with a ‘Jazzy Job Titles’! Because when you get that title, you may get an extra parking slot and a dedicated area in the Pantry. However, what it gifts you is a lot of unwarranted stress to fit the expectations of that title, which are mainly created by you!

 GIFT 2 – The Gift of Pause

• Though after four months of pause, I intently pray for this pause to get over!
• But somehow, this phase gave professionals a solid opportunity to briefly hit the ‘Pause’ button! How you utilize this ‘Period of Pause’ is completely up to YOU!
• I was so used to waking up in the morning at 7 a.m., not grabbing my breakfast, attending meetings after meetings, working on my laptop while sitting in the cab, reaching late night at home, eating at erratic hours, that this lifestyle started to look like the ultimate blue print and panacea to attain success!

•  It was a subtle style statement as well! Living at this breakneck speed, having breakfast inside an airport every fortnight, catching flights, and waking up in a new hotel for a conference, meeting or an event looked like a cogent model to work and stay relevant.

1. Did I crib and miss spending time at home! YES.
2. Did I do anything about it? NO!
3. Did I feel that this lifestyle was Fashionable and catapulted me in the race to success! Oh yes!

• The last few days when nature has hit a PAUSE button on the whole of humanity, it made me focus on the important things in life, like taking a break, catching up on my sleep, looking after my health, connecting with long lost friends who craved to speak to me but somehow I lost touch with them owing to a constant state of being ‘BUSY’! After a long period of time, I was talking to my mother without the stress of thinking about my next meeting or my next goal or next travel destination at the back of my mind!
•  But I have a confession to make, the announcement of lockdown at one point made me question my self-worth because suddenly there was no travel, there was no one on one meeting happening, I wasn’t waking up at 7 a.m. to book an Uber to rush to my meeting destination!
• I did not have people telling me, “Oh Sunny, you work so hard”, suddenly my college friends will not be commenting on my Facebook status update of next destination. Then at one moment I asked my myself a simple question – Did I love my job, or the jazz associated with my jobs?
•  It made me comprehend that while we now shift to the make-believe world of VIRTUAL and DIGITAL MODE, the best way to make use of this phase is by Accepting, Learning and Acing this ‘VIRTUAL PHENOMENON’ rather than being stuck in the laurels of the past and the perks which came along with the job.
• To my surprise, my family still thinks I am working hard owing to the time I spend on attending and organizing webinars!
•  This period made me question: -

1.  Have I led my career in the best possible manner?
2. What are my strengths and which areas I can possibly get better at?
3. Am I utilizing the supreme ‘Gift of time’ as my travel time has reduced to Zilch?
4. Am I spending enough time with my family?
5. What can I do best to stay relevant in the changing times?
6. Have I utilized the 24 hours to the best of my ability?

GIFT 3 – The Gift of Empathy

• This phase has also unleashed tremendous wrath on working professionals in terms of layoffs, furloughs, and abrupt termination.
•  When I searched the word lay off on LinkedIn, it was heart-wrenching to see professionals penning down their stories of layoffs, building a case to reach out to others in their network, highlighting the need to spread the word for openings!
• What made me hopeful is the support that each of the individual had amassed and keenness with which people wanted to help each other!
• In those posts, I saw a genuine intent, will and desire in professionals to help and enable one another! There is a zest with which people are documenting job openings, references or simply commenting for proliferation and better reach.
•  I have never ever seen professionals speak about their vulnerabilities in such a candid manner without the fear of blame, guilt, shame, regret and focus to find a cogent solution!

• That has been a moment of revelation because it is a rare occasion when professionals are not judging each other or holding any biases about each other!
• A deep sense of empathy and service has been discerned by professionals for one another! A need to be kind, to be helpful and be relevant to one another got unleashed! In nutshell:

1. Empathy has been practiced in thoughts, words, and actions.
2.  Digital medium has been utilized to highlight vulnerabilities & seek sponsorship & support!
3. Digital platform became a hub to leverage connection and foster collaboration.
4.  I think going forward, in the post COVID and non COVID era, I would want to be more kind to others, give an individual a fair chance to express himself or herself, look beyond the job title or education and understand what value an individual really brings to the table!
5. I would also want my title as an enabling factor for professionals to reach out to me rather than an inhibitive factor.

GIFT 4 – The Gift of Creativity

• I am deeply passionate about this subject because this attribute is perceived in a multifaceted manner both in corporates and in personal life.
• It is like you are doomed if you do not have it or you are damned if you possess this in copious amount!
• But the COVID times somehow proved my self-implied hypothesis that: -

1.  Everybody is creative, one needs to figure out the arena in which one is creative!
2. Critical situations and moments of crisis bolsters Creativity!
3. Creativity is about ‘Excellence’ and not ‘Perfection’!
4. Creativity is rooted in doing small things differently or making Big Difference or leading Disruptions!
5. Creativity prospers when one is free of judgment or fear of failure!
6. Creativity stands at the intersection of myriad of observations used to solve a wicked problem.
7. That problem must be occupying your mind space and mind share.

Let us have a look at the myriad of creativity and disruption that COVID-19 brought into picture!

My take on Creativity which I want to practice, preach, and inculcate is: -

1. To build creativity as a WAY OF LIFE rather than an OPTIONAL CHOICE.
2. To experiment with my Ideas, Approaches, and Apply the Regret Minimization Framework (coined by Jeff Bezos).
3. To sharpen my skill of Listening-Sensing and Observing.
4. To keep reinventing myself every month.
5. To do something every day, that scares me.

The question I want to leave you with is - "What is that one Gift that COVID has rendered to you"?