One Year: The Pros of Lockdown

A practicing optimist tries his hand at looking on the bright side of the year at home

I like to consider myself, an optimist. The glass is almost always half full (unless it’s an Oreo milkshake in which case it’s half empty and I’m questioning why I didn’t buy two). So with all the “it’s been one year of lockdown” laugh-cry posts, memes and memories, I thought it would be nice to sit down and reflect on the positive aspects of the lockdown. In the making of the list it, surprisingly, was much more than 10 so I trimmed it down significantly. Let’s get to it:

1. WFH Part I- I, like probably most reading this, desperately miss my colleagues. Most of whom, I probably either met for my one week in the office, or haven’t met in person at all… but what’s awesome is moving forward, most companies will have some form of WFH policies. Some big names (Twitter, Google, Salesforce) and some up and comers (Drift, Coinbase, Shopify) have all decided to go Digital First. While sometimes it boggles my mind a bit that no one realized adults can be trusted to get their work done at home, I’m glad that most companies will have WFH be an essential part of their policy in perpituity.
2. WFH Part II- Not only are there new company wide policies, some have decided to take their WFH dynamic to the next level by relocating permanently. There’s even countries offering remote work Visa Programs
3. Outcomes over Hours- With WFH comes the ability to structure your day as you see fit. Early riser? Cool. Night Owl? Okay. Our work culture has become more focused on outcomes and less about when you clocked in and out. 
4. The Reach & Power of Communities- The amount of helpful resources in the market today vs one and two years ago is absolutely staggering. Just within the sales community I can think of a number of incredible resources that have popped up in the last year: Thursday Night Sales with Amy Volas and Scott Leese, Muffins with Morgan with Morgan Ingram, SDRDefenders, Sales for the Culture and Revenue Collective are my personal Top 5 (in no particular order) that come to mind (ok sure SDRDefenders has some bias but let me live a little ;) ). I can confidently say these communities have helped me build not only connections but genuine friendships with a number of people involved and I’m very thankful for that.
5. Spending Time with the Family- I can however, safely say and attest to (with evidence) that “Sorry can you repeat that, my dog is nudging my leg with a toy in his mouth and I was distracted” is the new “My dog ate my homework”
6. The 25 Step Commute- I gotta say, walking into my little office with a plate of homemade eggs and avocado toast on an english muffin (this is my go-to breakfast) is a huge step up over fiddling around with what music you want to play on your 20-60 minute commute twice a day. 
7. The “Upgrades”- Whether this is picking up a new skill, hobby, home improvement projects, maybe it’s bettering yourself at your craft or just spending a little more time just taking the dogs for a walk everyday, the additional time in our days without the commute has allowed us the opportunity to upgrade our daily life
8. The Cell Phone Call Making a Comeback- Maybe it’s just because I’m in sales but I love a good cell phone conversation. Instead of Zoom Happy Hours or “putting time on the calendar” just text me and let’s figure out a time to talk. I prefer that much more than hopping on a zoom. I’m pumped that cell phone conversations are making a comeback 
9. No More “Um Are you sure you should be at work” moments: I don’t know about you but I do not like germs. How many times did you see someone come into the office who wasn’t quite covering their mouth when they sneezed or coughed, maybe there was one or two sniffles too many, but I’m so excited that, at least for the past year, that’s been a thing of the past.
10. The Legitimate Excitment of the Office: I debated as to whether this should make the list but I’m going to put it on here. Going into the office has an air of excitement to it. The growing anticipation is becoming similar to the first football game of the season. You know you’re going to get to see all these awesome people and when we finally do break that WFH streak... seems likely there’s going to be a big party like atmosphere (or maybe just a big party)

What did I miss? What was snubbed? What made the list that shouldn’t have?