Quarantine Lessons from Groundhog Day

Today is officially 2 months since my family and I began to quarantine ourselves from the rest of the world. I am still amazed in thinking that it has ALREADY been 2 months. While things are starting to open up in parts of the US, many of us are playing it safe and continuing our self-quarantining for the foreseeable future.

In reflecting on what the past 2 months have been like, I feel like the best example I can come up with is the movie Groundhog Day. For those of you who haven't seen this romantic comedy gem that came out in 1993, please stream it immediately as it will quickly provide you with laughs and connection points to our present lives in a COVID-19 world. The movie should at least be relative considering it was used this past year by Jeep in their Super Bowl ad.

Initially, there was awkwardness of adjusting to working from home which meant walking down the hall, shutting the door, doing video calls and sitting in a room all to myself for hours on end. Then there was connection to the outside world and not seeing anyone beyond a wave to a neighbor here and there when going to get the mail or the trash cans. Watching the news was frightening and causing even more anxiety to fully grasp the long-term effect that coronavirus was going to have on our everyday life.

It started to feel like all my days blended together and everyday was Groundhog Day, just like it did for Bill Murray. I didn't feel like I was accomplishing much, I was starting to lose my sanity not being able to interact with people and continually pondering when this was going to all end or at least loosen up. After a few weeks, I began to accept that this was a NEW normal. Just like Bill Murray's character learned, I found that there are a number of ways to make the best of this quarantine situation both personally and professionally:

LEARN NEW SKILLS

Many of us have been given a variety of tools to use in our jobs, but we often times reach for the same tool each time because we are most comfortable with it. Now is the time to leverage other resources that you have access to, have had limited knowledge of and that you have been putting off because you didn't make the time. This could be new software (i.e. CRM system), a lead provider (i.e. SponsorUnited), an analytics tool (i.e. YouGov) or video conferencing platform (we all are learning this). By taking the time to master this tool, you can make yourself much more resourceful in your job.

Bill Murray took this to an extreme becoming an ice sculptor and piano player. There are plenty of resources out there to learn new skills such as speaking a new language or cooking a new meal. For me personally, I decided to invest in becoming a better mixologist, as I have traditionally been a beer, wine or simple cocktail (i.e. Jack & Coke) person at home. Over the past few weeks, I have watched a number of videos, read up on different recipes and tried out a variety of new cocktail drinks that I would have never explored. Needless to say, my wife has been a HUGE fan.

TACKLE OUTSTANDING PROJECTS

How do you feel about your presentations? What about your company website? Is your company intranet organized in a way that is efficient for your team? For many companies, these projects can get put on the back burner because they aren't driving revenue. However, many of these things will have an impact on revenue moving forward. The virtual work environment prevents us from asking our peer, "Hey, what folder is that new biz pitch in again?" Now that requires a phone call, email, text or chat window making something that usually was just 5 seconds into 5 minutes because you are waiting for that person to respond. That all adds up to a lot of time and inefficiency, potential duplication of effort or even worse - the resource not being utilized.

For my family, we have always tried to limit our expenditures and have talked about cutting the cord with cable for over a year. We were too uncomfortable to move forward with this decision because we didn't know enough about the different streaming platforms that existed and with 2 kids 2 years old and younger; we just didn't make time to understand the streaming options that existed. That quickly changed after doing some research and we are proud to be strong ambassadors for YouTubeTV.

READ

For Bill Murray, this was reading French poetry to help in his courting of co-star Andie MacDowell. There are so many times we put off reading because our life is constantly on the move. Being restricted to the confines of our home provides limited activities to participate in. Plus, for us sports fans, there is no live sports and there is only so many documentaries and re-runs of games that you can consume. There are endless amounts of good books out there and I finally took advantage of the book list I created on my Amazon account and ordered a few - Make Your Bed, Never Split the Difference and Chop Wood Carry Water.

Reading doesn't mean you have to consume a book either. There is a ton of great content out there that people are publishing everyday (hopefully you find this article helpful). It could also mean reading and researching some of the topics related to your business that you have fallen behind on. It could be reading up about a new industry - digital currency or a new smart home product. Reading provides you with a variety of benefits beyond just knowledge such as stress reduction and mental stimulation. The key is blocking off time on your calendar and finding a quiet place to do it - even if it is only for 30 minutes.

JOURNALING

A lot of us write everyday in the form of emails, reports or presentations that we put together for our jobs. This form of business writing for many of us has become routine. It is something that isn't a passion point but a means to an end. However, with the isolation and so many thoughts in your head, journaling can be a great outlet both professionally and personally.

As a professional, it can be used to write down business thoughts, ideas and insights that you want to share but are not fully baked. Taking the time to write them down and develop them over time will help facilitate a clear message. It could be your idea on how to improve an internal process, your recent experience with a sale that fell through and what you learned from it or it could be a challenging encounter you had with someone that you want to address but want guidance on how best to handle it. For me it has been the ability to share some thoughts and ideas through LinkedIn as well as with members of my team. Writing my thoughts down and bringing them up on a bi-weekly call has resonated much better than just sending an email to everyone.

On the personal front, I am blessed to have two healthy and lovable kids. When each of them was born, I bought a journal to right down memories of specific moments that I had with them. While I initially had a goal of writing entries once a week, that quickly turned to once a month and then every couple of months. I would feel guilty as I stared at the journals because I kept putting off writing down another memory due to prioritizing something else. Now, I have made it a part of my weekly routine and I have so many fun things to write about from the time we have been able to spend together at home during the quarantine.

HELP OTHERS

After doing all of these different things to improve himself, Bill Murray finally turns the corner and begins to help others. Many of us don't feel like we have jobs that "truly" help others like teachers or doctors/nurses. However, there are many ways to help others in the work place everyday that can provide a deep level of satisfaction. This can be reaching out to people you work with or have connected with that want to learn and seek your knowledge as a mentor. It can be checking in on your peers in the industry and learning about their challenges (outside of the pandemic) that you potentially could serve as a sounding board or brainstorm new ideas.

I recently connected with a peer about some of the business categories she was trying to sell corporate partnerships for and we spent 30 minutes brainstorming ideas of ways to better penetrate and find success in each category. At the end of the virtual call, we both looked at each other and said "Why didn't we do this more often before coronavirus?"

On the home front, this could be checking in on your neighbors and asking if they need support or assistance (especially those that are elderly, might be juggling kids or live by themselves). Just a connection, a call or a hello can go a long way in the environment that we are all living in.

SUMMARY

A lot of us may be living that same Groundhog Day over and over again. Some of us may be blessed to still have a job, others may be furloughed or unemployed. Some may feel the pressure that you don't have a moment to spare in your day. They key is to prioritize your personal health and well being, which includes your sanity. That means finding time to do things that ultimately will make you feel like a better person which in turn will make you a better resource to your company, your partner, your family, your friends and others.