Are you Ready for the next Covid?

Secrets to Surviving the Sequel

We’ve all said it at some point this year. I’m done with 2020. But as we head toward the end of the year - fresh new lockdowns emerging around the world - it’s becoming clear that Covid-19 might not, in fact vanish at the stroke of midnight, on December 31st.  

For so long we’ve been talking about simply making it through 2020, surviving the worst year of our lives, and celebrating the light at the end of the tunnel. And for some reason, we’ve called that light 2021. We’re now just a few weeks away from the end of this ridiculous year and a question is beginning to creep into the darkest corners of our minds. It’s the question we’ve been putting off for months now. The question that nobody’s had the balls to confront just yet.  

‘Is Covid just getting Started?’ 

I’ll say it right now, because somebody has to. January 1st, 2021 will be no different from the day that precedes it. If we’re hoping for someone up there to push ‘reboot’ on the world, or that we’ll wake up and this was all a bad dream, let’s face it.

We’re in for more of the same. 

Wave 2 has officially arrived in the West. From an USA that never took the virus seriously to begin with, to a Europe Union that has seen all initial progress wiped out following reckless abandonment over the Summer, many countries are now seeing more cases recorded than ever before. France, Germany, Belgium and the United Kingdom are all already reeling from severe doses of a second wave syndrome. It’s going to be a long winter – mostly spent indoors I suspect. 

What does this mean for us as individuals, friends, and families? 

It means that January 1st, 2021 will not usher in a brave new world, as we’d all hoped. We’ll have many of the same lifestyle struggles that we’ve endured throughout this year. In fact, we’re likely to face these while feeling more fatigued and disillusioned than ever before. 

The only real reboot we can hope for is the one that might take place within us.

As we hurtle toward the next instalment of ‘virus-life’, it’s useful to explore things from a new perspective. What if we did things differently this time around? What if we saw this next chapter as an opportunity – a chance to do 2020 all over again, but this time to do it better? What would we do differently this time around, knowing what lay ahead? How would we navigate our lives, spend our time, or recalibrate our goals if we knew what the landscape looked like before going into the year? The truth is, we do know. The world will continue to grapple with the virus. The only question is, will you? Most of us will look forward to a deserved break in December. We’ll spend some time with family, complain about the year that was, and wake up mid-January ’01 in precisely the same position as before. A reactionary position. This is the strategy that hopes things will go better this time around, and if they don’t, hopes that things will work themselves out sooner or later. If that’s been your strategy, don’t worry. You’re not alone. 

There are other, more promising ways to approach the year. There are proactive things you can do to better position yourself for the next round with Covid - because it’s already here. These things won’t cost you any time or money, but they could save you both. 

The seven strategies below have helped me survive the most difficult year of my life, and in some cases have helped to transform me along the way.

My tip: Pick just 3 - and focus on getting them right! 

1. Embrace the chaos

What went Wrong 

When the virus took hold, we froze up. The disruption startled us in its scale, the danger it posed to our health, and in the chaotic nature of the political & organisational response that it garnered around the world. We sat in our houses, hoping it would pass by without crippling our own livelihoods, and fearing the unknown.  

How to be Better

Make that change you’ve been too scared, or too busy to adopt. Use the shifting landscape to change what you do, who you are, even what you look like. When I ask people why they didn’t use the months of downtime to start side hustles, learn a new language or get into shape they tell me that it was the uncertainty that prevented them from committing to something new. Well, now you know that was a mistake. So be ready this time around. 

2. Be decisive 

What went Wrong 

Part of the reason that we froze up this year was that we aren’t used to making decisions so rapidly. Unless you’re working in a start-up, a warzone or on wall street, decisions are a process. They’re analysed, interrogated and then gradually implemented. When Covid arrived there just wasn’t time to behave this way and as a result, you struggled to take meaningful action. Subsequently, you blamed 2020 for a lack of progress in your personal or professional capacity and vowed to use 2021 to make an impact. 

How to be Better

Take the gap. Recognise that in times like these it’s those with agility who are going to prosper. You’ve got plans, goals or even dreams hiding away up there. In 2021 you’re probably going to enjoy lower interest rates as well as more flexibility in your work life. But these phenomena won’t last forever. If you’ve got a passion project, now is the time to push play. And if you don’t then it’s time to use scenario planning (see below). 

3. Start Scenario Planning

What went Wrong 

The goals that we’d set ourselves in 2020 were based on things like current trajectory, personal capabilities, and an assumption that the global landscape would be generally unchanged. In our collective defence, it’s not easy to plan for a global pandemic. Most of us were caught with our pants down. If you think you were hit hard, imagine sinking your life savings into an MBA only to emerge a jobseeker during the worst global jobs’ crisis in your lifetime. We’re all reeling. If there’s a lesson to take, it’s in charting at least one path besides the one you’re planning to find yourself on. Because if you don’ have a plan B when something as dramatic and immediate as Covid arrives, all you can do is hold on until the storm passes! 

How to be Better

Plan for scenarios, using 2020 as a baseline. Rather than setting general, long term goals, focus rather on short-term, scenario-specific goals. For example, set your career goals according to different professional scenarios that you might find yourself in. A goal appropriate for another year of hiring freezes and budget cuts. A different goal in the event things are back to normal at half year. And one more in case the company bounces back by March. Do this in your personal and social life, too. Making progress in small, digestible ways is going to make you feel like you’re moving in the right direction. 

4. Rethink your Job

What went Wrong 

You were laid off, furloughed or had your salary reduced – and you had no answer. Just about every major industry was negatively impacted this year, so if your company took a hit, here are a few stats to make you feel better. Uber laid off 6,700 people. American Airlines 19,000. Disney, 28,000. The real problem was that you didn’t know that your role was dispensable, your company vulnerable, or your industry endangered. 

How to be Better

You should be asking two questions as you head into 2021. The first question is how hard did my company fight to protect my job in 2020? Was this an organisational priority, or were you made to feel like a resource? If the latter was the case, then chances are that you’re viewed as just that by the suits. And when the next global shock arrives (and it will) you’ll be treated as such. The second question is how resilient is my function, my company, and my industry in the face of global shocks like this one? I’m willing to bet that product managers at Uber felt pretty cushy in January 2020. Turns out, they were completely dispensable, and the company was totally exposed to major changes in consumer behaviour. 

If you’re in a position to make a change in the near future, try to ensure that your next role is in a specialist function and part of a well-positioned industry - good bets are FMCG, healthcare, government, tech.  

  5. Spend time with the people that count 

What went Wrong 

When global lockdowns arrived, we chose to stay close to our places of work. We thought that they might just need us back at the office in quick time once this was over, so we wouldn’t want to be stuck across country, right? As a result, many spent lockdowns in small apartments, connected to loved ones only by Zoom calls every few days. And isolationism kicked in.

How to be Better

This time around, base yourself wherever your loved ones are. They’ll support you, keep your spirits up, and help stave off fatigue and isolationism. Studies have shown how much more resilient we are when we’re supported by our tribe, so use them in this difficult time. Being close to your office is not the solution. In fact, it’s the problem. 

6. Travel smarter

What went Wrong 

Most of us had international travel plans scuppered this year as the world’s borders regularly swung between complete shutdown and partial closures. In the last decade, more travellers than ever before had opted to save as much as they could, and travel to globally celebrated locations. Rome, Paris, London, New York. As a result, when international travel was halted this year, there was an all-time high of long-ranging trips planned and paid for. 

How to be Better

Adopt a two-tier strategy. Tier one is local travel, which should be the first port of call. This carries a far lower risk of virus contraction and of trip cancellation, and also supports local business. AirBnB’s Brian Chesky predicted back in May that this local focus will ultimately lead to a long term ‘travel redistribution’ once travellers realise how much more value they can get out of local travel options. 

Tier two is for those desperate to travel abroad. It goes without saying that some countries are going to be safer options than others. Australasia and much of Asia are handling the pandemic better than the rest. Unfortunately, this means that they’re unlikely to let you in. So look to smaller, tourism dependent nations like the Seychelles who have recently begun bringing in tourists. Pay a little more for a flexible ticket, and there are great travel deals out there to be bagged. 

7. Take account of the things that go Right 

What went Wrong 

This year was traumatic, but the trauma and uncertainty made it very difficult to recognise what might have been going well – often unexpectedly well. I noticed that just about everyone was having a ‘tough year’ – even those who weren’t. Some were forced to cut their weddings to just 50 people. But this allowed them to cut out everyone that they’d been obliged to invite and rather celebrate with their closest friends. It also freed up enough cash to enjoy a dream honeymoon. Some were furloughed, which prompted them to start that side business. Now they’re back at work, with a functioning side hustle that they would probably never had got off the ground if not forced to do so. I had a year abroad cut in half, and an MBA program decimated. But as a result, I was able to spend twice as much time back home with my wife.  

How to be Better

Perspective is everything. Reflect on what’s gone well, as it happens. I’d suggest writing this down. Even the small stuff. Especially the small stuff. You’ll be amazed as how much there is to celebrate if you give yourself a chance. I’d bet that the things on your ‘Good’ list will at least offset those on your ‘Bad’. 

Where to from here?

2020 was about resilience, luck, and an ability to pivot. The winners were either well positioned when the chaos descended, or able to get themselves there in quick time. But 2021 will be a different ball game. 

2021 will be all about arriving in a position to prosper. You’ve caught your breath, and survived the first onslaught. It’s now time to harness what lies ahead. It’ll be much of the same, and you can bet that most will still be finding their feet. Come January, you need to be running. 

More important than any of these strategies is to start. Make a plan, set your goals, and write them down – because unless you do, they’re just dreams. The year you’re heading into is no place for lofty dreamers. It’s going to be tough. It’s going to let you down. But most of all, it’s going to require a game plan.