The Pandemic: Lessons Learned

"We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand." - Randy Pausch

Today is my birthday and last night I reflected on what my birthday was like a year ago. Then I thought back to what my birthday was like in 2019, pre pandemic.

Have you evaluated your life before the pandemic compared to now? What has changed for you personally and professionally? Has your career or how you operate your business been affected? Don’t turn a blind eye and hope everything goes back to normal, because a lot will not. Be someone that welcomes change and moves with it, not against it. Many times we resist change due to fear of the unknown.

I decided to make a list of all that has changed for me and the lessons learned. Then I looked at what is going to go back to some level of normal and what will not return to the old normal. I wanted to be realistic with myself.

Here are the lessons I’ve learned from the pandemic.

Remote work: The appeal of remote work is here to stay. For some the productivity may not be the same, yet others are more productive. For me, having a two and four year old at home, my work from home is not in the more productive camp.

When interviewing new people for our team, the work from anywhere options are going to need to be there. I’ve heard countless stories where people are accepting less money to work remotely. A pandemic could occur again. Be sure you are prepared this time around.

The love/hate relationship of Zoom: One of the most popular acronyms to emerge from the pandemic was Zoom. If you think about it, Zoom may have been the most vital tool to help us adapt to the pandemic. Schools were able to stay in session, businesses were able to still conduct meetings, and families had a way to see each other. It provided us the ability to see and talk live to other people.

We were able to leverage Zoom as another way to reach our clients. Instead of a traditional in-person, or over the phone method of meeting, this added another option. Now we find that many people prefer this method of meeting. It saves travel time for everyone. Going forward this is going to be a large part of how many meetings are held. The cost and time savings for companies is just too large for them not to be.

I love going out to dinner more than I thought: As many of you know my wife and I are full on foodies. We travel long distances for great food. As restaurants closed, it made me appreciate how much I enjoy going to restaurants. But it wasn’t so much the food I missed. Most places offered takeout, so you could still eat the food. I missed the experience.

My gym membership is gone: The start to my days were thrown for a loop when gyms closed. I used to drive to the gym every morning. So I turned to setting up an at home gym with a Peloton. It was a wonderful decision and I will not be going back to the gym. The amount of time saved is tremendous. No more driving to and from the gym. No more waiting for people to get done with equipment and hope they clean it off. According to this article from the WSJ on at home workouts vs gyms, I am not the only one who feels this way.

I quickly figured out a Peloton is not only a bike, it is also like having an at home trainer of your choice for whatever type workout you want. The streaming service has both live and on demand recorded sessions for strength, yoga, cardio, cycling, bootcamp, outdoor running and meditation. In addition to letting our gym membership go, I got rid of the calm app for meditation and down dog app for yoga. After realizing all of this I bought shares of Peloton stock. Can you blame me?

Don’t try and time the stock market: The stock market bottomed on March 23rd of last year, falling 37%. Since that point the S&P 500 has rallied in a straight line up to new all time highs. Who could have predicted new stock market records during a pandemic? What we can all learn from this is to just stay invested and focus on the long term. Make your investing automatic each month and just keep investing.

Evaluate the future of your business or career: The average person spends 1/3 of their life working, 1/3 of their life life sleeping, and 1/3 of it is your free time. With 1/3 of your life spent working, make sure you are doing something that you love. If you don’t love what you are doing or have lost your desire for it, start making a change now.

Start tackling your bucket list: I’ve had a bucket list written out for many years. During the pandemic I made the decision that I’m going to start checking items off my list. I’ve completed two things and soon will complete a third. My goal is to finish the two remaining items by the end of next year.

How many items fill your bucket list? Have you even made out a bucket list? What are you waiting for? Do you feel the need to waste more time? Start checking items off your bucket list. If you’ve learned anything from the pandemic, it should be not to wait any longer to get things done.

How are you playing the cards that you were dealt?

Full Disclosure: I am an investor in Peloton.