It is February and feels more like spring than winter. Isn’t the sunshine wonderful? I am loving having daffodils and tulips in the house again. It is supposed to be the worst month but this year maybe it is going to be different. If you celebrate the Chinese new year then the year of the tiger sounds exciting. And of course half term is coming!
So what is on my mind.
Everyone said that life would never be the same again after the pandemic. Are you finding this to be so? We spoke about there being a need for more kindness and that we would use our time differently – doing more that we want to do and being less driven by others.
I am seeing more kindness on the surface but I think if you put people under any pressure they revert to being short tempered. I suspect some of this is about an underlying apprehension caused by the pandemic and still with us. Yesterday I was with a friend in a lift. All the lights went out and it stopped. Almost before we could get the torches on the lights came back and it started to move so no need to panic but my friend had pressed the emergency intercom and received no reply. All this made her very anxious and she wanted some answers when we got out. She is normally even tempered but this happening did not bring out her better side. I put that down to a level of stress which is the residual of lockdowns and virus. Do you recognise this in yourself?
Could it be that you were exercising and looking after yourself when we were in lockdown time? Now that has gone by the by and there is no where to put the stress of normal life plus the residual of Covid.
What about time? Are you using it in a different way to 2019 and before? I have taught time management and helped people with it for more years than I care to remember and can see some are sliding back into pre pandemic habits. Then yesterday I was reminded of what was possible.
The lift eventually discharged us at the right floor to see Belfast. Have you seen it yet? If not please find time to do so.
Kenneth Branagh wrote the film play during lockdown, it was made in 2021 and released in January 2022. I have never written a film so cannot imagine the amount of work, though it drew on his childhood so I imagine there was only fact checking to do rather than research. And maybe he had been thinking about it for years. OK he is Kenneth Branagh so maybe getting funding was not as hard or time consuming as it might be for others. He directed it so there was no need to look for anyone else. He had to cast it and OK most of the faces are well known and probably his friends. However he had to find a child actor to play Buddy. A boy who could carry the film whether it was at home playing , pursuing his first love (with granddad’s advice) or dealing with the horrors of the troubles erupting and then escalating. He auditioned 300 boys. He found Jude Hill who is an exceptional boy -what an amazing opportunity for him and didn’t he make the most of it. Then Ken Branagh had to make it.
Now this is what I call a lockdown project! Most of us were happy if we had turned out all our cupboards and painted the spare room. However many of us were more productive than normal and this was alongside working out how to get food, home schooling and the joys of being with our loved ones 24/7. We found time to have Zoom quizzes and dinner parties. We walked. We exercised with Joe Wicks. AND many of us worked from home and realised how much we could get done without office interruptions.
Now I am not suggesting that we should try to be Kenneth Branagh or overstretch ourselves as we were in the various lockdowns. However I wonder if we have reverted to previous – not so productive or satisfying – habits. Are you maintaining the lockdown habits that helped you? If so please tell me what they are.
Are you more focused because you have learnt that focus gets things done and gives you more time for other things? Are you better at working every day but not all day because work does not need to expand to fill a working day? Are you taking on new things and improving the balance in your life?
We all said we would use Zoom for the short meetings, the 1:2:1s, those that had to be done but where there was no time for travel. Are you sticking with that?
And what about travel? Fuel prices are soaring. Zoom works. Are you getting the balance right? Honestly how many of you have forgotten to factor travel time in and had to grovel? I think it must have happened to most of us at least once!
So the big question is are you more productive than you were? Are you more focused on what you want to achieve? Are you happier with your working life?
If not then perhaps we should talk. If as you read this it resonates with you or someone you might know; if you like my ideas and values; if you want to develop your business or yourself; then please give me a call. I love speaking with people, off the meter, to help them explore possibilities and whether/how to take them forward. If you want an objective view of how things are in your business pick up the phone now and let’s have a chat.