When we’re young many of us have a materialistic vision of success. With maturity and age, we realize what matters most is our health, family, relationships, and community. 

Prior to the pandemic most of us were living a fast life. We felt fast was necessary in order to keep up. We can find examples of this in our communication styles, eating preferences, shopping and delivery choices, and other daily habits. In the quest for speed, we made sacrifices. Sacrifices came in the form of quality, processes, relationships, community, and health. 

While the pandemic has moved us inside it hasn’t forced all of us to slow down. For some of us, it has the added responsibility of home-schooling or child-care. For others, there are increased responsibilities to keep bills paid and everyone healthy.

However, if you look there is an increase in community support and relationship bonding. 

• Families and friends connecting Zoom for weekly conversations. 
• Neighbors creating encouraging signs in their windows and with sidewalk chalk. 
• Communities cheering out their windows for healthcare workers at 8pm. 
• Businesses designating times for elderly shoppers. 
• Work teams having a more relaxed protocal with children and pets being part of Zoom calls. 

I believe we’ve been given an opportunity to reevaluate what is most important to us. A blank slate to redefine what matters most for ourselves, our families, communities, and our business. How will we use it? Will we use it to focus and build what matters most?

It takes 66 days to create a new habit. 

Here in Illinois, we’ve been in “shelter-in-place” since March 13, 37 days. One of the new habits my family has developed is Sunday chats. We’re spread out across states and countries. It is nice for everyone to see each other and my parents love it. I hope we keep this habit.

What are the actions we can take to make the most of this opportunity? What is important to you? Below are questions to help you get started. There is no one size fits all answer.

Personal Success

• What does good health look like for you? How can you improve your sleep?
• What steps do you want to take to guard your emotional and mental well-being?
• What relationships do you want to nurture? What boundaries do you want to put in place?
• What previous commitment or obligation no longer serves you?
• Is it necessary to keep up with trends and the Joneses? 😉 What do YOU want to do?
• What community organizations or neighborhood businesses do you want to support?
• How can we explore our creative genius with projects that are purely for expression not for income?
• What do you want your new daily routine to include?
• What do you want to slow down and make time for?

Professional Success

• What relationships do you want to strengthen with your team, peers, clients?
• Where can you communicate clearer?
• How can you help your team do their jobs better?
• What previous commitment or obligation no longer serves your business?
• What steps can you take with your team to improve the company culture? 
• What would happen if we placed a higher priority on relationships than analytics?

How we choose to look at and take advantage of this time is up to us. I’m optimistic (yet realistic) about this time. I believe the pandemic will allow us to prove what we’re capable of, generate innovative ideas, and create stronger bonds among us.

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Your Turn

What has the pandemic made you reassess about priorities and success?