The next smallest action
NSW has taken its first big step in emerging from their time in lockdown. In my location in Victoria, that will also start to occur over the coming weeks. Our thoughts are already starting to look to that future when more of our freedoms are returned.
As we become allowed to piece together our lives again, our relief and excitement will be immense:
Summer is upon us and our appetite for fun and carefree days is unquenchable. No doubt we are all hankering for “the best holiday ever”
We want our kids to get back to school and have a smashing final term, for some their final term of school ever.
Getting our families together around a table again – in the flesh - will fill us with pure happiness.
No doubt we will want to make up for lost time and throw ourselves back into everything we have missed.
Many people will be able to finally put their business back into action. Many businesses will be overrun with pent up demand – something they sorely need. But this will ‘demand’ plenty from the business owner too – in some cases, going from being idle for so long to immediately overworked.
Put simply, if we are not careful, we may substitute one set of overwhelming circumstances for a new set of overwhelm. As we emerge from lockdown, it feels like we are still going to need to keep our resilience up at a high level.
In a recent article for the ABC clinical psychologist Leisa Aitken recently likened our challenge to that faced by Bears when they come out of hibernation and discussed what we could learn from them:
“ …in the first few weeks out of their lockdown, they go through a stage known as "walking hibernation": they still sleep more, don't eat much, and don't roam very far. They naturally and sensibly ease into the transition of normal bear life — slowly.”
In Victoria, I feel that these next coming weeks might be some of the most challenging of all. It’s a feeling of ‘so close – yet still so far away’. There might be some value to using these few weeks to consider how best to approach the transition and to make some deliberate intentions:
For example, of all the new habits forced upon us through lockdown, are there any that you would wish to preserve? Without a deliberate intention to keep them, these simple habits might be engulfed immediately.
Have you been managing home school for your kids? Are you are about to get many hours back? Perhaps there might be value in resisting the need to immediately fill those hours. Give that well- deserved ‘free time’ as a gift to yourself (for a couple of weeks anyway).
Are you a business owner? When your business reopens you might be tempted to say yes to all comers, in an effort to justifiably restore your financial security. But this might push you and your staff to the limit. How can you manage this transition in a sustainable way? One that sets up a lengthy and solid pipeline of business with happy and fulfilled customers.
Feeling like your life goals have been treading water? We might be tempted to ramp up these goals and take on too much too soon. Once again, a steady and sustainable version might be more appropriate.
In summary, the coming months have a potential to cause a huge amount of over stimulation. There is great value in coming out of this transition at your own pace.
Don’t take on too much - too soon.
Keep it simple.
March to your own beat.
Focus on the next smallest action.
*Sketch by Carl Richards - Behavior Gap