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COVID-19: the gift of time and space
A caveat: As a mom to two girls, ages 12 and 9, I feel for parents who are currently working a double-shift— simultaneously trying get work done and adjusting to working from home while also homeschooling / entertaining their children. This article about the gift of time and space will likely evoke frustration or jealousy for those not working the double-shift. If you’re trying to just make it through the day without erupting at your partner or kids… you’ve got plenty on your hands right now.
It’s been a week of shelter-in-place for us in San Francisco. As a friend, as a neighbor, and as a leadership coach, I’ve been getting most of my energy this week from service. Service for me is spending more time with clients, leading support calls with friends, and doing group coaching for a variety of my communities. Most of my day-to-day work is remote, other than the now-canceled in-person workshops and speaking engagements. I’m grateful that I’ve already been able to learn to adjust with working from home and developing meaningful connections with people over video conference.
Right now, all routines have become completely up-ended. Everything is seemingly out of our control. We don’t have the luxury of going out to dinner, meeting up with friends in a bar, going to the gym, or watching movie or plays. As a leadership coach, I often point out that my biggest competition is the status quo. COVID-19 is currently disrupting that. Now our daily routines feel uncertain and out of our control. This is an opportunity to re-examine regular habits and schedules. Typically, these habits are engrained within us, and we are stuck in existing patterns. It’s hard to identify areas that we want to be different in our life, where we want to learn and grow. What if this social distancing could be a trigger? What if we use the gift of time and space to experiment with our lives?
If you have the gift of extra time and space, how do you want to take advantage of it? Consider 4 areas of exploration: Make, Learn, Think, and Connect. I guarantee it’ll be more fun than watching more news!
1. Make
Have there been projects or things you’ve been wanting to create but have never had the time? For many designers, there’s the side-projects we always want to do. Personal projects whether…
