The Gift of Unexpected Time
“Every cloud has a silver lining” as the saying goes. The coronavirus pandemic has cast a dark cloud over just about everything we see and hear today and I don’t wish to trivialize the toll it’s taken on people’s lives including sickness, death, financial distress and widespread fear. These are certainly consequences of this hideous disease and I can’t wait, like everyone else, for it to be over. I’m simply looking for a silver lining.
As I canceled the remainder of my flights, hotels, conferences, customer visits, and business meetings, I was suddenly left staring at a virtually blank calendar. What to do? I can’t recall experiencing this except perhaps in between jobs in my career. It’s strange. It’s uncomfortable at first glance. I’m not used to having time. Or maybe, just maybe if I’m bold enough to admit, I’ve been too busy at being busy for a long time. Busy has always been a convenient alibi for deprioritizing, consciously or not, things that I could’ve been doing to improve my business performance, maintain relationships, make new ones, get healthier, help others and more. So I’m making a list, to start with, of my business to-dos and it starts like this:
- Organize my desktop – physically and digitally
- Set up virtual appointments and web proposals – did one yesterday and it was awesome while saving a day of travel and expenses. I think the customer appreciated it (fingers crossed)
- Improve our presentations and content
- Conduct virtual performance appraisals with my team
- Listen more – actively
- Make more sales calls – prospects are stuck in the office or at home as well
- Make more proposals
- Sign more deals
- Enjoy quality family time – yes, its business!
So now is not a time to dwell on the negative and, while not being Pollyannish, focus on the things I can do versus what I can’t do under the present circumstances. What’s your silver lining?
