Elon said what most of us think on a daily basis.
There’s definitely no good thing around panicking, but looking for the bright side is psychologically proven to help us.
From the beginning of this situation, many of us thought and maybe still think that this virus brings good things with it. If you’ve read and got way too many negative-close-to-apocalyptical news around all the mess it’s making, let’s try to see things from a slightly more positive perspective.
The way the Coronavirus spreads forces us to rethink a lot of our actions. And if we start to rethink things, it means we are closer to other words that also start with re like:
restart, resurrect, reset, reshape, reinvent
There’s always growth in pain. And there’s always opportunity for creation in destruction. (Mark Manson)
People start to breathe better air
An image of the pollution of China clearing up got viral. The reason for better air? Manufacturing hit its lowest level.
Air-travel also decreased substantially like mostly all kind of travelling. All of us will benefit from this a bit more than the short-term happiness travelling abroad brings us. If we also think about how we humans react when confronted with abstinence, I can add to this, that it will also bring back the joy of travelling when we will finally be able to do it.
We might do it more consciously as well?
The future of work is having a big momentum
There were so many pros and cons around remote work, that it felt like the evolution of modern-day work might just stop and agree to disagree forever on this topic.
In order to help contain the virus most of the companies are forced to embrace remote work and …make it work! Things might never go back to how they used to be after this passes, but it also underlined how fragile the gig economy is, on how many other workers we rely on in order to work differently and how important it is to be able to go out after hours and be social.
Productivity increased for some, for others might just be proof that they need to be micromanaged and some managers might learn to loosen up and adjust their skills.
Leadership needs a refresh
A distinctive feature of enduring companies is the way their leaders react to moments like these. Your employees are all aware of COVID-19 and are wondering how you will react and what it means for them. False optimism can easily lead you astray and prevent you from making contingency plans or taking bold action. Avoid this trap by being clinically realistic and acting decisively as circumstances change. Demonstrate the leadership your team needs during this stressful time. Great piece written by an HR who puts human back into HR.
Consumerism/Travelling/Education will change
They are changing as we speak, so to say. We already are consuming and travelling less, because there’s uncertainty in the air and because we are not allowed to do much. We mostly wear our PJs, use fewer cosmetics and don’t really go out of the house.
We might make time to rearrange our closets, so chances are higher to fall in love with pieces we forgot we own. We are forced to rediscover our city and enjoy more of our neighbourhood and the presence of our friends.
Who knows, once we realize how to make the most of what we already have we might keep the newly formed habits and become more sustainable?
Growth is unquestionably good for human development, we simply need a different kind of growth that is better for the environment, not less of it. — Degrowth shouldnt scare businesses
We start questioning systems that we got so used to, that we never asked ourselves why they work or if they can be improved. Now we also have the chance to figure out how to make other systems work better, to redesign and modernize.
Online courses, smart content, home-schooling are becoming necessities with schools closed down. Teachers have to refresh their methods as well in order to stay relevant. Parents spending more time with their kids also helps.
Coronavirus affects all of us. We all experience it professionally and personally in different ways, but it will affect us in the long run...
The approach towards it is a cultural matter favouring economic stability versus health. The most feared scenario is another economic crisis, which although in this case seems unhealthy because it is induced by a virus, it is a normal reset that will have a healthy overall result.
We sort out which businesses are actually creating value for society and which ones are just leeching off the rest of us. Mark Manson
We should care more about the why behind all of our actions, about how to create more value, and about our impact on the environment and the others.
If we start thinking about solutions instead of focusing on increasing exponentially the problems it causes, we will be able to create a better world and offer us a rebirth.
During this period when the Coronavirus pressed pause on our life, here’s a list of some of the positives that we can and should:
- slow down and understand more about what’s around us.
- use our time better and get to do more of what we’ve been postponing.
- become more patient — not by choice, but because we have to, and learn to improvise when we can’t plan.
- learn to listen, to research, to analyse.
- realize that we are human and start acting more human towards the others because we are affected by the same thing.
- learn to ask for help and help others.
- find the balance and realize that exaggerations are never good.
- make smaller, better-calculated steps.
- make regular changes and become more creative.
All of these will add up and benefit us more in the long term, it will result in better systems and it will make us more human.
Also, we definitely made it clear to everyone, no matter where or how we grew up, that not washing hands can be deadly.
Very good articles that you might wanna read to keep seeing the positives in this horror movie we’re all actors in (my quotes also come from these pieces):
Mark Manson’s Mothef* Monday Newsletter
We are witnessing the emergence of consumer-driven de-growth
