2020 is almost over, and it’s been a heck of a year. I suspect that most of us never want to see its like again (which is the nicest way that I can say this …). But 2020 is also an opportunity of which we're well advised to take full advantage.
Some years teach you how to live and how not to live … and Lord knows that this has certainly been one of these kinds of years!
Accordingly, it behooves us to reflect deeply on this most challenging of chapters in our individual and collective lives, savoring the progress amidst unprecedented adversity as well as dissecting, learning from and committing not to repeat our missteps, however well intentioned. In the spirit of practicing what I preach, I’d like to share a brief overview of my analysis of this unforgettable year that I, too, wish that weren’t so much so:
A primary, if not the primary, learning that we can take from this year is the importance of living fully here and now while also planning carefully for the future. Not that this is the way that we want to be reminded of it, but 2020 has certainly highlighted the importance of prudent and preparatory planning in order to navigate life’s triumphs as well as its challenges and tragedies ... a particularly potent lesson for those of us who have lost friends and/or loved ones.
Further, this year has also served to remind us that we can often be and do far more than we imagine. Think about it: Both as an industry and as a business community, we’ve been touting the importance of both business continuity and the technological capability to be able to practice our profession remotely if necessary … and, then, thanks to a global pandemic that none of us saw coming and the likes of which none of us living had ever experienced before forced us to be able to work remotely in meaningful part virtually overnight.
We’ve been talking about needing to do this for years, and possibly even planning to be able to do so at scale in the next few years, but few if any of us realized both that we could do it virtually overnight and would have to do so, as we demonstrated back in March.
This brings to mind one of 2020’s greatest lessons: What other limits do we impose upon ourselves that may not be based in reality and/or that delay our progress unnecessarily? We went virtual virtually overnight: Surely, there are other breakthroughs that we can make proactively if we but seek them …
In this spirit, I’ll close this piece with the encouragement to adopt this practice of thoughtful reflection not only annually but more frequently. For some, you may choose to do this semiannually or even quarterly, while others of you may do so monthly. I’m confident that, whichever of these choices you make, you, the colleagues with whom you work and the clients whom you serve will all benefit from this practice.
And for those of you who have yet to make such a choice, I’ll share what the research proclaims so profoundly: Such reflection leads to the development and strengthening of a capacity for an experience of gratitude, which manifests itself in myriad positive ways both personally and professionally. After a year as challenging, and often harrowing, as this, don’t you want to live better and in a more fulfilled and grateful way?
Then, please, periodically, invest some time in thoughtful reflection: At worst, it’ll enable you to savor the victories that much more, and, at best, it’ll enable you to create ever more of them for yourself and for those for whom you care and serve.