The Moods During COVID – What Made Me Get Better
I read somewhere - Be fearless in what sets your soul on fire. And then COVID happened and it set my soul on fire with a good amount of fear and discomfort and I will not shy away from that. This difficult situation has brought in a different shade of perspectives in people which I observe as more cohesive and collaborative.
Here are some moods I observed in myself during the past few months.
Empathy – learning more about teamwork from home and applying the same at home and work. Managing home, children is not at all an easy task. Be it joint family, nuclear family or singles living alone, everyone has challenges and daily chores. In past few months, I learnt a deeper sense of how better we can contribute daily at a micro level. Be it making a cup of tea of my wife, washing utensils once a day, or changing baby diaper. Be it listening to a colleague’s problem without interrupting, finding a solve or handle a complex conversation. None is these are possible without conscious empathy and I am still imbibing more of it.
Approachability – I made myself more approachable to my team and I did like to believe so. This is a factor in big in leadership and in personal life as well. If one is not approachable and not even cognizant about it, it is an impediment to growth. In the so called new normal of working from home, it needs a deeper sense of responsibility towards your team. It is not only about work problems, at times all a colleague needs is this – ‘don’t worry, I am there, all will be well’. I feel good to have recognized this during these months even more. So, picking up the phone to communicate and not making judgements or assumptions, is the key.
Just Noticeable Daily Improvement – I realized that a bunch of us go through JNDI by observing ourselves and daily environment, but we don’t seem to talk about it much. One key thing that I observed and learnt is ‘the way we communicate’ and not just communicate. At times our choice of words and tone does not support our conscious intent, hence work from home has made me more bent towards contemplating my conversations – be it calls or emails and how I can keep improving,
Discovering More – I have discovered how to better my attention span whole working from home as at home there are distractions. The good part is, there is no travel time, so I start early, wrap up back logs, make my to-do list, keep a note of any anticipated challenges during the day and prepare accordingly. I have a heavy breakfast so that I can have a working lunch in a small bowl that just keeps me away from that hunger pang. I charge all my devices once early morning and ensure I keep my spine as straight as possible while sitting during work. Early morning, I also ensure to listen to natural sounds – birds chirping and breathe in the incoherent sound of the morning air.
Recognize and Accept – I am firm believer of constant learning and I have my share of improvement areas. I also keep doing a SWOT analysis for myself once every quarter. This is a 30min thought through exercise and I map it against my previous chart. This exercise has always helped me to get better at getting better. Recognizing and accepting to improve needs no coaching.
EET – Whoever I ask, we are all aware, however we do not pay much attention. Although all organs, parts of our body are as important, however, in our daily work our Ear, Eyes and Throat go through a daily rigour. Ears are constantly listening to information; Eyes are constantly looking at some screen or other and our voice can handle conversations with confidence. So, since I am an early riser, I spend an hour every morning with a regime to get my EET in order for the day. Well, nose as well with some deep breathing.
