When we
are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change
ourselves. – Viktor E. Frankl
As we have
progressed economically, we have started measuring our joy with what we
possess. External objects and experiences are ‘the cause’ of our happiness. We
also justify this approach as ‘normal’ and ‘obvious’. Therefore, when the
situation doesn’t measure up to our past expectation and experience, we feel on
edge. We feel our goals and dreams have blurred and even shattered by
uncertainty. The challenge of the downturn is both real and psychological.
The real challenges include matters such as cash crunch, difficulties in
getting things done, people backing out on commitments, disruption, and the
like. Such problems have actual consequences. These challenges require actual
resolution through skills, persuasion and patience.
On the other side, there are psychological
challenges which are the ‘real’ challenges (pun intended). They accentuate real
challenges with a sticky layer of fear and anger that smear our thinking. The
psychological challenges are constructed by thoughts, but since they are inside
us and are impulsive, they have more power over us.
Take the example of uncertainty relating to the
reduction of fees, loss of clients, clients folding up, looking for
alternatives, or loss of profit. These by themselves are actual real challenges
as they could result in cash flow issues. However, the ‘obvious’ anxiety about
it is like putting slimy dirt on a wound which makes it harder to cure.
The following pages carry nine wonderful articles
on the impact of Covid-19. So this longer editorial is dedicated to some
principles and practices to face challenging times with understanding and
resolve and make the most out of it:
1. Freedom
of Response
Viktor Frankl
spent three years in four Nazi concentration camps including Auschwitz. His
father, mother and brother were killed during that time. He saw people taken to
gas chambers knowing he could be next.
Viktor
survived to write one of the most influential books of our times – Man’s
Search for Meaning – where he wrote some of the most exceptional thoughts ever
expressed.
We who lived in concentration camps can remember
the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last
piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient
proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the
human freedoms – to choose
one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.
If we think
about it, we can’t change circumstances every time; however, we can choose our
response to them. The quality of our response can change our experience
completely. Viktor calls this the last of human freedoms. Most of us
would have seen this in the movie Life is Beautiful. Lives of the great
ones such as Mandela demonstrated it when he was in prison in a seven square
foot cell for 18 years with the floor as his bed and a bucket for a toilet.
Viktor wrote:
Life is never made unbearable by circumstances, but only by lack of meaning
and purpose.
2.
Gratitude
If you are
reading this, you are undoubtedly better off than millions of others who are in
a much worse situation than you are. Vala Afshar of Salesforce wrote: If you
have a family that loves you, a few good friends, good health, food on your
table and roof over your head, you are richer than you think.
If one were
to sit down and think of the blessings one has – caring people, events,
moments, things we have in varying measures deserve an appropriate response of
gratitude. What we take for granted or even disregard, is nothing short of a
blessing if we know how to value it. The feeling of gratitude is also
associated with a beneficial chemical effect – it activates a neurotransmitter
and hormone called dopamine which has a massive influence on both body and
brain.
3.
Acceptance
What is
can only be accepted. Just as one cannot deny the existence of a tree outside
the window, we cannot deny what is. Once we look at things this way and accept
them as they are – not how we feel about them or how we would want them to be –
a miracle unfolds. One comes out of psychological clutches. And acceptance does
not mean turning off effort. It means being in the right spot before the effort
to change the situation.
4. Cycle
of Impermanence
What we see
is there, but not forever. We have heard that change is permanent. The likeable
and resentful is temporary. Almost everything you have experienced or possessed
– age, people, time, health, money, people, objects – are subject to
impermanence.
Joy or sorrow
fades with time – be it a new house, a new car or new phone or a nasty notice
from the tax office. Transitory nature of things has a positive side, ?this too
shall pass keeps us going’ wrote a Chartered Accountant recently. All
unpleasant situations are more likely to pass, as movement is the nature of the
universe.
5.
Learning
My teacher
had once told me: If you keep learning, you will always remain young. Being
young means growing, fresh, curious and full of energy. Learning means staying
away from stagnation, in touch with the context and ever ready to face
challenges.
No one will
deny that this has been the best time to learn. Just look at the webinars
taking place on all topics all over the world. Look at the quiet time we have
at our disposal due to slow client response. Learning develops a learning
mindset, not just skills.
This is the most durable shield we have. The
lowest 20-30% of skills that are available for a charge today will vanish due
to low demand or technology takeover. Our existing saleable skill sets can
vanish too. Imagine Google with your permission throwing up a simple bank
summary or tax return based on reading what is there in your inbox. So we need
to learn the skills of the future to stay relevant.
We better up-skill
ourselves even if it is outside our existing area of interest or expertise.
Let’s broaden our spectrum and come out of that ‘specialised’ area and learn
about digital technologies, law, management, and new areas of practice. A great
idea is where we can blend two or three different areas.
6. Take
care of yourself
a. Meditate:
Just sit comfortably for 20-60 minutes with back upright, close your eyes and
do nothing. If thoughts come, watch them. If you need to hold on to something,
focus on the breath.
b. Exercise:
Take care of the body with three different types of exercises (health
permitting) – aerobic training (increase heart rate depending on age and body
parameters), strength training (work muscles, especially doable at home) and
flexibility training (yoga asanas).
c. Read:
Reading opens the mind to the perspectives and wisdom of others. Today we don’t
even have to read. The technology reads most written material, or we can see a
video of that subject. All of this for free or little cost. Find the most
encouraging authors and catch up with all that you wanted to read or listen to.
d. Thoughts
and Words: Watch the narrative inside the mind. Choose the track that is
uplifting and gives strength. Best way to find strength is to give comfort to others.
Use those that you would like to hear – words of strength, appreciation, and
care.
7. Act
It’s not
what you know, but what you do with what you know that counts. There is so
much one can do today without going anywhere, without spending money and with
little effort.
I have been
reading Naval Ravikant who writes: Doing something is better than doing
nothing. Doing something focused is even better. Doing something focused and
unique is even better. (Paraphrased)
We can do a
lot – master a subject, learn a health hack, update processes and policies,
take training, learn better communication, take on to writing and start a blog
or a YouTube channel, take online long duration courses, build something with
technology, overcome a bad habit, develop healthy new habits, check-in with
people and see how they are doing. And of course, the routine work.
8. Always
clean the light first
I heard an
African American tell her story. Since the age of twelve, she worked after schools
hours, cleaning homes and banks. On her way back from cleaning jobs, she would
talk to older women who did similar jobs at the bus stop. She asked them about
how to clean, what to clean, what were the best ways to clean.
One woman never took part in the conversation. But one day
she spoke: ‘Girl, always clean the light first. Always take care of the lights.
Every house when you go in has a big chandelier that nobody has cleaned. Get a
ladder, climb up to the light, take your solution and clean each crystal, each
bulb. Make sure you clean the light because nobody cleans the light, and if
you take care of the light, everything shines‘.
The young girl did exactly that on her next cleaning visit.
That day the woman of the house came out and asked: ‘What did you do?
Everything looks amazing in here!’ The husband came in the evening and said
whoever this girl is, get her back here and make sure you pay her extra.
That little girl, who is now a doctor, was telling her story
on a video, concluded: ‘There is a light inside each one of us that must be
nurtured. That must be cared for, that must shine brightly. That light hasn’t
been addressed, it hasn’t been talked to. We are given this time to take care
of this light.’
She is spot on! This inner light changes everything –
not on the outside, but the way we see it, and the way we feel. The reality is
‘shaped’ by this light within each one of us.
