I rather like the new normal.

I know that the last month or two have been strange for most us but hopefully we’re all settling into our new groove. 

One thing I like about this new world is the amount of effort if requires of me.  Last year in order for me to attend a conference I needed to register for the event, sometimes get a visa, book a flight and hotel, deal with airport security, figure out the public transportation from the airport … and on and on and on.  Until it was time to do it all in reverse.  It’s exhausting me just writing about it and I simply don’t have it in me to list the hundred other steps necessary.  But I don’t need to. You probably know them all too well.

In person meetings were a bit easier but only because the effort involved had become normalized.  Buy a car, maintain the car, or figure out how to public transportation, rent an office, furnish and maintain an office, wear a suit and heels, provide snacks and drinks, keep fresh flowers in lobby, set the date and time for us to meet, research and prepare for the meeting, confirm the date time, …. and on and on and on.  Again, I’m leaving out a bunch of steps and little tasks to large efforts.  But you know the drill. 

Now, I ask my clients to let me know the best date and time for me set up a Zoom call, I prepare for the meeting, confirm with them the date and time and send them the Zoom link, log on and get to work.  No heels or train stations necessary.  In fact this might just be the perfect answer for introvert who is cleverly disguised as an extrovert.

I hadn’t really though much about the first two scenarios.  They were just normal.  I didn’t measure the amount of time or energy either of them required because putting all that effort into working with clients was just what I did.  Part of the challenge of a worldwide shift is that all of us have to engage in new effort that we’re not used to. It’s nothing we asked for, and the old effort disappearing didn’t used to feel like much of a benefit.

But now? 

Although I do miss the first two versions of conferences and meetings, they were expensive, complicated and sometimes difficult processes.  This new normal has its own challenges for sure, but if new effort is required, we have the chance to do what we’ve always done in the resolution industry, which is figure out what works and to commit to it.

This is right in our wheelhouse.