Now that the pandemic is in the rearview mirror, people are starting to get out and resume their public lives. I don’t know about you but the pandemic was especially hard for me because it limited my in-person interactions with my friends and family. As humans, we are social creatures made to exist in community. I have heard countless stories of how suicide rates, alcohol consumption, depression and anxiety skyrocketed over the last couple of years. Many of my friends lost love ones to the coronavirus and it can be scary getting back out there.
I have good news and bad news (I’m a bad news first kind of guy). The bad news is there is more change and uncertainty ahead but the good news is that we can navigate those storms easier by implementing what we’ve learned over the last two years.
What lessons did the pandemic and quarantine teach you both personally and professionally?
As the dust has settled my in person speaking engagements have increased dramatically. I am very grateful and at the same time my eyes are on the horizon anticipating the changes ahead. One of my sought after presentations is titled Prepared for the Unknown where I share stories of my time in the SEAL teams and talk about the ways we were prepared as Navy SEALs to face all the obstacles we were confronted with. We had back up plans to our back up plans and we were constantly strategizing of what could go wrong on our missions. What we like to say: “ we hope for the best and plan for the worst.”
As we look ahead at the uncertainty of the future in the financial, professional, personal and global landscapes, let us not be paralyzed by a fearful mindset but instead let’s take our lessons learned over the last two years and apply them to be more adaptable and resilient.
