Restructuring Perspective: Adjusting to The New Normal, Remote Work, and Beyond
Over the past couple of months, we’ve collectively lost quite a bit. We’ve lost concerts, sports, birthday celebrations and weddings. Mani-pedis and haircuts, places of worship — in all their various forms and locations, and places of community. Bakeries, coffee shops, bookstores, libraries, restaurants. Academic institutions and creative spaces, museums and corner stores. Places that have housed decades of memories and influenced lives in ways that transcend time and space.
Most profoundly, and tangibly felt, are the lives and jobs that have been universally lost, and for that, we must grieve. We have to acknowledge the grief and reconcile with the loss of what we’ve always understood life to be — the luxury of predictability. However, while this loss is difficult, it is profoundly meaningful. It has unified and banded the world in an unpredictable way.
As we move to recover and use this now common thread to create a world more suited for who we have become and want to be, we must actively try to be kinder to ourselves and one another, especially in professional contexts — keeping in mind that the only way out is through.
Here are four quick tips to maintain perspective and ease the adjustment to our changing work environment:
1. Experiment and observe
While some of us may have looked at peers that were remote workers with envy, many of us did not anticipate the overwhelming truth that working from home, suddenly and seemingly indefinitely, is actually jarring. It’s easy to go from bed to laptop and get lost in an endless array of Zoom meetings and emails. Experimenting with different routines that distinguish the beginning and end of your work day from the rest of your day can help you observe the impact of different schedule structures on your performance, productivity, mental health, and physical wellbeing. Scheduling pockets of time for breaks during the work day can help interrupt monotonous periods of sitting and allow you to shift your focus and attention on other pieces and parts of your day. And finally, be both patient and diligent with yourself as you physiologically and physically create a new way of life and living.
2. Communicate
Work with your managers, teams, and colleagues to identify and provide multiple means of sharing information, questions, and concerns. Figure out how often and on what channels or platforms work best for what context. Share what your preferred methods of communication are, in order of urgency and importance. When is it appropriate to Slack, call, email, or text? Help yourself and those around you confidently and comfortably establish an understanding of how you will be exchanging information during this time. Use emojis every once in a while. Why not?
3. Practice a growth mindset
Approach as many situations, personally and professionally, as opportunities. Opportunities for discovery, opportunities for change, and opportunities for growth. Look at this experience as a chance to challenge yourself in a new environment and expand your capacity. If you are fortunate enough to still be working during these difficult times, understand that you are developing and adapting every day -- this shift in perspective can help reconcile any change, especially those which we can’t control.
4. Plan for the future
Understand the impact of this crisis on your role, field, company and industry. Prepare, personally and professionally for additional disruptions and changes to your work -- whether in the form returning to work, quarantining for longer, or general access to resources. Be sure to understand your company’s business continuity plan or inquire about one from your place of work. This will help create a sense of security and support as you continue to anticipate and manage the various impacts of change throughout this epidemic/pandemic/global health crisis/unprecedented/unexpected/unpredictable change.
You can do this. May the odds be ever in our favor.
