Coronovirus: 3 Things You Can Do Today

This week, the topic on everyone’s mind is COVID-19, or Coronavirus. Rightfully so, we are in the grips of something that is pretty-scary and is causing things that many of us have never encountered. I’m almost 50 and I have never seen the schools closed for 2+ weeks before. And there have only been a few times where travel has been greatly restricted or even halted. For me, I am learning to support clients via virtual meetings and phone conversations which is different than being there in person, but it is the prudent thing to do. Personally, my wife and I had trip planned to Europe at the end of May that was supposed to be our honeymoon. That of course is temporarily cancelled until we can figure it out. I’m not so worried about getting the virus as much as I am about getting quarantined somewhere in Europe for an extended period-of-time. That would be very disruptive.

Since we are in the middle of this damdemic, I thought it would be helpful to share some of the things we are talking about with our clients, some of the things we are being asked about and maybe some things that are on your minds as well. My hope is that we can share thoughts and ideas with each other so we can help each other get through this.

I know that this is a scary time, it is scary for all of us, but with that being said, I am reminded of the quote: “Adversity doesn’t build character, it reveals it.” So, since we are in the point of emergency, let’s show our character and talk about some of the things that you should consider doing to protect yourselves and your families. I’m not an epidemiologist so I can’t give you any advice about the actual Coronavirus, only some ideas for how to deal with the situation that we are all in. But please wash your hands thoroughly with warm water and soap. Often.

First, as obvious as it is to say, let’s show our courage and not lose our proverbial minds. It is a big situation and it is frightening, but now is the time for us to behave like leaders and set the tone for the folks around us both at home and at work. Being calm in the middle of a crisis is a fundamental requirement of Leaders so let’s all demonstrate it. Remember to breathe and focus on what is the next right thing that you need to do. You can’t fix the world if you are already out of control. So, what is the next right thing that you need to make sure to get done?

Next, I want you to consider how close to normal can you continue to operate? By this, I mean if you use outside help either at your office or at your home, please keep those things going if you can. If we all react and fire our trainers, stop going to the barber, fire the lawn team either at work or at home, that puts more pressure on the economy. The folks who we support when we go out to eat, work-out, shop, etc. count us to be there to support their companies. We need to recognize that we are in this together and when we pull together, we truly are at our best. When any of us lose our jobs, it pulls spending money out of the economy which will cost more jobs, which pulls more money out of the economy until it becomes a bit of an economic death spiral. I’m not saying be stupid and go buy 6 weeks’ worth of groceries, I’m saying try to keep your personal patterns as close to normal as possible. This will help you and those around you remain calm and stay as close to the regular routine as possible, and you will be doing your own little part to protect the economy as a whole.

Thirdly, please look for multiple sources of news. If you aren’t skeptical of the news in all its forms by now, I am not sure how you wouldn’t be. Whether you are, or are not, I encourage you to dig into whatever it is that you want to learn about or to verify things that you hear. I don’t understand why some humans get a kick out of misleading others, but it happens every day. Instead of taking things at face value or whatever you see on Facebook, please get curious and look it up from a few sources. The mainstream media gets paid based on how many viewers they have so they mistake of confusing their jobs of delivering the news into creating hysteria over whatever is in front of them to get more viewers to get more dollars of advertising. While no news source is without bias, I’m reading things put out by the CDC and the World Health Organization regarding COVID-19. While I am worried about the impact it will have on people, I think the hysteria makes things worse, not better.

While it is different than the others, I do want to remind you that we heard this same panic and hysteria over Bird-Flu, Swine-Flu, Ebola, Zika, H1N1, and several others over the last 20-years. It is a scary time, but we have seen things generally like this many times and we have persevered. Our best collective play is to be smart and take reasonable precautions, become educated and remain as committed to each other as we can.

I’d love to hear some of your other thoughts about what you are doing to deal with this situation.

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