The year 2020 is finally coming to an end. To say this year had its ups and downs would be at best an understatement, and at worst, plainly wrong for all of us who had more downs than ups.
The year 2020 is finally coming to an end, and we are in a position to look back. And boy did it not teach us so much!
So, without further ado, let us take a look at the lessons 2020 taught us, professional ones as well as about life in general.
There is Never a Wrong Time to Learn Something:
It is always, always a good idea to keep learning, to keep upskilling, to keep upgrading.
You never know which skill or skillset you might have to end up using. Tons of people of the older generation who learned about new technologies and got a hang of it before the pandemic (and the Zoom meetings) hit us must have felt thankful towards their past selves. Similarly, tons of new graduates who got very limited opportunities at internships and training this year must have heaved a sigh of relief when they would have realised that the one-month certificate course they took up randomly to pass time was the reason they got selected.
Always be Prepared, but you can never be prepared Enough:
It is good to be prepared. Having plan Bs and plan Cs is a good idea. Like we talked about in one of our previous articles, in a VUCA situation like this, being prepared for the worst-case scenario is necessary even when you feel like the odds are really low. You never know.
But it is also something paradoxical about the VUCA situation which makes any amount of preparedness inadequate. And it is during these times that it becomes necessary to be flexible, and be ‘prepared’ to change plans, professional or personal.
The year was all about being flexible and adaptable.
It’s Not in Your Head, the Fatigue is Real:
A lot of us found ourselves working from home during this time. Initially, we might have been happy to ditch the commute, and attend meetings in pyjamas. We were happy to have time for ourselves. But before we knew it, work started to take over our homes. The line between work hours and hours of leisure began to blur; the days seemed to be merging into each other, with each day looking the same.
Overwork and exhaustion lead to burnouts, and it is not something to be taken lightly. Whether you are at home or at the office, it is necessary to take breaks, and not feel guilty for not working all the time. The year 2020 taught us that fatigue is real, and it is not always about making excuses. It taught everyone to look out for their colleagues, to communicate, to celebrate as and when they can, however small the achievement might be.
Everything can be Figured Out:
As the title of the book by Marie Forleo says it all, ‘Everything is Figureoutable’. This is probably the biggest takeaway from 2020. We thought we would not be able to take the stress, the sudden changes in our lives, the sudden worries about our loved ones, the sudden joblessness or the suddenly hectic routine, whichever side of the coin you found yourself on.
But here we are. Despite the losses we suffered this year, despite the crashing of plans, despite the vulnerabilities we found ourselves faced with, we have made it. We found the compromises; we found the middle grounds. We accepted the situation, and we tried to remain as grateful as we possibly could.
We are more prepared than ever to keep going. We have no illusions about the coming year, and we are ready to take it head on. Everything can be figured out, indeed.