Quick Throw Back — 2020 & 2021

2022 has begun. I asked a lot of people how their 2021 was and what they look forward to in 2022 wishing them a great year ahead. But I had not taken the time to sit back and think of my year. Actually, time has gone past in such a way that I have not been able to really distinguish between 2020 and 2021. The pandemic somehow has smudged the borders of the years for me. So, I cannot really remember if my journey was for 2021 or just from the time the pandemic hit. Nevertheless, a retrospection did make sense and so I did go back into my memory lane.

It was hard to recollect exact instances as so many things have happened, but it was all overshadowed by the fact that we were in the midst of the pandemic. I had not heard of so many deaths in a row nearly any time in the past. Not everything was due to Covid, there were also several non-covid instances. Somehow it all just came together. I was also part of grievances sessions where I saw how differently each person was affected by the losses they faced. This made me realize the volatility of life beyond just social media messages. This was for real.

This hard reality helped me spiral into action. The last 2 years have been transformative for me (as for many others). I am not going to list what I did, but what I learnt is this

1. Agility: anti fragile Vs resilience (heard it in a training and then read it in the book Ikigai) — times have changed and we need to be able to break down activities into smaller chunks and deliver focused work. Lots of responsibilities with work and home all at one place. Agility at its peak only will lead to success
2. We are not invincible or irreplaceable. Company will replace us and so will our family (we cannot expect people to not move on with their lives). But that does not mean we don’t do our best when we are in the role or in whatever we do. We should still strive for excellence. It is important to then see how we differentiate ourselves from anyone else in that place. our niche skills need to be coming out bold and strong no matter who it is for or what it is for
3. Attitude/intent/energy must be right- because that is what results in how we do what we do rather than the work itself. If we are anyway going to do something, why not do it with the right energy attitude intent
4. Plan ahead — for the day , for the week, for the month knowing that a plan is always iterative and needs revisit. But that does not mean we go without a plan. Even for 2 week software deliveries, we need to have planning to know what backlogs we will pick up next, we still need a portfolio, a release backlog, a sprint backlog. Planning is the key undoubtedly

5. Set goals and milestones — if we don’t know what we want to achieve, when we get some free time we are wasting it on unnecessary activity. If we don’t have deadlines, we are procrastinating. Because there are not the committed goals, we don’t move towards achievement. But, never use it as a self-pity topic when things don’t go well.

6. Replace work life balance with integrated life. There is nothing called balance, it all comes down to how well we can weave it together to make a beautiful basket that can hold us.

7. Spirituality or what we call mindfulness is essential. The sooner we get it, the sooner we learn to cope with life happily and achieve better. It is not something to be done when we are 60+ and finished with all responsibilities. Responsibilities never get over.

I look forward to a 2022 where we are able to get away from the fear of a disease and move around as the normal social beings that we were, just a bit wiser!