2020 has been a wild ride, yes?
Stay-at-home orders created 24/7 family togetherness and with it, shifting priorities. While helping with ‘doing school from home’, my newsletter and blogging here went from a nice, neat monthly publication schedule to…. let’s say ‘sporadic’.
For families – and for businesses – changing priorities are a given. But this year has us all evaluating our priorities a bit differently and many of us have pivoted from what we planned for 2020 to something much different.
The Montessori schools I work with saw their usual spring focus on September enrollment pivot to addressing state mandates for group size, emergency child care licensing requirements, and sanitation. With that, my business pivoted to a laser-beam focus on supporting those clients who have been impacted and overwhelmed by COVID-19.
Shifting priorities can be good and healthy things. We often come out stronger, more focused, and more successful. But change is easier to manage if we make sure that we are taking care of ourselves, using the circumstances as a growth opportunity, and reaching out for help when needed.
Self-Care
Taking care of ourselves, by eating right, getting enough sleep, and making time for leisure and friends, helps reduce the physical effects of stress and anxiety. Stepping away to be alone, walk in the woods, or simply relax in a lawn chair helps us recharge and regroup. Every other week this summer I’ve taken my tribe of teens to the woods for two nights of camping. We hike, play card games at the picnic table, and cook over the open fire. But mostly, it gets us into an alternative environment (and off of the internet) for 48 hours. Which has done us all a world of good.
Growth
Shifting priorities provide an opportunity to grow, both personally and professionally. Changes in focus often come with the need to learn something new. I was doing video conferencing long before Zoom arrived on the scene. But when the world moved online last March, video conferencing rose to a whole new level. Not only are we learning how to hold more effective virtual meetings, the focus on gathering online rather than in person has opened up opportunities to reconnect with far away friends and family. We now enjoy a weekly ‘happy hour’ with some and have dropped in at ‘virtual church’ across the country with others.
Reaching Out
Pivoting business priorities don’t have to be handled alone. Making the needed changes is easier with help. As your priorities shift, your website and social media presence need to shift with it. If you haven’t reviewed the ‘about us’ statements on your website and social media accounts yet this year, now is the time. Are your statements still accurate and relevant? Do you need to tweak your branding to reflect our current reality? Do you need to be marketing more or scaling it back?
If you’re not sure how to answer that last question, reach out and let’s chat – I’m here to help.
