Finding the Good in Bad Times (AKA 2020)

January
23, 2021

4 min learn

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their very own.

Pricey 2021: I don’t need any hassle from you. Simply are available in, sit within the nook, don’t contact something and preserve your mouth shut.

I ended 2020 with a humorous social media graphic containing the above message. Though it was pithy and fairly humorous, there is a vital flip aspect to this sentiment. That flip aspect begs the query, “what did we personally be taught from 2020?” I believe that query is necessary to contemplate.  Complaining concerning the issues that went horribly flawed is straightforward. Discovering the optimistic in troublesome conditions just isn’t. I imagine that discovering the gems in life is the easiest way to maneuver ahead efficiently.

Associated: Why 2021 Could Be the Best Year For You to Start a Company

I discovered an ideal deal from 2020. Listed here are my seven takeaways.

1. Microdose the news! I discovered to get what I wanted to know from information apps and to not obsess about issues by watching the information hour after hour. Unfavorable information sells and the media has change into the grasp of sharing damaging information (technically, it’s now opinions as a lot, or extra, than precise information).
2. One useful lesson I noticed concerned a person who informed me he was capable of preserve his job however that he needed to earn a living from home. He additionally wanted to take care of his youngsters and assist to maintain them on activity for his or her schoolwork. The double responsibility pressured him out. Throughout our dialog, he realized his state of affairs was really a chance to spend rather more quality time together with his younger youngsters. Though this was difficult, it is perhaps a time interval they give the impression of being again on with fondness due to the experiences they’d collectively. When he embraced this concept, his imaginative and prescient of the state of affairs utterly modified. That was a lesson I hope many others with youngsters skilled.
3. I witnessed focus beating out worry for a lot of entrepreneurs. When individuals are frozen by worry, they haven’t any hope. However when worry provides them focus, they not solely have hope however are more likely to climate the storm. Hope is extra highly effective than worry. Hope is that little voice inside you whispering to you what “may be” when everybody round you is screaming about “what can’t be.” Hope plus a plan plus motion will lead you efficiently by way of challenges.
4. I discovered that in troublesome instances your community shall be there for you. I noticed individuals assist one another emotionally and professionally. I witnessed individuals give each other concepts that saved their enterprise alive and thriving. Two of the very best examples included the furnishings re-upholstery store that turned a Covid masks manufacturing firm and a brewery that turned a Covid hand sanitizer firm.
5. I discovered that for those who wait till powerful instances are over, your small business shall be over. Throughout troublesome instances, you want your community greater than ever. Social distancing is the flawed perspective; bodily distancing is what was crucial. We’d like to be extra social than ever! I noticed profitable companies activate their community and never abandon it.
6. I discovered that I might journey the world with out getting on a airplane. I’ve 2.3 million miles on one airline alone! It was a present to have the ability to spend months with my spouse at house. It was the longest time period we had collectively in our 31 years of marriage. I’ll endlessly be pleased about that.
7. Lastly, I discovered that buddies are extra necessary than ever. The standard of the individuals in your life (or in your room as I name it in one in all my books), will decide the standard of your life. 

For me, that final lesson was profound. It was a troublesome 12 months for me, because it was for many individuals. However I got here out of 2020 with a clearer imaginative and prescient of who my buddies are and who really cares about me as an individual.

Associated: Entrepreneurial Takeaways From 2020 to Guide Your Next Big Move

I’ll endlessly be glad about that. So, I counsel that you simply not utterly write off 2020 and erase the 12 months out of your reminiscence banks. As a substitute, think about what you discovered from final 12 months. What was one thing optimistic that you simply discovered or took away from probably the most difficult 12 months in current historical past? Give some thought to this query and write down your observations. I imagine that sort of reflection will allow you to acknowledge the great that happened throughout a troublesome 12 months.