Summer is here if you can believe it. And while 2020 was the year that would never end, 2021 appears to be the year that will be over before it really had a chance to begin. After 15 months of nothing being normal, it feels as though we’ve entered the final phase of the pandemic.
In honor of this past Memorial Day weekend, I thought it might be fitting to say goodbye to a few overused words and phrases that many of us would prefer not to hear again for a long time.
Let’s start with the word “unprecedented” Definition: without previous instance; never before known or experienced; unexampled or unparalleled.
This was the word being used over and over at the beginning of the pandemic. Within a week or so was the most overused word that many leaders and politicians took to hammering into our conscience to describe their own inability to fully grasp what was happening or how to deal with it.
The thing is, once it’s been used, and can’t be used again since the precedent has already been set and the experience already in motion.
I for one will be happy that put this word to bed for a while and perfectly fine with the same ole same ole- at least for this summer!
The next phrase I’d like to see retired is “in these times of uncertainty” Really?
What in our business and in our lives is ever Certain? Particularly in our everchanging world? Certainty is a word that we hang onto like a warm blanket that allows us to rationalize some of our irrational decisions. If you are truly honest with yourself, certainty is a myth that lives right next to perfection. It’s a nice to think about but doesn’t occur all that much in the real world.
The only thing that we know for certain these days is that things are going to change, this my friends you can be certain. Change is certain, growth is optional.
I’d also like to say a fond farewell to the word “Pivot”
No more pivoting please, can we simply make adjustments, course correct, or just do something else!
I do believe that knowing we have the ability to create plans on the fly, commit to those plans immediately, and then toss those plans out the next day, is actually one of the best things people and organizations can take away from the past 15 months. But all of this Pivoting, has made me dizzy so I’d like to move in one direction for just a little while if you don’t mind.
Finally, and I believe this one is long overdue- Let’s retire the phrase “The New Normal” permanently.
It’s funny because I actually used to give a keynote titled- “Change, Opportunity and the New Normal” which for many years was one of my most requested topics. But let’s face it, the New Normal is happening each and every day. Even before the pandemic hit, we were all being asked to deal with constant and never-ending change in our businesses and in our lives.
Change is the fuel that feeds the fires of innovation and creates the future that we all strive to achieve. Change uncovers the obstacles that challenge us to become the best versions of ourselves. Change forces us to overcome adversity because at the end of the day our past success leads us to complacency- facing adversity leads us to brilliance. I think it’s safe to say we’ve all been our own version of brilliant this past year even if things didn’t go exactly the way we planned.
When the dust finally settles from the pandemic, I believe there will be so many lessons taken away from what we’ve all faced. We will grieve for those we’ve lost, and be nostalgic for the days where we were all ignorant of the damage a novel microscopic virus can cause to the entire global community.
Yet once we finally get comfortable with our current situation guess what? Things will massively change once again. And so it’s with that thought I say to you- goodbye to the New Normal, and Welcome to the Next Normal.
Thoughts for the week:
You can’t start the next chapter of your life if you keep re-reading the last chapter. -Unknown
Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.– George Bernard Shaw
If you are too comfortable it’s time to move on. If your terrified of what’s next you are right on track.– Susan Fales Hill
What’s coming is better than what’s gone. -Unknown
Nobody knows what to do next, but everybody does it. -George Carlin
Looking forward to our next connection
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