What Choices Will You Look to Make in 2023?
Two weeks ago, my blog posted on this website, explained how I update my calendar at the end of the previous year to note birthdays, anniversaries, and special events for the coming year. After I wrote the blog and updated the calendar for the New Year, some thoughts started entering my mind. Those thoughts included such items as, “my nieces and nephews are sure a lot older than I remember them to be when they were children,” to “a number of the individuals that I saw on a regular basis no more than two to three years ago, I have not seen in person for quite a long time,” to “your life since it turned 2020 is lived differently than you lived it during the period of 2010 to 2020.”
Yes, so much has changed on what is coming upon three calendar years of how living life seems so different to me. The impact of a world-wide pandemic, how it has changed the world around us, and how it has made many of us think differently on how we choose to live our life will do that. However, there is more than that involved. Loved ones that one would see regularly may have moved away, passed away or have chosen to limit their physical contact with others. How we choose what we will do for work, how we will go about working, and the type of work that is available, may have changed.
Prior to 2020, I saw many of my clients in person. While that was not always the case, in most instances, it was. Now the first reaction is, whether the client is indeed a far distance away, or relatively close by, to ask whether they would prefer a Zoom teleconference or a telephone call to connect. The nature of the clients has changed to some extent. Yes, they are still all in job search. However, the organizations for which I subcontract and from which I receive about 60% of my clients have had to make changes to their business model. As a result, coaching engagements are more defined, limited in length and frankly are less lucrative for the consulting company and the coach.
I have also been active in the job search support scene. That scene was all done in person at local libraries and churches prior to 2020. As of 2020, I continue to do my job search support efforts virtually. Part of that is still a continuation from the fallout from the pandemic. However, it has also come about because there is now an expectation that if you do a presentation in person, you will provide a virtual option. Additionally, those who have joined the presentations do not have geography as a boundary. As such, to make sessions in person may cut off loyal attendees who have benefitted from the sessions.
It also happens that as 2022 ended and I was putting my thoughts to paper, that I was getting over a bout with COVID. It so happened that my illness occurred smack in the middle of the Christmas holiday season. As such, I could not meet in person with any relatives. While they were kind enough to drop off food and presents to my wife and I, (and we could exchange what we had for them), it certainly was not the same as the past. It is only now as the Christmas holiday season is winding down, that I am ethically, morally, and socially able to leave quarantine and realize I am not infectious to others.
As a result, I have had a lot of time to think. A part of that thinking has said to me “Tony perhaps you have conditioned yourself to doing things the way you feel you “have to do them,” as opposed to “the way you choose to do them.” While that may not be true for everything, I know there still is a sense of that in there. So, in 2023 I am going to look to make a more conscious effort to make choices that are in line with what I seek to do. If perhaps I have not seen someone in a while, (a friend or family member), as opposed to waiting for them to reach out, I need to be the one to do so. I could meet them for lunch, or a cup of coffee or something to that effect. If it is possible to meet a client in person, and they would like to do so, I am open to doing so.
Might there be some risk involved, yes! Could I continue with the way things are, yes, I could. However, having had the last few days dictated to me has made me realize that there are going to be times when plans may need to change through no choice of my own. However, when those choices are in my own hands, I have the accountability for acting upon them.
