What does my life look like when this pandemic is over?

At the end of a zoom with a mentor, he asked me a wonderful question:

"What does life look like for John at the end of this pandemic?"

Before I get to my answer, let's geek out on this question. The path to the best answers is to seek out the best questions, and this one is dope.

Here's the stream of consciousness for this masterpiece of a question:

• We are making an assumption that the pandemic is going to end. Even though we cognitively know this to be true, it's nice to be reminded of this during these times of uncertainty. This will end.
• We make no speculation around the timing of the end. It will end, but we have no idea when. For purposes of this question, it doesn't matter. We have some finite amount of time, so how will I be intentional with it.
• It is beautifully open ended for the imagination of the answerer to fill a blank canvas. In contrast, see how to "make the most of the pandemic" and "18 ways we can ensure we maximize the potential of every minute of our quarantine." This question isn't that. For some maybe they maximize. For others it might be about maintaining sanity, increasing happiness, allowing for deep reflection, making major life change or keeping things the same. Choose your own adventure.
• We are invited to reverse engineer our time. What is the desired end state? Great, now we have a guiding light on where we want to go, and we can start to act accordingly. This is the proactive vs. reactive framework. It's the intentionality. Do we sit back and respond as things happen or do we take control of our situation and work to move the needle?
• Finally, it allows us some semblance of taking control of the situation. It focuses us. We move away from the victim and towards an active participant in our own story.

Ok. Enough about the question. It's a beauty and one I would highly encourage each of you to spend some significant time thinking about. It helps. Trust me.

My answer is quite simple. When the pandemic has come to and end...

• I have returned to my entrepreneurial roots (either by starting a new company or by taking a leadership position at a very young company)
• I have continued forward on the path of my North Star (more on this in a future post)
• I have adapted my daily routines to be as flexible as needed (the rigidity of my routines in the past has been a source of instability for me with rapidly changing external environments)
• I have strengthened my most precious relationships (in a time of social distancing and quarantining, this one may be the most difficult but I'm ready for the challenge)

Because we are designing the future and I can wave my magic wand to have whatever I want, this is it.

Everything else takes a back seat at the moment. It will be interesting to revisit this list in the future when we return to normalcy. But for now, I'm excited to be an intentional designer of my future.

Entrepreneur. North Star. Flexible routines. Relationships. Let's go.

What if?

What if?

It may be the most beautiful two word question that ever existed.

What if?

It implies that something might be possible even though it is likely very unexpected or previously undiscovered.

What if...

Anything that follows those two words is automatically being set up to allow for open discovery beyond what would normally be acceptable.

When I’m doing brainstorming and product sessions, I know we are on the right track when this question comes up. By its nature it is asking a question that is seeking extraordinary answers. Even if the answers that follow are total nonsense or even a resounding “no” it still starts to invoke some magic into the discussion.

Oh, and if the response is ever a resounding “no” to a what if question, you better be prepared for a “why not?”

What is my process to answer really difficult questions?

I had a fun call with a friend this morning who has a difficult career decision coming up. I asked him what his process was for figuring out the answer. I had not thought about my own answer to this question until he asked me what I would do.

The initial response that jumped out to me and that I shared with him is one of the most powerful and under utilized tools that we have access to when creating something new.

"Who has already had to answer this question, and what can I learn from them?"

With very, very rare exception, there is almost always someone on this planet who has gone through what you are going through right now.

Whether it's starting a new company, figuring out a career move, or even working through some personal stuff, someone else has been there, done that. We have the opportunity to learn from them.

Figure out a way to get access to these people and ask them a few questions to help you on your journey. What did you come up with when you had to answer this question? What was your process like in making the decision? What would you do differently / what have you learned since?

Simple stuff, but it can be critical in your future decision making.

There are two reasons why this tactic isn't utilized more often:

1. We buy into our own story that we're so unique that no one else has ever had to deal with something like this

2. We are worried about what will happen as a result of asking

One is easy enough to overcome. Two is a bit trickier.

What if I talk to a competitor and they steal my idea, you might say. I'm sure I'll write more in the future about protecting your idea, but for now, let's just say it is incredibly rare for someone to steal another person's idea. If they've been around long enough, they've already thought through your idea at some point. And even if they're a competitor, in my experience they are still more likely to help than not.

I've discovered a few other ways to help me answer difficult questions I'll again save for another time, and yet this will always the starting point for me.

If you are fortunate enough (or crafty enough) to have access to someone who has been through a similar situation or dilemma, one of the most useful things we can do is to learn from their experience. Learn from the past to accelerate the future.

Isn't blogging dying?

Probably, yes. It certainly feels like blogging is becoming a fossil of the days of internet past.

And I kinda like it even more for that.

There's arguably much better methods of marketing online these days. There's better ways to get content distribution. There's better ROI out there for getting eyeballs to see your message.

But.

I'm not writing again for page clicks. I'm not building an audience to monetize. I'm writing consistently again for these reasons (in order):

1. To clarify and simply my own thinking and understanding of things that are important to me
2. To establish a creative outlet for asking and answers powerful questions that are fascinating to me in the moment
3. To create a historical record of my own growth and development over time (some of those original blog posts are super cringeworthy)
4. To have something to share with people when these questions come up in coaching and leadership conversations when there's a desire to dig deeper

Any other benefits from publishing these posts consistently again feels like a bonus. And, since I'm on the subject, I'll share a few other random thoughts about what I'm doing here.

• I've decided to follow a Q&A format for these posts. I love questions. So each post will be a question that I've been thinking about, that comes up in meditation or conversation, or a question that I've answered too many times ;)
• I've decided to have a mailing list for this simply for ease of use for people who want to consume this content but don't enjoy the inconsistency of my writing times (I'll send out a weekly email with a summary of all of the posts for the week)
• I am always open to new questions or topics. If there are any specific requests, send them over and if they fit roughly into the intersection of leadership, innovation and entrepreneurship I'll do my best to simply my thoughts for you.

While blogging and short to medium length content is quite what it used to be, it all depends on what you are looking to get out of it. For me, it's the perfect format for clarity, simplicity, creativity and documenting my thoughts.

Now what?

Now what? is such a delightful question. Depending on the context and syntax, it has this amazing versatility to it, and I've been intentionally leaving more and more space to answer this question myself.

Now what? could be a wonderful question to ask at the completion of a major project or as we're about to hit a significant milestone.

Now what? could signify the closing of a chapter, the end of an experiment, a relationship, or a business.

Now what? could be a question that comes when seemingly all other options have been exhausted.

Now what? could reflect an openness to create with what the universe has given you.

I really like that this question seems to have a built in listening component to it. When I ask myself now what?, I am open and receptive to what answers will come through. I may have an idea or suspicion of what the answer might be, but just by pausing to contemplate this question I am leaving the door open.

One of the most powerful attributes I've seen in entrepreneurs is the ability to be flexible in their approach to solving problems. They have certainty in where they are going and simultaneously are open to all the avenues that will take them there.

When we ask now what?, we are allowing ourselves to be curious with alternative approaches that may not yet have revealed themselves.