What If This Is It?

What if this is how life will be from now on? 

What if this is -as they say- the new normal? 

Many of us are stuck in waiting mode. Waiting:

• For the economy to improve.

• For a sign that things are returning to normal.

• For a vaccine.

• For school to start.

• For events to open again.

• For election results.

• For the other shoe to drop. 

But waiting is not wisdom. It feels like wisdom because it’s methodically assessing, evaluating. It’s choosing caution over action. Waiting is indecision.

Waiting isn’t a strategic option for any business; it’s an emotional delay. We wait because we feel like we’ve lost all control, and if we just wait, maybe the room will stop spinning and the world will cease its relentless turmoil.

So we pause all major decisions. Delay decisive action. 

If you’re in turtle mode, hunkered down inside your shell, waiting for the storm to pass, you’ll likely be waiting a very, very long time. 

The problem with waiting, during this unique time in history, is that we don’t realize that COVID-19, being a virus, carries a false assurance that we’re just waiting for a vaccine and once we develop it, “things will return to normal.” But history tells us an entirely different story. 

In The Coronavirus is Never Going Away, The Atlantic surmised, among other things: “How long immunity to COVID-19 will last is unclear; the virus simply hasn’t been infecting humans long enough for us to know. But related coronaviruses are reasonable points of comparison: In SARS, antibodies—which are one component of immunity—wane after two years.”

McKinsey and Company considers “waiting,” insidious, the most dangerous form of avoidance, “a toxic combination of inaction and paralysis … stymying choices that must be made.” McKinsey continued, “the toughest leadership now is … how to bring a business back in an environment where a vaccine has yet to be found and economies are still reeling.” 

The other problem with waiting is that there are dire consequences. The rest of the world is adapting. Changing. Right before our eyes. And, in an era of rapid innovation, waiting is the slowest form of death for a business. While you are waiting, competitors are reinventing and ramping up their efforts like never before. 

What we’re wrestling with when we use objections like “waiting” is not a rational response to the current situation, it’s an emotional response. Waiting is an emotional delay. Everyone makes decisions emotionally and justifies them rationally. And it’s not just consumers, even highly objective business people make decisions emotionally and justify them rationally. 

We tell ourselves the lie, “I have no control over this, so I must wait.” So, you spin out in the Bermuda triangle of excuses. But you do have control over a lot more than you realize:

• You have control over your ability to change your focus, your strategy, your tactics.

• You have control over your willingness to invest in your business to ensure it will survive. 

• You have control over your ability to reimagine an entirely new experience through your business.

• You have control over your willingness to reach out to customers and show them a path to reach their goals. 

• You have control over your efforts to amp the morale and ambition of your team. 

• And you have control over the choice you’re making right now. 

Waiting is an emotional excuse. 

Action is a rational response. 

Which will you choose?