Don’t Wait Any Longer
Why the right time is Now
In late January Wuhan happened and then Korea, Italy, the UK, the US, India. Before we knew it, the Coronavirus had spread to the whole world. Life as we knew it came to a standstill. Schools stopped, markets closed, we began to work from home and isolate ourselves. Illness, gloom, Zoom calls, online classes became the norm. Less travel, less outdoor activities, fewer dinners with friends — we got used to less of everything that mattered.
We are still waiting for all this to end. For life to get back to normal. For many of us, there is a heavy lull in our lives, and the pace of everything has taken a different turn. Sometimes it feels like time has slowed down, sometimes it stops. But then you look back, and the year has been gobbled up. Where did the time go?
But at the same time, we are waiting. Waiting for the vaccine. Waiting for things to become normal. Just waiting. All of us are holding our collective breaths as if we are about to witness a car wreck and everything is moving in slow-motion, as we wait to see what happens next.
At work, our time is filled with Zoom meetings, and online catch-up meetings, fighting fires, and planning how to make ends meet. But mostly waiting for this to end, expecting that soon it will be over. Imagining, it will go away.
What if nothing is going to change for two years? There is a possibility that this situation will carry on at least deep into 2021, perhaps early 2022. Can we afford to lose more time waiting for the vaccine to be developed, and then tested and distributed? Are we going to continue waiting like this?
Instead of waiting helplessly, why don’t we try to accept the situation and reinvent ourselves wisely during this pandemic phase?
Ask yourself, do we need to go back to the same normal that we were in? Will we ever?
If not, should we rebuild our world from scratch? Or pick trends from today and build a tomorrow that is safe and worth living. The 1918 influenza pandemic, which killed about 675,000 people in the U.S., changed the rules of hygiene in lasting ways.
In the years after that, signs bearing the message “Spitting is Unlawful” sprouted up in places like train stations. Covering your face when you coughed grew to be considered common courtesy — before the pandemic, this etiquette was almost unheard of. And these hygiene trends stayed with us until today.
So yes, things will change after this pandemic as well.
Some of the key trends that we are seeing are — automation of everything, healthcare permeating into all industries, teleeverything, changes in travel and vacations, education going online, and of course, work-from-home.
Could we look at these changes and help make things work?
Can we create social norms that are deemed important to follow? For instance, people being looked down on for putting themselves and others at risk.
How about we a. Applaud the wearing of a mask
b. Insist on safety procedures in offices and institutions
c. Find a new hybrid way of working
d. Don’t shame online learning — it’s here to stay
And with precautions: e. Start going out more often, especially to open spaces
f. Start meeting friends and family in a safe environment
g. Encourage sports
h. Attend office, it breaks the inertia
i. Continue to learn
j. Connect with young people
k. Create occasions to celebrate
Can we starting from today find ways to create joyful occasions, not by ignoring the pandemic, but by finding ways to look at it as a problem that we have to overcome or manage? The first step is to accept that we are in a pandemic that could snatch the lives of our family members and organizations. The next step is then to say — What Next!!
Design thinking looks at problems as challenges that need to be solved, and this pandemic is an ideal situation for design practitioners to take the lead. Design thinking is a society centered approach. This is a situation where all of us could use Design Thinking and find solutions to get us out of the rut of inertia that we are in.
To really empathize and understand the problems that people are going through. To place enough emphasis on the economy, jobs, safety, education, and the needs around that. To ideate and find solutions for specific problems, not for the world at large, and to implement and improve as we go along.
Today is the right time for the right action. Wise action in a considered way. Action, based on an acceptance of the situation that we are in and a view towards what the possibilities are ahead. And we have no option if we want to make a difference! We have to take a chance and leap ahead. Ahead to make a life that is about living in the present and not waiting for a future that may never come!
So, stop waiting endlessly. Accept that lockdowns will come and go. We are in a storm. Sing and dance with your umbrellas and gumboots now instead of waiting for a drier day!
Grasp your future with careful hands and choose to do it now!