CoronaVirus Has Made it Necessary to Rethink Work. It’s Time for a Board Meeting with Yourself.

The world has turned upside down. Here’s an idea for holding on.

I’d like you to do something this week.

If you’re home, when you’re used to working. If you’ve got more free time than you’ve had in a long time. If you’re feeling lost and scared right now.

This week, I’d like to challenge you to sit down and have a board meeting. Stay with me here.

This is the time to shift your thinking. Even if you’ve never owned a business before or ever considered yourself an entrepreneur — if you’ve never been a maker or creator or tried to sell anything to anyone — the world has profoundly shifted. And if it ever shifts back to where it was, it’s going to take some time.

Maybe a good long time.

So, starting now, you’re the head of your own enterprise. Let’s call it You, Inc. And chances are pretty good that You, Inc. is either a one person operation, or possibly a small family-run business.

That means that you are:

• CEO
• CFO
• Director of Human Resources
• Head of Public Outreach
• Grand Poobah of Ideas

And literally everything else in between. Plus, as you’ll see in a minute, a few things that you might not think about as business related.

We’re going to need to shift the way we think about work, going forward.

By ‘we’ I mean all of us. Everyone. And the sooner you can start to make that shift, the better off you’ll be.

The core mindset is this: everything you do to earn money serves You, Inc. If you have a day job or do shift work or take a gig job or mow a neighbor’s lawn or whatever — wrap your head around the idea that someone has contracted you to do that work.

I’ve advocated for this type of thinking for writers forever. If you have a day job, it can be incredibly freeing to think about it as part of your writing business instead of that thing you don’t want to do, but have to. It’s always empowering to take ownership.

But we’re in an unprecedented time. And that mindset isn’t just for freelancers or writers anymore. It’s not just for self-employed people. Because we’re all on our own right now, on some level. Even if you still have your job, it’s essential to make a shift in your thinking so that you’re not entirely dependent on one source of income.

So, hold a board meeting this week.

You might feel silly at first, but I’m serious about this. It will help.

Here’s how to do it.

Set Aside Some Time

You’re going to want a couple of hours. This is a serious undertaking and you’ve got some things to think through. Don’t try to fit it into a few minutes when you’re distracted by a thousand other things.

Get out your planner and mark off a two hour block.

Gather Some Supplies

You’ll want a notebook and a pen, of course. You’re the secretary of You, Inc., after all, so taking minutes is up to you.

You’ll want access to the internet if at all possible. A computer or smart phone.

Access to your financial situation, like your bank accounts, credit card statements, etc.

If You, Inc is a partnership — I guess that would make it the plural you, right? — then ideally you’ll want your partner there, too. Not really a supply, but still.

Make a List of Board Members

I started one for you up above. That might be enough.

But depending on your situation, you might also need a Parenting Manager (if you have kids at home), a Agency for the Aging (if you care for elderly parents), a Head of Housekeeping.

You’re going to almost definitely need a Medical Officer.

Just think about all the parts of your life. List them. Assign them a board member. They’re all you — or you and your partner — you wear a lot of hats and this is your moment to really look at what that means.

Make an Agenda

This is an important step. It will give this fairly intense exercise some shape.

Make a list of all of the things you need to address at your board meeting and assign them to a board member. Here are some ideas:

• An overall view of You, Inc. as it stands right now. (CEO)
• You should definitely analyze your money situation. What you have coming in and going out. You might not have time to really come up with ha budget right now, but you can get a financial report, as it were. (CFO)
• List ideas for new income streams. (CFO directed, but everyone gets to throw in ideas here.)
• Are there any skills you can learn right now that will help you build up You, Inc? (Human Resource Manager.)
• Are there any programs you need to apply for? (CFO, one more time.)
• Let your Head of Housekeeping check in on how things are going on the home front and what needs to be addressed there. Make a list of things that need to be done and schedule them.
• Check in with your Parenting Manager, too. Are you needing to fit homeschooling in right now? Are you trying to work without daycare? Make a list of issues and start thinking about ideas for solutions.
• Do the same with your Agency for the Aging if you’ve got elderly folks that you care for.
• Make a list of your projects and their state of completion, everything from ideas that are barely sparks to things that you’ve been working on for years. (Grand Poobah of Ideas can direct this part of the program.)
• Prioritize those ideas — which ones will have the biggest impact if you implement them now? Come up with a list of next steps for the top three. (Grand Poobah of Ideas, again. And the Secretary.)

Have Your Meeting

Use your agenda as a guide and just make your way through every item on it.

This is an opportunity to check in with all the different parts of your life. It’s also a chance to think about how you need to change gears when you’re living on a swiftly tilting planet.

You’re going to need income streams now and going forward. Remote working will be important — this is your time to think about what that looks like for you and come up with ideas for how you can find your niche in the New World Order.

And maybe you’re trying to do all this new work while also managing every other thing possible, because all of your support systems are shut down. Take the time to think about how to do that and come up with some systems that will make it easier for you.

Here’s my secret weapon for sticking with whatever your thing is.

Shaunta Grimes is a writer and teacher. She is an out-of-place Nevadan living in Northwestern PA with her husband, three superstar kids, two dementia patients, a good friend, Alfred the cat, and a yellow rescue dog named Maybelline Scout. She’s on Twitter @shauntagrimes and is the author of Viral Nation and Rebel Nation and the upcoming novel The Astonishing Maybe. She is the original Ninja Writer.