Josh Allred's Blog

Some of us desperately want things back to the way they used to be.

And perhaps, in some ways, with some time, they will.

But for many, it may seem the time to retreat and wait for things to go back to “normal.”

There is an alternative. When one door closes (and we know COVID-19 has done plenty of door slamming), another door opens.

Today is as good as any to write that book, to learn a new skill, and yes, maybe even take a risk to start a business.

The world is abundant with choice and opportunity. COVID-19 didn’t change that, it only revealed it. If you’re feeling stuck it might be because the choices you have made up to this point were sensible.

Be different this time around.

The less time we have, the more desperate we become.

The more desperate we become, the worst our decision making is.

Inversely…

The better the decisions we make, the less desperate we are.

The less desperate we are, the more time we have.

We are inundated with information. Constantly hit with the next urgent thing. All news today is “breaking” (Is there really any other kind?). Making things worst, we can’t stop checking our phones every five minutes to see if the world has ended.

And now, we’re are seeing how difficult it is to just work and go to school from home.

It’s difficult to stop moving. It’s not something this generation is used to. The ironic part is if we were able to keep everyone 6 feet apart from each other for two weeks the virus would die.

Perhaps the answer is we got to learn to slow down.

Slowing down to respond (rather than react) to the tidal wave that was coming could have saved lives. Slowing down the economic engine versus a full-on stop would have saved trillions.

There’s an old African proverb that says, “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” We have to slow down if we are to go together. We can’t keep leaving people behind in the name of economic prosperity.

It turns out, the neighborhood you were raised in is one of the key factors in determining upward mobility.

And if you happen to live in one of those neighborhoods that are less than ideal, it is likely that 30 years from now, you will be in the exact same socioeconomic sector as you are today.

That is really depressing.

To think, especially for our youth today, trade-in decades of time and service just to be right back where you started.

Here’s the thing, if you were taught what someone else was taught, raised to believe in certain things, you probably act differently from how you act now. Poverty isn’t a character flaw but a system error. One that lacks equal opportunity and favors those who win the genetic lottery.

Let’s look at the term Coronavirus for a minute. It has been reported that 38% of beer drinkers would not drink a Corona beer since this pandemic began. Why? Corona beer has nothing to do with Coronavirus.

It’s because of the story we tell ourselves.

There is too much information in the world to process. In order to make sense of it, we have to create shortcuts. And so, we cherry-pick information to amplify a narrative we already have.

We don’t look for information to change our minds. No, we create shortcuts to amplify our narrative—we sort information, lump things together, put it in a box and label it.

The problem is with these shortcuts is, overtime, we continue to lump things together that shouldn’t. That is why some beer drinkers will not touch a Corona beer. Consumers have let their biases and prejudices get in the way of their fears. As a result, we lump Corona beer with Coronavirus.

“I’ll go with the Heineken this time, just in case.”

We are just not that good at taxonomy.

The truth is, all labels are a human invention. If one isn’t working then we can drop it and pick up a new one. Just call it Covid-19 and quit lumping all of China into one box. The people in China are just…people, not a virus. And they don’t want to be associated with this just like Corona Beer. It’s spreading unnecessary fear and violence.

The generous things we can do:

• Stay inside
• Work from home
• Embrace inconvenience
• Take less than what you think you need
• Don’t shake hands
• Check-in on your neighbors (via phone)
• Wash your hands
• Remind others to wash their hands
• Cough in your elbow
• Be honest about your health
• Shop local
• Leave a larger tip
• Wait to cancel memberships
• Be informed
• Don’t obsess about what you can’t control
• Pick up a book
• Learn a new skill
• Write a blog
• Share something new
• Build something
• Start something
• Spend quality times with your kids, talk to them about their dreams
• Spend quality time with your partner, look them in the eye
• Meditate
• Turn off Netflix (or video games)
• Breathe
• Relax
• Be patient
• Pray
• Be grateful for what you have

Generosity is actually a posture. A posture each of us can develop.

The thing is with social distancing, being quarantined or temporarily inconvenienced is: this isn’t about you right now.

Glass ceilings are enough to create envy.

We no longer need to imagine the life we had always dreamed of, we can see it.

We see it when we blow an opportunity (especially with our social media-driven world).

Here’s the good news about glass ceilings though, you can smash them.

It feels risky to quit your job and to say goodbye to a paycheck. It feels risky to leave the security of home for the first time.

Saying goodbye to safety nets are never easy. But it also might be what you need to breakthrough.

“I am a cage, in search of a bird.” — Franz Kafka

Did you ask for it?

Or

Did you go on without it?

It seems ironic really, to go ask a boss for their blessing on something that might not work.

And if you fail, what does that say about them?

I think we are better off more times than not to ask for forgiveness later.

Rock Hudson played a pivotal role in bringing the AIDS epidemic into the spotlight. Before that time, Congress really had not taken the epidemic seriously. It wasn’t until rumors began to surface that Rock Hudson wasn’t actually sick from liver cancer, that his long time friend Ronald Regan called to see what was going on. Not long after, Rock Hudson died Congress allocated $190 million dollars for AIDS research (October 2, 1985). The amazing thing is, and I am not making this up, AIDS had been around for 5 years before Rock Hudson died.

It’s easier to change behavior when we know someone we care about is in danger. Otherwise, they are just another statistic.

Fast forward to today:

On March 6th, Governor Herbert announces a state of emergency. Utahn’s then raid the grocery stores (subsequently lead the nation in panic buying).  By March 11, Rudy Gobert was diagnosed with Covid-19 and the NBA shuts down. I think Rudy Govert was a tipping point where people in Utah were not onboard up to that point started to get stressed.

Yet…

I’m still not seeing people taking social distancing seriously. Why? Because it’s difficult to sustain a change in behavior. Indeed, human beings are great at misbehaving because with our narrative, we can justify anything.

The thing is, there is no cure for Novel (New) Coronavirus. Social distancing is the best mode of prevention and protection. It works to flatten curve so that we don’t overrun hospitals.

So, here’s the question: Are you going to wait around for a Rock Hudson moment before you change or are you going to act now?

HT The Daily – Confronting a Pandemic

According to Wikipedia:

Those aboard Titanic were ill-prepared for such an emergency. In accordance with accepted practices of the time, where ships were seen as largely unsinkable and lifeboats were intended to transfer passengers to nearby rescue vessels,[164][l] Titanic only had enough lifeboats to carry about half of those on board; if the ship had carried her full complement of about 3,339 passengers and crew, only about a third could have been accommodated in the lifeboats.[166] The crew had not been trained adequately in carrying out an evacuation. The officers did not know how many they could safely put aboard the lifeboats and launched many of them barely half-full.[167] Third-class passengers were largely left to fend for themselves, causing many of them to become trapped below decks as the ship filled with water.[168] The “women and children first” protocol was generally followed when loading the lifeboats,[168] and most of the male passengers and crew were left aboard.

I assume, some people believed that the Titanic could not sink. As a result, they failed to act and suffered the consequences because their worldview didn’t match reality.

I’m still seeing social distancing not taken seriously.

And hopefully, those few will see that the ship is taking in water before it’s too late.

The good news is, we are not abandoning ship. Social distancing is the number one form of prevention and does work.

One more boat metaphor to think about:

The boats rise and fall with the tide. We are in this together. The longer we wait to change our behavior, the more it’s going to hurt.