Weekends have reduced to us going as far as the balcony with COVID-19 staring right at us from outside. Between gaping at the sky, gaping at the experimental cake in the oven, gaping at the phone with celebs doing pilates and gaping at the TV with charts and speeches.. I have had some viral realizations.
Mankind tends to learn more than usual when push comes to shove. That is also how we have been conditioned. Even at home, most children learn better or study better when their parents create strict and restrictive conditions for them during exam times. The simple reason being, distraction. Humans can learn so much more about ourselves and society. We only have to observe, as closely as possible. Now that there is minimal room for distraction, it has to be easier.
Quarantine has taught us some unique lessons which have been fogged by the hurry we have been in. But now that there is not much else to do, it's a good time to observe the intricacies of whats apparent around us. I feel, four factors have come out shining as our society’s foundation. Each time, we pay a price for services based on one of these factors. We might be at the cusp of redefining these foundations.
TRUST:
I recently read a study that suggested that there is only a loss of 1% productivity in the current work-from-home scenario ( that's debatable, I understand!). Now, that's a huge revelation for the folks who thought people can’t be trusted unless they are in front of our eyes. We as a corporate society have come a long way from marking people "half-day leave" for not showing up on time, to trusting that everyone is working hard wherever they are. We spend long hours sometimes just to ensure we are considered trustworthy.
Well, now its crystal clear that if you don't see your colleagues in the office, they are not necessarily on the beach sipping cocktails. It has been an age-old corporate tradition to ensure the commitment of people by making them spend time in office premises. Is that a thought process on the verge of diminishing? Now that infrastructure necessary for productivity is not limited to your office (for most jobs). TRUST is what is the glue sticking all of us together. We spend all our time to earn trust and in-turn pay what we earn to buy time.
PATIENCE:
Looks like we have been paying a premium on food and other products that save us time. That is the price for not having the patience to work up the process in the daily rush. The global food services market is expected to value in Trillions of dollars. Snacks and fast food forms the largest part of it. Most marketing plans are around " Quick", "Easy", "Instant", "Fast" and more. Now that we have all the time in the world, we are looking at getting creative with cooking. stores sold baked loaves of bread in all shapes and sizes while the yeast sat on the shelf waiting for someone to come and pick it up. Now, yeast is the "most desirable" while the bread lies on shelves perishing away. What has happened?
With people getting time to control what's going into their body, is it safe to say that "time saver" should not be the only theme for the services industry including food services?
We no more need "2-minute noodles" unless we want to, because it happens to taste good.
PURPOSE:
CARE and COMPASSION are supreme: it’s almost illegal to not show care for others in these times. It’s also a revelation that in our society, there are so many people with an extreme thought process. Some don’t care much about others or their health while on the other hand some frown even if a child coughs near them. Sense of purpose has surfaced stronger than ever before. All these days, the entertainment industry has been flourishing and actors, musicians, etc have been valued so much more than a medical worker, firefighter, or any essential services workers. Times have changed. If entertainers cannot come forward and be heard for their contribution to society and their larger purpose, they won't hold the respect that they have earned. Corporates are being judged for their contributions and CSR, more than ever before. Beauty pageant winners with a degree to practice medicine are parking their glitzy crowns for a deeper sense of purpose and wearing on their PEPs. With COVID-19, will the world start looking at putting the price of services based on the value of purpose that they solve?
PRIORITY:
Now that we have been grooming ourselves, cutting hair, doing eye brown, and whatever else we need, we must appreciate the skill needed to do these tasks that look so simple but require so much more than just the tools. We pay the price for confused priorities. Premium should be paid for for activities that need high skilfulness, don't you thing? We have all had months-long experimentation of self-sustenance. Hasn’t it become crystal clear that we have been wrongly placing our priorities? Certain services need special skills and we have a premium for it. At the same time, there have been so many services that need negligible skill but only because we want them done quick and easy, with no input from our side, we go outside and pay a premium for getting it done. Next time we are going for something like getting a cleaner to clean our house just because we cant be bothered to do it ourselves, maybe we should think again.
These are strange unprecedented times and an experience that will go into all of our memoirs.
Comments
Post a Comment