#5. Forced introspection and COVID-induced happiness
Prediction: in two years, we’re going to look back on the pandemic as a boon for employee engagement, disposable income, real estate diffusion, and entrepreneurship.
It's very cliche to write about how COVID has changed the world - remote work, supply chain, lockdowns. But what do remote work, the great resignation, and suburban migration have in common? Forced introspection.
Before March 2020, we consistently and dutifully worked along the tracks. Wake up, take a shower, go to work, work, eat lunch, work, go home, make dinner, watch TV, bed, repeat. It wasn't just our daily routine that was set, but our trajectory. Working our way up the ladder. Living where the job takes us. A steady path toward an acceptable end. And then in March 2020, the world stopped. By May 2020, we were talking about the “new normal.” Come June, the internal questions began.
Every one of our comfortable assumptions became a question. Everything that was safe became unstable. Why do I work in marketing? Why do I work at a big company? Who am I working for? Why do I live here?
Today, we see people going from impressive corporate jobs to making their own money as creators. People moving from New York to rural New Hampshire (for what it’s worth, I’m very jealous of Simon Sarris’ lifestyle - he makes his own kitchen utensils for crying out loud). Why so much change when the world stopped?
When the world stopped, the inertia propelling most of our decisions stopped. We no longer did what we did one day because it's what we did the day before. Suddenly, we questioned everything.
This is what made the pandemic so stressful for many people. It was of course lockdowns, safety, childcare, job security. But it was also purpose. When the inertia stopped, our safety blanket slid off with all assumptions laid bare. Decisions that we unknowingly made every day - pay rent, take the tube - stared at us unprotected.
The great resignation is a great buzzy term, but it's also the direct result of this forced introspection. In his book Wanting, Luke Burgis wrote about mimetic desire: we want what others want even if we don't want it. Mimetic desire has the impact of steering us all toward similar goals, which makes most people unhappy. Absent inertia, people snapped out of this mimetic desire and into a more intentional life.
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And it's not over. This isn't a finite period we went through once and there was some great reset and now we're off to the races again. No. This is something that continues to percolate and permeate throughout our world. Friends are switching industries they've spent a decade building a career in. People are moving closer to family. People who want to take big swings are taking them. People who want security are seeking it. Decisions that we kicked off in the last 18 months are still bearing fruit and will continue to do so. The nature of life has changed.
What will the outcome of this transition be?
Happiness.
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Before I go too far down the rabbit hole, no we will not all be drinking nectar and living carefree lives. Although that is still my end game. But there is a benefit of the world ripping off your safety blanket and laying all your assumptions bare. It forces you to look at them.
Although we've quietly recovered some of those assumptions with that same safety blanket, seeing those assumptions stirs questions. And those questions require answers. Any decision made on the back of that brutal reveal will lead to a happier life because it will be a more intentional life. Even if only incrementally. A decision made for you is exactly that. For you and nobody else. Talk about self care.
As individuals, we do need to be careful not to run too far in a circle that we end up back at our starting point - from mimetic desire of doing the same thing to mimetic desire of something different. But if we can truly address our internal desires and make purposeful decisions - wow. The result? Longer holding periods and more diversification across all aspects of work:
A more engaged and focused workforce - a purposeful choice in occupation leads to more engaged employees and longer tenures. A purposeful decision on how employees choose to spend means they don’t rubberneck and get distracted by other career paths.
Business ownership - so many folks who always wanted to start that business have or will do so. And not just Techcrunch-style VC businesses, but the your-friend’s-bakery businesses.
Job and income resilience - we’ve heard stories of engineers who secretly (and illegally) took 3 jobs during the pandemic. That’s not what I’m talking about. But, similar to above, more people have now joined the creator or gig economies or are generating income from more time spent investing. More streams of income. More disposable income. More income security.
More diffused real estate gains - very few knowledge workers are still tied to a geography. Early headlines pointed to the death of cities, but the situation is neither that dire nor one way. However, given cities no longer hold as much magnetic power as they did two years ago, I believe the distribution of people will follow a typical diffusive process and move toward areas of less concentration.
Local community and politics - a purposeful choice in location is a purposeful choice of the community you spend your time in. People are no longer where they are due to circumstance. You chose it. Engagement in local community and politics will follow this renewed sense in affiliation with locales.
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Needs are no longer convoluted with shoulds. Intrinsic incentives are no longer convoluted with external obligations. Ultimate ownership is in the cards for everybody.
You don’t have to be a visitor in your life because the pandemic hs forced so many of us to be active participants. People around you are no longer automatons walking to someone else’s destination. They're people who have intentionally chosen to be on this path that you have also intentionally chosen to be on. What an amazing encounter!
The pandemic forced us all to be much more introspective than we’re comfortable with. The impact of that is still percolating, but the groundswell has started. Prepare for the engagement.
