Unfortunately, the Covid-19 pandemic has impacted our society and sadly on the world economy, but I am sure that we will gain something from this situation and I hope that many of us will learn something from it and that we will change some bad habits.

Many have learned to work remotely, to managed projects or teams where people are located in different locations or training from home using elearnings tools.

And, What have I learned from all this? I am keeping with me these 3 key messages:

1. Preparation, adaptation and flexibility are keys for new changing times.
2. Always be aware that all our actions have an impact, no matter how small the action is. 
3. Solidarity and collaboration are the true way to go forward.

Everything can change overnight. In the past, changes in society or economy occurred over long periods of several years where it was possible for people to have enough time to adjust themselves. In the coming years, the speed of change will accelerate, forcing us to be very proactive.

What does it mean to be proactive in the face of unknown changes? Having a clear vision of where we want to go that allows us to carry out the correct planning and preparation.

We have to anticipate changes, and I mean to gain those key skills that we are going to need post-change. We never stop learning and it must be one more activity in our daily tasks and thanks to actual technology the access to e-learnings tools is becoming easier every day.

Adaptation will be one of the most demanded soft skills because all teams will need flexible employees who quickly learn new ways of working. Changes in consumption or customer approaches are forcing companies or institutions to implement new processes or technologies in a very short time. As an example, in the entertainment sector, many comedians who in the past made live performing shows in bars or theaters have had to adopt tools such as zoom to continue their shows online. This is affecting the way they write scripts or analyze the quality of the jokes. The key will be to adapt fast to continue moving.

Every action you take, no matter how small, has an impact. Although the origin of the pandemic is unknown (at the moment of writing these lines), the hypothesis is that the virus was transmitted to humans due to meat consumption of an infected wild animal, it could be a bat or a pangolin. Who is capable of eating these animals? That irresponsibility resulted in a pandemic with deadly consequences and broken families. It should serve as an experience that we have to be more aware of our actions and be able to see the consequences that it may have. I do not mean that all the wrong actions will become pandemics, but they can have consequences in our environment, family, friends or in our community. Being kind to others or being aware of the environment are things that we can incorporate into our lives right now.

Solidarity in form of collaboration. In the days of lockdown, solidarity actions were very common: people who offered to do the shopping for high risk people or preparing meals for health workers. One of the stories that I liked the most, was a freelancer expert in web development who helped small business owners to launch web pages in short time so their customers could place to shop online.

Collaboration allows us to share experiences and knowledge that provide the solutions for moving to a better situation quickly. It must be disinterested, the only interest is what is better for the community. I use very often forums and communities to answer technical questions about projects, obtaining good answers and help that have saved me a time.

Fast adaptation to changes will allow us to react to new opportunities. Despite the bad forecasts for coming months, we have to be aware that if we don´t move we will always stay in the same place, and if we see someone blocked, then we will help him to move forward so we will get the satisfaction of contributing with his success.