Joy is usually fleeting, often unexpected and you’re less likely to find it if you don’t buy a ticket. Choose your mood and if others are quietly quitting that’s fine, I say go out and get busy: start earlier, stay later, get a little better every day.
Networking is back, in real rooms but with fewer air kisses; meetings are on, with real handshakes; awaydays are happening, with new colleagues you are unsure about. This is not as bad as you imagine, don’t overthink it. You might like the Zoom room but you’re not twelve. It’s time to polish those shoes, see if the suit fits, buy new lippy.
My window faced an internal courtyard and the weather app said cloudy with a 70% chance of rain. I was on the fifth floor and it was much colder than in summer. There was coffee on a tray and last night’s free chocolate cake (tell me you’ve never had left over cake for breakfast).
Three good reasons to stay in bed, but I had set a goal. Daybreak was 06:52, so I would make St. Paul’s by 7am, cross Millennium Bridge and do some Downward Facing Doug at the Tate Modern, then head to Battersea.
By the time I made the Thames, Tower Bridge was bathed in brilliant sunshine. The weather app had had a Michael Fish moment. Imagine not going out on a day like that.
The thought is often worse than reality, just go speak to the most unlikely person in the room with a smile and eye contact.
Even if the weather had been as predicted there are worse things than clouds and drizzle. There are worse things than having to make a dozen coldish calls. Worse things than crafting a bunch of emails and then getting knockbacks, or more likely silence. At least it means you are out there, asking.
Go ask again, do it now.
Russell Wardrop
CEO