Getting Ahead During COVID

The pandemic has changed a ton about what jobs are available, how we get them, and how we navigate the workforce day to day. Today we discuss some practical tips for moving forward, getting hired, and making sure we're prepared to be successful in a world that's still figuring out what normal looks like.

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Level the Pursuit is a podcast for people ready to make the most of every opportunity. In the race to success, we're not all starting from the same place. Level the Pursuit seeks to fill in the gaps and provide accessible, bite-sized leadership lessons for anyone looking to improve their skills and prepare for the next step, whatever that might be. Last week, we talked about incorporating professional development for your long term growth. Getting good at our jobs is great. But if we don't develop as leaders, and as people, we can't continue to challenge ourselves, and we run the risk of stagnating over time. Did you create a development plan to go with your goals? If you did, that's fantastic. Having a plan can minimize the chance that you'll miss an opportunity. If you didn't, spend some time this week working that into your goals. The more complete we are as leaders, the more prepared we are when we get the chance to shine. This week, we're going to talk about professionalism during a pandemic, trying to move forward while COVID is happening has been a challenge for people and working during a global pandemic has highlighted so many good and bad things about business as usual in our country, and really in the world. So we've definitely had to make adjustments to keep moving forward. While there's not really a right or wrong answer to most of these questions, there are definitely ways you can maintain your image, be a rock star, and stay safe as we ride it out. Over the next week, think about where you want to be when we finally get through this pandemic or a year from now. And hopefully those are the same thing. This enormous disruption to our country in our lives, can be an opportunity to fall apart. But it can also be a chance to recharge, regroup, and come out stronger on the other side. First, regardless of your job situation, we all have to try to keep moving forward. Now, I'm not going to say stay positive, because this is definitely a time when toxic positivity can rear his ugly head. Now, if you've ever heard of that before, that's a mindset where you tell people that things are good even when they're not, and tell them that it's a weakness if they can't keep a positive attitude. You know what, sometimes stuff just sucks. And we have to deal with that. But it's still life, and we don't have a choice. As far as moving forward, you can't move backward, we can't go back to where it was before COVID. So at the very least try to keep putting one foot in front of the other to see what we can do to come out stronger on the other side. Now, I've had a few discussions about this recently. And y'all also may have heard my episode on mental health. But this has been hard on a lot of people so much about this has been a challenge. I know for me personally, one of the hardest parts is feeling like I don't understand why it's so hard, why I'm struggling with so many of these things, so much the disruption and the way we're doing things. So give yourself a break. Understand that this isn't normal for anyone. Everybody that's dealing with this is dealing with it in their own way. But if you want to keep moving forward, you can do that. It may be a teeny, tiny baby step. But as long as it's a step forward, you're going in the right direction. Now, if you have a job right now, take a moment to be grateful. It may be awful. And any changes you've made for COVID may be ridiculous, and painful and may just make you absolutely crazy. But in most cases, it's preferable to not having a job. And there are a lot of people in America who are struggling with that right now. So sometimes that might be all you have to cling to. So if you can do now, if everything about this job is making your life absolutely miserable, that's a different situation. But if you have anything redeeming about it, be grateful for it, because there are a lot of people that would love to be in that position right now. Now, if you have a job and you're going to jump to work each day, it may not be a picnic. And I understand that. So you have to balance being safe. If you're in one of the industries that is frontlines-- so hospitality, sanitation, health care, people that are dealing with people all the time are amazing, grocery store workers, everyone who's doing all these things, to keep our society going, you have to balance being safe. Don't be afraid to ask questions, ask questions about your policies about the safety measures that your company is taking. But understand that your supervisors and their supervisors and even the big bosses may not have the answer because honestly, our country doesn't have the answers right now. This is unprecedented. I know everyone's tired of hearing that word, but it's the truth. We don't have a frame of reference for how to deal with this. So it's absolutely reasonable to ask the questions, but you have to understand that we don't have all the answers yet. So we're all doing the best we can. So along those lines, try to give some grace to your co workers, your clients, your boss, and understand that sometimes temperature short sometimes people behave in a way that's not that great. Try to chill with that. Now if someone's being a total jerk, It's okay to recognize that they're being a total jerk. But you don't have to go to that level. You don't have to escalate the situation. So try to show do the best you can. If you are having a little bit better mental health day than someone else, then give them some grace. Now, if you're in one of the industries in our country that's kind of shaky right now, because of having to shut down because of the coronavirus. It is totally reasonable to talk to your boss about getting a letter of reference. So how do you do that? If there's someone you respect, you can very simply just go to them and say, Hey, I respect you. I've enjoyed working with you. I was wondering if you feel comfortable providing me a letter of reference, very straightforward. And they can say yes or no. If they say yes, in most circumstances, it is helpful for you to write a template, or kind of write a skeleton of what you want them to, to include or what you want it to look look like. Or if there's particular aspects of how you work that you want them to include. You want to supply that to them. But you can ask them what they want. Some people like you to kind of write the whole letter, and they're just going to sign it. And other people just want to know, I personally, I don't mind people giving me what they would like to include, but I'm going to rewrite it in my own words, because it's, you know, if I'm signing it, I want it to be in my words, but there's some people that are like, Okay, this is what you want. That sounds good. I agree with all this, I'm just going to sign it. So ask them what they want, and be prepared for that. If they tell you no, don't be upset about it, either. They don't have time, they don't feel like they can give you a strong enough reference, or they're just not interested in doing it. That's okay. But be grateful that they said that instead of writing you a crappy reference letter, because a bad reference letter is way worse than having one. So you definitely don't want to do that. But just ask. And it's reasonable to do that. You also might ask if they're willing to make a phone call on your behalf. If you're in an industry that's hurting, right now, it's probably not going to be a surprise to them. Now, if you're not comfortable doing that, with these people with your current boss, your current leadership, totally understandable. But you should start thinking about people in your industry or people that you trust that could give you a reference, if you think that your job might be a risk. And keep an eye out either in your own industry or outside, start thinking about your other skills, maybe offshoots of the current job that you have. But start looking at ways to expand your skill set or expand the things you already know how to do in order to turn them into consistent and steady income. Because right now, we don't really have a good end date for how things are going to go. So it's a good idea to start thinking ahead, if you think that your industry might be at risk. also reach out to your network. If people are in your industry, they may have some tips and tricks for things that are really working or really aren't, or ideas how to expand your capabilities to make sure that you continue to stay relevant. And if they're outside your industry, they may have some ideas that you wouldn't necessarily have been exposed to. And then you can find out what works and what doesn't and who's growing because there are a few industries that are growing. And you can actually search and find hundreds of companies that are hiring and growing during COVID. So take some time with that. And then, you know, if you like the industry you're in if this is where you want to be, start thinking about ways that your industry or your particular job can better adjust to the pandemic, can you expand or change your services to better serve your clients? Can you stay relevant? Can you grow? There are options for this. I mean, things have expanded, things have changed under COVID operations. So you might find a way to actually move forward. And that's awesome. But regardless, be smart about your finances, if there's a chance that your income isn't going to be steady. Don't make any crazy purchases. You know, do what you can to get your bills down as low as you can. If you can defer anything, you know, look for relief, there are federal programs for relief look and find out what that is. So that you can make sure that if something does go downhill, it's not a surprise, and that you're prepared for it. Okay, so what if you don't have a job, but you don't need one? Well, first of all, if you're lucky, because most of us do need to work. But if you don't that's cool for you. Stay home when you can be smart about going out. When you do have to go out be smart about the local laws in your area. If you're supposed to wear a mask and you're supposed to to physically distance from the people around you please do that mask where it has turned so political. It's ridiculous. But wearing a mask does protect other people from you to an extent. So if you're supposed to wear one, please wear one bilateral mask where does reduce the chance of covid transmission? And yes, we could get into a whole debate about the deadliness of the virus compared to influenza and smallpox and everything else. Noted I got it. However, it is the law just follow the law. Right? Just Just follow the law. It's consider it. It doesn't hurt you. As a surgeon. I will tell you I've spent hours and hours and hours and hours and hours with a mask taped to my face which believe me is not very comfortable. And you know what? I was fine and I didn't get too much co2 it was okay. So please wear a mask if you're supposed to. But if you don't have to go out, use this time to recharge use it to do all the things that you You want it to do in your house use it to do to spend some time reading or thinking or exercising, or whatever it is you wanted to do. You can also boost your skills, there are tons of online classes, and many are free or reduced tuition during COVID. And so spend the time learning something new, this is a great time to get ahead in your training or your experience for whatever your ultimate goals are. And then be smart about your timeline. So if you've saved up for this, and that's why you don't need to work right now. Well, things are moving a lot slower during COVID, hiring processes, onboarding, all that stuff is moving slower in the virtual environment. So if you anticipate that you're going to need to go back to work, plan ahead and start early. Because if you wait till the last minute, it's possible, you're going to create a gap that you weren't anticipating. So think ahead. Now, if you don't have a job, and you need one, which is a lot of people in our country, right now, you have to have an open mind about this, you need to apply widely for location and industry be ready to take whatever. Now if you're exploring any options that are completely remote apply everywhere, you know, if they're willing to hire you across the country then apply. I mean, at some point, yes, it could be an issue if you you know, as we move back to normal operations, or whatever that might look like, and you have to travel. But right now, if you just need a job, and you want to fill in this gap in your resume, it's reasonable to just go ahead and apply. If there are certain companies that you're interested in, you can set up alerts through search engines for the companies that you like. And it will tell you when things happen when things are posted and on their websites or when they make the news. And so that'll tell you the issues that they're dealing with and there are tons of people hiring, so do some work to find out who's hiring, and then follow them. In my podcast on interview tips and tricks. I talk a lot about being prepared for an interview and understanding what what companies are going through. But this is a great time to do that. Because some companies are growing and others are having serious issues. So you should really know what's going on in the companies that you're interested in. Next, you need to prioritize what is your goal? Do you need to eat and support your family will any job do? Or are you able to wait for something that works towards your ultimate goals? If you just need a job, then you need to have the mindset that any honest labor is honorable and is worth pursuing. I had a lot of jobs and some of them were not very fun. But they all paid me an honest wage. And at the end of the day, I was happy to earn it. So if you limit yourself by cutting out everything that doesn't sound fun, or you don't want to do, you're actually taking a huge portion of the job market off the table. Now we've seen as the pandemic has evolved, that we have moved into a predominantly virtual environment, so much stuff is moving online. And so you really need to take some time to familiarize yourself with what platforms your industry is using. Some of the most common are zoom, Microsoft Teams, and whatever it is, find out what they use, and then familiarize yourself with them. If you can, you need to make sure that you have reliable internet with adequate bandwidth. And there are some tricks to reduce bandwidth, you can kind of go online and find out for the different platforms. But in general, if you reduce the size of pictures, if you turn off your own cameras, you're not uploading your video feed, there are certain things you can do to decrease the bandwidth that you're using as you go through. But it is important you do that if you're going to be working online a lot. And you can use your phone or other devices. But most of the platforms do have different capabilities depending on the platform that you're using. So you need to find out what they are. In general, a computer is going to be the most fully capable device that you can use your phone, an iPad, you know any kind of smaller device or like for zoom specifically, if you use their web browser, as opposed to the app, there are limited capabilities. So you should be familiar with that and find out what your industry uses. So you're going to do that you need to practice if you're if you're not someone that does a lot of stuff online, you should practice with someone before you have to do it in a job situation. So zoom is free for two people as long as you want in more than two people. It kicks you off after 40. And this is not, i'm not sponsored by zoom I'm not advocating for zoom is just a platform that I'm very familiar with. I'm going to give you examples that are mostly from zoom. But you can have more than two people for up to 40 minutes and it kicks off. So practice with someone when you're talking to them. Look at the camera when you're having a conversation. Look at it when you're talking look at it when they're talking. If you find it distracting to look at the camera and you need to look at their actual picture, then spotlight their picture and then move it right up underneath your camera so that you're basically looking at the camera because it is very distracting to talk to someone when they're looking off to their left or the right and it looks like they're not focusing. So you really want to show that you're engaged with the person you're talking to. When you're in professional situations, you need to dress the part from head to toe. It's a you know widely accepted joke that people are dressed only from you know the waist up and they're wearing their daytime jammies or boxers or whatever it is from the waist down. You need to actually dress the part because if for some reason you have to stand up and move around during it. You want to be a professional all the way down. So make sure sure that you're smart enough that you want to check your lighting you can get, obviously, there's specific lighting that you can get for for cameras. But in general, just check your lighting, make sure you're not backlit. So it looks like you're, you know, witness protection, you want to make sure that people can actually see your face, there are filters you can use, if that makes you happy to use that you can do that. But in general, you want to try to show yourself to your best, this isn't a beauty contest, but you do want to look your best, you want to check your background. If you can control it. Ideally, you want to have a wall behind you, that's either plain or has conservative stuff on the wall, you don't have a bunch of inappropriate pictures or phrases on the wall behind you. Especially if you're not alone, try to make it so that there's not people passing behind where you're going to be because that can be really distracting to you and to the people that you're speaking with. So you want to try to make it as professional and as conservative and boring as possible. And although virtual backgrounds can be super fun, in general, if this isn't someone that you're well acquainted with, it's not a good idea. Not only can it be distracting, and look a little bit unprofessional, but also, depending on your camera and the background, sometimes it can kind of go in and out. And that can be very distracting to the person talking to you. Now, if you've used some of these platforms, you know that in general, only one person can talk at a time because of the way the sound works. So when you're speaking pause before you speak, to make sure the other person has finished because the delay in a lot of our internet connections and kind of how these platforms work, is a lot of times people will be speaking at the same time. And that can be very frustrating. And it can really set you off to on a bad foot even though no one did anything wrong. So take a second to make sure they're finished talking before you start to talk, especially if they're asking you a question or interviewing you wait, because you're going to have a chance to talk. So wait and give them a chance to finish. And in general, when you're talking, you want to try to nod and use other nonverbals to show the agreement or to show that you're paying attention. Because if you say Aha, yeah, right, it actually pulls the sound. So it can be really confusing and can mess up the discussion. So you want to be aware of that. And as you nod, you want to exaggerate it a little bit, use your entire head, because if there's a lot of people and your picture is very small, it can be very hard to see your reaction. So you want to exaggerate that a little bit as you go. And if you talk with your hands, you want to do it slowly and deliberately, it can look really jerky and confusing if you move your hands really fast. Obviously, when you're having a discussion where it's only showing you from the neck up, you're probably not gonna be able to see your hands anyway. But if you do talk with your hands, and you can see them in your frame, just make sure you do it in a really concerted manner. And you pay attention to what you're doing. So you're not distracting to the person that's listening to you. And as you come into any chat room, or any interview, or whatever it is, make sure that you're on mute, your camera can be on or off. Honestly, it's easier if everything is off. But you definitely want to be on mute just because you're still talking to your family, you're doing what you have to, you know, any bodily functions that escape, who knows. But you want to be on mute, and make sure your screen name is appropriate, especially if you use it for social interactions. If you talk to your friends on on whatever platform it is, you want to make sure that you name yourself appropriately and that you look like a professional. If you're in an industry that uses visual aids, learn how to do that. So if you're going to have to learn how to present slides, use the whiteboard, use any of the annotation functions, practice that ahead of time, because it's one of those things that everyone kind of understands if it's a little bit Rocky, but it also after a second, it kind of starts to look a little bit unprepared. But if you're prepared and it goes smoothly, you look like a total rock star. So that's an easy place to get ahead and look a little bit more polished than you did before. Now because we've transitioned to so much virtual employment virtual learning, you do need to make sure that your online persona is where it needs to be. So you need to clean up your profiles, you need to clean up your email addresses. If you're still using, you know hotdude37@gmail.com, maybe clean it up, get a work address so that you can look a little bit more professional. If you've been spending a lot of time on Facebook and Instagram. Dude, I gotcha. I'm there with you. But maybe spend a little bit of time on LinkedIn, beef up that profile, get some new contacts, make sure that it reflects what you're trying to look for and who you want to be online. Ensure all of your resumes are up to date. And LinkedIn has opportunities to post that as well. But a lot of companies use algorithms that search your resume to get through that initial screening to make sure that it actually goes to a person to be evaluated. So check the job description to make sure that you're addressing the skills that they're looking for. And you can include some of those buzzwords, obviously you know, as we talked about an interview tips and tricks, you're not going to just cut and paste it you want it to make sure it's it's true, and then addresses the actual thing actually the things you're doing, but you should absolutely look and see what words they're looking for. And if they apply to you make sure they're in there because those algorithms are going to scan for those words. And as always in any hurry. Written Communication, anything you post online, you spell check, use grammar check, make sure that you're squared away, because that is your first impression. And that's what people think of you, when they see, when they see the words that you've written, they're going to get an impression of you. So you've applied, you're ready to go. And now you're going to have an interview. So if they give you the option of in a phone interview, or an in person interview, you should really do what feels comfortable to you. There's a wide range of comfort levels based on safety and kind of exposure. So you just have to do what's right for you. And if they don't give you the option, obviously, you're gonna have to adjust. But at the end of the day, this is your health. This is your life. And this is what you feel comfortable with. If it's in person, you're really going to take your cues from them. So I would plan to wear masks, because it's really it's the law in most places right now. And it does show consideration for the people that you're around. If they don't where you are, that's your call. If you're going to wear a mask, if you're going in person. If you wear makeup, do your entire face. But do it pretty minimal because it does tend to take it off into if you end up having to take your mask off at some point, you don't want to have a really dramatic line. But you do want your makeup to cover your entire face, go ahead and put on lipstick or lip gloss, whatever actually a matte lipstick that doesn't come off as best because the mask will stick to lip gloss. But be aware of that you might take it off. So prepare for that. When you get there, you're going to meet someone new. And in general, across the country shaking hands is really not happening. But if the person that's potentially going to hire you, puts their hand out to shake your hand, you should probably take it. There's not really a graceful way to refuse someone's handshake. And so that can put them off even though it's totally legit. That could put someone off as the first impression. So if they offer their hand, I would say take it, but you can then pull out your handy dandy hand sanitizer, offer it to them, use it yourself everybody safe, it shows consideration and you got to meet someone new. It's your call how you approach that, but that's what I would do. In general, most of the people I've been around have been doing kind of the fist bump or elbow bump. Ultimately you have to do what you feel comfortable with. And also try to maintain a good first impression. So do the best you can with it. If you can try not to touch hard objects, like doorknobs and arms of chairs. There's not great evidence that Coronavirus is transmitted that way although staph infections can be, but it's just a good idea. In general, if you wear gloves, which some people do, gloves are meant to be worn for a finite period of time you gloves, especially like latex or nitrile gloves, you don't put them on in the morning and then wear them all day and then wear them home. That's that's not the point of gloves. So if you're going to wear gloves, you wear them from your car, to the interview, sit down and interview and take off the gloves. You do not shake someone's hand someone's bare hand with your gloves. Because if you do that all of the things the gloves do not absorb what's outside, which is why we wear them right. But they pick up everything. So you're basically just transferring germs from one place to another if you wear the same gloves all day long, just like the people who wear gloves outside, and then they get in their car and they touch their steering wheel, you've actually taken all of the germs you're exposed to and then you've rub them all over your steering wheel. So if you're going to wear gloves, they're meant to be for limited use, you wear them in you have interact with action with people, you clean your hands again, and you want to put gloves back on you can put them back on, then you get to your car and you take them off before you sit in your nice clean car and you avoid giving germs to everyone else. So you go through your interview, you are polite, you listen, you speak, you answer the questions. Again, please go back to interview tips and tricks if you have questions about how to approach an interview. But things have really changed a little bit. So if you're going to be working in person, it's a good idea to ask to see your workspace you should see what precautions are being taken and how they are working through the pandemic. Now COVID is going to end I know it doesn't feel like it right now. But I promise at some point it is going to end. But it may not be the last time we deal with this in this country and in the world that besides the potential for biological weapons, viruses in general, everything, bacteria, they they tend to continue to grow and change over time. That's just how it works. They become resistant to our antibiotics, all of those things. This isn't a conspiracy theory. It's just biology. At some point, we may have to deal with this again. So it's good to know what kind of precautions they've already taken because we have had almost a year of dealing with this to see what what people can come up with. So it's good to know what they're doing and what their plan is for going forward. So I would absolutely look and see what your workspace will look like. As you go through the interview. Again, not the time to ask for about salary until you've been hired. But it is okay to find out what they're testing and quarantining protocol is what their plan is for all of this, and what their teleworking plan is, are they going to supply you with the device? Are they going to supply you with Internet? You know what of that? Do you have to supply yourself? You know, I will work from home quite a bit. But I had internet because that was important to me. So I had already budgeted for that I didn't expect that to be supplied to me. But if that's not something you have, and it's something you need, then you need to know what the situation is and what the support is from the potential employer, you also need to know what the expectation is for managing accountability. If you are going to telework, you know, do you have to be on screen from eight o'clock to five o'clock every day? Like, what is the plan for that? How are they going to maintain accountability? Is it going to be based on your productivity? Is it going to be based on someone actually being able to look at your face? Is it a phone tether, like, what's the deal and what they can expect from you. And then if it's a consideration for you, you need to know what the expectation is for childcare. There are some industries that say, if you are working, you cannot be a primary child caregiver, meaning you can't be the only one home with your kids, if you're supposed to be on the clock. Well, obviously, that's not reasonable for a lot of people. So you need to know if that's their expectation. Because between the limitations of childcare during COVID, and just the expense, everything about this, you need to know what that is if this applies to you. So those are totally reasonable questions to ask at that point, because obviously, you don't want to move forward if there are parameters around this job that are not tenable to you. But keep in mind, it's not a discussion or negotiation at that point, you're just asking questions, and then making notes, don't react, don't look upset, don't fight back. At that point. Now, if they decide to hire you, then you can negotiate for some of those things. But in the interview, that's not the time to do that you haven't been hired yet. And so if you're gonna fight back already, they may just decide to look at somewhere else. So don't don't react, just take notes, and then step back and see what's acceptable to you and what you can deal with. And then if they come back to you with an offer, then you can say, okay, about this thing. These are, these are my proposals, this is what I would like, and it gives you some bargaining tools. Now, if you can't find a job, which a lot of people are dealing with right now, the good news is, there's going to be so many people that have gaps during this time that it's not going to look as dramatic or as notable as it did this time last year. I mean, this time last year, if you had a seven month gap in your employment, that's a pretty big red flag. COVID has done that to a lot of industries. So I think a lot of employers are going to be a little bit more understanding about it. That being said, there are ways to fill some of those gaps. And one way is through projects and freelance work. And a lot of companies that didn't necessarily have freelance opportunities before have had to transition to that, during COVID. You know, a lot of small businesses have not been able to function during their during COVID, according to their normal operations, or their their previous business plan. And so there's a lot more opportunities to get involved in small projects, freelance work, helping out with things. So take a look in your industry and see what's available out there. If there are businesses that you know, reach out to them and see if there's things you can do, because a lot of them are struggling as well. And so they've had to change how they do their normal operations. Additionally, we've talked about volunteerism, volunteering, and putting a lot of time into that. And really moving forward learning some skills and contributing is huge. And that would be a great way, sometimes you can actually turn them into jobs, there are volunteering opportunities that eventually can, you can rise up enough in the organization that it can turn into a paid position. But even if it doesn't, it's still if you have some substantial projects to put on your resume, that still shows that you are trying to move forward even though you know the pandemic has put a pretty big wrench in everybody's works. And you could just try something new, you can do something completely different. If you've been thinking about trying to get into a different industry or a different career field, this is a great time to look and see what's available. And you can take a course work toward a certification either where you are now or what you want to work toward. There's a lot of opportunities to use this time wisely if you choose to do that. So at the end of the day, this situation is not what I would call ideal. That's an understatement. It's it's not ideal. But we can use this time in better ways we can use it to be better. There's so many things that we can do. We can focus on our education, we can take classes, we can look back at things. I mean, I have textbooks that I haven't read in years, that I'm trying to make an effort to go back through and just make my brain work on things that I already knew once and I'd like to know again. We can connect with family. I mean, you can use these online platforms like zoom and Skype and FaceTime and Facebook Messenger, there's so many ways to communicate, use them to contact your family and see how they're doing. You know, it's not ideal. But you can do that. And it's something we can continue doing. I mean, I've lived apart from my family for me since I was 18. And we just started doing zoom calls and it's awesome. And I'm like, why did I never do that before we had we had the opportunity. We've had the technology to do this for years and it didn't even occur to us to do it. And now we do it weekly and it's awesome. And you can connect with other people. I mean, we have happy hours. Still have happy hours about once a month with some of my friends and we just sit and chat and it might be fun. 30 minutes, and it might be two hours. But it's an opportunity for people to vent and say what they want and just to reconnect with people. And this is we can also go forward with that, check on people that need you check on people you're concerned about, this is an opportunity. And I feel like COVID has really opened up an understanding that this is hard on people, so we should check on them. Well, when this goes away, life is still hard on people, and we should still check on them. So you can't lose that concern for your fellow people. Just because there's not a pandemic going on. So if you created a habit in your life of checking on people that need it, don't lose that when this goes away, because they still need it. There's still people out there that can really use that Helping Hand once in a while. And then this is an opportunity to reevaluate our goals. I mean, if you look at how the world has changed, so massively over the last nine months, it really puts things in perspective are the things that we thought important, still really important? You know, if it continued like this? Is this still what I want to do with my life? Is this still where I want to be? There is a lot of introspection that can be gained from having everything about our lives turned upside down. For so many people. I mean, so many people's lives have changed massively this year. And even the best experiences have been different. So use this time, use it to figure out what you want to do, who you are, who you want to be this week, take some time to think about where you want to be a year from now. It may have nothing to do with COVID. Or you might be one of the millions of people whose life has been turned upside down by the pandemic. In either case, what do you want to have accomplished? What do you want to be doing 365 days from today? Where do you want to be? And who do you want to be sitting next to you. Spend some quality time thinking about how 2020 and a global pandemic has given you the opportunity to grow? What can you get started now to be better, stronger and happier this time next year. That's been our discussion of getting ahead during COVID on Level the Pursuit. If the discussion of how to keep moving forward made sense to you please give it a LIKE, SUBSCRIBE or share. If not, please drop me a note so I can do better.

Unknown: 32:19

Next week, we're going to talk about how the people in our lives affect our success. Whether you're surrounded by positivity or negative energy, it's no accident. And it does impact how you get ahead. We'll talk about how to approach filling our lives with productive and positive relationships to make the most of our time and energy. Don't forget to think about where you want to be when we get through this viruses hold on our lives. And head over to www dot level of pursuit.com to share the great things you're going to accomplish. I can't wait to learn from your thoughts.

LTP: 32:50

Thanks again for joining level the pursuit. Well, we can't choose where we start. We can choose our dreams and how we pursue them. Remember, success is a team sport and there's room for all of us to achieve our goals. So be a good leader. Be a good follower and do something great