“Did they sell too soon? It’s not like they were going anywhere.” Their realtor barely planted the “For Sale” sign and swarms of Hondas and Toyotas and 4-Runners paused to consider. And, then it ended.
“The Tau of Steves: What You Don’t Know Could Fill a Book”
“5” Steve Zahn, 51:“Prioritizing becomes a challenge when everything coming your way seems to be a high priority. You’ll have to ask more questions to learn the truth and decide what to participate in and what to skip.” Scorpio
Hi and welcome to Thursday’s Episode 41 in Season 2 of “My Pandemic Year Experiment” on this seventh day of May in the spring of 2020.
Season One and Two are a two-year examination of how bits of wisdom changed during the “normal” pre-pandemic and then in this unfolding pandemic year.
Previously in Season Two, the Pandemic Year
S2 E40 — The Profound Impact of the Pandemic on Nouns; S2 E39 — The Best Tau for the Pandemic Year, Don’t You Agree?; S2 E38 — What Should You Do If You Stumble Across Loaded Information?
Related from Season One, the Normal Year
S1 E41 — The Dream Was Over, Long Live the Dream; S1 E40 — Nothing to See Here, Keep Moving On; S1 E39 — What’s Up with Facebook?; S1 E38 — 38 of My 1-Year Experiment
Context
George and Joanne rented a U-Haul to take a couch and some furniture to their temporary apartment in Quail Ridge almost directly across from one of those mirrored glass sky scrapers where she works.
Pandemic Real Estate Market
Mentor Dave and I Zoomed.
We considered the state of the residential market. I told him they both worked in the business. He had just accepted a package — a layoff. She worked for one of those high priced consulting firms.
I told Dave, “They’re leaving for Nashville, like so many other rumored locals.”
“But they’re renting for how long?” he asked.
“Yeah, for at least 6 months while the place they’re building is finished. But, you know how that goes.”
“Well, it does seem to be so early in the normal real estate cycle,” he said, “but, with COVID spreading it’s going to be harder to hold open houses and maybe they just want to take their money now instead of getting caught in a downdraft in sales.”
“George told me Joanne had tried and tried to get permission to work remotely for the last few months to no avail. Then COVID hit and the company encouraged she and her co-workers to work remotely.”
“Yeah, even the non-technology companies seem to be softening now.”
“And, she’s negotiated her remote working relationship even when they move, and get this, at the same salary level even though the cost of living has to be dramatically lower, right?”
“Good for them,” Dave said.
Consulting Business Disruptions
“And, now what about you and your business?” I asked. “Are you in Maui now?’
“What, oh … no, that’s my Zoom background. What day is this, yeah we were supposed to be on the Rhine on a river cruise but we cancelled.”
He and his wife and travel friends cancelled several trips they looked forward to. It was just as well he said because he broke his toe a day before the last vacation, but didn’t cancel.
“I wound up out of alignment with his back stenosis, so that my nerves don’t flow smoothly through the back of my spine.”
Like J.D. another mentor I recruited, Dave is working through what his business looks like on zoom.
“I cancelled a business trip to New York,” he said. He and his two partners used to book 7 straight hours with a client — just the executive alone without any direct reports. No team building. Just one-on-one intensive sessions.
“Seven hours?” I asked perplexed, “All on the same day?”
“That includes time us all to huddle when something isn’t working as well, decide what to do. But, we can’t do that now. So, we’re taking our own advice and reimagining how we’ll zoom with the New York global business executive.”
“But, Zoom … isn’t there something about privacy issues using their platform,” I asked.
“Yeah, tomorrow we’re having to learn WebEx. The company trusts Cisco WebEx for security reasons. And, we don’t record any video. Normally we each take our own notes, so there isn’t any reason to worry about sensitive documents generated from the day long session.”
Each morning now, he checks the paper for number of cases of COVID-19.
It turns out we shares the same view of Bill Gates.
How we like his concurrent scaling and manufacturing processes for 6 potential COVID vaccination solutions, discarding all but one bet and then accelerate the one remaining without having to start linearly with the most promising.
Mentoring During the Pandemic
Oh, as an update he told me he still sees one of his proteges I matched him with who wanted to become a consultant in 10 years. He walked me through his advice to him.
Within Kaiser, the Healthcare Executive MBA student should apply what he’s been learning in his coursework, circulate papers, build case stories, speak, write and become a trusted advisor.
Evidence
“5” Steve Zahn, 51:“Prioritizing becomes a challenge when everything coming your way seems to be a high priority. You’ll have to ask more questions to learn the truth and decide what to participate in and what to skip.” Scorpio
Random ones that make me want change my sign.
Today’s Holiday Birthday:
“Inspiration and insight strike. Through effort and care, you’ll start moving like you couldn’t before, your physical self invigorating other systems in your life. It will be a win for your group in August followed by a lucrative personal victory. What a relief in September, when a complicated arrangement finally gets hammered out.”
Wow! That’s just what I need, only it still ain’t my birthday. Mind if I check back in August and September to see how it went for you?
“4” Steve McQueen (1930 – 1980): “Without a jovial touch, people get bored and touchy. That’s where you come in. You possess an unusual talent, which you will use to help, amuse and delight others.” Aries
I have to admit when George moves from next door I only hope our next neighbors share a sense of humor too.
“4” Steve Winwood, 71; Stevie Wonder, 69; Stephen Colbert, 56: “While it is possible to be anything you want to be, it generally takes time. Meanwhile, you can dabble in whatever tone, feeling or mood you want to take on in an instant if you know the mental route to the place.” Taurus
While Dave delivers his consulting advice and mentoring suggestions with more intensity, this Holiday Tau fits just as well in his life too.
“3” Steve Smith, 30: “More sunsets are caught than sunrises because a greater number of people are awake in the evening than are watching for the break of dawn. Get on an early tract. There’s something spectacular in it for you.” Gemini
Haha, the older you get the easier it is to heed the call of nature at sunrise.
“3” Steve Howey, 42: “Relationships will have a feeling that is greater than the sum of their parts. Just as there’s a certain dynamic present in togetherness, there’s also a dynamic present in apartness.” Cancer
Boy, as this pandemic plays out, this TauBit of Wisdom may help us cherish being together and apart.
“4” Steve Carell, 57; Steve Martin, 74; Steve Wozniak, 69: “Goal setting doesn’t always work for everyone or every situation. Right now it’s enough to be on a certain kind of path. Your motivation and momentum are slowly picking up. Trust the journey.” Leo
It may be too early to really tell if trusting my journey picks up my motivation and momentum or not.
What’s Going On …
Literally Bottled and Set Adrift from KnowWhere Atoll
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- @knowlabs followers of one or more of my 35 digital magazines grew from 1760 to 2,170.
Foresight
Quality-of-Life
Long-Form
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- Just picked up “Bob Dylan In America” by Sean Wilentz. Maybe because of the subliminal messaging like the times are a changing and the answer is blowing in the wind, but I kinda like Sean’s fanboy becomes music critic becomes historian surrounding Dylan’s life and times.
Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons
Inspired by: Holiday Mathis – Creators Syndicate
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