Adapting to change – Bruny Surin

The topic of the hour is, of course, the coronavirus. We are still in isolation, but some of us are slowly getting back to our activities.  This deconfinement must be done gradually to avoid a second wave of contagion.

Meanwhile, while this is happening, you should really think of ways to reinvent yourself depending on the activity sector of your company. You should ask yourself how you can, as the expression says it so well, “turn on a dime’’ in order to adapt to this new reality. I am aware that this is extremely difficult. There are some of us who have lost a job permanently and others, temporarily. We have the help of the government which alleviates some of the stress, but the damage is done and we can all feel it.

So the message I would like to share with you is try not to tell yourself every day that it’s difficult, but rather try and find ways to adapt to the situation. For example, my job is that of a speaker.  I have at least fifteen conferences which have been postponed and for the moment I have no source of income.  Seeing that the trend right now is online communication, I signed up for a university online marketing course.  Virtual communication will only increase and I want to learn and improve myself in this area.  I learn how webinars work, and I will use that medium to offer my conferences on different themes to my clients.  This is an example of how I am adapting to the current situation. 

In addition to my conferences, I am also a sports coach level 3 certified from the Coaching Association of Canada, NCCP and I’m thinking of offering my services to companies.  There are many things that I can do virtually such as exercises with clients; keep moving in business. When I was an athlete training with the same technique for ten years, I suddenly had to adapt to another racing technique.  Time evolves and so do the techniques, so I had to adapt and trust the process which allowed me to get to another level.

We must expand our horizons and be ready to welcome change. So no matter what field you are in, get your brain working; learn, read more, work on yourselves, do not stay at home and nurture negative thoughts because this increases the risk of depression and psychological distress. I don’t really like to talk about that subject but it’s a reality.  You have to tell yourself that we’re all going to make it and that we’re all going to succeed.

Bruny