Hello everyone,
These are some interesting and challenging times! To be honest, with everything going on I did not feel inspired to write about anything and certainly, I didn’t want to write an article about COVID-19 and how it’s affecting the event industry. I think we all have heard enough of that.

What I feel inspired to write about are the challenges faced when working from home. If you are like me and have always worked at an office environment, you probably are on the same boat as me.

First of all, I think many times employees take it upon themselves to navigate this new environment that could be very unknown to them as it was to me when I started a few weeks ago. In my opinion, it is ideal for the employee to be proactive and create their own schedule. Something that is not talked about much is the role of leadership such as managers, directors, etc. I watched a webinar by Bruce Tulgan who is an expert in management and he really opened up my eyes. I realized that both leadership and the employee should be working on this together. It may sound obvious to you, but in my experience right now, I’ve communicated with my manager on a daily basis and it has helped me tremendously staying on track with my projects and in the loop of what is going on with our events. No employee wants to be left in the dark about what is going on and work blindly on projects that he/she may not know will even happen. Lack of leadership and communication in these situations, I think it leads to lack of motivation on the employee’s side.

Another challenge I faced and I’m still working through is trying to work around the same schedule as before. It is very easy to not wake up as early as if you were going to the office because your office is literally 10 steps away, but we must try. One thing I noticed was that my week days are almost the same in the sense that 8 or so hours of my days are taken by work. Trying to keep the same schedule that you had pre-social distancing can really help you with any anxiety you may face. The feeling of being proactive is crucial during these times. Yes, we do need to be okay with taking it slow and understand that we can’t work as good as before and take time off, but having your day structured and check things off your list will give you a sense of accomplishment and that could really boost your mood, specially now that many of us are stuck at home almost 24/7.

I know most of what I said are my personal opinions, but I wanted to share them because it has helped me tremendously during these times. It’s hard to keep a positive outlook, but we need to push through because once this is all over, hopefully, you will be ready to face the outside world and all its challenges again with confidence and energy. I personally cannot wait to attend in-person educational events, visit friends, brunch and see my industry friends!

What are some things that you have been doing that have helped you stay sane and positive?

With love,
Natalie