Month-in-Review Highlights: March 2020
A view from our room in Saas-Fee, Switzerland. March 1, 2020.
I postmortem each month shortly after it ends, reflecting on what happened in general and, more specifically, in the context of my goals. Though I don’t share all my insights here, I have made it a practice to share at least one key highlight or insight. (To read previous months’ reviews, click here.)
I maintain my monthly postmortem routine as a form of self-accountability, of ensuring I stay on track with the goals I’ve set for the year. I don’t review the month in general. I keep my day-to-day and month-to-month to myself. (Unless, that is, we’re suffering a global pandemic, in which case I overshare. You can read my coronavirus diary from the beginning, if you’d like.)
Given the utterly unique and bizarre nature of March 2020, my monthly goals-review session surprised me. No one could have predicted the 2020 we’ve had, which has disrupted just about every expectation possible—except, as it turns out, my planned goal-related tasks for the year.
True, March 2020 didn’t allow me to try any of the activity I’d considered adventurous in late 2019, such as snowshoeing. However, it redefined “adventurous activity.” I hadn’t before gone to the grocery store during a pandemic. Now I have.
Also, though I could have gotten more high-intensity exercise into my March 2020 days, even when stuck in the apartment, the mojo trended more toward eat-the-cookies than do-the-online-HIIT-class.
On other fronts, though, I managed to keep up:
Early in the month, ahead of our awareness of the crisis at hand, we visited a few small Swiss towns (Saas-Fee, St. Gallen, and Appenzeller), thereby meeting my quota of new places visited.
The coronavirus diaries kept me writing regularly. Further, I got a request from my alma mater to write a piece on the rationale behind them. Two goals met: I found an opportunity to write beyond the blog and I managed to write more in general, too.
I got a lot of reading done. (Haven’t we all?)
I attended more events, personal and professional, than I ever could have attended if they didn’t take place in a virtual format. Social activity targets exceeded thanks to “social distancing.” Win!
I’ve kept up my French lessons and language practice, all via Skype.
On the business front, FrogDog has gone into overdrive on communications and marketing, mainly to provide help and information to companies trying to navigate the COVID-19 storm—and with the larger goal of building goodwill and brand awareness for the eventual recovery. However, as my sales coach used to tell me, all I can do is “the behaviors”—I can’t always control the results.
Let’s hope that the activities I’d mapped out still provide the right route to success in these uncertain times.
And you? How did you fare in March 2020?