5 Authentic ways to Effectively cope with Society’s New Normal
If we don’t change, we don’t grow. If we don’t grow, we aren’t really living. Gail Sheehy
We have had a major societal disruption. What will society’s new normal look like? The only certainty is that changes are coming in the workplace, education, and the impact of technology. The best and worst of human nature are amplified: The crisis is enhancing digital interconnectedness that engenders empathy, better awareness of the ills facing humanity, and positive public action.
WorkPlace
The concept of your work as being in a place will change. An increasing number of people will be working from home on regular basis. They will only come into a place occasionally.
Education
Technology and the use of artificial intelligence will become more and more prevalent. Adult education will move to cohort-based courses and people will build relationships while they are studying a subject.
The concepts of going off to college or university after high school will change as well. A college education will begin to embrace more technology for remedial classes and deliver more lectures online with fewer and fewer in person. In-person lectures will become limited to graduate school courses with only limited undergraduate exposure as we move forward.
Technology
The expansion of technology into our society will grow exponentially. Robotic processes are becoming a real part of our society, and this will be expanding over the coming decades. Unfortunately, this will help and hurt us at the same time. We will see disruptions in segments of society as robots take over certain functions. We have seen it in the auto industry. It is just beginning in the hotel industry as robots deliver room service and we check in via computer kiosks.
Over the next two decades, these changes will accelerate causing more in more changes to our concepts of work. Contrary to what President Trump told the factory workers in the rust belt, their jobs weren’t being taken by immigrants they were being taken by the beginning of automation and robotics.
Humanity
We as humans will be even more stressed and traumatized during this period as our jobs are disrupted. We will be forced to learn new skills to keep up. Those that are not lifelong learners will be at a disadvantage and will see their stress levels rise to lead to a rise in mental health issues and a need for massive improvements in mental health treatments and education.
Payment for work will change and work subsidies for not working may become a reality.
What will the role of Humans be in the new normal?
It is clear that after Covid we are going to enter a new period of massive changes. To survive we, as humans must.
1. Be resilient. Resiliency is the ability to overcome change and disruption in our lives. As ego into these next two decades of societal change, we will need to be more resilient than ever before. This will prove to be as disruptive as the industrial revolution was in my opinion.
2. Embrace change don’t fight it. The change will be the reality of the future. Fighting it will not be the winning strategy. Understand it and start learning how to benefit from it.
3. Change our mindset to a growth mindset. We have to get out of our fixed mindset and realize that our beliefs about right and wrong, good and bad are going to change. We are going into a period where we will have to think more, understand more, and react less based on our old beliefs.
4. Embrace lifelong learning. We will need new skills to be able to work and earn a living. Many of us hated going to school as we grew up, but this concept is different. To survive we will need new skills and to keep up we will have to be lifelong learners.
5. Learn meditation and mindfulness. This will help you cope and be whole during these disruptions.
At any given moment we have two options: to step forward into growth or step back into safety. Abraham Maslow
