April 6, 2020: Recognizing Challenges And Getting Creative
Good morning,
The start of another shelter-in-place week. I’ve lost track of the days. The one constant has been an incredible wave of tasty cooking. I wonder how many of you have also grown your cooking skills.
If you’re alone sheltering-in-place, stay strong. It’s really hard for humans to go without physical contact like the touch of another human. If you know of a friend who is alone, call them up! Videochat is better than nothing.
On to the update.
Recognizing Challenges And Getting Creative
My girlfriend told me last week that she was planning to go into the hospital to see patients that she had permission to see over video chat. After digging a bit, we realized that the desire to go into the hospital was because she felt like she could do a better job in person. After committing to stay at home, she was able to figure out a number of ways to improve, and no longer feels the need to go to the hospital.
She had the option of physically going to work, but many of us don’t. In some ways this is a gift, because it forces us to figure out solutions that we might have given up on had we not been forced to WFH. Perhaps you found a new way to communicate what you need from others, a new way to enter “focus mode” even when your family is making a huge noise in the background, or a new game to play with coworkers. These are real innovations that came from your creativity.
The true art is to figure out how to isolate that feeling of “ugh, this would be easier if I had X”, and turn that into inspiration and a commitment to finding creative solutions to problems. Think of this shelter-in-place as a huge boost to your creativity skills that you can take with you even when you return to the office.
One way to start this journey is to keep a journal of the creative solutions you’re finding every day as you struggle to WFH effectively. Just the act of noting these down will help create the habit. If you feel the need to tell someone else, feel free to send them to me! I won’t share anything without your permission.
Mask Of The Day
Found this on our walk around SF today. Send in your mask photo!
![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffcf549ef-4fbf-446d-aa31-298821e28616_3024x4032.jpeg)
“Climbing From Home”
SF’s wonderful Mission Cliffs climbing gym has a short guide on where you can climb during shelter-in-place.
My favorite is the brick wall ascent.
That’s all for today,
See you tomorrow!