Reflecting on Covid – What Did You Learn?

As I write these words, Covid-19 became a part of most of our lives about 5 years ago. While the exact “anniversary” depends on where you live in the world, anniversaries are often a time for us to reflect on past events. And I believe we will benefit from reflecting on Covid. (I reflected on leadership lessons from these events one year ago.)

Covid-19 is a virus. It created a global pandemic. It caused or contributed to many deaths. It changed the world economy, impacted politics in most countries, and changed the way many of us work and how we think about it. While there is much that could be discussed in all those areas, that isn’t my goal in this article.

I want to help you in reflecting on Covid for yourself.

Why?

• Reflection is powerful. I am a big proponent of the power of reflection to help us as continual learners. There is so much we can learn from our experience, but we must reflect on and think about those experiences to gain most of those lessons.
• Balance is necessary. While Covid caused much pain, strife, and stress, I believe with the perspective of time, we can now find a more balanced view of what we learned and how we can apply it in non-pandemic times.
• Reflection can be hard. That’s why the bulk of this article is questions to help do this reflection.

Questions to Help in Reflecting On Covid

Sit down with some quiet time, and a journal, or at your keyboard if you prefer, and spend time answering these questions. Putting your thoughts into words will make the reflections more powerful and the resulting learning more helpful. It doesn’t have to be pretty or grammatically correct (and spelling doesn’t count). You are writing your thoughts and lessons for an audience of one.

Think about your Covid experience from a personal perspective as you answer these questions:

• What did I learn about myself?
• How has my life changed?
• In what ways is it better?
• How have my approaches to work and life changed?
• In what ways do I lead differently now?
• What have I learned about my relationship with work?
• How have my habits changed?
• In what ways have my habits changed for the better?
• Did my experience change or clarify my values in any way?
• What have I learned about my mental health?
• What skills have I learned because of these events?
• What (if any) hobbies or interests did I cultivate?
• How have those impacted my life?
• What did I do differently during the pandemic that I could be served by remembering now (in a post-pandemic world)?
• What do I wish I might have done differently then, and why?
• What is my biggest positive Covid lesson?
• What are the biggest things my Covid experiences have taught me?
• How am I different now?

These questions help us reflect on what we learned during the events and what we can now take from them with the benefit of perspective, time and experience.

Use these questions for yourself. Share the list with others. And if helpful, have conversations with others about specific ones you choose.

Most of all I hope you will acknowledge this anniversary by giving yourself the gift of learning by reflecting on Covid.

If you want to learn much more about learning from our experience and context to help us become a more effective and confident leader, order your copy of my book, Flexible Leadership: Navigate Uncertainty and Lead with Confidence, here.