Are today's issues also tomorrow's issues?

WE ARE CELEBRATING! This week marks the second anniversary of the start of the daily emails. We are republishing that first week of emails because they are still so relevant.
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April 7, 2020
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Colleauges,
 
Are today’s issues also tomorrow’s issues?
 
What is your most pressing issue today? Like many of us, you may have a laundry list of them. Our routines have been disrupted, the nature of our challenges has changed, and our future remains in flux. These things combine to create a huge demand on you to live in the urgent quadrants of the Eisenhower Matrix.
 
However, what about next week, next month, or next year? It seems very difficult to imagine what those may look like, but it is still important to try.
 
Go back to that laundry list of today’s pressing issues. Try answering the following questions about each of them:

1. If things don’t return to normal (for the foreseeable future), how will your actions need to change?
2. If things return to normal, how does that impact this issue?
3. If there is a “new normal,” what could that mean for this issue?

 
This is more than an existential exercise. It helps you pull your head out of the immediacy of the situation to begin planning for the future. Also, going through this exercise may yield some insights that are relevant to dealing with the issue today.
 
What’s one issue that you are focused on? 
 
Cheers!
 
Frederick