CAREERS AND EDUCATION

Find ways to manage uncertainty

Planning ahead will help you make the best of your school year

Rarely is everything going totally smooth, even under normal circumstances. Uncertainty is all around us, never more so than today, given the situation caused by the pandemic.

Given that things hardly go without a hitch, we need to find ways to manage the unpredictable. Some strategies to deal with uncertainty are to prepare for the unexpected and learn to tolerate a bit of trouble. Now with COVID, nothing is really certain — school may start normally and then could even go online. The professors may change, you may need to isolate for two weeks if there are any signs of COVID or if you come in contact with someone who has been affected, or you could get sick. Anything is possible and postponing school may not be the solution, as the future is uncertain as well.

The nature of uncertainty is that it is out of your control; the best you can do is manage worries and do your best to prepare. Here are some ideas for managing the unexpected during COVID.

Manage anxiety and worries

Since uncertainty is now a constant, remind yourself of what helps you cope. If talking things over with friends is helpful, be sure to make time to cultivate and maintain your friendships. Joining a group or playing a sport or volunteering or being introduced to new people, even virtually, may help you find supportive community. If you need a way to take your mind off your worries and disappointments, be sure to schedule in breaks with diversions and people who can help.

Many find that meditation and/ or exercise is helpful for changing their mental state and feeling in better control. Having some way to calm yourself should be part of your skill set. Even scrubbing the kitchen floor, with or without your preferred music, can take the edge off anxiety. Plus, you get a good workout! Or even making bread can be both therapeutic and delicious. You get a sense of accomplishment and surround yourself with good smells.

Whatever you do, avoid behaviours that can cause more trouble if you turn to them frequently, such as recreational drugs or alcohol. Find positive ways to take care of your mental health. You can also find people to speak to in your campus such as mental health counsellors who can help you deal with stress and anxiety.

Prepare ahead

Whenever a weather crisis is coming, we are told to stock up on our food and water supplies. We might also get a few good books, movies we want to see and list some tasks that need to get done when we have spare time. This is as true during a pandemic as it is for a snowstorm.

Make sure to plan for whatever the pandemic may bring your way. Make a note of contact information of other students in your class (at least one or two), your school’s support services and your professors. You may also want to have some ideas for alternatives if your parttime job dries up or if there is a delay in receiving your student loans. Find out what additional services your school offers for students during the pandemic, which could even include financial resources.

Consider working ahead in your studies and having your essays and assignments ready early, whenever possible. School can get interrupted and so can access to resources. If you are part of a group work assignment, don’t fully rely on other members to do their part; some members could drop out. Have some technology back up in case of breakdowns. Make yourself visible to your professors. If they see you attend class regularly and are engaged, they may be more inclined to help you if you need a favour, such as an extension on an assignment.

Avoid letting everything pile up. That goes for your studies as well as your laundry. And try not to fight or fuss with your family or housemates. During times of uncertainty, we need all the help we can get.

Geneviève Beaupré and Susan Qadeer have extensive experience working in university and college settings, providing career, academic and personal counselling to international and immigrant students.

Go hybrid. Be productive. Have fun!

5 tips for your hybrid return to the workplace

It’s more than a year since the pandemic hit us and took us all by surprise. Since then, many of us have had to learn how to self-manage and function remotely from home offices.

Now that we have adjusted fairly well to the new normal, it's time to take stock of what has been learned so far. And get ready to adapt to the new hybrid approach – as many of us return to the workplace for at least a few days in the week.

Consider these five simple tips to make your hybrid work arrangement smooth and effective.

Self-awareness

Self-awareness and self-management are important to help us monitor our actions and regulate our emotions. This means identifying what is important, setting priorities, and taking responsibility for submitting deliverables on time, irrespective of where we are.

Developing our Emotional Intelligence (EI) is important to understand how our actions and behaviors might affect others. When we learn to understand our emotions better, we are also able to better balance self-awareness vis-à-vis our relationship with others.

For instance, spontaneous team building moments like the Friday team lunch outings or after-work happy hours may now be a thing of the past. To keep the camaraderie going on, you can look for alternative methods of team building, like virtual game/yoga sessions, Friday evening virtual happy hour, etc. our own productivity. In the new paradigm, it was not about working during a set number of hours. A lot of us could accomplish more as long as we had a block of uninterrupted time to concentrate.

We learned the difference between time spent on a project (activity) vs. the output delivered (productivity). Many of us learned we could be counted on to deliver quality work in time even when working remotely.

As you get engaged in remote work, it's important to create systems that can help track your success. If it helps, use some sort of daily plan and stick to it whenever possible. Maintain a comprehensive track record of the phone calls, emails, correspondences, etc. Track your efforts meticulously. And look for new ways to ensure everyone benefits from your arrangement.

This also means being realistic with your deadlines and taking regular breaks. For instance, you could try the 25-minute Pomodoro technique – taking regular breaks every 20-25 minutes and using the breaks to create a 5-minute stretch or clean-up routine, take a short walk, make yourself a drink and so on.

Prioritize and balance

As you prepare for hybrid work, embrace the opportunity, and make your mental and emotional health a priority. It will make you happier and more productive at work. When you can find a way to balance your physical and emotional workload, it’s a win-win.

That means taking regular time for exercise or meditation. Becoming healthy and emotionally stronger will help you see clearly, generate great deliverables and build productive, satisfying relationships with co-workers and clients.

Communicate with clarity

There’s no room for ambiguity in a remote work arrangement. It is more important to be clear, purposeful and positive from the start. In a hybrid environment, communication becomes essential to sustaining the work you produce.

As you work on enhancing your communication skills, you can learn how to craft messages and express your thoughts and ideas across multiple online platforms.

Thankfully, digital communication enables hybrid work, so find a way to strategize around it. Adopt a communication strategy that enables everyone to maintain consistency and clarity and avoid any misunderstanding.

To expand your hybrid working prowess find the best technology for your situation. While ‘Zoom’ is definitely a popular video conferencing tool, you can experiment with ‘Around’ which offers more features to meet your needs more effectively. 'Google Meet' can also be considered if you have a lower budget in mind.

To facilitate small group meetings or digital brainstorming in the hybrid model, you can consider tools like 'Whimsical' and 'FigJam' to enhance your internal messaging.

Take it easy

You’ve overcome many challenges in the last year. You’ve balanced a lot. You’ve worked hard and become flexible. Take the breaks you need to stay positive, creative and committed to make the most of your new work style. Hybrid work will work – but will take a certain amount of flexibility and perseverance on your part.

In the final analysis, a remote or hybrid role is about finding balance and the chance to take charge and own your role. Good luck as you go hybrid and have fun at the same time.

Murali Murthy is an acclaimed public speaker, life coach and best-selling author of The ACE Principle, The ACE Awakening, The ACE Abundance and You Are HIRED!. He is also chairperson of CAMP Networking Canada. Learn how he can help unlock your magic at unleashyourwow.com.