Learning by Training

By Arend van Campen

NATURE STRIKES BACK

Is your business thriving or suffering due to the Covid-19 restrictions?

While the world seems to have spun out of control because regulators try to regulate a virus, collateral damage can be felt everywhere. Imagine you are a cruise ship owner or operator, a ship’s cook or crew member? Think about people who lost their job, their businesses, a family restaurant that was founded by parents, a cheese factory that produces cheese, but abandoned by hotels, because they are closed until further notice.

When one starts to think in systems, you can easily observe that a domino effect is unfolding before your eyes. This includes our industry: less demand, fewer buyers, less money to spend, less transport, less storage, less consumption, less profit and so on.

A saying I often us is: “a wise man comes prepared”, so this column is about early recognition of risk, proper preparation and planning to tighten your belts because without being pessimistic - I am a realist - we are in for a rough ride. Even if a vaccine is administered into a vast number of people, and the virus has been ‘regulated’, a fast recovery of the economy can’t be expected anytime soon. Best is to cut costs now, become lean and mean, but also use your creativity to adjust, adapt and overcome these difficult times.

A word of advice: focus on the stuff you truly need, look at how our ancestors survived with a lot less. Don’t depend on technology too much, learn how to live from as little as possible, don’t trade in your car for a newer one just yet, this one is still running and paid for, stock up to have enough food in your cellar, chop wood to keep warm, teach yourself survival techniques and focus on loving those people who love you. You’ll be fine when you have a feeling that you can do with less. It dissolves stress and thus will boost your immune system.

Fritjof Capra, the physicist, sees the virus as a messenger bringing us a warning. The virus came from somewhere, perhaps it escaped from a bio-weapon laboratory or it jumped from a bat into a Chinese wok, it doesn’t matter. Fact is it is here and will not go away, even by more devastating lockdowns that almost destroyed the usual life we all enjoyed in freedom.

I mentioned it before: a virus can’t be controlled by political regulation or police brutality. We either choose to live without fear or we will die a dreadful death. In a society ruled by fearmongering politicians or virologists, life becomes unliveable. This is harmful to us all.

So what does a collective cognitive dissonance do to our decision making ability? It becomes irrational, scientific facts or arguments are contemptuously rejected. This leaves us, you and me, inside of some kind of void, disrupting safety, security and the ability to rebuild our businesses, companies and life. In such a world, life has become painful, a road to serfdom.

But the World Economic Forum has the solution: ‘The Great Reset’.

This is the latest in a series of articles by Arend van Campen, founder of TankTerminalTraining. More information on the company’s activities can be found at www.tankterminaltraining.com. Those interested in responding personally can contact him directly at arendvc@tankterminaltraining.com.