2020 Gave Some of Us the Time We Needed, and We Still Didn’t Capitalize on the Opportunity. 

PLEASE NOTE: This year has been a difficult year for us. The pandemic has affected some of us negatively and some positively. This blog post is a reflection piece for some of us who have had the time to work on ourselves but didn’t capitalize. 

We have all been in those talks when we have said or heard someone say, “I wish I had more time”. We have had discussions about what we could do or would do if we were able to find the time to work on our ideas. No one saw the pandemic coming and the plans that we made we had to quickly change or cancel them. We couldn’t be around family, the kids were out of school and at home, and many of us worked from home as well. This experience was new for a lot of us, especially if you were used to working in an office setting. 

Since we’ve been home, we didn’t have a lot of the distractions that we normally would have. We didn’t have coworkers coming in our office to ask us questions. We didn’t have to pick the kids up from school. We could prepare dinner and breakfast easier. We didn’t have to wake up at 6am to get ready for work and could wear our pj’s unless we had a virtual meeting. Some of these things we always wished we had an opportunity to experience and since the pandemic we have been able to.

So now that some of us got what we wanted, what did we do with the opportunity? Did we continue to Netflix and chill? What did we do when we couldn’t sleep and we were up late nights/ early mornings? What did we do 6pm-12am after work hours? At the time this blog was written, we have been working from home for over 9 months. What have we done to better ourselves? Are our finances better? Did we get rid of subscriptions and services that we didn’t really use to be able to save money so that we can invest? How many books did we read? Did we spend any more time with our kids besides when we had to log them in for school? These are all questions some of us will have to answer at some point. 

How many of us for YEARS have been complaining about our 9-5 job. Yes, it does pay the bills but some of us speak about our jobs negatively and are unhappy. Some of us don’t like the environment or the pay and some just tolerate their coworkers. If that is our current situation, why did we not use this time to invest into a side hustle or get an online certification that allowed us to be in a happier work setting? 

If we wanted to start a business, the time afforded by the pandemic was a great time for us to draft up a plan and take the time to learn the area of business we want to be in. If we wanted to be an author and write a book, 9 months was a great time for us to do so. If we wanted to learn how to invest, millionaires and billionaires had classes teaching us to do just that. If we always wanted to invest in real estate, there were A LOT of proven real estate agents and investors that created webinars for others to learn how to wholesale and invest in a property ONLINE. There were parents online teaching other parents about strategies they can use to invest into their child’s education and not stress about how they would pay for their college expenses. All these things were going on and what did some of us do with our time? Reflect on that for a second.

We must get to a point as Millennials, Gen-X, Gen-Y, Gen-Z where we capitalize on the “alley-oops” in life that come our way. Are we assuming that we will be out of the office for another year? What if in March 2021 we are asked to go back to work? It would be one whole year that we worked from home and haven’t done anything. We cannot keep doing this if we want to progress. 

I understand that some of us struggle with different anxieties and doubt that we may not have what it takes to succeed, so we don’t take the time to work on ourselves. I personally have struggled with that as well, but listen, when YOU decide that you have had enough and you deserve better, we can overcome the metal blocks stopping us from taking action. Trust me, I have and If I didn’t, I wouldn’t be talking to you through this blog. I am continuing to work on myself and my dream and you can too. 

We can begin to invest in ourselves today. Some may have missed the opportunity to start early but we can start now. It all starts with us and how bad we want it? I understand some of us have kids, but if we were able to get them in a quiet corner and work on school, we can find the time and create a schedule that allows a little flexibility. It's not too late for us. We must believe in ourselves and stop making the excuses. Our desires cannot outweigh our work ethic if we want progression. 

Thank you for reading my blog post “2020 Gave Some of Us the Time that We Needed, and We Still Didn’t Capitalize on the Opportunity”.  I hope that this blog post encourages us to continue to work on ourselves and not be timid; so that when we see opportunities we wont allow fear and overthinking cloud our judgement. What are your thoughts on not capitalizing on the opportunities that presented itself this year? What are somethings that we can do to help us not be timid? Please comment below, If you enjoyed this post feel free to share and if you are new to Millennial Oaks please subscribe.