Corona crisis as a challenge

In developmental psychology a crisis is viewed as a moment in time, during which future states and behaviors will be prepared, developed and at some point determined.

A crisis as a challenge

You can either solve or not solve a crisis.
The challenge to solve a developmental crisis comes with potential future benefits, not solving a crisis comes with potential risks.

Example of a crisis in developmental psychology

Children in early childhood do go through a crisis, where reaching autonomy is the goal. If the challenge is failed, future grown ups are at risk of feeling self embaressement and self doubt.

Well, Corona is not exactly a mandatory crisis for human development. It is a kind of challenge for the grown up world, though. Failing it comes with risks, solving it comes with benefits.

Challenges as a short and long term strategy

Being faced with a challenge, you will need focus on solving it. Solving it means building necessary ressources. Building such ressources in times of crisis will benefit yourself in shortterm during crisis as well as in longterm post crisis.

I want to show you, how i am approaching corona as a challenge and how this approach maintains my positive attitude.

I know, that context matters. I know the predispositions matter. I know, that not everybody will have the capabilities to approach corona as a challenge, currently.

1. It might be easier for me to deal with such a situations because:

_{*I am the “challenge accepted” guy. I like being in situations of win-lose character.
*I do not have an issue with losing. It is motivating for me, to become better.
*I am 36 years old and childless, this is why i have not faced some of major life challenges so far}

2. On the other hand, I do have a specific fear, which in is not beneficial in a time like corona it was triggered very strongly

_{*I am a person with high fear of loss, when it comes to family, partner and close friends.
*My granny is 91 yo, my mother is 55 yo & has prexisting conditions}

3. Availability heuristics

_{*”Corona live tickers” and “corona data streams” made me assume, that corona is coming and is already a thread to my family
*Having fear-like emotions can sharpen your focus on what is going on all around you and such a sharpened focus can create the illusion, that corona is the worst thing to ever happen to hummanity.}

So i had the possibility to maintain in such a situation of growing fear or somehow solve it. As an answer, I naturally developed a cognitive solution. It means, that i tried to rephrase the situation i am in. From being threatened to being challenged.

This is the crisis – or better said – the challenge i am in, right now.

i have prepared an infographic for you to illustrate the challenges i have formulated for myself

3.1.1. Stabilise your team in times of crisis and use the crisis to develop for future tasks

How to approach the challenge in 3 steps

1) Listen & react: Provide proactive & constructive feedback to coworkers for all incoming requests

**Short term benefit: You’ll be a fall back option for your coworkers. People tend to work better, when feeling secure.

**Long term benefit:  You will develop a standing as the go-to-contact for your colleagues.

2) Focus on contact: Not being physically around people, requires to develop a habit of staying proactively and transparently in contact in order to assist them (e.g. your clients)

**Short term benefit: Your colleagues and clients will feel to be in good hands, even within a crisis.

**Long term benefit:  You and your colleagues will use the crisis to develop a service oriented mind set, even without being physically around your colleagues and clients.

3) Promote creativity and problem solving: New digital working environment should not be structured top-down. Allow your team to develop responsibility & their own effective habits and share them among each other.

**Short term benefit: Your team will find an environment, which fits them best to work effectively through the crisis

**Long term benefit:  Your team will develop a feeling of responsibility and engagement, both linked positively to performance. You will develop necessary leadership strenghts.

3.2.1. Use digital environment to increase life quality of your social circle

How to approach the challenge in 3 steps

1) Digital services: Introduce digital services, especially to the elderly (eg. AMZ Alexa an easy way for oldest) <zdjecie Babcia Alexa>

**Short term benefit: Your family & friends will not be in risk of social isolation, especially those who are already at risk due to corona

**Long term benefit:  Your family & friends will learn and get used to digital services without being really externally forced to it. They will do it out of intrinsic motivation.

2) Contact without purpose of contact: Use playful ways to stay in contact & create common virtual experiences (eg. play UNO online or take part in social media challenges)

**Short term benefit: Cognitive focus will be driven away from corona topics

**Long term benefit:  Even in times of crisis you will go through common experiences and drive social bonding, which will then benefit in the future

3) Corona – connecting people: Connect different people virtually via telcos, who normally would never meet caused by distances

**Short term benefit: Learning to know new people, getting into new conversations creates cognitive challenges and drives creativity

**Long term benefit:  Being the socializer, will create new opportunities in future settings. Being socialized, will create new opportunities in future settings

3.2.2. Stabilise your family

How to approach the challenge in 3 steps

1) Inform in a balanced way: Provide necessary hope as well as conduct proper expectations management, so that people can prepare themselves for staying strong through crisis

**Short term benefit: Decreased probability of extreme views and therefore risky behavior during crisis

**Long term benefit: Family will learn to gather information in a more balanced way, diversifying sources

*Training online: Provide mental and physical training digitally (eg. round table discussions, meditition training, physical training)

**Short term benefit: Increased psychological and physical wealth

**Long term benefit: Family will learn new and more healthy ways of spending free time

*Prefilter information: Prefilter information for family and friends, who are cognitively not capable to process it (eg. Filter out suspicious theories or describe difficult statistics easily)

**Short term benefit: More realistic processing of current developments in crisis and better adaptation to externalities

**Long term benefit: Your family will be building future capabilities to evaluate crisis developments properly. You will become better in descibing complex things easily.

3.2.3. Be more cooperative

How to approach the challenge in 2 steps

1) Be a helping hand: Help your elderly neighbours or family & go grocery shopping. A simple note at the door is enough to get in contact

**Short term benefit: People at risk will not risk their health by going out. It will make you feel better by helping others.

**Long term benefit: One hand washes the other, and together they wash the face. First: people reciprocate, what you have done for them. Second: cooperation can lead to better outcomes.

2) Engage family in simple tasks: Create a setting of shared ressources and common goal. Give tasks people. An example might be to find out how to increase health and how to develop a common family strategy to face corona.

*Short term benefit: Turn the focus away from the terrbile attributes of the crisis, towards a more solution based approach. which decrease fear by information gathering.

**Long term benefit: Be the source of reputable and legitmate information and decrease risk of mental health issues.

3.3.1. Increase your rate of savings (to a lifetime high)

How to approach the challenge in 3 steps

1) Save the eating money: Normally you would spent money eating in bars and restaurants. Put that money in a money box.

**Short term benefit: Not spending money on other unnecessary goods and having money in place in case crisis gets worse.

**Long term benefit: Saving money for future plans.

2) Save the travelling money: Probably you don’t have to go to work. Try to save the money you would spent on public transportation or fuel.

**Short term benefit: Not spending money on other unnecessary goods and having money in place in case crisis gets worse.

**Long term benefit: Saving money for future plans.

3) Save the consumption money: Normally you would need to buy stuff, you don’t really need, like a new shirt, new shoes or a new tech gadget.

**Short term benefit: Not spending money on other unnecessary goods and having money in place in case crisis gets worse.

**Long term benefit: Saving money for future plans.

3.4.1. Get your immune system in better shape by developing more healthy habits

How to approach the challenge in 3 steps

1) Eat at home (no brainer): Try to plan and organise cooking at home as a game and learn new recipes. Gamify your cooking experience with your partner. Collect virtual points. Spent points on who is cooking next time.

**Short term benefit: Fun.

**Long term benefit: Developing a healthy ground for future plans.

2) Develop new eating habits: Develop new habits in eating, eg. have 3 meals a day.

**Short term benefit: Getting you body not to feel overwhelmed by either to little or to much to process

**Long term benefit: Developing healthy ground for future plans. Developing habits for a structured daily routine.

3) Track your eating habits: Track your meals by using respective applications (as you stay at home, it should not be as difficult)

**Short term benefit: Effort by writing everything down. But: Being in control of what happens with you body and therefore increase feeling of security

**Long term benefit: Learning about healthy habits from your bodies history and increasing well-being

3.4.2. Develop more sustainable sport habits

How to approach the challenge in 3 steps

1) Sports online: Use and learn from free online sport services (eg. livestreams), which are being created right now

**Short term benefit: Diversify your training plan or start with first small steps, as you don’t even need to leave your house

**Long term benefit: Learning new exercises will help to develop other physical areas of your body

2) New forms of sport: Try out new forms of sport and complete your comprehensive approach to your body

**Short term benefit: Diversify your training plan or start with first small steps, as you don’t even need to leave your house

**Long term benefit: Learning new exercises will help to develop other physical areas of your body and achieving a more balanced level

3) Get social in sports: Ask you family and friends for facetime sports

**Short term benefit: Help you family to strenghen their physical health

**Long term benefit: Introduce the elderly to home exercise and decrease entry barriers (eg. age)

3.4.3. Develop healthier mental life

How to approach the challenge in 3 steps

1) Mental training: Use spare time (as you are not travelling) for mental training, eg. to learn meditation, to read books, become better at favorite games etc.

**Short term benefit: Use your free time for something productive

**Long term benefit: Increase the probability of feeling satisfied and engaged with your own life after the crisis

2) Quality time: Use spare time for more quality time with family and friends, as described above: Play games online, discuss life stories with the older family members

**Short term benefit: One of life’s challenges at some age is to pass over experiences and insights from experiences to younger generations. It helps the older family members to fulfil their need for generativity.

**Long term benefit: More fulfilled perception of own life story by family members

3) Get environment in shape: Finish things at home, which brings direct return on well-being (eg. flowers on your balcony or a dedicated “work corner” for homeoffice times)

**Short term benefit: Get engaged in beautifying your house

**Long term benefit: Do feel more comfortable when staying at home

3.4.4. Develop a higher hygiene level by gamifying the behaviors

How to approach the challenge in 3 steps

1) Playful outside time: As soon as you step outside your house, dont touch you face. You can turn it into games with kids very easily.

**Short term benefit: The most important behavior in countering corona virus.

**Long term benefit: Well, it should help you in the future to not get infected with other similar ilnesses

2) Social norms: Start using your elbow to cover when sneezing and coughing. You might turn it into dance moves.

**Short term benefit: Stop spreading viruses around and risking health of others

**Long term benefit: Well, it should help in not getting such ilnesses getting spread all around

3) Washing habits: Start washing your hands more intensly. Expand it to other areas of your body.

**Short term benefit: The most important behavior in countering corona virus.

**Long term benefit: Well, it should help you in the future to not get infected with other similar ilnesses

A simple way to trick your mind into getting started:

Think of areas of your life, which are important to you: Family? Friends? Social Life? Partying? Work? Development? Your dog? Your cat? Your children? Your hobbies?

Write things down. At least mentally. Formulate them as challenges for yourself.

In best case formulate them in a very specific way:

“I want to learn 20 new recepies until quarantine is over”

“i want to help my grandmother to survive the quarantine without leaving the house

In best case, try to involve new people, either known or unknown and distribute tasks. Solve them together. Try to gamify things. Try to digitalize the many possible behaviors, which are important to you (eg. playing, training, meditating, reading, speaking to family and friends, spending big family rounds etc)

In best case, try to put emphasis on being thankful for what is still available.

In best case at some point in the future, you will look at the corona crisis and recognize a time which increased well-being for you and people around you.