How COVID-19 changed my goals; and probably for the best
Illustration by Charly Clements
It’s funny how things can change so quickly. Eight months ago I was walking around Rome (no facemask needed), experiencing everything Europe had on offer and completing the trip of a lifetime. This seven-month dream European holiday allowed me time to relax and reflect on what had been a hectic 4 years at University.
“What was I going to make of my degree? How do I start to lay out the stepping stones of my career path?
I came back to Australia ready to take the marketing industry head on, applying for jobs and internships wherever they came up. I was lucky enough to be accepted into the Inka family as their newest intern, and had set out to exceed in this role and be left with all the skills and references necessary to land me that dream job and start making my way up the business ladder. Just two months ago I was sitting in the Inka office as a creative intern, venturing on an exciting career path and finally becoming a part of a strong network of like minded individuals. In my downtime, I decided to join my local gym and get back to the level of fitness I seemed to slowly lose throughout my University degree.
Then Coronavirus came along and decided to put everything on hold. I found myself secured to my makeshift ‘office’ desk (being crammed into my bedroom), having to communicate through a screen while constantly checking whether there was enough toilet paper to last my share house for the next week. Not surprisingly, my life, alike to so many others, seemed at a standstill. My casual retail job slowly became non-existent and track pants became my outfit of choice. As isolation slowly moved along, I started seeing my socials being bombarded with people achieving incredible things in iso, and my excitement of what I had planned for 2020 soon disappeared.
Instead of wallowing in my self pity a day longer I decided to make two small changes and develop a routine for myself that allowed me to feel I was thriving in isolation rather than comparatively mounting to nothing. My work with Inka was keeping me on my toes but on my off days I needed a little extra to get me over the line.So I implemented two simple things into my daily routine to work on.
ACHIEVE A GOAL A DAY (EVEN IF IT IS PUTTING ON CLOTHES)
While my original goals for 2020 became near impossible to achieve, I decided to scale down my goal setting and set out to achieve at least one task a day, including ‘post 3 items on my online Depop store’. Despite not being necessarily ground breaking, they were still satisfying to tick off once completed and gave me a sense of purpose I felt like I had lost once I started isolating. Simple, yet effective.
TRY AND LOOK AWAY FROM THE PHONE OR THE SOCIALS
My screen time increased substantially when I started isolating, causing me to be bombarded with the incredible stuff everyone else was achieving. This began to create a shift in my expectations and made me feel as though I had to do what other people were doing. I felt that if I didn’t come out of iso with a 6 pack or having learnt a new language I was missing opportunities and wasting my time. To combat this, turning my socials off for a part of my day gave me some clarity and shifted my focus back to what I wanted to achieve, and not what I thought I needed to achieve in order to isolate successfully.
In these times where everything seems uncertain, it is possible to gain a sense of control. While our usual comfortable daily lives have been disrupted, it is easy to fall into a routine of feeling unproductive and guilty for not accomplishing what you originally had planned. Luckily, there is a light at the end of the tunnel and COVID-19 won’t be forever. So during this time, focus on yourself and allow yourself to shut out those high expectations. Be gentle with your goals and what you do in isolation. If it gives you a sense of accomplishment that you need to get through these uncertain times, you’re doing something right.
This post was written by Inka Intern Kate as part of our 12 week Intern Program. If you're interested in interning with us, keep an eye out for announcements on our social channels or apply today!