As we enter the year 2021 we do so with many lessons learned during the pandemic. In this episode Daniel and Pouya discuss what they learned from the year that went so that we could set the right tone for the year ahead.
Episode Transcript...
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
pandemic, people, life, year, personally, importantly, realize, situation, day, terms, pretty, eye opener, social, attention, panic, travel, colonoscopy, bit, pay, world
SPEAKERS
Pouya LJ, Dan
Pouya LJ 00:09
Hello, and welcome back ladies and gentlemen to yet another edition of PTV podcast in the year 2021. Join as always with Daniel Mulligan, how's it going, buddy?
Dan 00:19
And man, buddy, how's it going? Happy New Year, it's great to talk to you. Now, of course, we just celebrated the new year, a couple of days ago. And it was super wonderful because personally for me, the new year is a big deal, because it's the probably the most important year when it comes to goal setting. As you probably know, I'm crazy about goal setting. So it's been a great year, despite all the limitations, the pandemic, which has made traveling or Party, which both of which I love a lot, a lot harder, unfortunately, still, we have to go through this. And fortunately, I managed to enjoy the you know, the New Year celebration, although on a much smaller scale, basically, to somehow make sure that I follow the health guidelines and do not end up you know, perhaps spreading the virus or something like this. But generally speaking, despite all the challenges, pretty happy to be here with you for the you know, our first less competition of the year 2021. So couldn't be more excited. Life is great, man. How about you? How is how's life basically, on your end?
Pouya LJ 01:18
Yeah, things are concerning everything things are going well, I think we have turned a new leaf by turning the page turning the chapter on to a new year, obviously, we still are having the struggles of COVID, whether directly or indirectly, ahead of us. I mean, not just me, everybody, really, but I think I think at least mentally, in terms of mindset, at least we're turning into a new year. So why not change our mindsets to? Would you? Would you agree with that?
Dan 01:49
Pretty good, pretty good?
01:50
Yeah, of course,
Dan 01:51
it's pretty good. And I don't know about the atmosphere, of course. But generally, in this situation, we gotta somehow change ourselves a little bit, although I'm not a fan of like, complete, like reprogramming our entire brain because it's not going to last forever, man. But we could change our way of thinking the way that we can take advantage the situation and not panic and wait it out until the storm passes.
Pouya LJ 02:13
know precisely that. And that is basically what I was trying to get at. Because the past year, I mean, in 2020, basically, everybody suffered a lot. And we experienced a lot of uncertainties on top of other, you know, stuff that were really annoying, and perhaps often for many people, outright upsetting, losing loved ones or whatever. So. So in that sense, I feel like coming to a new year, personally, I want to take a little bit of a more of a positive approach. Of course, it's not done with but as you mentioned, it will be at some point. And maybe for the better part of this year, we'll still deal with it, to some extent, all of us, but, you know, in terms of our mindset, I personally want to take a more, you know, assertive, proactive and positive approach to this year versus reactive, as the circumstances required, perhaps in 2020, which I was much reacting to the news or situation or the new guidelines and whatnot. So this time, this time around I this is this is at least my perspective, personally, I don't know about you, how are you dealing with the new year?
Dan 03:25
Well, first of all, I generally, as you mentioned yourself, being reactive is never a good thing, whether it is a bad situation or a good one. So as you pointed out, the best approach is to get ourselves out of that reactive mode. I mean, I personally don't think that panicking, or being concerned about all the latest things that are especially portrayed in the media is a good thing. Because the media thrives on these things, they would love to make things look so dangerous. And the worst thing is going to happen, because that's going to you know, make your eyes fixated on what they're, you know, showing that to people. So for that reason, generally speaking, I'm not a fan of even following you so much, except perhaps from very reliable sources. For example, Dr. Fauci is one of those. But in terms of the media and what they said, I was not necessarily paying so much tension anyway, in that regard, and of course, other than that, it is the fact that we've kind of gotten used to it. And as you put it out yourself, even though we're going to be spending, at least based upon the European estimation, at least, until summertime, in the same quarantine mode, if you will, or social distancing. Still, that leaves at least a couple of months, and I'm pretty darn sure that we're going to celebrate our next new year in a very, very different atmosphere and mood than then we did basically this year. So for that reason, I remain hopeful and optimistic. And obviously, I mean, some people were just reacting to the crisis. What what I was doing your in 2020 was how can I make the most of this time? That was the question that I asked myself every single day because I do believe that when one door gets closed, Other gets open. And one man's misery is one man's portion. And the other most important one, of course, is when life gives you, when all life gives you as lemons, try to make lemonade. And you should, we should believe that my vitamin C, basically, nutrition this year was pretty high, because all we got was, you know, basically were lemons. So I'm right now done with vitamin C. But quite frankly, that's exactly what I did. So I really believe that this pandemic was a great chance, at least for me personally, because it gave me a chance to really look deep into myself in basically social life, and what we can do with or without these things. But more importantly, because I'm very much interested in the concept of leadership, it actually allowed me to take a closer look at how some of the best leaders around the world tackle this issue and how they basically go about doing this as the primary crisis continues. Because for me, that was like the ultimate learning school the the ultimate School of leadership, if you will, both personally, I mean, how do you manage being in this crisis? Do you panic? Do you lose hope? What would you do if you realize that I don't know your restaurant, your gym, some other place going to be close? And if you are working there, you're gonna lose your job? Are you gonna panic? Or are you going to perhaps find out of the way, and more importantly, it made me think a lot about the future of humanity, which will heavily rely on technologies to reduce carbon emissions or reduce commuting around as somebody who is, you know, a, you know, constantly, basically, on the movement, you know, somebody who likes to travel lives, it actually makes me question a lot of those things I used to do, like, isn't really necessary to travel, for example, it is the number of times per year or because you like reduce it a little bit. And it was a very educational experience. Overall, of course, I'm not gonna deny the fact that it was hard as most tough love and tough educational situations generally are. But in this situation, I realized what it really means to deal with all the situations that somehow push your life out of control. And not only not panic, but to make the most of it. So, and a couple of my businesses, actually the, you know, our revenue went up during the pandemic, because we took advantage of the online technology and online communication, and it simultaneously actually cut back our costs, in terms of traveling flights, going to exhibitions, cost of hotels, and so on, because nowadays, basically, almost everything is done via zoom or online. So generally speaking, for me, it was a combination of difficulty, as well as achievement. But more importantly, it was perhaps one of the most educational experiences of my life. Because for me, because, you know, our generation, we haven't seen, you know, a very dramatic shift in the way people live their lives. I mean, my basically, grandparents had experienced World War Two. So for them, they saw what it feels like to be in a world that is normal, and then suddenly everything changes, right. But our generation of millennials, we never had this, you know, this experience, we never experienced a major, you know, war, whenever experienced, perhaps major famine or other issues. So this COVID-19 pandemic was kind of like the world war two of the millennials, and they saw what it feels like when the entire world order collapses, and everything changes. And so if you look at that, as a once in a lifetime experience, as you know, over to basically was for our grandparents, it's kind of on the same scale, and that it has tremendous potential for learning and self development.
Pouya LJ 08:32
Absolutely, it makes a lot of sense. And I think, I do agree with you in terms of Okay, so, there were a range of reactions from a variety of people, of course, to this whole year, if you will, in 2020. Excuse me, and yes, lots and lots of people have made so many good decisions and made actually the most of the situation maybe, maybe more than their regular here is if you will, so so of course that and that, that that is where the attitude comes into play, right? How are your attitude allows you to deal with a certain situation that is out of the ordinary, sometimes outright devastating. And, you know, learn from those devastations rather than just leave the score and nothing else. Right. So so i think i think you're right on, I think it makes a lot of sense. And I have questions a lot, a lot of things about myself personally, and the way we leave as a, you know, society as a world. Even so, so yeah, there has been definitely definitely many, many levels of, you know, education going on for me and I'm sure for a lot of other people. Although not not, not everybody saw it that way. Perhaps some just saw it as a misery but it's still like, you know, and the future retrospectively, they probably will come to see some you know, lights of education, those people who were mostly focusing Under disasters of today as well, so
Dan 10:03
and you put in a point out something about, you know, our societies, because in my life, as you probably know, I work with multiple nations and different cultures and languages, and I'm in touch pretty much with all five continents right now. And this pandemic, for me personally, as someone who is a basically a, you know, a proponent of globalism, seeing the entire world basically gets locked. And the entire international travel being basically severely hindered, not fully stopped, but severely hindered, was pretty a shocker at first, quite frankly, and more importantly, allowed me to be in touch with my contacts from around the world and see how different nations and different governments were tackling the issue. As I know, on the one hand, we had Sweden who had the most liberal approach possible, and I was in the entire time in touch with my contacts in Sweden. So how are people reacting? are they wearing masks? Are they happy? What about the death ways that I was in touch, of course, my contacts in China, the source of basically this pandemic, and how people are just, you know, going about their lives, having have already defeated basically, the pandemic, then we moved on to Europe. And unfortunately, I was very disheartened when I realized Germany, which was one of the best countries in terms of the way they handled, the pandemic went under full lockdown. Basically, in November and December, you can imagine the damage, of course, the German government offered tremendous, basically cash support for all of its citizens, and basically, business owners. But still, you would see how these developments are changing the International, basically, community. And for me, that was another level of basically education because I literally saw that leadership, culture, and the sense of unity in a nation can really help or hurt basically one's nation's quest on defeating the virus and the pandemic. So it was another layer, basically, I'm I'm pretty sure that in Canada, things probably were a lot, basically better handled than it was in the US, given the fact that we just got rid of Donald Trump. And now, hopefully, things will change. But in Canada, I'm guessing things were a lot better as people perhaps had higher trust in their government, and follow the health guidelines. But ultimately, what really matters, is just to realize that this challenge has been a source of education for almost all of us. And we could learn from that and use those lessons to make 2021, which we're in right now. A much better year.
Pouya LJ 12:34
Exactly. And that's where I wanted to get to looking back learning, you know, I mean, day to day we learn the 2020 on every day, I think I can talk about myself personally made better decisions, I'll have to deal with the new New World Order, if you will. So. So of course, it's an ongoing process, but now having this excuse of a new year to look back for over 2024 for a few minutes, and then look into the future and carry the lessons and put away the hardships perhaps as much as possible. To the interior. Now, what were your I mean, you mentioned some of them, what what were you if you if you want a bullet point that what were the top? I don't know, a few that you're taking to 2020 as our new lessons and new things you want to do in 2020 differently than you did in the past?
Dan 13:25
Well, I mean, you mean 2020 1am I right?
Pouya LJ 13:28
Oh, I'm so sorry. Yes, anyone? That's right, we're used to the ones I
Dan 13:32
got from Korea points to take 2021 basically, because I'm done with 2020. And I don't want to go back,
Pouya LJ 13:38
just don't make
Dan 13:41
one year too much. Even if there was a time machine, I'm not gonna go back 2020. Even though I love using time machines to go back to the past, not 20, I can go to 2019 or 22, but not 2020. But ultimately, from my point of view, 2020, for me, personally, was the year of looking at our values, and looking at our basically leaders for guidance, and to see how they can handle these problems in these situations that are oftentimes very tough and risky. And it also made me think about the impact that global commerce as well as basically, global community has on our very lives. So things like closing, for example, the borders isn't just going to affect the lives of those who work at the airport, or even like the airline companies. But this could have tremendous impact on a variety of industries. And as a whole, the entire economy actually come down because of this pandemic. More importantly, hischier really made me appreciate a lot of the things that I used to take for granted, mainly face to face, human contact, physical touch, and other things that we were deprived of during basically the year 2020 and we probably will still be for a couple of months if not six, seven more months and That really made me to change my priorities. And I literally made some promises, I would say that from the moment this pandemic is over, I am really going to take my social life more seriously. And I will make it less high tech and more high tech. Because that I think, for me is what a lot of us are missing. Now, being an extra that I am always looking to, you know, he around be social and to see basically people in action. For us, extroverts this crisis pose a much greater challenge than the introverts. I mean, I had a lot of friends who are introverts, it's like, man, I don't see any difference, really, I mean, except for some economic problems. And the fact that I can't travel, I see not much of a difference. I mean, I'm always social distancing in my home with my laptop, I say, Well, good for you. But that's not going to happen to all of us. So I'm guessing as somebody who is based upon my last personality test was basically set to be 99%, extroverted and 1%. introverted, which, unfortunately, is a little bit extreme. I know. And I wish it was a bit more balanced. For people like us, it was a little bit harder to, you know, deal with this aspect of social distancing, because extroverts are social by nature. So social distancing means simply stop letting do or stop being who you are. And that took a lot of getting used to, I mean, personally, for me, it took me no less than almost six, seven months just to get used to this the way things are. And even then, still, I haven't, like made basically peace with a situation, it's just that I have to go through with it, kind of like, you know, think of like going to a doctor or taking a pill or the dreaded colonoscopy. So it's kind of like that. But in this particular case, it's a rather two long colonoscopy. I mean, just imagine a colonoscopy that lasts for, I don't know, one and a half, two years, that'll be a very, very painful colonoscopy ambition, but it is really like that, in that, for me, personally, I am definitely going to take my social life a lot more seriously. I did spend a lot of time in the past years at work. And I would, because you know, to be productive, so I would tend to postpone a lot of, for example, social events, for the weekend times, or other places where I could, you know, be more productive at work. So I'm definitely gonna take my, you know, social life a lot more seriously, at this pandemic, probably a little bit too aggressively at first, and it is quite normal. But other than that, I also learned a very great lesson about what we as a species really need. I mean, we talked with this URL in one of our you know, very first programs you want in order, you know, first podcast is that like, all we need the things that we need right now like water, basically shelter and internet connection, something like this. I remember you said that. So it made me realize that not only internet and online technologies are an absolute necessities these days. But more importantly, a lot of the things we thought we needed, were not really needs, but preferences. I mean, you don't necessarily have to burn a lot of gas to go to the you know, movie theater, you really can enjoy chilling with Netflix at home, you don't really have to perhaps go to you know, spend hours in traffic every day to go to workplace, it is possible to conduct a lot of meetings online on zoom, or Skype or other online basically platforms without a lot of time wasted and commuting, basically. And of course, as somebody who's a frequent flyer, I also thought a lot about my, you know, priorities as somebody who flies in different countries, frequently on how important really it is, and how is it possible to reduce the frequency of basically flights in order to, you know, perhaps contribute a little bit to our basically planet in terms of carbon emissions, and so on. So those aspects of it actually taught me a lot about the fact that, really, a lot of the things we thought we needed, we don't need and the only thing that I realized that I really needed during this time. And a lot of the times capitalism does not want us to know, was human touch and human contact. And I think that's the one that we are not taught, we've taught, we've been taught a lot about spending money on a lot of brands, and we thinking or spending a lot of money, you know, for things we don't really need. While it you know, perhaps ignoring the most important thing that's human touch in contact. So for me, that really made me realize that the things that we really need are oftentimes the cheapest things that are always available. And the things that we think we need, and oftentimes, basically, carrying a heavy price tag are rarely the things that we truly need. So that for me was like a, you know, an eye opener basically to realize what really needs to have needs and have the Met and not confusing once with needs basically. And for me personally, that was a very big deal, because it allows me to then go ahead and somehow change my priorities in life in terms of how I should spend my money, how it should work, and how it should connect with who Around the risk level, of course, was a very great lesson. And the final one was about the difference that, you know, wealth and money can really make, I think, during this pandemic, the rich, the middle class, the lower middle class and the poor, they all pretty much had a similar lifestyle, and that a lot of the things that were not available to basically the poor people, were also not available now, for anybody else because of the limitations. So yes, you could no longer enjoy, I don't know, easily going to a golf club, or going to a, you know, a very cool place or a venue to chill. And those things made me think a lot about wealth gap in our society, and how this has increased so much, and how it's possible to create a more just fair society for everybody, where the 99% do not feel that their lives are any worse than that, you know, top 1%. So this was a humbling experience for a lot of the wealthy and the ultra rich, who used to think that they could just do whatever they wanted. And then they realized doesn't matter how much cash you got on the line, or how much credit you got, if literally, a simple virus can make all of those millions and billions seem like nothing. And it would not make any difference, which maybe you know, a lot about this concept. But what it really means to have value, is money going to solve all your problems and this penalty solve that the answer is a clear No, basically. So as someone who's an entrepreneur, it was also another great eye opening moment, basically, how about you projects? What are the things that you realized in 2020? That you basically want to take with you to 2021? Yeah, I
Pouya LJ 21:39
think leaving the specifics that you mentioned, which are some of them I didn't pay attention to, but then some I did. But generally speaking, I think the whole pause in the status quo, quote, and moving to something slightly off book, if you will, because of the circumstance was definitely an eye opener, in a sense that because when you when you're going with the status quo, it's sometimes when you're just moving with it, you're not noticing, you know, the goods and Bad's appreciating the things that are, for example, you were mentioning, you know, the socializing, I never understood how much I enjoy socializing with people in person, until this hit like you're much more extroverted than I am, of course, I think that's no secret. And you already noticed that before. Now, you appreciated it more, perhaps now. But I never even noticed that I knew I like hanging out with people, but I just didn't know, in how much depth that meant for me that the lack of it is, you know, in bolding, if you will. So in that sense, I think this whole pause, as you're mentioning, was an eye opener in many, many, many aspects. And of course, people with their own perspectives are grabbing different aspects of it and paying attention to them. And it's good to hear your perspectives. And I would love to, you know, bring our audience into it, if possible, if they would like to share it in a comment form one or two sentences to you know, what was the aha moment for you? Wow, we're doing this, maybe we should do that. Or maybe we should appreciate this. Oh, likes, like the things that Dan mentioned to us. But if you had something different that you it could be it could be good for us to hear. Because I was listening to you. And I was like, Yes, I paid attention to this amazing. But also I, I listened to you. And I was like, I never paid attention to, for example, this particular thing. And I was, that's interesting. I never, for example, international traveling like airplanes and whatnot. So that was not really on my radar, because maybe perhaps I wasn't doing it as much, obviously, as much as you I didn't. So so that was a that was a very interesting epiphany that I never had, and hearing it from you was, you know, very, very interesting to hear. So yeah, if the audience are willing to do that, leave a comment with your own epiphany during 2020. But yeah, going forward, but bottom line is, yes, I want I want to pay attention to these things. And I want to be more conscious of, you know, the things that we're doing on a day to day basis, either being more appreciative of the things we have, or paying attention that there are gaps in our current way of living, that we can improve on, and not just, you know, walk by them and not pay attention to them. Because you know, if you if you're, if you're moving past the garbage bin that is filthy, every single day, it becomes easy to just start ignoring it, right. But if you're forced to look at it, then you're like, you know what we got? We got to fix this. So he's, I
Dan 24:40
think they should force you know, you're forced to look at it. We kind of lost a lot of the distraction to see, I think, yeah, one of the biggest challenges of this pandemic was that a lot of us, we were so easily engaged with the things we used to do, that we somehow could put up with a lot more because we're not so much paying a lot of attention. But this pandemic really removed all the noise. And this somehow made us pay closer attention to things we used to ignore. I mean, a lot of basically couples, unfortunately, they lost relationships during this pandemic. And that was not because of any inherent problem with a pandemic, but the fact that a lot of people just were in relationship ever, not at the very beginning quite suitable for them. But since they had a lot of things to keep themselves busy, they could easily, you know, turn a blind eye to certain things. But in a pandemic like this, almost there's no noise distributed strategy by which means the truth somehow comes out. And the truth about everybody comes out. And it brings out the truth of our leaders as well. And if you saw what it means for someone like Trump to fully lose it, because that pandemic really took out all the noise and brought out the truth and a lot of basically people in various aspects of life, basically. And I think, for us, that was a great eye opener. But at the same time, if we learn those lessons, we can apply them and make far better decisions in the future, because pandemics like this don't happen every day, which is why we should take this as a, you know, a life lesson, if you will, in order to make us better at making future decisions.
Pouya LJ 26:15
Absolutely, it makes a lot of sense. And I'm sure, again, everybody's having their own perspective, and they overlap at times. But also there are unique mindsets that are out there. And I, I would love to hear about them. Is there any final thought that before we close it? Do you want to share with our audience? Well, first
Dan 26:33
of all, once again, I would like to wish all of our listeners a happy new year. And I hope that despite all the challenges we're currently facing in the world, we are going to be getting out of this pandemic soon. Now, the earliest estimates point out to summer, but that's only in Europe. As for the US, according to the prediction, by Dr. Fauci, we are going to be living in one way or another like this, until basically next holiday season, so probably life will only get back to normal around 2021 q4. So that leaves us with three months of normalcy, probably. And until then still, life continues on its current pace, basically. And that is both reassuring and a little bit, basically disheartening. But the fact of the matter is that we could make the most of this situation. So today, we talk about what it really needs to learn from the 2020 the past, and what lessons we can learn from the year itself, as well as the pandemic that caused tremendous trouble for all of us. And more importantly, we wanted to give our listeners the hope that yes, the pandemic was here. And we went through it one year, guys, if the pandemic took almost a year, out of our lives, but a lot of us during the same period, actually managed to take our lives to a you know, far better level. But even for those who managed to benefit financially, at least from this pandemic, nobody benefited from this pandemic emotional necessarily, because we're social creatures. However, it was good enough for us to learn from it. And please do know that the way we went through 2020, we can go through the rest of the 2021 during those periods where the pandemic still has to be brought under control, because unfortunately, the pace of vaccinations are rather slower than basically intended, thanks to the I don't know, extremely difficult means of logistics for the vaccine distribution. Thank you Pfizer for having finally a great way to make it easy. That was a joke, by the way. But overall, it all depends on you know, your perspective. And hopefully, if you have the right perspective, you can go through the rest of 2021 with the same level of zest and energy and enthusiasm as as you could have gone through 2020. And hopefully, more importantly, we have to stay hopeful that this shall pass. And we will get out of this hopefully, and we will move on to a life where we can truly appreciate and just imagine the feeling that you will have, let's say, according to what Fauci said, let's say it's q4, it's 2021. It's fall season, you're getting close to your new year, holidays, next New Year holidays, and boom, just imagine you can just go wherever you want no masks on, you can talk to anybody can shake hands, or use your hands in a variety of other ways, both appropriate or inappropriate in public. And all of these things are going to simply make it more enjoyable. Just imagine this man, just imagine the joy, the world will experience one's life goes back to normal. So a lot of the things that we used to take for granted now will become like blessings, and we can actually enjoy them. So for that reason, I'm tired. First of all, I cannot wait to be in a situation where I can experience all that, basically. And secondly, I want our listeners to imagine that that day will come the day where you your social life goes back to normal. We can go wherever you want no social distancing, and we can just truly appreciate the little things. We We thought we valued but didn't really pay a lot of attention to but now we can actually really enjoy them. So for me personally, it means another year of hustle, but with hope and basically just
Pouya LJ 30:12
perfect 21 for the win and pun intended, blackjack, forget it. All right. All right. Okay, thank you then, as always for joining us.
Dan 30:24
My pleasure, buddy.
Pouya LJ 30:26
And thank you everybody for listening to this episode. Again. If you want to share your own epiphanies or any comments, please feel free to do so. until later episode. Have a good one.
