A day in the life: 2020 and the great reset

It's Saturday morning. 10am and I'm on my third coffee. I'm working, if you call commenting on and sharing corporate LinkedIn posts and clearing cruft from the inbox "work." Not that I have to. Work is (mostly) fun, especially for the company employing me. An information technology business whose mission is to enable our clients to succeed. In other words, your success. I have the fun job of decoding geek speak into business value. Aka, marketing.

Spotify is cycling through this month's Trance Mission playlist. My wife is out running with friends on the peninsula, while the kids start warming up for the day ahead. A day restricted by COVID-19. Again.

Like everything, our strengths contain our weaknesses and vice versa. America's handling of the coronavirus is an exemplary case of what not to do. It will become a textbook example of how to mismanage a pandemic. In fact, of how to turn a manageable viral strain into a pandemic. It's a story of self-centeredness, delusion, hypocrisy, politicization of the nation's health, and overall incompetence. America is an exceptional nation, found wanting.

School is back in a week or so and the garage is being converted into an additional workspace. Four people in a condo. We need the room. It's also a bit of a dive. The garage that is. So cleaning that up in preparation is on the agenda. The good news is that our school district isn't run by psychopaths who want to send students and students back into the classroom.

The day itself? Glorious. As most are in California's Bay Area. The most consistent weather I've every experienced. One pays the price for that, literally.

2020 is a reset year, if you haven't worked that out yet. I'm resetting a few things, from alcohol consumption (stopped), to reading (more), to exercising (more), to maturing as an executive. Much work to do on the latter.

How about you? What are you resetting?

2020 will be a year of regrets for many. The opportunity to take a hard look at the trajectory of our life. This is an indulgence of course. I have a job at a great company, reporting to one of the best CEOs I've met let alone worked for, and I'm not confronted by the daily crisis of whether I can pay my bills or even put food on the table. Unlike so many people in America today.

Not being one to give advice, I'm going to anyway. Get off social media.

At least, get social media off your phone. (An aside, here's my thought on Apple's marketing genius calling the iPhone a phone. No-one wants a pocket computer.)

Back to social. Get social media apps off your phone. I deleted Twitter. Facebook, Messenger. Retained LinkedIn for work, and Instagram 'cos I like  looking at pix of food and street art. Hypocrisy? Maybe. I do feel less connected. But I feel free. Twitter is a blunt instrument. Facebook is plain vanilla nonsense.

Hong Kong. I'm crying. Hong Kong is my favorite city. Was. Not sure I will visit again. China itself. They play a very long game. I didn't expect China to become the dominant superpower in my lifetime. Now I'm not so sure.

Like many I'm conflicted by China. There's quite a lot to like. They're also an authoritarian state. But let's not kid ourselves that the West is anywhere near close to a pure democracy. As for capitalism, that was rejected years ago in exchange for corporate socialism. Capitalism needs a reset, like so much else.

If you're looking for a fun read this weekend, Prof G dissects Congress' big tech hearing.

Until next time.