My encouragement to you is to not isolate yourself on an island. Dig in. Reach out to your people and get some quality time.
Let’s address the obvious: This is hard!
This is really, really hard!
Life has been disrupted in our society to a level I have never seen. And it really seems like it happened overnight.
I mean, at the beginning of the year, we didn’t know what the coronavirus was.
In March, my brothers and I threw a 50th anniversary party for my parents at a vineyard and family flew in from around the country.
Forty-eight hours later, schools and restaurants closed.
Seventy-two hours later, all non-essential businesses closed and Ohio implemented a “stay at home” order.
This almost seems like a dream. A very bad, horrible dream.
I learn a lot from being a parent. When all of this started, I sat around the dinner table and looked at my kids and they were asking questions like, Why is my school, my AAU basketball, my ballet / dance, my gymnastics, my Sunday school all canceled?
I saw that as a real opportunity for a teaching moment. A time to be real and honest.
My answer: You know – I have no idea why. But I do know we will adapt and we will push through. Why? Because that is what we do on the “Maletich Team.”
I got an email from my financial adviser this past week – man, am I glad I’m not a financial adviser.
This email helped me properly put this situation in perspective for myself, for my family. I even shared it with my kids. And their ages range from 5 to 12 years old. I think it grants us perspective as we look to adapt and continue to put one foot in front of the other.During times of extreme uncertainty, it is tempting to listen to those with extreme positions and shrill voices. Our commitment is instead to use prudence and mathematical principles to help build your future. Our response to this crisis is not to shrink away and hope for the best. Instead, we will confront these challenges with discipline and strength. This, we believe, is the only way back.
Avoid extreme positions and shrill voices.
Who are you listening to? What messages are you continuing to feed your mind and your heart? I personally had to make the decision a few days ago to turn off the TV and stop watching the news. Not altogether, but it was on all day and it was freaking me out. Our governor comes on every day at 2:00pm and gives us an update. I watch or DVR that. Then the only news I will watch is 30 minutes at the end of the day for a recap.*No longer will I look at the news in the morning.*No longer will I look at my investment portfolio.
*No longer will I spend more than a few minutes scrolling my social media.
Why? Because they so often are filled with people who have extreme positions and shrill voices.
I am not talking about putting my head in the sand and pretending problems and issues do not exist. I have just become very aware of the voices I am listening to.
Use prudence and mathematical principles to build your future.
I can assure you we will take a very targeted and mathematical approach to “going to work.”
Our work will not stop. Our appointments will not stop. Our publication production and distribution will not stop. Our ability to connect will not stop.
We will take a very strategic approach to all of these. We will use Zoom calls daily Monday to Friday to continue to build our futures.
Our response to this crisis is not to shrink away and hope for the best. Instead, we will confront these challenges with discipline and strength. This, we believe, is the only way back.
We will – I will – confront these challenges HEAD ON with discipline and strength!
What I am committing to all of you is we will be in this together. My encouragement to you is to not isolate yourself on an island. Dig in. Reach out to your people and get some quality time. But treat this – as much as possible – as business as usual.
