Almost overnight, everything was different. My husband and I were at home with three young children, and my business plans were up in the air. So, there was an element of insecurity; a sense that something fundamental and basic had somehow shifted.
For a start, apart from core workers and health professionals, everyone was being told to stay home. While some were teleworking, whole industries were simply closed. Tourism and travel? Forget it. Entertainment? Nope, watch something online.
Social media became a lifeline for everyone. FaceTime the default method of communication for many. There was an air of everyone having a government-sponsored staycation. Enforced idleness combined with huge doses of bewilderment at what was happening and fear for the future, overlaid with a thin veneer of gaiety.
Anyone who knows me knows that, faced with enforced idleness and messages of helplessness, I’m not going to sit quiet for long. It was making me crazy.
How could this be possible?
How could doing NOTHING be the most helpful response?
The way I saw it, there was PLENTY I could do.
First we gave all our elderly neighbours a letter offering to do their shopping for them if needed.
Then, as the veneer of gaiety on social platforms began to crack, and the fear started to grow into panic and desperation, fuelled by boredom, I knew I had a way to help.
I asked my mentor to deliver a live training session to help people through the crisis, because she is a mediation and personal growth expert. We talked about it and decided the best way to spread the word was to use a Pay-It-Forward style Act of Kindness chain.
The idea was that she would do something for others, and then tag three people to do the same. The training would be her Act of Kindness, she posted the training and kicked off the #ActOfKindness campaign…. And nominated me!
Already in the process of building the weinvolve website, finalising the Me-To-We system, and establishing the neuron@work community, we decided to make our offering something synergistic.
We knew people would be stuck at home for the next couple of months, and building bad habits. Companies would be closing without clients, and the economy falling. We decided to put something together that would help people use that time to reinvent their businesses, build creativity, and generate profit.
We kicked off a 60-Day free challenge and set up a Facebook group to support it. We promoted the challenge through a series of live webinars, and we used the initial challenge to fine-tune and test the Me-To-We system and to shape our offering.
You can read all about that initial challenge, and some of the wonderful things that came out of it on our blog.