INDIE
Take Back Momentum What? We’re expected to do what? For how long? You’re kidding me, right? By Adam Ashe r
I t took a minute, but the reality of “the COVID19 quarantine” did eventually sink in. I was just so busy with meetings and tasks and budgets and planning—I had to pause a second so I could give some thought to what all this was going to mean … to me. That’s when this really annoying question came up: What am I going to do now? Disclaimer: My plans and goals and projects all take second place to the safety and health of our brothers and sisters around the world. They are clearly what matters most. My immediate reaction was to help ensure that my family and friends and teams were all safe, taking necessary precautions, taking the threat seriously. Furthermore, I will always seek to honor those from around the world who have chosen to put the wellbeing of others above their own. They all have my utmost respect. But yeah. This wasn’t good. For any of us. I had things figured out before all this hit. Oh, it wasn’t easy; complex, rewarding
started to become clear. And I began to look at things differently. I started looking at this crisis as an opportunity—not a barrier. I took back my positive mindset and I started asking productive questions instead. What’s it going to take to get through this… and to thrive? Vision . It’s going to take vision. I have to be able to see my way through this. Things have changed. My team’s needs have changed, and so have the needs of those who consume my product. Am I paying attention to what they need? Am I watching? Am I helping the team adjust? Am I helping the product adjust? I have to. Creativity . This is the time to be
creative. The old way of doing things isn’t adequate anymore. To conquer those practical challenges we now face, the team and I have to think of new and innovative ways to get the work done. In terms of the product, I need to look for ways to meet the new needs that people have, to address their new concerns. I can’t just do what I did before and slap the title “COVID19” on it. I have to be smart. I have to be creative. I have to take what I’m seeing and create something new. Tenacity . Yeah, it’s going to take stick-to-itiveness. I have to dig deep. I have to wrestle with these questions— till I get the answers I need. Do I have what it takes? You better believe I do. I didn’t come this far to let a devastating pandemic derail me. No. This is where being stubborn shines through as skill. I’m not giving up. And neither are you. Life is never certain. Tomorrow is never promised. And opportunity is never guaranteed. These are facts. How we choose to react to them is all we can control. Let’s face these truths. Let’s fight for what we want. Let’s open our eyes, think creatively, and stubbornly refuse to relent. This is where we get our mindset back. This is where momentum is restored. Carry on. I can’t wait to see what you create next. Adam Asher
projects never are. But I knew what I had to do to get it done. And then suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, everything changed. And it was the worst kind of change … the kind that brought with it uncertainty and loss. As a nation, as a city, we’ve lost friends and family to this deadly virus. We’ve lost opportunities we had fought for, jobs we needed, graduations we deserved, proms, vacations, concerts and sporting events, get-togethers, weddings. We lost the ability to grab dinner out with a friend. And for many of us in this industry, we lost the most important ingredient to success: Momentum. Just being honest here. I never lost hope. I never panicked, nor did I ever believe the world was ending. I’ve always known we’d get through this. But the losses we’ve all sustained are real. They have an effect on our economy—absolutely. But worst of all, they have an effect on our mindset, and in my opinion, that’s what has hurt us most of all. For me personally, the loss of momentum was a punch in the gut. Did this mean my efforts had all been for naught? Did this mean I needed to stop? Or worse yet… to give up on this dream and settle in to a lesser one? That sucker punch knocked the wind out of me for a minute. But once I caught my breath, some things
The old way of doing things isn’t adequate anymore. To conquer those practical challenges we now face, the team and I have to think of new and innovative ways to get the work done.
Adam Asher is host and creator of the unique travel docuseries, The Edge of Adventure . Available on The Georgia Hollywood Review’s streaming video channel on Thea.Network. Learn more at TheEdgeOfAdventure.com.
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