 Friends, I get it, we do not know what's happening in the meetings and events industry, hour to hour, never mind day to day, week to week, month to month, or even next year. It is so tempting to stay still in one spot, but we need to keep moving forward. So today in these difficult times, we're talking about baby steps, small steps that we can all take to move our career forward and move the industry forward. Want to go on this journey with me? Stick around. Hey friends, it's Leanne and like all of you, I am absolutely devastated and heartbroken over what has happened to our industry over the last couple of weeks. It's gut wrenching to see all of our work go down the drain and for a lot of us, all of our finances to follow down the drain with it. And now we find ourselves in this strange limbo when we don't know what's going to happen. And limbo is hard, especially for type A planners like us. We want to be in control of the situation and right now we have zero control about what is going to happen. That is tough. So instead of dwelling on not being able to control things, what we can control are those daily goals and daily tasks that will continue to move the needle forward on our careers on our organizations and on our industry. So that's what I want to share with you today are ways that we can take control back during these uncertain and difficult times. Before I begin, don't forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel and click on that little bell to be notified of new content, especially in the weeks ahead. I'm putting out a lot of content that relates to our current time in our industry and I don't want you to miss a post. Thank you. Okay, so let's take a look about how you and I can move forward during these uncertain times. Idea number one, allow yourself the time to grieve. A lot of us have lost something of significant value over the last couple of weeks. And it's important that we recognize that rather than brush that under the carpet and move on to something else. I've included a graphic that goes through the seven stages of grief and on any given day you may find yourself all over this graphic and that is okay. It is okay to take the due time that you need to grieve the loss that you are experiencing in your own life. So please recognize what it is that you have lost and go through that healing process. Idea number two, set small goals each and every day. And for some of us who may not have a lot of employment to lean on to, those goals may be as simple and prosaic as finishing the puzzle in the living room. But we need to set goals to keep our brains sharp and to keep us looking ahead to the future. I've done posts about setting daily goals in the past. You can view that post up here. And I just can't emphasize enough how important it is to still set goals, even when our job situation is looking unstable or uncertain. Idea number three, volunteer your time. If you have the ability to get out of self isolation and volunteer to help the fight against COVID or to help people through this crisis, take the skills and the talents that you have and put it towards your community and doing some good. Not only will it of course help your community, but you're going to feel better about that contribution. And for a lot of us who are so busy during regular work seasons, we don't even have time to volunteer. This could be the only time we have to give something back to our community. There are lots of initiatives right now that are looking for volunteers or looking for contributors. So seek out those opportunities and keep yourself in the industry. Idea number four, listen to motivational speakers, be it through podcasts or YouTube videos. Make sure that you fill some of your time with people that are inspiring and people who want to motivate you in your work. So these are greats like John Maxwell or Rachel Hollis, maybe even Michael Hyatt and there's probably several others. Take some time to listen to them each day and feel inspired by their messages. Idea number five, continue your training. There's so many great online courses out there. MPI and PCMA have some great offerings, but maybe you want to learn a new skill as well. My son is learning how to play guitar and he's found this great teacher on YouTube. So maybe you can go to YouTube and learn a new skill through there as well. Idea number six, allow yourself the white space to dream. And this goes back to this might be the only lifetime opportunity we have to press pause on our lives and on our careers. And you might be dreaming of a passion project or something that you want to bring to the industry, but you just haven't found the time to do it. Here is that time. So allow yourself that white space each and every day to be creative and to carve out something new that you can give to this world. Idea number seven, have faith. Regardless of your religious background or your upbringing, all of us must have faith that our industry, our careers, they are going to live through this crisis. Our work may look different at the end of the day, but our industry is going to live on. We are a billion dollar industry. We are going to survive this. So have faith that we're going to see through to the end of this crisis and have faith in your colleagues to help you bring you through this. A couple other resources I want to share with you. If you're looking at ways of staying productive during this time, I filmed a little video not too long ago. You can check out those ideas here. And if none of my advice resonated with you today, I encourage you to check out little video from someone named Chris Hadfield. Canadian astronaut who filmed a video about moving forward not too long ago himself and you can check out that video right here. Friends, if you're feeling snowed in with all the uncertainty but are still managing to move forward each and every day, I would love for you to share your success strategies with our community. We need them now more than ever. Please comment below this video. Everyone, this is not a time to be taken lightly. There are many of us in our communities who are susceptible to this virus. So please heed the warnings, stay home and contribute to our industry in ways that you can from your home office. If you and I have not connected yet on LinkedIn, please find me over there. Connect with me and let's continue the conversation. Everyone, together we are Event Prof Strong. Take care of you and yours. Bye for now.