Dear 2020,

As I am a business person and neither a writer nor a poet my letter is short and more like an executive summary. The year obviously progressed differently than anticipated, but isn’t that true for almost any year? No matter how good we plan and raise expectations, reality always kicks in somewhat different. There are always positive and negative surprises and the realization of many unknowns. Yes, we all are experiencing a big negative surprise since March, and each of us got affected by it in a slightly different way, some harder some less severe. On the other side, hopefully all of us, experienced some positive surprises and changes in our lives, and some of them may not have happened if COVID would not have happened. I am convinced, that there is always a chance something new and good evolving out of even the biggest disasters.

I created the following (incomplete) list of personal noteworthy events and experiences during 2020. These events and experiences have different meanings to different people. Therefore, I always like to put meaningful weights to each item. I prefer a 7-step scale that more or less correlates along a Gauss normal distribution (aka bell curve). Even if everyone would put different weights to it, the more data would be collected the closer it will look like a bell curve (maybe with slight tilt into positive or negative territory). The meaning of weights are:

+3 / -3 extremely positive or negative event/experience very positive or negative event/experience
+2 / -2 a positive or negative event/experience
+1 / -1 a (neutral) event/experience that can show pos/neg bias depending on the viewpoint

Here we go (in no particular order). Dear 2020, this year you lead to

– renewed views that being present in the “now” is important (+1)
– increased gratitude about Colorado climate and nature (+1)
– more fun of going on hikes (+1)
– frustration that I can’t travel at will (-3)
– an incredible new relationship starting in the middle of the COVID mess (+3)
– opportunities to cook more and even better at home (+1)
– disappointment of significant reduced dinners at restaurants (-2)
– significant reduction of business networking opportunities (-2)
– a very good chance for a new and sane again US government as of 1-20-2021 (+3)
– spending less money (+1)
– enjoying my new home much more (+1)
– more attention to what’s really important in life (+1)
– cancellation or at least putting on hold two new business ideas (-2)
– missing many social contacts (-3)
– having almost daily phone calls with my mother (who is living alone) (+1)
– learning to enjoy outdoor dining in a winter jacket (+1)
– thinking more out-of-the-box about what to do (+1)
– enjoying more wine (0)

There are many more, but I will stop here because executive summaries shouldn’t go beyond one page. Happy, healthy, and successful 2021 to all!
R