Business never stops. There is always the next challenge. The next meeting. The next opportunity. Being successful involves moving forward but sometimes it is so important to do nothing more than to sit still, pause and reflect.
It is so easy for the extraordinary to become the ordinary. We have been and continue to live through a moment in history never seen before. There have been pandemics in the past but none like this. COVID-19 is the first pandemic in a global age.
Many sectors in our economy have been hit hard by the impact of restrictions, but equally businesses of all types have shown amazing ingenuity in keeping things going while the world has stopped to fight a new virus. Sometimes it pays to sit down and marvel at what so many have achieved up against previously unimaginable challenges.
In Sheffield many have come together like never before. At the Chamber our members have played a central role in helping the city shape a Business Recovery Plan. Sheffield Business Together is putting businesses in touch with charities every minute of every day to help address many of the challenges our communities face across the city. The daily hubbub of emails and conversations sometimes masks the simple wonder that in a crisis, people come together to help each other out.
Thinking about what we have lived through and what we continue to live through is so important. There is nothing wrong with taking a moment to sit silently, collect your thoughts and to decide what to do next. Why? Because just around the corner is the next challenge and the next opportunity.
For many in the Chamber community, there will be no let-up during August. Many businesses need to make up for lost time. Some cannot slowdown in the face of unprecedented demand for new products and services invented during the pandemic. That said, for many August will again be the traditional month when we hope to get away, to take a break and spend time with family and friends.
If you can, take that break. Find some time to do nothing more than to sit and think. Why? Because business never stops. There is always the next challenge. The next meeting. The next opportunity.
We will all need to be rested and at our best to be successful in the weeks, months, and years ahead.
This pandemic is not over but together we are showing what we can achieve when we stick together.
