A good exercise to do for yourself is to write down those four different challenges in different areas of your life and assess honestly how they have affected you and how you dealt with them. Have you really dealt with these, or did you hope they would pass? If you dealt with them, did you create the desired results? If you did, what were the out- comes? If you did not create the desired results, did you try other ways to create the desired results? This applies to all areas of your life: yourself, your partner, your kids, but also your patients, your team, your colleagues, your providers and your professional partners. I do not believe in the concept of assessing something as good or bad. We live in a world ruled by duality: yes/no, good/bad, young/old, rich/poor, man/woman, sick/ healthy, correct/incorrect, etc. As long as we keep think- ing in this duality, we will fall into the pitfall of seeing things only our way. But things are seldom black or white, yes or no, correct or incorrect. There is a whole range in between, creating nuances, and every situation also depends on the context. There are two questions I find more interesting to ask ourselves: • Is what I am doing efficient? • Is it giving me the desired results? If the answer is yes, keep doing it; however, if the answer is no, then you have a choice: either you keep doing the same thing, creating the same results (which was Einstein’s definition of insanity: hoping for different out- comes doing the same thing), or you do something dif- ferent to create a different outcome. This approach is for me fundamental in doing the exer- cise I have suggested, identifying your reactions and be- haviours in the VUCA world we live in. What you did in the past 18 months in dealing with a VUCA world was not good or bad. Rather ask yourself whether it was efficient and whether it gave you the desired results. If yes, won- derful! If no, it is an opportunity to start looking for other ways and methodologies. I strongly encourage you to ask your team to do the same exercise too, to give you feed- back and different perspectives of the past 18 months— and that can only be beneficial for you, your team and your patients. The same of course applies to your per- sonal life with your partner, kids or friends. Another impact the past 18 months might have had on you is that some measures of safety or hygiene, for example, were created for a COVID-19 environment. Many might have thought that this would only be tempo- rary, but it might be that some of these procedures are here to stay. This is the same for some other protocols for work and for collaboration, communication, delegation, etc. that had to be installed and developed in this ever- changing world. Therefore, take the learned lessons to a next level, integrating them and making them new habits, but do not be afraid of creating your own reality in this feature | VUCA world, by following your intuition, acknowledging the specificities of your work environment and taking the steps you feel you need to. Image: diy13/Shutterstock. If we give our authority away, it is difficult to create the life we want, we need, we deserve. That authority can be politicians and scientists but also patients, colleagues, etc. Be open to listening, to observing, to analysing, to challenging, integrating the outside truth with your inner truth. My experience is that this will take you where you want to go, will give you the answers you seek, will give you the tools to deal with what is happening around us in this VUCA world. As I said before, life is not what happens to us, but how we deal with it, and honestly, I think we are in for a longer, more challenging and more exciting ride than we can foresee. Take that opportunity to connect with your inner truth, to connect with the people around you who matter, to listen to their feedback, and to create together the best life and work environment you can in these times. “May the force be with you”, like the famous movie said, but most of all, do not be scared, angry, frustrated, des- perate. These emotions do not help us build the life we want. Transform that energy into solutions, hope, con- nection, love, possibilities, and be open to the impact that this will have. about Jerko Bozikovic is a specialist in communication skills, emotional intelli- gence, time and stress management, leadership and change management. He is fascinated by human behaviour and finds working with people on per- sonal development to be a daily chal- lenge and blessing. He speaks seven languages and has offered his training courses in four languages since 2001. He embraces and em- bodies the motto “Love the life you live; live the life you love”. He can be contacted via LinkedIn. ortho 2 2021 63