Originally posted in our May 2022 Top of Mind Newsletter.
After two full years of pandemic life, we can better reflect on how we as a society and as individuals handled ourselves. A stark contrast emerges between those who froze and those who found a way. Despite limitations to school or work, some of us found areas of our lives we could control, and made the most of a difficult solution. What was the difference?
As Shane Parrish recently said, the difference is mindset. While other factors like wealth or access to remote work or learning play a role, the largely overlooked piece of the puzzle is the mindset. And what’s more, Parish agrees with us at ELI that mindsets can shift. So this is not a story of the haves and have-nots, but one about a strategy for creating a more vibrant and resilient society.
“For the past two years, these two mindsets have been invisibly applied in the background. Now that the world is opening, the gap is becoming visible. My son’s teacher told me she’s never seen so many grade 6 kids so far behind. I can only imagine the education loss in higher grades. At the office, if you stood still for the past two years, you were lapped by the people that didn’t stop.
“The mindset gap created an outcome gap that will only compound in the next decades.”
Perhaps one way to catch up to those that didn’t stand still is to change our thinking.
Hat tip to Ice House facilitator Bree Langemo for sharing this piece with our team.