2021: things can only get better

This is my last blog of 2020, so I thought I would look back at the year with a personal view.

A terrible year.

A year of locked down loneliness for many.

In my case, it's been hard. I am used to being in a different country every other day, flying the world. Since February, I've been in Poland. Nothing against Poland - it's a wonderful country - but being in a country where I have no language connection, it’s been a tough year. With no reason to go out, I’ve just stayed in. Since February.

You may say: Stop whining you stupid thing. You’re doing ok.

And I agree. I’m doing ok. The internet works. My brain works. And we are global-local. I've been connecting with the world from the comfort of my office. Instead of 10-hour or longer flights, I just start the laptop and talk.

The combination of the internet and my brain has resulted in a huge amount of creativity. Some of you have seen this on the blog from my awful attempts at karaoke to the regular conversations I’m having with the elephant in the room.

I thought both of these things were signs that I was going crazy, but most people seem to like them. It may seem crazy but I was hoping that it lightens the world as, in 2020, the world is crazy. I’ll do crazy things for a crazy world.

Like most of you, 2020 has been the year where everything has been virtual and online and using video. We’re all sick to death of yet another Zoom call, and tapping on the other person’s screen to say you’re on mute.

For me personally, I can see a silver lining in 2020. It’s given me the chance to spend most of the year at home with my young children. I’ve spent a lot of time reading and playing with them, and had the chance to see them develop.

We also got a dog. I now know why I’ll never have a puppy ever again, but dealing with a two-month old Labrador and training and walking the thing has been interesting. If someone had explained that puppies are biting, chewing, peeing, poohing machines, I wouldn’t have had one but hey, a dog is for life, not just for Christmas.

Equally, a lot of my business has moved online and virtual. From delivering many keynote speeches via video to developing research*, 2020 has been a year of change and adaptation.

But now I realise I’m lucky. I’m lucky as my business was digital in January 2020 and it’s still digital in January 2021. You can cut all the flying, networking, conferencing, meeting and stuff face-to-face, but I’m lucky because I could carry on doing all that stuff device-to-device. That’s why my work, unlike many others, is part of the upside of the K-shaped recovery.

Everything digital in 2020 is doing well; everything physical is falling apart.

2021 and beyond, what will happen? Well, I’ll write about that when we all come back in January. For now, I just want to leave you with this thought:

Every day, in every way, you’re getting better and better. You’re learning more, you’re doing more, you’re becoming more and more the more of you. You are amazing.

Happy holidays and here’s to a fantastic 2021. Things can only get better.

* If you didn't spot it, we released three free research reports this year:

• The payments post-pandemic future
• The silver linings of this pandemic
• The omniaccess future