Remember when everyone was talking that you would be back in the office in September of 2021?

Then, the new talk was January 2021.

Now, we have Omicron.

Current thinking holds that the coronavirus will become “endemic,” which simply means it will be a permanent part of the human population to some degree.

This idea is supported by biologist Jesse Bloom and other experts who study the life cycles of viruses.

That doesn’t necessarily mean the virus will be as widespread and disruptive as it is now.

But we could remain in our current cycle for some time yet.

And it looks like going back to “business as usual” probably won’t happen again.

Knowing all this, what should you do going forward? Here’s some thoughts:

1. Be Flexible and Compassionate

You got to where you are in your life because you adapted to changes happening around you.

You couldn’t control those changes. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have had them.

Deadlines are important. Keeping your business going during a difficult time is important.

But now is the time to have a little more flexibility than normal.

These are unprecedented times. And these times are not going to dramatically change for the better soon.

Roll with the punches of life. Make the most of what happens in your business life.

And have great compassion for your team’s personal lives. These times aren’t easy.

2. Adapt to Your Supply Chain’s Disruptions

One thing we do know is that supply chains will continue to have disruptions this year.

Not only is there lots of product sitting aboard cargo ships in our Pacific ports, but now crooks are looting trains loaded with inventory as they sit in train yards.

Union Pacific said it saw a 160% year-over-year increase in theft in Los Angeles county.

Plus, in China, young adults looking for new careers don’t want to work in factories. They want to get sleek and cool tech jobs.

Can’t blame them, can you?

At the same time, that’s not a promising sign for Chinese-based supply chains.

You just don’t know what’s going to happen. So all you can do is work with your suppliers, while also considering new suppliers.

3. Innovators Win

Have you heard of “Crucible?”

What about “Haven?”

Amazon Spark?

You have not heard of any of these things because they are Amazon’s massive failures.

Crucible was an online game. Haven was its joint affordable healthcare adventure with Berkshire Hathaway and JP Morgan. And Amazon Spark was its version of Instagram-like shopping.

The point is that Amazon failed on a lot of things. But they made failure okay and ended up with some winning ideas.

As a result, now they make all their money not from online shopping, but from their business cloud computing services.

How could you do the same and avoid “business as usual?”

No one knows when business will return back to its pre-covid state again. That may never fully happen.

So all you can do is figure out how to adapt and move forward.