I don’t know about you, but I’m starting to get some serious COVID fatigue.

The ‘novelty,’ pardon my pun, has completely worn off. I’m tired of “groundhog days;” I’m tired of social distance; and I’m tired of uncertainty. I want things to be … well, normal.

But … something else has occurred to me that is giving me even greater pause.

When this all started, my first reaction was not to panic. It wasn’t frustration; it wasn’t doom or gloom; and it certainly wasn’t fear. My reaction was to look in the mirror and say, “Dude, your beard is getting grey.”

No wait … that was a different day.

My reaction was to look in the mirror and say, “Dude, find the good in this. Find the opportunity. Be a leader for those who look to you—for your family, and for yourself.”

I then proceeded to work longer and harder than I had in years. It was time to grind. I was getting things done at an extraordinary pace. I was eating lemons and [passing] lemonade. (You can’t un-see that, can you?)

But then, fatigue started to kick in—what I’m calling COVID fatigue.

The days started to become a little less urgent. The days started to become a little more ‘wait and see,’ than ‘attack and overcome.’

Well guess what? That ends now.

I will not let this virus win. I will not let it lull me into a place of passive reaction. I will not let it become a “new normal.” No way.

You know why? Because when I looked in the mirror, I meant what I said. This craziness is absolutely, positively the biggest opportunity most of us have ever encountered—perhaps in our personal lives, to connect with ourselves and our family… but most assuredly in our business lives.

This is an opportunity for us to examine our businesses, to refine our processes, to train our people and to dig deeper—to put all those head nods into action.

This is an opportunity for us to fight and compete in the marketplace like we never have. Because the situation demands it.

This is an opportunity to be the leaders we’re capable of being.

This is an opportunity—forced upon us—to challenge every aspect of our businesses that isn’t exactly as it should be and to emerge stronger, with more market share, and a better corporate culture from top to bottom.

This is an opportunity to look at the adversity and continued uncertainty of the marketplace and say, “You will not defeat me. You have no idea what I’m capable of. But you’re about to find out.”

Will you waste this opportunity? Or will you make the most of it?