You turn on your television, you see a newspaper headline (if you are a Baby Boomer), or you turn on your radio - only to hear doom and gloom fates for the Middle East, the U.S. Economy, the Job Market, Residential Real Estate, your life as you currently know it. You are symbolically bombarded by all of the "bad" or "scary" things that are predicted to occur each and every day of your life. So how do you not only survive, but thrive in an environment that seems to change with each passing headline?
I want to share with you not only some advice, but tools that you can begin using right now to take charge of your live and master change to make your future better than your present.
Let me provide you with some sage advice from Dan Sullivan, the Creator and Chief Executive Officer of The Strategic Coach. Dan has created some phenomenal tools and advises thousands of entrepreneurs on how to transform not only their businesses, but their lives with his International Coaching program.
In his strategy entitled, The 'Scary Times' Success Manual, Sullivan realizes that we all want to transform the negativity we encounter daily into opportunities for growth and achievement. Some of his strategies for transformation are:
Forget About Yourself, Focus on Others
You will not feel as isolated and helpless when you turn the attention away from yourself and focus on what you can do to help someone else. You become a source of confidence for others.
Forget About Your Commodity, Focus on Your Relationships
In volatile economic times, people become frightened about their businesses and the jobs they hold. In these times, focus on deepening the power and possibility of your relationships - your family, friends, co-workers, vendors, clients, and prospects. Every time you strengthen a relationship, your viability increases. Emphasize on what you can do to partner with others now; there is truly power in numbers. Is there a viable new business opportunity or a strategic by-product of collaboration that you can develop?
Forget About Your Losses, Focus on Your Opportunities
The past is the past. You cannot change it; however, you can refocus your thoughts concerning the past and learn from those thoughts. Begin using new ideas, new tools, and new resources. You have an opportunity right now to achieve far more than you ever did in the past!
Forget About Your Difficulties, Focus on Your Progress
In the Strategic Coach program, the first lesson a Coach member learns is Progress, Not Perfection. When you begin making changes, things may not be as easy as they once seemed. The new challenges will either defeat you or reveal new strengths. When you begin a workout regime, your physical muscles always get stronger from working against resistance. The same is true for the muscles in your mind, your spirit and your character. Use this period of challenge as a time when you can make your greatest progress in your lifetime!
Forget About Who You Were, Focus on Who You Can Be
You may view yourself by how others view you, or other external circumstances. When these abruptly change, you may attempt to continue to be the person you used to be. Beginning today, take your cues from the inside - your dreams, ideals, values and operating principles - your "internal compass". Take advantage of the gloom and doom attitudes so prevalent right now to become self-directed, self-managed and self-motivated.
Forget About Events, Focus on Your Responses
When things are going well, many people think they are in control of events. When things turn bad, they become depressed and defeated. They think they have lost some fundamental ability. The people that are the most consistently successful know that they cannot control events - but they continually work towards greater control over how they respond to events.
Forget About Your Complaints, Focus on Your Gratitude
You have to make a core decision: to complain or to be grateful. When things turn negative, the consequences of this decision are much greater. Complaining only attracts negative thoughts and people; gratitude creates the opportunity for the best thinking, actions and results to emerge. Every day focus on everything you are grateful about - communicate this to others - and you will open yourself each day to the best possible consequences.
Many of us have been in the Staffing Industry for over 20 years. We realize that we have been fortunate enough to have been blessed with a very long period of economic prosperity with our businesses. When you get back to the basics and focus on your core competencies and those of your employees, you will be pleasantly surprised at how your business magically begins to grow again - and that you like coming to work!
Make it a great day!
Crystal Blackwell,
President
