6 Steps to Transforming Fear into Opportunity
By Mark Monchek − July 09, 2009
Trying to get a handle on where our economy stands? Trying to get a handle on where you stand? Daunting and confusing is how I would describe the experience many of us are having right now. It feels like we are in a strange lull. We know something has changed but we haven’t quite made sense of it yet. There are brief glimpses of a possible recovery. But unemployment has risen in 48 states, with Michigan leading the way with a frightening 14%. The subtle indicators of life, like the number of parking spaces in your neighborhood, or the ease of hailing a cab on a rainy day at rush hour tell me we’re not nearly out of it yet.
If you have lost your job, or are unable to retire, or your house is gone, or there is no more health insurance to protect you, recovery is a long way off and fear is probably a headline. I’d like to talk about what’s required to transform that fear into opportunity.
Most of us have been programmed for predictability. Whether it actually worked or not, we had a game plan to follow and follow it we did: go to school, get good grades, use those good grades to go to a good college. Pick a career you like or one that will give you job security and maybe a decent income. Work hard. Find opportunities, move up the ladder. Along the way, maybe get married, buy a house, have kids, move to a better place, get a better job, maybe switch careers to one you like better. Retire, take it easy, maybe travel. But that’s all changed- seemingly in a flash and without warning, and we have not been set-up very well for the kind of radical change that is part of the new world of business.
Nassim Nicholas Taleb, best-selling author of The Black Swan and Fooled by Randomness believes we’ve fooled ourselves all along.
“…our world is dominated by the extreme, the unknown and the very improbable—and all the while we spend our time engaged in small talk, focused on the known, and the repeated. This implies the need to use the extreme event as a starting point and not treat it as the exception to be pushed under the rug… the future will be increasingly less predictable, while both human nature and social ‘science’ seem to conspire to hide the idea from us.”
If 9/11 and a surging focus on terrorism, or global warming, or wild swings in commodity prices (like oil) didn’t convince you that we live in a world of radical change, maybe the crash and burn of our economy, the astonishing election of a black president or the emergent nuclear capabilities of rogue states like Iran or North Korea will. The need to confront and adapt to radical change is in itself an opportunity.
Here are 6 Steps to help you create opportunity in the new world of business:
Step 1. Face the Facts
The more we can accept that the future is not predictable and that radical, jarring change is the “new normal,” the better we will be able to succeed in business and in life. Success will go to businesses, organizations, entrepreneurs and professionals who successfully negotiate between living and working in the present and continually adapting to change.
Step 2. Take an Honest Inventory:
By honest, I mean the good, the bad and the ugly. The good is what you really appreciate in your life. We need gratitude now more than ever. Write down who and what you are most thankful for. Gratitude is a powerful emotion that research has shown is often the difference between illness and health, death and survival, failure and success.
Look at the bad in your life, but with compassion. The opportunity is not to blame but to learn from your mistakes. What is not working in your business? Look at your strategy, your leadership, your customer service, your sales and marketing, the areas of operations and finance. Find the weaknesses, and see them as opportunities.
The ugly refers to the things you never want to look at- your “fatal” flaws. Those really negative patterns that hold you back. Well, brother, and sister, now is the time. What you least want to look at is what will create the most growth.
Step 3. Accept Opportunity In Your Life
Deepak Chopra says that in every moment we have a choice between a grievance or a miracle. Well, if you have ever needed a miracle, this is probably the time. If you think about it, people make real, miracle-sized changes in their business or their life when they are forced to. Businesses only junk old favorites, especially old failures, when they have to (think General Motors). Innovative products are often launched when necessity becomes the mother of invention (think the rapidly expanding Green Industry). Retailers treat their customers right only when they are forced to stop taking them for granted. And we change our lives when we are forced to leave the jobs we hate, the spouse that’s not right for us, or give up the addiction that ruins our life.
Step 4. Create an Action Plan
Now that you have gone through the difficult but essential steps of evaluating your current situation and inviting opportunity into your life, the next steps are to define what you want to change and to create an Action Plan to accomplish those changes. Keep in mind that an Action Plan is a guide-not a road map filled with details. It needs to be flexible enough to accommodate changes. The emphasis here is on Action- doing something every day that gets you to where you want to go.
The key to any Action Plan are the objectives you set. Objectives are the specific, measurable results you want to achieve. When you reach your objective, something important in your life should be different.
Objectives are organized around a target date- when you want to complete them. A checkpoint is the date when you will review your progress. By setting specific target dates and checkpoints you can evaluate your progress. You will be more motivated to focus on your objectives or to know when to make changes to your plan.
Step 5. Reach out to your community
During times of sudden, radical change we tend to isolate, shrink, and collapse into ourselves. Fear contracts us as we defend against a perceived attack. But here again, we can make a different choice and expand and connect with people who can help us and who we can help in return. We have a deep hunger for connection, for creating and for belonging. Communities answer that need. My first question to everyone- friend, acquaintance or stranger is “how can I help you?” That begins a dialogue, an invitation to community and the process of giving and receiving.
Step 6. Change Your Brain, Change Your Life
To evolve our ability to adapt to change we have to get deep into our reptilian brains and do some radical re-wiring. We need to step back from our day-to-day survival mode and take the time to experience our inner life. That’s time to work on your business-not in your business. On your life- not in your life. Meditation has proven to change brain functioning and make us calmer and more focused under stress. Consistency is what is essential. Same place, same time. Develop the discipline to make some quiet time and reflect on the beliefs and emotions that may be holding you back. Close your eyes and allow your thoughts to come. When you understand what is holding you back you can make a conscious choice to change. Exercise and nutrition are also necessary to keep the body strong and responsive.
Like anything else worth doing, the steps I’ve outlined in this article make up a process. Each step leads to the next one, so don’t skip any steps along the way. Be kind to yourself and get back up if you fall down while trying something that you find particularly difficult. Adapting to change comes down to decisions we make every day. Remember, it’s a choice between a grievance and a miracle. What’s your choice?
