Transforming Fear into Opportunity in the New World of Business
By Mark Monchek − July 27, 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. 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.
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. 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.
Here are my thoughts on how we begin to transform Fear into Opportunity:
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.
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 Face the Facts
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.
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.
2 comments
By Rich Jones July 27, 2009 at 10:59am
Great article!