No doubt about it, we are in some crazy times and will have to endure some kind of transition period. How crazy and for how long? Who really knows? What I do know is that as a small business owner, you are being bombarded with repetitive "doom and gloom" stories and opinions all day long from newspapers, magazines, cable news, nightly news, radio, the internet, politicians, political ads, and on and on. We are in an environment where it's very tough to sort out fact from fiction, news from opinion and speculation, and real substance from sensationalism.
All this negativity is like kryptonite to Superman ... it will drain your strength and confidence if you let yourself be exposed to it for too long. As a business coach, my advice is to limit your exposure to this radioactive and toxic negativity. As fast as a speeding bullet, chose to escape from the kryptonite news cycle. If necessary, limit yourself to no more than 30 minutes of real news a day and then be done with it. Instead, commit to elevate "up up and away" from this negativity and "save the day" ... particularly in regards to your business and sanity. Put your focus, energy, time and any superpowers you may secretly possess toward running and improving your business, especially your sales and marketing strategies and actions.
Remember, as owners, two of our greatest assets are our business vision and confidence ... we can not afford to let them fade, especially during crazy times. There are too many internal and external villains trying to sabotage us and knock us down. We must defend and protect our vision and confidence at all costs. Regardless of economic or political uncertainties, we must continue to act with the confidence reserved for superheroes and control what we can. What we can not control or defeat on our own is the mind-numbing, energy-draining, and endless loop of negative news. Again, fly away fast from any such corrosive kryptonite.
More than ever, we need to have a clear vision of where we want to take our business and the confidence in ourselves and our team to get there. If nothing else, blow off any dust from your 3-year vision, freshen it up, refine it, and enliven it. Make your vision excite your soul once again. Have a big enough "why" and "what" as the foundation of your vision and the "how" will much easier to attain, even in uncertain times. Then put on your superhero cape and tights and remain confident you can lead and drive your organization toward that vision. In fact, all of our other supernatural powers (virtues, talents, skills and decisions) depend upon our confidence being fully charged up. As owners, when we have clarity of direction and confidence, we have less doubts, make better decisions, and can nearly leap the tallest building in a single bound. More important that actually being able to do this is feeling like we can.
Therefore, it is our utmost responsibility to guard our vision and protect our confidence. We can not afford to lose our confidence, no matter how rough and tough things get. Too many people depend on us. We need to hold tight to and believe in our vision and not let the kryptonite news or stock market gyrations erode our confidence. Turn down the news and turn up your confidence.
P.S. Sometimes being a confident superman or superwoman can be challenging, lonely and tough. If you need some help, be strong enough to click on this link and talk to one of our business coaches.
Daniel M. Murphy
The Growth Coach
Business Coaching Franchise System