Reflections

I’m on a flight heading back from a fantastic workshop in Atlanta today with other entrepreneurs in.  Again, I am reminded that Perspective wins the day.

Sound familiar?  Check out our homepage.  Just because that’s our motto, it doesn’t mean we always remember to live it.  I certainly forget sometimes.  Specifically, the part I forget is to be purposeful – on a very regular basis – about MANAGING MY PERSPECTIVE.

One way to do that is to manage your exposure to mass media.  In a recent blog entry I talked about the distinction between being INFORMED versus INUNDATED.  I think the media companies are happy for you to be inundated – as long as you are inundated with THEIR product.  Sadly, their content is predominately NEGATIVE.

And unfortunately, bad news sells more – and faster – than good news.  A statistic I heard today was that BAD NEWS SELLS THREE TIMES FASTER than good news.  I don’t know if the statistic is precisely accurate, but it certainly resonates with my own experience and observations.  The reason behind it is an entirely other subject, but suffice it to say, it is generally in the media’s interest to give us more bad news than good.

I was recently thrown off the rails into fear and worry related to this whole economic silliness we see around us and the hysteria the media is making of it.  Even while managing my media exposure, I got sucked in – in part because I got caught up in some of the decisions our clients have been making, and how that’s affected us.  I’ve been working my way back to centre, and today’s workshop brought me the rest of the way back.  Thank goodness for that.

After all, as the group leader wrote on a flip chart today:

WORRY IS A POOR USE OF IMAGINATION.

What a terrific piece of wisdom!

Keep in mind that we generally fulfill our own prophesies.  Like I have said often over the years to friends and clients, ECONOMIC CYCLES ARE MOSTLY DETERMINED BY GROUP PSYCHOLOGY.  Since our feelings are governed by our thoughts, it’s important to manage our thoughts.  Otherwise, we will simply be buffeted around like dead leaves on a windy day.

As I’ve said before, I believe that every problem is also an opportunity.  A crisis is a BIG problem, so, a crisis is a BIG opportunity.

We can let the current crisis be a disaster for us, or we can turn it into something great.  It’s up to us – each and every ONE of us.

As I’ve heard from several wise people lately:

NEVER LET A GOOD CRISIS GO TO WASTE.