It seems that there is no end to the influx of bad news. The question in everyone’s mind is; can we survive the next passage of difficult times? What should be our response as employees and individuals?
Psychological defeat leads to physical defeat; accept the challenge with a positive attitude
Survival during difficult economic times represents a challenge that each of us has to accept whether we like it or not. The most important ingredient required to survive successfully is attitude.
Accepting the challenge with a positive attitude can equip you to not only survive, but thrive under difficult circumstances. In this, my focus is purely on behavioral aspects not so much on technical aspects.
Start with the right attitude; stop worrying –worrying about tomorrow or the difficult times does not add anything to your life. Instead, worrying will bring you wrinkles and unnecessary stress forcing a psychological defeat that will translate in to a physical without your knowledge.
Economic crisis
The experts are quite confident that the present economic crisis is still far from the difficult times of 1929. According to economists, the world economy has proper mechanisms in place in case difficult times arise.
Now that it has, let’s just relax, cross our fingers and hope that these preventive mechanisms will do what they are suppose to do. If the generation of that time survived the so-called deepest recession ever, there should be no reason why we shouldn’t survive the current difficulties with more brains at our disposal globally.
Focus on the things that you can do something about. You can’t control how the market reacts in these difficult times. The best thing you can do is to focus instead on the things that you can do something about.
You could cutback or put on hold your company’s expansion programs until you have a good handle on the situation. You can minimize expenses and implement austerity measures to remove unnecessary fat from the operation. Simply focus on things you can control or influence and do not mind the things that you cannot do anything about.
Forget worrying about things that have no bearing on your business or personal life. Distinguish between noise and real issues and decide what to respond to.
The first thing to understand is that difficulties, trials and turbulences have allowed us to become what we are today. All successful people are made from adversity. So this is an opportunity to further strengthen yourself with knowledge, competencies and skills.
Credibility
Create personal credibility and reputation that anyone would be proud to have. Be confident, dependable and reliable in the eyes of your superiors. Employees need to develop their visibility through everyday actions and behaviour.
Stay ahead of the curve by bringing incremental value to the organization through change management. Find better ways of doing the same old thing for greater value creation. Take personal interest in the success of the organization as well as co-workers. If your business is failing it is because your actions are not aligned to the critical need. You must be accountable for every single action performed on behalf of your business.
To stay competitive, every employee should be in a constant state of learning and you need to realize that staying competitive during difficult times is harder.
Typically, the competition for individuals increases during recession and staying competitive in such an environment is harder than normal.
The buyer’s market will not remain for long; so capitalize on it. In the months to come, it will be a ‘buyer’s market’ but will not remain a buyer’s market for long.
When it comes to making choices ask yourself what you really need to be happy vs. wants to satisfy your extreme desires.
A good fighter will find many ways to reduce consumption, instead of giving in to higher prices. Who can’t survive with the thermostat adjusted a couple of degrees?
I wish you strength to achieve your business goals and overcome any hurdles along the way. Right attitude and action will help you face the challenge.