What I love about a crisis or the 5 things we need now more than EVER
Okay, first and foremost I am not making light here. I’m not suggesting that I am happy about what has happened. Neither am I suggesting that no businesses have fallen victim to the current or future side effects or what’s happening at the moment.
However, there were 5 things that were important before this that have now significantly increased in importance and that I believe is a good thing.
In fact they were ALWAYS the most important things but now and going forward their consequences will result in more rapid and undesirable feedback.
When you touch a hot oven you receive instant feedback that convinces to not touch again.
10 years of economic growth has meant that many haven’t encountered life’s ovens and learned their valuable lessons in the same way.
The consequences have still been there but like the butterfly effect they are harder to connect to our actions and so easy to dismiss.
Right now though, much like in 2008 we will see the consequences of our actions more starkly, more clearly and more rapidly.
We will see them in our health, our home and in our businesses.
This sounds like a bad thing but the truth is that people are drawn to those who most clearly demonstrate these 5 things and are repelled by those who don’t.
Those who switch their attention to them instead of just acting on impulse (reacting) will lead and thrive like never before.
Clarity: The opposite of clarity is reactivity which is easy to think of as an aggressive responses but that’s not it. Reactivity is the things we say and do that are out of alignment with who we are. That is to say that we would happily stand by all of our words and actions towards our children, partners, family, friends, colleagues and ourselves at the end of each day. Imagine all of your behaviours broadcast on TV. Would you own them?
Reactivity at the best of times causes fear, stress, confusion and inaction in those looking to us for guidance. During times of crisis this results in a collective consciousness of fear that is less forgiving. Businesses, relationships and people get sick due to a lack of clarity more than anything else.
Direction: This is where we are. This is where we are going. This is the recipe for calm. With a clear enough why we can endure any how.
During times of calm inaction or insufficient action is rarely exposed as team carry others, people are more relaxed and people tend to feel like they have time to fix things later. That and there is enough liquidity around to be tricked into thinking all is fine.
The truth is that a lack of exact, specific and precise direction and language around that direction is the single most expensive things in business, health and home. If you don’t know EXACTLY where you are and where you are headed you and everyone you are leading are lost right?
When the fuel of this journey to nowhere is harder to come by we are quickly exposed.
Focus: You thought the demands for your time and energy were intense before? If it hasn’t started already it will soon start to get really real. Not necessarily because of any facts simply because of the fear based language so many are using right now. It’s rarely about what’s here now, it’s about what people think might be lurking.
Your ability to decide your day in advance, prioritise your own energy and make difficult decisions fast will determine much of your life going forward. The story of start up mode can be forgiven, it’s a year or two then life begins you, your team, your partner might think.
This however is just life, for everyone, you are no longer a unique snowflake. This will be the basis for life long habits. Those who don’t create time to pay into their health, wealth, relationship and happiness accounts likely never will until faced with real pain from one of them. Those who don’t choose their focuses will be fire fighting forever. Again this isn’t a Nostradamus like prediction it’s just how the brain works to create habits.
Strategy: This is how we are going to get there. This is what we are doing, this is what we are not doing, this is how we will measure success. This is how and when we will review and change strategy.
This may sound obvious but we are all guilty of continuing with actions that not only fail to producing the things we say we want in our lives but actually push them away from us. Flawed or not this IS a strategy and it is one supported by our brains need to create safety. And during times of increase uncertainty we increase our dependency upon these strategies pushing us more rapidly towards the life we do not want.
Awareness: In marketing you might call this testing and measuring. The rhetoric of the moment is,
In these difficult times.
Tough times are ahead.
In these uncertain times.
There is a lot of drama around right now as people use fear based non-specific language out of fear to try and prepare themselves for something unknown and as they have already decided, bad.
This sort of language creates unnecessary panic but it is understandable. Our animal instincts says that if we prepare for a lion to be around the next corner we’ll be more ready.
It isn’t true of course, the body and brain response immediately to threat. Preparing to maybe be on fire by imagining that you are already on fire is the worst possible approach to life. In fact the brain does not differentiate between real and imagined so for all intents and purposes you are on fire. Not great for building a great business or life.
What all of this surrounding drama means is that we need to increase our awareness of the data. ie what are my actions and words producing in my business, health, happiness and relationships and start taking the blame for ALL of it. One we own it and measure it we can change it and as the saying goes, the truth will set you free.
I do hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I did writing it.
If you would like support creating more clarity, direction, focus, strategy, and awareness in your life and business and you think I can help you with that then send me a text 0045 53 78 12 46
