What you really need in a crisis

When I meet with leaders for the first time they usually lead with, “Business feels harder than it ever has before.”

We pulled out of the pandemic to be faced with labor shortages, supply chain issues, price hikes, with consumer uncertainty being fed by constantly by media doom scenarios.

However, as I’ve been talking with business owners and sales teams within our Strategic Growth Community over the last few weeks, there’s been one thing that’s strikingly obvious about those who do well during tough times.

It’s not that they’ve nailed the commercial and builder game (although they have!). It’s not that they keep taking action regardless (although they do!).  It’s not even how well they’ve adapted to the whole virtual/on-site/rescheduling of consultations (although they definitely have done that too!).

The one thing that all business owners and sales teams who are counting themselves as successful have in common is positivity.

Optimism is alive and well among their ranks.

I know, I know. “Mindset” seems to be a pretty overused word these days. But real statistics show that mastering the mental game and leaning into positivity is a huge predictor of your ability to succeed in times as trying and tumultuous as these.

A couple of researchers in Europe recently confirmed that “more positive entrepreneurs engage more strongly in personal goal realization thanks to higher resistance to stress and a greater availability of personal resources.” (Laguna, M., Alessandri, G., & Caprara, G. V. (2016). Personal Goal Realisation in Entrepreneurs: A Multilevel Analysis of the Role of Affect and Positive Orientation. Applied Psychology)

There are people all around you dealing with the same realities as you. They’re facing the same restrictions, the same limitations, the same shortages and frustrations as you are in your business. 

And yet they’ve been able to find inspiration somewhere; they’ve been able to spot the possibilities; they’ve decided to lean into the rare space where they have the time and the opportunity to better themselves and their businesses.

These people weren’t born extra shiny and happy. Optimism is a choice. Positivity is a practice. 

There are real challenges in our industry right now. You’re probably facing a number of them. I’m not asking you to stick your head in the sand and pretend things aren’t hard. But you CAN choose reality-based optimism.

That means responsibly taking cover when storm clouds are gathering, while making a conscious effort to find the silver lining.