Recession Proofing – Mindset
Thriving In Your Business & Your Life
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So we know that we’re officially in a recession.
What we don’t know is the magnitude of this recession or how long it will last.
Now this is a challenging thought but here’s the thing….the economy won’t be the key factor in your success in a recession.
Your psychology will be the key factor.
This statement isn’t meant to be purposely controversial but I understand that at first glance, it may well be very triggering to hear that.
Stay with me.
Your beliefs lead to your feelings, which in turn create your actions, which then define your experience. The experience you go through then feeds back into your belief system (a kind of reconfirmation) and starts the circle again.
Except, it isn’t a circle.
It’s a spiral and depending on the beliefs you hold, it creates either an upward spiral or a downward spiral.
Your core beliefs will likely be deep-rooted and will be formed from past experiences, even back to your childhood.
Challenging these beliefs is key. You’ve got to be open to being wrong and let go of those beliefs.
As Lynn Robinson asked, “would you rather be right, or would you rather be happy”.
One key flawed belief in business is that there are easy times and there are tough times.
That simply isn’t the case.
If it feels easy, then chances are, you’re not making it tough enough or not maximising potential.
It should be that there are tough times and there are tougher times in business.
There is a seasonality to business. Just as there is in the farming season.
You should expect that the tougher times will come and prepare for them.
You will struggle in winter if you didn’t prepare enough during the rest of the year. The best farmer assumes that it will be a long winter and they prepare for the worst.
You might not see growth during the tougher times but you will grow into the foundations of your business and then be ready to take full advantage when spring eventually comes.
These actions are not ground-breaking but they will work.
1. Guard your mind
You have to be on your guard.
The core role of the news is to get you to watch. And they do that by grabbing your attention.
If you’ve read the Chimp Paradox by Steve Peters (see point 5), he explains how the “Chimp” part of our brain is there to protect you against dangers, real and potential. It has done that for millions of years and it is mighty strong.
The Chimp (the primal, non-rational part of the brain) needs information to act on and if you don’t give it a constant source of fuel (that’s all the news will be to the Chimp), then it will calm down and give the “Human” part of the brain (the logic, rational, pragmatic part of the brain) a chance to be effective, organized, strategic and spot opportunities.
You need to adopt the same approach with people too. Even people close to you. People won’t always act in your interest and if you need to put boundaries in place, then you must. Remember, one drop of poison spoils a whole meal.
2. Pursue growth every day
Actively pursue this.
Small and consistent actions produce results. Remember, you can’t shortcut the action.
Also, motivation comes and goes – discipline (doing the things you don’t want to do) on a consistent basis beats motivation everytime.
Allocate a non-negotiable 30 minutes a day for personal development. Podcasts, books, audiobooks – anything with positivity and growth at the core will do wonders for you.
It will literally start to rewire your brain. You’ll be actively rowing in the opposite direction to everyone else.
A personal favourite at the moment is “The Diary of a CEO” with Steven Bartlett. There are nearly 200 episodes; a real mix of guests and stories.
The link to the Steve Peters episode (the Chimp Paradox chap!) is here too.
Another recommendation would be “High Performance” with Jake Humphrey & Damien Hughes.
3. Focus on your health
This is more important than anything else.
If you don’t prioritise your own health, you can’t be of any use to anyone else.
“If you don’t make time for your wellness you will be forced to make time for your illness” – Joyce Sunada
4. Aim higher
By this, I mean, aim higher than you’re currently thinking.
Don’t worry if you don’t hit the target.
Audacious stretch goals will rewire your brain to think of big solutions and answers to the challenges you face.
If you ask yourself “how could we double turnover in the next 12 months” you’d be surprised at the solutions your brain will come up with. It starts to subconsciously reprogram your brain to think about how that is possible.
Daily, small decisions are all made with that stretch goal in mind – you’ll start to think, “does this action or task serve this goal”.
5. Give even more
I’m not advocating giving things away for free.
Help people, give what you can, even if it is just your time.
Be a positive message because like attracts like and people remember when you helped with no expectation of it being reciprocated.
A good habit to get into is to keep a gratitude journal. You might feel that this is happy-clappy central (again though, you have to challenge your core beliefs!). Spend 5 minutes at the start of the day to write 3 things you are grateful for and spend 5 minutes in the evening writing 3 things that went well today.
It gives your brain a mindset rewire by grounding your thoughts and adding perspective to them as well as a positive pat on the back to remind you that it isn’t all doom and gloom.
Our giveaway to reinforce this point is to offer you one of these books (paper copy or Kindle) to help with the points in this blog:
Simply drop me an email and we’ll arrange that for you.
If you’d like any help with Recession Proofing your business, please get in touch.
