Cup Half-empty or Realist?
With business looking better but not exactly awesome, should we focus on the reality of our current situation as compared with more prosperous times, or should we focus on the possibilities yet to come in our businesses and lives? Of course we ALL focus on the reality AND the possibility-the concern is more about the degree to which we dwell on each.
So, what’s your story?
Take notice of what you are talking about and thinking about throughout the day. Are you talking about what was or what might have been? Focusing on how the market was previously? Dwelling on that deal you almost closed that should have made your year-but instead, the bottom fell out? Is your mind plaguing you with comparisons and contrasting the present situation with how things were in 2008, or even 2007? The thing to remember is that story is over. Regardless of how painful it was, how close you came or how drasticthe change was, it is now OVER! One thing you can do right now, today, is to make a conscious decision to stop talking about it. Just catch yourself mid-sentence and…. stop the pattern.
Ask yourself the following questions:
- What do you have going for you?
- What are your skills?
- What else can you try?
- And what are the possibilities for you now–with things just as they are?
Where is the possibility?
Focus on what you have-not on what you have lost. As they say, “reality is relative.” And of course, reality is relative to our particular situation. Remind yourself that 33% of the world’s population does not have access to clean drinking water, meaning there are approximately 1.9 billion people who would trade places with you in an instant.
