George S. May Business Blog

Stay Positive, Turn Off the News

With such an up and down economy, mostly the latter, we find ourselves paying more attention to the news than we would regularly. Suddenly we listen to the radio waiting for the financial update, where as before it was the signal for us to start station surfing.

Stop. You are only subjecting yourself to pessimism and pessimism turns into a vicious cycle which will eventually eat you alive. Think about it, on the way to work you hear news of how the market is down, which puts you in a state of despair as you are worried about your financial future.

So then you get to work and because your thoughts are consumed by this negativity, your productivity doesn’t realize it’s full potential. Suddenly your business isn’t doing as well and the depression/nervousness increases two-fold.  What we must do is not subject ourselves to such negativity. Sometimes you are in a place where there is nothing more that you can do but just ride it out. Not to be harsh but, you are not going to die, so why live unhappy? Obviously, these things are easier said than done, but the power of the mind is phenomenal. Do not get me wrong I am not suggesting for you to fake it.  All I am saying is, enjoy life in its current state just as you would enjoy it otherwise. Stop answering the question of “how are you” with your usual: “tired” or “broke”. Think positive, speak positive, and things will become positive.

Furthermore, don’t be so hard on yourself. Obviously, keeping up with your progress is always important for us to measure our own success. In fact, for the hard working, driven, person, it is pretty much inevitable. But in a weaker economy you must keep your comparisons to current situations.  In other words, don’t compare the current success of your business with how it was doing when the economy was better, because you will find yourself right back in that vicious cycle.

I recently sat in on a sales meeting for a company that owns radio stations across the country. The National Sales Manager from New York came into town to speak on the state of the stations within his market. Obviously times are rough now, ad sales are down, and as a result you could feel a very thick tension walking into that room. However, as the meeting got underway, his approach was brilliant. Rather than ripping everyone for sales being down he said, “Hey, I know times are tough, but look at it this way, our numbers are doubling that of our competitor’s.” My point being, those guys selling know they aren’t doing as well as before, their commission paychecks are their proof. Why harp on them for their numbers compared to last year, when the entire market is experiencing a hit? Inevitably they will not be doing as well so don’t discourage them to move forward.  Treat yourself the same way. Don’t ride yourself for not performing in the workplace as well as you were last year, instead, look at other, similar businesses in the same economy, to set your bar for success.  If you find that you are doing well, with these standards in mind, then you should stay positive and know that you will make great progress as the economy gets back on its feet.

Related posts:

1. Housing prices in California stay put for November — First time in over 24 months California homeowners should be able to breathe a bit of a sigh of relief with this news. Dec. 15 (Bloomberg) — Southern California house and...


2. GM taps Ed Whitacre Jr. to stay on as permanent CEO The Detroit News is reporting that the search for GM’s new Chief Executive Officer is over. Ed Whitacre Jr., the current “interim” CEO will take over the...