Herman School of Business
What is around the corner for you?
People who hear me speak always ask how I can stay so positive all the time. How can losing a business or facing a failure more than once still allow me to be happy and pushing ahead? While it is true that I am an optimist, more importantly I am a realist.
Being able to recognize what is going on around you…the truth of your situation…makes it far easier to stay positive because you can act quicker when things are driving you off the cliff. A second thing is that by being realistic you also know that you can get back up when things make you fall down.
There is an opportunity for you to be more realistic right now and get ahead of the pack. Because for sure those around you are saying “oh woe is me” and not focusing on tomorrow, they are stuck in the mud, right here, right now.
Real estate values are falling…so if you must sell in the next 18 months…do it now before prices fall further. Credit lines are shrinking or disappearing…if you must use your credit line do it now before the bank pulls it or lowers it and hoard your cash to get you through. Don’t hold onto employees because you love them and sink your entire business…make the hurtful cuts immediately and hunker down for the battle months ahead…at least saving that salary cost.
Be realistic, times are going to get harder before they turn back towards prosperity. In poker if you have no pairs against a player raising the pot…lose your ante and fold your cards…stop putting more in the pot hoping for a miracle.
As I approach sixty many things cross my mind that never occurred to me earlier in my life. A huge portion of our population has worked forty years like I did to get to a point that we could slow down and try to enjoy the rest of our life. Medical expenses, higher taxes, the excesses we give our kids, and our own belief that the stock market would keep going straight up have forced me to see a new reality…many of my generation can’t retire. We will need jobs of some sort to bring in the extra income we thought we wouldn’t need. Many faces in the audiences I speak to are older, and many come to hear me because they want hope. They want to know if they have a way out of a mess at this point in their lives.
Here’s the deal. If you adopt a realistic approach to your life and are willing to work in a positive direction then from this point forward you can make your life better. Living in the real world will conserve your cash…downsize…get a cheaper car…stop charging things…and every day you are moving towards a better life. It won’t be easy or very much fun for many people…but the alternative is to stay stuck in the mud and look forward to more misery.
Am I positive even in hard times…yes…and realistic enough to be doing something about the situation facing all of us.
- Posted: 5 November 2008
- Comments: 0
- Category: Business failure
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