These are certainly scary times. Russian invasion of Ukraine has brought fear and uncertainty to the forefront of my existence.
Here are my bullet points from Dan Sullivan's great “Scary Times” Success Manual: How To Be A Leader When Times Get Tough. I want to have them here as a reference. This is my personal interpretation. All quotes are from Dan Sullivan.
To read his full article please go to his site at https://resources.strategiccoach.com/the-multiplier-mindset-blog/scary-times-success-manual-how-to-be-a-leader-when-times-get-tough
1. Focus on others
"Uncertainty can drive people into themselves, making them feel isolated and helpless. The best strategy here is to go in the opposite direction..." For me this means people in my immediate circle and zone of influence. Whose lives do I impact today directly through my actions, words, facial expressions? - my family, my friends, my team.
"become the source of confidence" for those around you.
2. Build relationships
"In uncertain times, people become frightened about the viability of their “commodities”—the things they sell and the jobs they hold. A more strategic response here is to disregard your own commodity and focus on deepening the power and possibility of all your relationships—with family, friends, team members, suppliers, clients, customers, and prospects."
3. Create value
"what people want at all times is value creation—that is, solutions that help them eliminate their dangers, capture their opportunities, and reinforce their strengths."
Scary times amplify basic human needs. Figure out how to provide them for yourself and others.
4. Forget your losses; look for opportunities
"Things you had and may have taken for granted sometimes disappear." This is ok. Actually, it happens all the time. Sunk costs are not the right basis for making decisions.
Value, what you have today and build on it.
5. You can control your progress
"Things may not be as easy as they once were. New difficulties can either defeat you or reveal new strengths. Your body’s muscles always get stronger from working against resistance. The same is true for the “muscles” in your mind, your spirit, and your character."
What doesn't kill us, makes us stronger. When you can't control your challenges, celebrate your achievements!
6. Focus on today
"The “future” is an abstraction. It doesn’t exist except as an idea. The only future that has any reality is the one you continually create for yourself through each day’s contributions, achievements, and results.
This is an excellent time to ignore all those experts who never saw the present circumstances coming. Focus on what you can do over the course of each 24 hours, and you’ll be the only expert on the future you’ll ever need."
This is the key point. Focus on one step at a time. Focus on today. When you hike up a mountain, there are times to look down for each step you take. Then there are times to look up and love the view. Now it the tough time - just put one foot in front of the other.
7. You control who you can be
Release your old identity.
"Many people define themselves by external circumstances. When these abruptly or unexpectedly change, they don’t know who they are, so they keep trying to be who they used to be. From now on, take your cues from the inside—from your dreams, ideals, values, and operating principles. These need never change, regardless of the circumstances. Take advantage of external confusion to become self directed, self-managed, and self-motivated."
The biggest pain is change is loosing the identity - how you defined yourself. The only way is to travel inward to your never changing core. It's in there. Find it.
8. You control your responses
"When things are going well, many people think they’re actually in control of events. That’s why they feel so defeated and depressed when things turn bad. They think they’ve lost some fundamental ability." This is so true.
9. Look at what's immediately available
"When things change for the worse, many desirable resources are inevitably missing, including information, knowledge, tools, systems, personnel, and capabilities. ...
A strategic response is to take advantage of every resource that is immediately available in order to achieve as many small results and make as much daily progress as possible." Small results are good results. Love them, praise them, celebrate.
10. Gratitude
'When times get tough, everyone has to make a fundamental decision: to complain or to be grateful. ... when it feels like everything is out of your control, you’ve always got a choice about where to direct your focus."
If you are reading this, you're on the right track! Hang in there.
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