Life is like a sausage machine !

What’s the truth about our situation? Simple. It’s whatever you focus on !
Whatever we think about daily determines how we feel, what we’ll do and ultimately what we’ll have.

The media are strangling the lifeblood out of the word recession and having a field day with it. But you have to ask yourself why? Have you ever noticed that the media uses negative anecdotes even when the news is primarily positive? For example: factory wins fabulous new contract ! How brilliant, but it may not be in time to prevent Dolly the duck from having to move nesting ground(or whatever) (cue sad picture of Dolly the duck).

Why do they do this? Simple, because bad news sells ! We’ve all heard this, but what does it really mean? News has to sell – it’s the primary reason for its existence, its not that they’re really altruistic, and want to make sure we’re completely informed – honestly, its not.

Bad news sells more because it creates a sense of urgency in us. We feel that we need to know more in order to prepare ourselves. Eg: you’re walking down the street and you see the newstand with the title : “Lovely evening ahead” you smile and walk. But if the sign on the newstand says “Terrible snowfrenzy coming” you’re likely to buy the paper to read about what you should do, to protect yourself and your family.

Its not really the fault of the news media – they’re simply feeding the public what the public responds to….!

So you’ve got to be careful what you allow in from this onslaught of doom and despair. Remember the old adage, Rubbish in , Rubbish out !

I love the analogy from the Minister for Inspiration : “Life is like a sausage machine” You know the old kind of sausage machine with the turning handles. Think about it, if you put into the sausage machine – despair, overwhelmed and lack of control – guess what’s going to be in your sausage !
Yep, you got it – you’ve got a sausage full of despair, overwhelm and out of control ! Tasty? Would you feed it to your staff ?

So we have to make intelligent choices about which information we allow in.

Have you noticed that in order to make yourself feel down about something you have to generalise. The economy is terrible, the customers haven’t got any money, the staff don’t care. But when you look at these things closely, they just don’t stand up – When you get specific – “the economy is terrible”. But is it really? Is it for everyone? Or are some people making a lot of money?

This is pretty hard hitting stuff, and I can imagine some of you out there asking stuff like: How can I make myself miserable Rachel?
Well, that’s easy. Focus on what you don’t have, what’s not working and why it always happens to you….!

But in all seriousness, the real and lasting danger in negative thinking, is subscribing to the belief that its crap for everyone. How we look for evidence that its rubbish for all the shops next to us, so its ok not to try then, because its just the way it is. Psychologists call this “Learned helplessness” It’s an actual social phenomenon, but the good news is that its an opt out phenomenon!

What we need in this situation is a balanced view.

3 steps to getting a clear view:
1) See it as it is. – exactly as it is, not worse because then you’ll get overwhelmed
2) See it as better than it is now.
3) Make it like you see it ! - Make a step by step plan of how you’ll get to your
vision.

Now is the time to get really curious about what you could be doing? It’s the time to focus on solutions – not problems ! Focus instead on the value you can add. Look for areas that you’re sure you can add value in.

What could you do differently? Are you doing the same things everyone else is doing? Advertising in the same places? What are you doing to make your business stand out?

We live in a time of uncertainty – we can’t look to the past for answers. The present is a very different time to the last recession of the 80’s

Now then, pay attention here, because this bit coming up is important…..!

We all posess a reticular activation system ! Yes, I bet you didn’t know you had one of those ! What on earth is a Reticular activation system I hear you ask? Lets call it RAS for short to save my fingers.
Well, its like suddenly getting a focus. Eg, It’s the feeling you get when you buy a new car, and suddenly you notice this type of car on the roads wherever you go, whereas you’d never seen any before. That’s your RAS !
My point is, that we live in an information age. We are bombarded with it, there’s so damn much of it its hard to know what we need to pay attention to and what we don’t.

The smart thing to do would be to set your RAS to your specific business questions. What do you want to accomplish? What’re your goals …? Then you’ll be looking for answers to this question.

One way to do this is by modelling. This is where you find someone who’s getting the results you want and go ask them how they do it? You tell them what you know, and ask them what you don’t know that you need to know ? For example: If you were mountain biking down a new and dangerous trail, wouldn’t you take an experienced guide with you the first time, a) to keep you safe and b) to get the maximum enjoyment out of the trip?

You can look at people or companies outside your particular sphere, in fact that’s probably the best thing to do, whether it be a tyre changer or a beautician, we can all learn from each other.