Founder at Elivate and Part-Time Million Dollar Business.
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If we’ve learned anything over the past three years, it’s to hope for the best but prepare for literally anything else. However, I’ve found the mindset of preparing for the worst may actually invite our worst fears to pull up a chair and stay a while.
How do you react when something bad happens? If your business is hit with a global pandemic, your business partner quits, or you are out sick for a while, where does your mind go? How you view and respond to the situation can not only impact the present, but it can have major effects on your future.
Living in the worst-case-scenario mindset demands nearly all of your focus. So much so that you may have little to no energy left for the present-day challenges in front of you—which, by the way, are typically very solvable. So, the next time someone says, “I’ve got some bad news,” here’s your three-step gameplan.
1. Analyze your frame.
Let’s debunk a popular myth. Positive thinking is a great tool, but positive thinking alone does not get more customers to your website or deliver the perfect employee to your door. So, when bad things happen, wishing them away with positivity does not typically lead to lasting change.
What does create lasting change is understanding how you frame the events in your life. How do you frame the “bad” moments? For example, if your revenue takes a dip in the fall, is your response, “Q3 is always slow for my business”?
When you use always and never to frame your story, you’ll be right 100% of the time. Our brains work to support what we believe to be true by altering our perception of reality. It fills in the gaps of the unknown with our past experiences.
2. Resist the urge to act immediately.
When we perceive a negative event, often, there’s an immediate desire to fix the problem. We move into the recovery phase with the same negative energy that was created when we discovered the problem.
Let’s say foot traffic to your business begins to slow as the fall season emerges. If you apply an old frame to your present story (i.e., Q3 is always slow for my business) and immediately take action, your decisions are powered by a negative perception.
For example, if you believe Q3 is always a cyclical downturn in your business, not only are you projecting that expectation as reality, but your decisions then stem from that low-energy space. In turn, your decision to take immediate action may mean you reduce marketing or limit store hours. Both negative options are aligned with the old frame.
Instead, take time to formulate the right energy to create positive change. Creating energy from a place of love, abundance and peace can help you shift your perspective as much as the event itself.
3. Create a new frame.
In order to take action that will remedy a bad situation, your energy must come from a place of abundance. Ask yourself this question: What’s the most generous interpretation of this event I can introduce?
Rather than reverting immediately to “Q3 is always slow for my business,” consider what can be done to maintain the success leading into Q3. Instead of subscribing to the belief that the fall will always be a slow season, create a new frame for the story and take action from a place of abundance.
Be intentional with designing your new framework. Viewing the fall as your biggest opportunity to launch a new product or create an annual promotion are new ways to see the same scenario. Then, the actions you take—developing a new product line, marketing your fall promotion in the summer, or partnering with a complimentary brand for increased exposure—all come from a place of high energy.
Stay in the present.
Don’t bring your old frame to today’s circumstances. Get present with the problems you face and see them as they are, not worse. When you take the time to analyze your frame, resist the urge to act immediately, and create a new and improved frame, your decisions can attract the intentionally designed future you want for yourself, your business and your connections with others.
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