A lot of what we read on Linkedin is hugely postive, uplifting, motivating, and inspirational. Whilst I love this social media platform it can feel that everyone else is experiencing unbridled growth, success and celebrations galore... just not you. Personally I know that's not the case for everyone and quite likely not even a large minority. Sometimes systems fail, you make a bad decision, the market softens, staff don't perform, clients go elsewhere, margins get squeezed, cashflow trickles...these can pile up, more and more, a pressure piling up on your mind and knawing at your mental health.
I can relate to this. Last year was a shocker for me, the previous years hadn't gone so well but I felt we were moving in the right direction but then a crisis formed out of my control in that I discovered that a trusted employee of mine had betrayed me by defrauding me of 10's of thousands of dollars leaving us in a perilous state. To add insult to injury the person had attempted to cover their theft with a personal greivance claim.
These were dark days and there was a period in the aftermath of this where I wondered what the hell I was doing, was I really an ogre? I could be working a corporate job with no worries about employees, meeting payroll, GST or overdue creditor invoices
- why stress myself? I could just take the losses and pack it in.
But frankly, I am not a quitter, there was no way I was going to let this defeat me, nor was I going to default on my responsibilities to my creditors, my staff or my family.
But what to do? Here are 14 strategies that worked for me to survive the darkest moments and that enabled us to push through to a promising 2018/19 FY:
- ASK FOR HELP! No one can do it by themselves, there is no shame in seeking assistance, for breathing space to make payments, legal/finance advice etc - far more poeple want to see you succeed than fail.You need to talk to someone and honestly I was suprised how many business owners have had similar experiences once I started sharing what was happening.
- GRATITUDE - be thankful for what you have, make it a daily habit. Life will immediately improve check out: https://www.intelligentchange.com/pages/five-minute-journal-app
- Maintain your ENERGY - partake in intensive exercise regularly, and go to bed on time. It's amazing how little space you have for worrisome thoughts when your lungs are crying out for air!
- Get CLARITY - I'ld never tried meditation before but 15 mins of daily quiet time with the headspace app quickly settled the internal agitation and gave room for clarity of thought. checkout: https://www.headspace.com/headspace-meditation-app
- Maintain your SUPPORT systems - make time to talk with wife, go for a walk, do stuff with the kids, get some time away with people you love and who love you. Do your bit around the house too.
- GIVE - be active in community, volunteer for things - I enjoy youth development and outdoor activities so I have fun in Sea Scouts, helping out and teaching the kids. I have a bloody good laugh most weeks. Being around positive people rubs off too.
- INVEST IN YOURSELF - what do you need to be better at? I realised that I had no idea about marketing and sales so initially I utilised whatever free content I could find, see The Salesman Podcast & Valuetainment on Youtube, well worth it.
- Daily MOTIVATION - Zig Ziglar said motivation wears off like a bath - that why he recommended you take one daily.
- AVOID NEGATIVITY - Stop listening Newstalk ZB and watching the News. with a news cycle constantly trying to alarm you it can give you a false sense of doom. Hardly anyting in the Newspaper is relevant to your success. Try it out for a week, I bet you wont miss it.
- Eliminate DISTRACTIONS - You need to organise yourself and your mind, clear the desk, remove clutter from the office and your home. these kinds of things serve as subtle peripheral distractions that reduce your effectiveness.
- REFOCUS yourself. For me it worked to distance myself from the fraud investigation after delegating aspects and deliberately kept top of mind that our WHY is found in ceaslessly looking for ways to serve our customers, if we are successfully meeting their needs then our success is much more likely,
- OPEN QUESTIONS - you may have problems that there is no straight forward answer to, try writing up the problem and pinning it to your bathroom mirror. Ask yourself the open question and see if your unconscious mind can come up with an idea whilst you sleep. eg How can I add even more value to my best clients to improve and protect their systems?
- ACTION above all else ACTION - when the world is getting you down there is always something, however small, that you can do to improve your situation. If a worry is preying upon your mind then get up and do something, write an email, make a telephone call, visit someone. Don't procrastinate - it is never as horrible as you think and it won't go away or get better by itself.
- Lastly FORGIVE YOURSELF - we are all human, we all make mistakes, pick yourself up, dust yourself off and try again, try your best and NEVER QUIT!
If you have any questions, need help or just want to talk I am happy to do so, flick me an email at daniel@vertech.co.nz