While much can be said for the realists who disregard the somewhat glib and popular “be positive” posters we’ve all seen on the ceiling in the dentist’s office, a stronger case can be made for the optimists who see the true and important difference a positive attitude can make when facing tough situations – predicaments we face in our businesses, and in our lives, every day.
If you can change your perspective, you immediately change your opportunities. We don’t get to control the obstacles or hurdles that come our way, but we definitely control our responses. Staying in the real world and the current situation is a must, but we must not allow that world, no matter how dark it may seem at the moment, to negatively influence our next steps.
I can’t tell you how many times in my business we consciously choose to see the problem of the day as a tremendous opportunity. Whether a disgruntled customer, delayed delivery or production hurdle, we went the extra mile to find the silver lining, and before you know it, we had a customer or partner who was not only happy, but loyal for life. My partner always said the outcome was better than if we had never had the problem at all. Better, because we had a chance to turn the situation around and shine.
And no, ignoring the negative is not an option. There is no magic wand we can wave to turn everything rosy, solve a problem or get success. Everything important in life requires hard work and choices, and that choice is the key. You get to choose how you see things.
As the Greek philosopher Epictetus said, “People are not disturbed by things, but by the view they take of them.” Choose to change your attitude and perspective, and choose to see opportunity when it presents itself. This isn’t easy under stress, but with creativity, a clear head and maybe some good outside advice, it can be done.
This means upping your creativity and resourcefulness, but you wouldn’t be in business if you didn’t have those characteristics. You know your mission, so choose the desired outcome and focus intensely on how to reach it. Remember, there may be hundreds of ways to get there, and each failed attempt is one step closer to the one that will work. Thomas Edison famously said, “I have not failed, I’ve found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”
Next time you face that block, break through it by asking yourself a few questions:
- What am I really trying to accomplish, and what’s stopping me?
- What do others expect me to do, and what is the best outcome for everyone?
- What five alternatives can I try (even if it’s a longshot)?
- Am I losing sight of the big picture? Have I overlooked details?
- Is my pride or ego making the situation more difficult?
- Can I make any trades to get what I need?
There’s always a better way to do something, and entrepreneurs are usually pretty good at making tenacious progress. Being positive doesn’t diminish the seriousness of an issue, it increases your opportunity to be creative, resourceful and resilient. Being positive increases your ability to see the next steps and to see them a new way. The real difference between success and failure is the number of times you get back up after getting knocked down. Be willing to take that chance to shine.
We couldn’t do what we do at NACET if we didn’t understand hard knocks and didn’t have firsthand experience. We are in the business of building businesses, and we need to maintain a flexible perspective at two levels. The community is dependent upon our success, and our success is dependent upon the success of our clients. Thus, going forward is always the only option. To hear that you must embrace rejection, obstacles, hurdles or failures might sound as simplistic as those adorable ceiling posters, but, in fact, opportunities simply don’t co-exist with defeat. Opportunities are plentiful only with resilience and creativity, and a lot of sweat equity. We always look out for the silver lining so you can see it too. And we’re happy to give you a boost when you need it. FBN
By Annette Zinky
Annette Zinky is the CEO/President of NACET.
Annette Zinky is the president/CEO of NACET. For more information on market research or NACET, please visit www.NACET.org or call 928-213-9234