Having the right mindset is critical for surviving times of duress

By Andrea Hill

Increasingly, economists are using the word “depression” to describe the international economy, and there is a growing consensus that it will take five years to return to the economic performance we enjoyed at the beginning of 2020.

Stop for a moment and consider your reaction to that first paragraph. Did you hit the word “depression” and skip instantly to the next paragraph? That would be representative of the behavior called avoidance. Did you have an instant, mental argument with the accuracy of that paragraph? That could be representative of the behavior called denial. Did you break into a cold sweat, and wish that it was already beer-o’clock? That could be representative of the behavior called fear.

These are confusing, even scary, times, and it’s only human to go through a range of emotions as we encounter new challenges and consider a future of both social and financial deprivations. But once you cycle through those emotions, it is im-portant to come back to this thought: The only way to fare well during times of duress is to be flexible, accepting, adaptive, and curious.

Accept Reality

Hard times come and hard times go, and during all of them, some people fare much better than others. So what does it mean to be flexible, accepting, adaptive, and curious? How can you apply those concepts to your business?

In countless internet forums I have observed business owners immersed in anger and frustration over the very existence of the new coronavirus, the state of the economy, and the inconsistent management at the state and federal levels. Frustration and anger are reasonable—for some period of time. But to remain in that state for months will only delay one’s ability to become proactive. This is what acceptance is about. Some people think that acceptance is about deciding you are fine with, or agree with, what has happened. That’s not what acceptance is about at all. Acceptance is deciding to stop be-ing angry and frustrated, or searching for explanations for what has already oc-curred. It’s about accepting reality. And once you do that, you can focus your attention on what happens next and what you can do to make things better.

The cool thing about acceptance is that it takes only as much time as you make it take. Acceptance is a decision, not an evolution nor a divine gift. It is entirely mental and emotional. But without it, it’s hard to move forward.
The most successful business leaders (and people in general) have cultivated the ability to accept reality. Because once you do this, you free up tremendous energy—energy that can be devoted to curiosity and adaptation.

Get Curious and Adapt

Once you’re being curious about the fu-ture, you can start imagining what your business must do and be to thrive during an extended economic downturn. Curiosity will drive you to read articles that predict the future, and an adaptive mindset will allow you to imagine how your business can adopt practices and introduce products and services that will appeal to consumers in the new reality.
Curiosity will drive you to reassess all your current processes, and an adaptive mindset will help you change procedures and eliminate practices that are no longer useful to changing business dynamics.
Curiosity will drive you to brainstorm about all the ways you might reimagine your business for the future. And an adaptive mindset will allow you to invest in the new technologies and training you will need to achieve those new goals.

Success Is Psychological

Life coach Tony Robbins asserts that professional success is 80 percent psychological and 20 percent strategic. And he’s not alone in this belief: The coaches and trainers of professional and Olympic sports teams report that athletic success is anywhere from 50 to 80 percent psychological. In the last 15 years, psychologists have started collecting data to confirm or deny these opinions, and scientific support for a strong psychological component to success is emerging. Specifically, a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in June of 2020 reports that people who ask themselves, “Is there a better way of doing this?” tend to be more successful.

In April, when most of us were waiting for the coronavirus to go away, some business owners were rapidly redefining their business models.
Cerese D, a jewelry design and production firm in Atlanta, is a great example. They rely heavily on event selling to move their designs, and as soon as live events were cancelled, they faced a year with drastically reduced revenue. By the end of April, they had launched a series of online events where customers could participate via Zoom link, socialize, and shop. Their events instantly drew hundreds of participants, and co-owners Deborah and Cerese Dolman found themselves searching for additional tools and technologies that could quickly adapt to their new, very profitable, business model.

The technology wasn’t new. The idea wasn’t even new. What was powerful was the rapidity with which the Dolmans pivoted to a new way of working. That kind of proactiveness doesn’t happen when you are mired in anxiety, denial, or anger.

The past few months have borne witness to other examples of businesses re-thinking their models and embracing both the risks and the opportunities of change. How you fare in the days ahead will have much to do with your mindset. Businesses that choose to be flexible, accepting, adaptive, and curious will be the ones that not only survive, but thrive.