Have you ever gone through a period of feeling weak, uncertain, worried or doubtful about your career, business or personal life? If so, then you know how debilitating that can feel. Its that sense of hesitation, vacillation, floating along without clear purpose or confidence in a particular direction or course of action. If we’re not careful an insidious form of helplessness can set in that stifles initiative and creativity, lowers our future expectations and discourages us from taking needed action.
In contrast, we all know how good it feels to have unshakable confidence in what we’re doing and our future. Its the same for the economy and in the world of business. If you think about it, everything in business is based on confidence or a lack of it. When we are confident, we buy and invest, but when we aren’t we don’t. And regardless of ones political affiliation, its hard not to feel a real positive, palpable, seismic shift and surge in economic / business confidence since Donald Trump won the election.
In all due respect and deference to how recent protestors may feel about the man and angst about specific policy changes, its hard to deny the power of “animal spirits” pushing the Dow Jones past 20k to all time highs and a resurgent sense of business confidence rising across the economy. And that confidence is contagious. In fact, I don;t know about you but lately, I have to admit that every day when I wake up and turn on the news to see swift, decisive change and action taking place with our new President, I find myself feeling more energized and emboldened.
And its been a reminder for me that when we go from feeling like lambs in life to feeling more like lions – it feels good, damn good, and thats a good thing!
And here are 3 things you can do starting today to feel less like a lamb and more like a lion:
1. Break glass. What I mean by that is stop over analyzing everything and take bold, decisive action instead. Most of us have a tendency to over think things and as a result procrastinate. Don’t let “perfect” get in the way of “good enough”. Wake up and realize that the biggest mistake is not making one. Get moving and do something. Many people float along not realizing that if you are not setting goals and taking proactive steps to reach those goals, you will become the ultimate “Lamb”….a sacrifice for somebody else or something else that did have goals and took action. In my coaching work, I often find people who are stuck in a rut or struggling to break out of a plateau. They give counsel to fears and doubts. Take a clue from the most successful leaders and make a move – to hell with the critics.
2. Major in the majors. This recent surge in business and market confidence is a reminder that the business of America is business! And at the end of the day, as Bill Clinton once famously declared back in his 1992 presidential campaign “its the economy stupid”. When our jobs, careers and finances are moving in the right direction, its amazing how so many good things can flow from that….including better physical, psychological , emotional and financial health. Even our relationships improve. Have you heard the statistics that many divorces are caused by financial angst? I’m not advocating working all the time without the right work/life balance but when you follow this President’s lead and “get down to business”, a lot of good things can happen.
3. Don’t stop. Keep it up. Inevitably our new president’s frenetic pace will ebb as the reality of the “sausage making” mechanism of democracy sets in but the key to achieving anything is not giving up until the job is done. Make sure you are a finisher. Its not enough to get started and stay focused….you also have to take consistent action towards your goals to have any real chance of achieving them. It was good to see the bust of Winston Churchill return to the Oval Office. I once read a great biography of Churchill called “The Last Lion” written by William Manchester. It should serve as a reminder of what he famously said in a speech: “never give up, never ever give up.”
Its time to stop “baaaaing” and start roaring!
