How to make the most out of change

Turning Negative Energy into Positive Solutions

We may not yet know the course we are taking in the coming years, however, what we do know is that it is going to be one of change. Financial challenges, natural disasters, elections and pandemics all have an impact on our lives and our businesses.

These create mixed emotions. Some are excited and motivated by change. Others face change with anxiety or distress. Yet, if handled effectively, change and anxiety do not have to go hand-in-hand.

Change Brings Equal Opportunities

One of my many business owner clients had been experiencing a good run of things for several months.

However, at the start of one consulting session, he told me “Today I want to deal with the fact that my company is about to go through a 3-month slow-down period. I’d like to explore ways I can manage this inevitable downturn.”

My immediate question for him was why would he want to create a downturn in his business for the next three months? He told me that everyone in his industry knew that the next three months were the down part of the cycle. It always occurred and there was no avoiding it. He just had to deal with it the best he could.

The Mindset for Success

I suggested he explore how things might look if he didn’t buy into what others thought, perceived or took as inevitable truth. Instead, I invited him to create a different reality for himself and his company during these months. We applied flipside thinking to focus him away from the negativity of his industry colleagues and competitors.

As a result, he was able to generate new ideas and see opportunities for his business he had never previously noticed. In fact, he discovered possibilities that his competitors had always overlooked. He thought of new ways to do business and saw gaps in the market during these cyclical periods.

With this strategy, he was able to avoid the ‘inevitable’ period of downturn for his company. Instead, his company experienced some of the best results in its history over those three months of historical downturn.

Whether we view them as positive or negative, there are equal opportunities with every change. If you consider them as positive and exciting, you will already be seeing new possibilities.

Look for the Opportunites in Change

If you view them as negative or worrisome, I invite you to do what my client did. Ask the question, “what opportunities are there in this change that I can utilise to achieve maximum results and fulfilment?”

It will take commitment, focus and work to find them. However, it is a far more rewarding pathway. Just remember, it takes the same amount of work to focus and worry on perceived negative thoughts.

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