The problem with believing you’re in a recession is that you start to feel that you cannot achieve your goals. Recession – or any of the negative words that are associated with it – is in fact in the mind of the beholder.
You don’t need to be an economist to see that things are not all black. In fact things are never all black, any more than they are ever all white. Stop and reflect for a moment on some of the industries and people that will thrive in a recession.
If you want to achieve goals you’ve got to believe there’s a way. You have to know in your heart that you can do it and that the odds are not stacked against you. If your goal is to climb Everest, you have to believe you can get there or there’s no sense in taking a single step up that mountain.
In fact, in the current financial climate, setting and achieving goals should become even more a way of life! When winter or war comes, for example, people gather together for comfort and support. In economic bad times, what better moment to gather a team of willing helpers?
Apart from anything else, you need to believe in yourself. Set the goal that you will find a way, and you’ll achieve that goal. On the other hand, if you start with self doubt and fear, setting goals will feel futile. You must get clear that the resource that has always achieved all the goals in your life has been you – not your bank balance or your job!
Set the goal that you can always think of something that others will want to pay you for. There’s only one you, and if you remain upbeat and positive, people will want not only your help – they’ll hire you for your genial personality! Never was there a better time to reinstate “whistle while you work!” (There’s a goal you can easily achieve!)
As a little food for thought, here are some examples of industries that are probably going to thrive in a recession. If you owned such a business, what goal setting would you be doing now?
The car repair industry. Fewer people are going to buy new cars for a while, so keeping the old ones on the road becomes paramount. Mechanics and second hand car sales people are probably going to easily achieve their business goals in the coming months!
How about the cheaper end of the beauty and glamour industries? Everyone wants to feel good, and a new hair-do doesn’t cost a lot. If you like wearing make-up, a new lipstick or nail polish can lift the spirits in a jiffy for the price of a cup of coffee or thereabouts. If your goal is for a quick pick-me-up, there’s one way to achieve it, whilst helping the beautician, hairdresser or cosmetics salesperson to keep their job!
Rental things – especially real estate – will flourish, won’t it? How about home entertainment? Cheaper than a night on the town! The whole family can rent a blockbuster DVD when it would have cost four seats at the movies not to mention outrageously priced popcorn! Goal achieved? Keeping the family spirits up.
Network marketing companies always do well in a recession as people search around frantically for ways to make money in their spare time.
Now, I didn’t set out to write a list and I’m not an economist. (Thank heavens for that – they hardly can take credit for keeping us out of trouble, can they?) The reason I wanted to point these observations out to you is not because I want you to change your job – I want you to change your mind! Personal and professional goals are just as achievable in the present climate as they are at other times. You simply have to apply your adaptability skills – a resource with which you have been equipped since birth.
When people are down, more than ever they need people who are up. Why were musicals so popular during the depression of the 1920s and through the war years? Because they made people feel good, that’s why.
If you want to achieve more goals, smile at more people. Be optimistic – life will go on, and rollercoasters are for riding – so point out to yourself and to the frightened people you meet that they have almost certainly already survived many of life’s challenges. You have the resources and so do they to achieve whatever goals they set themselves.
You cannot achieve your goals by joining people in their fear. No one is helped or served by that. Think outside the box, remember at all times that you are your own greatest resource and you will be not only inspired but you will become an inspiration.
Whatever you do, don’t give up! Keep on setting and achieving goals for the rest of your life!
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