Mindset. Where are you during the crisis? Shocked or Awesome.

CEO and Founder of ActionCOACH, best-selling author, successful entrepreneur and business educator, Brad Sugars, talks about how to move you mind from “Shock to Awesome”. in his most recent DRIVE TIME (Driveway Time) Facebook video series.  Operating at a high capacity and keeping a positive mindset is critical to ensure you are in a place to take advantage of opportunities that will materialize as the economic crisis evolves. The difference between those doing well and those that are struggling through the crisis.

You don’t have to be thriving, but if you have a least maintained most of you customers, have kept most of your staff, and kept your business operating you are in a good place. You have to focus on the positive. You have to be an mindset that keeps you look towards the future and not mired in the past.

Massive shifts of change bring shock and denial. Then you can be dragged into a negative head space if you don’t have positive input to offset all the negativity.

Sugars, asks you to consider:

1. What type of conversations are you having? Are you surrounding yourself with positive people that are finding way through the crisis.
2. What are the behaviors are your modeling as a leader? Are you helping your team get to a problem solving mindset? Are you in a “We can do this” or woo is me?
3. What activities are your doing to keep yourself physically healthy so that your brain can function remain functioning at high capacity.
4. What rituals are you using to stay in a productive and positive mindset? Are you meditating? Walking or exercising? Are you doing more than just watching Netflix to get through the day? You have ensure you keep yourself in a positive space and not get caught in the vortex of negative behavior or thoughts

Avoiding the flood of negative messaging and the horrific news is hard, but by blocking or reducing exposure to the chaos can put you in a more stable environment.

Shifting mindset can get your productivity moving forward.

Success.com offers more additional ideas for ensuring your mindset is more positive. The article by Larry Alton in 2019 outlines a few steps to take to keep upbeat.

• DAILY AFFIRMATION: “Talk to yourself in the mirror, even if you feel silly, with statements like, “Today will be a good day” or “I’m going to be awesome today.” You’ll be amazed how much your day improves (Alton, 2019)
• FOCUS ON LITTLE VICTORIES: “. When you encounter such a challenge, focus on the benefits, no matter how slight or unimportant they seem” (Alton, 2019)
• FIND THE HUMOR: “Allow yourself to experience humor in even the darkest or most trying situations. Remind yourself that this situation will probably make for a good story later and try to crack a joke about it (Alton, 2019).
• TURN FAILURE into A LESSON: “Instead of focusing on how you failed, think about what you’re going to do next time—turn your failure into a lesson. Conceptualize this in concrete rules” (Alton, 2019).
• TURN YOUR SELF-TALK TOWARDS THE POSITIVE: “You might think I’m so bad at this or I shouldn’t have tried that. But these thoughts turn into internalized feelings and might cement your conceptions of yourself. When you catch yourself doing this, stop and replace those negative messages with positive ones” (Alton, 2019).
• STAY PRESENT: “I’m talking about the present—not today, not this hour, only this exact moment” (Alton, 2019)
• FIND MENTORS and BUILD A SUPPORT SYSTEM: “Finding positive people to fill up your life can be difficult, but you need to eliminate the negativity in your life before it consumes you” (Alton, 2019)

On PositivePsychology.com, Courtney E. Ackerman, MSc. reinforces the characteristics of a positive mindset.

• Optimism: a willingness to make an effort and take a chance instead of assuming your efforts won’t pay off.
• Acceptance: acknowledging that things don’t always turn out how you want them to, but learning from your mistakes.
• Resilience: bouncing back from adversity, disappointment, and failure instead of giving up.
• Gratitude: actively, continuously appreciating the good things in your life (Blank, 2017).
• Consciousness/Mindfulness: dedicating the mind to conscious awareness and enhancing the ability to focus.
• Integrity: the trait of being honorable, righteous, and straightforward, instead of deceitful and self-serving (Power of Positivity, n.d.).

Finally, consider creating a gratitude journal, avoid spreading or listening to gossip, take real breaks to refresh and re-energize, and listen to music as a way to sooth the negative beast.

Not falling prey to the negative vortex can have some serious consequences. Depression, illness and even suicide. It is is critical to get to a positive place to get yourself, your family, your friends, your employees, your customers and your community through this economic and health crisis.