Five Steps to Freedom
“Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. Have the courage to follow your own heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”
– Steve Jobs
With recession in the air, the typical media flurry of doom and gloom is picking up momentum. US unemployment is nearing double digits, US debt is out of control, the Eurozone debt crisis continues, and the stock markets are falling as confidence in the world economy sinks.
What is a recession, really?
While economists tout that a recession is two consecutive negative quarters of a shrinking economy (as measured by consumer demand for products and services), underneath that, a recession is an external reflection of a collective inner crisis in confidence that spreads like a virus, and manifests as “an economy in turmoil”. The root cause is simple: it’s the paralyzing virus of fear. It’s an unnecessary inner state to which we attach – as we get bombarded by society with messages of pessimism and despair, we feed it with our thoughts and emotions. This is just not a skillful way to live.
Five Steps To Being Recession-Proof
Below is a five-point road map to help you navigate the noise.
1. Let go of the fear of scarcity. Understanding the above-described fear is illusion will give you the power to observe the story from a more objective place, and when you feel drawn to the drama, witness your mental-emotional reaction pattern rather than identify with the collective story.
2. Be on purpose. Get really clear on your purpose, the purpose of your business, and how that’s communicated to the group you want to serve (target market). Your purpose is transcendent, it grounds you like a mountain, and it keeps you from fluttering about like sand in the wind when outside forces invade.
3.Understand the truth of brand. Understand the true notion of differentiation – it’s you, being you, in your truest, most authentic, naked self – and expressing your story, your point of view in connection with the transformative benefits of your product or service. Your unique ability expressed is the core of brand strategy and marketing strategy.
4. Let go of the fear of competition. Competition is a notion mired in a scarcity-adversarial mindset. There is truly enough business for everyone, and enough resources for everyone. Abundance is. The way to work with competition is: 1) know that it doesn’t exist outside of your mind; and 2) get clearer on what makes you unique and how that gets expressed to the world. Then proceed to step 5.
5. Communicate vigorously, prolifically and shamelessly. After getting clear on your authentic message, and how you will share that with the people who need your service, build a marketing strategy and plan that is grounded in action, and execute, execute, execute.
There is only one you. There is only one “your company”. There is only one “your team”. And you were endowed with the power to create anything you desire. We create our realities, and we’re always creating, at every moment, exactly what we’re most committed to.
So in memory of uber-entrepreneur-CEO Steve Jobs, and his quote “Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice”, I invite you to step outside the illusory “recession matrix”, or whatever story you live in, and choose to skillfully create the reality you desire.