The Battle of Perspective

If we don't sell more units, we'll shut down
If we don't keep this employee, they'll leave and we'll be hurt
If we don't land this account, it's over
These terms are completely unacceptable
My tests are in and they say my blood pressure and cholesterol are way too high

Most of the time we're caught up in our lives and everything feels like it's the end of the world. A lost project or cholesterol over 250, all seem to point to imminent doom.

That's why bad customers, employees, bosses, drug companies and other entities in our lives trump up those scary scenarios. We feed on them and we feel we need to do something right now. We're living in desperation making desperate decisions.

We need to fight the urge to knee-jerk. I remember over a decade ago, a large client of ours was threatening to go elsewhere and I felt like I was letting everyone down if it happened. A lot of pressure. After weeks of anxiety, I was at my home changing after work and it occurred to me that somehow we survived before we had that client and we would somehow survive after them. A wave of reassurance washed over me and I was able to see things clearly.

We saved the client for a little while, but eventually did lose them as they constantly tried to dumb down and cheapen the project to the point that it was no longer the exciting, dynamic relationship it had been. We moved on to better things and today most of our employees don't even know we worked with that company.

If everything seems like the end of the world, how will we know when we are really facing the end of the world?

Barry LaBov
LaBov & Beyond
www.labov.com