Don't Panic, PARE Things Down
This is not a time to curl up into a ball. This is a time to lead. Here are a few simple steps for when it feels like you don't know which way is up.
It’s weird out there right now. There is information everywhere, but nobody seems to know exactly what is real. Social media is a dark place with opinions and ignorance flying around with reckless abandon. When you don’t know where to turn or who to trust, it can be really lonely, and really scary.
That’s exactly how your customers feel right now.
You have an opportunity to lead, and they need you to do so.
I wrote a brief post on LinkedIn recently encouraging you to stop what you’re doing, focus on what’s important, and make sure you do the things that need to be done among all the craziness.
In an exchange with my good friend Vince Fowler this weekend, I stumbled upon an acronym that breaks it down a little further. It almost seems silly, because I’m not what you’d call an acronym guy, but it basically presented itself. So I’ll go into it here, and you’ll hear more about it on tomorrow’s podcast.
When it feels like it’s hitting the proverbial fan, you need to circle the wagons and identify what’s really important. You need to PARE things down. My adorable little acronym breaks down like this…
Pause
Assess
Reflect
Execute
The worst thing you can do in situations like this is panic (that’s the wrong ‘P’). As information and emotions swirl around you, you need to Pause and break those cycles to stop that madness. Put your phone down. Take a walk. Change your state in some way.
Give yourself the room to think while eliminating as much noise as you possibly can, so you can Assess your situation and identify what needs to be done. Now it’s easy to get carried away here, so you have to be disciplined. Feeling like there are 100 things that need your attention and writing them all down on some to-do list is really just panic disguising itself as productivity. As the great Jim Collins says, if you have more than three priorities, you have no priorities.
Resist the urge to let that list grow. Ideally, as these top three tasks are carried out, they’ll either address the rest of your issues inherently or make them much easier to deal with later. Trust the process.
Identify the top three things that need to be addressed in your business as soon as possible, and then Reflect on the best way to carry them out. This is your planning stage. What needs to be done? Who needs to be involved? When can these tasks be carried out and how? Write this plan down so it can be clearly communicated.
The most important step, as always, is to Execute the plan. This is much easier said than done, but when you’ve gone through the process of identifying the most important tasks and planning the best way to go about performing them, the only thing that’s left is your discipline.
Do.Not.Get.Distracted. You can’t afford to.
Your opportunity here is to differentiate yourself from everybody else who is cowering in fear or analysis paralysis. Your customers and clients are looking for a lighthouse in a storm; a beacon to help them find their way. You can be that for them. People look for leadership in times like these, and they follow those leaders long after crises have subsided. Who do you want to follow you?
Jeff Bajorek
Real. Authentic. Experience.
There’s a big difference between knowing how to sell and being able to. Jeff Bajorek spent over a decade in the field as a top performer. He’s been in your shoes. He knows what it will take. He can help you succeed.
Join the Community
Related Posts
