Are you Taking this as an Opportunity or a Distraction?
Recently, I read a piece by Anthony Iannarino about how not to waste a crisis. I've been reading him for years, and I always appreciate his wisdom and the way he approaches things, but this piece was particularly poignant for me.
Like many of you, I've had my head down working for the past several weeks. Much of that work has focused around a big project that is exactly what sellers and sales reps need right now. Other client-focused work has needed to pivot a little bit in order to adjust to the current challenges.
Quite frankly, some of the work I'm doing is more or less a distraction from everything that's going on... Reading Anthony's post last week brought that to light for me.
I have a client who's temporarily laid off. This week he said that while he's not working, he's got a stack of professional trade journals that he's reading, along with a couple of books to help him improve his skill set.
"I know when all of this is over, people are going to ask me what I did on my break. Like when I was a kid and we came back to school in the fall. I want to make sure I can tell them something good."
There are companies (and individuals) who are panicked right now. They're not going to fare well coming through this. There are other companies who are putting their heads down and doing everything they know they can to be successful, and they've got more than a puncher's chance of surviving the economic challenges of this pandemic.
Then there are companies who are going a step further. They're not just doing what they know has worked in the past, they're looking for other options. They're looking for potential blind spots and opportunities to grow. These are the companies I'm betting on right now.
Where are your blind spots? What are you missing right now that you should be paying attention to, and maybe you should have been paying attention to all along?
There's are always opportunities in crisis; opportunities to reflect, examine, and respond. Are you taking that opportunity, or are you distracting yourself until it hopefully goes away?
I've been saying all along that we need to be present and experience this discomfort in order to appreciate it and come out better on the other side. The way out is through. Distracting yourself doesn't really make the challenge any more comfortable, it's just a different (and less productive) experience.
There are blind spots in your business, and blind spots in your personal life too. For me, my distraction behavior has really taken a lot of the joy out of my life. Let's face it, when you distract yourself, if you're still getting your work done, then you're really only missing out on the fun stuff.
I don't play enough golf (even putting on the mat in my basement during the winter). I don't listen to enough music. I don't read enough for fun. I don't take enough walks in the woods or with my kids. I don't sit still enough. I really enjoy these things, and this time to sit and think about them has given me new perspectives about how I can do more of them.
Here are my two questions for you this week... Where are your blind spots in your business? Where are your blind spots in your personal life? What are you going to do about them to come through this current challenge better for having done so?
Send me an email, or join the conversation online. I look forward to hearing from 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.
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