“Have you heard there is a recession? – Townsville is not participating!”

Those are the words I recently saw on a sticker on a car. Now I know that the owner of the car is the regional director and the printer of the sticker is a member of a powerful referral networking group that I personally belong to too, and that this quote represents the attitude of most of BNI‘s members anyway.

However, I also noticed that not every person in business in Townsville (or elsewhere) is aware of that – yet.

Is there a recession?
Townsville Chamber of Commerce and the Small Business Development Centre organised a networking event with an economist, when the hype was at a high. Steven Shepherd, Chief Economist for the Yellow Pages, explained the participants which numbers and KPI (key performance indicators) would indicate a recession.

Although I am not really familiar with economic specifications, I did grasp that neither Townsville specifically nor Queensland or Australia in general match recession indicators. So far so good.

So why all that excitement …
in the media about recession? Well, you may have guessed it already – because it sells of course!

Good for newspapers, online and TV channels. And good for ‘effecters’. “What is an effecter?”, you might ask.

What is an ‘effecter?
An ‘effecter’ is what I call a person who is living ‘at effect’. A person who lives at effect is always re-acting to people and events. They are almost always (and this is the only exception for them to be pro-active!) on the lookout for reason and excuses for why they are not succeeding or are not achieving their goals.

Recognising an ‘effecter’
You hear them say things like: “If it wasn’t for my husband/wife/children/boss/parents/friends/environment/teacher/the economy…. I would be/do/have….my ideal weight/my dream job/a bigger house/boat/car/whatever….., but because of ..[pick any supposed scapegoat].., I don’t.”

The consequence
For effecters, the media always offer the perfect alibi. Lately the ‘recession’ came in very handy as an excuse not to achieve targets or perform as expected. But unfortunately both sides, employees and employers  are only fooling themselves by blaming outside circumstances.
Pointing outside oneself, finding reasons and excuses and always blaming external circumstances means giving away power. It also causes people  to feel helpless, overwhelmed, out of control and dependent or vulnerable, which again results in internal and unconscious conflicts. Then again internal or unconscious conflict is among the Top-Ten causes to experience stress.

Living ‘at Cause’
Now while it is always convenient to point outside, the real cause can never be found externally.

The secrets of people who achieve their personal and professional goals are simple:

1. They always have one more reason why they can than excuses why they can’t.
This means that they do not stress about the things that they can’t change (everything that is outside their direct sphere of influence), do their best to change what is within reach and usually have the awareness to distinguish one from the other.

2. If possible, they avoid the news or choose carefully
When at age 16 I told my father that I am neither reading the local paper nor watch or listen to the news on TV or radio, he nearly fainted and fell off his chair. Although apart from a few exceptions I stuck with my statement (and still do), news that are somehow important to me, always find a way to come to my attention. This can be through friends or colleagues, a forwarded e-mail or an article or comment I stumble upon during an online research.

This might seem a bit extreme, but consider only to read information that directly and immediately impacts you or your business or that you choose to act on. What would be left if you chose to only read, listen to or watch news that match the following criteria:
a) they relate to a subject you (need or choose to) study in order to make a decision
b) they concern something you can (and want to) change
c) they help you to achieve your goals
d) they are is uplifting, positive and encouraging

3. They focus on important and relevant information
Every second, our senses are bombarded with 2 million bits of information per second. Letting all those bits in, would cause our conscious mind to literally overload. We are simply unable to process that much information. It has to be reduced to around 134 bits, which translates to 7 +/- two chunks of information. For example a phone number can have 8-10 bits – the single numbers – which make one chunk.

The rest is deleted, distorted or generalised through internal ‘filters’, like beliefs, memories, values, attitudes, decisions, language and ‘meta-programs’. It influences the triad of Internal Representation (what we think/Mind), State (how we feel/Spirit) and Physiology (the physical expression/Body). This triad is the foundation for our behaviour, our actions and our non-actions.

If you knew that what you focus on is what you get, which five to nine chunks of information would you allow to pass through your filters?

Imagine you’d only let important and relevant information in (and out!), wouldn’t that take a lot of worry and stress out of your life already?

4. They have an own opinion
It is much easier to influence people who rely on or are attracted to sensations, gossip, rumour and scandals than those who have their own view on things and take their lives in their own hands.

Have you ever realised how calm and balanced people seem to be who have their own opinion and know what they are talking about?

If they find a cause worth fighting for which they are passionate about, they become great influencers and often make an impact that can (and does) change the world – like Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Ghandi or even Oprah Winfrey. Those people are leaders, which means they have followers who often adopt their role model’s opinion.

Having an own opinion can initially be stressful, the more it deviates from the ‘norm’, but as soon as people start to follow, it becomes outstandingly rewarding.

5. They surround themselves with positive energy
Some people get a kick out of spreading or consuming bad news. The front page news are the highlight of the day. They are discussed, circulated, ‘thought through’ and ruminated again and again.

Imagine how much negative energy is multiplied through that kind of action. Maybe you have experienced going to a room where people just had a violent confrontation or even an argument. Couldn’t you just tell by the vibration in the room that something was going on? And didn’t you feel tempted to escape that negative energy as soon as possible?

Studies have shown that patients recover much faster, easier and sustainable after surgery, if the team of surgeons, nurses and anaesthetists talk encouragingly, positively and cheeringly during the patient’s unconsciousness.

There is a saying that we become like the five people we most hang out with.

Would you rather be surrounded by frustration, fear, feelings of scarcity, jealousy and depression or encouragement, support, compassion, up-lifting ideas and reinforcement, inspiration or empowerment? Which are you providing?

And which environment is more likely to provide harmony and relaxation?

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