See if any of this sounds like you or someone you know. I’m sharing this business story about myself because it might be helpful.
One of the biggest things that’s changed for my business is how my clients, actual or prospective, define the future. Prior to the Great Recession, I often had engagements scheduled eight, ten, or twelve months in advance. After the Great Recession, not so much. It’s more common for them to schedule no further out than eight, ten, or twelve weeks. So, let’s call this the New Reality.
Now, I’m a relatively bright guy. It too me a while but I finally realized the truth of this New Reality. In my mind, I recognized it, understood it, embraced it. Let’s call this the New Thought.
The problem, though, was that my real actions, the outcomes, products, and results of my conscious thoughts and decisions, didn’t change as quickly or as readily. While I had my New Thought, I didn’t meaningfully change how I viewed my business schedulings and potential schedulings three or four quarters ahead. If I didn’t have much lined up for that point in the future, I was still somewhat nervous about what I believed this implied about the course of my business. In other words, my New Action of not being nervous about the business had not caught up with my New Thought.
Do you see the gap between the New Reality and New Thought on one hand and the New Action on the other?
It’s only been in the last few weeks where I’ve realized that I needed to eliminate my nervousness over the New Reality. If the New Thought is valid, and I certainly think it is, then my New Action should be more relaxed and accepting that by the time I reach the year’s end, bookings will have happened in the previous couple of months, not the previous couple of quarters. And that’s OK. The point of the New Action is that I’m still doing well and my business is improving significantly.
That’s what I want you to think about. How closely linked or matched for you is the New Reality (whatever it might be), the New Thought, and the New Action? The tighter the link or match, the better. The bigger gap, the more you need to find out why you haven’t fully accepted things as they now are.
