I recently had an enlightening conversation with a businessman whom I admire immensely. He commented on the stress and pressure he had been exerting on himself during this challenging economic state. The operative word here is ‘had’.
Completely at ease, he explained his 3am epiphany to me. Lying awake in bed with his family asleep all around him, this incredibly intelligent, successful, and influential business leader finally realized that it was not his fault. The downturn in his business was not his fault. No matter how much he denied participating in the recession, no matter how hard he worked and more importantly how smart he worked, he realized that he could not shield his business from the effects of the global economic meltdown. And then he slept.
His lesson to me was the following: it is okay to blame the economy. You can do everything right and still not achieve your business goals. Change your expectations; allow for all of your hard work to bear less fruit than it would have last year. And at the end of the day, go home and relax knowing that you are doing everything you can to help your business succeed.
Sleep well my friends, you are not alone.
