Beat The Emotional Recession!

The economy, like the tides, will always be on the move. Sometimes changes in the financial environment make it feel like a rollercoaster – which it is. It goes up and down. However there is no good reason to permit it to do the same to our moods.

If we listen to the news, read the papers and participate in the daily worry-mongering, we are destined for depression – not necessarily of the medical kind – but a depression that is unpleasant and not conducive to health, wealth and success.

Here’s the way to avoid descending into the valleys of doom with the Ftse, Dax and JSE:

• Take a break from worry – you can, if you give yourself permission! Give yourself five minutes a few times every day, to switch off. Tell yourself, “I can stop.” Repeat it often. It is a powerful mantra that, coupled with deep, relaxed breathing, will help you to lower the pace of your heart, your thoughts and your general ‘tension’. Try it now. Sit comfortably, take a few slow, deep breathes and tell yourself you really can ‘stop’. Feel the tension drain as you breathe out. It works with regular practice.
  
• Eat proper food. You know what I mean! Give the stimulants a miss. Crunch through some muesli or oatmeal and take a good supplement. Skip every second cup of tea or coffee and drink water.
  
• Insist on positive conversation. Try to steer every conversation towards something bright – if all else fails, have you noticed how beautifully different the sky looks every day, every hour? I love contemplating the clouds and just being amazed that they always look so different.
  
• Do some exercise every day. You don’t have to train for the Comrades, just do 20 – 30 minutes of exercise that raises your pulse rate and gets you breathing heavily. Yes, you can do it with another person!
  
• Be grateful. No matter how bad things get, there are always positives. You should spend the last ten minutes every night, going over the good things that happened each day. It’s a really positive way to settle down for a peaceful sleep.
  
  

It really is as easy as that. As my friend Claire Newton the psychologist says,

“In life, no matter what the category (wealth, ability, good looks etc), there will always be those who are better off than us, and there will always be those who are worse off than us. Most people only compare themselves to those who are much better off than themselves and so end up feeling discontented and hard done by. Try comparing yourself to those less fortunate, and you will realise just how privileged, blessed and ‘wealthy’ you really are.”

What has all this to do with ‘connecting’? Simply this – you need to be connected and centred within yourself to ensure a viable foundation for good connections with others. Nobody wants to be connected with somebody who is negative, confused or just plain miserable. I mprove your mood and you’ll build and develop better connections for life and for business!

Create Deep Connections

Greetings. I hope you are all well and that the recession is not biting too badly – you can keep it at bay by working to expand your network and enhance the value of your connections with others.

You need meaningful connections with members of your network. Superficial connections do not lead to the ready exchange of business ideas and referrals that we as networkers seek. If you want people to keep you ‘top of mind’, the connection must be an authentic one.

A simple test to ask of yourself and your connection with others is this – do we have a ‘Mayday’ connection, or does it go deeper? A ‘Mayday’ connection is one which is activated either by you or your associate, friend or contact calling one another only when in need of assistance (help, or a business referral). Deep, authentic connections on the other hand are maintained through regular contact made for the sake of keeping that contact alive. If you do this, the connections are established and warm, not merely a list of people to harvest in time of need.

How do we create the deeper, more authentic connections that we need? Call or otherwise contact people regularly – once every 4 – 6 weeks – simply to say ‘Hello’ and to exchange news, views or to give them useful information. Of course it can be onerous – especially if your network is a large one. This is where a regular newsletter is really useful. You can ‘skip’ the direct contact at least every alternate time, by making contact through an e-mail, a newsletter or by referring them to the latest post on your blog. Make sure that you deliver something of special interest or value in the message or blog entry. Don’t be tempted to skip too many direct contacts however – there is nothing as important as one-to-one contact to keep the ‘kettle boiling’.

Moses Mabhida

It’s done! The soaring arch over the iconic new soccer stadium in Durban is complete. I have been watching it grow slowly for many months, and noticed that this main feature of the giant was completed quite quickly. Now, it will be just a short spell and the structure will be complete – people will begin pouring in for events and in no time at all, ‘Moses’ will be an established part of the landscape.

Your network should be developing along the same lines – it may seem quite tedious at first, but once the ‘hard yards’ are done, the rest will happen quickly and the crowds will pour in!

We need to work untiringly and consistently on building our networks, in good times and bad – remember, people do business with people they like, so sharpen those skills!

Watch this space for news of our support products – we plan new seminars, two new books this year, audio CD’s and a networking DVD. We have also added new features to the two-day Networking Workshop – it’s a must for those who really need to learn to connect. Can you recommend us to anybody you know?

Meanwhile, we wish you all the best for 2009. Let’s not participate in the recession –it’s a man-made phenomenon, together we can make changes and give depression a miss!