The Barefoot Corporate Warrior
Opportunities Abound
Paul Bird believes it is time for a reset with the recession-mentality “funk” best left in the rearview mirror.
Mantra for 2021: “The recession is over, opportunities abound.”
Repeat: “The recession is over, opportunities abound.”
Have you already done a reset for 2021? Or are you still living in 2020? If it is the latter then I suggest it is time for a reset.
While I know many people in Australia continue to live with the consequences of the pandemic, the reality is that the economic recession which lockdown/s brought last year, ended last year.
Hard, economic figures indicate that Australia is currently in an economic expansion phase and that businesses are hiring. At the time of writing, this expansion looks set to continue.
That means that we can look forward with optimism and with a mindset of opportunities. Not, continuing recession.
Yes, there are many uncertainties but at this moment the mantra is true.
You might say well that is stating the bleedin’ obvious, mate. Yes, and no.
I want to stress that I am talking about the economy, not the health crisis even though both are inextricably linked.
I am confining myself to the areas which I have been schooled in (hard knocks): business and the impact of broader economic trends on business.
It is easy to create and recite a mantra which reflects life as it is. The hard part is taking that mantra into yourself, allowing it to become fused with your physical, mental, emotional and spiritual posture to influence the way you live your life and how you influence others.
That is the reset I am suggesting needs to happen now.
If we take a recession mentality – where the world is a grim struggle with obstacles rather than opportunities abounding – then we risk limiting or cancelling the recovery of 2021.
I am not suggesting some form of positive thinking. I am suggesting that if you are still stuck in 2020 then it is time to move on and join the rest of us in 2021 where a seemingly robust recovery is underway for the majority of Australians.
I have seen economic commentators highlight over the years how Australians tend to talk our national situation down rather than up.
It has been my experience, as someone who remembers the “recession we had to have” of the early 1990s that a mistake we seem to repeat is to underestimate the speed and depth of the economic collapse when it comes but equally to underestimate the timing and strength of the recovery when it emerges.
The “green shoots” of recovery have been with us for many months now.
While the origins of the 1990s recession and the pandemic recession of 2020 are vastly different, the pain and suffering are similar.
Recent conversations have indicated a general optimism about 2021 however the language of defeat and negativity most associated with recession times can easily re-emerge if we allow it to.
It is a perverse human tendency to actually be most comfortable soaking in a bath of self-pity and negative self-talk about how hard things are “out there”.
I am suggesting that the reality of 2021, barring some unanticipated development, is in sharp contrast (in a good way), to 2020.
Time for a reset. Can you do it?
Is it possible for Australians to fire our economy into an expansion phase where jobs are aplenty? How is the national mood formed into a consensus? Is it simply a matter of talking the talk long enough that reality follows or is more concrete action required?
If you were to truly adopt the mantra what would that mean for you, your family, your job, your business, your work colleagues, your staff?
Would it energise you to tap your creative juices? Would it help you make decisions to invest in new skills, new tools, new businesses, new ways of doing things? Innovate?
Of course future certainty is impossible. We must accept that. But staying stuck in the “moment” of the 2020 recession is unhelpful for ourselves and all those we come into contact with.
It has been hard, but it is over.
In order to achieve a true reset it might require a bit of thinking, planning and the development of new habits and routines. It might require access to some people who can help. Reciting the mantra alone is unlikely to get you there.
It might require some effort.
The reality is that the pandemic recession came and went last year i.e. it is in the rearview mirror.
Truly accepting and believing this is a good way to face 2021. Our mindset can be forward-looking and opportunity-seeking in nature. Let’s get on with it.
Fight, flight or freeze. It’s only natural. Some of us might still be frozen by the shock of 2020. Others may have retreated to the cocoon of our home sanctuaries and still be stuck there.
I am suggesting it is time to fight and reset for the recovery of 2021.
“The recession is over, opportunities abound.”
