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How to survive the Credit Crunch with a smile!

By Nick Bolton

Republish: EasyPublish™
Published: 14Feb2009
Word count: 944
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Firstly, a warning! If you have come to this article expecting deep analysis of the financial crisis and what steps to take with your investment portfolio, you will be disappointed!

This is definitely not a practical guide to technical financial choices.

This article is essentially about attitude.

Wherever I go now I hear the words "Credit Crunch" thrown around. Only recently an English politician was chastised for daring to suggest that there may be 'green shoots' of a recovery! Nobody wanted to know what the green shoots might be! It's too radical to suggest we can still be positive.

And therein lays the problem.

Too many people almost 'want' to feel bad about the situation! Let's face it, we all know that news is pretty much always bad news and this reflects how many people see life.

So, I here are a few very simple but effective ways forward to survive the "Credit Crunch" with a smile!

In no particular order...

1 Ban the words "Credit Crunch" from your vocabulary!

The more you say it the more you'll feel it, experience it and see it.

2 Now turn off the TV news!

I'm not advocating ignorance. News is available online or from newspapers. What's the difference? Well, it's not the news itself which is a problem; it's how it's presented. Online, YOU have a much bigger say on how you take in the news - the tonality you give it. But TV news is powerful at setting the tone. The voices of authority telling the latest set of bad figures from industry have a vastly bigger impact than if you read those same statistics in writing. Think about the way presenters always pause to accentuate huge numbers... "Two point five...BILLLLION pounds" said with such emphatic length is much more powerful than "£2.5 bn"

Only recently I started a new business which launched successfully. Shortly after the launch I was watching the news and the doom and gloom brigade started their debates around how bad things were and how nothing could survive. For a brief moment I asked myself why on Earth I had launched a new business now! And then I remembered, "oh actually it's working fine"!

I turned the television off.

3 In business or your career, take action consistently and with purpose

If you really want to let the Credit Crunch beat you, then stop taking action! But if you want to come out of it with a smile then keep taking steps towards your goals and consistently take small but purposeful action every day.

If you're a business person then keep focused and keep at it. Set your goals and know how you are going to implement them. Now is not the time to hide away until it all blows over - now is the time that you need to be strong, active and determined.

Those who take action will be the ones who have powerful momentum when business is easier.

If you're employed then, whilst you don't have complete control of your security, you can do all that's in your power to make yourself an asset. The knock on benefit will be that almost certainly you will gain greater job satisfaction as you apply yourself with renewed energy and be in a much greater position for career progression when opportunities are available.

Every day ask yourself what you can achieve today and do it!

4 Start to enjoy the free and pleasant things in life

It's obvious really, isn't it, but enjoying the free things in life can work wonders to reduce your expenditure and, more importantly, keep the smile on your face.

Spring is on its way and as the winter makes way for blue skies, make sure you find time to take walks, feed the birds, go cycling, visit free museums, go running, have a picnic, chat and laugh with friends. That's real life! That's real pleasure!

5 Take time to learn, develop and grow

There's never a bad time to learn - we should be constantly expanding our knowledge and developing our minds to make the most of who we are. But now, more than ever, there is an opportunity to think about what we really want from life and what we can learn to help ourselves get there.

Start to explore what interests you. Formal learning in a college, informal learning through groups or self-study? What area of learning? A skill such as photography or web design? New knowledge such as history or science? A language? Perhaps a new business opportunity such as coaching or training? The list is endless and once a mind expands it just wants to keep growing!

6 Smile!

Well, if you're going to come out of the Credit Crunch smiling then you're going to have to do this one! Put it all in perspective - you're still here. You're on the greatest journey of all - your life. So smile and enjoy the ride!

Sometimes we pin so much importance to the way governments, banks and the economy affect us that we forget that we are in control of our feeling. We might not control the interest rates but we control the impact that a rate change has on our emotions. We all have the ability to put these things in perspective and get on with what we have.

Given that we're here for one life let's not allow a few years of it to be ruined by Credit Crunch. Be happy, smile and remember that you are far more than the sum of your assets minus liabilities!

Next step If you found this article useful, why not read more at The SMART School blog at http://www.coaching-and-training.co.uk Nick Bolton is the founder of The SMART School of Coaching based in London. He is passionate about creating great coaches with real, practical skills. He has coached individuals and groups for over eight years and mentored many trainee coaches through accreditation.

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