Thursday, March 26, 2009

Managing Success during Recession

We tend to think about success when things are going well in our lives, but when things go bad we shift to the survival mode and forget to develop a plan and pay attention to our key priorities.

Planning for success becomes even more important during times when we are facing economic hardships and personal problems. During the years of my illness I did not stop making plans. Focusing on the future gave me the hope and strength to overcome obstacles. I began to understand a simple rule: “Success means to be ready when the opportunity comes”.

Successful companies have created new business models during times of economic downturn and many people have found their passion and a new career as a result of loosing their jobs.

How were they able to accomplish this? I think because of these two reasons:

1) They see opportunities when others see problems.
2) They never stop making success a top priority.

Over the years of learning from my success and failures, I have developed my own formula for success, which I call the 4P Formula:

4P = Planning, Preparation, Perseverance, and Passion

Your plan starts with a dream. The power of a dream is endless; however, you need tools that will help you in achieving your goals. In my book Connecting My Dots I share Five Leadership Lessons and a tool called the Priority Wheel which will help you define and achieve success on your own terms by keeping your key priorities in motion.

When I think about success, I think about a wheel that is always in motion because what will make you successful today will not make you successful in the future. Here is where the Priority Wheel will help you identify and focus on your key priorities so you can connect your dots at each stage of your life.

Success is always a moving target and we need to recalibrate our priorities or the weight of each priority within the wheel. Using the Five Leadership Lessons and the Priority Wheel, you will be to stay focused on your goals and also be flexible and willing to try different approaches.

Do you have a formula for success that you use to connect your dots?

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