OVERCOMING THE 2021 IS GOING TO BE BETTER DELUSION
DID YOU KNOW: 50% of the World’s Greatest Companies were built during calamity, bear markets, and/or a recession?
A huge advertisement that I have always loved used to hang in the Atlanta Airport. It was a picture of Tiger Woods competing in the rain and the caption read, “Perfect conditions are rarely an option.” As true as that is, I would like to take it one step further and say; “Succeeding in perfect conditions rarely occurs.”
Entire books are dedicated to why you are likely to perish during a crisis. There is a common delusion called the “Normalcy Bias.” This is the mental meltdown that occurs when a plane is filling up with smoke and rather than un-buckle, grab your loved ones, and head for the exits you sit there under the assumption it will all go back to normal and perish. In the aftermath, no one can believe people just sat there and died when they had time to get to safety.
Thankfully, you can learn to be a master of change. Realizing your potential, achieving a great purpose, building something of significance, and fulfilling a destiny require continual challenge with intermittent episodes of crisis. Times in the glide path are rare and thank God for that because nothing grows stronger without resistance; there’s no innovation without necessity.
MANY OF THE GREATEST COMPANIES IN HISTORY DID NOT JUST EXPERIENCE ECONOMIC MELTDOWNS, THEY WERE BIRTHED FROM THEM.
Take a look at the timing these world-dominators were founded:
Charles Schwab (The 1974-1975 market crash)
Coors (The 1872 Depression)
Costco & Microsoft (The 1970s recession)
FedEx (The 1973 oil crisis)
Fortune magazine (Only months after the 1929 market crash)
General Motors & UPS (The Panic of 1907)
Hewlett-Packard & Revlon (The Great Depression)
LinkedIn (In 2002 post–dot-com bubble)
Proctor & Gamble (The Panic of 1837)
Revlon (The Great Depression)
Walt Disney Company (The market crash of 1929 in their first year)
“Half the companies on the Fortune 500 were started during a bear market or recession.” (Excerpts from The Obstacle Is the Way, Author Ryan Holiday)
While many are waiting for it to get back to normal or talk about a “new normal,” history shows that catastrophe and not smooth sailing is the norm. High times are sprinkled in, but the downhill on the roller-coaster of life is far more common and consistent than the ups or straightaways. (No roller-coaster lover likes the straightaways anyway)
I know it is hard to imagine, but many if not most of these massive global enterprises would not exist or have achieved their 800-pound-gorilla status if it were not for the chaos and calamity. The way we view our circumstances will determine how we interpret our options and opportunities. Re-framing how we see a situation may mean everything as to whether or not we conquer it. Learning the art of cognitive reframing is psychologically healthy, and while it may take some time, the effort to learn to do so is invaluable for both your sense of well-being, ability to survive, and your aptitude to innovate or create something of great value.
The lesson here goes all of the way back to something Marcus Aurelius said, “The impediment to the action advances the action. What stands in the way, becomes the way.”
It has become trite to point out that while many people have struggled due to the current pandemic, 1000s of organizations have been launched or grown exponentially because of it and many people got rich or richer. In fact, millions of unhealthy people have focused on their health and finally became well-people during this time. Tens of millions bought Pelotons or the dozens of other fitness innovations that have exploded in 2020 and are only healthy now because of this virus.
Without downplaying the tragedy many faced this past year, the impediment-pandemic has not stopped, but become the way for many people. The way to the top; the way to new adventures, the way to exciting companies, and the way to health and wealth.
I don’t want to just talk about Covid because every painful event in history that has ever occurred and all of the trials, ambiguity, and intense challenges to come will have the same outcome: innovation, parabolic growth, new launches, and endless companies and individuals that will overcome and get better as a result.
Making the impediment the way takes a mental shift, an increased awareness, and the courage to innovate. If you get stuck in past dogmas, industry ethos and logos, personal justifications, the victim mentality, or choose to hold on to blind-spots rather than seek illumination you’re going to be at best stuck and possibly be undone.
MY 2020 INNOVATIONS:
- Focused on completing PhD in Business Administration
- Generated community partnerships not available pre-crisis
- Created new companies through creative partnerships
- Re-branding based on new skill-sets, industries, and companies
- Utilized technology to lower costs, improve production, and maintain communication
- Added tech-connected programs such as Telehealth to our offerings
- Provided new products and services to support immunity
- Invested in multiple tech companies
- Invested in a tech development company
- Got involved in Venture Capital in the indoor air quality sector
- Added more non-stock dependent or brick & mortar streams of income and investments
- Co-founded Angel Investment group to provide more opportunity to the community
Step out into the unknown of 2021 with your eyes wide-open to upgrade and opportunity. It may seem uncomfortable and seems undoable and yes; you’ll fail more than once. Yet, you’ll fail forward not back. There’s an old saying, “A champion gets up just one more time than they fell down.” You will fall, but you will rise again and again and again you will innovate, you will have overcome, and you will have not just achieved despite the obstacle, but because of it.
I’m going to be with you to get this year going through a series of articles and videos you will get each week through our emails and posts. I wouldn’t ask you to go and have to go alone.
Rise up!
Dr. Ben
