Focus on what you can control

I watched a good video clip by a celebrity doctor this morning about protecting your mental health and emotional well-being during lockdown.

The tip that most resonated most with me was ‘Control’. Working out what you’re in control of and what you’re not. Spend time working on the things you can control and don’t waste so much energy on worrying about those you can’t.

This applies to business owners struggling to come to terms with the lockdown. For many their business premises are shut, their employees are on furlough or working remotely and cash is tight. There’s no money coming in and there are bills to pay. Their business world has been turned upside down in a few short weeks.

So lets think about what we can’t control for a moment. We can’t control how long the lockdown will last or how long social distancing and other measures will stay in place. That’s out of our hands. We need to work within the changing rules but we can’t really influence how and when they will change. 

We can control how we adapt and work within the current and changing environment.

The initial priorities for most of us have been about crisis management. Protecting our employees, protecting our premises and protecting our finances. For those of us lucky enough to be in sectors which are still trading, looking after our customers and helping them weather the storm has also been a high priority.

The initial frenzied activity may have been replaced by some kind of calm. We’re not going into work but we’ve done most of the urgent stuff we needed to do. Survival for the next few weeks is secured and some businesses are ‘treading water’ until some kind of normality returns.

This is where I think we also have a degree of control. 

We can spend time visualising how that new kind of normality will look like in our sector in the short, medium and longer term. How will we adapt our businesses to this new environment?

This is not easy but I think is worth the attention of all of us business owners. 

Those of us who follow the latest developments, think hardest and adapt fastest will have a greater chance of success when the current restrictions start to be relaxed.

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