How increase your chances of business success - remain positive and STOP.

Tags: business, success, small business

While it's clear that the economy is showing signs of life around the world, it's equally as clear that businesses everywhere are still going to have to show plenty of grit and determination to succeed. In essence though, this is the same in any economic situation.

However, survival and success are aspects of life which are critical in everything we do and there is basically one personal, psychological trait which is going to play a huge part in whether you are successful or not.

Positivity

What I don't mean by this is thinking everything is ok and bludgeoning on regardless, what I mean is remaining positive that everything will be worth it in the end.

I was watching Ray Mears on television recently and this blog poped into my head as being so true in all walks of life. For those of you who don't know, Ray Mears is a survival expert and has hosted many programmes including Ray Mears Extreme Survival. It was in this show that he highlighted an experiment which somone used to show how positivity can help you.

Essentially he brought to my attention an experiement by a psychologist called Kurt Richter (unfortunately I cannot find anything online about him) which illustrated the kind of attitude required to survive or succeed. He put rats into a cage which had one opening which led into a long, narrowing tunnel. Some of the rats turned back and just sat there while the others struggled up the tunnel and escaped. He then did the same except the rats were submerged in water. Ultimately, the same rats that stayed still gave up (and died), while the ones which had escaped before, again went down the opening and he saved them at the other end.

It's incredible to think that, while the rats may not have consciously motivated themselves, it's clear they knew that by staying still they were doomed to failure. So by doing something positive they increased their chances of success.

It's obvious you have to take a look at your surroundings and make the effort, however if you begin with a defeatest attitude, that's likely how things will turn out.

What to do next

If you know that things are tough, but you can see that you have to push on through, make tough decisions - you are much more likely to come out of the other end and be successful. There was one other very useful transferable tip from Ray, which really rings true in any difficult situation... namely STOP.

S - Stop. Stop what you are doing, take a deep breath, remain calm and above all else, don't panic.
T - Think. Think about the situation you are in, how did you get there, what do you have to help you, and where do you want to be.
O - Orientate yourself. Take a look around you, what obstacles and challenges are in front of you. What do you have in your favour and what is going to be the best direction to take. In a business sense, you may wish to do a SWOT analysis right now.
P - Plan. Start to think what are the best options, what are the most likely routes to success and what are going to be the key things to help you get there.

Don't lose heart

We all have up days, we all have bad days too. It is never going to be perfect and remaining positive will not always bring you the desired results, however you stand a much better chance than if you accept defeat.

Always bear in mind your goal, always maintain a considered decision making process and remain positive, and who knows, you may just begin to see some light at the end of the tunnel.