Never is that more true than when the audacious goal is our own - and we are usually the “someone” who is pointing out its impracticality.

It is not hard to find “evidence” that we probably won’t succeed at something, whatever that thing may be.  It is likely that a number of people have failed at it. And if many people have failed, it can seem practical, even wise, to be concerned that we may also fail.  In fact, it we were to weigh the number of people failing against the number succeeding, our success might be statistically very unlikely.

Statistics, however, do not apply to individual lives.  Was it statistically likely that Julia Roberts (or any successful actor) would become a great actor?  That Roger Bannister would run a mile in under four minutes?  That Donald Trump would build the business empire he has built?  That Oprah would become one of the richest, most influential women in the world?

The world is full of people – both famous and not so well known – who have beat the odds or made something entirely new happen.  They have literally created their own success by wanting it badly enough, focusing on it, and disciplining themselves to achieve it.

Later in his address, Joshua Hammack said,  “Now, you must dare to do the things no one believes you can do.  And let every person, every voice who tells you ‘you can’t’ propel you to prove that you can.”

This goes double when one of the loudest voice telling you that “you can’t” is your own.

 It’s clear that they think something scary is going on and they’re in a bad position.  Listening to statewide and nationwide unemployment statistics will tend to support this view.  What they won’t do is help my clients discover whether that news has anything to do with them, personally.

Whatever the economic situation, the job market is active and positions are always opening up. The rules for winning one of those positions are the same, whatever is happening with the economy.  More important than knowing unemployment rates is being able to answer some of the following questions:

• What positions am I prepared to fill and what contributions do I have to make?
• What companies in my preferred geographical area have those positions?
• What do employers value most in the people who hold those positions?
• How up-to-date are my skills, including technical skills?
• How much do I understand about the challenges companies face that I could help with?
• Who knows about me and believes in my talent?
• Who would be willing to speak for me or tell me about opportunities?
• What can I do to present myself effectively to employers?

It’s easy to blame a difficult economy when the problem is that we lack job skills or job hunting skills or the resolve to get what we want.  Take this opportunity to do an evaluation of your own readiness to find and obtain a new position – and do this even if you are presently employed.  Job security is not what it used to be, and you or your employer may have allowed your skills to become narrow or rusty.  Losing a job is bad enough without discovering at the same time that you need to do some re-training before you can get to your next position.

At the same time, check to see how much you know about conducting a successful job search.  Companies like mine exist to teach you how to play the game and we also provide practice as well as support and motivation to keep going.  Whether you need to up-date your resume, have it critiqued, develop confidence, create a network of contacts or find information about positions, make sure you have what it will take to obtain your next position.     

At our first session in March, several of those six were dumbfounded.  Why so few people, they wondered?  At a time when more people’s jobs are less secure than they’ve been in years, why would people not have signed up in record numbers?

     Why indeed. Why are many people economizing personally when their wages have remianed the same?  Why are we not buying stocks when they’re on sale?  Why are so many companies so illogiacally cutting back on sales and marketing?  Why are they not taking advantage of deeply discounted advertising rates?

     The answer is something Mel Robbins, radio talk show host and coach, in an article titled “What Now?” calls a “Recession Mindset”.  A mindset is a filter through which we see events.  (Learn more about how filters work in my e-newsletter article, “Choose Useful Beliefs”.)  A positive mindset will cause us to see chalnges as opportunities and encourage us to think creatively about those opportunities.  A “Recession Mindset” will cuase us to see threat, risk and trouble, and it will tend to shut down any creative thinking.

     Someone with a “Recession Mindset” will freeze or hunker down, try to keep a low profile, and wait until the crisis is past.  When we’re in that mode, it’s easier to say “no” than “yes” and initiative seems dangerous. 

     Unfortunately, this is just as likely to be a recipe for disaster as for survival.  The minute we stop thinking, we lose our power - our power both to see opportunity and to figure out what to do with it. As Mel Robbins advises, even if we’re panicked or overloaded by negative economic information, we need to make sure our “business acumen and decision-making” stay sharp and active. 

     This is as true for people who are employed as it is for business owners. Even though a steady paycheck large enought to meet your needs might tempt you to be passive and the economy might tempt you to hunker down, true safety lies in keeping a close eye on what is happening in your company and knowing where you next best opportunity outside the company might lie.  

I asked him if he thought it was important to tune into all this negative news, since it obviously was making him unhappy and affecting his relationship negatively. He said yes, because it is very important to be informed.              Later I started thinking about that comment.  Clearly, he believes that his “news” sources (I put the word in quotation marks because so much “news” is actually opinion) do a good job of keeping him well informed.  But I disagree.  The most important news may not be reported by any news source.  Here’s an example:            Say you’re a job seeker living in Maine and you have an interest in using your skills and talents in the manufacturing sector.  The “news” that there are 65 companies in the state that make products for the aerospace industry is more useful by far than a report that the unemployment rate is currently over 8%.