How to Make 2020 Your BEST Year Ever! (No, Really, I Mean It)

Quick recap. The Coronavirus is a global pandemic that has caused schools and offices to shut down. Nearly everyone who can work from home is working from home. The stock market crash kicked off the 2020 economic recession with Marriot International announcing the furlough of tens of thousands of employees and Connecticut saw a 10X jump of 30,000 new claims for jobless benefits from Friday to Tuesday.  

With all of this doom and gloom, its easy to get swept up into significant amounts of anxiety, fear, uncertainty, and self-doubt. No one will blame you for running for safety and retreating from all of this bad news. But that would be a terrible mistake.

Riches Are Made In Downturns

Think about the turnaround story of Dale Carnegie, who made his fortune in 1926 when he published, Public Speaking: a practical Course for Business Men. He then proceeded to lose his fortune in the stock market crash of 1929. But that’s not where his story ends. He then proceeds to write How to Win Friends and Influence People, based on his own experience and ends up selling over 50 million copies of his book translated into 40 languages before he died. His course has been taken by millions of students in 75 countries.

When did Warren Buffet make his fortune? He started with $6,000 at the age of 15 and is worth more than $80 billion today. He was a child of the depression and reportedly grew his fortunes through each of the major stock market crashes. As a shrewd investor, he would sell off assets when he felt the market was overvalued and buy when stocks were artificially depressed (as we are currently seeing today). Baron Rothschild is credited for saying, “Buy when there's blood in the streets, even if the blood is your own.”

And of course, for those of us who lived through the dot com bubble burst in 2000, we saw Amazon, YouTube, Facebook, Netflix and other billion dollar companies rise out of those ashes. And despite the stock market crash of 2008, here’s a list of 20 Amazing Companies Founded During The Financial Crisis

“Winter Is My Season”

As Tony Robbins has often said in his Business Mastery events, “Winter is my season.” I LOVE this analogy. Winter is the time to plant all the seeds you possibly can because what comes after winter? Spring! Incredible growth happens after the cold harsh winters. The conditions for growth are perfect when everything else is dead or dormant. It means you have less competition and more opportunities that you would have otherwise.

I have made ALL of my fortunes in precisely this climate. The first company I co-founded, Seismicom, was started in March of 2000. My next company, Trepoint, was started in 2008. In both companies, I was able to start at ground zero and grow these multi-million dollar companies. Despite the worst economic conditions, we were profitable from day one. And that’s critically important. Because when times are the most difficult, you get to see how creative you are and how much grit you truly have to build something from nothing. And when your company is already growing in the most difficult and uncertain economic times, then you are set up for exponential growth when things get back to “normal.” 

Where to Begin

Start with your own emotional state. If you’re experience negative emotions such as fear, anxiety, panic, or a deep desire to run and hide, then stop. Whatever you do, don’t make any hasty decisions in this state. No great actions come from these negative emotions. The first step is to stop and reset. How do you do that? There are actually many ways. For some, guided meditation works best. For others, it’s going deep into gratitude. For example, what are 3 things you can be grateful for RIGHT NOW and in this moment? When the negative mind chatter releases you from its grip, you’ll see that you have a lot to be grateful for. Are you healthy? Do you have your family? A home? Food? Money? Don’t allow the negative self-talk to convince you that you are in harms way.

Even if you’ve lost your job (or fear that you are headed that way), this too shall pass. Before you can build your plan of action, it’s important to let go of all those negative thoughts and acknowledge the truth: You live in abundance and all you need is within you now. If you’re having a really hard time believing this, then it most likely means your negative self-judgement is stopping you from seeing the truth. One way to combat this is via this free 5 minute assessment. It really helped me when I was trying to figure out why I wasn’t experiencing the joy and happiness in my life. I’ve become a raving fan of Shirzad Chamine’s NY Times bestselling book, Positive Intelligence.

Where to Focus

Once you have let go of all the fear, anxiety and negative emotions, you are ready to go to the next step. Stop focusing inward and really focus outward. That is, stop worrying about what is or might be happening to you. Instead, reconnect with the needs of the people you care deeply about. If you own your own business, how do you add massive value to your clients and potential clients who need you the most right now? If you are working for a company that is being hit hard by what’s going on, how can you make a meaningful difference right now? Look around you, everyone is trying to figure out what to do. In times of crisis, leaders lead. This is your opportunity to step up when everyone else is stepping back.

As long as you are focused on adding massive value and doing whatever you can to support your tribe, you will not only survive, but you will thrive. It is NOT business as usual. It’s time to look deeply at where you can make a difference, and be willing to give more that anyone could reasonably expect from you.

Take MASSIVE Action

In this timeframe, there are so many unmet needs. Now that you know where to focus, GO BIG! Specifically, see how you can add incredible value to those who need it most. Don’t just think about what you can do, go do it. And keep doing it. And then do it some more. The world could use a lot of support right now and you doing your thing for the people who need it most will pay huge dividends when all of this craziness calms down.

And if what you’re doing isn’t resonating the way you thought it would? Pivot. Try something else. If that doesn’t work? Try something else. This is the job of entrepreneurs. We fail fast and cheap so that we can rule out one thing and go to the next thing. You can too. It’s a lot easier than it may sound. And, in this climate, your efforts will be that much more appreciated. Just step up your game and watch the magic that happens.

And this approach has an added benefit – it gets you focused on who you can serve and how much you can do for them. Because when you’re thinking about the needs of other people, you’re not focused on yourself (and any negative thoughts you might be having about your current circumstances).

Why I am Experiencing Deep Calm and Gratitude Right Now

I am living my best life right now and in this very moment. Sure, it’s crowded at home with both my wife and I working from home alongside both our teenage kids who are essentially being homeschooled as the Port Washington school district figures out how to teach virtually. When you stop and think about it, it’s actually one of the most amazing times I’ve had in my life. Why? Because last year I was thinking about the fact that I only have 3 more years with my oldest son, Will and 5 more years with my youngest son Ryan before they head off to college.

Out loud to my wife, I remember saying, “I just wish there was a way to spend more time with our kids.” Wish granted. So what if it’s not “ideal”? What does that even mean anyway? By who’s standard am I living anyway? Mine! And so I’m extremely grateful. I have my health. I have my family. I am working with an incredible team virtually. And I’ve become really skilled at Slack, Zoom, What’s App, LinkedIn and several other virtual tools to keep me connected.

What is the Gift In This?

What could you be grateful for right now? Or, as Shirzad Chamine has taught me to ask, “What is the gift in this?” I see so many. With the stock market down, it’s the best time to invest, or “plant the seeds” that will grow in the spring time. With the Coronavirus pandemic, it’s a great time to see how much can be accomplished working virtually. How can you adjust to working this way? How will this new way of working allow you to scale when things settle down? With my family at home, we get to connect deeper than we have previously. With everyone at home most of the time, who can I call and reconnect with? Or better yet, have a Zoom face-to-face conversation? So many gifts here when we choose to see and acknowledge them. I invite you to take a moment and share the gifts that you are experiencing. That is a gift in and of itself – the gift of insight.