Recession Depression

Fact or Blame.

It’s a shame that some organisations
are still blaming the recession for
how they treat what should be their
most valued commodity.

People…..

Listening to the news recently I heard that one of the big six energy companies are reducing prices for consumers. The pay off however is they are going to cut jobs in order to do this. I then read with interest that another of the so called big six’s adjusted operating profit for the full year 2013 came in at £571m, down 6% on the £606m recorded a year earlier. That’s still a nice healthy profit so why do they find it necessary to cut more jobs, is greed a possibility? Or a fear based culture that there is a lack so we must keep casting off our essential commodity, our people.

I don’t deny it’s been a financially tough few years. But with so much gloom and doom always in the news it’s no wonder people feel fed up and lacking!

Opportunity for Change

So let’s keep things in perspective. There have been and still are new businesses created every week. In fact there were over 500,000 new businesses in 2013. With every business closure there is a new one opening. This is the natural ebb, flow and nature of life, for things to change, nothing remains the same; that’s a fact.

Whilst some focus on how bad life is others treat change as an opportunity. I know many who have taken redundancy or early retirement, whilst others have made complete changes and followed their lifelong dream. By dream I don’t mean something airy fairy. On the contrary, by dream I mean something they have until now thought was unattainable, out of reach, beyond their capabilities and potential, but in fact isn’t and never was. There is nothing like a good old healthy dose of a wake up call to make us re focus on our un- realised dreams. Redundancy or job loss is just one of them.

What makes us Happy?

I personally feel the true measure of success is how we feel on the inside, not what happens on the outside. I don’t deny that buying yourself the latest Smart phone, or iPad will for some little time give you a quick adrenalin rush but for how long before you crave something else?

In personal coaching we often focus on one exercise I find very useful that is to write down 50 things that make us happy. You must Not include anything that mean spending lots of money. This really focuses you to look at what truly make you happy for example.

• Looking at a sunset or sunrise.
• A smile from a friend.
• A hug from a loved one.
• A warming bowl of soup on a freezing cold day.

Start by writing down five things; keep at it until you have ten, fifteen and so on. Come back to it another day if you wish. The object is to identify a list of things that you may have forgotten make you happy or never even realised they did before. It’s uncomplicated but effective.

In this throw away society isn’t it wonderful to go back to basics, to know that there are still some simple things in life can make us happy, without resorting to spending lots of money.

The trick is to look for them.