While we were eating, Steve mentioned that he is seeing an increase in the number of professionals that are struggling to keep their minds out of the doom and gloom. He wanted to address this with the group he was going to speak to later in the week.

I think everyone would agree that the challenges of the last few years have increased the number of those who are losing the battle to keep perspective. Steve and I came up with some ways to help fight living in this dark space.

Here are our 9 Steps to Fight the Gloom:

1. Read your vision every morning. If you don’t stay connected to your vision, you will get stuck reacting to the demands of the present. The best leaders have Bi-Focal Vision – they keep one eye up on the future and one eye down facing reality.

2. Update your Life Plan. If it is not helping you to gain perspective in the areas of your life that matter most, you may need to modify it to make it more real and compelling.

3. Build your Worst Case File. Create the contingency plan now that states what you will do if the worst does in fact happen, without the emotion and stress that could surface in a more stressful time. Chances are, you will never need to execute that plan, but it will settle your mind to know you have a plan in place.

4. Now, put the Worst Case File away. Once you have mapped out your plan, don’t pull it out again unless it is needed. Free your mind to work on the actions that will bring you success in both professional and personal arenas.

5. Surround yourself with clear thinkers. During challenging times, you need to be intentional about spending time with people who see opportunity and potential. If you keep company with those who only see the glass half full, they will pull you down with them.

6. Take care of yourself. Proper nutrition, regular exercise, and adequate sleep must be a priority. Don’t compromise here, or you will soon feel the pain.

7. Make time for silence. For me this is prayer time. For others it may be meditation. Force yourself to create some silent space daily. This is oxygen for your mind, and will lift the gloom.

8. Don’t compare yourself or your circumstances. How others would deal with your situation or what others are doing right now is not your concern. You will never know their whole story, so comparing can be very destructive.

9. Embrace the seasons of life. Don’t run from the challenge or the fear. Walk into it, embrace it, learn from it, give it the proper attention, and realize it will not last. As they say, “This too shall pass.”

If you are feeling weight, pressure, and gloom…don’t give in and never give up. Try a few of the above and let me know if this helps.

Dealing with these very real scenarios can really bring a leader down.  And the unfortunate thing is that, if he spends too much time each day focused on these activities for too long, he and his team will begin to lose sight of why they do what they do.  They will lose sight of the mission, they will no longer see opportunity, and they will lose hope. 

Ultimately, if the leader has both eyes down on the data, the organization’s health and culture will suffer.

For the last few years, I’ve been saying that the best leaders have what I call bifocal vision.  They have the ability to keep one eye down looking at reality while keeping the other eye up looking at the future.  They do spend time managing to the very real challenges of today.  But they also spend time playing offense, sharing vision and executing plans that will help them and their teams to see the light at the end of the tunnel. 

I know from personal experience that this can be very difficult for a leader.  But without bifocal vision, I have seen leaders kill their organizations — long before they ran out of cash.

Action Plans:

1. Schedule time to review your key reports or scorecard.  Weekly is usually enough, but during times of crisis you may need to see the data daily.
2. Schedule time weekly to review your vision.  During times of crisis or real challenge, you might need to review it daily.
3. Share a portion of your vision with your team weekly.  This can be done by discussing a conviction and its corresponding behaviors during a weekly team meeting.  Or you could communicate one key element of what you see the organization or team becoming in an email message (or for even greater impact, try recording a short video from your desk).  The purpose is to keep the team balanced between dealing with the very real and sometimes painful changes of today, and remaining passionate and engaged with the possibility of tomorrow.

Keep one eye down and one eye up!