There is an upside to challenging times, whether it be economic, emotional or any other tough period.  That is, it often inspires creativity.  Take a look at your own budget for example, you will find that you have become more creative in how you stretch your dollar when you go grocery shopping, or maybe you have found a way to carpool with a few other colleagues.  These were things that in a normal environment, our minds to consider.  When we are comfortable, our minds get soft. 

I often find myself saying to people who are in a particularly challenging situation that they are in for a tremendous surge of new learning.  If you look back on your life you will likely find that the most valuable lessons came from the most trying times.  You may even look back and be grateful for those particular events because of what you learned or the opportunities that came from them.  Now, remember as you went through those events it was tough, it was trying and you may have even found yourself wondering how you would ever get through them.  You may have lost your job and wondered how you would ever pay the bills – then you found yourself with a new business that provides you the flexible schedule you had always dreamt of.  Perhaps you went though a touch divorce, but later met the man or woman of your dreams that you now experience a fantastic relationship because of all of the lessons you learned from the failure of your previous relationship. 

I like to purposely challenge my clients for this reason.  Rather then have life teach them the hard lessons, I like to pose the challenge to them so that the lesson is learned prior to a catastrophe.  They may be uncomfortable for the time and that is exactly the point.  If they were always as comfy in our coaching sessions as they are in the dead of winter covered in a blanket, slippers on sitting by the crackling fire, our time would be useless together because they would only be recreating a world they are already familiar with. 

So, my question to you is, what lessons have you learned, or are you learning in these current economic times that will continue your own development?  How are you using the lessons learned to improve the next iteration of your business?  What will you do now that you’ve never done before? What errors did you make that you will be sure not to make again, and what structures will you put into place to ensure it? 

A good next step, is to declare a new beginning.  This doesn’t mean you have to start all over.  Instead, just commit to a new starting point, leaving all of the negative, self-doubts behind as they will only get in your way.  Whatever has happened, has already happened.  It is up to you as to what you will do with where you are now.