Start With a Win

CHAPTER 6From Chaos to Calm: Build Your Action Plans

“If you’re focused on fear, you’re not focused on business.”

—Adam Contos

Chaos is a sense of overwhelm that causes paralysis. Remember, overwhelm can happen when we face too many challenges simultaneously—the everyone-yelling-at-you-at-once scenario—and it can be deadly, especially for a business. That's why it's essential that leaders and their teams prepare for the inevitable chaos.

THE BEAST IS BACK

At the root of overwhelm is fear. Action overcomes fear, so the best leaders lay out action plans or linear solutions to multidimensional challenges long before the chaos occurs.

Not So Easy

The Beast that is chaos happens when it's least expected. But with plans for action in place, all it takes to tame the Beast when the extremes do occur are some slight adjustments to upend the chaos, drive results, and set the stage for wins. With no contingency plans, a leader must scramble to develop all new processes amid the overwhelm, and that's tough to do in a state of paralysis.

Human nature dictates that we allow ourselves to become as weak as the easy times allow. In other words, when things are easy, we defer preparing for the tough times and instead enjoy the ride. It's like lifting weights—the less weight we lift, the less muscle we build. Instead, we should continually add weights so that when faced with the heavy lifting, we are well prepared.

Special Needs

During one economic downturn, I was working with the RE/MAX ...