“The difference was in the brains, the mental models, of the ones who were performing versus the ones who weren’t.”

A thought by Henry Cloud, from his book, Necessary Endings (p. 55).

HarperCollins e-books. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.)

Henry was writing this book after 9/11 and the impact it had on people and the economy.  Something good to look at with what we are going through now.

Henry says, “First of all, those who were not stuck had a different map of the world. Some did not assume that ‘there are no buyers right now.’ They thought instead that in the chaos, there were many, many potential customers who needed to be shepherded through the challenging environment and were being ignored. So they got even busier and contacted them. This was true in several industries that I observed, even the ‘deadest’ ones, like real estate.

“Second, their focus was different. They did not spend their time and energy focusing on all of the things that were falling apart that they could do nothing about. Instead, they thought hard and fast about what they could do.”

He goes on, “In a learned-helplessness model, the brain begins to interpret events in a negative way, thus reinforcing its belief that ‘all is bad.’ For instance, when someone doesn’t get a sale, it means ‘I am a loser, the whole business is bad, and it isn’t going to change.’ These are called by Seligman and others the three P’s. Events are processed in predictable, negative ways: first, as personalized (I am a bad salesperson); second, as pervasive (everything I do, or every aspect of the business, is bad); and third, as permanent (nothing is going to change). You can easily see why this leads to helplessness and inactivity.”

He continues, “But the productive people did not think in a learned-helplessness way. Their internal software was more optimistic, seeing a ‘nonsale’ as just one more number to get past to get to the one that was going to buy and sustaining other such optimistic-thinking paradigms.

“Besides the negative thinking of the three P’s in the learned-helplessness model, I also saw a troubling pattern in some individuals—an even deeper sense of loss of control over things that were, in fact, still in their control. When someone with this vulnerability is put in a position where things that they cannot control, such as the economy, are affecting them, they shut down and do not execute in the activities that they can control. This is where it all begins to go downhill.”

So, here is what you do, take a piece of paper and divide it into two columns.

•      In column one, write down all the things you cannot control that are affecting you.

•      In column two, write down all of the things you do have control over.

•      And then brainstorm and take action on the things you can control.

Give what you can’t control over to God and then ask Him to help you in knowing and then taking action on the things you can control.  Would you let Him be a part of the process of using this crisis to make a difference in and through you?  Would you? 

Yes, yes!