My lost patience with the National Poker Game

This post has been bubbling in my head for some time, but 2 events today broke the camel's back...

First was my colleague, Max Clough, mentioning a client potentially dragging out an opportunity to seize a market, because of the "national (and worldwide) poker game" that we're experiencing. 

Now on the one hand, I like that phraseology better than "The Economy".  As in, "we can't make a decision because of The Economy." 

Let's call a spade a spade. You're afraid you don't know what's going to happen and you're not confident that your business can survive. 

Why? 

Because you've been conditioned by the media for over half a year that the sky is falling! Now to be clear, I am not saying that there haven't been huge increases in the jobless. I'm not saying that institutions Fannie Mae and Lehman Brothers aren't failing and having huge repercussions.

What I'm saying is that people are still putting on their pants, and driving to work, and going to the movies, and.. and.. and..

• The movie industry is up 14%. 
• Fast food companies are up.  
• Low priced toys/games are booming. 
• Almost anything "green" is selling.

Unfortunately telling the positive side of the story isn't as lucrative as the fear cycle:  it's really bad so come back tomorrow and we'll tell you how much worse it got!

Now before I go off the deep end, I know you're wondering -- what was the second event?  

It was this SmartBrief: 73% of marketers predict more spending.

More than seven in 10 marketers hope to boost spending three to six months before the end of the downturn, while 16% said they would increase their budgets "as soon as it ends," according to an online survey from the Association of National Advertisers.  -- Adweek (05/28) 

What this means is that people are conserving cash, just like banks are. Too many are just playing the "timing" game, when to put the chips back on the table. Am I upset about the 16% who said that they would get come back to the table when they could afford it?

No -- I look at the 73% (almost five-fold!) who hope to play "time the market", coming back "just in time", before everyone else knows that the situation has gotten better.

If there is anything I hope we learn/remember from this, it is that the tortise wins the race. Not the rabbit who wastes time chowing down, then runs fast, and then relaxes some more.

Plotting business strategy, developing process, and executing against plan is worth gold!  

I was saying to my kids the other day, "there comes a point in growing up that you learn you can speak up and break with the crowd when they're doing something you know is wrong".  

At the risk of over-repeating Steven Covey's great line:  "The environment you fashion out of your thoughts, your beliefs, your ideals, and your philosophy is the only climate you will ever live in."

So think hard next time you catch yourself uttering a pessimistic remark...  Let's all be seeking to create success!