Thoughts from "Soaring in the Business World" Conference

It's been a long time since the last time I blogged. I had very busy weeks. But anyway, I'd like to share some pointers I learned from the Kingdom Business Conference themed "Soaring in the Business World" held last December 11, 2008 at PICC.

One of the messages that I liked most at the conference came from Leif Hetland. He shared about the three D's that we all have to live with and should expect in our businesses and life in general.

1. Disappointments - things do not and will not always happen as we planned or as we expected them to be . People sometimes don't perform or respond as we wanted them to be. The execution of plans don't always go smoothly. Sometimes the equipments that we use don't function properly at the exact time we need them the most. We should learn to understand that frustrations are part of our daily lives and to be so occupied with them will only stress us.
   
   
2. Discouragements - closely related and sometimes interchangeably used with disappointments, but discouragements happen when we begin to lose hope or lose courage to move on in an endeavor, plan or pursuit. It is inevitable that we will make failures and mistakes along the way. Failures for some are the source of most discouragements. Sometimes it's the circumstances around us that will zap the resolve in us, e.g. the global financial crisis. We must learn to expect that every now and then, there will be times that some stuff will drain away our emotional strength to pursue things. If we don't know how to rebound from discouragements, we will be slowed down and accomplish fewer things.
   
   
3. Distractions - there will always be opportunities and problems that will take away our focus from the things that we should be doing. Some ideas and opportunities are attractive enough to cause us to divert our overall road map or direction. But the question is: Is it really the right decision at this time? If we get easily distracted, we might get too thinly spread or lose momentum. Everything that we do will require portions of our time, effort and money. The focus and timing by which we invest these resources will determine the measure of our impact and output.

Points to remember:

1. The Three D's will come on a daily basis.
2. Expecting them coming, makes all the difference as to how we will respond.
   
3. Stay cool, recharge, ignore or refocus.
   

If we learn how to deal with the three D's in our businesses and daily lives, we become like eagles soaring above the storms.