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Do You Want To Help The United States Recover? Here's How

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This article is more than 10 years old.

Thank you, Rick Ungar.

Every day I hear people saying how awful the economy is, how dreadful our prospects are, etc. etc., and I just listen.  It's been hard for me to square that common wisdom with the fact that my business is doing very well, and that almost all of our clients seem to be doing OK, too.  Sure, people are being more cautious about their spending, more selective in their hiring, and more thoughtful about their growth plans (all of which are good things, IMO), but they're hiring and expanding nonetheless.

Then today I read Rick's post here on Forbes, "Today's Private Sector Data Reveals Economy Growing At Faster Pace Than Expected," And I thought - this all makes sense.  Ungar cites lots of data, including the Bloomberg Economic Surprise Index and the Thompson Reuters/University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index. Among the indicators that have topped analysts’ forecasts: consumer confidence, car sales, purchases of existing homes, and jobless rates. Some of these statistics are better than they've been since 2007 or 2008.

And it reinforces for me the power of how we talk to ourselves, and of what we believe is true.

Think about the negative impact of millions of people believing that the economy is terrible, not getting better, impervious to our efforts. How does that make us more fearful, more hesitant, less innovative and optimistic?

On the other hand, think about what might happen if we each acknowledged that all of our efforts are indeed making a difference, that we are putting ourselves onto a new, better track as a nation. How much more confident and forward-thinking, more hopeful and proud might we be?

Here's my suggestion: as a citizen, as a worker, and as a leader, focus on how you can change the way you talk to yourself about business, about the economy, about our country.  What can you say to yourself that's positive, hopeful, yet accurate and realistic?

You'll never know the power of this until you try it.

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Erika’s new book, Leading So People Will Follow, has been selected by Amazon as one of the 10 Best Business Books for October, and as one of this month’s Jack Covert Selects.