It’s Not Too Late to Shift Your Perspective on 2020
By: Derick Van Ness
Tags: Success, Perspective Shift, 2020, Perspective, 2021

It’s the 4th quarter, and you’re in the end zone.

Back in April, I made a video about how to use 2020’s unexpected interruption to get ahead. We still have a couple of weeks left in the year, and while it may not be enough time to shift your strategy, perhaps it’s enough time to shift your perspective.

Unfortunately, we’re not out of the woods just because 2021 is around the corner. This year, the United States has experienced a $2 trillion economic drop. The government still hasn’t issued another relief package, which means 12 million Americans risk losing unemployment benefits the day after Christmas. 17 million are facing the risk of eviction and foreclosure in the next few months.

But as 2020’s woes continue to pile up, and it will probably be months before many people are able to get a vaccine, we still have plenty of time to spend alone with ourselves and do some good, hard thinking about life and the direction we’re headed in — both individually and as a society.

While the fallout we’re facing is legitimate, successful people don’t let worry consume all their time, energy, and brainpower.

They don’t only think a little bit differently about problems and obstacles; they think completely differently. Where most people see threats, successful people see opportunities.

People think every market crash, up, down, relationship, or business is going to be the same, and their brains try to protect them by forecasting doom and gloom and shouting in a panicked voice, “This will be just like the last time!” The reality is that every situation is different. We have to be able to calm down, sit back, and analyze what’s really going on.

While most people are dragging toward the finish line of 2020, you can put on your running shoes. What are the opportunities you are now uniquely positioned to take advantage of, in a way that you weren’t at the end of 2019?

While everyone else is looking at 2020 as that throwaway year that they’re glad to put behind them, you can expand.

Could you hire more people? If you have a booming business, could you snag some top talent that’s getting laid off from industries that are suffering?

Could you take on more resources so your business can help even more people, especially in these times when many people may need what your business offers more than ever?

Where there is chaos, there is opportunity.

Right now, the playing field is as level as it’s ever been.

Here’s why: Usually when things go bad, it’s something we’ve seen before. Right now, we have what in the world of finance is called a “black swan” — something you could never have foreseen, like an asteroid hitting the earth (or a never-before-seen virus migrating to the human population).

Businesses are changing how they do business. People are changing how they live their lives. A bunch of businesses are realizing they don’t need as much office space because so many people do better working from home, without the commute and without the grumbles.

If you’ve been needing to get an office space for your growing business, keep an eye out. A lot of veteran businesses may be giving theirs up in the coming months, and you may get a huge opportunity.

People are asking more than ever how they can convert their business or product to the online world. Look at how well Teladoc has done. Paypal is booming. Ask yourself what the equivalent of PayPal or Teladoc could be for you, your business, and your industry.

Here’s a perspective shift as we bid farewell to 2020: We may actually be transitioning to a much better, more efficient, more user-friendly world, but of course there will be some turbulence in the middle of it. We’re being forced to do it quickly, and it’s been like tearing off a band-aid or building a plane while flying it.

In 2009, many in the mortgage industry kept waiting for the “good ol’ days” to return. They kept waiting for their business to return to its former glory.

Don’t be like those guys, because the mortgage industry never recovered, and it’s never going back to the way it was. Take some time before 2021 begins to think about where you, your business, and your industry are headed in the future.

Ask these questions:

What problems in the world am I uniquely designed to solve? What are some ways I can solve those problems now that weren’t available to me at the beginning of 2020? What do I know about? What do I care about? What do I control? What do I love? What can I contribute to the world?

If you can answer these questions, and if you’re willing to do things others aren’t willing to do, you can completely change your life in the next 2–3 years and realize goals that would have seemed impossible before 2020.

Fear sells. While it’s important to be aware of what’s going on in the world, resist the temptation to stay glued to the TV or computer watching the news. You can only Google “When can I get a vaccine?” so many times in one day, after all.

In 2008, when the market crashed, one of the largest transfers of wealth in history happened.

I personally had a friend who was buying houses that were worth $300,000 at auction for $150,000 during that time. He rented them out for $1,250 to $1,500 a month. Now that the market has come back, those houses are worth even more than $300,000, and he owns about 40 of them.

We don’t yet know if the biggest opportunities this time will be in real estate or in another area, and so far, the stock market is still hotter than ever. The opportunities this time might be in technology or the changing ways people shop or exercise (like Apple’s recent challenge to Peloton). Look at these possible opportunities, and see what makes sense for you.

Think: How can I serve my family, the people who need what I have to give, and how can I help others solve their problems with my skills and experience?

If you ask these questions and are willing to take a different perspective than most people in 2020, I promise you will come out of this better than when we went in. What many people are writing off as a throwaway year could still just be your opportunity to rise to the top.

Get out your surfboard and use this wave to get where YOU want to go. Find a way to make 2020 work for you, not against you.