Motivational Leadership Speaker, Bestselling Oprah Author

Over the weekend, we got this from Paul Volker this from former chair of the Federal Reserve and current advisor to President Obama: “I don’t remember any time, maybe even in the Great Depression, when things went down quite so fast, quite so uniformly around the world.”

But today, the headline says Fed Chair Ben “Bernanke Suggests Recession Will End This Year… 2010 ‘Will Be A Year Of Recovery.’”

Now, let me give my interpretation of those guys and all the others predicting this and predicting that: Nobody knows what they are talking about. Why even listen? Usually, the projections make people feel horrible. They zap hope which zaps performance.

Regardless of what any of those economists and pundits say, if you aren’t operating at your peak right now, you will be a victim of the economy. The more you listen to them, the harder it becomes to operate at your peak.

If you tune out the negative and focus on where you can actually gain some ground, you will turn this downturn into an opportunity. You just have to see that possibility exists. I know so many people who have lost their jobs and seem to be moving in slow motion with their searches because they are convinced there is nothing out there. Well, there are jobs out there — just not very many. The way to find an opportunity is to be open to it. See the possibility that exists.

I know a senior executive who is retiring from a director’s position at Procter and Gamble at the end of this month. She’s in her mid-50s and going out into the world in the worst economic climate possible. She always held she was not going to let herself go out to pasture — and she didn’t. But, imagine my shock when I heard that she was just made VP of sales at another major company — before she even officially retired? She expects a lot out of her career — and gets it.

We all need to do the same. 

Listen to Volker and Bernanke and you’ll wind up confused and depressed. Listen to your own voice telling you to carry on — and you can get through this downturn stronger, wiser and even more successful.