What do you really want, to be secure or to be alive?  This is always a good question to ponder and not only during times of economic turmoil.

If you crave security, then commit a crime and go to jail.  Not only will your basic needs for food, shelter and clothing be taken care of.  You will also have bars on your windows and locks on your doors.  You will be secure.

On the other hand, being alive, truly alive, involves taking risks.  You see, real living involves growth and development.  Growth and development always involve some risk.

Yes, it is possible to be really alive and to feel secure.  That happens when you don’t fixate on security to the extent that your growth and development stagnate.  That’s a risk you should never take.

When is your business a business?

If you are a business builder, consider this question as you risk your security.  You might be an entrepreneur, but do you have a business?  You have a business only once your venture can continue without you.

As long as you remain indispensable, you don’t have a business.   If you are ‘the business’ you cannot take a vacation, you may not fall ill and you won’t find a buyer for it.

Here’s a quick test.  Stay away and watch what happens.  If bad things happen, then you know what to fix in others; if good things happen, then you know what to fix in yourself - or stay away longer.  (Don’t try this if you work alone.)

Stay uptight a little longer

Here is a health warning.  As the economy recovers and business picks up, your health and the health of your business may suffer.

Remember what often happened to you after exams or some equally stressful period?  Did you, like many others, catch the flu or have a minor accident?

An executive once told me that his heart attack was not triggered by long-term work stress.  It happened because he relaxed after he left the stressful job.  His body became so used to fight-or-flight that when he finally relaxed, it struggled to catch up on basic maintenance ignored for too long.

How will you and your business react coming out of this period of stress?  Have you delayed basic maintenance?  Will you relax your operational and fiscal disciplines?  Will you loosen up and mellow out?   Better to stay uptight a little longer, I think.

Are we there yet?  Every day, economists and politicians and talking heads sound more and more like they’re on a road trip.  As tempting as it is to shout ‘no!’, the right answer is ‘that depends’.

 If you are looking back, then no, you are not there yet.  And if you keep looking back, you won’t be there soon.  Here’s why in the words of a man who was both Secretary of the Treasury and Secretary of State, although not at the same time.  George Shultz once said that we tend to face the past and back into the future.

What happens when you do that?  You trip up and fall down.  And then history repeats itself.  That, according to Clarence Darrow, is “one of the things wrong with history.”  If we are not careful, it repeats.

Time to turn your back on the past, face the risk as you step boldly into your future.