A pinch of optimistic realism and a heaped spoon of contingency planning

Like everyone, in response to COVID-19, I have been involved in lots of meetings and conversations around adjusting what we do, how we do it, and how long we do it for.

Everyone feels uncertain right now, about the health, wellbeing, and livelihood of their family and friends. Our view can change with every update published by the media, including social media. It can be overwhelming and stressful, which can lead to scepticism and mistrust of the messages received. I find most situations are easier to deal with, and problems can be solved by putting on your ‘optimistic realism’ specs.

For me, optimistic realism means having confidence and believing that the best possible outcome will come to pass, but also having an alternate response plan just in case. Your positive mindset will keep you focused on what really matters to you, instead of the panicked ‘fight or flight’ drive to hoard like a doomsday prepper. These things probably include your business as usual activities, goals you’re working towards, your team, and of course, your family and friends.

Your best possible outcome might be that your results or circumstances improve, or it might be that the status quo continues in line with your current plans. You might even want to identify multiple best possible outcomes to put some stretch goals in place and ‘strike while the iron is hot’.

Contingency planning means identifying at least one alternate scenario and developing a plan of action if that particular scenario plays out. It’s a good idea to put as much detail in these plans as you can, especially the early steps, to make it as easy as possible to start implementing if needed.

Optimistic realism is about spending most of your time on the right things. You don’t need to waste time worrying about things that might not happen or get caught out when something unexpected occurs. You’ll be prepared when fortunate or unfortunate events or circumstances happen, and both react and respond faster and in a way that’s going to optimise results for you.

I hear you say ‘but you can’t plan for every single potential thing; nobody would have predicted an almost global shutdown over Coronavirus’, and you’re right. We can however plan for the impact that events or circumstances may have, for example, a 50% reduction in revenue, shrinking of supply chains, a dramatic increase in the demand and consequent load on delivery services, or the inability to get out to family or friends. These impacts can occur in response to lots of different internal and external events.

The good news is that optimistic realism can apply to any situation; your business, career, family, or other personal elements of your life. So next time you’re planning your priorities and goals, spend a bit of time looking through an optimistic realism lens. That way if the unexpected happens, you’ll be able to keep focused on what matters, and pull out something you prepared earlier.