It’s only a matter of time. Eventually it happens to every businessperson, striking catastrophically like lightning or creeping up imperceptibly until it swamps you. It may give you lots of warning, but then arrive with unforeseen ferocity. It’s the business disaster.

A business disaster is not fire, flood, or vandalism. It is economic disaster that burns your bank account, submerges your spreadsheets, or pillages your paycheck. Your job is cut, or your sales evaporate. Your key employees leave — or maybe even worse…they stay and REALLY screw things ups. No matter what the cause is, survival is YOUR problem. FEMA ain’t coming — ever. The only ones calling are creditors, and they aren’t bringing bottled water. If you, your business and your family are to survive, you need to hitch up your shorts, roll up your sleeves and get to work on your own disaster relief efforts.

Your personal disaster survival kit could contain all manner of tools and resources. There are a few basics, however, that you cannot do without.

The Reality Checklist

Begin with a complete assessment of all your assets and liabilities. Include not just money, but skills, resources and personality traits. Make sure you know both the brutal facts and the signs of hope in your situation. The key is to see the whole truth about your life as it is now so that you are moving forward on solid factual ground. You will almost always find that your situation is not completely hopeless, and that you have more assets than you realized.

The Anti-Panic Pill

When balanced on the brink of financial disaster, it is natural, normal and understandable to feel panic. It’s just not helpful. The only way to prevent panic from taking over is to take action. Several years ago, I lost my job. I had a family, a mortgage and no contingency plans. The panic quickly set in, bolting me awake in the middle of the night, taking my appetite and filling my gut with feelings of fear, dread and anger that I could not control. I found, however, that that I could take action. I threw myself into the work of finding work. This allowed me a sense of real progress, and my positive focus helped prevent me from being paralyzed by the panic I felt.

The Emergency Beacon

Call for help. Besides the support of my friends and my family, the most valuable help I received was from a local outplacement counselor named Stacy. She helped me channel my fear and anger into a powerful, practical plan of action. I might have figured it out eventually on my own, but it would have taken me much longer — probably too long. The plan she helped me develop involved literally calling everyone I could think of for ideas, advice and assistance. By not going it alone, I leveraged my own skills and maintained external accountability to make sure I was making progress with my plan.

Mental Meal Bars

It’s easy in the middle of failure to let your discipline fall apart. Again, it is natural and understandable. It’s just not helpful. In the midst of the mess, take time to practice the small disciplines that will feed your heart, your mind and your body. Create a simple schedule that includes exercise, good nutrition, positive reading and listening. These simple disciplines have a direct and profound effect on your ability to recover from disaster. Your mindset can make or break you. Your health affects your energy and your emotional state.

In addition, these simple disciplines are almost always things that you have control over. In a disaster situation, you have lost control of many things, but you can control what you eat, what you hear and see, and how much you move your body. If you can’t do anything else, start there.

The Road Map

Know where you are, and know where you are going. Spell out your goals with brilliant clarity. Break down your journey into small sections. Keep your focus on the destination, even if it seems really far away. Keep checking your progress and make regular corrections to stay on course. If you are not clear on what it means to be recovered from your disaster, you will delay your recovery and increase your frustration with your progress.

You may have noticed that these principles are principles that we should all be engaged in every day, even when we are not in disaster recovery mode. In fact, if you find yourself dealing with a disaster, the cause may well be related to the fact that you failed to practice one or more of these principles in ordinary times. Don’t let the smoothness of your current path lull you into carelessness. Start now to incrementally build these tools into your everyday life. You will reduce the likelihood of disaster overtaking you, and you will be better prepared when it does.

Thanks for taking the time to read this—

Be Free!

This article was written by David Denis owner of http://www.rocksolidwriting.com

David is a freelance writer for hire offering article writing, sales letters, training manuals, speech writing, seo content, sales writing, blog articles, copy-writing service, sales scripts and business name ideas.

To learn more, or request a quote visit http://www.rocksolidwriting.com/freelance-writer-quote