Do you know what it means to be caught in a downward spiral? Well, it starts with a belief. Let's say you believe you're not good at something. Now, if you expect to fail, you don't use much of your potential, do you? You don't take action that is confident, assertive, or energized. And what kind of results come from this kind of attitude and this kind of action? Pretty dismal ones, right?  

These dismal results reinforce the original belief that you're no good at it. Which in turn produces even less effort and even worse results - and down and down you go. This is a classic downward spiral in which a negative belief breeds failure, which breeds an even more negative belief, and so on.  

People who are chronically unhappy and who live hopeless, helpless lives have been without the results they want for so long, that they no longer believe they can produce good results, no matter what they do. They become trapped in a downward spiral, and after a while they can't even conceive of a way out. They see others doing well, but they attribute it to luck or circumstances.

The interesting thing is that this can happen to individuals, teams, departments, entire organizations, even entire countries. And, with the media as pervasive and accessible as it is these days, it could happen to far more than one country. Look at how fast global financial markets react to all types of news stories.

There are ways to interrupt downward spirals and reverse their direction, and it is never, ever too late to start.  

We'll talk some more about how to turn around a downward spiral tomorrow.