Why are you always so positive?

A time to be positive?

If you are reading this then you are probably working in the oil and gas industry, and you are an individual who fits into one of these categories:

1. Is experiencing job uncertainty.

1. Has lost their job.

1. Is wholly or partly responsible for the steady management of a company, and in a position to help it stay in business.

We are all seeing some darker days in the industry and obviously have little to no control over them. We all have to take a look at our situations and decide if we are moving in the right direction.

Here at NatResPro I believe we are on the right track, and I am happy to share my journey and take some snapshots for you every now and again.

A couple of people have recently asked me why I am so positive when we are in the middle of the worst industry downturn in decades. My first reaction has been surprise because I don't feel upbeat, I am as worried and concerned as anyone else...

It's not me; it's my presence!

Then after reflection, I realised that they were not talking about me personally being positive. The question was directed more to my online presence. While I am careful, to be honest, and accurate in the things that I publish online, what you see is obviously a filtered impression of me.

The internet works as a lens into people's (and companies) lives. These lenses filter information just as a photographic lens filters certain frequencies of light.

There are people who experience feelings of insecurity and inadequacy when seeing friends updates on Facebook. Posters to social networks tend to polarize themselves and either post updates about all the fun things they do, or all that is wrong with the world. In reality, if you meet these two types of people, it is likely that they both have similar lives.

Some people create these exaggerated impressions deliberately, but most do it unconsciously.

If you are in business and want to create the best possible impression online, you don't need to say things that are untrue, but you do need to keep a lid on many things.

This also applies to individuals too!


For example, there are the obvious areas of religion, politics, bigotry, offensive statements and so on. There are also the grey areas of whether to comment on a competitors failure or any negative narrative on current events.

If you filter your publishing lens so that any negativity is removed, your online presence is likely to make you seem like a motivational speaker! In reality, it is liable to be the result of simply being image and reputation-conscious.

In the last year, I have had plenty of moments of quiet doubt and even despair...

There, I said it...

It doesn't make sense to frequently publish this type of admission, or anything negative for that matter. I am touching on it now for transparency and illustrating the point that I am making. There are some excellent reasons why we at NatResPro limit the publication of issues and fears to an absolute minimum.

Here is a list of reasons why we are upbeat in the choices of what we publish:

We are only a year in on a new business, it important to be positive for the future or we might as well give up. It is well known that 90% of startups fail, and most of these are in booming industries as well as in slumping ones.

I like to practice what I preach about my internet presence. The market in complaining and being negative is completely saturated online. It always pays to look for a less crowded market for any business message. When I feel moments of frustration and despair, I keep it to myself.

What we publish online today could be seen in 5 or even 25 years time. A new client or partner is bound to see something in the future, that we write today. I don't want to wish later that I never wrote it. So if it is not positive or helpful, then it is not worth publishing.

Boom/bust is the way that we run our economies globally; I don't believe for a second that crashes are natural, like the tides. Business owners and industry moving investors have incentives to create situations that allow them to buy cheap and sell high. After every crash, we usually see that high debt levels are involved. This gives the optimism that the worse the crash, the bigger the next boom.

We are networking hard and know that we are closer to the end of the crash than the beginning. For example, our friends over at Relentless Pursuit of Perfection have already seen an uptick in the number of workshops such as DWOP's in the first half of the year. This kind of early stage planning will filter through to jobs later.

It is during tough times that mettle is tested. It is how people perform in stressful situations that show their calibre. Easy times mask inefficiency and incompetence. This is one of the main reasons for persistence in tough business conditions if weak players are folding, market share can be gained.

When we are on our death beds looking back at our lives we will smile at the challenges that we overcame, and the people we shared them with. This is the reason why people scale Mount Everest despite the fatality rate, we all have a desire to overcome tough obstacles and conquer industries, mountains, or anything else.