On airlines, in their safety demos, they tell you that in an emergency, your priority is to make sure that your own safety equipment is working properly. This is great advice for your daily life too – It’s practical and effective because when you are in good shape internally, you become more in control externally.

The recent spate of shocks in the banking sector came only a week or two after the Chancellor of the Exchequer indicated he expects the recession to hit harder than expected. The effects of the credit crunch, housing market, oil, petrol and food prices become more tangible and the Office for National Statistics reports a downturn in retail sales volumes.

There seems to be a lot to worry about and I have begun to see the effect of these worries in my clients.

Financial worries have an insidious reach that extends into anger, shame, blame and fear. This can lead to breakdowns in communication. Communication issues cause havoc in relationships and this generates more stress. It becomes a relentless cycle of demands and stress.

It becomes useful to remember that message about your priority from the airlines. In everyday life, your safety equipment includes your mind, your energy and a focused clarity on your goal.

When you have these strong and in place, you can turn worries to your advantage by allowing them to get you thinking about different ways of doing things.

Stress is your body’s way of communicating with you and by taking the time to listen and address your worries one by one, you can gain new perspectives. The current economic climate is one where a new perspective will help in a big way.

Financial worries tend to be flavoured with a sense of helplessness and doom around the consequences of potential loss. We feel isolated and burdened and obligations lie heavy.

No matter how severe these worries are, they exist for one reason only – and that is to tell you that something needs to change. What exactly needs to change depends on your individual situation and could range from a physical activity such as getting a new job to a more emotionally orientated change that allows you approach situations with calmness and confidence.

However, change involves action. And change during a stressful crisis is most effective when it is accompanied by creative thinking that spurs favourable action.

One of my favourite jokes puts another angle on it.

John O’Shea, a devoutly religious man, was worried about how to provide for his family who he loved intensely. He asked God to provide him with enough money to see them through the hard times. “If only I could win the lottery this week, I would be so happy and could give my family all they wanted.”

The weeks went by and each week there was no lottery win for him. Each week, his pleas to God became more fervent and each week God listened to him.

One day, John was walking to work and began his usual daily heart-wrenching pleas to God to give him a lottery win.

Suddenly the skies grew dark, the clouds hung low and a booming voice came down from the heavens.

“John,” God said. “I have heard your pleas and I want to help you. But please John, help me out and actually buy a lottery ticket will you.”

It’s not enough to just sit and think about what is worrying you – you need to follow it with focused action.

One way to start addressing financial difficulties is to lay proper foundations and get a complete picture of how things stand. If you haven’t already, start by doing your accounts. A simple account of your income/expenditure will give you a clear black and white picture of how you stand.

You can then analyse your expenditure and recession-proof yourself as much as possible. In his blog, Nadeen Azam offers a list of ways to help you. http://www.froggybank.co.uk/news/101-tips-to-survive-the-credit-crunch/

For help with your credit crunch worries and safety equipment (mind, energy and focus), please contact me. Or post your tips and suggestions below.

The first time that the word “goals” entered my everyday vocabulary, I was in my first job after Uni. It was a word used liberally amongst managers and at meetings and soon it became associated with work.

So later, when I thought about my personal goals, I had a lot of trouble because “goals” to me, was all about work and at that time, work seemed to be all about rules and I surely didn’t want my personal life to be about rules!

But I knew having goals and a direction is important so I tried hard to get over my aversion to goals. I tried many things, and particularly enjoyed making and keeping lists. However, my lists would mysteriously disappear and there I’d be, goal-less and free of rules again. And unfocused too because I was drifting with no real direction of where to go next – direction requires planning and planning requires goals!

Then Bill Gates launced Windows 95 and a genius working with him came up with the slogan ”Where do you want to go today?”. This slogan captured my imagination and all of a sudden I was thinking in terms of what I wanted to do and how I could do it. I was finally free of the procrastination-inducing, nightmare clutch of that awful Goal word!

I could see and feel that the future is filled with stepping stones of the things we want to do and these stepping stones are connected with flexible bridges called Where-do-you-want-to-go-today.

Each stepping stone and each bridge has its own particular make-up; some are sturdy like rocks and others are wispy rope structures much like something out of Indiana Jones – and boy, don’t these ones give a heart-racing ride!

While the word “Goal” doesn’t carry the same negataive associations for me anymore, it’s that Windows slogan that actually makes me feel free and fires me up to set up my stepping stones and bridges.

The universe of the mind is a little bit exciting with dimensions we can’t put words to yet.  Perhaps that’s a good thing as there is a power behind words and a power behind labels – what works for one person doesn’t necessarily work for another.

If you are struggling with a word or a label, give this a go – try on a different word and see what changes.