One thing a downturn will teach you is which relationships in your life—both inside and outside of work—are secure and which ones are not.

→ Chip Conley, Peak

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In 7 Habits of Highly Successful People, Stephen Covey writes about the "emotional bank account" - this invisible, omnipresent balance we all carry with ourselves & others.

He teaches that to keep our balance in surplus, all we need to do is do good. We need to keep our promises & tell the truth, to listen & be patient.

It's hard to overstate how these days are highlighting how well we've done those things - how well we invested during the boom times, how (in)frequently we made deposits.

As much as we wish it were possible, we can't go back & ask the bank to forgive the poor choices we made in the past. We can't un-spend whatever is already gone.

But we can renew our commitment to give more than we take. We can recognize that we are - with our attention, time, & actions - always adding to or taking from. We can remember to be better investors in our relationships, in our health, in our resiliency & sustainability.

It's not often possible to fix a negative balance overnight. It took months or years to get where it got. It'll take months or years to be made right.

It's rare, this opportunity we have right now to see our balance sheets with such clarity. They might be hard to look at, but the discomfort might have been exactly what we've needed to finally get them in order.

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Functional Branding exists to help change-makers make change. If you feel high on passion & hunger, but low on strategy, I can help. Just hit reply. Let's talk.