C.H.I.L.L. G

Times of Business Stress

Business trauma can make you panic. You feel like you’re lost in the woods, hungry, alone, and your iPhone doesn’t have any service. So how do you get out of the woods? I’m no Smokey the Bear, but I follow the principles of smoked-out ODB, who proclaims CHILL G—a survival guide for both outdoor and corporate meltdowns.

CALM THE FUCK DOWN

Don’t panic. Breathe. Separate what you need to have versus what you want to have. If your hand is pinned beneath a rock and you’re delirious, maybe you want to have a cream puff, but what you need is a cup of water. (And a knife.)

HEED THE SUN

Find a twig. Plant that twig in the dirt, straight up, and observe the sun’s shadow. You just created a sundial. The sun is the one source of energy that will always be there. The sun is never more important than when you are lost. Dig deep and think about your sun. Is it your creativity? Your spouse and kids? Your faith? Whatever it is, find it, embrace it, don’t lose sight of it. Find your sun. With the sun behind you, informing your direction, there can be no wrong path.

INSPECT WHAT’S AROUND YOU

Do some recon. Are there signs of any roads? Does the ground have a slope? That slope is important— find the high ground. The high ground will give you a better vantage point, and every farmer knows that shit rolls downhill. In business, you need to take that high ground, even if you’re tired, even if it’s steep, even if your feet slip in the mud and you bloody your nose.

LISTEN

Cup your ear to the ground. Any signs of running water, a road, a train track? Don’t just listen once and give up—move around, listen more, and then move and listen more. The process is iterative. When you panic in business, it’s easy to listen only to the ramblings in your head. Seek other input. Even listen to the critical feedback that’s hard to hear.

LAY OUT A PLAN

Are you going to go to the source of the water, head to the road, look for the high ground? Don’t try to do everything at once. Create your plan in discrete blocks of time. Tonight I will build a fire. This will keep me warm. Tomorrow I will search for the road. With your company, don’t play for Year Ten when you might go bankrupt tomorrow. Find the wood for your fire.

GO

Take your action. Don’t begrudge it. Don’t second-guess it. Don’t think about how painful it will be. Just go.

Marc Eckō is an American fashion designer, entrepreneur, investor and artist. He is the founder of Marc Eckō Enterprises, a global fashion and lifestyle company. He is also the founder and chairman of Complex Media, a network of 110+ websites that generate more than 700 million page views and 70 million unique visitors per month. Eckō serves as an emeritus board member to the Council of Fashion Designers of America, Big Picture Learning and Tikva Children’s Home. Ecko’s first book “Unlabel: Selling You Without Selling Out” is out October 1, 2013.