If you open up a newspaper or turn on the radio or TV news, for even a minute or two, you’ll likely get some bad news about foreclosures, inflation, high gas prices, increased food costs, fewer homes being sold, and more companies slashing dividends and cutting jobs. When all this becomes water-cooler chatter at the office, it creates anxiety and results in lost productivity and a lot of negative energy. It’s enough to make even the most optimistic person, well ... pessimistic.

For the next two weeks, I’d like to discuss how you can handle all of the “gloom and doom” business and economic talk and negative energy you’ll encounter in the media.

Each day, you’ll receive an open invitation to attend the “pity party.” That’s your opportunity to talk about, weigh in on and fret over a whole bunch of things that ultimately are out of your control. Rest assured, if for some reason you miss the party today, you can observe the gloom and doom again tomorrow.

We suggest another path. Send your “regrets” to the pity party. Don’t go there. Don’t participate. Don’t weigh in. Don’t spend one minute of your time worrying about these negatives. I’m not naive enough to think you get to stick your head in the sand. As active and successful businesspeople, that would be irresponsible. But sometimes focusing on the negatives makes a bad situation worse. It’s one more thing you simply don’t need.

Instead, focus your time, talents and treasures on what you can do to enhance your situation in times of economic stress. If you are in sales, concentrate your energy on developing long-term relationships. Become an advisor to your clients and new relationships, and you become part of their team—and you become less expendable. If you are an executive, focus on your people, and make sure everyone is being as productive as possible. Look for ways to improve systems, lower costs, increase productivity, etc. Be proactive!

Don’t let the negativity you hear in the news (and in office gossip) get to you. Don’t give yourself permission to become discouraged and then underperform in your job. Don’t borrow trouble. Just don’t do it. Instead, use this time to focus on what you can do to do what you do better. We coach people every day who are overachieving — both in and out of the office — during what are undeniably tough times. You can do it, too —and we can help.