The Sky is (Supposedly) Falling!
Banks are closing. Wall Street is panicking. Governments are inflating. 401Ks are in free-fall. People are freaking out. Chances are good that your anxiety level is higher than normal.
What should you do in these troubled times?
Three Simple Steps to Peace of Mind
- Turn off the news. It’s all too easy to get sucked into the 24-hour news cycle of reporters breathlessly expounding on the latest non-event. Turn it off – the media is rewarded for sensationalizing events to increase viewership, not for providing actionable information. Select a few low-volume trusted sources to stay informed about what’s happening, and ignore the rest of the noise and hand-wringing.
- Determine what you can and can not control. You can control your own actions. You can’t control the next bank failure. Take what actions you can (like telling your Representatives in Congress which way you’d like them to vote on proposed legislation, if you’re an informed US Citizen), then consciously let go of the rest. The quickest path to constant anxiety is to focus on what you can’t control.
- Allay your fears with scenario planning. If you’re worried about your prospects in this market, a bit of strategic thinking is the best way to decide what to do next. Do a “mind dump” of everything you’re worried about, then construct your worst-case scenario: what will happen if everything goes wrong? Chances are, it’s not nearly as bad as you fear, and there are a few simple things you can do to improve upon the worst case. (I recommend Learning from the Future if you’re interested in learning more about scenario planning.)
Invest in Intangibles: Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities
The safest investment you can make right now is an investment in your own knowledge, skills, and abilities. Knowing how to build and improve any type of business is one of the best general-purpose skill sets you can have: there have always been opportunities for people who understand how to create value for others, even in the midst of the Great Depression. (Which, for the record, I don’t think we’re even remotely close to repeating.)
The wonderful thing about investing in yourself is that your investment’s worth doesn’t fluctuate with the fickle market. If you focus on making yourself more valuable, you’ll be well prepared to improve your situation in even the worst of markets.
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To the point!
Investing in yourself should be one of the main reasons why people join and follow PMBA. It is at least for me, and I have the feeling that I am not the only one.
What unifies us is the inbuilt need for Life Long Learning, which is also my personal Mission. I truly believe that learning must start within yourself. Only by first developing yourself, you can start to develop and improve bigger entities – your team, your unit, your company, our planet.
http://managerstoolbox.blogspot.com/2008/05/personal-mba.html
Josh – great post, I especially agree with the, “look at what you can and cannot control” advice. This is exactly on target. I see so many people who create massive pain and fear in their lives by spending huge amounts of time, energy and emotion on issues they cannot and NEVER will control. They get worried, they stress, they complain, they make themselves sick — instead of simply having the presence of mind to realize and admit that this particular thing is outside of their control – and then turn and focus all of their energy, time, effort and emotion on taking 100% control of what they can impact: such as their attitude, behavior, focus, responses, actions, planning, emotions, how they spend their time, who they spend their time with… The list of things in your life you DO have control over is finite and manageable. There are only a few precious things that you truly control – which you should endeavor to take complete control over… and learn to let go of anything that is actually out of your control. BTW – the number one thing you cannot control: other people! The way they think, act, behave, what they believe. You can have a little influence – but no control. So getting mad, angry, upset or stressed about how other people believe and behave is a sure fire express ticket to pain and depression. Rather than getting too stressed out over everyone else — and everything going on around us – I have just re-doubled my efforts to look deeply at what I can have impact and control over in my life — and kicked those things up into high gear. More reading, learning, adding value, reaching out to people to assist them — doing everything I can to create positive outcomes and increased value.
Hope this helps a little — John
Great article. I completely agree. The media is making it out to be worse than the Depression and it’s ridiculous.
Josh, very good ideas!
Many people aren’t comfortable investing now. What a great time to buy a few books or take a class that will give you the skills and knowledge to become more valuable in the marketplace! I love the idea of investing in your own knowledge, skills, and abilities.
~Jay
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