When it comes to business and economy, bad news is pouring like rain; go to any news website or social bookmarking website and you will find scores of links telling you what a mess we’re in. Businesses are crumbling, banks are failing, real estate is dissolving, and a new study has revealed that 80% Americans are stressed due to the prevalent economic conditions (Source). So when it seems the skies are falling, I know it may feel like rubbing salt over the wound if I tell you such conditions can be used to your benefit.
I’m not saying take financial, emotional or physical advantage of your family members, friends, colleagues, or neighbors. Whether we like them or not, adversities are like vaccinations that make us stronger as individuals, as a society and as a civilization. It is through hardships that we become more perceptive towards human values, towards togetherness and towards the beautiful world around us. Whenever we have grown as people it has been through hardship. Unfortunately the law of survival of the fittest manifests most prolifically during such times; some people survive and come through victorious and some don’t (the recent family-suicide-cum-murder).
So what makes you victorious, what differentiates you from those who succumbed to the pressure and couldn’t make it? You are victorious when you can use even adversity to your advantage. Here are a few things to consider:
Connect With Your Loved Ones
When work is less all of a sudden you get ample time to connect, with yourself, and your loved ones. This may seem esoteric when you are worried about paying the bills at the end of the month but worrying and causing distress is not going to solve your problem. In order to confront the adversity you need to be fit, both emotionally and physically.
A few days ago my wife read in a Harvard Business School article that families come closer during economic hardships. This is not a selfish act because this is what families are for. You are worried about your deteriorating finances because of your family. For example, if I am alone I wouldn’t mind sleeping on a park bench but to think like that about my child is a nightmare. So when finances are tight it becomes the business of the entire family. Take into confidence your children, your spouse, even your parents and brothers and sisters. Never, ever withdraw into a mental cocoon because this can be disastrous. There is nothing to feel ashamed of because you are not directly responsible for the current economic mess. Yes, you are responsible about how you tackle the situation.
Talking and brainstorming somehow always seems to work and new ideas crop up out of nowhere. Spending time with kids is always relaxing and it energizes your spirits and helps you refocus. Having long walks with your partner or spouse lets you bond and see the warmth of the relationship that you might have been ignoring while living in the fast lane of commerce.
You can also organize neighborhood gatherings and outings that don’t cost much. Share your resources as much as you can whether it is food, lodging, transport, money, or love. Strike up new friendships. If people stand for each other no hardship can be daunting enough.
Connect With Yourself
Have you been ignoring yourself due to work pressure? When we are busy conducting business and earning money we often begin to ignore our physical and intellectual health. During the downturn you can spend the time giving some good exercise to your body and your brain. Read books that you have been thinking of reading for years. Acquire some new skills. Go for long walks and do some exercise to make your body flexible and muscles stronger. Start eating food that doesn’t cost much and that is good for your brain and your body (surprisingly healthy food is always cheaper compared to unhealthy food).
Rethink Your Priorities
A sudden halt in our day-to-day life gives us a chance to look at our priorities from a new angle. What is really important in your life? Your lifestyle, your loved ones or your values? If you are distressed because you won’t be able to afford the lifestyle you have had so far then you surely need to re-evaluate your priorities. Do you really need such a big house in such an expensive neighborhood? Does your child really need to go to that Ivy League college? Do you want to drive that cool vehicle for the purpose of transporting yourself and your family or to show off? Does it really matter if you can no longer afford that expensive liquor and food? Once your priorities are clear you will be surprised to know that things are not as bad as they had seemed a few hours ago.
Consider Alternative Careers
Haven’t you been always thinking of starting out your own pursuits and work for yourself rather than under someone else? Maybe this is the right time to give it a try. Fine, you may not have the required money, but doing something is always better than doing nothing as long as that something is not destructive. You can even collaborate with a few like-minded people, pool up resources, exchange skills and talents and be as creative as you feel like.
Expand Your Market
If you are a freelancer this is definitely the right time to expand your market and explore other regions of the world. Don’t restrict yourself to one country even if it is your own country. In case you are promoting your business through your website then you can focus your efforts towards optimizing your website so that it begins to get traffic from varied resources. If your current traffic is not generating enough business for you then you should start exploring other traffic sources. This will also help you when the hard times are over.
Do Something Socially or Religiously Relevant
Doing something for others without expecting any return always brings you peace and contentment. Cater to your spiritual side – visit your local place of worship and touch base with the supreme one. Refresh the fact that this world is merely an infinitesimally tiny dot in the infinity of the universe. You may feel humbled and peaceful.
Similarly visit your local non-profit organization engaged in helping underprivileged communities. You will discover how bravely people face their day-to-day struggles like not having enough food to eat, not having warm clothes for winter and not having a roof over their heads. You will suddenly discover how small your problems and challenges are. You may decide that they are in fact totally insignificant.
Develop a Habit of Saving
I know saving is the last thing that comes to your mind when you are running out of money but believe me this is the right time to start saving. Although you must be regretting the days when you could have saved but you didn’t, it hardly matters now because nothing can be done about the time that has gone by. What matters is what can be done rather than what could have been done. Even if you can spare a few dollars, save them somewhere.
The things mentioned above may not immediately solve your financial problems but they will certainly go a long way in keeping you strong emotionally and mentally and make you tough to handle tougher situations.
Do you have any advice for using the economic downturn to your advantage? Please share your thoughts in the comments below.
About the author: Amrit Hallan is an online copywriter and web/SEO content writer. You can also subscribe to his regular blog updates.
“You are victorious when you can use even adversity to your advantage”
That is a great quote. I think that sums up life for me.
http://yinvsyang.com
[...] an optimistic article from the Pick The Brain blog about how to use the economic downturn to advantage. Do not get the wrong idea, this is not an article about exploiting the misfortune of others nor is [...]
[...] Pick the Brain blog offers some insights into how people need to adapt to take advantage of the economic [...]
This is an excellent time to teach kids about money and to encourage them to not only save, be thrifty, but also to invest in themselves and their own creativity and work ethic. One great family-bonding activity is to brainstorm inventions; and, if a great one pops up, support one another to get a prototype done and test it in the market. See “Kids’ Ideas Make Millions — Yours Could, Too!” at http://shanelyang.com/2008/07/02/kids-ideas-make-millions%e2%80%94yours-could-too/
I second your thoughts on aligning priorities. The very fact that people are spending so much emotional energy on money right now reveals that money is a high, if not the highest, priority for many people today.
“Life is not about making money — money is about making a life.” ~ Mitch Anthony
Thanks for this perspective. One thing I’ve noticed about people who are expressing a lot of fear to me about the global financial situation is that they always seem to perceive some crisis in their lives, whether it’s in their careers, relationships, or somewhere else. I’ve found that when they recognize that, in some way, they’re always in “crisis mode,” suddenly they can relax and take themselves and the world a little less seriously. — Best Chris
Thanks for all the positive feedback. Chris, I agree with you to a great extent that people who spread extreme fears regarding economic downturns are generally insecure in their lives due to many materialistic reasons. But the reality is that when economy goes down it affects all of us in big and small ways and it can help us a lot if we can all get together and fight with the tough times together. One of my clients these days is extremely worried about his business, and so am I (although, not that much). So we are contemplating pooling our respective talents together and start working on a new business.
These days the main problem is that people don’t talk to their neighbors, and others in the community. Solutions can be easily found if we openly interact with each other. Fortunately many Web 2.0 technologies enable us to do that.
I particularly agree with the points about reassessing priorities and doing something social – finding out that others are in just as bad a situation if not worse. I would add a couple more suggestions:
1. Do not consider yourself a failure. Many of the suicides/family killings that we hear about are because the person affected (usually the father sadly) felt a personal failure for the change in circumstances and the inability to maintain a ’successful’ lifestyle. Try to work out what responsibility you have for your current situation – what you might have done differently – and learn from that. But accept that for everybody at the moment there are external factors over which we have no individual control.
2. Remember that this is just a stage in life and things can get better. Think of previous examples. For instance, there have been times when I have been in difficulties in recent years but when it feels as if it’s all too much hard work and never going to get better I remember that when my grandmother was my age the Second World War was coming to an end and she and my grandfather had had to deal with the chaos and upheaval on a daily basis with two children.
Every generation faces some serious crisis at some point which changes lives – it’s important to take a long-term view to put things in perspective and believe that in the long term you will come out of it.
Sorry for the long post – don’t normally contribute but hope this may be helpful addition.
Excellent attitude, and one I subscribe to. I think it’s a good time to get your financial proverbials together. And by ‘we’ I mean ‘me’
Nice post.I’m from Argentina. We’ve been through some (not to say a lot) of breakdowns, and my experience has taught me some things.My advice
1) Be flexible
2)Family first (Being together in tough times gives you comfort and relief)
3)Give what you can to whoever needs it (More things will be given to you in return)
4)Make values a way to connect with yourself and others
5)Smile (When you smile at others they feel more confident)
6)You can even start a “trueque” club (there have been a lot in my country,and many people have got things they needed. In a trueque club you offer something and another thing you need is given in return)
I’ve heard something which may be useful:
The difference between a rich person and a poor one is that the poor one knows for sure Money isn’t everything. It can’t buy happiness
Patricia
nice post
Another thing to do is to minimise one’s exposure to news. If it bleeds it leads and it’s a feeding frenzy at this point in time. Don’t watch the news – go outside and smell the roses.
Cheers
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