By Mary Jaksch
For many, this global recession is a time of anxiety. None of us knows what challenges we may face in the future. What we do know, though, is that at some point we will come out of this difficult time. The question is: how will we come out? Will we have made the most of our opportunities?
Risk versus opportunity
In challenging times we need to balance risk against opportunity. That’s not always easy. I think that we often forget to look for opportunities in tough times because fear makes focus on risk and danger. But it’s in uncertain times that we can find the greatest opportunities. Because we get shucked out of our safe pod and are then able to re-think our life.
So here are seven strategies that we can adopt in order to flourish in tough times.
7 Ways to Survive a Recession
- Deal with reality
When things get tough, we tend to seek refuge in denial. We think: “It can’t happen to me.” It’s important to be realistic – as well as optimistic – in tough times. Take a close look at where you are vulnerable. Is your job in jeopardy? Are you struggling with your mortgage? - Focus on core skills
What are you good at? Are you honing those skills? Or is your focus on side issues? - Improve your productivity
Make each hour count. Check out how much time you fritter away in front of the TV or through other passive activities. - Let go of what holds you back
Are there activities you do that you don’t particularly enjoy and that have no potential for the future? Let them go. Do you associate with people who hold you back? Choose to spend time with positive people. - Have a contingency plan
Have a set of plans ready for bad scenarios. You’ll be much better prepared and can swing into action without losing important time. - Network with others
Strengthen your professional safety net through networking. Think of teaming up with others for projects. The power of synchronicity can magnify your potential success. - Develop new skills
It’s important to keep on upskilling, especially during tough times. If you learn new skills or strengthen the ones you have, you’ll have more career choices. Each new skill also opens up a window to more opportunities.
If you follow these seven strategies, you are likely to survive - and even flourish – in a recession. In fact New Zealand Trade and Enterprise recently studied multinational businesses that survived – and even thrived – during the economic upheavals over the past century and found that they employed seven similar key strategies: core business focus, efficiency, divestment,contingency planning, acquisitions, advertising, and research and development.
What do you think of these strategies for surviving the recession? Please share in the comments.
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{ 24 comments… read them below or add one }
Great post Mary. I think 7 should be ‘Develop A new skill’ or maybe ‘Develop new skillS’
I enjoyed this, and I’m sure it comes at an important time for many.
Stumbled!
Cheers,
Glen
Excellent tips to thrive in a down economy. Stumbled …
In Balance,
Shann
Shanns last blog post..A Little Peace Please …
Hi Mary,
Wonderful post! I think another important point to remember is that the recession is temporary and it is effecting everyone. So just do what is needed to survive the wave and make whatever changes in your lifestyle that need to be done. If you can cut back on some expenses, cut back but still remember to have fun. Life is short!
Nadia – Happy Lotuss last blog post..The Happiness Project: My Interview with Gretchen Rubin
So great to see a positive spin put on the recession. There are many opportunities during this time but the media tends to focus on only the doom and gloom.
A couple of the opportunities I see; investing (if you have the funds), personal growth (especially if the going is tough), reducing consumption (not so good for our economy but great for our environment), paring back (reduces clutter in our lives), remembering what’s really important (eg health, family, friends, etc), transparency (the recession has exposed some companies who aren’t doing the right thing).
Great post – thanks!
Samis last blog post..Sami’s Days of Her Life – Part 1
Hello Mary & Friends,
I do not have much to offer except what I told my nephew at family reunion in Oregon last year. “If form is emptiness, and emptiness form, it doesn’t matter how much you accumulate, does it?”
When I read your blogs, I find much brightness there. Thank you,
O.B. Ray
Hi Glen!
Thanks for the heads-up about the typo. It’s incredible how these gremlins creep into one’s writing – regardless of recession
Hi Nadia!
I totally agree about having fun! For example, I spent yesterday evening with teenage friends. I laughed so much my jaw hurt…! It didn’t cost me a bean, but I’m still smiling.
Hi Sami!
That’s a lovely list of things to attend to. I might write a another article exploring your list (I’ll credit the ideas to you, though)
I love it when comments make my creative wheels spin!
Hi O.B!
Thanks for your encouraging comments. And how true – in the end it’s not what we accumulate that matters. What matters is that we live this life fully, make it burst at the seams, and fill so full it overflows. Yeah!
Mary,
Great advice!
I particularly liked #4 because I think it’s easy to focus on urgent, but unimportant stuff.
Roger – A Content Lifes last blog post..What’s Your Favorite Charity?
Hello Mary
What good ideas! I think #4 is as important as any listed, and especially hard for many to do. Letting go of the familiar can be scary — even when the familiar has become detrimental.
Kudos,
Karen
I think all of these points are great, Mary. My favourites are networking and upskilling; they’re the two that I do instinctively but seem to intensify when financial anxieties loom. I’d add an eighth: be even more grateful for the things you have, for every moment you’re blessed with so that you can be generous with other people and let go of the tethers that are binding you to anxiety and fear. Really develop an abundance mentality. It allows you to get rid of stuff because it gently pries your soul away from that ‘holding on too tight to everything’ default we can suffer from in tough times. If we learn to be grateful and let go, we make room for spiritual and financial abundance.
I resonated with what you and Nadia were saying about having fun. I enjoy watching Friends videos and American idol with the kids. It not only makes me happy, but it reminds me that they need to be protected from collective panic, gloom and doom. They only have one childhood.
janices last blog post..Fleet Foxes
Thanks for this post. One question I’ve found it useful to ask myself is “is this really a matter of
‘survival’? Are economic conditions right now going to kill me?” The answer is almost certainly no. Whenever I become worried about survival I find that I am actually worried about the survival of an image I want to project to others of being perfect or successful, and I’d be better off letting that go anyway. The same has been true in my work with clients on this issue. Best, Chris
I think all seven of these are great, Mary, particularly 6 and 7. I instinctively network and upskill anyway, but I tend to do it more if anxiety looms.
I’d also like to add an eighth: be grateful for everything you already have so that the subconscious default of clinging on too tightly to everything in tough times can be prised from our souls. If we’re truly grateful for the important things in life and practise letting go of what isn’t important or doesn’t serve us, we make way for spiritual clarity and serenity and also financial prosperity and all kinds of abundance.
One last thing, I’m totally with you and Nadia on the importance of having fun. I watch a singing competition with my family every week (you know the one but I’m scared of the spam filter!) and also old ‘Friends’ videos. It’s great to laugh and discuss things with my kids. They only have one childhood, and I don’t want them to be depressed by the contagious doom and gloom all around.
Hi Roger!
I think you’re right. I find that I’m more likely to work on urgent but unimportant tasks, instead of what really moves me forward when I’m a bit anxious. You too?
Hi Karen!
You say something very interesting: “Letting go of the familiar can be scary — even when the familiar has become detrimental.”
I was just reading some research which shows that we are likely to make the same mistake more than once because we cling on the the belief that we didn’t make a mistake the first time – and want to prove ourselves right. Ouch!
Hi Chris!
You say, “Whenever I become worried about survival I find that I am actually worried about the survival of an image I want to project to others of being perfect or successful.”
That’s a very important point, Chris. When we let go of ideas on how others should see us – we find freedom.
Yeah!
Hi Janice!
Thanks so much for rewriting this comment a few times. (Janice, though innocent, has been rebuffed twice by my website’s spam filter)
I love your eighth point: gratitude! As soon as I focus on gratitude, I instantly feel happier.
And fun – yes! You say about your children, “They only have one childhood.” True. The same goes for us. Personally, I think that behaving ‘like a grown-up’ is vastly overrated!
I haven’t found a job for a year…but then again, much good has come out that. I have deepened my awareness. I had a lot of anxiety from my circumstances and I found a release method that works beautifully! I finished the book I had been working on for three years; started a website; and now am about to start three other projects. Money is tight but I worry far less than when I had a paycheck; not to mention that I sleep a lot better…
Kaushiks last blog post..The Nature of Attention – Attention is the SpotLight of Awareness
Excellent pointers!
The financial crisis has caused world-wide anxiety, but it will also bring about much-needed change. It is an opportunity for awakening, for dealing with our basic fears, and for changing the outlook on consumption and materialism. I’ve been out of job for a year, and though this is uncomfortable at times, I have also found my passion, in writing about Zen.
Your pointers are excellent! Thanks.
Kaushiks last blog post..The Nature of Attention – Attention is the SpotLight of Awareness
Hi Mary, I enjoy your articles, and want to leave comments but for some reason my comments are blocked as spam! This is the comment I was trying leave: Excellent pointers! The financial crisis has caused world-wide anxiety, but it will also bring about much-needed change. It is an opportunity for awakening, for dealing with our basic fears, and for changing the outlook on consumption and materialism. I’ve been out of job for a year, and though this is uncomfortable at times, I have also found my passion, in writing about Zen. Your pointers are excellent! Thanks.
Kaushiks last blog post..The Nature of Attention – Attention is the SpotLight of Awareness
Great post.Dealing with tough times can give us the chance to grow.A crisis is an opportunity so let’s take it. Things that I used were:
Resilience (finding an opportunity in every circumstance)
Gratitude(fr what I have and can achieve)
Support (from the ones I love and people around-empathy can be found anywhere)
Plans (when you have the chance, sometimes impossible to do them)
I’m from Argentina and we had very difficult times in 2001 though hard times started some years before for my family, when we lost our shops.
I found it useful to solve a problem at a time, and laughed whenever I could
Patricias last blog post..Cómo decir las cosas
These are extremely useful tips that will help anyone during these tough times. Having a contigency plan and staying productive is the best way to make lemonade out of these economic lemons.
By 2019, 40% of the population will be self-employed. That is a huge shift. By starting to think about these seven points now, people will be able to prepare for what lies ahead. Let’s face it–the corporation as we know it is a dying breed.
.-= Survive Economic Recession´s last blog ..A Job or an Internet Home Based Business Opportunity – Moms and Dads Must Answer This Question =-.