In the remote forests of Washington state near the Canadian border, where the air force teaches its aviators to survive in hostile environments, the instructors hate the sunshine. They like it cold, wet and miserable. Rough weather, they say, makes the best pilots and survivors. Adversity is the best teacher. Stripped of every comfort and left to their wits, the pilots are forced to think, adapt, and make a plan.
The same goes for the sinking economy. Survival means adapting quickly and forging new plans. Tough times also create opportunities for those who can change their attitudes and actions. For the past few years, I've explored the secrets of the world's most effective survivors and thrivers while researching and writing The Survivors Club. I met people slammed by life who managed to recover, repair and rebuild. Along the way, I spent some time at the air force's SERE school in Spokane, Washington, where survival specialists teach men and women how to survive, escape, resist and evade in extreme situations.
The basic lessons of survival school apply to all kinds of adversity, like vanishing jobs, foreclosed homes and disappearing 401(k)'s.
1. Situational Awareness. The military acronym is S/A and it means knowing what's going on around you and being able to act. Are you alert to threats to your survival and what's your plan and backup if everything goes to hell? In this tough economy, many of us don't have much S/A. We see the grim economic headlines but don't change our behavior. We refuse to open our 401 (k) mailings because we don't want to see the wreckage. S/A means facing reality. It means recognizing that as many as three million jobs will be lost in the next year - or 340 pink slips every hour. Nearly half of America's households are underfinanced for retirement. The average retirement account has lost a third of its value in the last year; collectively, some $2 trillion in retirement savings have been erased. Sure, many of us may realize this, but the air force guys know there's a big difference between awareness and action. It's not enough to notice your wing is on fire. You need a plan. When it comes to a crisis or emergency, experts say that as many as 80 percent of us freeze and fail to act. We wait for an authority figure to tell us what to do. If you want to survive, you to take action. Quickly.
2. Hug the Monster. It's pretty scary to watch your 401 (k) disappear. Worse is letting your fears run wild. Neuroscientists say that the fear of losing money can activate the same alarms in the brain that go off when we're attacked, unleashing neurochemicals that can wreak havoc on clear-thinking and decision-making. The Air Force calls this "analysis paralysis." What to do? Instructors tell trainees to hug the monster: grab hold of their fears, wrestle with them, and turn them into motivation. Grapple with your fears and they become more familiar to you. Soon, those fears can become your allies and help you survive and thrive.
3. Eat an Elephant One Bite at a Time. Survival is one big ornery animal, and if you try to swallow a 15,000-pound pachyderm in one gulp, two things can happen. You'll either give up or you'll get really bad indigestion. The key is to slow down. Take one small bite. Chew. Swallow. Then take another. Using different language and metaphors, nearly every survivor described the same method: Divide unwieldy challenges into achievable tasks. One goal at a time. One decision at a time. One action at a time. Before you know it, you can make real progress. The military acronym is STOP: Stop, think, observe, plan. Follow those steps in a financial crisis, and soon, you'll be moving deliberately in a better direction.
4. Know Yourself. In the end, experts say, the best survival kit is right between your ears. So use it. It also helps to know your Survivor IQ. How do you behave in a crisis? What are your strengths (and weaknesses)? Working with a team of personality testing experts, I developed the Recession Survival Quiz that gives you a glimpse of your Survivor Type and matches you with top business leaders who share your strengths. The free and fast quiz also points you to some of the best resources and guides on the Web for dealing with unemployment, credit and debt problems, and other financial challenges.
Follow Ben Sherwood on Twitter: www.twitter.com/survivorsclub
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If you're in the mood for post-apocalyptical entertainment, there's the scifi novel "Dies the Fire" by S.M. Stirling. In this novel, survival depends on keeping a level head, being loyal to friends, working cooperatively and having weird but useful hobbies.
If all else fails I know how to knit socks, starting with a raw fleece.
Does the experience of the Depression last only two generations? Will a more sustainable way of life emerge from this? Or will people splurge again when the stock market rises to 10,000 and they have a job? Forced Sustainability may be a contradiction in terms. Working class grandparents should be our role models.
It is the nature of Humans to never learn from their mistakes. Give it a generation or two and they will repeat this whole thing. Look at the situation we are in in Iraq and Afghanistan. Did we learn anything from Vietnam or Korea, No. The only thing our Generals learned is that they didn't want to be saddled with the title of "Loser", so this time they aim to see to it that we spend an additional 10 years at it until we wear the enemy down or kill all of the civilians so that there is no more resistance. Then we can truly consider ourselves winners. That's the way the Army thinks. Even if we got out of Iraq tomorrow, You can bet your bottom dollar ten years from now they would get us into yet another debacle,
Unlimited potential. If you know what you are doing you might get other investors that can build the parts you need cheaper than what the big 3 charge. They seem to be trying to make extra money on the parts.
Not easy but it can be done. Just need cooperation, a business plan and some startup capital. do not got to the bank. There are plenty of investor still around. Look for those that have financed IPOs
Eating an elephant? What a gruesome analogy! I don't think so, whether it's small bites or big. Elephants have gotta live too!
My husband was laid off a few weeks ago and with an income that barely qualified us as middle class we are now in the thick of this recession. With unemployment benefits that will cjust barelyover our mortage and bills we are unable to afford Cobra benefits. Hopefully we will be able to get some catastrophic policy to hold us over til one of us can find a job with bennies-ie Health Coverage.
Thanks again to Ben and to the posters who were able to find some encouragement and hope to contribute. A breath of fresh air indeed.
I just read a book called America In Focus: The Stunning View Through A Two-Way Mirror, Robert j. Burgess - excellent material for any decision maker. It is a portrait of our society as seen through thousands of focus group participants.
The author talks about a concept called MBC - management by chaos - reacting to crisis in an irrational manner. Companies have foregone actual research to understand their customers to jumping and reacting to the short term. So your profits are sinking - so your automatic response is layoff personnel - to save your bottom line. Wouldn't it make more sense to keep an economy viable by infusing money into it? The unemployed typically spend less.
This current situation was very predictive - if you read the book you will see what I mean as our outlook on life has been to get ahead no matter what the cost. Well now we are all paying.
I have had the privilege of living in another country for many years, one where there was always less- yet the people remained in a state of Grace, never missing what that never had. They had close community ties, deep family connections and could find happiness in the simplest of things.
I must say with shame that being in American again has made those impressions fade to a blurr. I am worried about how low the stock market will fall (6000?) and if my new car warranty will be honored once GM lowers the final boom on Saab. Foolish, indeed, but I am hugging my monsters and they keep on biting back.
If I had less than ten years to retire, I would have changed my strategy, and I feel bad for those who weren't able to act quickly enough. But if you're more than 15 years away from your retirement, you may want to hold on to your IRA's and 401(k)'s. You may wind up reaping a HUGE benefit when the economy recovers.