The American Spectator

Another Perspective

Mental Survival 2009

By Barron Thomas on 3.24.09 @ 6:06AM

If you can't sleep at night, or you're worried sick about your life, I promise that you will be very glad you read this.

It's not about what's hot in real estate right now or what investment is about to melt down.

It's about you.

This article will give your peace back to you, and let you to clearly see your future.

If you've read my earlier pieces in The American Spectator and note the dates on them, you will see that I called in advance the real estate meltdown and the Wall Street fiasco. Having called these events in advance is not important right now except to give authority to my next recommendation which is:

How to Survive All This.

How to navigate the present circumstances and come out stronger and more successful.

I am deeply troubled by the epidemic of gifted and talented people being absolutely frozen in panic and fear today about the economy and their lives.

Many people, especially 30 and 40-somethings, are to the point they can barely function or perform to their normal high levels of excellence, and their home lives are starting to suffer over their fear and insecurities of what's going on with the economy.

This is horribly wrong and dangerous to the individuals involved and to the country as a whole. America depends on the productivity and creativity of its brightest citizens, and will desperately need this productivity and creativity to come out of this. .

I know how the secret to surviving a recession or even a depression and I'm going to share it with you.

If you are accustomed to wearing Prada, driving a new car, vacationing in cool spots and sending your kids to private school, you're probably terrified that it may be all over.

It isn't.

You will get through this, but you will need a road map. Here it is:

My steps are so simple that you may forget them or skip over them, but others will keep this column and email it to their friends.

1. As the subtitle suggests, the solution to this crisis is in your pocket.

Since everyone loves a good mystery, I will let you guess a bit, but trust me, the subhead is correct. You'll see shortly, so keep reading.

2. Rest.

The biggest enemy of accomplishment and success is fatigue.

Fatigue is the evil that exacerbates mental and financial worries and hopelessness.

Everyone I see today is literally exhausted from work or fear, or both. It is essential for your survival and your future success to be well rested so you can capture every opportunity that crosses your path, and to be rested enough that you can eagerly chase an opportunity down the block, tackle it, and make it yours!

Rest doesn't mean skimping on your duties or workload right now. It means turn off the TV, turn off the Internet, go outside, or take a walk. Observe nature. Look at the stars. Sit on a park bench. Just allow your mind to relax for 5 minutes. The financial and therapeutic benefits of these simple steps are incalculable. On the weekend, get away from your office, your desk, the household chores. and be good to yourself. Have a banana split. Go to the zoo. Or dog park. Animals and nature soothe the soul so you can come back and hit the baseballs out of the ballpark.

Rest means being good to yourself and keeping yourself up for the journey of success, which can also mean also not becoming dependent or over-indulging in pills, liquor, or tranquilizers. I understand if you are trying to cope and I don't fault you, but you must know the long-term effects of this may deprive you of your financial comeback.

Is there a better way to cope?

Family or group activities, plus the information in the first and last paragraph of this article, combined with rest, will take off the edge of your worries and will be a healthier "medicine" for you. It works.

3. In your work, serve more and sell less.

If you still have a job, hang onto it. Work a bit harder. Stay a bit later. Make everything you do as cheerful and efficient and profitable for your employer. If layoffs do occur, will management keep the sullen and depressed worker? The barely get-by slacker? Or the go-getter that absolutely keeps the wheels of the organization happily spinning?

Keep your clients by providing even better service at the most competitive and affordable prices so that if your client must cut costs, he won't cut you.

Are you making sure you are serving your clients to your absolute best ability? Making it easy and convenient to buy from you? If you don't follow these steps, your competitor will and good-bye client. Better, friendlier customer service wins.

4. Switch gears. Re-invent yourself.

Are you over 50 and think you can't learn a new trade or occupation?

Baloney.

Fifty is the new 30 (yes, I like to keep reminding myself of that, but it's true).

Your old job may disappear, so be nimble and smart and ready to learn a new trade. Who is hiring right now? Where are they located? Yes, you may need to move to another city, but in the 1950s and 1960s, people moved to new cities all the time for work opportunities. Are you hirable? By this I mean, are you neat and tidy in your appearance? Up to par on your people skills? Are you friendly and cordial and eager to help?

Fifty-year-old workers have a huge advantage over the twenty-something job applicant.

Fifty-year-olds know how the world works and how to compete for a job. Fifty-year-old workers know how to please people and provide customer service. Twenty-somethings just don't have the real world experience yet and employers that are looking for maximum productivity realize the value of an employee that already knows the ropes and has good people and job skills.

Re-invent yourself.

Even in this economy, things wear out and must be repaired or replaced. Can you learn to fix things? What useful subject or need can you tutor or advise people about?

It's up to you to search out where help is needed. Your job security is fitting yourself into solving someone else's needs or problems.

5. Trust God.

This is the simplest and most powerful step to resurrecting yourself and surviving.

You may have been an incredibly powerful person and lived at a very prestige address and hung out with incredibly important people, so this step may be a little harder, but it works.

This isn't a sermon. It's all about keeping you confident and feeling secure and navigating today's uncertainties.

You may be moderately spiritual or not at all. You may vaguely remember sitting in church as a child, or you may be sitting on the front row every Sunday, but if your life isn't working the way you want it to, you might re-visit this area right away and coto a personal relationship with God.

God does not magically order wire transfers into your account, but He gives you a sense of security and peace that you are loved and protected. And that you will always be fed and sheltered. I can't tell you the exact calculus of how it works, but it does.

Maybe it's getting you calmed down and at peace, so that a million dollar idea can pop into your head.

Maybe it's having you miss your airline connection so that you magically run into a former employer that desperately needs to hire you back. Maybe it's a text message or fax that shows up from a client that you'd given up on.

In my entire career, I have never seen anyone fail who truly embraces God in their daily life.

I promise you that this will work for you and you will gain a sense of security and peace.

Opportunities will come, either as ideas or actual jobs that keep you afloat. It may be in a different job or city, but you will survive and get through this and thrive once again.

The part about the answer in your pocket?

Have you guessed? It's written on a $1 bill .

"In God We Trust"

It works.

I promise.

Letter to the Editor