The Next Recession is Coming
We were having a good discussion in the What’s Next Mastermind Group about the next recession. Some people were getting freaked out but the reality is no one really knows when the next recession will happen. We know it will eventually get here.
It always comes.
It is very easy to create a catastrophic story in our heads that this next recession will be like the 2007-2009 great recession.
Do not go there.
Turn off the news and calm down. You might consider ordering a crystal ball from Amazon to predict the future but I have found they are always on backorder.
If you have not already started to prepare now is a good time to start.
This is all about your fitness to weather difficult situations. I will break this down into 4 areas of fitness:
- Career
- Financial
- Physical
- Spiritual
If you get fit in these 4 areas you can weather the next recession.
Career Fitness
Have you been networking? If have not, you need to develop a plan to get back out there to network. If you are reading this post you are very likely over the age of 50 and belong to the group that during the recession was most likely to have isolated themselves.
Check out my post Are you Nervous about Networking After COVID-19? Here are some tips.
Listen to the most recent episode
It is very likely that your network aged out on you during the pandemic, i.e. the people who have helped you in your career have either retired, are no longer in a position to help or they have died. You will need to reinvigorate and engage your network to be ready when the next recession comes.
Similarly, are you on top of the changes that have occurred in your industry due to the pandemic?
I suggest you set up google alerts to automatically find how your industry is being disrupted. If you need help with this check out my post 5 Examples to Research Industry Disruption to Safeguard Your Career.
Financial Fitness
Anyone who lived through the great recession knows that preparing yourself financially is key.
Do you have an emergency fund with at least 6 months of living expenses set aside? After living through the last couple of years of the pandemic, I would suggest you increase that to 12 months at a minimum.
Are you using a fiduciary-based financial advisor? The number one thing that a good financial advisor provides is keeping you from acting emotionally when the markets turn downward. I have so many friends in the last couple of decades who have made emotional responses to the markets that they would later regret.
Do you have a budget? Do you know where you are spending your money? The one thing that the pandemic taught us is we can live with a lot less.
Physical Fitness
This should be obvious but if you are physically fit or at least physically active, your overall health improves.
Depression runs throughout my family. I have found that exercise is my #1 treatment for preventing depression and should I slip into a depressive state, it helps me to get out of it.
You do not need a fancy gym membership. Just getting out and walking every day. Use any one of the many fitness apps to make sure you are getting your 10,000 steps a day.
I use time blocking to make sure I have time to exercise. I specifically schedule time on my calendar to get on my bicycle. Similarly, I have time blocked off for yoga. I am a former runner and yoga is very difficult for me. I found a group I can do yoga with that expects me to show up every time.
Spiritual Fitness
This section is not about religion but it is about being spiritual. I will say it is important to have your head on straight.
I have had Thom Singer on my podcast multiple times during the podcast. My favorite episode was Learning how to Adapt and Get Scrappy with Your Career with Thom Singer. Thom discussed that he started to study Buddhism right before the pandemic and he took up meditating every day.
When his public speaking business evaporated for three days in February of 2020, he was able to hold it together emotionally to plot a path forward. He had already put down the foundation to take care of himself emotionally before the pandemic struck.
I personally use the system from the book Positive Intelligence to help me manage my spiritual and emotional life.
You need to find what works for you but preparing your own spiritual fitness will prove valuable when the next recession comes, whenever that might be.
Framework
I hope this provides a framework that you can start to work on. Start with just one area and establish some patterns. Once you feel comfortable in one area move to the next.
This framework is loosely based on Kerry Hannon’s fitness program where Kerry discusses how to achieve success in the podcast episode Control at 50+: How to Succeed in the New World of Work with Kerry Hannon.
Remember this is just a framework. I would suggest you make this your own.
Which fitness area will you start on first?
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