Perspective in Tough Financial Times

This clip has been floating around YouTube for several years now. It’s called The Miniature Earth and it puts things into perspective. Especially during a week in which the US is about to increased its debt by about one trillion dollars, it important to not get caught up in watching the news on a 24/7 basis waiting for the next shoe to drop. It’s also very important not to allow it to cause you to enter a survival mode and overreact to what is going on around the country.

One of the things many people allow to happen to themselves is to enter a state where the worry about the something, in which they really have no control, takes control of their life. If the stress and worry are high enough and stay long enough, usually what I see is that they do get “poor”…in health!

In a situation like this, I always feel the best steps are as follows:

1. Wake in the morning and be grateful for all that you do have.
2. Know fully your talents and skills and how you can best make use of them.
3. Be informed, but not inundated, with the current happenings.
4. Understand the difference between your circle of influence, circle of concern, and what lies outside of both of them. (Covey, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People)
5. Take informed and specific actions to leverage yourself to be in the best position you can be.
6. Evaluate with long-term vision in mind.
7. Be grateful (again) that you have the abilities to do any and all of this!

If this seems too simplistic or way too complex…start by enjoying the YouTube clip and see if you can move yourself through step one. What do you have to lose?…besides your worry!