Even in Tough Times, Life Is Largely About Acting on the Clues and Not Missing the Cues

A reader writes succinctly, "I've lost my job and I'm not having any luck looking for something else. What would you suggest?

It's been awhile since I've been in your shoes, but I've been there. Fortunately for my family and me, economic realities were much different then. But the feelings my wife and I had when we got down to our last five dollars with a new baby due in two months and no employment were probably not all that different from what you are feeling. I'm so very sorry that this has happened to you and so many others.

However, I realize that such condolences and $5 plus tax will get you a foot-long tuna at Subway, so having written those thoughts, I have decided simply to unleashed my fingers in free association, hoping that they'll finger something in my sub-conscious that will be helpful to you.

Here goes:


Your question is about how to survive in today’s tough new world.

What’s tough about it?

It keeps moving, changing shape, substituting things you don’t know about for things you do.

What DO you know?

You know what you’ve tried and found to not work.

What else can you try?

In the short run opt for anything that seems to work with whatever you can bring it.

And in the long run, look for something that feels right even though you can’t immediately bring it anything much that seems to work.

What if you seem to have run out of time?

Get lean and circle up to protect yourself.

And after that?

Experiment like crazy, looking first for things that are likely to produce resources for you.

And, after that?

See if you can find some allies who know something or someone who can use those resources?

And after that?

Tell the world about you and your resources using the new media. (It’s nearly free, it’s adaptable, it's scalable, and it's often exponential in its multiplier effects!)

And if this doesn’t work?

Get leaner still and do it all over.

And what should you do differently this time?

Learn more about how to use what you learned in the first run-through by searching the heck out of your area(s) of interest on the Web. (“It’s nearly free, it's adaptable, etc., etc., etc.)

And if this doesn’t work?

Make some money any way you can honorably do so.

What do you need to be careful of?

• People who promise they can show you how to make quick and easy money. (They nearly always want to sell you what they claim to know but will eventually ignore you.)

• Committing too much of your limited reserves/resources before you have a good sense of what you are seeking to do, where you need to go, how best to apply what you are learning.

• Not paying attention to what can go wrong ... what seems too good to be true ... what’s changing in the world even as you are seeking to adapt to what’s changing in the world.

• Acting on someone else’s enthusiasm without evaluating why it may be misplaced.

• Acting on your own enthusiasm without evaluating why it may be misplaced. (Sleeping on an idea is usually a great idea.)

What if you simply can’t find a way to do something different and make it work, and you lose everything?

Well, let it go peaceably and don't look back.

Figure out what’s the best thing to do with the few possessions and the relationships you have left to leverage, and start from scratch. You'll know a lot by then about what you are really like at your core.

What if your brain chemicals don't want to cooperate?

Get professional help if it is available and accessible. Talk to people you trust if you can't. Find others like you so the little kid inside you understands that this burden isn't yours alone. And, always, stay active, keep moving, keep trying different things.

What if you end up losing your house, your car, other things that you prized so much when you acquired them?

Think about what happens to people in horrendous disasters—floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, fires. Yours are probably not the worst of possible circumstances, even yet.

What if your spouse leaves you because you can't find any traction?

If you’ve been open and honest with her/him about what’s happening and have let them be a part of all this and they choose to leave, then you have to ask: Were they the right partner for you to begin with?

What if you have to declare bankruptcy?

Well, get all the good free advise you can about how to do it in a way that offers you every protection of the law.

Meanwhile, just keep moving, keep learning, stay hopeful. Because this too shall pass.

Even in the tough times, or maybe especially in tough times, life is mostly about not missing the cues and about acting on the clues.

Best wishes to you (and to us all)! And, good luck!