What's Next?

I, like most people, dream of starting my own business but it's difficult for me to plan for it when I'm busy working. All of my time and energy is focused on my work and I have very little desire left to focus on building a business. I like what I do, I'm good doing it and it's comfortable. It is easier for me to work than it is to start my own business.

“When one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us."
-Alexander Graham Bell

Many have lost their jobs due to this Pandemic/lock-down but there's some good that can come out of this. Now can be a good time to sit down and think about your next big life move. Did you ever want to start your own business? Change careers? Improve upon your existing skills? Use this lock-down as an opportunity to plan your next move. Prepare yourself to hit the ground running when this is all over.

Many of you will simply waste all of this time and wait until it's all over to get back on the same horse you didn't like to be on in the first place. If you have a desire for a better life, after this is all over, then use this time to your advantage.

Fight back! The decision is yours...

The Pandemic is Going to Hurt The Economy

The Lock-down is a necessary evil and it's great that Governments all over the world are providing financial assistance to businesses as well as those that have lost their jobs due to the pandemic/lock-down. We have to remember, however, that nothing coming from the Government is free. In this case, the Government really is just taking money from your left pocket and putting it in your right pocket - eventually we'll have to pay for all of this.

This is going to hurt no matter how we look at it. There's no way we can shut down everything and expect that our normal way of life can be maintained. At one point or another it'll fall apart and the question then will be "what do we do now?"
In the U.S. President Trump is already asking this question. His party is planning on stopping the lock-down, likely partially, in order to not loose out on the economy.

This isn't a question of money as much as it is a question about trying to maintain the type of society we've built up to this point. What should we do when the cure becomes worse than the problem? What should we do when the cure is just as threatening to our way of life than the problem is?

What we should do is choose the lesser of two evils. Right now, the pandemic is the lesser evil hence why we went with the lock-down but the pandemic will not be the lesser evil for ever. What will we do then?

Learning Outside of Careers

The average life expectancy is 75 years old and I don't know about you but life seems to go by faster the older you get. There's more to life than just to live. Knowing this, I would consider it a great shame to die with the only knowledge being that of my chosen career path. There's simply more to life than whatever we are learning in our careers.

It's been said that it takes 10 000 hours to master anything. Whether or not this is true is irrelevant for this discussion. What we need to keep in mine is that we only have a set amount of hours that we can dedicate to our activities as well as our learning endeavors. This means that we won't be able to master everything.
If you're like me, and wish to learn all that you can before dying, then where do you even start? Which book? Which audio? Which video? The answer is quite simple: Get the information directly from the experts.

"Listen to those with the fruit on the tree". -Ripencil.com

You may not be a philosopher but there are many that are/were.
You may not be a economist but there are many that are/were.
You may not be a carpenter but there are many that are/were.
You may not be a mechanic.... (you got the point?)

We're decades into the information age now. This means that the information is out there for who ever wants it. We can pretty much learn everything that we want from the devices we carry in our pockets. There's no excuse so get to it!

It's A Pandemic - Stay Home!

"It is not the most intellectual of the species that survives; it is not the strongest that survives; but the species that survives is the one that is able to adapt to and to adjust best to the changing environment in which it finds itself..."
-Charles Darwin in his “Origin of Species” book.

There's a difference between courage and stupidity and we're seeing this first hand with the blatant disregard of public safety some people are exhibiting by not altering their daily activities following the pandemic state of the Covid-19/Coronavirus. We have to keep in mind that this Pandemic started with one person.

Even though you're not afraid it doesn't mean that you, or the people that you come in contact with, are immune to the disease.
Even though you're not at risk of dying it doesn't mean that the people you come in contact with won't die.
Even though you live somewhere that doesn't have many infected it doesn't mean that it won't change rapidly.

I saw a funny, but true, comment on Facebook that said "Your grandparents were called to war. You're being called to sit on your couch. You can do this."

We'll make it through the Pandemic but the amount of death will largely be determined by how many people are able to adapt to the quarantine restrictions. We're past the point where we can simply wash our hands and call it a day. We need to separate ourselves from the masses, as much as possible, and follow the guidelines put in place by our respective Government.

The question isn't whether or not we'll get through this, because we will, the question is will it be 50,000 deaths or will it be 1 million? We all need to do our part in order to contain this as much as possible and It starts with you!

The Sales Traps

Always be careful with people that benefits from having you think a certain way. I have a friend who worked for "Dealership A" and every time I would talk to him he would tell me how good cars from "Dealership A" were and how better the brand of "Dealership A" were superior than other brands. 5 years into his selling careers with "Dealership A", my friend decided to switch over to "Dealership B" and when I talk to him now all the positive things that he used to say about "Dealership A" is now being said of "Dealership B".

Good salesmen believe in the product that they are selling no matter if the product is actually good or not. Salesmen benefits in having you believe certain things about the product that they are selling. This statement is true for any field where salesmen are involved.

This isn't good or bad but it is something to keep in mind when you are in the market for something. Before buying anything be sure to do your own research rather than take whatever the salesmen are telling you face to face.

Another example of this is when buying a house. Is a house a good investment? If you ask a financial adviser, a financial adviser IS a loan/insurance/investment salesman, he'll tell you that it's a great investment when the reality of it is that it's not as good of an investment as the financial adviser is telling you that it is. If you want to make it a good investment then you have to do your research.
It is a GREAT investment for who ever is giving you the loan because if you stop paying the loan they get to take the home away from you - they never loose.
You, on the other hand, can loose much if you consider that the value of the house fluctuates (2008/2009 was an especially troubled time for the house market) and that you have to pay for the upkeep of it. In the best of circumstances, you can make a profit from selling but it's often not as good as you would think when you factor in the upkeep cost.
Most people don't do market research when buying a house because they either want to just own a place to live in or because they wrongly assume that the house they bought will always go up in value.

When your money is involved you can't be too careful. Remember to be careful with those that benefit from having you think a certain way. If you do your research you'll realize that not everything that salesmen support are actually good and that you're the one loosing as a result.