Learn To Duck

Times are downright weird, that is undebatable. If you have a nice secure job that you love (okay, love may be too strong a word, let's try 'find tolerable', instead), count yourself lucky and hang on for dear life. But, trust me, I know from hard earned personal experience, that nothing is secure. That is just how the World is, and things are especially shaky now.

So, the smart and practical person learn how to duck. When trouble rears its head, you need to be ready to move quickly. There are a few things you can do.

First and most important, relax. If you are all uptight, your vision and reflexes will not be at their best. It is easy to freeze when the unexpected arises and you cannot afford to waste time. Just remember, you are smart and like a cat jumping from a tree, you will land on your feet, if you do not tense up.

Second, try, try very hard, to keep caught up on your bills. Nothing is worse than having troubles when you are deep in debt. Stay away from credit, pay down your car and house as quickly as possible. You do not have to live like a monk, but do try to avoid most unnecessary expenditures.

Third, if possible, find a way to bring in some extra money and put that away. Even a few hours a week helps. If you do not want a part time job working for someone else, start something of your own. Use your imagination, If you like to write, try your hand at that. If you like gardening, open a small business doing that. Clean houses, deliver newspapers, deliver phone books (I made some much needed money doing that one summer and it wasn't bad), anything. Again, you need not work 24/7 but those few extra dollars help. And, that part time work leads me to point  four.

Fourth, whatever you are doing, learn to do something else. The economy is changing rapidly and a field that had many job openings one year, may have none the next. Learn to be flexible. You can never have too many job skills and being able to work in any of several fields gives you a better chance of staying employed.

Eventually, in everyone's life, there comes a point when the crap hits the fan. The smart, practical person is always ready to duck.