Blog Post: Dispelling Fear in Troubled Times

Few people would dispute that both the nation and the world is in a bit of a mess right now.  We are clearly in middle of somewhat of a financial crisis.  While this is indisputable, there are a few things that we should take a look at to both give this perspective and end it more rapidly.  I want to make clear that I am not, here, making any political statement.  If you care to read a political statement into the things I am saying, please be aware that it is completely your interpretation and not my intention.

The media and certain politicians thrive on fear.  By generating fear the media generates sales.  There is a saying in the visual media (TV) “If it bleeds, it leads.”  Things that are negative, bloody, disgusting or outrageous generate ratings or, in the print media, sales.  High ratings mean greater advertising dollars.  Scared people also watch the news, buy papers, and become glued to the self-proclaimed pundits on CNN, MSNBC, Fox, etc.  These pundits generate more fear which, of course, generates more ratings and generates more advertising dollars.

But the good news is that you do not have to be victims of the media or the politicians.  You have a brain and a choice.  Warren Buffet has written a great op-ed in The New York Times where he indicates that his policy is to be careful when others are greedy and be greedy when others are fearful.  The fact is that America has weathered far worse than this crisis and come out on top.  We will do so again.  But we, as American citizens, must keep the fear at bay and make our decisions based, not on the media and political drum beat, but good solid common sense and good business principles.  Here are a few suggestions I have for keeping the fear at bay and living our lives.

1).  Turn off the television news.  The “talking heads” have a job to do.  Their job is not to give unbiased information.  Their job is to raise ratings.  Turn them off.  They will upset you and you won’t learn anything new since these people go over and over the same thing again and again, interviewing self-proclaimed “experts” and one another.  There is very little value in one talking head talking to another.  Switch them off and watch something that will entertain you, read a good book, go for a walk, have a talk with your spouse and/or kids.  These things have lasting value.  The TV news is just so much hot air.

2).  Turn off the pundits.  Rush Limbaugh, Bill O’Reilly, and others on both the right and left are there to make you fearful and angry.  These negative emotions cloud your judgment and interfere with your life, adding nothing, again, to your stock of information.

3).  Turn off National Public Radio.  Anyone who thinks that NPR is non-commercial needs a check-up from the neck-up.   In order to stay in business they, like every other media outlet, must run gloom and doom stories.  NPR these days is depressing and not much more.

4).  Get involved in your community.  Nothing will make you feel better more rapidly than serving others.  Get out and volunteer in your community and give back.  Many people could use your skills, time and talents.

5).  Take everything with a grain of salt.  Few people actually know what is really going on and they’re not telling us.  Neither the government nor the media has any incentive to tell us the whole story — and they don’t.  Adopt a “we’ll see” attitude before you get too upset.

6).  Don’t make any hasty or fear-based decisions.  Putting your money in your mattress is a very bad idea right now.  It not only makes for a lumpy mattress, but the inflation which usually follows a government printing money will make it worth less and less every day.  Historically the stock market has tended up.  If your money is in solid stocks with solid companies — leave it there.  Leave the money you have in CDs and in banks right where it is.  This isn’t 1929 and neither the current administration nor the next administration, no matter who it is, has any intention of a wholesale bank failure being allowed to happen.  Relax.  Be at peace.  Wait it out.  This too will pass.

For what it is worth, these are my pearls of wisdom.  If you have been hit hard by this by losing your job, please write me at jheckers@heckersdevgroup.com or call me at 720.581.4301 and I’ll try to help.  In the meantime, keep a stiff upper lip and your chin up and have the faith that this is a minor bump in the road of the world’s strongest economy.  Those who are wise and calm will come out of this stronger and more financially secure than before.

John Heckers, MA, CPC, BCPC is a Transition Coach and Executive Coach in Cherry Creek, Colorado .  He welcomes your calls at 720.581.4301 and your emails at jheckers@heckersdevgroup.com.  His website is www.heckersdevgroup.com.  John Heckers answers all personal emails that are sent to him (but deletes all spam!).  Please read my blog this month on "Leadership in Uncertain Times" at http://ceoskillscorner.blogspot.com, and my other blog at http://employmentskills.blogspot.com and http://executiveexpert.blogspot.com.