WAKING FROM THE COVID-19 NIGHTMARE – BETTER, RICHER AND SMARTER!
Successful people have much more than talent. They have a drive to continuously learn new things and strengthen themselves. As we come out of this COVID-19 nightmare, your ability to add new skills and competencies will be SUPER important, because there will be fewer jobs.
JOBS HAVE AND WILL BE PERMANENTLY ELIMINATED
- Ten to twenty percent of restaurants will simply not reopen. When restaurants do reopen with social distancing as the new norm, there will be fewer tables, customers, employees and revenue. A large percentage will not be profitable.
- Several hotels have been permanently shuttered. The return to business and vacation travel to pre virus levels will take months and probably years. So those establishments will need fewer staff and many will NOT survive.
- Nieman Marcus Stores declared bankruptcy. All the major department stores: Sears, Macy’s, J C Penney’s, etc. are at risk of bankruptcy, eliminating hundreds of thousands of jobs.
- A large percentage of the energy fracking companies will NOT survive at current oil prices. Several fracking firms have entered bankruptcy. The major oil and gas companies such as Exxon, BP, Shell, etc. have started cutting cost by:
- Significant cuts in capital expenditures.
- Eliminating equipment orders and tens of thousands of contractor’s jobs.
- Hiring freezes for 2020 going into 2021, making it more difficult for newly graduated petroleum, chemical, mechanical, etc. engineers to find employment.
- Layoffs and buy-outs of current employees.
- Cut dividends payments reducing the income that many seniors depend on and shop with.
- Companies will be installing robotics at a faster clip in fast food, warehouses and other businesses, eliminating hundreds of thousands maybe millions of U. S. jobs.
STOP FEELING SORRY FOR YOURSELF AND INVEST IN YOURSELF!
Take some time to build a new skill that will make you healthier, better at your job, prepared for a new career/business, richer and smarter. Warren Buffett credits this rule as his key to success: “by going to bed a little smarter each day”. Before the March 2020, stock market decline his net worth was north of $80 Billion. Buffett believes the mind is the most powerful weapon to be successful in business. Warren Buffett continuous to daily exercise a mind that many say is the best mind in the investment world!
Mr. Buffett’s SOLUTIONS for continuous improvement that you can put to work during this COVID-19 Nightmare!
1. READ LIKE IT’S 1999!
Most days, Buffett reads eight or more hours a day! Typically, he spends 80% of his day reading and normally reads 500 or more pages each day. I love to read, but I cannot read 500 pages a day! Rather than 500 pages per day, most of us can fit in 15 or 20 pages a day. Set a challenge for yourself how many pages you can read and comprehend each day or week. Start as small as you wish and continue to grow the number of pages.
I recognize some of you do not like to read. You can find almost any materials for self-improvement in audio or video format. One source I utilize: The Great Courses: https://www.thegreatcoursesplus.com
2. IF YOU DO NOT INVEST IN YOUR DEVELOPMENT, WHO WILL?
“The most important investment you can make is in yourself,” Buffett is known for saying. That includes choosing the right education, training, and professional development to propel you forward in life and business. Buffett invested in improving his capacity to communicate better at an early age, which he says made him succesful. “One easy way to become worth 50 percent more than you are now at least is to hone your communication skills — both written and verbal”. Buffett was so terrified of public speaking he enlisted in a Dale Carnegie course to overcome his fear. “If I hadn’t done that,” says Buffett, “my whole life would be different. It was this new competency that helped him ask his wife out on their first date!
In his office, you won’t see any of his degrees hanging on the wall from the University of Nebraska and Columbia University. But you will see that one award certificate he got from the Dale Carnegie course. https://www.dalecarnegie.com/en/courses-v2/4311
Buffett on Public Speaking – Dale Carnegie Training
3. INVESTING IN SELF!
My continuous improvement path: BS Biological and Life Sciences; BS Chemical Engineering: Two professional certifications; Dale Carnegie Public Speaking; MBA; 3rd Professional Certification; Harvard – Advanced Management; Board of Directors – Virginia Technical University; Toast Masters Public Speaking; Attended ~100+ professional development workshops during my career. I did not accomplish the above because I like to work! I did it to improve myself and to better take care of the people I love. I made the decision to continuously learn and improve.
I like Warren Buffett, spent significant time improving one the most valuable skill I have – Public Speaking. I read that many people are more afraid of public speaking than death. That is one of the dumbest things I have read. Let me get this straight. I have two choices: A. You shoot me. B. I go and do stand-up comedy on open mike. I guarantee you, that might be the most pathetic stand-up act you have seen, but I will be standing up!
I strongly recommend you use whatever additional free time you have now to INVEST IN YOU! As I am still investing in ME!
4. SURROUND YOURSELF WITH WINNERS!
One summer after graduating from Columbia University, Buffett had to fulfill his obligation to the National Guard and attend training camp for a few weeks. That experience taught him one incredible lesson: hang around people who are better than you. Buffett said, “To fit in, all you had to do was be willing to read comic books. About an hour after I got there, I was reading comic books. Everybody else was reading comic books, why shouldn’t I? My vocabulary shrank to about four words, and you can guess what they were.” Buffett learned that “it pays to hang around with people better than you are because you will float upward.” On the flip side, if you hang around with people that behave worse than you, “pretty soon you’ll start sliding down the pole. It just works that way,” says Buffett.
The people you choose to be around truly DO MATTER for career progression AND MORE IMPORTANTLY YOUR LIFE!. When you choose to surround yourself with better and smarter individuals and learn from their success habits, you absorb their knowledge and become better and smarter.
Do the opposite — spend time with procrastinators, complainers, and pessimists — and over time you’ll become like them, severely limiting your success.
IMPROVE YOURSELF – learn from the past, focus on the present and prepare for the future.
CONCLUSION
The only people who never face roadblocks and obstacles are the ones not trying to improve self. Michael Jordan “If you’re trying to achieve, there will be roadblocks. I’ve had them; everyone has had them. But obstacles don’t have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don’t turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it.”
YOU MUST COME OUT OF THIS COVID-19 NIGHTMARE WITH MORE SKILLS AND COMPETENCIES THAT WILL MAKE YOUR DREAMS REALITY!
ACTIONS TO ACHIEVE SUCESS
- READ LIKE CRAZY. Designate one hour a day to self-improvement. I have studied stock option trading for hundreds of hours in 2020. And I am getting better!
- INVEST IN YOUR DEVELOPMENT – What new skills do you need to start your own business or to get that next promotion? Take the time and invest in yourself.
- SURROUND YOURSELF WITH SMART PEOPLE – I have two family members just as different as the NAACP and the Klan. One associates with fools, idiots and criminals. The other, since a young age has surrounded himself with people he sees as smarter, role models and mentors. The family member who sought smarter people, is today a role model and VERY successful. My Mom taught me if you have nothing good to say, don’t say it. So, let’s not discuss my other family member!
The Choice is Yours. You can use the extra time COVID-19 has provided wisely and IMPROVE. Or be content with where you are today. If you are NOT content and want to start a new business, grow your existing business, become the CEO, become the President of the United States, etc. then GET READY, GET SET, GO!
“MY WAY”
Today I leave you with one of my favorite songs, “MY WAY” that reminds me of life’s ups and downs. Everyone fails, the winners always get up, reinvent themselves and move on to bigger wins! People like Muhammad Ali, Frank Sinatra, Steve Jobs, and so many more.
I included the You-Tube video and the lyrics to: “My Way”:
LYRICS – MY WAY
And now, the end is near
And so I face the final curtain
My friend, I’ll make it clear
I’ll state my case, of which I am certain
I’ve lived a life that’s full
I traveled each and every highway
And more, much more
I did it, I did it my way
Regrets, I’ve had a few
But then again, too few to mention
I did what I had to do
And saw it through without exemption
I planned each charted course
Each careful step along the byway
And more, much, much more
I did it, I did it my way
Yes, there were times, I’m sure you knew
When I bit off more than I could chew
And through it all, whenever there was doubt
I ate it up and spit it out
I faced it all and I stood tall
And did it, did it my way
I’ve loved, laughed and cried
I’ve had my fill my share of losing
And now, as tears subside
I find that it’s all so amusing
And to think I did all that
And may I say not in a shy way
No, no, not me
I did it my way
For what is a man, what has he got
If not himself, then he has naught
Not to say the things that he truly feels
And not the words of someone who kneels
The record shows I took all the blows
And did it my way
Thank you to all the “Essential Workers” who go to work to keep this country running. Our brave and terrific health care workers, Police, Fire, EMT’s; the employees we used to ignore at the grocery, drug stores, Walmart’s, Target, etc. The employees who produce our food, where so many have become ill with COVID-19 and some have lost their lives.
To all the families who lost a loved one to this virus, I send my sincere condolences and prayers.
{CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS CORONAVIRUS BLOGS}
HOW TO MANAGE CORONAVIRUS HEALTH AND INVESTMENT RISK – MARCH 2, 2020
WHEN THE U. S. HAS A COUGH THE REST OF THE WORLD CATCHES A COLD – WHAT HAPPENS WHEN CHINA HAS A CORONAVIRUS? – MARCH 9, 2020
PANICKING WILL NOT ERADICATE THE CORONAVIRUS PROBLEMS – MARCH 16, 2020
https://wealthbuildingpowers.com/2020/03/16/panicking-will-not-eradicate-the-coronavirus-problems/
WHEN FEAR RUNS HIGH, THE NEED FOR COURAGE MUST RUN HIGHER! – MARCH 23, 2020
THERE IS ONE THING WE CAN ALL DO TO HELP SOME OF OUR TRUE HEROES – MARCH 30, 2020
A CALIBRATED LIFTING OF THE CORONAVIRUS EMERGENCY SHUTDOWN – APRIL 6, 2020 100
THE S&P 500 REBOUNDED 25% IN THREE WEEKS – BUT THE WORSE MAY NOT BE OVER APRIL 13, 2020
THE S&P 500 REBOUNDED 25% IN THREE WEEKS – BUT THE WORSE MAY NOT BE OVER
COVID-19 HAS KILLED NUMEROUS “ESSENTIAL WORKERS” – AMERICA’S EMPLOYEES ARE NOT DISPOSABLE! APRIL 20, 2020
COVID-19 HAS KILLED NUMEROUS “ESSENTIAL WORKERS” – AMERICA’S EMPLOYEES ARE NOT DISPOSABLE!
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ABOUT ME
I am a proud nerd (as my beautiful wife and daughter have told me) investment and finance blogger, with a NC State, Chemical Engineering, University Rutgers, MBA and Harvard University, Advanced Management education.
I left a corporate career because I had a desire for making a difference as a speaker and writer, to help others. I was blessed to be coached and mentored by strong women and men in both my family and professional life. It is my time to serve and give back.
DISCLAIMER
I started my first business at ~13 years of age (small but brilliantly created plant nursery). I am a successful investor in stocks, options, real estate and happy to share my personal finance and investment lessons learned with you.
However, I am NOT a licensed financial advisor. Please do not construe my suggestions on this blog, as recommendations for your personal situation. For individual finance advice please seek your own licensed CPA or fiduciary financial advisors.
I write this weekly blog to make an impact by reaching an audience and demonstrating the need for financial literacy. I will help you get there.
