Family Wealth Secrets Online Magazine

I’m Scared Too … What to Do Now

I was going to write to you today with 6 actions steps to take to prosper now.  But, I logged into my Schwab account yesterday to find out that I had lost over 1/3 of the account value in my investment account, ½ the value in my Roth IRA and ¼ of the value of my Traditional IRA.

I wanted to cry.  Ok, truth be told, I did cry a little bit.

Then, last night, I had a dream that my teeth were falling out.  I haven’t had one of those in a long while.  I only have them when I’m stressed.  It’s from grinding my teeth.

And, I realized that without even being consciously aware of it, I’m massively stressed about by what’s going on around me. If I am, you are.

Truthfully, I have nothing to be stressed about.  My business is better than ever.  I live in paradise and even if I lost every bit of money I’ve accumulated in investment accounts, I’d still be just fine.

But, all of this economy stuff has impacted me at a core, subconscious level.  It’s uprooted financial fears that are grounded in my childhood and the past and while not based in my current reality are clearly still there.

How do I know?

I find myself distracted.  First thing this morning instead of focusing on my business, I was obsessing about the money lost in my investment accounts.  I find myself searching the net for information about the economy and what’s happening out there.

Not focusing on my business or on anything that I can control.

And if I’m distracted, I bet you are too.  So, the 6 action steps will have to wait until tomorrow because what I have to say today is too important and if you don’t heed this message, you will be too stuck to get into action.

That’s the real danger of what’s happening in the economy.  Many thanks to Stephen Fairley for helping me see this clearly.

What I feel inside of my body and I think you do too is overwhelming fear

Here’s the problem:

What we focus on grows.

As the news media, the internet and people around us spout the doom and gloom news about the economy, we experience fear on a bodily level.  Even when that fear is not externally justified because our own situations are pretty darn good (for example, this is a great opportunity for people who were previously shut out of the housing market to own their own homes), the fear is in the air and it can be hard to ignore.

And if you are like me and have financial fear deeply rooted in your consciousness as a result of growing up with programming that have led to lack consciousness, unresolved emotions can rear their ugly heads and manifest themselves in illness, general dis-ease, and worst of all distraction.

If you are a business owner, you cannot afford to get distracted by this fear.  Distraction leads to lack of focus, which leads to decreased action, which leads to a decrease in your business.  This is the biggest danger to your business, not the economy.

If you are able to get out of the fear and FOCUS your business will be successful.  No matter what happens with the economy, you will find a way to thrive.  Haven’t you always?

And, if you haven’t, it’s a perfect time to start learning how.

So, what should you focus on?  Only that which you can control.

Most of what is going on is outside of your control.  You cannot control the ups and downs of the Dow.  You cannot control everything going on out there.

The only thing you can control is yourself and your own response to what’s happening.

You can control your personal actions.  So, pull yourself away from the news and the internet and take a few minutes to make a list of everything that is within your control and focus on only those things.

If you have money invested in the stock market that you know you are going to need within the next year, liquidate those accounts and get them into FDIC insured bank accounts, which is where they should have been in the first place.  Don’t beat yourself up if they weren’t. Just be thankful that you learned from the mistake before you lost all of your money and take action now.

If you have money invested in the stock market that you are not going to need for another 20 years or more, leave it where it is and do NOT LOOK at the account values again.  Everytime you look remind yourself that you have just lost focus and bring yourself back to awareness of what you can do now.

Here’s a great exercise - each time you find yourself losing focus, take out a piece of paper and make a list of everything you can do right now to increase your income, then start to take action on those items.

If you are ambushed by co-workers or friends who insist on ratcheting up the fear level or spewing negative prophesies, tell them you are not willing to do that today and send them this article to read.

If you feel like you need to indulge your fear a little bit, take 5 minutes and write down everything you are afraid of and the worst case scenario if all of those things actually happen.  Write down your beliefs about those outcomes and inquire within as to whether those beliefs are really true.

I think what you’ll find if you do all of this is that you are okay.  All of your needs are truly met in this moment and that the fear is just a big test to see how committed you are to your path of success.