The distractions of life

Those life distractions just seem to keep getting in the way of what I really want to do. That is to continue helping others find their way in mine field of economic survivalism.  With a graduated daughter my stomach turns as I watch this beautiful, smart and outgoing young lady have to go out into the jungle we call adulthood. I know it's really not much different than 23 years ago when I stepped out on my own. Well, maybe it's a little different. We do have the largest economic downturn since the great depression. Plus we are staring at the Tsunami off shore called the "Great Collapse". But really it boils down the street smarts that you learn, the mistakes that you made and the relationships you create.

So lets get down to it. Get through those distractions, it's more like work past them or work in spite of  them. You are going to have distractions, they are all around us. For me, it's the dogs need let out, ooops the dogs want back in. Darn the door bell rang it's the UPS man. Oh a package, what shiny object is in the box. Darn the phone ran (telemarketer). Oh Crap I forget to pay the water bill. Now where was I? That's about how this post has gone. Really I started it over 1 week ago, good thing blogger has an autosave and draft feature.

Street Smarts
What exactly does that mean. Well Street Smarts is what you learn by doing. In the Army we called that OJT or On the Job Training. You see what happens is you are assigned a mentor, someone with the experience that you are looking for. Then you follow them around, learn what they do. This type of training is where you can learn very quickly if you have have the right mentor.

Relationships
The relationships you create can help you when the chips are down. During any period in the economy only a portion of the population will be out of work or down on their chips. If you are well connected, you could be able to find a new job faster, or if you are business owner your connections can help you get more business through referrals.  The larger your network the better chance of doing better at your "economic survival".

Lastly I wanted to talk about education. Now a days it seems that everyone has a college degree, but still many are out of work and can't find a job. There is a large portion of recent college graduates that have moved back home and are unable to find work. Why is this? I firmly believe it is a direct result of their network. If you can manage to get through college this means you have the ability to think, and learn.


I would recommend the book, "The Little Black Book of Connections" by Jeffrey Gitomer. This book will give you valueable insights on how important your network is.

The education part that I am talking about is educating your self on a variety of ideas, skills, and jobs. The jack of all trades master of none will be able to feed himself long after the Master Wagon builder or typewriter maker or  goes out of business and is living on welfare. The real key is to learn something new every day. There are so many books, internet articles, instruction videos, podcasts etc there is no reason not to just do it.

So get off the TV, stop playing games, and get to work on your economic survival.