Companies have begun cutting staff and salaries, and inflation is only growing. At first we grieved that the devaluation ate away our savings. Now it’s time to rejoice for those who simply retained their jobs and pre-crisis salaries. How to survive in such conditions? We discussed all possible ways to save money on the air of Radio “Komsomolskaya Pravda” with Doctor of Economic Sciences and author of the book “How to overcome the crisis yourself” Mikhail Delyagin.
1. SAVE BUT HAVE FUN
After all, the prudent British are right. “A penny saved is a penny earned.” Many companies, preparing for worse times, have already begun to gradually reduce costs. Let's take an example from them.
A crisis is a time to save money, you need to reduce consumption, says Mikhail Delyagin. - Of course, from the point of view of macroeconomics, it is better for everyone to run and start spending money. Then the economy will receive an impetus for development. But this is the case when the interests of the macroeconomy as a whole fundamentally contradict the interests of an individual family. However, you need to save wisely. It's the same story as with diet. If you simply don’t eat, then on the third day at night you will go to the refrigerator and, without regaining consciousness, eat everything that is there.
As a recent survey by the Public Opinion Foundation shows, the majority of Russians have already begun to save. At the same time, they began to reduce spending on entertainment and recreation first of all. Every third respondent answered this way.
Entertainment should be a must; one cannot completely abandon it, says Mikhail Delyagin. - Otherwise you will go crazy. Of course, you need to spend less, but entertainment is a must. Download movies from the Internet, go to the cinema for morning and afternoon screenings. Exchange CDs with friends. If you cannot live without the theater, do not buy tickets to the best seats and premiere shows. It all depends on lifestyle, inclinations and habits. Someone is reading a book. And some will engage in outdoor games. Someone will sit with friends. Everyone has their own entertainment. But they must be there.
2. COUNT YOUR MONEY
As surveys by the National Agency for Financial Research (NAFI) show, only every fifth family in Russia keeps constant records of personal finances, that is, records how much money was spent and on what. At the same time, more than half of the respondents (56%) are not at all aware or only have a rough idea of what exactly they spent money on in the last month.
The first thing to do, as in any business, is to start with statistics, says Mikhail Delyagin. - Just write down all your expenses daily or two or three times a week. It is possible without fanaticism. It will turn out that you won’t remember some expenses even if you wanted to. This is a matter of everyday life.
You can keep track of your personal finances both on the Internet, where there are quite a few online programs for recording your income and expenses, and in a more conservative way: in a file on your computer or in a notebook. The advantage of special programs (most of them are free for novice users) is that they can help you set and visualize goals, as well as build various graphs that will clearly show you the state of your personal finances.
Once you have calculated everything, start analyzing where you can cut spending without significant damage to your own well-being, says Mikhail Delyagin. - I bet it turns out that you just threw a lot of money down the drain. When I did this myself for the first time, I spent about 20 minutes saying phrases that I couldn’t reproduce live. I saw how much money I spent on some nonsense. It was incredibly offensive and bitter.
3. DO IT YOURSELF
As numerous economic studies show, during a crisis the service sector suffers the most. People begin to prioritize and first of all refuse what they can do without or what they can do themselves. That is, if previously it was easier to hire a worker (cleaning, minor repairs, etc.), go to a cafe or restaurant, now it is better to do certain things yourself.
In most cases, we are too lazy to strain and think, says Mikhail Delyagin. - And entire industries are developing on this. When I speak to businessmen, I always give an example. Business “husband for an hour”. What it is? This is when I'm too lazy to hammer a nail into the wall, so I call the company. And three days later, at a time convenient for him, and not for me, a man comes to me who does everything even worse than me.
At the same time, you can refuse some of the expenses even for your own benefit.
For example, if you travel two stops every day by bus or trolleybus, think about whether you need it, says Mikhail Delyagin. - At current rates for public transport, a lot of money is made. Personally, I have been walking for a long time. This is exercise. With a sedentary lifestyle, I even need it.
And finally, in times of crisis, it is better not to break the law. For example, many motorists receive stacks of notices of fines for violating traffic rules. And if you park in the wrong place, the penalty can be very significant.
A metropolitan example: if in Moscow your car was towed from the area covered by a “No Stopping” sign, then you will have to pay 3,000 rubles to the state in the form of a fine, and pay 5,000 rubles for “evacuation services.” And this does not include the money you will spend on a taxi to get to the impound lot. So, being law-abiding during a crisis is another way, if not saving, then definitely reducing financial risks.
4. PAY WITH CASH
The Americans conducted an interesting study. They calculated how people spend money depending on whether they pay with a card or cash.
It turned out that when paying non-cash, we tend to spend more. The difference is 30 - 40%.
When a person pays with a card, he does not feel that he is parting with money, says Mikhail Delyagin. - When you give away cash, you part with your hard-earned money. And you end up spending less. Another way is to take with you a specific amount and a list of what you need to buy. When you have a limited amount of money, you start to prioritize and only buy the things that really matter.
Of course, many now have cards with various discounts and bonuses. But in this case, you need to understand whether you are getting real benefits from using plastic or are you victims of bank marketers. Their colleagues in chain stores use the same tricks.
In supermarkets, everyone has learned to lay out goods so that we spend more,” says Mikhail Delyagin. - Don’t immediately grab a product if it’s on a shelf with a huge “discount” flag. First, look: is this an honest 30 percent discount or was it made after the prices for this product were doubled. Secondly, you can’t buy anything next to this product in principle. There should be a restricted area for you. Because any normal marketer will explain to you that people instinctively believe that everything next to a discounted product is also cheap, and they automatically buy it without looking at the price. You can’t buy anything against the background of eyes either. The most expensive goods are located there. Take a better look on the lower shelves.
And finally, prices should always be compared. It makes sense to spend 20 - 30 minutes to look at prices in several stores near your home. And find out which standard products you buy all the time are cheaper and of better quality.
At the end of last year, Russians rushed en masse to buy household appliances and cars. Spending on large purchases has increased significantly.
In a crisis, you need to buy only what you really need, and not fall into hysteria, says Mikhail Delyagin. - The means of production must be taken. Personally, I bought myself a new laptop because the old one had become unusable. I still needed to buy it. I bought it at the old price, at the pre-crisis price.
5. PREPARE FOR THE WORST, HOPING FOR THE BEST
There is one main basic principle, says Mikhail Delyagin. - When a crisis occurs, there is no need to expect that it will all end soon. Just take it for granted that this will last for a long time. If you're wrong, that's great. Surprise has the right to be only pleasant.
By the way, you need to learn how to save money from the Europeans. In developed countries of the Old World, the population has long been accustomed to reducing spending to a minimum. And this is understandable. Utilities are expensive there, gasoline costs many times more, and services are also not cheap. So you have to grind, even though salaries in Europe are also quite high.
We can say that the French and Germans are rednecks who count every penny, says Mikhail Delyagin. - But this is the view of rich people. In fact, you need to count, you need to save. If there is a discount, then you should take advantage of it. If you have the opportunity to purchase in bulk, take advantage of this opportunity.
At the same time, any savings must pursue a clear goal. Why do you deny yourself pleasant and familiar little things?! This could be a car, an apartment, a summer house and other clear goals. For example, the financial independence of your family.
Personally, I save for a comfortable life and confidence in the future,” says Mikhail Delyagin. - Roughly speaking, if I’m gone today, my family won’t notice this financially for five years.
TRICKY QUESTION
What will happen to the ruble?
“I don’t exclude the possibility that now the ruble will strengthen a little,” says Mikhail Delyagin. - On the one hand, everyone is in shock, there is no money in the country. And no one will give out rubles in the form of state aid to large corporations. Because everyone saw where this was going in mid-December. They will distribute currency. On the other hand, now is the time to finally pay taxes at the end of the year. And, accordingly, corporations will buy rubles.
ADVICE FROM LISTENERS OF RADIO “Komsomolskaya Pravda”
I don't drink alcohol, it saves a lot of money.
I buy goods only from a wholesale store.
I make large purchases only during discount season.
I choose a store online with the lowest price for the product I need.
I turn on the light only where it is needed. I use the washing machine at night.
Installed water meters. I save 200 rubles a month.
I gave up fitness. I'm running in the park.
I take lunch with me from home to work.
As soon as I receive my salary, I immediately send 30% as a deposit, and I live on the rest.
I changed my car and cut my gas costs.
A crisis has arrived. Every person probably hopes that since everything passes, the crisis will pass. Of course, blessed times will come someday, and we must hope for them. However, it is better not to expect this to happen quickly. Therefore, it is necessary to find a way to survive in a crisis without losing the joy of life, which is still both beautiful and amazing.
Getting closer to Europe
Almost all companies have switched to a new way of existing in austerity mode: staff are being cut, salaries are being cut, and inflation and the rise in prices of all necessary industrial and food products are growing. Already high costs for utilities, gas and electricity supplies have increased. Devaluation eats up savings. Now those who have kept their jobs are rejoicing, even with the same pre-crisis salary. How can people who have lost their jobs survive in a crisis? For pensioners? Students? Single women with children? How can an ordinary person survive in a crisis?
Of course, there are no miracles in the world. You will have to thoroughly reconsider your life. Remember how a friend in prosperous Germany, while washing in the shower, turns off the water while soaping up, because water supply is extremely expensive. Salaries there, of course, are high, but taxes are also 45% for self-employed people. Remember how a former colleague, who married in warm Spain, knits thick woolen stockings for all her Spanish relatives for the winter, and her relatives love her very much for this, because in winter apartments are at most plus ten, and often plus five. It's almost the same on the street. Of course, you can turn on the heating - as much as you like. But they don’t turn it on so as not to faint when receiving a bill for consuming it. It's better to dress warmly. How to survive in a crisis in Russia? Of course, save money too.
Meal'n'Real
The best time to learn how to save is during a crisis. The macroeconomy, of course, will suffer, since it needs people's spending; it gains weight when people lose weight. However, if we all die out, then it will not be good for her either. How to survive in a crisis and not lose the dignity of the country is the most important question. The people seem to understand this. That you need to save in moderation so as not to starve either physically or intellectually. From physical hunger you can get a stomach ulcer and even die, and from intellectual hunger you can get depressed and die too (yes, this is a disease, not just a bad mood, and it is very deadly).
A healthy person, having started a hunger strike, on the third day at night in a twilight state can swallow everything he finds in the refrigerator without even noticing it. If the soul is starving, you can go crazy, maybe not so quickly, and therefore the process itself is less noticeable. However, almost all ordinary people are now trying to save money on shows. How else can we explain these crazy queues at museums and theaters? Naturally, they were hungry, so they lashed out at Serov and company. And with the onset of the crisis, they invested money not in salt and matches, but in expensive televisions, cars and real estate, buying all this at pre-crisis prices and in several copies at the same time. This, of course, was not very smart, because now they all have to think about how to survive the crisis.
Movie lovers! Download movies from the Internet and visit cinemas in the morning or afternoon - it’s cheaper. Buy the best movies on discs, which you can then share with colleagues or friends. Theatergoers and music lovers! Don't go to premieres, be content with not the best seats, maybe not even in the stalls. Read books on the Internet. Listen to music on the Internet. By the way, he is the one who knows best how to survive in a crisis.
Instead of using the services of a very expensive fitness center, find a special exercise corner (available in almost every park), or you can simply run around the park or stadium. Meet with friends not in a restaurant, but in the fresh air. Instead of traveling to Turkey, visit a water park, which, although not much, is still cheaper. To learn how to survive a crisis, you need to change your way of thinking. But there must be entertainment!
Kopek loves counting
Russians are accustomed to living, if not on a grand scale, then at least without taking into account financial losses. But now, since it is becoming increasingly difficult to survive in a crisis, it is necessary to join the elementary family economy. Few people will be able to accurately report where and on what they spent the last month’s wages that ran out so quickly.
And this must be recorded. Then it will become clear that the lion's share of income goes to unnecessary trifles. How can people who have such a hole in their palm survive the crisis in Russia that a penny falls out? You just need to keep records.
Income and expense
Statistics are a corrosive lady; they will make a person feel the whole range of emotions - from bewilderment, amazement and grief to manifestations of shame and conscience. And again, the Internet comes to the rescue, where there are a huge number of free online programs for maintaining family accounting, any of them will bring clarity to how to survive during a crisis: they will define goals, point out pointless expenses, build a schedule, analyzing expenses.
But you can do this with the help of a simple school notebook; the money that has gone down the drain will still be identified. An impartial analysis will help reduce expenses in the future, and will not even cause harm to your well-being, except for the emotional costs.
With your own hands
The service sector also suffers significantly during the crisis. Now it is much less common to call a “husband for an hour”, who, at best, will hammer a nail no worse than the mistress of the house, but will take up more of her time, since he will not appear immediately and not when she needs it.
How to survive during a crisis will become clear after you paint the door yourself with water-based wall paint, which you will have to wash off with a rag in order to then paint it normally with oil paint. After the conditional manager learns to use a drill and paste wallpaper, and the conditional programmer learns how to “fix” baseboards and grow not only cacti.
Subsidiary farm
Pensioners, for example, are very creative. They certainly know how to survive in a crisis. Ideas can be very different. The author of this article suddenly managed to collect about eight kilograms of cherry tomatoes from four roots, displacing dates and avocados in the window, the harvest from which would never be expected.
You can also grow salad bought in a store, sold in small pots, in the window an additional two or three times, if you immediately pick the leaves for food without touching the middle, free the roots and plant them in the ground. Peking cabbage is even more pleasing - a cut head of cabbage grows back in the same composition, there’s no need to even save the middle. Owners of balconies are probably experiencing real agricultural miracles. If interests and hobbies begin to bring even small benefits, it becomes clear how people survive in a crisis.
Availability
British scientists have established an interesting fact: money is spent much more economically if a person pays in cash, but if he uses a card, he becomes an utter spender with a difference of about forty percent.
Parting with hard-earned money that weighs down your wallet is indeed much more difficult, everyone probably felt this, so it is very possible that this time the British scientists did not disappoint in their conclusions. Accordingly, the advice is: cash out exactly as much money as you need for shopping. To find out the amount that will be required, again, you can first ask the price on the Internet: now every store has price lists.
The main thing is gradualism
If a person has a limited amount of money, he will act according to his priorities and will not buy anything unnecessary. Well, or almost nothing - at first, and you definitely need to take this into account. No good habit is acquired quickly, unlike bad ones.
You need to be lenient with yourself for a while and forgive your weaknesses. And you should not succumb to provocations regarding discounts and bonuses; these promises are most often not as real as they seem. Marketing has become more creative with retirees looking for how to survive the crisis while marketers are looking for how to sell.
Dangerous Marketers
Products are now laid out in supermarkets in such a way as to make our wallets as light as possible. The main thing is not to rush. The larger the discount inscription, the higher the price of the product was probably raised a day or two ago, which can be easily found out. The promotion promises twenty percent, and the preliminary price increase may have been threefold, and this happens quite often. And you need to be careful with the goods that are displayed nearby, because they are probably the most expensive in the store, and they are placed next to them on purpose, in the hope that the buyer will be automatic. Not everything on this shelf has fallen in price, not everything.
Products displayed at eye level are always the most expensive, you need to look higher and lower, and at the same time exercise your eyes. How not to be upset if, returning home with a purchase, you suddenly find the same products in the store next door, but much cheaper? And here the Internet will help you figure it out - compare prices for the same product in different stores. And if the costs of transport do not exceed the benefits of the purchase, then go! A crisis can also have a positive impact, calling people to mobility, ingenuity, handicraft, restraint, and curbing passions. After all, for many people, shopping is a passion that is quite capable of ruining the well-being of the entire family.
One of the most expensive items is alcohol. If you moderate, or even better, quit this bad habit, you save a lot of money. It's the same with smoking. Many items are cheaper to buy in bulk. This is a huge help for a large family. For most large purchases there are seasonal discounts; you need to be patient and be sure to use the Internet. It has become easier to save money when using electricity in many cities, since there are two or even three tariffs. Night time is the cheapest, so many people turn on washing machines after nine o’clock in the evening. If possible, you need to install water and gas meters. The savings are quite significant.
At work, you don’t have to use catering business lunches, but take lunch with you from home; almost everywhere there are microwaves in offices where food is heated. It is imperative that after receiving each salary, twenty-five percent must be set aside for unforeseen circumstances, for example, dentistry, or other force majeure circumstances. The same job loss will require who knows how much time and effort to find a new one. Many people have been paying off loans since pre-crisis times: mortgages, cars, etc. If there are savings on the deposit, it is possible to preserve the nerve cells almost in their entirety.
Break bad habits
Almost all modern people are unhealthy consumers; such a disease has developed in society over the past decades. It is necessary, if not to stop, then to significantly reduce purchases that have no functionality: souvenirs, toys (even for small whims, buy only the necessary, developmental ones), cosmetics (if they are bought for future use), clothes (if they were bought at sales and are needed only for the closet ). You can't spend money on fast food, you can't order pizza. This is not only expensive, but also extremely harmful to health. It is much better to buy food cheaply and master cooking.
Every person, if he wants to survive a crisis and maintain health, must learn to draw up his own financial plan and, as far as possible, stick to it. It may very well be that expenses will require additional sources of income. Then you will need to somewhat moderate watching TV and generally staying on the couch. Depending on their abilities and desires, everyone can find something they like, for which they will be paid at least a little. Pensioners often become nurses or nannies, students program or create websites on the Internet. At worst, you can rent out the apartment or part of it.
Now, in 2020, Russia is experiencing perhaps one of the longest crises in the country's history. After all, for many families and businesses, the crisis has been going on since 2008; some felt the impact of the crisis in 2014 or 2015. One way or another, we are all affected by a massive economic crisis.
Today's crisis is destroying large companies, making billionaires bankrupt, and forever depriving entire cities and regions of their future. How can a common man survive? How can people survive in the outback without work and the opportunity to move to Moscow? How to find money for a child’s treatment during a crisis?
How is the crisis affecting you and your family?
I can say one thing for sure, it will definitely get worse. Provided that you do not gather your strength and solve your problems.
In this article I will talk not just about how to survive in a crisis, but about how to get out of a series of troubles forever and become an accomplished and wealthy person.
First of all, let's agree that we look at the situation realistically.
The Russian crisis of 2020, by and large, does not depend on anything that happens outside the country. The real cause of the crisis is purely Russian problems, we will not go into them now, read our more detailed materials on this matter: , .
Thus, even if something completely incredible happens, and the price of oil doubles, and all sanctions are lifted from Russia, the country’s leadership will still come up with something that will again sweep the country and lead to another round of “unsolvable problems.” “problems, it’s only a matter of time.
However, you don’t even have to worry about this, because it is unlikely that most of the sanctions will be lifted from Russia, and in the same way, the price of oil is unlikely to increase significantly.
Therefore, keep in mind that the crisis will not end either in 2020, or in 2021, or in 2022. Whatever happens, the Russian economy will be in poor condition, business will be hard, jobs will be bad, household incomes will not increase significantly, and the social sphere will deteriorate. In short, it won't get better for ordinary people.
So you don’t have to rely on anyone but yourself. Only your own actions will solve your problems.
How to survive in Russia?
In this article I will give practical advice on how you personally can get out of this crisis. Of course, I don’t know what exact situation you are in, so let’s assume that everything is not completely bad, there is some income and the opportunity to earn money. In general, our recommendations are suitable for any audience: working people, entrepreneurs, retirees. But for very difficult situations, I have special recommendations, they will be at the end of the article.
Take control of your finances
Ultimately, you will work to increase your income. But in the short term, you need to quickly get to grips with the budget you have now.
Maintain a personal budget
Make a table with your monthly expenses and income, fill it out every day and enter even minor expenses.
As always with our articles, there will be a lot of videos. We have selected very useful videos for you, watch them now, save them in your browser if you haven’t finished watching them (or to watch them later), the videos are useful (well, almost all), there are moments that expand and complement the article, there are cool things, which we do not mention in the text.
At the end of the month, you will be able to soberly assess your budget, understand what parameters, how to strive for expenses and income.
Most importantly, figure out how you can save here and now. What impulse purchases do you make? What products can you replace with cheaper ones that are healthier?
Give up bad habits and unhealthy foods
Analyze not only your budget, but also your habits. Is there anything you are wasting money on? What doesn't help you be healthy, get rich and become a better person?
Here are a few examples of foods that you should avoid:
- cigarettes
- alcohol
- mobile games, computer games
- sugar (buy only for baking)
- culinary semi-finished products
- chips and snacks
- packaged juices and soda
Food can make up from 40% to 80% of a family's monthly budget, so this part of the grocery basket needs to be put in order first.
How to do it? It's simple, remove the expensive (by your standards) and harmful product and replace it with a cheaper and more useful one. In some cases, you can remove an expensive but not harmful product, replacing it with a cheap and useful one.
First of all, you need to figure out which foods are harmful and which are healthy. A good way is to read articles on the information portal of the Sect school. Be sure to try new products for yourself; now they sell a lot of grains of good quality and at an affordable price, which will be much healthier and more economical than pasta and dumplings (not to mention Doshiraki): bulgur, barley (we have a tarnished image of pearl barley, but in In Italy it is highly valued), quinoa.
How to survive a crisis?
Look for sources of additional income
Even if you have very little time, you can find an opportunity to earn additional income, albeit small.
Refer to large job sites such as HeadHunter, Superjob, as well as the vacancies section on Avito. Job sites always have offers for remote work, as well as part-time work.
How to prepare for a new crisis?
Make savings
Even if you have very little money, save. This is important financially, it is also important psychologically.
The savings can be very small, the main thing is that at the end of the year you have a small amount left that can be put aside “for a rainy day” or spent on large optional purchases.
As a rule, it is advised to save 10% of your income, but for starters, 1% will be a plus.
There are two saving strategies applicable in a crisis situation; you can use either one or both.
The first is called “pay yourself first” - you decide how much money you save each month and the first thing you do when you receive your paycheck is to save that amount.
The second is to save all the money of a certain denomination that you come across during the year. As a rule, this is the smallest denomination, but in Russia people most often save 50 ruble bills (personally, I save not only 50, but also 2000 and 10 ruble bills, they are just very rare and every time for me it turns out to be a bonus to savings , although two thousand meters are a temporary rarity). During the month, such accumulation will be unnoticeable, but at the end of the year you will have accumulated an extra 5 - 10 thousand rubles.
In addition, most banks have a service for automatically replenishing a savings account; it is linked to a plastic card and after each purchase transfers a small amount to savings.
Crisis is a time of opportunity! Ideas for those who want not only to survive, but also to succeed
Take control of your head
In parallel with putting things in order in your wallet, let's start putting things in order in your head. As you know, a crisis is a time of opportunity. Think about this idea. How can you use a crisis for good? Understand your habits, your thoughts, your career. Do things you wouldn't do in a more comfortable environment.
A crisis is a very difficult time. But a crisis is also a challenge through which you can become stronger, smarter, happier and richer.
Understand yourself
First of all, try to really understand yourself, if you haven’t already done so or haven’t done so.
What psychological problems, complexes, fears do you have? Do you have depression, even in a mild form? We all have “cockroaches” in our heads, absolutely every person, and in a crisis they only become more numerous. There is no need to “drive” your problems inside - they prevent you from living, they prevent you from getting out of the crisis, they prevent you from developing.
Admit your shortcomings and start working on them. If you need help, it is available. Traditionally, rich people solved their psychological problems; for the poor, these problems poisoned their entire lives and prevented them from reaching a new level of income. Now everything is different.
If you feel that you really have serious (but not clinical) problems that are preventing you from living, working and overcoming a difficult situation in life, today there is such a useful thing as online consultation with a psychologist, which has greatly reduced the prices of specialists, and indeed made psychological services much more accessible. I personally sincerely recommend the Tendency to Happiness project, but there are other psychologists who provide online consultations.
If you have problems (again, not clinical), but no money at all, literally at all, try using written practices from psychologist Daria Kutuzova.
Be confident in yourself
Self-confidence is the basis that makes your life much easier and better, no matter what happens in it.
Uncertainty and fears are poison that will poison any success and any achievement.
So don’t even have to doubt, choose confidence.
How to cultivate self-confidence? To get started, watch the cool video training by Itzhak Pintosevich, the tasks will take 40 minutes to complete.
I’ll add two more pieces of advice to what Isaac said.
Use affirmations. The first option for affirmation is to write down a few inspiring quotes, your most significant goals, reminders of past successes on small pieces of paper and review them for a minute every day.
The second version of the affirmation is not suitable for everyone, but many successful people use it (including one of my close relatives), so if you take a shower in the morning, come up with a chant for yourself, for example: “Banzai, this is my day, I can do it” and all that stuff. I know this sounds strange, but I’m not too lazy to retell a story about this from Hal Elrod’s book “Morning Magic”. The author of the book lived for some time in his friend’s house; there were many free rooms in the house, so he had no problem sheltering Hal for a while. And Hal was very amused by this friend’s habit of shouting at the top of his voice every morning something so motivating in his soul. Every morning Hal thought: “what a moron, he’s screaming again.” And then it suddenly dawned on him: “Wait a minute, it’s me who now lives in HIS house, and not the other way around.” So draw your own conclusions.
There are many other affirmation options.
Education and development
Whatever you do, you need to learn. What to study? There are three things you should study.
First, what everyone needs to study: personal development, creative thinking, personal effectiveness. In addition, if you do not work as a narrow specialist (medical or blue-collar profession), but as an entrepreneur, self-employed, manager or manager in some area, most likely you also need to study marketing and sales, regardless of the specific specialization at the moment.
Second, learn what you need to achieve a higher level of excellence in your profession here and now, ideally something that can be applied today or tomorrow.
Third, learn what you need to take your career or professional development to the next level. For example, if you work in manufacturing, study disciplines that will help you operate more complex equipment (if you want to grow in that direction) or manage people (if you want to pursue a management career in manufacturing).
Create an individual educational program and work with paid and free sources.
Many useful videos can be found on Youtube, in addition, there are several services with entire free video courses.
Personal plan
To avoid finding yourself in the same difficult situation again as you are now, you need a personal plan for the years ahead.
There must be a well-developed strategy for the coming year.
Ideally, it would be good to have a fairly detailed three-year plan. And, in addition, you should have a more general plan for 5-10 years.
The foundation of the plan is a strategy for personal and professional development. How much do you want to earn, who to be, what do you need to do to earn so much in this profession or in this industry, what do you need to learn and what results do you need to achieve in order to become a master of your craft, capable of earning the required amount, what will you do for this do this year, this month, this week.
Place yourself in the right context
You have a professional development strategy, you have a long-term plan. Now think about it, is this feasible in the environment in which you are and in the place where you live?
It is quite possible that you need to change your social circle; it is possible that it will also be useful to change your place of residence.
So, understand what you want from life, who you must become for this, what you must do for this, who should surround you in this case and where you can achieve this (in what industry, in what company, in what place) .
What to do in the most difficult cases?
Probably, the strategy I described is always applicable and certainly always useful.
But, of course, there are situations when it is more difficult to do this, there are situations when it is simple.
If you are under 30 years old and more or less healthy, all doors are open to you, any prospect is available to you.
What if you are over 50? Or are you even a pensioner over 70!
In addition, today there is an all-Russian volunteer movement around Alexei Navalny, this is an excellent option for you also because Navalny’s program contains measures that will simply help you personally (not that there are high chances of its implementation; Navalny is not even allowed to participate in the elections , but nonetheless).
Expand your comfort zone
It is for you that “getting out of your comfort zone” is most relevant.
Where you are now (in every sense), everything is already clear and known to you. The result of your presence is also obvious, and, apparently, you are unhappy.
You need to discover the world around you, gain new information, awaken in yourself the ancient instinct of hunter and gatherer, which looks out for opportunities around and finds them.
What opportunities will you find? Unknown. This could be a new interesting job, an old acquaintance who has earned a lot and will help you, a new acquaintance who will invite you to live in his house in the winter while he is on vacation in Thailand. Perhaps you know something or can do something that is very important and valuable for someone, you just don’t know that someone needs it. Anything can happen.
Publication from Psychologies Russia/Psychology(@psychologiesrus) Dec 17, 2017 at 4:14 PST
Break your habits, visit new sites, read new magazines, go to open popular science lectures, exhibitions, take part in social and cultural projects.
Learn to look at your problems more simply
The more complex your life situation, the more problems you have. Learn to let them go. It seems easier said than done, but, in fact, it is just a matter of, firstly, choice, and secondly, habit.
Make a choice - not to worry, to be strong or strong and happy or happy.
And then cultivate the habit of calmly looking at your problems and simply solving them.
I'm including two videos here, they are very important. Probably the two most important videos in the article.
If you have a really difficult situation in your life, be sure to watch the first video. But the second thing is not just watch it once, but rewatch it.
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How to survive in a crisis. Practical advice for ordinary people
You don't have to rely on anyone but yourself. Only your own actions will solve your problems.
You can't wear rose-colored glasses your whole life. Even the authorities understand that when people have nothing to eat, and the screens broadcast about the latest successes of the economic program and that the well-being of citizens has increased significantly, the people experience slight cognitive dissonance. Therefore, everyone sadly admits that there is a crisis in the country.
We will not now find out its causes and predisposing factors; surely each of our readers has their own clearly reasoned position on the question “Who is to blame?” We’d better focus on the second part of this sacramental question: “What to do?” But if we are not so easily influenced, then we can give a number of tips that will help. So.
Change of world view
No matter how trivial it sounds, money really doesn’t buy happiness. And money can't buy it. But for money you can easily buy a huge range of different illusions, including the illusion of happiness. And also a good attitude, universal respect and envy, show-off, a sense of self-worth and a lot of other things that, for good reason, are either not needed, or can be obtained without money. More difficult, of course, but possible. AND survival in an economic crisis It will be much easier if the lack of material resources stops putting pressure on you psychologically.
Learn to save
The cost of living in a country is set for a reason. THEORETICALLY you can really live on it. And you probably earn significantly more than the living wage. But also less than what is needed for a comfortable existence. This means you will have to reconsider the concept of “comfort”, switch to cheaper products, get rid of excesses and bad habits. Seriously, alcohol and cigarettes eat up a huge part of the budget that could be spent on something useful. The same goes for food. In restaurants, of course, it’s delicious, but these negligible portions cost much more than the price of the ingredients for a pot of borscht for several days. And even simple food can be prepared so that it is delicious. And yes, it’s better to immediately erase such a concept as “show-off” from your mind. Now you have no time to impress others - you should be concerned about personal survival in crisis. And if you want to make an impression, do it with personal skills, knowledge and abilities. Yes, it is more difficult, but the price is much higher.
Plan your expenses
It is enough to record all your expenses for at least a month so that you can then know exactly how to optimize these expenses. And yes, this is an extremely important point for survival in a crisis- prediction and planning of one’s own life. This gives at least some psychological basis and some confidence that “at least for basic needs I definitely have money.” And this is extremely important because it helps to maintain an optimistic mood. It would also be useful to find additional sources of income - a part-time job or a hobby for which you can get something. If your hands grow from the right place, then you can make things that you can sell to those who are not so affected by the crisis; fortunately, there are already plenty of platforms for selling things from your hands.
Watch your health
“Free healthcare” is not as scary as the bill for medicines and services. So pay close attention to your own health. This is exactly the situation where it is easier to prevent a problem than to fix it. Well, try to have at least some kind of nest egg in case of force majeure. After all, life is an extremely unpredictable thing. So get outside more and pay more attention to physical exercise.
Don't take loans
Credit is a wonderful thing. But exactly until the time comes to give it away. And the methods by which banks nowadays take their legitimate money are not always legal. And it’s better not to deal with collectors. So don’t give in to temptation and don’t chase favorable loan rates - remember that taking out a loan is more important to the bank, not to you.
And now, perhaps, the main question. What should a citizen who INITIALLY lived by these rules do? Initially, I tried to save as much as possible, not spend extra on anything, and so on. Well... You can always leave the big city somewhere in the village, where you can organize your own farm. What’s interesting is that the villagers frankly don’t give a damn about the economic state of the country - they always have food, unless, of course, their hands are out of their ass, the minimum amount of money is enough for simple excesses. So you can survive. And there were no situations in which a handy Russian man could not survive. Another thing is - is it necessary? Or does something need to be changed? But here, decide for yourself - we do not call for anything and do not advise anything other than thinking with your own head. We just advise you how to make it easier survive in an economic crisis.
