In 1930, John Maynard Keynes, who is considered the father of modern economics, wrote an essay titled, Economic Possibilities for Our Grandchildren. In that essay, he describes his prediction for what life would be like for future generations. He predicts that economic prosperity will be so great and abundant that our need to work across all of society will diminish. And since the vast majority of people will no longer need to "sell themselves for the means of life," he warns that humanity's next great challenge will be how to look forward to and not dread the "age of leisure."

While he predicts there will be some people who have an "intense, unsatisfied purposiveness" that causes them to continue to pursue wealth blindly, he goes on to imagine that the vast majority of society will have a shift in moral codes. That we will recognize that loving money as a possession, as opposed to as a means for the realities and enjoyments of life, will finally be collectively viewed in the harsh light of truth; that it is disgusting, morbid, semi-pathological and semi-criminal.

In the financial world, we call things like the current pandemic a black swan event. A black swan is an unpredictable event with potentially severe consequences. The name comes from the rare sightings of black swans in nature. They exist, but seeing them is exceptional. So while the financial world has terms for these types of events, how we deal with them isn't always the same. Take the 2008 housing crisis. It was the result of a perfect storm of things: sub-prime mortgages, derivatives, hubris, and the lax, or often fraudulent practices within the real estate, mortgage and lending sectors. Finding a way out of the crisis was terrifying, but pointing to the causes gave us a sense of certainty.

I want to be clear: what we're experiencing today is very different from the housing crisis of 2008. Although there is one similarity: we didn't have a playbook for dealing with the crisis then, and it goes without saying, we don't have one today. While it's true, the world has experienced pandemics in the past, our modern economy, in all of its globally connected glory, has not experienced something of this scale. I have no idea what is to come in the approaching days, weeks, or months. I'll do my best to help you all understand our changing reality through the lens of money, finance, and economics.

Here are my thoughts on how to not freak out about your finances during a global pandemic.

What do we want? Gratification!

When do we want it? Instantly!

We live in a world saturated in instant gratification. We can contact our friends through multiple channels at any time of day, from anywhere in the world. We can have the city’s best sushi or a even just single lime delivered to our front door.  The amount of entertainment we have access to at our fingertips is a number that my brain cannot actually comprehend. And we can generate a rush of dopamine in the time it takes to write a caption for a photo.

It’s no wonder why we give up on the things that require more than a few minutes of focus. We have so many other ways to feel instantly good and to distract us from the real work we could be doing. But real work takes, well - real work.

People talk about opportunities like they’re a nebulous, disembodied thing. Like they’re floating around and will land on your shoulder and boom, your life is changed forever. Let’s say they are. Imagine opportunities are all floating around in form of balloons. Every balloon is connected to a string. And at the end of the string, even though you might not be able to see it, there is a person holding the string.

You see, opportunities are not standalone. They’re always connected to a person.

This article is all about understanding who you serve. Who is your ideal customer, target market and what’s your niche?

"We are what we repeatedly do.” - Aristotle 

There was a time in my life where I was running about six miles a day, nearly every day. I didn’t become that annoying person overnight. 

The first time I went out on a run, it was on a track at a community college near my childhood house. The loop was one-quarter mile, so I had to run around it four times to complete a mile. The first time I went out, I couldn’t run around the loop once without stopping. I only ran/walk a mile that day. 

Then the next day, I woke up and ran/walk another mile. I slowly progressed, but before I realized it, I could run a mile without stopping. And eventually I could easily run six.