This is a YouTube video titled "Navigating Real Life During a Pandemic with Dave Asprey" containing a monologue or talk recorded in April 2020. The speaker shares personal experiences and practical advice on managing stress, finances, and personal growth during economic downturns and challenging times such as a pandemic. The content is reflective and motivational, focusing on resilience and long-term perspective.
I was in college when like the 2008 stuff happened. I was wondering what kind of, I don't know, advice you have to kind of navigate through this tough, challenging time. The first one of these I went through was they called the dot com crash of the year 2000. That was when I lost the $6 million I'd made a couple years earlier. And it sucked. And strange things happen that you're seeing right now. You look outside, there's no cars on the road, although back then there were lots of bicycles. Like literally my commute went from, you know, two hours to drive 14 miles down to a half hour drive 14 miles because so many people didn't have a job. What your nervous system does when you see that around you or if it happens to you is, oh my God, I'm going to die. But here's, here's the reality. You're actually not going to die. This is like straight up first f word from 40 years is zen fear. So it always looks worse than it is. And we're always looking at what's happening right in front of our face. But we very rarely have our future hat on that says, is it really going to be like this five years from now? So what the people who were paying attention did, and there were a lot of them in 2000, is they said, I think I'll apply to go to business school right now I can't get a job anyway. What can I do to be a better human being? You fast forward to now. You don't have to go to business school. That was a 20 year ago kind of a thing like that. What you want to do is look at all right, I'm not commuting right now. What do I do with the extra hour or two hours a day that I just got back? How do I take this time to take a deep breath and just to make myself more powerful. And I don't mean more valuable in the take a class on HTML or, you know, marketing or law or whatever. I mean on how do I make it so I can show it better, so I can more proactive, what's a project I can take on and all that. And what you'll find is that the upside of a situation like this is that when you're, when you do that and everyone else is running around worried, the rising tide that floated all boats when things were really fast. Well, when it recedes, the boats that are doing that are the ones that stay high when everything else recedes. So it's actually a chance for dramatic, personal Improvement that stays with you for life as well as even career advancement. Just by saying, you know what, I'm not going to fall into fear. I'm going to have a long term view and I'm going to tighten my belt where I can. So personal advice is take a deep breath, make sure you're sleeping. It's not as stressful as it seems. And all of us right now, we have jobs, which is a really good thing. But you are going to get a phone call. I'm predicting this from a friend or even a family member who's like, I had a job, I was bartending, I made good money on weekends and now they don't at all. And they got some money from the government, but I wouldn't be surprised if we had some situations like that. And then if you can help someone great, be friendly, compassionate, empathetic, at the same time, understand they're safe and you're safe. There's plenty of food. Like, you're not going to starve, you're not going to die. You're still a good human being whether or not you have a job. And all the stories that people tell themselves about that, which is basically, if I don't have a job, I'm worthless. If I'm worthless, no one will love me. They'll kick me out of the tribe and the tigers will eat me. Sound like 40 years of Zen class. This is what happens whenever there's a tightness in the economy. So I can tell you I was losing my shit in 2000, 2001. Like, oh my God, you know, I thought I was set for life and I'm not anymore. I'm going to have to work hard. There's a lot of people who are facing that right now and a lot of them who are facing it don't have the physical reserves in them to do it. No matter their age, they're already tired and worn out and say, I'm not going to be able to do it. So my advice to you is do that. And if you have a $200 a month Starbucks habit, you're a bad person. Because it should be a bullshit habit. But in all seriousness, if you're doing stuff that doesn't have a high roi, one of the things to do with your extra time is make a list of all the stuff you do with your time first and with your dollars second. And just give it a scale. On a 1 to 10, what's the return I get on that? 10, I get a huge return. And one I don't get very much and just kind of look at what's going on. And I think you're going to find that, you know, what, if you can tighten the belt a little bit, cash is king. Having a little bit of extra cash in the bank is a good idea. Right? And so this goes for all of you. The other thing you might consider doing is, is exactly what we are doing in every single one of the businesses I'm involved with. You call up your landlord and you say, things are real tight now. I think I should have lower rent right now. Right. You know, the sky is falling and, you know, we all have to share the load. And you wouldn't want me to leave right now because you can't rent the place anyway, can you? I would be surprised if you couldn't negotiate a slightly lower rent without hurting anyone. And then that's money that you can put away in the bank. So very pragmatic advice on that one. But just tighten the belt a little bit, not so much that you're starving and fearful and you're eating ramen. We're not there and we're probably not going to go there.
