Progress hurts, doesn’t it?

While you’re living right here in the middle of chaos, it’s difficult. (Don’t worry; we don’t have to talk about the pity-party you threw yourself last week. I had one for myself, too. 😉 )

But if there’s one thing I know for sure: the world always has been, and always will be, progressive.

Think about it for a moment. If you asked your parents what life was like during the Cold War, they’d say it was hard. If you asked your grandparents about living through World War II, they’d tell you how challenging it was from one day to the next. Life-threatening in some cases.

Go back further. Think it was easy setting out across America to discover and settle The West?

Or how about living under Henry the Eighth? Or the Dark Ages?

We look back now, and it’s a few paragraphs in a history book.

But living, breathing, waking up every single day, witnessing all the chaos of the world, that’s the tricky part.

Yet through all of that and more, progress happens. It’s an uphill flow.

Because as humankind, we strive for better. Parents want better for their kids. A generation wants to leave the world a better place for the generation behind them.

That’s the way civilization works.

That’s why you have the good with the bad. The joy with the pain. Two steps forward, one step back.

Because without the bad and painful, you’d never realize just how good and joyful things can be.

What if your job is disappearing

The world is changing. And unfortunately, navigating the career terrain isn’t getting any easier, especially as we age. It wasn’t easy before the coronavirus. Now, all that’s left is a whole lot of questions, starting with:

What the hell is next in this life for me?

University of Chicago’s Becker Friedman Institute estimates that 42 percent of the recent layoffs, including furloughs, will result in permanent job losses because of reduced demand and concerns around further transmission of the infectious disease.

That’s crazy! If this impacts you, I’m sorry.

I think a lot about our changing world.

This is how I’m helping.

Change your vocabulary

I started writing here on my blog over a decade ago. My posts have morphed and changed over time, depending on what I was thinking, what my life looked like, and my approach out in the world.

I write this blog for me. It’s my way of sharing my voice with the world. I don’t give advice as much as talk about what’s worked for me. I’m a writer. It’s what I do.

It’s given me a vehicle to share ideas with others who may see the world in the same way too.

Years ago, I approached the world with negative thoughts. Nothing was working. The world sucked. Everybody was out to get me.

The more I focused on the negativity, the more negative happened in my life.

I am a big self-help junkie. I read books, listen to audio, and attend classes with vigor. At that point in my life, all of my mentors kept talking about the power of thinking positive. It took me a long time to come to terms with how to change your intentions.

Because humans are built to be negative. We’re lazy. We like the fight. We want to wallow.

It takes a lot of work to change your thoughts around. But right now, it’s more important than ever. Vocabulary is everything.

Because in every circumstance, you can only believe one course of action.

Maya Angelo stated that hope and fear cannot occupy the same space. You must choose one or the other. That’s why before I rise each morning, I say to myself:

I choose to live with hope today.

When I read a story about the madness in politics, or how another business has filed for bankruptcy, I think to myself: hope or fear.

Hope.

Because when I act from hope, I have a positive outlook on our future. I create. I learn. I do.

Fear wouldn’t get me any of that. So I push it away.

Let’s look at two other words:

Victim – a person harmed, injured, or killed as a result of a crime, accident, or other event or action
Victor – one that defeats an enemy or opponent

You can’t be both.

You choose to let the world do you harm in some fashion.

Or you choose to take control of the situation and do things to help you grow.

Which do you choose?

Today and always, I’m the victor.

Plan, but not too far out

On average, a human will live about 30,000 days.

Why should any one of them be anything but extraordinary?

I like to think of life as a puzzle. A puzzle with 30,000 pieces. My first piece impacted the structure of my puzzle as much as the 10,000th piece. And I couldn’t fit the 15,000th piece in if I didn’t have all other 14,999 pieces in place. It’s what made the 15,000th piece possible, right there in the middle of my puzzle.

That might be a bit corny, but for me, it makes me realize how important every single day is in creating the puzzle of me. No other puzzle exists like it anywhere in the world.

Every approach, every decision, every step I make is because of all the other pieces I’ve laid into the foundation before me.

And at the same time, the rest of the pieces aren’t in place. I can put them in any way I choose. I can change their color, move them around and around, select something new if I desire. It’s up to me.

That makes every piece important in the development of me. They help me create whatever is going to happen next. I’m in charge.

I can make every day happy. I can create magic. I can learn. I can also evaluate things that go wrong. Steps I take that don’t lead where I think I’m going.

What would 20 year old Lori do?

What do I want 70 year old Lori to do?

And I fill in from there.

It takes planning to move you forward. But now too much or you lose sight of what you’re learning today.

Build today’s you in magical ways. Learn. Evaluate. Grow.

Then slip the piece into format, and do it all over again tomorrow.

Ask: What now?

Within two weeks of the stay in place announcement, 20 percent of my income evaporated.

I’m lucky, and I know it.

I can survive without that 20 percent.

But it’s still a wakeup call. How can I prevent this from ever happening again?

I never want to be able to lose 20 percent overnight like that again.

But I learned all about this concept over twenty years ago. (You have listened to my latest podcast, haven’t you?)

I learned about multiple streams of income from two mentors – Robert Allen and Mark Victor Hansen. It’s about having different sources of income, so the loss of any one of them won’t do as much damage to your life. It works like this.

If 100 percent of your income comes from one source, you lose everything if something happens to it.

Split it in two – 50 percent from two sources. Now if one leaves you, you have breathing room.

Split it in three – 33 percent. Your pain decreases further.

How about four or five?

Developing multiple income streams to lessen your risk from things you can’t control. It gives you time to adjust, time to breathe, and more importantly, time to make changes.

That’s what I’m doing right now.

I’m working harder than I have in a long time because I’m enjoying myself more than I have (in a business sense) in a while.

When I sold my forever home, got rid of two-thirds of my stuff, I knew I wanted to write the rest of my life. And it’s been morphing and changing ever since.

I have new direction. I know I’m an educator, a content creator, meant to help motivate others into action.

Is this where you are?

Do you need a little advice? Then I invite you to come along. Because things are definitely changing around here.

I have two new courses I’m building – one to teach you what I do. If writing is your thing, you might want to come along and learn.

And one on healthy eating. I’ve been a vegan for six years. A vegetarian for almost ten. I started learning about our food supply over twenty-five years ago, when my father died of a massive heart attack at the age of fifty-four. Yep, I have a lot I can teach you if you’re ready to make a healthier lifestyle by incorporating plant-based eating into your life.

Why now? Because now more than ever, we need critical thinking skills about what matters most.

We’re not getting that from many of the people in charge.

It’s up to people like me, small businesses, entrepreneurs, who have been living this way and practicing this lifestyle for years.

You can get started now by creating your own Reinvention Manifesto. Sit down with it. Learn a little more about yourself.

Then change your own vocabulary, put on your critical thinking cap, and let’s plan for an incredible future.

It WILL be a wild ride.