I spent some time this weekend at a party where there were lots of young people. They were mostly aged 25 to 30. This is their first serious downturn.

One of the good things about being 62 is that I’ve been up and down through the cycle more than once. So several of them came over to me and asked what I thought was going to happen and what they should do.

Question: How bad will it get?  Answer: Beats me. My guess is that things are going to get worse than they are right now, but nobody knows how much worse.

Question: How long will it last? Answer: Beats me. Nobody knows the answer to that one, either. Anyone who says he or she does is delusional or has something to sell you.

The one thing we do know is that it will end. Every other economic downturn has ended. It’s like the seasons. Now we’re starting winter, but spring will come.

So stop worrying about what you can’t control. Stop trying to predict what you can’t understand.

Don’t stand still. Keep moving. You’ve got two goals.

Protect yourself as much as you can during the downturn. Cut spending where you can. Keep doing good work. Help people in your network.

And set yourself up so that when the upturn comes you’re ready and stronger. Take on some developmental assignments that boost your capability and visibility.

Economic downturns are tough. And they’re not fair. But you’ll do best if you control what you can, protect yourself, and keep moving.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 7th, 2008 at 5:03 pm and is filed under Tools and Strategies for Success. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.