4 Steps for When Disaster Strikes

Life dishes out disasters big and small all the time. How we react to them can have a huge impact on how successful we are on our path to true wealth.  [Browser View]( [Liberty Through Wealth]( Take These Four Vital Steps When Disaster Strikes Mark Ford, Founding Member, The Oxford Club  How do you react when life dishes out a disaster - whether big or small?  Take these four vital steps to reframe the scenario and outcome in your mind, and you just might be more successful for it.  [Bill O'Reilly Did What?!?]( [Bill O'Reilly]( Bill O'Reilly is no stranger to controversy. The mainstream media LOVES bashing him. And they might just have a field day with this. Because Bill is releasing [his most controversial project]( yet. [See what it's all about right here.](  Editor's Note: Life is full of disasters big and small - from pandemics to coffee spills on your favorite shirt. Today, Mark Ford shares four vital steps you should take whenever disaster strikes. And if you're interested in reading more from Mark, [click here]( to sign up for Manward Digest. - Christina Grieves, Senior Managing Editor  [Mark Ford]  You reach for the mug and knock it over. Hot coffee washes over your laptop. You arrive home and realize you've left your shoulder bag - with all your IDs and banking information - on the subway. Your doctor reads your EKG and says, "Gee, I've never seen anything like this before!" Life dishes out [such disasters](, big and small. How we react to them says a lot about our character and bears heavily on our ability to carry out a happy, successful life. If I can't find my wallet, I'm prone to think it's been swiped by the sophisticated geek who's already stolen my identity and emptied all my bank accounts. Waiting for the results of any sort of medical test, I imagine the [worst possible outcome](. That, for some reason, is how I'm wired. My wife is the opposite. She's a natural optimist and doesn't fret at all about the small disasters (except those involving dinner parties). And she confronts the larger ones with a positive frame of mind. Having a positive disposition is helpful when you're faced with a challenge - big or small. And although these sorts of emotions are deeply ingrained and very difficult, if not impossible, to eradicate, it is possible to develop mental habits that'll help you overcome your fears and respond to crises of all sizes productively. Recently, my nephew got himself into some trouble at school and told me it had really overtaken him emotionally. He couldn't sleep, couldn't study, could barely eat, etc. Knowing what I knew about his situation, I believed he was overreacting. But I knew - because I'm built that way - that his fears felt real to him. So I wrote him a note with the following advice, based on my own struggles with negative thoughts and feelings. 1) Make friends with the devil. What is it that's scaring you? It's probably some worst-case scenario that you keep running through your mind. An optimist will tell you not to worry about that. She'll remind you, quite correctly, there's a good chance something less than the worst case will occur. But such advice is useless to the person who's already got the worst-case scenario in his head. It is, after all, a very scary movie. And you're the star of it. Not thinking about it is not an option. The solution that works for me is to let the movie play itself out in its entirety. I allow myself to imagine the worst... in vivid detail. And then I find some way to see myself accepting that dire reality. If, for example, my mental movie is one of identity thieves stealing all my money, I direct a mental scene where I'm sitting in my banker's office and he tells me the bad news. And then - close-up - a smile comes over my face. The banker looks at me, astonished and confused. "Mr. Ford, did you hear what I said? You are wiped out. Penniless." "Yes, young man," I see myself saying. "I understand quite clearly. I've been relieved of the burden of all that wealth." And then I walk out the door, still smiling, while he watches me... dumbfounded. I'm having a bit of fun with this, but I'm very serious. This is something I've learned to do over the years, and it works amazingly well. The simple act of picturing yourself being okay with some imagined disaster is soothing. And if you do it over and over again, that soothing feeling will seep into your psyche, exorcise your fear, and make you stronger and [more productive](.  [IRA Experts: Recent SECURE Act a "Disaster" for 401(k)s and IRAs.](  2) Invent a third act. This little trick - creating a mental movie scene - is very powerful. But there's something else I've been doing recently that adds to the beneficial effect. I create, in effect, a third act to my mental movie. As you'll remember, the second act ended with me walking out of my banker's office with a smile on my face. That's not bad, but it's hardly the end of the movie. To give the movie a happy ending, you need a third act. And my third act is about me finding the silver lining. Every disaster has a silver lining. A torn ligament might put you in bed for a few weeks, but it can also give you a chance to read those 10 books you've been meaning to get to. The traffic jam you feared might give you a chance to have that conversation you've been putting off. So the first step is to practice imagining yourself being okay with the worst-case scenario. And the second step is to identify a silver lining and imagine yourself enjoying it. Again, this is not the sort of thing you can do once and be done with. This is a process that gets better every time you repeat it. But the good news is the more you do it, the easier it is to do it again. You may still have the same old bad instincts, but they'll last only until you begin your positive mental movie. From that point on, everything will get better. 3) Develop a Plan B. Having dealt with the worst-case scenario, you will be calmer and more able to assess the likelihood of the various possible outcomes... and make plans for each. Disaster planning of this kind should deal with at least three eventualities: worst case, bad case and good case. Imagine each one. Assess its likelihood. Figure out what you can and can't do about it. Always look for the silver lining. 4) Take action. Making friends with the devil, finding a silver lining and developing an action plan will make you feel 100% better - and you can do all that in a matter of hours (or days, at most). But that improvement in your emotional state won't last unless you start acting on your plan. As in all other areas of life, action is critical when you are faced with disaster. The moment you start moving your response plan forward, you'll be making progress... and lessening the chances of things ending up really badly. You'll feel better about yourself the moment you start, and you'll continue to feel better as long as you're taking positive action. Good investing, Mark [Leave a Comment](  [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [share](mailto:?subject=A%20great%20piece%20from%20Liberty%20Through%20Wealth...&body=From%20Liberty%20Through%20Wealth:%0D%0A%0D%0A Life%20dishes%20out%20disasters%20big%20and%20small%20all%20the%20time.%20How%20we%20react%20to%20them%20can%20have%20a%20huge%20impact%20on%20how%20successful%20we%20are%20on%20our%20path%20to%20true%20wealth.%0A%0D ?src=shared)  About Mark  Mark Morgan Ford is a founding member of The Oxford Club and lifelong practitioner of writing, teaching, entrepreneurship, martial arts and philanthropy. He has written more than two dozen books on business, entrepreneurship and wealth building (several of which were New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestsellers). Mark's been involved in dozens of multimillion-dollar businesses and has invested in more than a hundred real estate projects and developments. He has attempted to retire four times in his career, never successfully. For more of Mark's writing on a wide range of topics, check out his blog at [MarkFord.net](.  [Best CBD Cream for Pain (The Reviews Are In!)]( [Massaging Cream Into Hands](It's powerful... fast-acting... and nonaddictive... with [results you can FEEL in as little as seven seconds](. User Barbara L. said, "It's my new [go-to for pain relief](." John H. called it "[the holy grail of pain-reducing products](." And Sean R. wrote, "[I love it.]( Helps so much with the pain." If you suffer from pain in your joints, neck or back, don't waste another minute! [>> CLICK HERE NOW FOR SEVEN-SECOND PAIN RELIEF <<](  More From Liberty Through Wealth  [Capital Gains and Losses]( [How the Experts Got it Wrong Again]( By Nicholas Vardy Experts created widely publicized models showing the potential death toll of COVID-19, but these fail to account for additional impacts on health and wealth. [Capital Gains and Losses]( [Use This Bear Market to Collect Free Money]( By Alexander Green Every wealth builder should focus on maximizing total return, which means minimizing taxes. The recent bear market has created an important opportunity. [Retired Couple]( [A New Way to Think About Retirement Income]( By Alexander Green Investors who focus on income first often make poor investment moves. Here's why liquid securities offer the best wealth protection during this crisis. You are receiving this email because you subscribed to Liberty Through Wealth. To unsubscribe from Liberty Through Wealth, [click here](. Questions? Check out our [FAQs](. Trying to reach us? [Contact us here.]( Please do not reply to this email as it goes to an unmonitored inbox. To cancel by mail or for any other subscription issues, write us at: Liberty Through Wealth | Attn: Member Services | P.O. Box 932, Baltimore, MD 21203 North America: [1.877.806.4508]( | International: [+1.443.353.4610]( | Fax: [1.410.329.1923]( Website: [www.libertythroughwealth.com]( Keep the emails you value from falling into your spam folder. [Whitelist Liberty Through Wealth](. © 2020 The Oxford Club LLC All Rights Reserved [Oxford Club] The Oxford Club is a financial publisher that does not offer any personal financial advice or advocate the purchase or sale of any security or investment for any specific individual. Members should be aware that although our track record is highly rated by an independent analysis and has been legally reviewed, investment markets have inherent risks and there can be no guarantee of future profits. The stated returns may also include option trades. We expressly forbid our writers from having a financial interest in their own securities recommendations to readers. All of our employees and agents must wait 24 hours after online publication or 72 hours after the mailing of printed-only publications prior to following an initial recommendation. Any investments recommended by The Oxford Club should be made only after consulting with your investment advisor and only after reviewing the prospectus or financial statements of the company. Protected by copyright laws of the United States and international treaties. The information found on this website may only be used pursuant to the membership or subscription agreement and any reproduction, copying, or redistribution (electronic or otherwise, including on the world wide web), in whole or in part, is strictly prohibited without the express written permission of The Oxford Club, 105 W. Monument Street, Baltimore MD 21201.