Emergency tactics for those that need it urgently right now:
1. Treat it like a project
Picking yourself up from the floor is a serious endeavor. Treat it like one & commit your best.
If you’d been critically injured in a car crash & landed in ER, do you want a doctor with a “I dunno I guess I’ll try something” attitude, or one that’s 120% committed to doing whatever they can to bring you back to life?
Your heart, mind & spirit are in the emergency room & you are your own doctor right now.
Do. Not try.
2. Add structure to your day
When we experience psychological shock, our body is often in fight or flight & immune system goes out of whack.
Imposing more structure to your day raises sense of predictability which becomes an anchor to stabilize your system.
Write down a list of things as your beginning-of-day & end-of-day routines and stick to them. ’Tis good practice in any circumstance but extra useful when you’re going through hard time.
Example:
Out of bed by 7:00 ->
shower 5 mins->
drink glass of electrolyte water->
turn on coffee machine ->
meditate 20 mins ->
journal/read 15 mins ->
walk outside 10 mins
While you’re in shower or brushing your teeth, mentally go through agenda of your day. Picture every item on your agenda one by one & see the ideal outcome you want from it in your mind.
E.g. you have bacon & eggs for breakfast -> it’s the best bacon you’ve ever made, brings a smile to your face 🙂
You don’t *want* to do this. You’re not in the mood. You can’t picture anything good right now. I get it. But you’re your own ER doctor. You’re committed to saving yourself, remember?
3. Take long, deliberate walks in sunlight
Commit to getting at least 1 hr of sun / outdoor air exposure daily. It’ll do wonders to correct any neuro-chemical imbalance triggered by external shock & help you rebound.
Taking outdoor walks is great also b/c you can easily incorporate a meditation/visualization practice into natural rhythm of your steps.
Here’s a version of walking meditation I regularly do:
W/ every step, mentally repeat “I love myself” and “I’m grateful”. Alternate btw the two as you walk. (You can do the same when running chores or doing any type of repetitive task.)
As you say “I’m grateful”, imagine yourself radiate gratitude out to entire world around you. That gratitude then comes back to you like a boomerang from every corner of world in form of blessing & goodwill to you.
If you do a walk like this for 40 mins you’ll come back more centered more ready to take on whatever challenge you need to take on.
4. Be fanatic abt sleep & nutrition
Emotional shock disrupts circadian rhythm -> poor sleep quality disrupts healthy neurological response to shocks. It’s a downward spiral you want to stop right in its tracks.
That’s why you want to implement a go-to-bed unwinding routine & stick to it. Melatonin 0.5 mg is my last resort if I really can’t sleep. (Wouldn’t take more than that. Less is more).
I’d also kick up protein intake to 2 g protein per kg body weight per day + regular strength exercise.
’Tis prob overkill for normal time. But in stressful time, more muscle density & physical strength send signal to your subconscious that you’re strong & safe in the world, and can surpass whatever hump you need to get over in life. It just works.
Some supplements I find extra helpful when under pressure:
- TianChi of @herbworks: help start my day on right foot
- Cardio Miracle of @cardio_miracle: increase blood flow to heart & brain helping repair damage caused by stress
- astragalus & ashwagandha: help stress response & inflammation, I take latter from @NavitasOrganics
(no association w/ any company above)
5. Do the useful kind of meditation
Contrary to popular belief, “mindfulness meditation” is not helpful at emergency time.
Unless you’re a Jedi meditator already, your mind’ll easily wander into dark thoughts which are in abundant supply right now. It ends up reinforcing existing thought patterns that you don’t want.
I find mantra-based meditation more useful as it both de-stresses your nervous system & takes your mind off of habitual program temporarily. Recommend checking out Ziva meditation (@zivameditation) which I do daily.
6. Delete social media from your phone
When things like FTX fiasco happens, social feed becomes amplifier of collective primal scream that reflects neither truth nor wisdom.
Why are you taking on other people’s sh*t by scrolling down that feed every 5 mins? Aren’t you busy enough dealing w/ your own?
Delete those apps from your phone. If you want to check news, check once a day is enough. There’re also plenty of good newsletters around if you want to be informed abt the going-ons.
7. Forgive
When unexpected shocks happen, it’s only human to respond w/ anger, fear, guilt, shame…would’ve, should’ve, could’ve… why is xyz son of a b*tch not going to jail? How could you be so stupid & didn’t see it coming?
But however you feel abt it, it’s past tense now. Negative emotions occupy your mental space, drain your energy & stop you from moving forward. They do nobody any good. You need to cut them loose to save yourself.
Write down list of things you feel shame/guilt/regret abt. Read them out loud to yourself starting w/ “I forgive myself (or [insert name]) for …” Tear apart or burn that piece of paper later to help anchor letting-go in your subconscious.
When you’re triggered by those negative emotions again, repeat the same ritual.
8. Reconnect w/ the purpose bigger than you
Like everyone else I’m incredibly frustrated w/ what’s going on in crypto right now. But I always come back to asking myself, “Why am I here in this space? What’s the point?”
The answer is I’m here b/c web3 is a tech-enabled economic revolution that will make economies more prosperous and income distributions more equitable. I’m here to help make that happen.
But that’s for me. What’s it for you?
When things are difficult, if you can connect w/ the bigger purpose you believe in that’s larger than your personal needs & wants, it’ll be a powerful north star that pulls you through darkness.
If you don’t know what that purpose is for you, time to find out!
9. Do a DIY learning bootcamp
Take on a challenging skill. Immerse yourself in learning it for next 12 wks. Make it your sole focus.
It takes your mind off of whatever negative thoughts/emotions you’re swimming in, while building your sense of accomplishment by acquiring a new skill.
Why 12 weeks? That’s often the immersion time one needs to get the lay of land in a sophisticated new field.
Set your own curriculum & learning pace. Try to hit your target every day. If you’re going to suffer, at least have something to show for by end of the tunnel.
10. One day at a time
Put one foot in front of the other. Prioritize your emotional & physical wellbeing b/f anything else. That’s best you can do when future seems so clouded & you don’t have a master 5-yr plan for your life.
Truth is nobody has. Those that think they do are merely trying to hang on to a sense of control in a fundamentally uncertain world, which is fine if it helps them.
But a better approach that builds more resilience into your life, is to have a clear intention abt where you want to go while getting used to making it up as you go, one day at a time.
11. (Bonus) quit the la-la-la investment style
Most people are what I call la-la-la investors— happy go lucky, not having defined parameters in investment decisions, including—
1) screening criteria
2) entry/exit criteria
3) investment horizon
4) allocation / risk control criteria
You listen to sentiments on twitter, take ticker names from xyz gurus, hope you get lucky this one time. If it doesn’t work out, your confidence, either in yourself or in the said guru, is shaken & you get disillusioned.
Truth is no expert is right abt mkt most of the time. And most successful investors survive mkt long time by having crystal clear defined rules regarding 1) – 4) above & strictly following their own rules in every execution.
Even if their specific rules only have a slight edge, over time law of probability plays in their favor if they continue perfecting execution.
In other words they’re more like athletes that keep improving performance rather than psychics that divine the perfect mkt insight.
If you’re going through a tough time b/c what happened this wk, how abt using it as motivation to start training yourself as an investment athlete? How abt using next 12 wks to figure out your answers to Qs 1) – 4) that fit your circumstance & personality?
Dark times are opportunities for breakthroughs if we allow it. There’re a lot of things out of your control. But when you look back you want to feel proud of how you responded to things you couldn’t control.
That’s success.
3 Comments
So helpful. Thank you.
Love this, really, thank you. Fi from Cape Town
Thank you for taking the time to write this.