"Given a choice between changing and proving that it is not necessary, most people get busy on the proof." -- John Kenneth Galbraith, economist.
What can you do to prepare for this coming economic trauma? First of all, don't panic. Plenty of common-sense measures can help ease the transition. Here are a few to put at the top of your "To Do" list:
In the age of the knowledge worker, intellectual capital will reign supreme. For the average person, it will be even more important than the cash capital that we normally worry about, but can lose in a flash. Your most valuable asset is your mind: Take care of it. But beware that knowledge of a particular subject will have an increasingly short shelf-life in the accelerated pace of the Digital Age. You'll have to constantly upgrade what you know through life-long learning. It'll be good to know one specialty extremely well to trade on the open market. But you should also possess other skills that can transfer to other lines of work. You want that brain to be portable when you've got to move quickly.
In a world that is changing very quickly, you'll want to be in a position to react quickly. That means that you should try as best you can to be autonomous and self-reliant. If disaster strikes and you lose your job, you'll be better able to move on quickly. If an opportunity opens up, you'll be more apt to take the leap. On a practical level, that means putting your financial house in order. Stay away from big debts, or whittle down the ones you have. But in a more fundamental way, individuals need to learn how to take much more responsibility for their personal finances and long-term financial security. In the future, you won't be able to let your corporation's personnel department take care of all your benefits, from your pension to disability insurance. You'll likely be on your own. And you won't be able to rely on the government's safety net. It may not be there.
In an era of nearly infinite choices, you'll have to know what you want. Today you can flip through maybe 50 TV channels. What happens when the number tops 1,000? You'll need to zero in on what you really want to watch. That means you'll need to understand what you truly like and ignore the rest of the clutter. That same principle will apply for more substantial life choices, such as where you want to live. You may not have to live near your employer's offices. You'll increasingly be able to work through the Net and live anywhere. Take the time now to think about what's important to you: where and how to live; what kind of work to do.
If you put off buying a personal computer another week, that's one less week you'll have to figure it out. Don't just wait for the prices to bottom out; they'll almost never stop tumbling. You've got to get your head into computers at some point. And they're really not all that bad; in fact, they can be fun. Everyone must know someone who went from hating computers to loving them after simply buying one. Try it and see. If right now you can't buy a computer, even a used one, find a way to try one at work or school, or at a friend's house. Try the library or even do-it-yourself printing and copying shops.
