A little Perspective…

1983

Just a little perspective of what is going on… I was giving a talk last week at a financial firm.  I walked in the door and the silence was defening.  It was as you would imagine a territory to feel just after a war.  When the advisors entered the room, the look on their faces matched the sense that they had been beaten down.  The level of uncertainty in the market today has created a level of panic that is bleeding through the lines. 

We borrowed a prop from a client office (looked just like the phone in the photo to the left).  It was his very first cell phone.  We brought it into the presentation to remind people how all things pass with time and how despite troubling times, our country and our people and our technology continue to evolve.  We then took out our own blackberry phone with the capability to not only talk to someone from anywhere, but we can also text them if we don’t have time for a conversation, we can browse the internet to find information we need on just about anything and even get directions from our GPS if we are lost. 

The great parallel to the phone in this image is that this phone was released during another of our country’s troubling times.  The market was ‘crashing’  as indicated by this newspaper headline:

 Dow Off 9.86 Points Amid Credit Fears

By PHILLIP H. WIGGINS

The Dow Jones Industrial average dropped 9.86 points yesterday, to 1,265.24, amid renewed fears that the Federal Reserve Board may soon move to tighten credit. After a week of fluctuations, other key stock market measures also retreated. The New York Stock Exchange index dropped 0.53 point, to 95.66, while the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index lost 1.05, to 165.44. Volume on the Big Board fell to 94 million shares, from 107 million, as decliners led advancers by a margin of almost 5-to-3.

and then it recovered:

14.33 GAIN PUTS DOW AT 1,250.20

By ALEXANDER R. HAMMER

Stock prices erupted in a sharp rally yesterday, fueled by this week’s decline in interest rates. At the final bell, the Dow Jones industrial average was ahead 14.33 points, to 1,250.20. In the overall market, gainers on the New York Stock Exchange outnumbered losers by more than a 2-to-1 ratio. The surge was especially noteworthy since many banks and businesses were closed for Veterans Day. Turnover on the Big Board yesterday fell to 74.3 million shares, from 88.7 million Thursday.

Now, I know these are not the numbers we are seeing today, these numbers are very cute in comparison… the reason is, we are playing with much bigger numbers overall.  Our economy has continually grown overall over the past 25 years since the ‘brick’ was developed and it will continue to do so over the next 25 years.  Again, I’m not diminishing the news today – it creates very challenging times that all of us will feel somehow or another.  What I am saying, is to be careful not to get caught up with the details of each day on it’s own- but to step back a few feet to gain a greater perspective of things. 

Exercise:  Step up to a wall and put the tips of your toes against the wall (facing the wall)… what do you see?  hint: what is right in front of your eyes and even that is a little blurry depending on how big your feet are.

Now, step back 2 feet – what do you see now? 

Finally, move back 20 feet – how has your view changed?  I know you are catching on, but I’ll give you another hint – your view improves, you can see much more in the room then you could before with even greater clarity.  You can see the dimension of the room and you can see the scale and scope of the wall in which you could only see a few blurry pixels of before.

Moral:  Take a few steps back and put your life in perspective.  If you are healthy, if you have people who love and care about you and if you have a sound mind, life is pretty good.  Don’t allow yourself to be a puppet and get caught up in the whirlwind, sensationalization of the news and the drama of the times.  You will not only be able to see things with better clarity, your choices will improve as well. 

With this greater perspective – go out and help shift the perspectives of others.  You truly can make a difference!

(this little comic relief was from October 1983- borrowed from drybonesblog.com

Sound familiar?