Thursday, February 19, 2009

" Recession is Good ! The Good Side of It "

It seems like everyone around us is obsessed by recession talk these days.
" Economic Recession, Global Meltdown, Tough Economy, Economic Crisis, Stock Market Crash..." all these terms which used to be economic jargons once has become common words for us today!

Everywhere we look, people want to know if we're in a recession. Turn on the nightly news or read the news paper, we get scary economic statistics one after another. Without doubt the main topic dominating the news is the current economic crisis, and it appears certain that it may be going to get even worse.

Anyways, What is this Recession?

Our Economists and Financial Guru's says, " it is a state of economic decline; a widespread decline in the GDP, employment and trade lasting from six months to a year ". To make it more understandable, it is when hundreds of people gets laid off from their jobs, prices of commodities are shooting up, and everybody is short on cash. Holy Cow! Quite a disaster isn't it?

We could say "There is nothing that we can do about this recession; it is out of our hands" . To some extent this is true, there is nothing that we as individuals can do about the recession. How long it will last or how deep it is, is simply out of our control.

I read in one of the leading Financial News Paper recently, "Recession is primarily caused by the actions taken to control the money supply in the economy. The Government is responsible for maintaining an ideal balance between money supply, interest rates, and inflation. When the Government loses balance in this equation, the economy can spiral out of control, forcing it to correct itself." bla..bla..bla..it goes on !

In short, we can blame the Government for everything that's happening right now. But, is that what we should be doing right now? Or can we talk about something better? As always, in every situation there are those that comes out victorious, so don't dwell on the negative effects of economic recession because that won't help us and take us anywhere.

Instead, what if we think of the different ways to beat economic recession ?

Great! That's one good side of it. It makes us think! Remember, in every situation we can come out victorious if we choose to. You must be laughing thinking what good side can economic meltdown offer. Well, tighten your seat belts, let me take you through that.

The Good Side of Economic Recession

1) It Makes Us Wiser : You'll be surprised how people start to lecture you about spending wisely, saving for the future, tighten your belts etc.! Seriously, in this world where consumerism is highly encouraged, the situation right now has made everybody wiser than before. I don't see people spending a lot of money like they used to. Don't you feel that's really good?

2) It Makes Us Think Out Of The Box : As I've said earlier, economic recession makes us think, which is the greatest thing. What different way have we thought of today that will earn us some extra cash? The beauty of it is that, the more we think of it, the more creative ideas we get. And that is our first step towards success.

3) It Creates a Decision Maker Out Of Us : Knowing that we have to act fast, it forces us to make quick decisions. It doesn't matter if we make a mistake, what matters is that we are doing something. Procrastination will get us no where, and that is what recession is saving us from.

4) It Makes Us Appreciate What We Have : A friend of mine used to always complain about the car that he drives, he wanted something new, a brand new Honda to be specific. But now I'm hearing him say how thankful he is to still be driving a car. How about rest of us? Do we still hate the car we drive? Do we think our house is too small? Don't you think recession really makes us appreciate what we have?

5) It Forces Change : This goes together with all the other benefits of economic recession. Change is a constant thing but recession accelerates that, it makes everybody adaptable. If we were used to eating at Five Star Hotels and Fine Dining Restaurants, I bet some of us might be at least thinking or started having it at a Fast Food Joint or even just eat at home!

6) Other Benefits of Recession : Economists say, during recession Interest rates which will come down which is good for Borrowers and Inflation rates will drop which is good for Savers. Sometimes difficult times can force us to reevaluate our financial situation. It can make us look for new business avenues and new ways to cut costs and spending. Although it may be temporarily unpleasant, the important thing is not to panic but try to make the best of any situation we find ourselves in.

I can probably list 10 or 20 more good sides of economic recession but I think you got the message what I am trying to explain and I will be extremely happy if reading this article made you to look at recession in a different perspective.

Anyways, Its for sure that, we can't control what happens to the economy, not even U.S President Obama can do that (or maybe he can, whatever!),
but " we can control our own economy " !

In the changing world there will be opportunities, and we should be looking for them. By doing so and becoming established now, we will have a distinct advantage when things start to recover. We need to research and develop our strategies for the future, and acquire the skills that will help us to succeed.

I am sure that those amongst us who survive or even prosper through this recession will do so because of the positive attitude, flexibility and willingness to explore new ideas. Another thing that we all need from time to time is inspiration. Like the old saying "Necessity is the Mother of All Invention".

Lets be appreciative on what we have, ambitious on what we want, avoid negativity and recharge ourselves with positive energy during this recession. While businesses are folding right and left and people are filled with panic and fear, can we make a positive affirmation and boldly say " I refuse to participate in this recession " !!!

Don't you think that's refreshing? A positive mantra surging through your veins? If so, joining with you to beat this recession,

Shamim

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

You are right brother, no point in looking at the bad side of it, its better to look at good side. Me too joining you in refusing to participate in the recession. J.K,Cochin.

Bala said...

Dear Shamim, appreciate the way you dig good things even in bad times. Keep write more on this topics, since recession has become a real threat for our export business. T.c. Bala

Anonymous said...

Very nice to read your article. Such challenging times only teach us the value for money and the corrections we make in our operations at such times can help us to go much farther successfully .

Shamim Rafeek said...

Dear Mr.R.P Singh,
Thanks for your valuable comments and agree with you, it is a challenging time for us and the positive side is, it will make us more strong and lead us to success.
Shamim

Unknown said...

thats a good way to look at things... moreover now we have started exploring new avenues or areas in the markets for sustaining our buisness. Areas in the Markets which was overlooked or neglected ealrier

Anonymous said...

Dear Mr Shamim,

There is one word which is in the minds of practically evryone.SLOWDOWN.
I have had the good fortune to listen to a lot of eminent speakers, read plenty of newspaper reports,and magazines.Not one has given a clearcut step by step solutution as to how
an individual or family can hedge this big monster called SLOWDOWN.
May be we can start of a dialogue and through your network tell the average man hos to hedge slowdon.

My contribution will be

Get on to THRIFT mode immdeiately,imagine you are earning 20% less.

Campaign against consumerism

Dont buy the product which entices you with a woman in the AD.

Note down in a diary how much you spent for what.

If you must eat out go to the neat,most economical joint.

See if you can gift gold,instead of expensive consumer items.

Take a walk,always when the distance is less than a kilometer.

Say 1 to 10 if your impulse tells you to buy something

Keep avoidable holidays and travel off for the time being

I sincerely believe that if you flash it across to your contact 100 more ideas will come out, and we would have done something to hedge Slowdown.

Regards,
Sincerely'
ATHRI

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