Protect Your Future in this Crisis

This is The Momentum Podcast.

The crisis in the world today is changing everything. The reality that we knew just a few weeks ago is gone, and we're going to be building a new normal for a very long time to come. For entrepreneurs, this time represents some of the biggest challenges any of us have ever been through, but it also represents some of the biggest opportunity that any of us has ever seen before. In this episode of The Momentum Podcast, Alex is going to take you through exactly what it takes to protect yourself in this chaos. He's going to teach you how to remain calm and grounded so that you're able to make the decisions that you need to, to move forward. The world needs you now more than it ever has before, and this episode is going to be exactly what you need to get through it.

I'm Alex Charfen, and this is The Momentum Podcast, made for empire builders, game changers, trailblazers, shot takers, record breakers, world makers and creators of all kinds. Those among us who can't turn it off and don't know why anyone would want to. We challenge complacency, destroy apathy, and we are obsessed with creating momentum, so we can roll over bureaucracy and make our greatest contribution. Sure, we pay attention to their rules, but only so that we can bend them, break them, then rewrite them around our own will. We don't accept our destiny, we define it. We don't understand defeat, because you only lose if you stop and we don't know how. While the rest of the world strives for average and clings desperately to the status quo, we are the minority, the few who are willing to hallucinate there could be a better future. And instead of just daydreaming of what could be, we endure the vulnerability and exposure it takes to make it real. We are the evolutionary hunters, clearly the most important people in the world because entrepreneurs are the only source of consistent, positive human evolution, and we always will be.

So yesterday I did a Facebook live and I shared my predictions for this crisis. I shared some of the numbers that I've figured out, some of the things that I've looked at, some of the calculations that I made, and there is some simple calculations here that show that we are going to have a major, massive issue in this crisis. So I'll just share one from yesterday, we had 3.2 or 3.28 million people lose their jobs in United States. That means on a monthly basis we've had somewhere between, if you look at median income, $8.5 billion a month pulled out of the economy, and if you look at average income, $17 billion a month pulled out of the economy with just the people who've lost their jobs so far. And to give you a perspective, the largest job loss in the history of the United States was in the '80s, it was right after the real estate crisis in the early '80s, 685,000 or 695,000, almost 700,000, the number we got this week was 3.2 million. So we know that there's going to be massive challenges in this market.

And I've already shared some of those challenges, we're going to see challenges in a lot of industries. We're going to see a major and I, by the way, you're in real estate or if you're in any of these industries, this is not me trying to bag on your industry, this is not me trying to say, "Hey, real estate, it's not going to go well," this is me being a realist. I made a fortune in real estate during the last crash because I looked at the numbers and I understood what was going on. And when you look at 3.2 million people losing their jobs in the last couple of weeks, we're going to have massive rental late payments, we're going to have massive foreclosure late payments. There's this unintended consequence of the government saying, "You can't foreclose on people for the next two months. You can't evict people for the next two months." Well, a lot of people at the lower end of the economic spectrum or the economic understanding spectrum, hear they're not going to foreclose and they say, "All right, I'm going to stop paying my bills."

And so, the unintended consequences of some of the help that the government is giving here are going to be that we continuously have more and more issues here. And so, now I've heard people say, "Well, what if people at the end of this month, they're going to just start paying their bills again and there's government incentives and they're getting $1,200 for each person." When 3.2 million people lose their jobs, they stop making payments to a lot of companies. And when 3.2 million people stop making payments to a lot of companies, they get behind. And if you think you can put that economic puzzle back together again by sending people $1,200 it's just not going to happen, it's barely a survival payment for most people. And so, we are going to see massive economic collapse in this crisis.

Now I say that, and I want you to understand where I'm coming from with this, is that we are going to have massive economic collapse, but you can still have a incredible, I don't want to say incredible time during this crisis because it sucks, but here's what it means, here's what I meant to say is, there is going to be massive economic distress, there is also massive opportunity. I'm going to say this over and over again, I might repeat this in every podcast, "Every adversity carries with it the seed of an equal greater opportunity," that's the Napoleon Hill quote that changed my life and I want it to change yours. So now here's how you protect yourself in this crisis, and here's what I mean by protect yourself. Here's the issue, we are in a global challenge unlike anything we've ever seen before. Literally every person out there is under the threat of physical safety, and especially now that younger people are being affected by this virus, it really is every person out there.

My daughter and I have gone to the store a couple of times in the last couple of weeks, we go and get everything we need at once because I don't like being there because it's so unsettling. It feels like a movie set. It's quiet, nobody's talking, people look at you funny, people don't want to be around each other. I think this phrase we have of, social distancing, really needs to be changed to, physical distancing, because literally people are clearly having trouble just being social with each other. And so here's how you as an entrepreneur can protect yourself from what's going to happen here. Because I want to be very real, are we going to have massive economic challenges like we've never seen before? Yes. Are we going to see individuals, companies and institutions break down, fall apart, go bankrupt, have nervous issues, have challenges? Absolutely. We have an entire global population right now that's in solitary confinement in a very terrifying pandemic, that is a global population in massive trauma.

Gosh, sometimes when I say this stuff, it's so real and it's so there, that it affects even me when I talk about it. And so here's how you protect yourself, you must protect yourself as an entrepreneur in this crisis. You cannot lean into the chaos. You can not grab into this energy. You need to protect yourself. And here's how, as entrepreneurs, we protect ourselves. Structure, process and routine to get you through the day. Today, every single day, you should have a morning routine. Here's mine, it's written, I do check boxes every day. Every single day I use my written morning routine, especially right now in a crisis. It's seven days a week, why? I want the first hour of my day to be the best hour of my day. I want to protect myself from the chaos, the pain, the challenges that are going on out there. And if I get up and I just engage and start running after things, if I get up and I pick up one of these, start looking at emails, start looking at social media. I'm now letting everyone else out there manage my day.

So the first hour of my day is always the best hour of my day. I have a clear morning routine where I know that I've taken care of breathing, hydration, nutrition, and movement. By the time I'm done with my morning routine, I'm prepared for the day. And here, if you want to see my morning routine, I'm going to put a link in the comments right here where you can download it, because it may be a good example for you. There's also some directions there on how to create your own morning routine. Here's what I can tell you, when the first hour of your day is the best hour of your day, you can get through anything. And let's get real, we all have to get through this. We're entrepreneurs, we're not going to quit, we're not going to stop. We don't know, you only quit if you stop, and we don't know why you would even want to think about not moving forward, not creating momentum, it's who we are. It's part of our DNA, is to move forward, especially in a crisis.

And so first things first, protect yourself mentally, cognitively and physically and chemically, by giving yourself a morning routine, where the first hour of your day you do what you need to do to check in, be present and be aware, so that's the first one. The second one you can do, or the second thing you should look at besides just having a morning routine is you should be asking yourself right now, "How do I lower the pressure and noise in my life? How do I get things that are bothering me out of my life? How do I take better care of myself?" Self care right now to lower the noise so that you have more gas in the tank, is one of the most important things you can do. And self care is really hard right now, but there's some things that all of us can do that are completely game changing, will increase your immunity and help you get through this. So number one, stay hydrated. Right now as I hold up an empty water bottle, you can tell him hydrated, I've been drinking it. Stay hydrated.

So in addition to a morning routine, I'm going to give you another link, it's to our 10 day natural thirst program. And if you're not drinking enough water or if you are one of those people who doesn't drink enough water, it is so challenging to the immune system. So go to getthirstynow.com, getthirstynow.com, and if you're a millennial or younger, thirsty kind of means sex. So get thirsty right now has kind of a play on words, we knew what we were doing. But here's what that program is, thousands of people have taken the 10 day natural thirst challenge to be able to drink more water naturally, to increase your immune system, to increase your metabolic function, to make you feel better, and so that will lower the pressure and noise for you like crazy.

And so, think of where else can you lower the pressure and noise, creating a morning routine, getting outside on a morning walk, at least once a day go outside for 20 minutes and walk, throughout the day get outside for 5, 10 minutes at a time, get the vitamin D from the sun, breathe. Reach out to a friend, talk to people right now. If you're an introvert, you're extroverted friends need you right now, they are not doing so well. And if you're an introvert who's in quarantine, we need to reach out and to relate and to talk to other people as well.

And now here's the last thing that I'll suggest in this live that you should be doing right now to protect yourself from this crisis as an individual. And I want you to understand where this comes from, especially for those of you who are having a really hard time right now. If you have lost business, if you have lost money, if there was a lot of stuff going on that now is not going to be going on and you have experienced some significant challenges through this crisis, here's what I want you to know, I've been there. In 2007 Cadey and I were completely wiped out. And I've worked with hundreds of entrepreneurs that had been completely wiped out, they've lost everything. And one of the most important things that you can do right now to protect yourself through this crisis, and here's what I mean by protect yourself, to protect your immune system, to protect your body functioning, to protect your nervous system.

We as human beings are under more pressure right now than we probably ever have been in history. This quarantine, coupled with political issues, coupled with the financial issues, coupled with just the world around us having this severe level of challenge, is off the charts challenging for all of us. And here's one of the most important things you can do to protect your physiology and your immune system, is to be transparent and real with people. Here's what I think happens in crisis, I watched it to the foreclosure crisis over and over again. By the way, I keep looking over here because I have my Instagram camera, I'm doing Instagram and Facebook at the same time. And here's what kept happening during the foreclosure crisis, people would have major challenges in their business, major challenges in their lives, major challenges in finances, and they wouldn't tell anybody. We saw this over and over again, massive challenges, don't want to tell anybody. Massive issues, keep it to yourself.

Well, here's what I want you to know. We already all being traumatized. If we have issues come up right now and we stuff them down and we hold them down and we don't talk about them, and we don't tell anybody about them, they're going to come out somewhere. They're going to come out in a rash or an illness or in aggression or in reactivity or something. And so, what will save you in this crisis is being transparent and telling people what's going on and being honest. Even if your situation is horrible, letting people around you know what's going on and letting people around you validate you and just tell them what's happening. Let them know what's happening with you.

I can tell you that throughout the foreclosure crisis, I watched hundred, well we had tens of thousands of members, and there was a clear dividing line between the members who were just upfront and honest and walked in and said, "Here's all my issues. These are the challenges we have. This is what I need, and this is why I'm terrified," compared to the ones who were, "I got this. It's no big deal." The people who were transparent and honest and real and admitted where they felt challenges and asked for help, were the ones who didn't just make it through the last crisis, they're the ones who made millions through the last crisis. And I could list so many of our clients that literally had the best years of their lives in between 2008 and 2013, the height of the financial crisis we just suffered.

And the three things I shared with you today, just to recap are number one, have a morning routine. Go to morning.charfen.com and use it to make your first hour of the day your best out of the day. The second thing is lower the pressure and noise in your life anywhere you can. Get outside, go for walks, drink water, eat healthy foods, make sure that you are radically lowering the pressure and noise. And then the third one is transparency. Talk to the people around you. Share what's going on. Protect your immune system. Be real, be honest. And then here's what happens in a crisis, if you're real and you're honest and you tell people what's really going on, chances are you're going to get real honest help that you actually need. And here's why, this isn't going away anytime soon. I've watched a lot of different videos and I've read a lot of different opinions and I watched a lot of different things that people are talking about, and there's a lot of people who are talking about a two to three week or a one month issue.

This is not a two or three week or a one month issue, it's very similar to the foreclosure crisis. This is a multi year issue. It could be a decade, where we are still watching industries and distress, having major financial issues, we need to be in this for the long haul. We need to start preparing right now that this is going to be longterm. And so as an entrepreneur we want to keep our metabolism healthy. We want to keep our immune system healthy. We want to keep our bodies healthy. Because here's what we need to know about this coronavirus, is that the containment efforts have been so challenging in most countries in the world that it's out there and you probably are going to get exposed to it. I would say mathematically, there's almost a near impossibility that in the next year or two years, you are not exposed to coronavirus. A lot of you already have been exposed. Now why don't all of us have it? Well, we already know that some people with this virus are asymptomatic, which is super scary, they can spread it without even showing any symptoms.

But here's what we already know about viruses, throughout the history of the world we've known about viruses. During cold and flu season I don't get sick. You probably don't get sick either if you're an entrepreneur. Why? Well for me, there's two reasons I don't get sick during cold and flu season. The first reason is, pretty easy, I radically take care of myself. I make sure my immune system is not normal, not average, I want to feel bulletproof. Dave Asprey's a good friend of mine, I use a lot of his stuff. Jason Bradley, my doctor, makes sure that we're doing the right things so that my immune system is where it needs to be. But the second way, I'm diligent, I'm careful, I don't touch doorknobs and wipe my face. I stay healthy during cold and flu season because one, I don't expose myself to the cold and flu viruses in bulk. And two, I protect myself. And we are going to have to do both of those things as entrepreneurs to move forward.

We're going to have to be vigilant about protecting our immune system and protecting our future in this crisis, and then be vigilant about not exposing ourselves over and over again to this virus. We're already starting to see issues in hospitals where younger doctors and nurses who've been exposed repeatedly are starting to have major challenges, some are even passing away. It's hard for me to say that because my sister is an ER doctor who right now is going into a hospital in California every day, or not every day, when she has a shift. And there's not enough protective equipment, she's reusing the same mask that she's been using, she's got a bruise on her face from where the mask sits. So this is a massive, massive challenging issue.

And you as an entrepreneur, want to protect your future from this. So here's what you should do. Like I said, one, get a morning routine in place. Make the first hour of your day the best hour of your day. Bulletproof your day so that nothing can throw you off. And if something does, every time you do your morning routine, you are putting gas in the tank to lower the pressure and noise in your life. Get a written morning routine. Go to morning.charfen.com, the links in the comments, and get a morning routine. Write it out, put it on paper and check it off. You will find that you have so much more time in the morning and you can get so much more done than you ever thought possible, it will blow you away.

And then third, I'm sorry, second, take care of yourself. And do me a favor, by the way, for those of you left watching this, can you share this for me? I think every entrepreneur out there needs to hear this. Share this, tag someone that needs to hear this because we should all protect our futures in this crisis. And so the second thing is lower the pressure and noise. And the third one is transparency. Tell the people around you what's going on so that you get the help you need. We all go forward faster together, and if you do these things, you're going to show up in a way for your team, for your family, and for yourself, that not only will you get through this crisis, but if you do the right things and you have the right structure and process in place, you will thrive like crazy and come out of this crisis ahead.

So, for either one of the resources I talked about today, for the morning routine, go to morning.charfen.com, and for the natural thirst 10 day challenge, go to getthirstynow.com. And if you download either one of those and they mean something to you, do me a favor, make a post on somewhere on social media, tag me and let me know what you think. Getthirstynow.com and morning.charfen.com. Thanks everybody for being here. Do me a favor, share this, tag someone. Thanks again for being here, I look forward to talking to you again soon.