Stress – Page 4 – mardihumphreys.com

Overthinking is Scary

Mom texted me a photo of a new shirt she bought. The caption on the front says, “Hold on, let me overthink this.” It’s perfect for Halloween. What’s more scary than your imagination?

Overthinking is like overcooking. When you overcook something its quality decreases and it doesn’t taste as good as it would have if you hadn’t overcooked it. As you attempt to make the best decisions and achieve your worklife goals, how do you avoid getting trapped in the web of excessive overthinking? Let’s talk about how to recognize overthinking and ways to stop.

Symptoms

Dwelling on a single situation to the point where it becomes counterproductive
Ruminating on past events
Second-, third, and/or fourth-guessing your choices
Dissecting every possible aspect of a problem
Having trouble focusing on the job at hand
A persistent knot in your stomach and/or a constant low-grade headache
Making decisions, even simple ones, feels overwhelming
Lack of self-confidence
Negative self-image
Questioning the intentions of your coworkers
Perpetually seeking validation from your manager

Strategies

Goals: Having a clear sense of purpose can help you stay focused and reduce the temptation to overthink. What can you do right now to get closer to your objectives? For example, if your goal is to move from inside sales to account management, then befriend an account manager. Some action steps may be identifying a mentor, scheduling an informational interview, and requesting a ride along.
Limits: Allocate a specific amount of time to think about a particular issue then commit to making a decision within that timeframe. This forces you to be more efficient in your thinking.
Mindfulness: Techniques like meditation and box breathing can help you stay grounded, reduce the urge to overanalyze, and help you manage stress.
Reflection: Seeing what you’re thinking helps you redirect your thoughts. When you get the fear out of your head and onto the page, it shrinks.
Feedback: Getting input from trusted teammates or your supervisor regarding complex decisions can provide valuable perspectives and help you make more informed choices. Save this strategy for decisions that will result in having a big impact.
Process: Develop a systematic approach to decision-making. List your options, weigh the pros and cons, and set a deadline for making choices.
Data: You have access to an overwhelming amount of information. Be selective about the data you consume, and avoid endlessly researching a topic.
Move: Physical activity clears your mind and reduces your stress.
Kindness: Instead of berating yourself for overthinking, acknowledge it as a habit you’re working to change. Self-compassion can help you break free from the cycle of self-criticism.

It’s essential to think critically and make informed decisions but excessive analysis erodes your productivity and well-being. Control your thought processes by recognizing the symptoms of overthinking and implementing strategies to overcome it. Balance thoughtful consideration with taking action. Sometimes, the best way to move forward is to simply take that first step without overthinking it.

What do you overthink about at work? Please share in the comments.

A Good Thing

Last week we talked about adjusting our mindsets to use setbacks as pushes forward in the workplace. What could possibly go wrong? Well, too much of a good thing is still too much. If you feel compelled to continually demonstrate your value, even at the expense of your well-being, then you risk falling prey to a performance-prove mindset.

Do you feel an insatiable need for external validation? Do you have a deep-seated fear of failure? Do you make decisions that prioritize immediate success over long-term sustainability? Asking for a friend.

You are constantly under pressure to deliver results, meet targets, and drive success. While setting high standards and striving for excellence is essential, an obsessive need to constantly prove your worth through unrelenting performance hurts you, your team, and your organization. How can you tell if you have a performance-prove mindset? If you have it, how do you change it?

How You Can Tell

Burnout: Do you work long hours, neglect your self-care, ignore signs of stress and/or push through exhaustion? This not only harms your health, but also sets a damaging example for your team. These behaviors signal a burnout culture and toxic work environment.

Rut: Are you solely focused on existing methods and strategies? When is the last time you tried a solution someone on your team suggested? A performance-prove mindset often smothers innovation and creativity within an organization. It can result in failure to adapt to changing market dynamics.

Risk: Are you reluctant to take calculated risks? Are you afraid that any undesired outcome will be perceived as personal inadequacy? Risk aversion stifles your career growth and hinders your company’s ability to seize new opportunities.

Trust: Do you prioritize personal recognition over the well-being of your team? Trust is essential for effective leadership.

Short-Term: Are your decisions mostly about immediate performance metrics? When is the last time you considered how they impact the bigger picture? How often do you pay attention to your company’s reputation, customer trust, and employee satisfaction? Thinking exclusively about short-term goals endangers the sustainability of your business.

Stagnant: Do you regularly set aside time for self-reflection, upskilling, and personal development? Not doing so is an easy way to get in a cycle of proving yourself instead of continuous improvement.

What You Can Do

Focus: Align your actions with your company’s vision and/or mission statement. These touchstones should drive decision making for every employee. Doing so lessens the need for external validation, because you already know what your leaders want.

Delegate: Empower your team to own tasks and decisions. Delegating responsibility not only relieves the burden of constant performance but also fosters trust and development among team members. Remember to champion failure as a learning opportunity rather than a personal setback. Encourage a culture that accepts and learns from undesired outcomes so you can stimulate innovation and growth.

Practice: Notice when it’s happening. Regularly set aside time to reflect on why you do what you do and why you feel how you feel. This may be once a month or once a week or even once a day if the situation warrants. Writing a 250 word reflection can help you see what you think. Recognizing the root causes of your performance-prove mindset is the first step to taming it.

Do you attach your self-worth to your job performance? How are you working to change that? Please share in the comments.

Bad Reputation

When you think of Sales, does it conjure up a vision of a used car lot and an overexcited man in an ugly plaid jacket? No? Just me? Okay. As a profession, Sales has a bad reputation. Sales people are stereotypically portrayed as fast talking deceivers.

But, everyone in the workforce is a salesperson even if the word Sales is not in your job title. People associate you with your organization. You have the power to help and hurt your employer. If you enjoy working for your organization, then you will speak highly of it to others. If you don’t, you won’t, and people notice both. For example, let’s say you are a hygienist for a family-owned small dental practice. The next time your friend from the gym has a toothache, will they call your office because you speak so highly of it? Or will they avoid it because you complain?

For this conversation, let’s pretend you are the hygienist mentioned above. You like your job well enough to speak favorably about it and you are not in a sales role. Your success not only depends on your performance, but also on a steady stream of patients. How can you help the business grow even though you are not responsible for attracting patients?

Relationships

Sales skills are communication and caring skills. In our hygienist scenario, you do not have sales goals to meet. This gives you the luxury of being able to take as much time as you want getting to know people and when they need dental services, they will call you. So, when you have face time with friends and family, listen intently and actively. Put your phone upside down on the table and look them in the eye. Do not interrupt their story. When they pause for your response, wait a second to indicate you really heard them, then ask an insightful follow up question to prove it. Great questions lead to great answers. Even just a, “Say more, please,” demonstrates your interest and empathy. When people feel listened to, they feel understood and validated. When they feel understood and validated, they like you. When they like you, they trust you and business moves at the speed of trust.

Experience

When it’s your turn to talk about yourself, it’s natural to talk about your work. In our hygienist example, you may have an anecdote about a one-year-old child’s first trip to the dentist and how you made them feel so at ease they did not want to leave. Then ask your friend what is going on at their workplace. This prompts them to share a success story too. The positive conversation makes you both want to have future interaction, so be sure to follow up. Strive to make people feel comfortable and respected. Show you care about them as a person. Take opportunities to tell stories of how people feel safe with you and how your organization makes their lives both better and easier.

Honesty

Being honest is integral to building relationships and establishing it takes time. Think about a potential client. If you were in their shoes, how would you want to get to know your product or service? What would make you feel respected during the customer journey? In our hygienist example, if you are having coffee with a friend and they mention they are embarrassed by their coffee-stained teeth, do you have a story about a happy customer who had whitening done? Can you suggest an over-the-counter solution they can try first? You aren’t selling your services, you are solving their problem. Steering someone away from your service actually makes it more attractive. You are proving that you value their relationship more than their money.

How do you feel about attracting people to your organization? Please share in the comments.

Unpleasantly Surprised

Have you ever felt like you’re riding a roller coaster without a seatbelt, blindfolded? That’s the sensation the modern work environment often induces, and there’s a term that sums it up perfectly: VUCA. It is an acronym for Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, and Ambiguous. Understanding and embracing the concept of VUCA can be the key to surviving in the constantly evolving workplace. Let’s breakdown what a VUCA work environment feels like and how to cope with it.

What it Feels Like

Volatile: Imagine waking up every morning not knowing whether the coffee maker will brew a perfect cup or explode. That’s the essence of volatility in the workplace. When change happens faster than you can say “meeting agenda,” then flexibility becomes a core capability.

Uncertain: Imagine a surprise party that never ends. That’s the essence of uncertainty in the workplace. Will your project get a green light? Will your team be reshuffled? Will the strategy you’ve been working on suddenly take a hard left turn? To thrive in this environment, you’ve got to be the MacGyver of adaptability, ready to craft a solution out of a paperclip and a piece of gum.

Complex: Imagine assembling a toddler’s toy with more parts than a Swiss watch. That’s the essence of complexity in the workplace. Departments intertwine like spaghetti, and understanding the big picture is like deciphering hieroglyphs. To conquer complexity, you’ve got to be Velma Dinkley, seeking out clues and patterns while keeping an eye out for the red herrings that can throw you off track.

Ambiguous: Imagine reading a book with pages missing. That’s the essence of ambiguity in the workplace. Ambiguity requires deciphering meaning from bits and bytes of information gathered from multiple channels. You have to piece together what your team is supposed to accomplish from various sources.

How to Cope

Develop a resilient attitude. As Rocky Balboa says, “…it ain’t about how hard you hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward;” You will get mentally knocked down. Train your brain to get up again and again and again.

Embrace continuous learning. In a VUCA world, what you know today will be obsolete tomorrow. You have to learn a skill (for example a computer language), use it, unlearn it, learn the next iteration, rinse and repeat. Acquire new knowledge as circumstances shift.

Foster collaboration. Your team is in the same VUCA environment as you are. Collaborate with your colleagues, share insights, and lean on each other’s strengths to create solutions together. Iron sharpens iron. Diverse perspectives cultivate unconventional approaches to problem solving. This is how breakthroughs happen.

Practice self-care. Amidst the chaos, carve out moments of peace and quiet. Celebrate every incremental step toward your goal. You need to refresh to reduce harmful stress and recharge to make accurate decisions.

Embracing the challenges that a VUCA workplace presents can help you become antifragile. Something that is antifragile not only survives but also thrives from coping with adversity.

How do you navigate working in a VUCA environment? Please share in the comments.

Homing from Work

The term “work marriage” has been around since 1987. If you smoothly run a household alongside your partner, then you’ve mastered skills that can be useful in the workplace. It’s normal to transpose your relationships between home and work, but is it a good idea? Let’s explore how we can transfer the skills we learn during long-term romantic relationships to the workplace in a healthy way.

Communication

In both marriage and the workplace, communication can be as clear as mud. For example:

Your spouse signs all your children’s paperwork for school, so you ignore the permission slip sitting on the dining room table. Two days later you receive an angry text from your spouse because they were called to immediately go to the school and sign an emergency permission slip before your first-grader’s class left for the field trip without them.
Translating this to the workplace, your project manager updates all your team’s workflows, so you ignore the change pending your approval sitting in your inbox. You receive an angry email from your manager because you missed a deadline.

In both scenarios what we have here is a failure to communicate resulting in a conflict. The conflict resolution tactics you use with your spouse are also helpful in your work relationships. Address issues promptly, avoid blame games, and seek solutions. It helps to remember that the goal isn’t to win an argument, but to improve the process. Be candid yet respectful and open to feedback. When you think you are over communicating, that is actually about the right amount of communication.

Patience

When you’ve been married long enough, you’ve weathered storms and sat through endless sports matches, spelling bees, and talent shows. Transfer this patience to the workplace, where tight deadlines and forgotten passwords can test your nerves. Exercise your emotional intelligence by remaining calm, refusing to panic, and offering support to your coworkers. There are approaches you use to soothe your spouse and allow them to both decompress and process stressful situations. You can apply these approaches in the workplace. Knowing when to both actively listen and when to offer advice makes you a valuable asset in any relationship. Professional boundaries differ from personal relationships, so be mindful that a little strategy goes a long way. Best practice? Less counseling and more curiosity.

Teamwork

How many times have you and your spouse had to decide on a restaurant or a movie? You have plenty of experience in the art of compromise. Apply this to your workplace interactions, where differing opinions are as common as casual Fridays. Finding middle ground leads to creative solutions and demonstrates your inclination to collaborate. Marriage is a partnership, and so is your office dynamic. Just as you and your partner tackle household chores together, cooperating with colleagues should lead to smoother projects and better results. You’re all working towards a common goal. Add value where you can, appreciate your coworkers’ contributions, and celebrate even the smallest progress.

The communication, patience, and teamwork skills you hone over years of marriage can be a blueprint for managing relationships at work, but tread lightly. Adapt these skills to fit the unique dynamics of your workplace without turning it into an episode of Friends.

How do the skills you use to get along with your partner translate to your work relationships? Please share in the comments.

Site Inspection

Last week, we looked at some ways employers can begin to solve the working remotely challenge. This week, let’s discuss your role. As an employee, you have a few questions to contemplate. Does your organization consider working remotely a privilege or a right? Are you willing to take a pay cut to work remotely? What message are you sending to your managers? Is it clear, kind, and collaborative?

Both employers and employees require communication, empathy, and flexibility to effectively negotiate. This week, let’s think about what constructive steps employees can take to help build a bridge across the working remotely gap.

Communication

Build your case for working remotely. You can include why it is best for you, but put more emphasis on why it benefits both your manager and your organization. For example, working remotely reduces your commute time. This is good for you because it saves you money. It’s good for your manager and your organization because you can spend that time working instead of commuting.
Provide data that supports your case for remote work. Pull up your Atta Baby file. Do you have any documentation of your increased productivity, successful project outcomes, and positive feedback from colleagues and/or clients from March 2020 to the present?
After gathering your evidence, schedule a meeting with your manager. Clearly and calmly present your case. Give brief illustrations of how remote work has positively impacted your work quality, efficiency, and overall well-being. Then actively listen to your manager’s perspective. Understand their reasons for wanting you in the office full-time. This can help you find common ground and empathize with their concerns.

Empathy

If your manager has specific doubts about you working remotely, address them directly. For example, if they’re worried about collaboration, share how you plan to stay connected with colleagues and contribute to team projects while off site.
Highlight how you’ll maintain accountability and meet your metrics. Describe to your manager how you’ll be available, responsive, and productive. For example, someone who emails you with a simple request on a Wednesday at 8:00am can expect a reply from you within thirty minutes.
Be receptive to your manager’s feedback and open to adjusting your proposal based on their input.

Flexibility

Suggest compromises that address both your needs and your manager’s misgivings. How about a hybrid schedule where you’re in the office for certain days or specific team meetings?
Suggest a trial period for this arrangement and ways to both evaluate its effectiveness and make adjustments as needed.
If the conflict remains unresolved, consider involving Human Resources to mediate. They can provide guidance on the interpretation of your organization’s policies.
If you and your manager come to an agreement, document the details in writing to avoid any misunderstandings later.
If you do not reach an agreement, that gives you valuable data. It shows you what your employer expects. It also reveals the conditions under which you are willing to work. You can use this information to make decisions regarding your future with this organization.

The goal is to find a solution that benefits both you and your employer, and meets the needs of your team and your organization. Effective communication and a willingness to compromise are essential for reaching a resolution that everyone can support.

How is working remotely affecting your work life integration? Please share in the comments.

Build a Bridge

The struggle is still real out here in the workforce. For example, the on-going post-pandemic pushback from workers being pressured to return to the office as well as employers being pressured by city governments worried about losing tax incentives. When there is a gap in employment expectations between managers and workforce, is it possible to communicate messages back and forth across that gap both clearly and kindly?

If you are an employer, you have many questions to consider. What message are you sending to your team? To your recruits? Is your message intentional? Are you in control of the narrative? Do you know what your reputation is in the community? Is it the reputation you want to have?

Both employers and employees require communication, empathy, and flexibility to effectively negotiate. Next week we’ll discuss the employee’s role. This week, let’s look at how employers can begin building a bridge across the working remotely gap.

Communication

Initiate a respectful and open conversation with your employee to understand their perspective and concerns. Create an environment where your direct report can freely express themselves without fear of reprisal. Actively listen to their reasons for wanting to work remotely. Do they have family responsibilities, health concerns, or transportation issues that working remotely would alleviate? Clearly articulate why you need them in the office. Are they a member of a spontaneously collaborative team? Is in-person communication the key to maintaining a cohesive company culture? If you reach a resolution, then document the agreed-upon terms and conditions and give the employee a copy to ensure you are both clear on the arrangement.

Empathy

Address any specific concerns the employee has regarding the office environment. For example, are pandemic-induced safety measures in place? Have they experienced microaggressions in the office? Are the resources they need to do their job available exclusively on site? Involve the employee in the decision-making process to give them a sense of ownership and an opportunity to demonstrate cooperation. Are there advantages to returning to the office for them? For example, do you offer a mentoring program and is it more meaningful in person? If they are on site, will they be more visible to the C-Suite? If you can’t reach an agreement, would they be comfortable with you bringing in someone from HR to help facilitate the discussion and find a compromise?

Flexibility

Consider an arrangement that allows a mix of working remotely and in-office work. For example, could the employee work flexible hours? What about days of the week? Would you be willing to designate specific days for in-person collaboration and meetings? Would you authorize a trial period during which you closely monitor the employee’s productivity, customer service, and well-being? This experiment can help both you and them evaluate the impact of the change and make an informed decision together. You can schedule regular check-ins to review how the new arrangement is working for you, your employee, and your company. Be open to making adjustments based on feedback and fluctuating circumstances.

How is working remotely affecting your organization? Please share in the comments.

Ritual Respite

It’s back-to-school season! One of my friends adjusted her entire family’s bedtimes by fifteen-minute increments to prepare everyone for getting the kids to school on time. She understands the vital role rest plays in productivity. It seems counterintuitive in a society that values busyness. Let’s talk about how rest helps you do more.

Recovery: Rest allows your mind and body to recover from fatigue. Prolonged work without breaks leads to mental exhaustion, reduced concentration, and diminished problem-solving abilities. Rest replenishes your energy levels to improve your mental clarity, focus, and creativity. It also promotes physical recovery, reducing the risk of injuries. Extended rest periods, such as sleep, enable your brain to consolidate and integrate information. This improves your memory retention and decision making. Grabbing a fifteen-minute nap during your daily 3:00pm slump will recharge you more effectively than grabbing coffee, cola, or chocolate. Getting adequate rest regulates your mood, promotes emotional stability, and supports the higher-level cognitive processes you need to be productive.

Performance: Working for extended periods without rest produces diminishing returns. Taking regular short breaks during work helps combat your decline in attention and focus. You can’t work on a project for hours, then collapse at the end of the day to make up for the skipped rest periods. You can’t work at full capacity for weeks on end, then make up the missed rest with a week’s vacation. (Don’t get me started on all the paid vacation time workers have at their disposal and do not take.) Regular rest periods during your work day help you recharge, reboot, and retain high-level performance.

Innovation: Rest encourages your mind to wander, fostering creative problem solving and innovative thinking. Moments of relaxation can generate unexpected insights, connections, and out-of-the-box solutions. When you don’t make time to stop and think, you make mistakes you could have avoided. Stepping away from work and engaging in different activities stimulates new perspectives and brainstorms, ultimately boosting productivity. For example, how many times have new ideas come to you while taking a walk?

Well-being: Rest prevents the chronic stress continuous work causes. Not taking breaks negatively impacts not only your productivity but also your overall health. Rest and relaxation techniques, such as meditation, box breathing, or engaging in hobbies, help reduce stress levels. By managing stress, you can maintain a positive mindset, improve overall well-being, and approach tasks with enthusiasm.

Sustainability: Rest is essential for maintaining capacity and delaying burnout. Pushing yourself to the limit without taking breaks not only exhausts you physically, it also reduces your motivation and decreases your overall productivity in the long run. Incorporating rest into your daily routine optimizes your productivity, helps you achieve your goals faster, and ensures sustainable and consistent work-life integration.

What triggers have you set to remind yourself to take breaks? Please share in the comments.

The Cure

Work standards seem to change daily. For example: Should we go fully remote? Hybrid? Every employee everywhere in the office all at once? But there is a constant; the pressure for perfection. Perfectionism is like a virus spreading through your organization. Let’s talk about how embracing curiosity can help you cure it.

Help Yourself

If you feel like you have to get work done right the first time, every time, then you don’t want to work. Turning projects down puts you on the fast track to unemployment. But adopting a curious mindset puts you on the fast track to continuous improvement. Accept the project. Ask yourself, “What is the worst that could happen?” Then plan for it. Having a plan helps you build confidence and resilience.
It’s likely that the worst will not happen, but a lesser problem will. When it does, be proactive. Demonstrate you can recognize problems, reframe them as challenges and opportunities, and brainstorm ways to move forward.
Perfection is neither necessary nor constructive. If perfection is your goal, then setbacks will emotionally devastate you and eventually lead to burnout. Curiosity, however, helps you bounce back from setbacks by focusing on the learning process rather than the result. You become more adaptable and better equipped to navigate the inevitable challenges.
Curiosity drives you to explore new areas, learn from different disciplines, and consider diverse perspectives. When curiosity is a habit, you perpetually broaden your knowledge base and develop your reputation as a skilled risk taker. Perfectionists often avoid taking risks, because they are afraid they will fail and coworkers will judge them for it.
Curiosity empowers you to step out of your comfort zone and seize opportunities for professional growth. Whether it’s pursuing a new project, volunteering for a challenging task, or taking on a leadership role. This is the type of talent every organization wants.

Help Your Team

If perfection is the standard your organization expects, then your team routinely feels like they failed. Perfectionism stifles creativity and innovation. On the other hand, curiosity sparks new possibilities. When you experiment and question the status quo, you find unique solutions to problems.
You can reframe failure as a learning tool for your team. The next time a coworker is blamed for missing the target, support them. For example, at the next team meeting say to them in front of everyone, “This is great. Thank you so much for bringing this to our attention. Since that piece did not turn out the way we wanted it to, what do you think we should keep and what do you think we should try next to get the outcome the client wants?” This turns the problem into a puzzle. It diffuses embarrassment and redirects thinking toward the next iteration.
A culture that promotes curiosity over perfection encourages open communication and collaboration. When team members are not afraid to ask questions and to seek help from colleagues, it fosters a supportive work environment where knowledge sharing and ideation thrive. In such a workplace, employees are more likely to feel engaged, valued, and motivated.

Focusing on curiosity over perfection is a powerful shift in mindset that can transform your approach to work. By embracing failure as part of the learning process, you build resilience, expand your skills, and create paths for advancement.

When a project at work does not meet expectations, how do you redirect your thinking toward curiosity? Please share in the comments.

Finance is Personal

For most of us, money is not fun. You usually have to work to get it, spend some of it on things you’d rather not, and managing it can be confusing. But if you don’t manage it, then it will manage you. So, let’s simplify by putting personal finance into the 5Ws and an H framework. Who, what, when, where, why, and how should you manage your money?

Who: Everyone

What: Personal finance means controlling your income, expenses, savings, investments, and debt by making informed decisions to meet both your short-term and long-term financial goals.

When: Now

Where: There are numerous options for where to put your money to make it work for you. Traditional brick-and-mortar banks and credit unions are good for everyday transactions. High-yield savings accounts at online banks are good for longer-term savings. For investments there are apps, brokers, wealth managers, and plenty of others willing to help you. Here are some options to consider.

Why: Managing your personal finances gives you peace of mind, helps you reach financial independence and allows you to achieve your goals. Having an emergency fund and long-term savings gives you confidence to take career risks. For example, taking a job at start up or opening your own business. You have a lot of freedom when you aren’t dependent on others for monetary support. You have flexibility to choose where and how you want to live, work, volunteer, and play. Whether it’s saving for retirement, buying a house, or paying for education, managing your finances is crucial to reaching your life goals.

How:

Build a realistic budget based on your monthly income and expenses that covers all your essential needs like housing, utilities, groceries, transportation, loans, credit card balances, and emergency fund
Pay off debt particularly high-interest credit cards and loans. Make more than the minimum payment if you can. Avoid accumulating more debt unless it’s absolutely necessary. Being debt free helps you maintain a good credit score and gives you access to financial opportunities like investing
Grow your money by setting up automatic transfers to your savings account each month. Your long-term goal is to save at least 20% of your income. Eventually you can use your savings to make a big purchase like a dream vacation, a car, or whatever you want
Make your money work for you by investing it wisely. If you are a patient person, a financial advisor or wealth manager can help you choose a portfolio of stocks, bonds, and mutual funds. If retirement is many years away for you, these are good ways to grow your nest egg. A financial advisor should also be able to help you understand your responsibilities for taxes, insurance, and retirement planning

When you have control over your finances, you are empowered to handle unexpected expenses, cope with economic downturns, and secure your future.

What do you do to manage your personal finances? Please share in the comments.