Part 3: The 4th Turning Success Formula
Published: Fri, 01/08/10
 "Empowering Ordinary Citizens to Make an Extraordinary Difference"
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Rockin' to the Fourth Turning Blues, Part 3 By Stephen Palmer
Click here to download a PDF of the full article.
In part 1 we learned about Fourth Turnings, how much they transform societies, and the fact that we're in the midst of one now. Part 2 taught the first three components of the formula for thriving in a Fourth Turning. In this final part you'll learn the last three components.
Build Community
As traditional safety nets collapse and sources of opportunity dry up, you must create your own.
As you drown in impersonal forces, you need warm human interaction to buoy you up.
As traditional community lines are blurred, you must define yours, expand your comfort zone, and stress commonalities over differences.
Fourth Turnings, when societies are literally fighting for survival, are no time to accentuate the relatively petty differences that separate us.
On the surface this may appear to conflict with the first two components of the formula, which focus on your individuality. In fact, these components are synergistic.
Getting in touch with yourself and finding your core gives you the internal security you need to connect with a broader circle of people than you ever have before. They unlock your desire and ability to be inclusive, rather than exclusive.
Teamwork is a primary Fourth Turning survival mechanism, and you must become a strong link in the chain.
When possible, build and strengthen relationships from the most basic levels outward. In other words, focus first on your immediate family, then extended family, then close community, followed by religious and civic affiliations, work associations, and so on.
Turn off the TV and make family, not media, the lifeblood of culture.
Though it may not be essential, depending on your lifestyle, economics and goals, social networking should most likely play a role in this process. While technology-facilitated connections are generally more superficial than intimate friendships, the expanded reach can pay significant dividends over time.
Essential Reading:
Fourth Turnings are indifferent to your starry-eyed visions and dazzling ideas. They're hostile toward high-flying speculators. They're heartless about making jobs and industries vanish. They laugh in the face of those who feel entitled to everything working out just right.
With home economics, Fourth Turnings require hard-nosed pragmatism; rapid, fluid and continuous adaptation; wise risk management; and tough skin.
This doesn't mean acting from fear; it means becoming shrewd and discerning. It means staying on the cutting edge of trends, technology, economics and politics.
Whatever it takes, you must find a way to earn stable income. It's imperative to focus on what actually works, not on what you want to work or think should work.
This will assuredly require creativity and flexibility. It may mean completely reinventing yourself, or applying your skills and knowledge in fundamentally different areas and positions.
If your corporate position is cut, perhaps freelance work and/or consulting is your new path. Or if you're struggling alone, a strategic partnership may be needed.
It also means, according to Strauss and Howe, that "generalists with survival know-how will have the edge over specialists whose skills are useful only in an undamaged environment."
For entrepreneurs it means scaling back long-term ventures and focusing on real-time market feedback.
If you think you have a good product idea, make a few test versions and see if you can sell them. You can't afford to make mistakes or take years bringing products to market.
If it sells immediately, pursue it; if it takes too much investment and effort to get it off the ground, scrap it for now.
In business, speed now trumps size, quality is more important than quantity, and long-term customer interaction is far more valuable than immediate transactions.
Get back to the basics with personal finance. Slash spending on luxury items. Never borrow to consume. Shred your credit cards. Religiously save 10 percent of your income.
Strive to reduce risk, outpace inflation, and limit taxation in your investments. Avoid leveraged investments.
Assume that all public safety nets are non-existent. Focus on emergency preparedness, especially food storage.
Measure success by personal meaning and fulfillment, rather than money, fame or status.
Essential Reading:
Lead
Fourth Turning leadership is knowing your mission (see the first two steps of the formula), then applying it to serve others with faith, courage and perseverance.
It doesn't necessarily mean that you have followers--in fact, you probably won't, at least not initially.
Like the submerged bottom of an iceberg, your influence during the Fourth Turning will be largely unseen and will go unrecognized, but it will pay off when it matters most.
Foundations of trust and respect are built during Fourth Turning crises; followers flock to legitimate Fourth Turning leaders in the First Turning rebuilding.
Focus your efforts on quiet, humble service, as opposed to emphatic evangelism.
Measure your leadership by how many people you serve and how well you serve them, rather than your number of followers.
Build platforms to share your voice and engage people, such as blogs, book groups, newsletters, etc.
Forget about institutional authority and formal position--just do your thing, do it for the right reasons and in the right way, and do it well.
The fact is that if you execute the first five steps of the formula, leadership will come naturally and you won't need much advice on how to do it.
Essential Reading:
Conclusion: Time to Rock
The first step of the well-known 12-step recovery program for addicts is recognizing and admitting the problem.
Similarly, it's time for Americans to wake up and recognize we're in a potentially cataclysmic Fourth Turning--not merely a standard market downturn.
With recognition comes the ability to prepare. For those who choose to ignore history, the coming decades will be harsh and miserable. For the conscious and prepared, the challenge will be exhilarating.
So wake up and smell the Fourth Turning brew.
Venture deep inside yourself, connect with your Creator, mine your untapped potential. Get crystal clear on your values, principles, and mission. Be diligent in your self-education.
Strengthen your family and expand your community. Be realistic, innovative and wise with your home economics and personal finance.
Then, be a servant, beacon and pillar to the world.
Because ready or not, here it comes...
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