If you had a Crystal Ball…

By: David Sussman, CEO PFP | The Family Security Plan^®

I’m a magician…

If I told you this blog was about insurance, everyone would disappear.  Vwallah!! But here is the toughest part of the ‘act’.  With the following words, everyone would stay right where they are, and finish reading this blog post…

“You have a crystal ball right now and can see into the future.
All you have to do is open your eyes and look at it.”

What do you see? What are you going to do about it?

We all struggle to think about and prepare for the “what if” scenarios that surround us.  When we contemplate those unthinkable events, we are typically paralyzed into inaction.  We prefer not to think about those things and rather, we tend to live our lives in the present, enjoying the moment while focusing on today.  Let us forget about the future, we rationalize, we will deal with that later.

Throughout life, we experience moments, however, that make us think and inspire us to do something about it.  There are personal scenarios that happen to us, around us or close enough to us that gives us a glimpse into the future.  These life events typically inspire action.  We all have learned that the inspiration, however, is fleeting, so act quickly before it is too late and the moment passes.

“Aha moments” occur when things happen to you or someone close to you. Such as:

• Graduating College
• Buying a car
• Getting Married
• Having a child
• Getting a job, losing a job, business or career
• Buying a home, losing a home
• Getting a promotion
• Retirement
• The death of a parent, spouse or child
• Suffering a personal illness
• Suffering an accident

If you knew the feelings and impact that all those life events would have on you, would you do things a little differently to prepare?

Would you take better care of yourself now if you knew that some ‘preexisting conditions’ were preventable?

Would you spend more time with the ones you loved, who were getting older, knowing that they could be taken away from us so quickly, without being able to be by their side?

Would the things you deemed “necessities” change if you had to focus on the essential items for your family?

If you knew you had to remain six feet apart from everyone, would you feel differently about being close when you were able?

If you knew how quickly the doors to your business, job or career could be shut, how are you going to feel about it all if the doors remained open or when the doors open again?

I have been in the insurance industry my entire life.  Insurance is the ‘thing’ you buy when you are preparing for the financial impact of unthinkable yet inevitable future events.  When ‘life events’ happen, we tend to see the need clearly and are more willing to take action at those times.  That is a fact.    

The entire world has simultaneously experienced the ultimate ‘life event’.  We all got to see, hear and feel what it is like for everything we feared to happen all at once.  We are witnessing our own crystal ball.  You want to know what would happen if…….?  Well now you know. 

It is incredible to see the change people make when truly inspired.  True inspiration results in profound action.  The COVID-19 Pandemic and all of our life events have something in common….they end.  And when they end, they leave us with the same question:

What are you going to do now?