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1. Build financial resilience — Keep an emergency fund, minimize high-interest debt, and avoid depending on a single source of income.
2. Develop transferable skills — Focus on skills that remain useful across industries: communication, critical thinking, technology, sales, problem-solving, and quick learning.
3. Stay physically healthy — Sleep, exercise, nutrition, and preventive care give you more capacity to handle disruption.
4. Live below your means — Flexibility comes from having room in your budget. Lower fixed expenses give you more options when circumstances change.
5. Diversify your dependencies — Don’t rely on one employer, supplier, platform, location, or source of information when reasonable alternatives exist.
6. Build strong relationships — Family, friends, neighbors, and professional networks can provide knowledge, opportunities, practical help, and emotional support when storms hit.
7. Practice rapid pivots — Instead of trying to predict what will happen, get good at adapting to what has changed.
8. Maintain self-reliance — Basic cooking, repairs, first aid, gardening, navigation, digital security, and emergency preparedness can reduce dependence on fragile systems.
9. Think in scenarios, not predictions — Ask, “What if things get better, worse, or simply different?” Then identify actions that work well under several scenarios.
10. Be psychologically flexible — Accept that some things you can’t control. Then focus your energy on what you can influence, and avoid making permanent decisions based on temporary fear.

The goal isn’t to predict the future. It’s to become the kind of person who can function reasonably well when the future doesn’t go to plan.