Change the way you look at the world
Albert Einstein once said the biggest decision each person has to make in life is to figure out if they live in a friendly or hostile universe. When you Change the way you look at the world, the world will change around you. 😉
If we see the world as a hostile, angry, and resentful place, then that is what we will create for ourselves in life. Some people spend their time looking for occasions to be offended. They actually want to find something to be upset about. It gives them an excuse to be patronizing and gives them an ego boost. And there’s certainly no shortage of potentially offensive material in the world if we look for them. But it’s easier to change how we think about something than to change the rest of the world.
On the other hand optimists believe the world is abundant in kindness, resources, and prosperity. The most positive people are generally open minded and not attached to the idea that the world has to constantly revolve around them.
The good news is we can choose how we look at things. If we think the financial markets are going to crash and have a negative outlook on the economy then why would we invest? Why buy a home? Why not wait for the crash before jumping in to buy? Why buy stocks when it’s all just a gamble? It simply wouldn’t make sense to invest if we actually believe we are better off to stash our money under the mattress. But if this is the way we think then we’ll likely miss out on some huge gains in the future. 🙁
This is why we should choose to stay positive and bullish. 🙂 And we tend to hang out with like minded people so we can share all the positive energy. I don’t think anyone knows enough about any subject to be a pessimist. Some people choose to believe they will never retire early because the financial system is rigged against the middle class. But I’m also middle class and I choose to believe I will become a millionaire in my 30s without an inheritance or winning the lottery. So far it looks like I am on track to reach that goal thanks to my positive thinking. Ask and the universe will deliver. A little perspective goes a long way. 😉
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Random Useless Fact:
If you say “pumpkin spice latte” in the mirror 3 times a white girl in yoga pants will appear and tell you all her favorite things about fall. ?
Thanks for the reminder Liquid. I was just feeling a bit out about something and you reminded me I have the choice in how I feel. It just changed my perspective on the situation.
Nice. Keep on trucking. 🙂
A positive mindset is absolutely vital to succeeding in life. One cannot become great in life if they surround themselves with negative minded people, people who do not believe success is possible, or financial freedom. Being in my mid-twentys I have realized how important it is to remove certain types of people from my life. When reflecting on my past the times when I was killing it at life during high school and college I had a myself surrounded with the top students, the people wanting to start a business.
The human will is a powerful thing. The difference between success and failure is determined not at the end, but by our intentions at the beginning. 🙂
It seems like such an easy concept, but it can be so hard to follow!
Practice makes better. 🙂 At the end of the day it’s all about results.
Interesting you start with Einstein and the Universe. In physics there is a phenomenae which says everything is at its natural state until observed, then it changes. Thus, the Universe is neither “bad” nor “good”, it just is.
The same can be said of an optimist’s observation of a pessimist (and vice versa); both states just are, until observed and judged by the other.
No one will ever no everything about any single thing, let alone all things, so it’s a bit irrational to be either optimistic or pessimistic. Just be. 🙂
p.s. – re: your Twitter: “So what if I don’t know what the word apocalypse means?
It’s not the end of the world.” — it doesn’t actually mean ‘the end of the world’ as so many people religiously mis-define it to be. Apocalypse is about gaining enlightenment and knowledge. In the end, it’s optimistic to be apocalyptic. 😉
Maybe the best mindset to adopt then is a realist. 🙂 The idea that things just are, without good or evil labeling, exists in philosophy as well. So much of the world that we perceive is made up in our heads. The personality we give coworkers and friends in our minds are often not who they really are.
Nice trivia about the word apocalypse. Some people may not know that it’s also the name of a super villain in the Marvel universe. The movie X-Men: Apocalypse is scheduled to come out next year.
pumpkin spice latte. pumpkin spice latte. pumpkin spice latte…. Now I wait.
Lol. I heard it doesn’t work all the time. #ymmv
Lol the Starbucks pokeball. I think it used to be a thing, maybe a couple of years ago when you would see all the hot girls come out of yoga class with a starbucks in their hand. For some reason that’s died down a bit.
Yeah, and you don’t see Uggs on basic white girls as much anymore either. Maybe they’ll come back during the cooler seasons.
I wonder if his friends would still ask him about his trading strategy if we were in a bear market, lol. I’m incredibly lucky because I started to invest in 2009. Couldn’t have picked a much better year in my life to be a buy and hold dividend stock investor. 🙂
I found the pokeball the best thing about this post – Buzzfeed even confirms its truth: buzzfeed.com/laraparker/things-all-basic-white-girls-do-during-the-fall
Lol, most of the things on that list are so true. Thanks for sharing.
re: Luck. I define luck as ‘exposure to opportunity’. Yes, sometimes it is right place-right time, even Buffett admits he won the life lottery. Like finding a dollar on the sidewalk…you had to be paying attention instead of plodding along zombie-like, and you had to consciously make the effort to stoop down to pick up the free money instead of choosing to keep walking. Take 2009, for instance. Some people saw the opportunity of “free money” and stooped down to pick it up (aka invest) = good luck. Other people, a co-worker of mine, chose to sell all his equities and move his money into GICs. He lost time and money, but since time is money, he lost even more money had he not sold off = bad luck. The situation was the same for everyone, the responses, however, were not. Perhaps think of a single (or Ashley Madison) friend who constantly “gets lucky” (to use an aged term). It’s probably not because they are “lucky” but simply due to exposing themselves (not literally?) to a lot of different people and situations instead of being a wall flower. If you ran 1,000 races against Usain Bolt, you might win one… Read more »
That’s an interesting perspective on luck. “The situation was the same for everyone, the responses, however, were not.” Well said. 🙂 Fortune favours the bold.