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you hate your job, your boss, and your company, but damn, that paycheck is instant amnesia.
The problem is not people being educated. The problem is that they are educated just enough to believe what they’ve been taught, but not educated enough to question what they’ve been taught.
Get a job so you can officially join the privileged ranks of a time prostitute—trading huge blocks of your life’s time bank, five days of seven, in exchange for little pieces of paper called money.
Herds are organized for economic purposes: slaughter, shearing, milking. Herd with the crowd and you will get predictable results designed for the crowd.
you are not what you own, but you can be owned by what you own.
Hyper-personality is a person’s public image, a facade projected by fame or social media, a carefully crafted mirage that does not represent the real, humanized version of the individual.
The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. ~ Friedrich Nietzsche, Philosopher
“When you drink more than you should, you’re just borrowing happiness from tomorrow.”
For the plan to actually work, think about all the stars needed to align perfectly: Hope I have a job—not just a job but a good job. Hope the economy gives me that good job for the next fifty years. Hope the stock market yields 10 percent a year and doesn’t crash. Hope the housing market doesn’t implode and erase my equity. Hope I’m alive by retirement. Hope I’m healthy. Hope the government doesn’t hyperinflate my savings or the currency in which it is denominated. Hope the government can continually fund a bankrupt Social Security program.
The problem with the rat race is that even if you win, you’re still a rat. ~ Lily Tomlin, Comedian
Wealth consists not in having great possessions, but in having few wants. ~ Epictetus, Philosopher
In other words, follow the SCRIPT and your financial future is resigned to the gambles of dependence. Adopt conventional thinking in this area and I guarantee, you will live conventionally.
“We must all suffer one of two things: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret.”
It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all, in which case you have failed by default. ~ J.K. Rowling, Author
According to renowned psychologist Abraham Maslow, self-actualization is a goal every human should aspire to. From Wikipedia, self-actualization is “Expressing one’s creativity, quest for spiritual enlightenment, pursuit of knowledge, and the desire to give to society.”
A man who wants to lead the orchestra must turn his back to the crowd. ~ Max Lucado, Clergyman and Author
the process-principle is an intelligent awareness that extraordinary results require an extraordinary effort consisting of daily habits, routines, and sacrifices.
Real, permanent change does NOT come from event idealism or from shortcuts. It comes from a daily, regimented process woven into the fabric of your life, automatic and nearly instinctual.
The hardest part of the process-principle is repetition; greatness is a lot of small things done daily.
To me, the function and duty of a quality human being is the sincere and honest development of one’s potential. ~ Bruce Lee, Martial Artist
However, how you approach your strengths and weaknesses comes down to your mindset. Do you accept your characteristics as facts, rigid constructs of existence, immovable and impervious to alteration? Or do you accept your weaknesses as malleable and open for improvement? Once you become aware that neuroplasticity—your brain’s ability to form new neural connections—is possible, intelligence and skill no longer await just the victors of the genetic lottery.
The Kaizen Principle is to endeavor to create tiny incremental improvements in your daily life with an aim for mastery over performance, while forsaking external comparisons, unless such comparisons inspire.
The three key operands here are: 1) Tiny incremental improvements 2) mastery over performance and 3) external comparison.
Comparison is the path to perpetual misery.
Stop hunting money and start hunting value. Money is not prey.
A life is not important except the impact it has on other lives. ~ Jackie Robinson, Athlete
I believe in luck: how else can you explain the success of those you dislike? ~ Jean Cocteau, Director
Compound inflation is as powerful as compound interest.
Failure is normally temporary and can be remedied by trying again. A compound-interest failure is permanent because its attempt spans decades. Trying again is impossible.
For example, a lot of my net worth is invested in bonds: municipal (tax-free), corporate, emerging-markets, and closed-end funds. Other investments are in dividend stocks, like Southern Company, Holly Energy, and a nice allocation of REITs.
New successes blaze new roads; they don’t trail old ones.
Real change comes from identity and self—not from interim motivations jump-started by books or YouTube binging. Basically, you have to BE what you want to become FIRST so the actions can follow. Don’t TALK about it; BE about it. BE. ACT on being. Then HAVE.
The market is one selfish rat, and if you insist on being selfish yourself, you don’t have a prayer. When passion doesn’t solve people’s problems, passion doesn’t pay bills.
I defined wealth (and interchangeably “happiness”) as having three contributing factors called the 3 Fs: freedom, family, and fitness.
Everyone wants change, but no one wants to change themselves. Before championing an honorable cause, champion for yourself. This is your life to lead. Lead yours, and you can lead others.
Unfortunately, too many entrepreneurs aren’t interested in creating businesses that pull. Instead, they operate from a “push” axis, where solving problems or creating value is not a priority—money-chasing and/or value-cheating is.
If you wait for opportunities to occur, you will be one of the crowd. ~ Edward de Bono, Psychologist
Entrepreneurship is about problem-solving, creating convenience, satisfying desires, and becoming valuable.
The best opportunities rarely come from joining the crowd, but serving it.
Entrepreneurship is neither a science nor an art. It is a practice. ~ Peter Drucker, Author
Perfection is not obtainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence. ~ Vince Lombardi, Coach
failure is the sweat of success.
my past failures weren’t real failures, but failures at acting, assessing, and adjusting.
Periodic, huge life imbalances often precede success.
When we feel a part of a group or a subculture, it gives meaning to our lives. This is why professional sports teams and their athletes are worshiped:
Materialism is the only form of distraction from true bliss. ~ Douglas Horton, Clergyman
Every day, I could wake up and compare myself to someone else—someone younger, better looking, wealthier, with a faster car, bigger house, this, that—but I don’t. Instead, I am grateful for what I have because I know persistent comparison rituals urging “more” is a one-way ticket to misery.
Comparison is future-oriented and focused on what is missing, creating anxiety. Gratitude is present-oriented and focused on what you have, creating peace.
Don’t waste life’s precious time adorning your coffin with diamonds.
Remember, unearned luxury equates to earned suffering. You can be the undisciplined 99 percent or hold yourself to the standard of the 1 percent.
