Is the glass half empty or half full?

September 25, 2007 | 4 Comments

Who cares? It doesn’t matter if the glass is half full or half empty. The only thing that matters is whether it quenches your thirst. In other words, does it work?

There are literally thousands of motivational speakers spouting ridiculous platitudes that do nothing more than make you feel good for the moment and have very little lasting effect. They sound good, but they don’t work. Let me prove it to you. I bet you’ve heard these lines:

“As long as you have a good, positive attitude everything will be all right.” Sorry, but that is a lie. I’ve had a positive attitude my entire life and had plenty of crap happen to me. So get a little negative. Get sick of the way things are so you will take action to change things. Get fed up; realize you deserve better and that you aren’t going to be satisfied with anything less than the best for yourself and your family. Remember: You have to get negative about your life before you can take positive action in your life.

“You can be whatever you want to be, do whatever you want to do and have whatever you want to have.” More lies. You can’t be whatever you want to be or do whatever you want to do. If you are short, fat and ugly, that supermodel thing probably isn’t going to work out for you. You can do what you have the talent for and are willing to dedicate the time and effort into becoming based on your innate potential. You can always do more than you think you can but you can’t do anything. And you certainly can’t have whatever you want. You can have whatever you believe you deserve and whatever you take action toward achieving, utilizing your abilities, your thoughts and your words.

“There are no problems, only opportunities.” This one is not only a lie - it’s just stupid. I have problems. Period. I bet you do too. And I find it insulting when someone tells me otherwise. Sometimes, there is no way to dress up the problem and call it an opportunity. Instead, face the problem. Acknowledge the problem for what it is. Then circle the wagons and tackle the problem head on.

My point? Be careful what you buy into and act upon. When you hear something, make sure it makes good sense, and then try it. If it works, run with it. If it doesn’t work, dump it and run from it.

Posted by Larry Winget | Filed Under Money & Personal Dev 

Your life is exactly the way you want it to be.

September 4, 2007 | 8 Comments

Chances are that you go to work, come home, eat a little unhealthy food, watch four or five hours of television, go to bed, don’t sleep well and then get up the next day only to do it all over again. You spend more money than you earn, exercise less than you should and complain that there just isn’t enough time to get it all done. And you wonder why your life is the way it is.

Your life is the way it is because that’s exactly how you want it to be!

“How can you say that? I want to be happy, healthy and rich.”

That is a lie. If you really wanted those things, you would have those things.

The truth is that you want those things, but you just don’t want them enough to do what it takes to get them. You aren’t willing to sacrifice your current lifestyle in order to get what you want so you end up living with what you’ve got.

Do you have a written plan for every area of your life? Most people spend more time planning their day off than they do planning the rest of their lives.

What kind of house do you want to live in? What kind of car do you want to drive, how would you like to dress, what kind of restaurants do you want to eat at and where would you like to vacation? Do you know what you want your blood pressure to be and how much you want to weigh? How much money do you want to have in the bank for savings and retirement? Do you even have a plan for your retirement or your kid’s college or a medical emergency? My bet is you don’t have any of these things written down.

It is likely that these things are afterthoughts to you – things that happen after you have spent all of your money and watched your television shows – they are not your priorities.

Your time and money always follow your priorities. Look at how people spend their time and money and you always know what is important to them.

Do this: Get a sheet of paper and write down exactly what you want your life to look like. Be detailed. Then focus on these things every day. Add to the list when you think of something. This is not goal setting – this is priority setting. Take action on your priorities, talk about your priorities and spend your money and your time on your priorities. Then you really can be happy, healthy and rich.

Posted by Larry Winget | Filed Under Money & Personal Dev