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Avoiding negative mindsets

Anything related to matters of the mind

hedgehog757

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"My father told me you should be lawyer and get a little something for yourself. My mother said no, you should be an author and write books. It would be a good life and you can get a little something for yourself.. What they didn't understand is that I wanted Everything!" Bruce Springsteen.

I was at work the other day. Yes, I still have one of the job things. And what I heard amazed me. We were inspecting a house that was gigantic. It had a basement that could probably fit my house and its entire property in the basement which included a music studio. There were only 3 bedrooms upstairs. 2 for the kids on one side and the Master Suite on the other side which had a walk in closet that I could fit 3 bedrooms inside of! The pool in the backyard was shaped like a guitar.

What amazed me was hearing one of the other busy talk. He talked about taking his wife and kids to a friend's beach house which was similar to what we were looking at it and that it was on a canal. He and his kids played in the water and of course the kids loved it and never wanted to leave. So he said to them, don't get used to it because we'll never have something like this.

I am sure at some point in my life this is also how I once thought. I grew up with parents who said go to school, work hard, get a good job and invest in a 401K, etc. Programmed all through school to do just that. I am actually jealous of my friends who went to schools where they actually did hands on work/learning instead of just book reading. So, I was wondering why this guy thought that way now. I guess he is just accepting where he is in life and wing content with it.

I looked around the basement, the music studio and the pool outside and thought why not? If someone can have this, why can't I? That's when I realized, there is no reason I can't. Even if that is not particularly what I would spend my money on when I make it I can have just as much as this guy. He did it so that means it can be done.

The main thing I have realized through all of this is that my focus needs more focus. I am pretty good most of the time but I do get distracted. I've gone from about 90% distracted and 10% focus to 80-90% focus and 10-20% distracted now. It's not easy when people invite you out to bars to watch football or go play darts with your friends. Yo have to take a break once in a while but not all the time.

So I decided to push myself much harder than I used to. I opened one business in March of 2014 and another is set to open in December of this year. If I am lucky there will even be a third in 2015. It's also a great learning experience right now. Still making mistakes but learning a lot in the process. I don't even consider that to be Fastlane as of yet but it is definitely brining in money while I work toward the ultimate goal of making money work for me.

Now I am focused on giving myself deadlines and making myself work harder toward tho goal so that when people invite me out and I have not finished what I needed to do, I will finish that task first before I allow myself the break. I give myself specific dates to complete tasks and projects and plan to get them where I need to be so I can live the life we all dream of. But instead of just dreaming of it, I am working toward that goal thanks to @Likwid24 for giving me the book written by @MJ DeMarco and making me see the light!

The other thing that always sticks with me is when as a kid I would complain to my parents. Whether it was school, playing with other kids, sports or working a part time job and telling my parents that this was unfair or that was unfair and they would listen and try to make me feel better. One day, as I am sure we have all done, I probably complained too much and my mother wasn't around just my father. I will always remember what he said to me even though I can't remember what was unfair at the time. "Life isn't fair. Get used to it."

He was right but after hearing the guys at work talk about how they will never have this or can't do that I realize they are also right. But not because they can't ever have what they dream of. Only because they won't do anything to try and make those dreams a reality. That used to be me. Not anymore!

He never discouraged me or tried to make quit anything I tried to do. I was even lucky enough that my parents let me go to college in Budapest, Hungary for a while. Talk about a learning experience! Way more learning outside the classroom than in it. So many different people, cultures and countries. It's amazing what you can learn in one day just walking down the street or on a weekend going to different bars and clubs. Seeing a different part of the world let's you see a different side of life and realize there are more ways to do things than just your own.

Remember to think positive! Positive thinking will help. But don't forget as we all know, working positively and working hard toward that final goal of bringing value to people and not just chasing money is what will get us where we want to be.
 
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Digamma

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I don't think it's about negativity, per se, as much as it is avoiding the traps that society throws in your path from the start.

All the things you talk about, thinking you can't get to a certain point in life, living the life of a mindless drone consuming stupid things for stupid reasons, the whole "fairness and justice" bullshit that permeates our lives.. all those things are engineered to keep you a slave.

It's simple as that, really. You can't be rich if others are not poor. You can't be free if millions aren't in chains. An ideal world would be great, yes, but that is not the world I live in. So, the masses must submit to this culture of mediocrity.

What we do here is jump from one side of the road to the other. You are either a sheep or a wolf.
 

hedgehog757

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Today I woke up at 5 am and got in a good workout. Then I did everything I wrote down last night to make my day productive and went home when I was finished and did dome more minor stuff around the house. I Plan to do the same thing tomorrow.

I got tired of begin a sheep. I've been one for way too long. So I did something to start making me more money than just my job. As i sat in a coffee shop today working on another project I looked at my business bank account and watched transactions of money coming in. Of course, for this current venture I have partners so we have to split profits but I could not have done this without them. They're the biggest pain the a$$ sometimes and at other times they're awesome and amazing! Hopefully they feel the same way about me. At least the awesome part! ;)

We have even done well enough to open a second so that we will hopefully make more of a profit. Our rent is higher in the second space. So I told them we should charge a slightly higher price to cover our costs but they disagree. I think people will pay it, they don't. I think we should start off with the higher price and see how it goes because once you condition people for a lower price, it is tough to raise it. If you start a little higher and it's not working you can always lower your prices. Though I would hope the slightly higher price works out. We will never know unless we take the chance. They may be right or I may be right but there's only one way to find out and I think we bring quality to our customers.

None of us are sure on the pricing but we will hopefully figure it out. In the meantime I just keep letting everyone know where we are so they show up and we keep a steady flow. I network with others and we do some charity work along with everything else. We all do our parts and try hard and so far it's been pretty good.
 

RogueInnovation

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I really disliked the process of ridding that societal stuff. All those clingers in your life embed it into you, and you think you rely on it somehow.
All I can say now that I'm past that set of troubles is thank baby jebus that it is gone.

Wow, is it bad. Just, wow...

Props to you if you found your way out of that mess and are READY to succeed. I'm kind of ready but I get worried about the "statement" I'm making with my actions. Most people make this statement of denial where they try to delude the world that they have "done enough", but in my experience that falls short of true self mastery which requires you to swallow your pride and do what is best (rather than prove yourself).

I suppose after all that societal stuff is gone you have to ask what is right, and find bravery to face it.
 

Mattie

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You are either a sheep or a wolf.
hmm...I don't know that I'm a sheep or wolf. Once your mind is free that is one kind of liberation. On the other hand I believe with or without money you can be a slave to materialism and finances. Just opposite ends of the spectrum. Lack of or having plenty. Even the guy from Alibaba stated it comes with it's dark side of every one wanting you to help them out. Other billionaire's I've read are relieved when they sell a property or yacht etc. Liberation and freedom can really only come from being detached from the worldly values of what makes you a success or failure. We enslave ourselves by what we choose to believe and the mindset we hold.
 

Formless

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Other billionaire's I've read are relieved when they sell a property or yacht etc.

Steve had a post where he said something that explains this. Something along the lines of:

'You buy and possess all these things but they also end up possessing you.'
 
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RogueInnovation

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I don't know that I'm a sheep or wolf

You are a she-wolf ;)

We enslave ourselves by what we choose to believe and the mindset we hold.

Fixed money concerns SUCK, so you need to move in the direction of DYNAMIC understanding, its the only way to untrip your finances enough to be creative enough to succeed.

Finances are only half of it though, the rest is just as nasty. You can be free financially but still be screwed when it comes to controlling outcome.
 

Mattie

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You are a she-wolf
Na...if there was a world where everyone in poverty, or everyone was rich you'd still never be able to escape human nature. Someone would always snap mentally and emotionally, someone would always scam and steal, someone would still commit crimes. The wolf would always exist regardless everyone in society was poor or rich. We live in a society that there is always a victim or someone that victimizes another person. It doesn't matter if we're rich or poor. You can never escape someone influencing you by the power of suggestion and belief, better known today as power of persuasion. There's always a wolf waiting to go after its prey. I'm not the sheep either as much as I once was, you get smarter. Sheep and wolf is duality. Black and white thinking. You're either weak and eaten by the predator or become the predator that eats the weak. And than there are the shades of grey in-between. Colors as well that radiate.

Human nature is the wolf I suppose and just like in the animal kingdom the strongest survive. You'd think we'd be smarter than animals. We're deliberately not if you look around globally. Perhaps the animals are smarter they don't get tripped up on money and materialism, thoughts, emotions, feelings, fears, and they just go in for the kill. They get enough to survive and feed their young. If you look through history animals probably have lived the same way, plants have lived the same way, and man has made the same mistakes over and over again. History repeats itself in time. If we're so smart why in as long as the planets been in existence do we make the same choices and mistakes? The sheep and the wolf we've always been as well as in-between. And why just now in the last few hundred years would we all of a sudden create technology and advance the human race? Why would we all of a sudden become inventors, innovators, and create?
 

hedgehog757

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First location will have been open a year as of March 1. It's kicking a$$! Second one opened January 2015 and its building up with a third one in the works with an opening goal of 6 months or so from now and it all goes well, hopefully a fourth one will be on the way.
 

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