The Best Years of Your Life… Now!

As we’ve been putting together our Radical Prosperity Mindset workshop video — one of the topics we’re covering seemed like it should find it’s way into a post — so here goes:

As soon as you are able to, you need to arrange a time with your immediate family, or your extended family of friends and trusted neighbors and have a very serious discussion about everyone’s reaction to what’s going on in the world.

The reason I bring this up is some of the reports we’ve been getting — from surprising sources — regarding how the stress and panic of the ongoing financial crisis and how it’s beginning to affect people. It’s happening in ways that are not always obvious.  

For example: according to a news report I heard on the radio a couple of days ago the suicide rate amongst middle aged “white women” has risen 300% in recent weeks — and it’s being attributed to stress from the financial crisis.  This is a very alarming trend and could be an early indicator of how stress could be affecting many women.

That’s why I urge you to take time to reach out to those you care about and have a conversation about the potential implications of the our rapidly changing world…

There’s a real problem of denial in our day-to-day world right now.  People who are not having their concerns reflected in the mainstream media or other areas of society may feel isolated or that they are all alone facing their particular situation.

We also need to be talking to each other and defining our relationships. Who are you going to be able to count on when you really need  to count on someone?  Don’t wait until an unexpected situation occurs and then find out a relationship — you had been counting on —  was based upon your assuming certain things that were not shared with the other person…

You need to know where you stand with the people in your life.

The current changes taking place in the world makes it all that more essential for you to make sure you’re not caught up in “one sided” relationships with people who will let you down when you need them most.

You should look at getting a reality check on your interpersonal life as an important part of your “personal survival network”.  I’m talking about emotional as well as physical survival.  

This may be the first time in your life you’ve had to think about what part your relationships with your family, friends and neighbors are going to play in case your physical survival becomes an issue — but it’s something you need to consider very seriously.

As always my motto remains: “Expect the best but prepare for the worst”.  

Knowing who you can trust and to what degree you can expect someone to act in your best interest — is really nothing more than allowing yourself to become “street smart”.  Believe me when I was a kid growing up on the streets of Detroit — I knew who my friends were — and I had no illusions about how much they would be willing to help me when the chips were down.

-Bob Baran 

I’ve always believed that doing nothing in any life situation — that begs you to take action — makes it inevitable that the real cost to you  –  in time, emotion and money —  will quickly escalate.

I had a conversation with someone today that brought this truism home.

We had a computer repair guy stop by to do warranty work on one of our Mac’s.  It was a small thing — replacing the headphone jack.  As one thing led to another the topic of the financial crisis came up.

“Right after I first heard about the financial crisis — I was ready to sell off my stocks and cash out — but all of my friends told me to hang in there — now I’m afraid to look at what’s left…” was the computer repair guy’s comment on the situation.

 I felt so bad for him when I heard this… Why do people not trust their gut feelings when it comes to something as important as their life savings?

What possessed him to ask his friends what they thought?

Are they now going to rescue him financially?

The problem with asking your friends what they think you should do (about anything) is that unless they are experts and have real experience with a given situation, their advice is usually worthless!  

Sorry to put it so bluntly but that’s a fact.

You see, most people are afraid to take action —  even when their personal early warning radar is screaming at them to do something.  Instead they contact their friends or family members —  who are also feeling the same sense of concern — but a strange phenomenon then takes place:  

The person being asked for advice doesn’t want to disclose his or her own feelings and  betray their emotions. So they attempt to come off as being unflappable.   In other words, they tell their friends to stay calm and not overreact — which in this case was the worst advice anybody could give!

I mentioned to him that I posted a blog on  Monday October 10, 2008 and told everyone I knew to sell-off their stocks immediately — and park the money in an FDIC insured bank account for the time being… I was motivated to write that posting by watching Jim Cramer, from the “Mad Money” cable show… I was just relaying his advice — and he was someone who I knew was an expert — and didn’t have some kind of hidden agenda...

What I was struck with was the if the repair guy  had embraced a  Radical Prosperity Mindset — he would have taken the most obvious action — which is to protect his nest egg!  

Instead he chose not to trust himself or his “radar” and reached out to his friends and family for advice.  So they all lost a significant portion of their nest eggs together!

Why will people rationalize doing the opposite of what their own “internal survival mechanism” is urging them to do?  Because our society has made rational thought — even when it is based upon bad information — to be more valuable than an “emotional feeling”.

Big mistake!

As I explain in “The Intentional Prosperity™ System” — an emotional feeling can often be a rapid synopsis of an enormous amount of data.  Think of it this way:  His gut’s told him to do something quick — that feeling was based upon the right side of his brain quickly scanning his attitudes, opinions and beliefs as well as his current day-to-day reality.  That “scan” came back as a feeling —  he didn’t feel comfortable with —  so to dispel its effects he rationalized his feeling as being reactionary and not valid.

Of course it was reactionary!

The right brain function of your mind has a 360 degree view of your current reality!  I’m convinced that it (the right brain) also has the ability to accurately project into the future —  likely probabilities…  Because he couldn’t decipher the flavor of emotion he was feeling — which was telling him to get out of the stock market because he was going to loose a lot of money.   He trusted his limited left brain rationale and the limited rationale of others who he trusted more than he trusted himself and talked himself into doing nothing.

Instead of trusting himself he consciously chose to become a victim.

By adopting a Radical Prosperity Mindset, you learn quickly to trust yourself because you allow yourself to enter the “zone” where your awareness is amplified and your feelings become your long-range radar — working for you — protecting you.

If you diminish the importance of how you feel — instead of paying attention to what the flavor of that feeling may be communicating to you — you become your own worst enemy. Because you’ve turned your back on one of the most powerful “survival and success” tools you possess — instead of understanding, embracing and utilizing it for your own good.

-Bob Baran