Professor on August 4th, 2008
What is the purpose of stuff? Does it lead to success, prosperity, and eventually happiness? I like the skit that George Carlin does on stuff. Basically stated, and far less funny, he says that your house is a place to put all your stuff. When you get to much stuff you have to buy a bigger house to store more stuff in it.
I was looking at the neighborhood this morning and I realized that all these houses were mostly air. There is not much to them, a little wood, some nails and some glass to look out of and into. But what is inside them? Stuff. Lots and lots of stuff. So what do people do with their stuff? Most of the stuff in their house people don’t even want. They want to get rid of their stuff and half of it they just have to throw away. So what is the point? Again what is the purpose of the stuff?
In my journey I am a former pack rat. I know that someone can accumulate a lot of stuff. I had a whole attic full of stuff. And it was truly stuff; I had no idea what it was. I had some sports memorabilia; I had some mementos of old travels, and then a bunch of stuff. When I was ready to purge my wife was very good to me, we did it in stages. We went through it, and she was a big help, and threw away or recycled a good portion. A week later we went through again and got rid of even more stuff. A week later a third round. Now jokingly my life is reduced to one Rubbermaid tote. It is such a relief. As a matter of fact our last move consisted of one 10 foot moving van. That is it.
So what does this have to do with success and prosperity? I would say that if you have a goal of measuring success by the amount of stuff you have you need to look inside yourself and decide what is really important. It is fun to have toys, no doubt, but ask this
- What are you spending your money on?
- What is important in measuring your success?
- What does prosperity mean to you?
- What is the ultimate goal for your life?
- Where is your time being used?
- Where is your effort being focused?
For the last two if you asked yourself this and you were focusing your effort and time on stuff then you may need to reevaluate and decide what this stuff is. In the big picture if we say stuff and you don’t know what it is then it must not be too useful.
So step back from time to time. Purge your stuff. It can be a great money maker if you sell it on EBay, Craig’s List, or Amazon. It will reduce your stress level. It will free you up to do other things. It will give you the ability to focus on what is important in your own success and prosperity.
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Professor on July 15th, 2008
Action always beats inAction.
We have set ourselves up for success this month. We have our goals set, we have our Personal Mantras and Personal Aspirations. Now what to do we do with all this stuff? What leads us to success?
Action! The only way to become successful and prosperous is action. It must be consistent, sustained action in a direction that is toward one of our goals. But what to do? It really does not matter just do something (as Nike says Just Do It). You will make mistakes, and that is OK. You will find people who have done similar things, learn from them. Be flexible, you may be on the wrong path so don’t be afraid to switch.
Making mistakes is part of the learning process. Everyone will make them. Don’t dwell on them. Accept that mistakes will happen, correct them immediately, and move on. You are not a bad person for making them. Mistakes are always fixable and inevitable. Besides, now you just know what not to do. As Edison said about his light bulb.
“I have not failed, I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work. “
Seek out people who have already done what you want to do. If you want to lose weight everyone knows where to go, the local gym. Seek out a trainer that you like and they can help you. If you want to learn a certain task you go to the local community college. They usually offer classes on things you want to learn like how to play the guitar. But what do you do if you are trying something unique, like us at Professor Prosperity? Seek out people who have done things that are similar. Many times they have already made the mistakes that are inevitable and they can help you avoid them. Afraid to ask? Don’t be, most successful people are willing to help if you ask. So just ask, there is nothing to lose. That is how we got hooked up with Bryan Clark at Site Flip U. We just asked and he has been a great help. Mentors and guides are invaluable in any success project. It is very important that you find someone to help you. Then in turn you can give back by helping others.
Be flexible and willing to change. This is maybe the most important step to action and many times the most overlooked. If you are trying something new you probably don’t know what to do. Most likely as you make your mistakes, and you find your mentors, you will also find that you are doing it wrong. You may be going in the complete opposite direction. That is OK Just do a 180 and start working some more. It may seem a little counter productive but it is not. It is a process of refining your goal. You may find a better idea or goal than your original one. Go with it! You may find that there are many opportunities along the way, be flexible to take advantage of them.
Have fun, make mistakes, met new people. You never know what is on the horizon for you.
“Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up. ” — Thomas Edison
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Professor on June 20th, 2008
We all come across problems that affect our life and we have to deal with them. However, its how we deal with them that can make all the difference. Problems can occur in life through mistakes that we make ourselves or through unforeseen circumstances beyond our control, whichever way they cross our path we should deal with them in the same levelheaded way.
Stay in control
There are basic ways in which we can help ourselves overcome problems easier when life throws them our way but the most important of them is to remain in control of your thoughts and feelings. Remember that worrying and getting upset about any situation wont change the situation in any way, it won’t make it go away by magic. Try to think of problems as challenges that arise, tests that are put in our path to see how we deal with them and overcome them.
It is all about how we deal with problems emotionally that matter, our emotional state can take us through our problems if we allow it to. If you are prone to worrying when problems arise and allow depression to set in, you still have to get through the tough times, only they will be so much harder to get through.
The first thing you have to understand is that you don’t have to understand the cause of the problem in order to solve it and get past it. If only I knew why? Is the first question that many of us ask when faced with difficulty, but knowing why doesn’t change anything. The solution to the problem lies ahead not behind and this is the way you should be looking, don’t spend energy trying to figure why, spend it focusing on looking for the solution.
Don’t spend anymore than 20% of your time on focusing on the problem and wondering why; do spend 80% on figuring out a solution to the problem. The only question you need to ask yourself is “what am I going to do about it?”
When problems get you down
If problems are getting you down remember that everyday is a new day, while life seems to be throwing many problems your way right now it doesn’t mean it will tomorrow. Leave the past where it belongs and only concentrate on the future and it getting brighter day-by-day.
To lift yourself up out of the blues ask yourself “what is happening in my life right now that I have to be grateful for?” if you sit down and think deeply about this, no matter how many problems you seem to have right now there is always something which you should be grateful for.
So dealing with solving problems is all about how you look at them, face them head on and don’t shrink from them in despair. Focus on obtaining a solution for solving the problem and then go for it full steam ahead until you have dealt with it and got through it.
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