Be Confident of Your Greatness:
Being in Control of Your Life in Tough Times
Kevin Hogan, Psy.D.
Page 3
True Greatness
Politicians seek and achieve power through deception.
Their personal mastery is illusory because it requires deceit.
Achievement through your skills and abilities...the creation of new ideas,
no products, new services, new ways of life, new ways to
heal....that is where the future is... The only people who will
make a difference are those who have the confidence to stand up
on their own two feet and push away from those who would dangle
the false carrot.
The Desire for Tranquility
The first problem you and I face is mastering the desire for
tranquility.
The desire for tranquility, which is the opposite of the
flight/fight response, is an evolutionary need for calm.
Unfortunately there is very little calm in a life that has a
family that lives on $50,000 per year when the salary comes
from a company outside of the family. Their is no personal
sufficiency.
Thus there is fear of living paycheck to paycheck is very real.
There is no business or venture to grow which can become self
sustaining. Only dependency. If the hamster wheel is shipped
to China, the individual is lost like a rat in a maze.
This person's ancestors would have laughed mightily at such a
bizarre image. The early Americans were people of greatness. Incredible
pride. Strong will. And perhaps not surprisingly ... amid the
challenges, the deaths of so many in unknown circumstances...a
remarkably happy nation.
Things changed in the 20th century and have been stamped
as "complete" in the first decade of the 21st. People have been
taught to work 8 hours, go home and do nothing. And of course
the unstated truth is that NOTHING can go awry in life or the entire
delusion breaks down completely.
Therefore the person who doesn't master the desire for tranquility
loses in the game of life. And in 2009 you will find this is the last year
that dependency will work as the Ponzi Scheme's all come to a
head.
It takes thought and ambition to overcome the inertia that sets in.
Just like the person feels temporarily better after eating a jar
full of cookies, or smoking a cigarette, they feel better doing
nothing when they have could instead create or live a life that is
safe, secure and comfortable.
The "feeling" is one that they must defend because they haven't felt
it all day (at work) and they will tell you "I deserve..." and
they truly believe the illusion. It's like living in a
magician's show. Filled with wonderful illusions and escapism
but of course it is only illusion.
The only way for the person to see their way past their inability
to control the self's desire for tranquility is to see how much more
tranquility they will get in total stacked up against the short paycheck to
paycheck breaks.
A question I ask people is, "If you had no income for three
months would it make any difference in your life?" The answer
needs to be, "no" but less than 1/60 can respond that way.
The fact is that you are very likely to have times in your life
where you have three months or more of zero income. By creating
a rich life with rewards you build wealth when you sleep. That
is achieving tranquility...and at a profit.
It's funny. Many of the early colonists were petitioned to dig
for gold. When they found none, they did something strange to
Americans today. They changed their career and lifestyle
immediately. They didn't ask for retraining money from a company
to continue to do something that had no value.
They simply moved on quickly to the next project.
Their success and achievement lay within one person.
Themselves.
This ability is missing from the mindset of people today and it
is a tall barrier to not only greatness, but to survival in the next
decade.
An uncomfortable problem you can overcome? Turn the page...
