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Saturday, September 7, 2019

Looking Out

Chewing once again on Napoleon Hill's thought.... that "Thoughts are things".

I have the privilege to observe many people in my weekly journey. I see those who
carry the scent of success. I observe how they walk, how they sit, how they speak and when they don't.

I also see those who are losing at the game of life....how they walk, how they sit, how they speak and when they don't.

There is a huge difference between the two groups. Not an insurmountable difference, but an enormously wide gap none the less.

This gap has to do with what is going on in the mind. The mind of the successful person is not focused on the weather, or whether their neighbor raked their leaves. The mind of the successful person is chewing on the goals and strategies for the day, week, month , year. They look out with eager expectation to see how their families and fellow citizens will grow up and thrive and become productive.Their life lies in what they think about. Their thoughts are focused and refined and definite. They spend their days with mental targets, with fires to put out, with long term visions to clarify and prune. The thought life of a successful person is a mountainous adventure every day.....their thought life is verdant and productive.

The thoughts of the first group, the successful group....is like a tacit slow bite and chew.. on a high quality steak...thoughtful and delicious....a pleasure to consume. The human mind is built for challenges. God has given us all the profound ability to continuously widen our scope of thought and reason. Dr. Caroline Leaf describes how our brain's capacity is virtually limitless and capable of endless development.

And then I must also describe the opposite group. When they look out the window, they really see the rain and it depresses them. They walk the street and look at the cracks in the side walk, and utter a curse if their shoe gets caught on the lifted pavement. When they look at the clouds, they feel that the sky has chosen just to rain on them and spoil their day. They look out, but when they look out they expect the air to direct them...to tell them what to do. They look at the posters in the convenience store and spend their last dollar on "lady luck" muttering to coax her, to surprise them with a lottery win. They do not have hope in themselves, or in society or in God......but always somehow retain faith in "lady luck."

The latter group looks out the window and has no goals for the day, the week, the month , the year.
Survival is simply a symptom of their broken dreams. They are alive in the  crudest sense of what it means to be human...but have not discovered their God given powers. Perhaps at some moment many years ago...they had a  brief glimpse of their own potential....but have laid it down....like dusty leaves cluttering the drain on the street.

 I just want to say a few thoughts...a few little ideas that may assist you my brothers and sisters in life. When you look out the window at the day.....do not ask the clouds for wisdom.
do not ask the air for advice. It will not answer.

 God is not silent. He is not withholding Himself from you. But He does like to be found. You must search for God, search for wisdom....search for good ideas. That search has a face....it is the face of the Book, and many books, and many people of profound wisdom and knowledge....who are waiting to share what they know with you. But they can not share with you what you do not pursue. Pursuit has  a price tag. The price tag of pursuit is admitting that you do not know everything. The price tag of pursuit is admitting that you need something from some one else. It is not admitting defeat. It is humbly and confidently admitting that you are seeking more than what you currently have and know to be true. It is admitting that you need more. It is mustering up the courage to keep seeking for the books, data, knowledge, classes, network and contacts who will escort you to a higher level. A higher level of thought and reason.  A higher level of living.

your good ideas may not always be lofty, they may not solve world hunger or pay the college tuition for a million of your fellow citizens.....but then again....they just might. Ideas multiply...they are seeds of greatness.

your good ideas are very powerful. You are capable. You are able to do and choose to do many things today.

What are your goals? Have you written them down? Do you have your list of goals handy to be able to recite them daily?

You must, have something to move your life towards. Put it in writing. Move on.


Monday, September 2, 2019

Will the Infrastructure of the Stock Market Remain the Same?

I assume that I am not the only person on the planet who considers this question about the future.

My question is this..... The current capitalistic system of publicly traded companies selling shares
that are then being purchased by companies and individuals..... is that going to stay the same in the next 10-100 years?

Will the ownership of common or preferred shares/etfs/bonds/mutual fund units always be the most common way to take and retain ownership of a company into the foreseeable future?

Some folks, with an unfailing enduring faith in the stock market, have planned and feel strongly that the stock market will always and indefinitely retain powerful financial value down on into the next generations of humanity.

I tend to hope that this will be true. But sometimes I can't help wondering if the nature of wealth is going to change. With technological and political changes that are in some ways inevitable and gathering momentum, will the stock market, such as it is today.... remain the best way to hold and pass along wealth to the next generation?

Will other strategies be birthed sooner rather than later, that will carry wealth a little more fluidly?
Will these strategies be more "disaster and creditor proof" than the others?
I recall listening to a bitcoin developer speak about how he was working on new
virtual "smart contracts"....that basically a company can be formed instantaneously without much human intervention, and also garner investment with little human elbow grease required.
Wouldn't it be something to be able to create a company and gather investment funding all in one  day from the comfort of your computer, in such a way that all laws and regulations would be fully satisfied? Would these "smart contracts" be so bullet proof as to be capable of carrying and multiplying wealth in the next decades and hundreds of years? Or a "smart contracts" merely a tech wizard's virtual video game that will garner money from millions of gullible computer geeks who may soon see that money disappear into the air? or shall I say the ethernet?

What do you think? Do you think that in 50 years from now, that we will still be buying and selling shares on a publicly traded stock market? Or will there be new products and technologies that open up new and improved methods of investing for our children and grandchildren?

Do you find yourself wishing and hoping that things stay the same and that your heirs can simply spend the dividends from the stocks you have given to them as an inheritance? Or do you hope that other "smarter" investment vehicles will come onto the mainstream market place to help you secure your family's financial future into the far off future?

Do tell, share what your thoughts are.
in Peaceful productivity,