The easiest way to accelerate your personal growth. Contradictions ultimately result in failure. Rationality enables self-reliance and motivation

Given sufficient time, logic and consistency always produce optimal results. A rational approach to living gives you the ultimate advantage in the fields of investment, health, career, or relationships. Barring extreme bad luck or misfortune, ethical actions lead to happiness.

The easiest way to accelerate your personal growth

The easiest way to accelerate your personal growth is to concentrate your efforts on the area of your life where problems are most pressing. You only have one life to enjoy and it is up to you to decide which path to follow. Assess your situation objectively, placing facts above prejudice. Design your strategy according to reality. See what works well in the world and identify the keys to prosperity.

Complaining and wishful thinking are ineffectual. Ambitious goals can only be achieved through thoughtful plans and consistent implementation. Psychological balance can only be maintained through rational values and a sense of purpose.

Contradictions ultimately result in failure

Sound principles are as beneficial as they are demanding. Irrationality may seem comfortable in the short-term, but contradictions ultimately result in failure. No matter how experienced you are, mistakes are inevitable, but a wise man is not intimidated by difficulties. He sets goals and plans how to accomplish them.

Entrepreneurship epitomizes the rational approach to living. Innovative spirits do not ask if they can attain their objectives, only how. Creative minds are always looking for better options. Originality is an essential element of success. Productiveness is a fundamental ingredient of happiness.

Rationality enables self-reliance and motivation

Do not allow lack of capital to stop your dreams, nor lack of contacts, nor massive ridicule. Seek out thoughtful, benevolent human beings who appreciate what you have to offer. Build your future around them and happiness will ensue.

History recounts the same tale again and again. When difficulties arise, scepticism turns into discouragement and irrationality into fear. Pragmatism leads to counter-productive actions and confusing results. Without a long-term perspective, problems soon strike the ship under the waterline.

A fully human life is impossible without thoughtfulness. This principle is universal. It knows no exceptions. No one can escape it. Learn from experience, abandon wishful thinking, and embrace a philosophy that works. Rationality, determination, and consistency are the essential factors of happiness and prosperity. Let them carry the day.

For more information about rational living and personal development, I refer you to my book The 10 Principles of Rational Living

[Text: http://johnvespasian.blogspot.com]

[Image by Rowan of Ravara under Creative Commons Attribution License. See the license terms under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/us]

How realism triumphs over anxiety and worry. Magic formulas are not a good way of making plans. Uncertainty is part of the game for better or worse

 

Exaggerated fear is, more often than not, a mistake. If you act prudently, every period can be good to make financial commitments. When bad news and pessimism reign, those are times of great opportunity to purchase shares of solid companies at low prices.

How realism triumphs over anxiety and worry

Stories of financial collapse reported by the media in the past succeed in terrifying many people out of the stock market. At the time of writing this, you can hardly turn on the radio or open a newspaper without learning about one more company on the brink of bankruptcy.

However, in investing, like in everything else, realism triumphs over anxiety and worry. Gloomy reporters seldom look objectively at facts. On many occasions, share-holders would be better off if they keep a cool head and avoid liquidating their stocks at fire-sale prices.

The first step to develop self-confidence as an investor is to realize that nobody possesses the ability to predict exactly when shares are going up or down. There is no magic formula for successful investing. The best you can do is to strive to keep well informed and make rational decisions.

After a period of inflation or deflation has begun, some people will claim that they had predicted what was going to happen, but these are often the same persons who had previously made many wrong predictions. A broken clock gives you the right time twice per day, but cannot provide you accurate time information.

Magic formulas are not a good way of making plans

Reason and realism constitute a superior approach to making investment decisions. If you want to develop self-confidence as an investor, you have to remind yourself every day to have patience. Forget about short-term volatility and look at the big picture. Ask yourself where the world economy is headed for in the next five years.

Move your focus beyond the next quarter and see what the whole year will look like. Look for companies with a strong international presence. Even in periods of generalized gloom and doom, many countries continue to grow at good rates.

Rational investors tend to prefer enterprises that operate in stable markets, in particular if their dividend is maintained or increased. At the same time, risks can be minimized by investing in corporations, such as pharmaceutical multi-nationals, that have world-wide distribution for their products. These enterprises often purchase rights to new drugs from small laboratories and universities in order to distribute those medicines internationally.

How can you increase your confidence in making the right financial decisions? You do not need to know everything in order to become a good investor. Aim at identifying well-managed companies whose shares are priced attractively. If their products meet fundamental human needs efficiently, chances are that those businesses will do well.

Uncertainty is part of the game for better or worse

Problems that you know nothing about might come up next week and make your shares go down. Uncertainty is part of the game for better or worse. A claim of infallibility is something that you should leave to those who believe in magic formulas. Accept that you will make mistakes and do not fall into endless self-recrimination.

Make your investment decisions on the basis of reasonable expectations and stop worrying about the future. If you diversify your portfolio and buy shares of companies that operate in countries with good prospects of economic growth, you should be able to profit from the increasing prosperity around the world.

For more information about rational living and personal development, I refer you to my book The 10 Principles of Rational Living

[Text: http://johnvespasian.blogspot.com]

[Image by Dirigentens under Creative Commons Attribution License. See the license terms under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/us]

How to render yourself invulnerable to anxiety and depression. Important lessons in the pursuit of happiness. The crucial question about self-confidence. Three methods to increase your resilience

At the time of this writing, newspapers are reporting a wave of suicides in Europe. The Irish Times published on 14 April 2012 a detailed account of how the economic crisis is pushing many businessmen to take their own lives. Even the New York Times devoted a long article that week to the problem and presented the testimony of family members of several men who had recently killed themselves.

How to render yourself invulnerable to anxiety and depression

The death of Giovanni Schiavone, an entrepreneur who committed suicide in Padua at the end of 2011, constitutes the archetype of those who have seen no other option than putting an end to their days. Mr. Schiavone had lived through much better times in the recent past, and now he was being forced to face overwhelming financial pressures and to witness the destruction of the enterprise that he had fought so hard to create.

A good part of the men who have killed themselves were owners of small companies, artisans and merchants that could not withstand the shame of being unable to pay their creditors and employees, or the loss of reputation associated with insolvency or bankruptcy. On many occasions, the financial difficulties were compounded by family and health problems. All factors combined, the psychological pressure had become irresistible. In Greece, for instance, the number of suicides is reported to have almost doubled since 2010, when the economic downturn began.

The suicide reports are however surprising if you place them into a wider context. While the number of cases in Europe has increased dramatically during the last two years, very few of the concerned persons are reported to have been terminally sick or desperately poor. Despite the widespread financial struggles, very few people in Europe actually go hungry or have to sleep on the street.

A wide network of social agencies, charities and churches provides help to those who are going through hard times. Support is available to those who need a warm meal and a place to sleep. Although most people will find demeaning having to beg for help, the fact is that such help can be obtained if the situation becomes real bad.

The suicide statistics are even more difficult to fathom if we compare the living conditions in Europe with those in sub-Saharan Africa, where thousands of people suffer from extreme poverty and hunger. Paradoxically, those who risk starvation in Africa rarely commit suicide, an idea that they would find surely inconceivable if their standard of living was raised to the level of the poorest Europeans.

Important lessons in the pursuit of happiness

A closer look to the wave of suicides in Europe can teach us some important lessons about the pursuit of happiness. Contrary to what is reported by the media, poverty is not the real reason behind the increased number of suicides in Europe. As it is clearly demonstrated by history, people do not kill themselves just because they are poor. Through the centuries, millions of human beings have lived in dire poverty in many parts of the world and suicide has remained a rare event.

Lack of money seldom deprives individuals of their will to live. In many cases, poverty has been known to energize men to work hard and turn their lives around. To say that people tend to kill themselves when they lose their jobs is as inexact as saying that people tend to drink hot soup when they are sick. Some do, and some don't, but there is insufficient evidence to establish a link of causality.

If the reasons for the increased number of suicides are not purely economic, then what are they? The reactions to the death of Giovanni Schiavone give us a clue to the answer, when we learn that he had never expected things to become so bad.

The reports in the media on the increased numbers of suicides have led some commentators to demand extra financial support for struggling businessmen, but I am afraid that this idea misses the point completely. The suicides reported by the press would have not been prevented if some system of financial subsidies had been put in place, since there is no guarantee that the subsidies would have been granted to the right persons when their need was most pressing.

An impartial analysis of the situation must begin by paying a close attention to the statements made by those who have taken their own lives. It is very telling to read repeatedly in the suicide reports that the deceased persons "had not seen their problems coming" and that they felt "unable to find a way out the crisis."

Hopelessness, despondency and shame are the real reasons behind the wave of suicides in Europe. Those are the factors that have really led people to put an end to their lives. At least some of those unfortunate deaths have not been caused by hunger and physical pain, but by a wrong philosophy, by a distorted world-view that is driving so many men and women to despair. Each of those unnecessary deaths breaks my heart. They are cruel, unfair, wasteful and catastrophic.

The crucial question about self-confidence

The crucial question to ask is whether the businessmen and the unemployed that have regrettably committed suicide would have remained alive if they had adopted preventive measures to cushion the sort of financial troubles that nowadays can happen to anyone, in any country, from one moment to the next.

I can certainly not judge those persons as individuals, since I do not know all the details of their personal circumstances. My concern is focused primary on the future, on the prevention of similar misfortunes when the difficulties become overwhelming. My goal is to prevent that you, the reader, will ever find yourself in a situation where you find all doors closed.

Losing your job or your business during an economic recession is an extremely unpleasant experience, but it has happened to millions of people in history and will continue to happen to millions of people in the future. Those disasters are in fact everyday events in most countries of the world.

Fashions change and can drive some companies into bankruptcy. Well-meaning but incompetent managers sometimes drive their businesses into the ground and cause thousands of employees to lose their jobs. Bad decisions can ruin investors, cities, and whole countries. That is all too regrettable, but that's simply life.

My point is that you need to adopt measures to ensure that you will be able to survive even if the worst happens to you. You should definitely not wait until you are already caught in the trap, with all doors closed and all your resources exhausted.

The extreme short-term thinking that dominates our culture is leading millions of people to act irrationally and expose themselves to disproportionate risks that they could have easily avoided. A low rate of personal savings is on most occasions the direct cause of the desperate situations that make people view suicide as the only possible option. Financial pressure, coupled with a low level of psychological resilience, form the explosive cocktail that explains the recent wave of suicides in Europe.

Our task here is to examine the tragic events and draw conclusions that can help you improve your life. The suicide prevention hot-line numbers mentioned in the New York Times article published on 15 April 2012 are, in my view, unlikely to make things better. The best approach to prevent desperate financial situations is simply to have a back-up plan, an alternative to the baseline, an option that you can use when everything else fails.

Three methods to increase your resilience

At the same time, it will certainly benefit you to do everything you can to increase your psychological resilience. The acquisition of a steady character and a well-integrated philosophy is the best present that you can make yourself, a present that is going to allow you to thrive in good times and stay afloat when the situation becomes worrying.

These are the three steps that I recommend you to take, the sooner the better, in order to make yourself immune to the next economic catastrophe:

First, open a bank account in a foreign country: This is the first and most basic precaution to be adopted against a total financial collapse. Very few countries in the world forbid their citizens to open bank accounts abroad, and if you are reading this, chances are that you don't live yourself in any of those countries. In any case, you should check that this is legal in your country before actually doing it.

A simple internet bank account in a foreign currency will allow you to make deposits outside your country and keep them there for a rainy day. If the economic situation in your place of residence becomes a total mess, you will always be able to fall back on your foreign savings to ensure your financial survival.

Second, invest in assets located in other continents: You do not need a large sum of money to be able to do this. Nowadays it has become the easiest thing in the world to invest in mutual funds that will put your cash to work in a specific country or region of the world.

Most stock markets also offer you the possibility of investing in Exchange Traded Funds (ETF) that will channel your savings specifically into Poland, Finland, the Middle East, South Africa, Australia, China, India, or other growing economies.

By buying shares if any of those ETFs, you can participate in the growth of a specific country or region different from your place of residence. The broker fees for purchasing those ETFs are relatively modest, and if you spread your savings amongst several ETFs, you will mightily increase your financial resilience in case that your country falls into a deep economic recession. Geographical diversification is one of the most effective forms of protection.

Third, separate your business ventures from your private finances: Some of the European businessmen that have committed suicide in the past two years have undoubtedly done so out of shame. They could simply not make themselves face the loss of reputation that typically goes along with insolvency or bankruptcy.

They had grown to see their companies as inextricable parts of their lives, as elements so essential to their existence that they could simply not imagine to continue to live in their absence.

Such devotion to a particular business or job is of course utter nonsense. Every person can be happy and successful in a varied range of enterprises. A wise man may love his job or his business, but he also sees them as external elements that he might need to replace or renounce in the future, something that will inevitably happen when he retires due to old age.

An added precaution that everybody should take is to create multiple sources of income. Nothing renders an individual more self-reliant than the ability to say no to any job or business proposition in the confidence that he will be always able to fall back on his second income.

To secure a second source of revenue takes some work, but it is perfectly feasible for most people. If you are a professional, you could devote two days per month to give an intensive seminar on the subject of your expertise; or if you have an office job, you could try to develop your weekend hobby into a business.

By adopting a few common-sense measures, you can make absolutely sure that you won't be one of the victims of the next economic downturn. All you need to do is to devote a few hours to drawing up your personal back-up plan and then implement it without hesitation. Bad things do happen to good and bad people, but they can only wipe you out if they find you unprepared.

Text: http://johnvespasian.blogspot.com

Image by jeremybarwick under Creative Commons Attribution License. See the license terms under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/us

For more information about rational living, I refer you to my book "The Philosophy of Builders"

The capacity to determine long-term goals is uniquely human. Making correct decisions requires a clear vision of the future

Energy is used most effectively when applied to a specific goal. Gasoline engines propel cars, but little is achieved by pouring fuel on the ground and setting it on fire. When coal stoves were around, most preferred to heat one room in the house well rather than all rooms badly.

The capacity to determine long-term goals is uniquely human

Nature demands neither concentration nor disaggregation of resources. Rivers that run in the same direction might merge their flows, but frequently, they don't. During a fire in the savannah, animals perfectly capable of running alone, join elephants in a stampede and get crushed every bone.

The capacity to determine long-term goals and assess alternatives is uniquely human. Everyday, we make choices, hour by hour, selecting on each occasion the most advantageous option amongst the countless offered by life.

In order to reduce complexity, we try to automatize as many decisions as possible. When we drive to work, we usually take the same road. When we go out for dinner with friends, we often go to the same restaurant.

Routine works fine to get repetitive tasks done, but it cannot be trusted for life's fundamental choices. A woman seldom falls in love with a man just because he happens to be her neighbour. Students rarely decide to study medicine just because their dorm lies next to a hospital.

Making the right choices and following them through leads to happiness, barring cases of extreme bad luck and catastrophes. Who knows what he wants from life, has no difficulty making decisions. If consequences prove disappointing, he will simply rectify his mistake and move on.

Making correct decisions requires a clear vision of the future

On the other hand, deciding on fundamental matters is hard for those who lack a clear vision of the future. Confronted with a multiplicity of paths, pilgrims always know what to ask, which is, for random walkers, an impossible task. 

Unmade choices have devastating results. Anxiety and diffuse fear reign in the realm where all things are relative. Energy is consumed by doubt and half-hearted actions, wasted throughout. Without goals, there is no focus; without consistency, no resiliency to withstand even minor adversities.

The need for consistent goals and stable convictions

Man needs stable convictions and non-contradictory personal objectives in order to live his days to the fullest. Otherwise, psychological disintegration will soon put an end to his every aspiration.

Sound design and dependable workmanship keep buildings in good shape for decades. Consistency of purpose provides the structure for a lifetime of happiness. Against tornadoes, wise men put up concrete walls; against indecision, long-term goals.

For more information about rational living and personal development, I refer you to my book The 10 Principles of Rational Living 

[Text: http://johnvespasian.blogspot.com] 

[Image by Himalayan Trails under Creative Commons Attribution License. See the license terms under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/us]

Habits represent the most stable part of our personality. Make a detailed to-do list at least once a week. Perform unpleasant tasks first. Steer away from high-risk situations

You can live the soft way or the hard way. Provoking unnecessary conflict and behaving aggressively are not symptoms of a strong personality, but of serious psychological trouble. To make headway when matters get complicated, thinking is a thousand times more valuable than shouting.

Unfortunately, on many occasions, knowing what to do is not the difficult part. What is hard is actually taking action. Have you realized how good children are at devising excuses for not doing what they know to be correct? Breaching the distance between ideas and implementation is a universal problem.

Habits represent the most stable part of our personality

Habits represent the most visible and stable part of our personality. They can play against us, if they are destructive, or they can push us in the right direction, when they favour our goals. Even in our days of cultural relativism, many still regard the acquisition of beneficial habits as the central purpose of education.

Those who have incorporated good routines into their daily life enjoy enormous advantages over the rest of the population. Not only will they advance faster on the professional track, but they will also tend to live happier, healthier, and longer. Here are three habits that are uncomfortable to develop, but which pay huge dividends down the road:

Make a detailed to-do list at least once a week

The most common notes that we make for ourselves are to-do lists. Why not compile as well a list of long-term objectives, books that you intend to read, places you want to visit, or companies in which you would like to invest? Writing down ideas by hand on a piece of paper is often faster than typing them into a laptop or cell phone.

Perform unpleasant tasks first

Setting priorities is as important in our private life as it is in business. We all tend to procrastinate when the moment comes to carry out chores we dislike. In those cases, human beings love to invent reasons to postpone activities that should be performed right away. The discipline of forcing ourselves to do unpleasant tasks first is as hard to acquire as it is invaluable.

Steer away from high-risk situations

It is regrettable to witness how frequently movies, television, and magazines portray reckless adventurers as heroes. Professionals who work in hazardous environments go to great lengths to adopt all sorts of precautions. Even those who possess combat training are reluctant to engage when they lack knowledge of the territory and enemy forces. Never place yourself in explosive situations unless you have indisputable reasons to do so.

When things get tough, don't allow problems to get you off the track. Doing the right things properly and consistently, day after day, is a simple and effective way to develop your potential. 

Make the effort to cultivate the correct habits and let them move your life forward on automatic pilot. Ambition might take you places, but its ports of call always remain uncertain. Routine, on the other hand, will show you regular progress and establish the foundations of unbreakable self-confidence.

For more information about rational living and personal development, I refer you to my book The 10 Principles of Rational Living

[Text: http://johnvespasian.blogspot.com]

[Image by Retlaw Snellac under Creative Commons Attribution License. See the license terms under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/us]