A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both.
Dwight D. Eisenhower
We of the human race are dreamers. But some are doers.
Some are content to dream, but never do while others not only dream, but do. Those that do often become rich while those that only dream continue to live in their dream world and remain stagnant, and often poor. If not poor, then living from paycheck-to-paycheck, always tight on money, always fearful that some issue may happen to upset the delicate balance of their life.
Then there are some people who live in poverty wanting things to get better but not doing anything to help make their lives better. These people wish and dream but never do.
So what force, what element differentiates the dreamer from the doer? What is it that, all things being equal, makes one man succeed and another fail.
Example: Two brothers, identical twins, both raised the same. The same environment, the same schooling, the same parents, everything the same yet one succeeds and the other fails. Why? What is the distinguishing element that separates the two?
I went in search of the answer to this question because the answer directly affects me, and has always affected me. I read the books, listened to the tapes, engaged in self-motivation but still… still I live paycheck-to-paycheck. Why? Have I not done everything right? Have I not paid the price all these years? All these decades?
Apparently not, for my life has not changed all that much in the ways I dreamed they would change. So the question I began to ask myself was: Why haven’t I moved ahead?
According to Wallace D. Wattles, The Science of Getting Rich, becoming rich is an exact science, a mathematical certainty and contrary to my existence I agree with his findings. Which means I am doing something wrong. Again, what is it, what am I doing wrong?
I recently began to evaluate this issue because at my age I need to prove to myself that I can accomplish what I want to accomplish. My track record in this department has been dismal at best. Now don’t get me wrong I make some good money at my job, but I work for somebody else. Hence my paycheck, my time is controlled by my boss and not me. I’m middle class (there are a few of us left), and some may say I have it made. But I don’t feel it. I know I can do better, I try to do better, but I’m not doing better. Why?
It’s not a matter of money, well yes it is a matter of money, but it is far more than that. For me it becomes the burning question: Can I do it?
So the next question is: Can I do what?
This leads to another question: What do I want to do? And it is this question I find my prison. There are so many things to do, that I can do, that can be done I find it difficult to choose one among dozens. I think this is a trap many people find themselves in today. Like me people cannot make a single choice.
There’s just too many choices to pick one. Yet it is one, and only one which can help you move forward to make a better life for yourself. Multitasking in this area of life does not work so well, at least not for me.
As I came to these, I knew all along but never practiced, conclusions I decided I needed to change. So in 2010 I made a decision and I am still committed to that decision. However I recently realized I needed to add another element to my decision, the element of VALUE.
The decision I made in 2010 led to the creation of GPMCC, The Politics of Self-Improvement. A website designed to help me help you understand that self-improvement is limited because of political impacts upon our lives. This blog is part of that website.
When I discovered I was not providing enough value to the website, and this blog, I began to ask additional questions, the first being: How does value affect me?
But then I had an epiphany: It’s not value for me, it’s value for you! I was letting you down because I was not doing my job. I was not helping you realize your true potential, your true worth, and failing to inform you of how the politicians (notice I said politicians NOT government) are controlling your thinking and your feelings.
I can’t make your life better, but you can. All I can do is encourage you to be better than you think you are. Because you are better than the politicians demand that you be. The typical politician believes, really believes that you cannot take care of yourself, you need a government official to take care of you, tell you what clothes to wear, what to eat, what is good for you, what is bad for you, and generally just control your life.
I admit I want to be rich, not famous, just rich, but the political elements have convinced us, and me too, that being rich is evil. Well if that is the case then why are all the politicians filthy rich? These political elements have all the money yet deny us the opportunity to earn more money. Who is stealing from who?
When you have values in your life, and you apply those values to your life, you begin to understand just how powerful you, the individual really are. I was so convinced that having money is evil that for all these decades I did everything in my power to sabotage myself. Whenever I even got close to earning real money I always did something to destroy my dream. Why? The simple answer: No values. At least not the ones that really count.
As a younger man I did not apply values to my existence, nor did I pay any attention to values. There are many reasons for this but bottom line is, during my childhood the values concerning money was never taught, but the evils of having money was pushed down my throat so often I didn’t know I was gagging. I believe many people were taught these “warped values” concerning money. And most of us are paying a heavy price for this type of education.
But it’s not too late, for even at my age I realize that values are the only thing which really matter these days. Why? Because values also create morals and ethics. I consider these elements triplets, and you can’t have one without the other two. If one dies they all die. At least that is the way I see things.
Values are important to our life and in this series I intend to explore how and why. I encourage you to stay with me during this voyage of exploration. Together we shall see where it leads and how values can help us in our time of need.
And the answer to the twin question, why one twin succeeds and the other fails? The application of values, because when you apply values you also create goals. And while you may have values you may not have the most efficient ones, the ones which can and will make getting rich a mathematical certainty.
See you next time as we continue our journey into the meaning of values.
G.
