Meaning Making Machines

It not so much what happened that affects us for months, years or a lifetime; it’s what we made it mean that stays with us.

Spend some time thinking about the big difference between what happened to you, and what you made it mean to you.

You can change history by changing what you made it mean to you.

Being present

Today we have lots to do and many distractions.  Add to that our mobile devices and it seems like nobody can pay attention to anyone else for long.  

Being fully present for antoher person is a gift they appreciate.

How are you looking at it?

Today was the absolute worst day ever

And don’t try to convince me that

There’s something good in every day

Because, when you take a closer look

This world is a pretty evil place

Even if

Some goodness does shine through once in a while

Satisfaction and happiness don’t last

And it’s not true that

It’s all in the mind and heart

Because

True happiness can be obtained

Only if one’s surroundings are good

It’s not true that good exists

I’m sure you can agree that

The reality

Creates

My attitude

It’s all beyond my control

And you’d never in a million years hear me say that

Today was a good day

Now read it bottom to top.

Competition protects us from coercion

In a free market, buyers are protected from abuse from sellers by the presence of other sellers, because they have a choice.  Sellers are protected from coercion from buyers by the existence of other buyers.  

Employers are protected from coercion from employees by the presence of other potential employees; and employees are protected against tyranny from employers by the presence of other employers.

When there are monopoly’s, private or governmental, that’s when people get pushed around with no alternatives.

What markets do you have no choice or very little choice in?

How do beliefs get formed?

What we believe is formed by what we are told and taught: our environment (physical place and people around us) and then our experiences (what happened to us).  Then we make decisions about those experiences (we make it mean something); “I’m not good at…”, “these people are bad (or good)”, “doing this, results in that”, etc.  

These become our beliefs.  And those beliefs drive our thoughts; and our thoughts create our new experiences and results.

In order to change our results we have to go back upstream and change some variables – what we learn, who we hang out with, our environment, or the decisions we made about what happened.  Then our beliefs will change and our thinking will change and our results will change.

Read that again.

What do you need to change to get the results you want?

Be unreasonable to accomplish big things

There will always be people who say it can’t be done.  These are the people who comform themselves to the existing world; but you can’t do anything new that way.

To change the world, you can’t listen to people who don’t have the same vision and commitment you do. 

What part of the world are you trying to change?

It's easy to spend money…

…and more difficult and time consuming to earn it.  

When we consider making a purchase, stopping to think about how long we’d have to work to earn that much after tax money is a good idea.

It's easier to live better now

The labor hours required to buy a color TV or a car are falling. This because of the effciency and productivity gains in the free marketplace.

The quality of the goods are much better as well.  In 1973 (some may remember) the television was 25″ at most, had bad sound, no remote control, only a few channels, and poor resolution.  Today, for less inflation adjusted dollars you can buy a much better TV.

In 1973, I recall, if your odometer turned 100,000 miles it was cause for a celebration.  Today if you only got 100,000 miles out of a car you’d complian that it was a lemon.

Looking at actual Census Bureau data on what the poor have in their homes makes it clear that poor Americans are living better now than ever before.  In fact, poor Americans today live better, by these measures, than did their middle class counterparts did in the 1970’s.  That is to say that many of the poor would have been called middle class in the 1970’s, and the only reason they are called poor today is that the standard of living has risen for all classes.

 – partially excerpted from Deidre McCluskey, CATO Institute 

We are all doing better.

World poverty is falling

“Between 1970 and 2006 the global poverty rate has been cut by nearly three-quarters.  The percentage of the world population living on less than $1 a day went from 26.8% to 5.4%.

The most surprising secular event in history, “The Great Enrichment” of the average individual on the planet by a factor of 10 and in rich countries a factor of 30 or more.  Many humans are now stunningly better off than their ancestors were.  This includes a gigantic improvement of the poorest – your ancestors and mine. By dramatic increases in the size of the pie, the poor have been lifted to 90 or 95% of equal sustinance and dignity, as against 10 or 5% attainable by redistribution of the pie.

That even over the long run there remain some poor people does not mean the system is not working for the poor, so long as their condition is continuing to improve, as it is, and so long as the percentage of the desperately poor is heading toward zero, as it is.”

 – comments from Deidre McCluskey, CATO intitute. 

If at first you don't succeed…

Today’s Think Daily is written by a guest, Brad Glazer, from our YOU write ME a Think Daily message day.

“If at first you don’t succeed, try doing what your coach (trainer) said in the first place.”