Is "retirement" the goal?

Data shows that of people who retire at age 55, 89% die within ten years.

Could it be that making a contribution each day is what we are here for?

We have to work to live.

What would happen to you if you did nothing?

Bored?

Sounds like you are comfortable.  When faced without a challenge – make one.

Fight a bad guy.  Live a David vs Goliath story.  Try the impossible – or at least the unexpected or unlikely.  Live a good vs evil chapter.

Get yourself going! 

What gets you going?

Ignorance will not protect you

Ignorance will not protect you from suffering.  Knowledge and action will.

What do you need to learn about now?

A supercomputer in every pocket

The smartphone in your pocket is 1000 times faster and one million times cheaper than a supercomputer from the 1970’s.

Innovation and a better life brought to you by capitalism.

It’s just the beginning…

What happened in the news

The “News” is about what happened.  It’s not about what did not happen.  The news has a programming policy -“If it bleeds, it leads.”  It’s easy then for us to watch the news and think that things are going to hell.

But things that “didn’t happen” also exist, and outnumber the newsworthy events.  All the schools that didn’t get shot up, the trains that didn’t derail, the countries that are not at war, and people who slept safely though the night.

To control our own programming is to control our view of the world, and ultimately our experience in it.

What do you focus on?

Society doesn't have values…

People have values.  And you can tell a lot about the values people in a neighborhood have by driving through and looking at their homes, which are in significant measure, a representation of the results they have assembled as a result of applying their values.

The values people have matter.  

What are your values?

Can we make a difference?

About a year and a half ago I met a man named Zoltan Kesz who had a think tank foundation in Hungary fighting against nazism, racism, and government corruption and for free markets and capitalism.  Hungary emerged from communism in 1990, and today the ruling party had a 2/3 supermajority and could do whatever it wanted – and it did.  Bad things. They controlled the media, nationalized private pensions, took bribes, etc. etc. etc.

I decided to help Zoltan’s tiny upstart foundation. I held a fundraiser and asked many of you to help. Together we raised $50,000.  His fondation’s annual budget was $120,000 including what we provided.

They did talks, hired security and attended soccer games to counter the nazi’s message of hate, wrote articles and papers.  They soldiered on through heavy criticism.  Then something happened.  The Parliament Member (from the ruling party) from Zoltans home district vacated his seat to go work at the European Parliament.  Zoltan decided to run against another ruling party candidate in a special election to fill the open seat.  

The newspapers blasted him as a “free market extremist” rather than one who believes in central planning.  But he went door to door talking to the people and worked social media.  A tense election day came, and when it was done, Zoltan won a seat in Parliament by a landslide, breaking the ruling party’s supermajority by one seat – his!

It’s a start. It shows that we can make a difference.  Zoltan says he could not have even started his work without help from the US such as the Atlas Economic Research Foundation and private donors.

In the last year we have done this, kept a woman with CP in her home forever, fixed an urban church and more.  Can we make a difference?  
Apparently so.  Thank you!

"I-can-tations"

You know that voice in your head? – Yeah, that one.  It’s talking all the time – to you.

What it says to you is important.  If it is always telling you that you can’t and repeating limiting beliefs, you will behave as if it is true.

Hijack it.  Repeat positive things to and about yourself, even if you don’t believe them at first.  You will.

Yes, self talk is critical to your success.

What is your inner voice saying to you?

Equality – at what level?

We should not want high performers to be equal with low performers: we should want to be equal with high performers.

This will take equality of beliefs, expectations, learning and action.

What kind of equality do you want?

Be honest…

Sometimes we complain about our situation, and blame something or someone else.

What are you pretending not to know?