What do you see?
Will the government default? Will the “shut-down” continue? Will interest rates skyrocket, stock markets crash, will the dollar sink to all time lows? What do you think???
Let’s begin with a question to answer those possibilities – What can you do about any of those? My answer to them is, “absolutely nothing.” Allow me to answer for you; it’s the same, “absolutely nothing.”
What then can you do? What can I do? What can anybody do? We all have the same answer … we can control how we “respond” to any external event that occurs in our lives. We can explode with anger, we could sink into despair, we could “cash out” out of every investment we own, we could panic, we could cry … whatever we choose we know that it’s our choice – not something imposed upon us. We’re responsible for our own reaction, response, action, etc – no one else can impose a response upon us UNLESS we allow it.
Aside from the immediate reality of the situation described above, there is this to consider: Philosophers of all ages have shared with us the “reality” in this life – we cannot return to the past, we have no promise of a tomorrow, all we have is “the here and now” … so the philosophic answer to my question of, “what will your tomorrow bring,” is “what will you create.”
I’ve had tomatoes throw at me for such logic, yet I insist that we really DO create the world’s we live in, that we are getting exactly what the universe has in-store for us to learn/experience/etc and that is exactly what we need at this moment.
There are two kinds of people in business (or any other system you choose to compare) those who believe we live in an “abundant world” and those who believe we live in a world of “scarcity.” (The glass is half full or half empty) Both are correct or right … it’s all in your own personal perspective.
Optimist’s look to the abundance and act accordingly; pessimist’s find scarcity and do likewise. We all know who is more fun or pleasant to be around, yet we all fall into “both camps” depending upon external circumstances. I’ve heard it said, “A recession is when you’re out of work, a depression is when I’m out of work,” and many of us will get a chance to experience both!
There is no iron clad answer of how one should be – optimistic or pessimistic, there is however, only one correct way to proceed … taking complete responsibility for how one responds/reacts/acts/ etc to whatever “life throws your way”
Focus on what you can control, remember you only have “now” and don’t second guess yourself – be authentic, honest and consistent and you’ll be well ahead of those who lack such discipline. Good decisions or choices are born of such discipline.
