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A Brief History of Cycles and Time, Part 1
Many of you may be familiar with the Foundation series by Issac Asimov. In it, mathematician “Hari Seldon spent his life developing a branch of mathematics known as psychohistor. Using the laws of mass action, it can predict the future, but only on a large scale; it is error-prone on a small scale.”
In practice, we can see that this would be theoretically correct: we study history precisely because human nature is relatively the same and the same events recur with the same predictable responses. If history really were chaos–a muddle of events appearing randomly and being resolved in unpredictable ways–there would be no point in studying it.
Using this same method, in “Foundation” Hari Seldon uses his model to predict with great accuracy the unfolding of the human universe hundreds and thousands of years in the future.
But that’s sci-fi, right?
READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT OFTWOMINDS.COM HERE
A Brief History of Cycles and Time, Part 2
Let me ask you something: Do you really think your ancestors didn’t see the Depression coming in 1921 or in 1929? Of course they did. The Balloon Option-ARM mortgage had just been invented, creating a housing boom larger and even more groundless as our own, immortalized by the Marx Brothers in The Cocoanuts. They warned the world then just as we do now, and no one listened then, just as they don’t now. Why? It wasn’t time.
Likewise, do you think Hoover and Roosevelt didn’t do everything they could, whether legal or illegal to stop the endless economic decline after 1929? Of course they did. Roosevelt confiscated the entire money supply, packed the Supreme Court, and took control of the entire US economy to no avail. Henry Morgenthau, Roosevelt’s Treasury Secretary, admitted,
“We have tried spending money. We are spending more than we have ever spent before and it does not work… We have never made good on our promises. I say after eight years of this Administration we have just as much unemployment as when we started. And an enormous debt to boot.”
And the media failing to report? I’ll show you just three graphics:
READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT OFTWOMINDS.COM HERE
The path to true wealth and financial freedom is about much more than money. While most of us start down this path seeking monetary gain, we eventually realize that the quest actually has very little to do with money. Money, as it turns out, is nothing more than a temporary store of value – freedom is the true luxury.
The freedom to spend your most limited resource, time, exactly as you please is the most precious luxury that exists on this Earth. This realization is inevitable once one begins down the path of pursuing financial freedom and the journey then becomes about personal development and enlightenment rather than the acquisition of money for money’s sake.
Consider that statement again; freedom, not money, is true wealth. New cars and other materialistic luxuries are extremely exciting initially, but that excitement quickly fades. The opportunity to use your time exactly as you please and the ability to exclusively pursue endeavors and activities that interest you is an exciting concept that never loses its luster. Unfortunately, the vast majority of people in this country and in western society are unaware that such freedom is attainable.
In this society, we are cultured to believe that we are not supposed to have the majority of our time to use as we please. We are taught in our educational system, from grade school on up through college, to be a “productive member of society”.
Now contributing to society is certainly desirable, but our mainstream culture has a very narrow definition of what such contributions entail.
We are cultured to go to school, get good grades, go to a good college, get a good job, and work hard for a good company. Although this path may be prudent in many cases, we are led to believe that this is the only option available to us. We are cultured to view hard work on menial tasks as a productive use of time and we are taught that free time should only be available in small quantities.
Reject this limitation with every ounce of your being.
If the entrepreneurial spirit glows bright within you, pursue your dreams regardless of what ‘they’ say. They will tell you that pursuing you dreams is risky. They will tell you that you will have no security without a stable salary. They will tell you that it is more fun to spend your income on entertainment now. They will tell you that you aren’t smart enough. They will tell you that you need to have money to make money. They will tell you that their way is the only way. Reject it.
I would suggest that _not_ pursuing your dreams is risky. I would suggest that a salaried job provides for only the illusion of security. I would suggest that entertainment is fleeting but working towards a meaningful future is fulfilling. I would suggest that you are infinitely smarter than you think that you are. And I would suggest to you that money is nothing but an idea and that it only requires a passionate idea to make money.
Freedom is the true luxury.
Warren Buffet and Jim Cramer have deceived you. Fiat currency (dollars) and paper equities (stocks/mutual funds/exchange traded funds) are extremely fragile and it is terribly risky for the younger generations to think otherwise. The fundamentals of retirement planning have changed and the rules will soon change accordingly.
The accepted retirement planning strategy, as it is currently espoused by the financial industry, focuses exclusively on fiat currency and paper equities. The professionals tell you to contribute up to your 401(k) match rate and then invest the maximum four to five grand in stocks and funds within an IRA. If you have discretionary income after the 401k and IRA contribution then the financial industry says that you should diversify amongst stocks, mutual funds, exchange traded funds, and bonds in a brokerage account.
This strategy is currently accepted as the fundamental retirement planning strategy because it worked decently well for the older folks who were able to retire with a company pension, social security, and their equity nest egg. But this strategy will not work for the younger generations and it may not even work for the younger Boomers who are still several years away from retirement.
The accepted retirement planning strategy preaches diversification and the professionals will even tell you what percentage of your portfolio should consist of cash, stocks, and bonds. The problem is that there is nothing diverse about such a portfolio at all. These three asset classes are all “paper” assets denominated in fiat currency which holds no inherent value and the purchasing power of the fiat currency is constantly being inflated away by the Federal Reserve.
These asset classes hold no inherent value because they are intangible. In other words, by owning these assets classes you actually own nothing of tangible value; nothing real. While these paper assets may be exchangeable for fiat currency in the marketplace, they are extremely fragile in that the value of your paper assets is completely outside of your control and the value can diminish very quickly and without warning.
At the beginning of this essay I suggested that the fundamentals have changed and that the rules will soon follow. What I mean by that is this: the federal government and the IRS have written the rules regarding withdrawals, taxes, and penalties on your 401(k), your IRA, and your brokerage account.
Let’s focus on the rules regarding your 401(k) and your IRA. These are both tax-deferred plans in which you defer paying taxes on the income contributed to these accounts until withdrawals are made. You cannot begin to withdraw money from these accounts until you are 59.5 years old and those withdrawals will be taxed at the ordinary tax rate, whatever that may be at the time of withdrawal. If you do withdraw funds from these accounts prior to age 59.5 then you will be forced to pay a 10% penalty in the form of an excise tax.
But these rules can be changed at any time against your will. The feds can, at any time, increase the withdrawal age and/or increase the early withdrawal penalty. They can also increase ordinary tax rates at any time as well, without your consent.
So all of the current financial advice operates under the assumption that the rules will remain the same and that the fiat currency will maintain its value. The mainstream experts give no consideration to the possibility that the withdrawal age could be changed from 59.5 to 69.5 overnight. And the ordinary tax rates could go from 27% to 42% overnight. And the inflation rate could rise to 30% overnight. And if you don’t like the new rules and would like to move your money out of these tax sheltered accounts, guess what? The early withdrawal penalty could go from 10% to 34% overnight.
Now I just made these numbers up to illustrate a point but I think the point is valid.
A prudent individual should analyze financial risk and try to mitigate the potential weaknesses within their own personal financial plan where necessary.
The problem with the 401(k) and IRA plans is that they are invested in paper equities denominated in fiat currency backed by nothing of tangible value and the funds allocated to these plans cannot be moved without incurring an early withdrawal penalty. So if the rules do change drastically, you would not be able to easily move your retirement funds to a more favorable asset class.
Now the financial professionals would say that such talk is just paranoia but it does not seem like these professionals have analyzed the macroeconomic trends in this country. The United States has run an annual deficit of greater than one trillion dollars for each of the last four years and it will easily do so again in 2013. The national debt is now just short of 17 trillion dollars and that number is growing rapidly.
Given these conditions, where do you think tax rates are going to go? And where do you think the withdrawal age and early withdrawal penalty rate is going to go? Where do you think the inflation rate is going to go?
My guess is up, up, and up some more.
I do not presume to have all of the answers and I certainly cannot provide specific advice. For a generic overview of my thoughts on reducing financial fragility and increasing self-sufficiency, please see the Zenconomics article titled “Steps to Self-Sufficiency”
I do, however, firmly believe that most people are capable of making sound financial decisions when they do their own due diligence and have access to good information. It is my hope that this essay will encourage you to ignore the financial gurus who have their own agendas and conduct your own due diligence to create a sustainable financial plan for yourself and your future.
“Anger is the enemy of non-violence and pride is a monster that swallows it up.” – Mahatma Gandhi
In many non-violent instances, anger is a sign of insecurity.
Obviously, if acts of violence or injustice are committed against an individual or their loved ones then anger would be a justified response.
But in non-violent scenarios, specifically in conversation or discussion, anger is usually a sign of insecurity.
We have all been angered by someone else’s words at some point in time. But if we take the time to analyze why we have become angry in these instances, we would probably trace the roots of anger back to insecurity. Mind you, I am speaking of anger directed towards another rather than general frustration or impatience.
A primitive example would be the case of the school yard altercation which we all probably witnessed at some point in our childhood. Johnny said something negative about Jimmy so Jimmy angrily refuted the negative statement in an effort to prove that it was incorrect. But if Jimmy knew the negative statement to be incorrect, why did he become angry and participate in the altercation? The immaturity of childhood certainly was a factor, but ultimately it was Jimmy’s insecurity that led to his anger.
Now let us consider a slightly less primitive case of two adults arguing over politics. John trumpets a particular issue espoused by his favored political party and Jim, who favors the other political party, angrily attempts to refute this issue. Not only does Jim respond with anger, but he harbors negative feelings towards John on a personal level as well because of this anger.
But why does Jim get angry? If Jim knows his view on the issue to be correct then what purpose does anger serve? Certainly he will not sway John to his view with anger. And even if he does sway John’s view, does he intend to angrily refute everyone else who subscribes to John’s political party?
So why the anger? It likely stems from the fact that John is challenging Jim’s view of this issue and largely his view of the world. By challenging Jim on this issue, John is indirectly raising the possibility that Jim’s overall view of the world is not comprehensively correct. But Jim does not want to consider the possibility that his viewpoint is not correct so his insecurity leads to anger.
This is not to suggest that differing views not be discussed, but rather to suggest that they be discussed in a healthy fashion in the absence of anger. Anger is a natural human emotion but it serves little purpose in the context of conversation where there is no ill-will.
I would like to suggest that we all be a little more mindful of our anger when it arises and determine whether or not there is just cause for directing our anger at another person.
Money is grossly over-valued in our society today. So much so, we tend to think of most everything in terms of money. Money often determines where we live, what we do, and who we spend our free time with. Money is the primary factor in most marital disputes and divorces. We allow money to separate us from family and limit the time we spend with loved ones. Money has become the driving factor in our lives. We have, however, forgotten one important fact about money – it is just a tool.
Money should serve as a store of value and a medium of exchange, nothing more.
A human being needs to have three things to survive: water, food, and shelter.
That’s it.
Most people in today’s society have the means to secure these three things without significant difficulty. In fact we tend to take these three things for granted which is probably one of the factors leading to the over-valuation of money.
With water, food, and shelter being in place, what items are next on our priority list? Many people would say that family and friends are next on their list. But if actions speak louder than words, it appears that money is actually the next priority after the essentials on many of our lists.
Mainstream thought tells us that personal value is determined by money. Someone with a high paying job is considered to be more successful than someone who works a job for lesser pay. If the salary is high, we tend to automatically assume that the job is of significant importance. And because of this way of thinking, people tend to seek out high paying jobs regardless of location and regardless of their interest in the actual work. To pursue a high income no matter the circumstances or opportunity costs is considered normal, if not wise.
By necessity, this way of thinking places a very heavy emphasis on money. When personal success is based on money it becomes common for individuals to sacrifice other values in the pursuit of money. Spending time with family and friends becomes less important. The nature of the work itself becomes less important. The value of the work to the community becomes less important. The working conditions become less important. Personal beliefs and values become less important. While these things still matter, the bottom line is what matters most.
This is the corporate view and it is very pervasive. This is the view that is sold on your television and your radio. It’s sold in many of the songs that you listen to and the news programs that you watch. The corporate way of thinking suggests that you are only as important as the amount of money that you make and this way of thinking leads to the mass consumerism and materialism that we see today. It is mostly subconscious in nature, but if you accept that your own value is tied to money then it logically follows that you may want to manifest your value for others to see in the form of a fancy car, big home, stylish clothes, and whatever else.
If you think corporate then you consume corporate.
There is nothing inherently wrong with pursuing this type of lifestyle, but it should be an individual decision. The money-centric personal lifestyle is presented to Americans as the norm, and the presentation starts at an early age. When a high school teacher tells a classroom that their function is to graduate and become productive members of society then that teacher is unwittingly telling kids to pursue a lifestyle within society’s accepted parameters – parameters which are defined largely by mass commercialism and materialism. Universities even publish their alumni’s average salaries which indirectly promotes the “money first” paradigm. The money first paradigm says that the knowledge gained at these universities is not nearly as important as the rate of pay post-graduation. And it says that the creativity fostered within the student is not as important as the money potential.
I would suggest that money should not be the driving factor in our lives. Instead of pursuing money first and then figuring the rest out, what if we reversed the order and pursued money in a way that was agreeable to that which we figured out first? In other words, what if we decided first upon what we truly wanted to do with our life and how we truly wanted to spend our time and then implemented a plan of action to earn money according to this chosen lifestyle?
So instead of thinking about money first, what if we thought about it last?
The corporate view says that you need to get the high paying job to buy the clothes, the car, the house, the stuff to put in the house, and then you need a little money left over to buy whatever else you want. Then once all of these things are in order you can start to think about what you want to do with your life. But when most of your time and energy is consumed by working a job from which you only desire a high salary then you have very little time and energy leftover to think about what you really want to do and to plan accordingly. If you factor in the debt that you accumulated from college, the car, and the house then you may very well be stuck in this job and this lifestyle for a considerable amount of time; even if you decide later that this is actually not what you want to do with your life.
The alternative that would probably serve many of us well would be to decide what we want to do first before we accumulate student loan debt, car debt, and mortgage debt. Of course, at eighteen years old we probably will have no idea as to what we want to do with our life, but that is a discussion for another day. It is the idea that is important. If we change our way of thinking about money then there is a whole new array of opportunities that open up to us.
This may seem a bit idealistic, but I would suggest that it is actually very intuitive in nature. As long as we have the money necessary to secure water, food, and shelter then we do not immediately need to maintain a high income. We can take our time in formulating a plan to earn money by doing what we want to do and by living how we want to live. After all, most corporate jobs are nothing but a small cog in a giant, inefficient bureaucratic system that really offers very little utility to the individual and the community outside of the salary provided.
Wouldn’t it be much more pleasant if we earned our living by doing things that interested us, provided value to our communities, did not require family members to move away from each other unless they chose to, and ultimately allowed us to pursue a higher purpose – whatever that may mean to us individually? It is entirely possible to put money last on the priority list; it simply requires a different way of thinking.
A wise man once said that no man can serve two masters. Let’s stop putting money first and start focusing on what is truly important.
Materialism is the enemy of financial and spiritual health – and our society loves it. Look around at all the McMansions, the fancy cars, big flat screen TVs, designer clothes, and the assortment of fruitpads and fruitphones (read: ipads and iphones). Notice all of the advertisements everywhere suggesting that you should buy something. They are on your TV, in your newspaper, on your computer, on your radio, and on the billboards in your city. They tell you that in order to be ‘with the times’ you need the newest gadget or you need to shop at the trendiest store.
If you are like most of us, you probably once bought into all of the materialism. You may have put a flat screen TV in every room of your house and probably upgraded to the newest smart phone every year and a half. You probably were proud of your car and stylish wardrobe.
Hopefully you now see the folly of perpetual materialism.
Now I am not suggesting that you never buy anything ever again, but I am suggesting that you reject the urge to buy something immediately just because it’s popular. That may sound like pure common sense but it is very easy to be sucked into our culture of materialism.
I think that one of the big factors contributing to materialism in our society is that we are tricked from an early age into thinking that external things define us and our worth.
Weren’t we judged back in school based on our appearance and the clothes that we wore? Aren’t we judged now by the car that we drive and the job that we hold?
How foolish is this?
I think that insecurity lies at the heart of materialism. Advertisements lead us to believe that we need to buy the latest and greatest in order to fit in or be important.
Each of us, as individuals, are infinitely important just because we exist. We do not need ‘stuff’ to validate our worth or existence.
We are not here at this particular juncture in time simply to acquire luxuries and soak up as much entertainment as possible. These things are fine in moderation, but we each have a very unique calling and unique talents that enable us to discover and pursue this calling. Let us not let materialism distract us from our higher purpose here in this life.
“The Captain” Says Goodbye: The Full Final Edition Of The Privateer
For 727 editions, and nearly 30 years, Bill Buckler, the “captain” of the free market-praising Privateer newsletter provided a welcome escape from a world overrun with “free-lunch” economists, “for-hire” politicians, “crony-capitalist” oligarchs, “heroin-addict” bankers, “the-solution-to-record-debt-is-more-record-debt” Keynesians, and all those other subclasses of that species which Einstein, or whoever, described so aptly in saying that they all expect a different, and happy, outcome when applying the same flawed methods over and over. And for 30 years, Buckler’s steadfast determination and adherence to his arguments, beliefs, reasoning and ironclad logic brought him countless followers, all of whom are now able to see past the bread and circus facade of a world every day on the edge of political and social collapse. Sadly, all good things come to an end, and so does The Privateer. We are delighted to celebrate its illustrious memory by presenting to our readers the final, must read, issue of the newsletter which encapsulates the philosophy and ideology of its author – a man much respected and admired in the free market circles – and thirty years of objective, unbiased market and economic commentary, best of all.
With exclusive prior permission, we present to you the 727th, and final, issue of The Privateer
THE FINAL REPORT
A MESSAGE FROM THE CAPTAIN
Normally, your Captain doesn’t have a lot of trouble with an issue of The Privateer. There is not much in the way of revision and seldom if ever anything in the way of re-writing necessary. After doing it in this newsletter for almost thirty years, a certain amount of facility in putting one’s thoughts into words can hardly be avoided. We seem to get it pretty nearly right, at least to our satisfaction, the great majority of the time.
This issue is different. That’s inevitable, since it is the last issue of The Privateer we will write. Something called “writer’s block” – which we
thought we had conquered years ago – has come back to bite us in sitting down to write this issue. We’ve already had to start over twice, not being satisfied with our original effort, and that is unprecedented. The essence of the matter is that it is hard to know just what to say.
Looking back over the “major” events of the past two weeks hardly seems adequate to the task. On the markets, the only “startling event” has been the big dive in the “prices” of the precious metals. Spot future Gold closed at $US 1564.90 on April 11. Two trading days later on April 15 it closed at $US 1361.20 after having been as low as $US 1321 earlier in the day. We cannot think of ANY type of “market action” which so eloquently illustrates the level of fear of the future presently held by the global financial powers that be than this. On second thought, we CAN think of one market event which would scare them even more. That is the HUGE surge in GLOBAL demand for physical Gold and Silver which was detonated by this big dive in the markets where paper “claims” to the precious metals change hands. We’ll have more to say on the surge in demand for the precious metals later on in this issue.
READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT ZERO HEDGE HERE
Another Nail in the Neocon Coffin
The recent opening of the Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity was a watershed moment in American history. There has never been anything quite like it. Ideologically diverse, the Ron Paul Institute reaches out to all Americans, and indeed to people all over the world, who find the spectrum of foreign-policy opinion in the United States to be unreasonably narrow. Until Ron Paul and his new institute, there was no resolutely anti-interventionist foreign-policy organization to be found.
Neoconservatives have not responded warmly to the announcement of Ron’s new institute. Whatever their particular gripes, we can be absolutely certain of the real reason for their unhappiness: they have never faced systematic, organized opposition before.
The Democrats would see Lincoln pried out of his temple before supporting nonintervention abroad, so they pose no fundamental problem for the neocons. Ron Paul, on the other hand, is real opposition, and he can mobilize an army. The neocons know it. What’s Tim Pawlenty up to these days? Where are his legions of well-read young fans who seek to carry on his philosophy? You see the point.
For the first time, strict nonintervention will have a permanent voice in American life. It is another nail in the neocon coffin. The neocons know they are losing the young. Bright kids who believe in freedom aren’t rallying to Mitt Romney or David Horowitz, and, like anyone with a critical mind and a moral compass, they are not going along with the regime’s war propaganda.
At this historic moment, I thought it might be appropriate to set down some thoughts on war – a manifesto for peace, as it were.
(1) Our rulers are not a law unto themselves.
Our warmakers believe they are exempt from normal moral rules. Because they are at war, they get to suspend all decency, all the norms that govern the conduct and interaction of human beings in all other circumstances. The anodyne term “collateral damage,” along with perfunctory and meaningless words of regret, are employed when innocent civilians, including children, are maimed and butchered. A private individual behaving this way would be called a sociopath. Give him a fancy title and a nice suit, and he becomes a statesman.
Let us pursue the subversive mission of applying the same moral rules against theft, kidnapping, and murder to our rulers that we apply to everyone else.
READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT LEWROCKWELL.COM HERE
Have you ever considered your own existence?
Now if you are like most of us, you do think about yourself every day – you are the center of your world. But have you ever actually considered your place in this massive universe above and beyond the everyday activities?
If you are like most of us, you have been cultured to believe that the day to day tasks are of ultimate importance and you may consider philosophical contemplation to be unproductive because it does not seem to be immediately relevant. After all, you are a busy person and you have a lot of other things to think about.
If you are like most of us, you have to get up and go to work every Monday morning. And your focus is on the tasks that need to be done in order to keep your boss off of your back. And then the phone starts ringing and you have to satisfy customers or bosses or investors or liaisons or whoever else you are required to communicate with at work. So you grind through your day working as hard as possible so that you don’t have to worry about losing your job since companies seem to be quick to let people go in these uncertain economic times.
And then there are still a lot of things that need to be done once the work day is complete. You have husbands and wives, children and dogs to run home and attend to. And maybe you have to meet your workout partner at the gym so that you are not wasting that membership fee each month. And there are inevitably things that need to be done around the house and of course there are the shows on the DVR that need to be watched. Once everything is finally done then it is time to wind down and think about all of the things that you need to do tomorrow. But you cannot wind down for too long because the week is young and you need to get to bed at a decent hour so that you will be well rested for work in the morning..
And of course weekends are no less busy; there are friends to meet, social activities to participate in, sporting events to watch, and errands to run. And then it is Monday morning again before you know it so the process starts all over and perpetuates.
But have you ever taken half an hour out of your busy week to consider the meaning of your life? Or to feel the awesome power of your consciousness?
If you are like most of us, you probably haven’t. I challenge you to pause here for a minute and let that fact sink in. Do you not think that your own self-awareness is important? You probably have not considered this because we have been cultured to focus on the small picture – the immediate future.
Our culture tells us that we need to be productive and do something all of the time. This is why people always ask about what you did or what you plan to do. No one ever asks if you had any good ideas last weekend; they ask about what you did and where you went.
I would like to suggest that your thoughts and ideas are more important and more powerful than you can imagine.
If you actually take some time to reflect upon the reality of your existence, you will begin to realize that you have been missing something important along the way. I challenge you again to pause and ask yourself one question:
Who am I?
It is easy in our fast paced world to get caught up in the rat-race with all of its demands and expectations. It is easy to get sucked into the game of going along to get along so that you are
not considered to be weird and looked down upon. In this environment, individualism is encouraged only within the accepted parameters.
It is easy, especially with mass media today, to let others do our thinking for us. Turn on the news and pay attention to what is going on – someone is telling you how to think or feel about a particular event or issue. Now pay attention to the talk around the coffee pot at work and you will notice that it is very common for people to simply repeat what the news said about these events and issues without offering any independent thought or analysis.
I am here to say that it is time to start thinking for ourselves once again. It is time to break out of the rat-race and all of the group-think and to celebrate rugged individualism once again. It is time to remember our history and founding principles once again. It is time to put our priorities in order once again. It is time that we go with our own individual beliefs once again without being concerned with whether they are popular or unpopular. And it is time to start being ourselves once again.
Do you know who you are?
Mistakes are necessary for individual growth to occur as mistakes serve as the catalyst for learning. The primary way in which individuals learn is through trial and error. This is why there are so many highly educated people that espouse incompetent or destructive policies; they view the policies from an academic standpoint but they have never passed the trial and error test.
Today, we are cultured to avoid mistakes at all costs. Our entire educational system is based upon the premise that mistakes are unacceptable. We are penalized for making mistakes in school and then we are told what the correct answer should be.
This is not learning; it is indoctrination.
For real learning to occur in school, we would have to be free to make mistakes and then analyze these mistakes on our own to determine where we went wrong. We would have to be free to come to our own conclusions as to what the best answer should be. But instead, we run the risk of ‘failing’ the class if we make too many mistakes.
For this reason, most of us are terrified of making mistakes in the real world. We allow the fear of making a mistake to prevent us from pursuing our dreams and walking our own path. But the truth is that mistakes are inevitable when pursuing a new endeavor. Success in any undertaking cannot come until temporary failure has been met and overcome.
When you are embarking upon any undertaking of significance, always remember that mistakes are desirable. You need mistakes in order to succeed. Mistakes should not be met with frustration and discouragement but rather excitement as you know that you are one step closer to success with every mistake that you make.
There will always be those who tell you that you shouldn’t do something because they have tried it and it didn’t work. Do not let them discourage you. The only reason that it didn’t work for them is because they accepted failure as permanent rather than temporary.
Nothing worthwhile is easy otherwise everyone would be doing it. Success does not come from superior skill and it does not come by chance. Success is a result of hard work and indomitable will.
I will leave you with this from Michael Jordan:
“I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I’ve lost more than 300 games. 26 times, I have been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”
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Quote of the Day "No army can withstand the strength of an idea whose time has come." - Victor Hugo
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