Category Archives: Inspirational

Are We Too Proud To Become Rich?

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Why Aren’t We Wealthier?

I think part of the reason is because we are too proud to do work that we consider beneath us or we are trained to believe that we aren’t able t0!  This is especially true of kids from the working and middle classes.

Coming from a middle class background, even going to McDonald’s was a luxury that I didn’t experience often.  This is in contrast to my kids who actually stick their noses up at McDonald’s.  They prefer sit down restaurants like Red Lobster or Olive Garden.  While these restaurant are really cookie-cutter chains and just a small step above McDonald’s, it was big luxury to me growing up.  In fact, I didn’t go to either restaurant chain until I was in college on a date.

But even with the advantages that my kids have today with respect to their upbringing, are they doomed to live paycheck to paycheck, never developing any great wealth?

Why I ask this is because they are constantly bombarded with messages from the media (TV, movies and songs) that make fun of jobs like McDonald’s or similar types of jobs.  But doesn’t it make more sense to make your mistakes at a McDonalds than at a Fortune 500 company?

The media makes it seem like you’re a loser if you have a job working at McDonald’s!  TV movies and shows glamorize the lottery winners, or the ones that get inheritances, or worse yet those that get rich by theft.

In real life it’s different!  Sam at FinancialSamurai.com started out working at McDonald’s.  He learned at an early age what a tough job is was.  He also learned how to get along with people (both other employees and customers) and how a team makes it all work.  Perhaps in some small way, this is one of the reasons that he is so successful today?

Warren Buffett is another example!  He wasn’t to proud to work hard selling gum and by having a paper route before he was 18.  There was no shame!  I think it’s good to know what it’s like to work for a living!  There is value in start out small, while soaking in the entire business system and processes.  If you can see behind that basic work task, it can be a great learning experience!  No matter what they say on TV…

What do you think, does TV hurts people’s work ethic?

-MR

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Superbowl XLV Win, Packers Had An Awesome Game!

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Packers win

Packers win

Part of my family is from the Pittsburg area (although we don’t live in Pennsylvania now), so I’ve been a Pittsburg fan as long as I can remember.

But even I was rooting for the Packers (Packers won 31-25)!  It’s great to see the old 2nd oldest franchise team in the league back on top!  The Packers have such a rich football history, that it’s great to see them as contenders again.  But what was amazing for me was Aaron Rodger’s vision of winning the super bowl.  Through out the season he was constantly doing the motion of putting on a championship belt every time a touchdown happened (or so it seemed).

The team fought injuries throughout, including the loss of Donald Driver in the 1st half of the Superbowl.  But it wasn’t enough to stop the Packers on their path to victory!

Rodgers was hit or knocked down more that 16 times, but that wasn’t enough to stop him!  He had suffered multiple concussions throughout the session, but even that wasn’t enough to stop him.  His unwavering belief and efforts was truly amazing! 

Throughout the game, I only saw Aaron make 1 small error on a bad throw.  Other than that throw, he played a perfect game.

So I now believe in believing!  Rodgers believed that his team was destined to win the Superbowl, and that’s exactly what they did!  How often does that happen, where a team or a person states that we’re the ones and that they will win it all?  But then actually backup what they say by actually winning?!

I don’t know what type of person Aaron Rodgers is in person, but from a performance standpoint, he truly impressive!

-MR

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Blending Work And Pleasure

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Right now I’m blending work and pleasure by writing this article, and at the same time watching a movie that my wife wanted to watch called “Dorian Grey“. 

The movie “Dorian Gray” is from Oscar Wilde’s only novel called “The Picture of Dorian Gray“. 

I thought this quote from the book by Oscar Wilde was worth repeating:

“Nowadays most people die of a sort of creeping common sense, and discover when it is too late that the only things one never regrets are one’s mistakes”

While this is not the topic of my article, it was such a profound quote that I had to include it.  This may be true within limits, but taken to extremes I would think not…

Okay, back to the topic of my article.

As we become better and better at our jobs and the tasks that we do, it becomes easier to multitask and blend both work and pleasure, enabling us to enjoy both.  Some day, I would really like to have work that I enjoy so much that I can no longer tell the difference between work and entertainment. 

Impossible?  Not so, people like Warren Buffett and even the Financial Samurai say that they can’t wait to get up early so they can get to work in the morning.

So am I going on a wild goose chase?  Does such a job nirvana really exist?  I wonder if I’ll ever know before it’s time to retire…

-MR

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Just A Little Bit More

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In technical stock market lingo, there is such a concept as a line of resistance.  Such a line of resistance keeps a stock bound in a price range that it’s somehow needs to overcome.  Unfortunately, in our personal lives I believe that somewhere along the line we’ve all learned to create similar lines of resistance in too.

Often we go through lives where sometimes we hit a homerun or score the big goal, but then start to pace ourselves, saving ourselves for something on down the line that may never happen.  I’ve guilty of follow this kind of behavior myself. 

But what if we are wrong?  What if that something we are saving ourselves for never happens or worse yet, we aren’t up to the challenge because we have been saving ourselves for so long that we are now rusty, and no longer the potential champion we once were?

I ask this because I’ve seen other do this including my son and myself.  We do some superhero activity, then for some reasons we pull back as if someone would discover that we truly super we can be.  I often wonder if it’s because of a base of shyness?  Perhaps some people (including me), were raised to specifically not be the center of attention.

Whatever the reasons, I think we can overcome these little issues by doing just a little bit more.  Put in a little more effort each day, no matter what.  Run a little harder during sport games and practices.  Think a little harder during each day to try to fine tune your mind. 

Make it a habit to continue to increase your efforts each and every day.  I believe that if we do just a little bit more, eventually we’ll break through our own personal line of resistance and explode to the upside. 

-MR

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