Mind Hacking Your Way To A Better Future

Welcome back my friends! I hope you enjoyed the last articles on finances. But we are going to leave that for a bit and talk about another area in which I have great interest, the brain. More specifically, how to make your brain work for you. Ground breaking research over the last 15 years has changed everything we know about how the brain works and its implications on our lives. Here I am going to go into a truly revolutionary topic of brain research that can have tremendous impacts on your life. Now this is not going to be another boring, detail heavy, long word spouting article that would put any person to sleep unless you are some kind of super nerd like myself. This article should be a fun read and you might even learn some real science!

Emotional Biochemistry Just Doesn't Sound Intense Enough

All scientists and engineers seem to have this complex. We try to come up with the most "smart" sounding names for things so that people think we are smart. So the word they came up with to describe this field of science is... wait for it... psychoneuroimmunology. For real, that is what they call it. So a person that studies in the field is called a psychoneuroimmunologist. What kind of crap is that! I can barely even say that word and it just screams "you can't understand this" to almost every person that reads it so they just say "well never mind, lets read about the Kardashians". This subject began coming to light in the late 1980's but no one seems to know about it because we have coded it with science double talk. This is where I come in as your personal nerd talk decoder to give you the facts.

"I have no idea why I am using a microscope, but it sure does make it look like I know what I am doing!"

I Think, Therefore I Change

Look up positive thinking on google. You will find a million billion (It's a real number, okay) articles on how to "think positively" and be happier and blah blah blah. But I think that all sounds really fake. Like we are just supposed to think positively just because it sounds good. I am a realist. I need to have some facts or justification that is based in reality and not in some "super happy spiritual fun land" in order for me to believe it. So this is what started the quest. Does thinking positively have any real, measurable change on yourself? Whether it be your success in your job, your personal life, or your physical state. It turns out there is so much more that your mind influences than I had ever imagined.

I believe the human brain is the single most powerful and amazing thing on the face of this planet. We have just began to scratch the surface of understanding what it is capable of. It turns out your brain can completely change your physical state and perform miracles that were previously thought impossible. This is where your Neuroendocrine system comes in. We all know that our muscles and tissue are interwoven with our nervous system. Nerves are one highway in which the brain takes in data and distributes commands. So when you want to flex them biceps on the beach with your bros to impress the ladies, the brain sends an electrical signal to the biceps to contract and it also sends signals to many different muscles in your face, mouth, lungs, and throat to utter the phrase "sup ladies, wanna touch these guns?" But one that is even more important and complicated is the role that biochemistry plays in the connection between the mind and the rest of the body.

Neuroendocrine System Explained

So before we dive into the implications that this system has, we need to understand a little bit about what is going on. Aside from electrical signals sent from the brain, almost all other means of communication between different parts of our body is through biochemical signals. These mostly come in the form of proteins (or hormones) through our neuroendocrine system. Proteins are just chains of different molecules that are known as amino acids. These proteins fold in all kinds of different confirmations and the science behind these molecules is intensely complicated. But what is important to you is what and how the proteins effect you. Each one of your cells has these things on the outside of them called receptor sites. The sites are only able to recognize one certain protein. Lets take dopamine for example. Dopamine, as you may have heard, is the protein that is produced when you are experiencing joy. All of your cells have multiple dopamine receptors that only recognize dopamine (and other molecules that have the same active sites). This relationship is similar to a key and lock. The protein is the key and the receptor is the lock. So when the protein and receptor(s) get together, they can actually change the physical state of the cell. This is what causes you to sweat when you are stressed or calls your white blood cells into action when you are sick or causes certain things to happen when your are "in the mood" that we won't go into detail about here...

"Babe, my mind is sending oxytocin to my cells to change their physiological state for you"
"... that is the most romantic thing anyone has ever said to me!"

The Proverbial Mindf$@k

At this point you may be wondering "okay, what is so great about that?" If you are, then you are on the right track! It turns out that every emotion that we experience causes certain proteins to be produced in the brain and carried out through the rest of the body through the bloodstream. Whether it is joy, love, anger, fear, sadness, frustration, or anything else. But the especially bad ones are stress and sadness. All of these emotions cause proteins to be released and intercepted by hundreds upon hundreds of thousands of receptors on cells and changing you physical state across your body as a whole! But you shouldn't just take the word of some random dude on a blog site rambling. Lets take a look at some interesting studies that have been done to prove this point.

Stress And Depression Can Cause And Grow Some Types Of Cancer

Scientists at the State University of Londrina in Brazil published a paper on the effects of stress and depression on the development of certain cancerous tumors. They summarized some of their results in this very straight forward statement "Both stress and depression were associated with the decreased cytotoxic T-cell and natural killer cell activities affecting the processes of the immune surveillance of tumours, and the events that modulate the development and the accumulation of somatic mutations and genomic instability". So translated that means that the hormones that are associated with stress and depression inhibit your body's ability to fight cancer cells. Which pretty much sucks. But no worries, they recommend some treatment "Behavioral strategies, psychological, and psychopharmacotherapeutic interventions that enhance effective coping and reduce affective distress showed beneficial effects in cancer patients."Oh thanks doc, totally get it now. Basically this means do stuff to reduce stress and cope with depression. 

Read More: http://informahealthcare.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02646830500382102

Chinese People Know How To Chill Smart

When Americans think of meditation, you probably think of a bunch of Chinese monks sitting around with their legs crossed, hands out, and humming for no particular reason. Well it turns out that the Chinese have taken a liking to using meditation as a medical treatment and have performed some studies on it including this one. "80 Chinese undergraduates were randomly assigned to an experimental group (integrative body–mind training, IBMT) or to a control group (relaxation training) for 5 days of short-term training (20 min per day). Before training, no differences were found for behavioral, endocrine, and immune measures between the 2 groups. After 5 days of training, the IBMT group showed significantly greater improvement of performance in executive attention and positive mood, significantly reduced stress as measured by cortisol secretion following a stressful experience, and increased immunoreactivity compared to participants with the same amount of relaxation training." So meditation training had real measurable effects on the stress levels and immune system activity of the patients. No drugs or anything else. That alone proves the link between our mental and physical states.

Read more at: http://www.pnas.org/content/106/22/8865.full

"We need to meditate like this more often!"

Heal Faster, Fight Infections Better, Fight HIV...Pretty Much Become Wolverine

You heard me, bro! Stress and negative thoughts can lead you to heal slower, become susceptible to infectious diseases, like HIV and herpes, and cause you to age faster. Now there is a million different products that can treat all of these things but why not go to the source? Eliminate the negative thoughts and you can essentially become Wolverine and regrow limbs. Okay, maybe not that but you can dramatically increase your health by doing so. 

Read more at: http://www.psychosomaticmedicine.org/content/57/3/269.full.pdf+html

There are many many more articles about this subject. If you are interested in learning more about this subject then you can do a simple google search of "psychoneuroimmunology", which I will allow you to copy and paste instead of typing.

Positive Thinking Is Not Just A Poster Phrase

So after learning about all of these factors I realized that positive thinking is not just a nice thing for motivational speakers to say. It has real effects on your life as far as health goes. But I still don't like to use the phrase "Positive Thinking". It just sounds cheesy. I like to think of it as "Mind Hacking" because for me it takes a real conscious effort to change your thoughts from negative to positive, but when you can do that and eliminate stress you can accomplish almost anything. Want to start a new business? Mind hack that shizz and eliminate the stress and fear of failure. Want to talk to that super hot chick at the bar? Mind hack that shizz and eliminate the stress and fear of rejection. Remember that stress is all made up. It is not a real thing. You and you alone determine the amount of stress you have directly in your life and it has fundamentally nothing to do with the outside world. But eliminating stress from your life doesn't only help you think positively and be happier. It also has huge impacts on your cognitive and even physical performance!

You Can't Buy Talent, But You Can Mind Hack It

If you think of the world of professional sports there are many legends that seem to defy the boundaries of human abilities. But what separates the best of the best from the rest? Is it money? Fame? Muscles? Family? Turns out that people have done some real scientific research on this subject. The main thing that makes the Michael Jordan's and Shaun White's stand out is mental states of mind during performance.

http://www.dana.org/media/detail.aspx?id=39234

In the above article, brain researchers work with some of the top olympic athletes to determine what separates the Gold's from the rest. They come up with this profound discovery “When you are an elite athlete, one of the best in the world, the physical differences between you and your peers are very, very small.” says Scott Grafton, a researcher at the University of California, Santa Barbara and a Dana Foundation grantee, who studies action representation, or how the brain organizes movement into a goal-oriented action. “So what really determines success? The way athletes are approaching their sport at the cognitive level.” Essentially, the separation comes in the method they use to approach their craft. When athletes are about to enter a stage of peak performance (we refer to this as "The Zone") there are certain sets of brain waves that increase. These are the Alpha and Theta waves. Alpha waves are produced in states and intense focus. Theta waves are produced in states of extreme relaxation. So "the zone" is essentially the athlete being relaxed and completely focused on the task. Conscious thought shuts down and they just let it "flow." Next time you are playing a sport, try it out and see what happens! And if you want to measure your own brain waves, visit this site!

http://www.neurosky.com/Default.aspx

Hope you guys enjoyed this article and now realize how important your thoughts are on your health and wellbeing. Here are some articles to help you on your quest for Mind Hacking.

Stress Management

http://www.helpguide.org/mental/stress_management_relief_coping.htm

http://www.webmd.com/balance/guide/blissing-out-10-relaxation-techniques-reduce-stress-spot

http://www.rd.com/health/wellness/37-stress-management-tips/

Motivation

http://www.ziglar.com

http://www.jonacuff.com/blog/

PNI

https://www.pnirs.org/index.cfm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3R9mD-iJZIg

The Rich Get Richer, The Poor Get Poorer, And The Middle Class Gets Broker (Part 3: Budgeting Basics)

It seems that whenever a conversation turns to money people seem to duck and run. Here at Advice To Change Lives, we are trying to change that. We already know that money is very important, but more important than that is how you manage your money.

"No, not money talk!!"

Money management is something that should come right after not peeing your pants in public and learning to how to brush your teeth on the list of things that you should teach your kids at a young age. But the problem is that most grown adults don't know how to manage their own money much less teach their kids! And I don't know about you but "Money Management 101" or "Personal Finance" weren't classes that were offered in high school or in college. Instead I was required to learn important things like how to analyze poetry. Which, I can assure you, I use every day. So since school didn't teach us and our parents didn't teach us then we have to do this weird thing called "get off the couch and teach ourselves" for now. Not to worry though! I have summarized some really basic budgeting skills that are simple and easy to digest.

Budgeting Basics

Budgeting your money and setting up financial goals requires some of the most simple mathematics on the planet. Addition, subtraction, and maybe multiplication and division if you really want to live life on the edge. So why does the majority of America not budget and manage their money? Because it is not a question of difficulty but rather a question of willpower. So before you even think about how to budget you first need to answer the question "Why the hell would I need a budget?"

Budget Fo Stuntin'

So why the hell do you need a budget. I mean you have survived to this point, right? You might have a nice car or a big house and all was done without a budget so why even bother? Well the answer is really another question, do you really just want to "survive" financially? Imagine what you could do a large surplus of money every month. Would you give more to people in need? Could you take more vacations? Could you stunt harder on the weekends with your bros (that is a valid goal)?

"Lets budget for our mollies and sweat responsibly, woo!"

Dave Ramsey sums it up best, "budgeting is telling your money what to do rather than wondering where it went". It allows you to reach whatever financial goals you set. It relieves the stress of wondering if you are going to make your bills this month. You will know exactly how much money you have coming in and going out and exactly how long it will take you to get to get out of debt or to get that gold chain that hangs to yo dingalang (just ask 2 Chainz).

Three Mandatory Budget Categories

So now that you are all pumped up about budgetin fo stuntin, where do we begin? Well there is three things that you should get in the habit of doing with every dollar you earn if you want to make this work and become more wealthy and more awesome at the same time: Give, Spend, and Save.

Giving is probably the most fun thing you can do with your money. Ask any millionaire if they give and I guarantee you just about every single one of them does. "But Josh, they have tons of money. They should give! I will give when I become wealthy." I have used that same logic myself for a long time. The problem is that with that logic you will probably never become wealthy. The weird thing about giving is that the more you give the more you receive. So even if you make $7.50 an hour, giving a little bit of that money will not only make you more happy but will make you more wealthy!

Saving for your future is not something that you should hate. But I don't think it is something you should really get super excited about. It should just be what it is. You have to do. If you are young then the money you put in today will make the greatest impact on what you have later. So just do it. The standard recommendation of 10% off the top of every dollar you earn will work for now.

Spending a certain amount of every dollar you make is equally as important as the other two. Have you ever tried or know someone who has tried some super intense diet to lose weight? Like "No Carbs!" or whatever else is out there. How long did that work for? Probably not very long. Because that kind of intensity can not be sustained for a long period of time. Then when they get off of the diet they go hog wild and probably gain more weight than they lost. Trying to budget without spending is like trying to diet without a cheat day. It will just never be sustained for a long period of time. You need to be able to spend some of the money that you worked so hard to get! You just have to put a cap on it.

"We lost 100 pounds on zero carb diets! Then we remembered pizza, soda, and ranch are awesome"

Budgeting Mechanics

So now that we understand why and what we are doing, it is time to do it. This is how I got started on my budget. I use a system I like to call....

The Young Whipper Snapper

"Well guys, the gig is up. Time to find a real job."

Lets face it, electronics have taken over our lives. The days of having reading material in bathrooms is over. We just whip out our smartphones and angry bird away. Which can bring about other issues... ew. Turns out there are some actual smart things you can do with your smart phone like manage your money!

There is an awesome FREE app called Mint.com which goes along with this website: https://www.mint.com. The basic idea is that the website accesses your bank account, credit card account, or any other account that you have and stores all the info in one place. So when I use my debit card, the transaction is automatically imported and categorized. You can change the category of any transaction at any time and then look at real time spending reports to see where your money is really going. The best thing is that you can set up your own budget so that you can track how much you are spending in each category over the month. Here are some steps to get started.

1. Go through you last month's bank statement and categorize all of your transactions and keep a running tally. You can lump them into general categories like groceries, eating out, rent/bills, alcohol, etc. This can be a scary time because you might not really want to know how bad you've managed your money but you will have to get past that if you ever want to succeed financially.
2. Take your totals of all of those categories and subtract it from your monthly income. If your total is negative then be happy that you have caught this in time! If the number is positive then you might just need to rebalance your budget. You might find that some things you were buying were adding up and those items don't really do you any good.
3. Once you have that, sign up for your Mint account and load the online login information for all the accounts that you own.
4. Use the budgeting tool in Mint to set up a more detailed budget of your expenses and financial goals, not spending just yet. Do things like split eating out, groceries, mollies, you get the idea. Make sure you are putting aside money for giving and long term savings before the dollars even hit your checking account. I suggest creating totally different accounts for those things.
5. Create a separate line in your budget for spending. I like to call this the "Get Rowdy" fund. You can come up with your own names for this fund too and leave them in the comments section below. The point of this fund is to spend it on yourself every month. The rule is you have to spend ALL of it every month. You can't save it. If you are saving up for something then put it as a financial goal and budget for it. This is for basically spoiling yourself. It doesn't matter how much is in there just as long as you spend all of it. Whether it is a crazy night on the town with your homies or you walk up in the massage parlor and slam your money on the counter and say "give me the two hottest girls you got and I want to hot rocks and mud bath and that crap you put on people's faces". You are going feel like Birdman but at the same time you know that all of your finances are taken care of. This way you get all of that "I need to spend money to be cool" out of your system while still being responsible.

That is just one of many different budgeting systems that can be used and you can always come up with your own. Most likely the system that one person uses will not be the best one for other people. But like anything else, the principles stay the same. Tell your money what to do instead of wonder where it went. 

Here are some other really good resources on money management and budgeting:

http://www.daveramsey.com/

http://ideas.thenest.com/money-advice/getting-out-of-debt/slideshows/budgeting-help.aspx

http://www.investopedia.com/university/budgeting/

https://www.manilla.com

Well that ends off this series on finances! I hope you guys have enjoyed it and have taken some stuff away that you can use in your own life. Stay tuned for more awesome stuff and remember to go to the link on your right for the Facebook page and give it a "like".

The Rich Get Richer, The Poor Get Poorer, And The Middle Class Gets Broker (Part 2: Mindsets)

Welcome back! I hope you enjoyed the first part of this series. We went over some really bad debts and how they effect your life. This time we are going to talk about something that is much more important, our minds. More importantly, our mindsets.

Our minds are the most important resource that we have at our disposal. It is the lens in which we view the world. In that sense, people have found over the years that what separates wealthy people from poor and middle class people is not fate, not inheritance, not skin color, not country of origin, not even fancy cars and big houses (if you have read the first part you should be catching on). The main thing that separates wealthy people from the poor and middle class is their mindsets. Essentially they view the same world that you view but with a different lens. A lens that makes them earn, and most importantly, keep large amounts of wealth. Now none of these things that I talk about did I come up with myself. most of these were in a fantastic book that I read called Secrets Of The Millionaire Mind by T. Harv Eker. I strongly suggest you either listen or read this book. It has changed my life for sure. But I will make an attempt to combine that information with other sources and present it here. But first, I must start with a story because, lets face it, everyone loves stories.

I grew up in a fairly upscale suburb in Houston. Many people talked a lot of crap about it, but really it was a pretty awesome place to grow up. This place had a lot of people that engaged in different activities whether it was soccer, football, swim teams, and various school groups and clubs. Pretty much for every single one of these things fundraising is an important and necessary part of that. Whether it was for uniforms, equipment, or travel expenses. So you would always see them doing car washes or bakes sales or selling coupon books and many other things. I never thought much of it until I moved to downtown Houston when I went to UH. I lived in a part of Houston called the Museum District which was a very awkward mix of upscale living with poverty housing. The part I lived in was only a couple of blocks from the Third Ward which was a notorious crime ridden and poor part of town. It was at the busy intersection of Southmore and Almeda that I saw something over and over again that shocked and aggravated me.

Most of the time when I pull up to the stoplight I see the homeless people there begging for money, but sometimes I saw a different sight. It was a little league football team. All holding out there helmets while the dads sat back on some lawn chairs in the median. This is what poor people teach their kids. If you need money for uniforms, BEG ON THE SIDE OF THE STREET LIKE A FREAKING BUM!! I guarantee you that NO wealthy or middle class person would ever let their kids do this because they know that it takes WORK to make money. You can't just sit around and hold your hand out and expect someone to hand you an income. That is not how you become wealthy. That is how you stay poor. I REFUSE to give them money because I will not contribute to such poor education. If they want to stand on the street and sell water then I would buy one every time. I am not just going to hand them the money that I had to work for just because they want it. It turns out that what poor, middle class, and wealthy people teach their kids are vastly different. It all starts with their mindsets.

Wealthy Mindsets Vs. Poor Mindsets

The thing about mindsets is they are completely fabricated by you. They are not real. You can't go to the store and buy some wealthy mindsets. Anyone can change their mindset with a little hard work. Just being aware of the faults in your thinking are not enough to change them. Only determination and constant correction. Lets talk about a few REALLY important ones.

1. Poor People Always Claim To Be A Victim

I don't intend to make this blog be a political debate, but I've noticed something recently. I always see people on my Facebook and elsewhere complaining about the government and how it screws them and everyone else. But I've noticed something about these people. They are either unemployed or are very poor. They always seem to be the victim of some government law or some rogue cop that threw them in jail for "just breaking the law a little bit". You see the problem with being a victim is that if you think you are a victim then no amount of work or effort will get you out of the situation. You will just sit and cry until someone gives you something. Then when you run out you cry some more. This will never get you out of a situation. All situations that you face can be seen through different lenses. One sees "life happened to me and I just need life to stop happening to me so I can get ahead" the other sees "I created my life and I made a series of choices along the way that has brought me to this situation. I need to figure out where I messed up and make sure I don't do that again. In the mean time, I am gonna do whatever it takes to get ahead". Which lens do you think is going to get you closer to being wealthy? Eker summarizes this mindset into 3 categories: blame, justifying, and complaining. Lets look at each one.

Blame

How many times have you heard "oh well the economy is bad right now so I am having some trouble"? I bet a lot. And I would also be willing to bet that it is coming from someone who is poor or middle class. Do you see Warren Buffett on TV going "well the economy is bad right now so I decided to stop investing"? Hell no! Warren Buffett is still out there killing it! He is excited that the economy turned for the worse because he can buy stocks and real estate at MASSIVE discounts. Poor and middle class people spend so much energy looking for things to blame for their situations that they don't see any opportunities that arise. It is really something. They blame everything from the government to their manager to their spouse. The sad part is they are the only ones to blame. And until they realize this, they will never be able to change. So here is my challenge to you. Next time something bad happens to you, either financial or not, try to find the decisions that you made to bring you to that situation. Next time your spouse gets onto you for something say "Honey, I am sure there was a series of decisions that we made to bring us to this current situation. Maybe if we sat down together and figured it out we can avoid this in the future" then make sure you catch them as they pass out from shock. I promise that if you just quit blaming everyone for everything, it will change your life forever.

Justifying

We've all heard it at some point, "oh, money is not that important. Love is what really matters". I want you to try something. Next time your rent is due, go to your landlord and say "hey man, I know I said I would pay you but money isn't really that important. How about I just say something real nice to you and give you a hug instead." He will probably slap the crap out of you and then call security to drag you out of his office. Or go to the grocery store and say "I know I am supposed to give you money for these groceries but, you know, money really isn't that important. How about a high five instead?" Next thing you know you are getting thrown out of the store. Where is the love in that, right? Then you might blame the store and file a complaint because they hurt your feelings when threw you out.

Listen, anyone who says that money is not important doesn't have any. I promise you that a wealthy person will never say that money is not that important. Eker summed it up best, he said "money is extremely important in areas in which it works and extremely unimportant in areas which it doesn't." If you ever hear someone say that again, do them a favor and slap them as hard as you can.

Complaining

Complaining is the worst thing you can possibly do for yourself. Eker says it best when he says that "when you are complaining, you become a living, breathing crap magnet."Seriously, the more you complain the more bad stuff is going to come your way. Or maybe it is just that everything that happens to you will be viewed through your negative lens and will therefore be bad. Either way it is not helping you become wealthy or happy or anything else positive. So this is simple, shut the hell up! Next time you want to complain about something take out a piece of paper or open the little notes app on your phone and write down 5 things you are grateful for. Can't think of anything? Use the old Zig Zigler method. Look at your hand. Are you grateful that you have a hand? Then write that down. How about your foot? Your phone? Your finger? Your eyes? There we go. That is five things. After you have the five things written down, you probably won't feel like complaining anymore.

2. Rich People Manage Money, Poor People Spend Money

Have you ever had a job where you just seem to spend every dollar you earn even though you don't have any real expenses? That was me until my Junior year in college. In high school and college I had different jobs from grocery stores to mall jobs to summer camp counsoler. There was something I always had in common during this time, though. I almost never had more than $200 in my bank account and I would just spend all the money that I earned. I didn't even know what I spent it on other than it was just gone. So like most other Americans, I was always on the search for higher income. "oh if I just got a raise", "if I can just get a couple more dollars an hour", "if I could just earn more tips". That is what everyone is on the search for. The problem is that when they eventually get that extra boost they adjust their spending amount to account for it and then end up in the same situation. This is what Robert Kiyosaki calls the "Rat Race". You're stuck on the wheel trying to get the cheese and when you get the cheese you shove it all down your mouth at once and then run for the next piece. Pretty soon you're 55 years old and you don't have a dime to your name or are in debt. The point is that it is not about how much income you have or what your job title is. If you start to manage your money then you can start on your way to becoming wealthy. A janitor making 12k a year who manages their money and monitors their expenses could have more net worth than a doctor making 500k a year who has a negative net worth. In the book The Millionaire Next Door, Thomas Stanley makes an interesting discovery about the median salary of millionaires in America. The median salary for millionaires in America was $131,000. It turns out that only 8% of millionaires had a salary in the $500,000 to $999,999 range. That tells me that you don't have to have giant salaries to build wealth. If fact the results of the entire book can be summed up as "Rich people are good at managing their money".

So here is my challenge to you, no matter how much money you have or make, put yourself on a written budget. That is it. That is all I challenge you to do. If you have 5 dollars then make sure you budget that five dollars. It doesn't matter what the amount is, just the action. If you do this then I can guarantee you that you will find that you have a lot more money than you think and that you are spending a lot of money on things that don't really make you that happy. In the next part I will focus more on money management methods. But for now you can visit this website for help:

http://www.daveramsey.com/specials/mytmmo-gazelle-budget/

3. Rich People Harness Fear, Poor People Are Paralyzed In Fear

If you've read the blog posts so far you have probably learned a little about my personal life. One thing you may or may not know is that I am pretty much a adrenaline junkie. This mostly comes in the form of my love for skateboarding. Many people look at skateboarders and think we are wasting our life away, but there is something that I have taken away from my skateboarding that the average american may never learn. That is the knowledge of how fear works and how it feels to conquer it. There is always a progression through certain stages no matter what the situation is. Lets talk them through.

1. The Idea

This is where you first think of your idea. For us skaters it might be that stair set or that rail or that bowl. You first see one of your friends or a pro do something on it and you think "man, I want to do that!" For most Americans, it is a business idea or a career or a job that you think you could do. An idea of a product you can make. This is a glorious moment. All these thoughts of what it would feel like to land that trick or succeed in that business start to well up inside of you and you begin to feel empowered. But then your mind retaliates back.

2. First Contact

Almost as soon as you begin to experience these feelings of empowerment and positivity, fear comes in and says "whoa man! who the hell do you think you are?!" It wells up inside of you and gives you that pit feeling in your stomach. For skaters, this generally happens when you take that roll up to the stair set or rail and just look down it. All the scenarios of how you could fall and hurt yourself start to play through your head. All the scenarios of how your business or idea is flawed and how you could lose this or lose that cloud all your thoughts. No matter how hard you try to get rid of these feelings they won't go away.

3. The Defining Moment

Then comes the most important stage. This is point where you make a conscious choice to let fear control you or you control fear. Most people will overwhelm themselves with excuses of why they can't do it. "I'm not as good as that pro", "I don't skate this type of stuff", "I don't have the right degree for that job", "I am not smart enough to do that". This is where the story ends for the average. The poor might even blame someone else for them not going for it and then cry about it to everyone until they get something. But the select few might take the next step. They walk back to beginning of the run up to those stairs. You brain goes into full panic mode. Stress hormones are released into your blood stream and you begin to sweat and shake. But then you utter a phrase that has been uttered in probably every instance before someone did something truly great.

4. "F@#k It"

All higher order brain processes shut down completely. You can't think about anything, good or bad. You just run, drop your board, and jump. Inevitably you will fall. You will almost always fall at the beginning. Whether it is that tre flip down the 10 stair or opening that store you have always wanted to open. Maybe 2 people show up at your grand opening. Maybe you kick your board out and do the classic tuck and roll which, I promise, is never as graceful as you imagine it being. But you might realize that the fall doesn't hurt as bad as you thought it would. It really doesn't matter how close you got. The only thing that matters is that you pick yourself, wipe the blood off on your shirt, fist bump the filmer, and exclaim to your friends the sentence that you will say at least 10 times before you actually land anything, "Alright, I'm gonna land this right here".

5. Repeat Steps 3 and 4 Over and Over And Over and Over Again

Every time you step back up to that stair set you have to make a conscious choice to go for it again or not. When you see your investment into starting your business dwindle down to nothing you have to decide to give up on it or to keep pushing back. To put more money, time, blood, sweat, and tears into it. Once you make the decision, you say "f@#k it" and go for it again. This will happen a number of times before the cycle is ended.

4. The Glory

Bloodied, tired, sweaty, and poor you stand in front of your endeavor for the last time. You drop your board and pop the most perfect tre flip you have ever done in your life, catch it with your front foot, and land it bolts. All of the sudden customers start to line up at your door and buy your products. You start to actually turn a profit and that profit continues to grow. This is when you are hooked forever. You have successfully hulk smashed fear's face off. You roll away from that trick with the greatest feeling that you will ever experience. It is the skater's high. Our drug the we are hooked on forever always trying to get another fix. It is why we take to the streets and grind handrails and jump down stairs. It is why you constantly take risks on coming up with new products or new business endeavors. Other people think we are crazy and have no concept of rational thought. But it is just that we understand what it is like to fight for something so hard and then achieve it. The same thing that any self made millionaire probably felt when they made their first million. We understand that fear is only an emotion that is fabricated in our mind. It can be controlled and focused to make you achieve what average people never will be able to.


Rich people harness the power of fear and don't let it stop them from going for what they want. Now this doesn't mean don't research and do your homework on what you want to start. Wealthy people always make informed decisions. If you aren't informed then your are simply gambling which is not going to make you wealthy. But rich people do not spend a large amount of time educating themselves. They do it in the shortest and most efficient way possible. Poor and middle class people just coast through their life petrified by fear and always thinking about the risk in everything and never look for the opportunities. Therefore they never see the opportunities and just stay exactly where they are. Here is a simple rule of thumb, if you aren't feeling any fear or reservation about what it will take for you to achieve your goals then you aren't dreaming big enough.


I hope you guys enjoyed this post! In the third installment in this series we will go into systems to manage your money and be on your way to becoming wealthy!

Recommended Books:

Secrets Of The Millionaire Mind, T. Harv Eker
The Millionaire Next Door, Thomas Stanley
Start, John Acuff

The Rich Get Richer, The Poor Get Poorer, And The Middle Class Gets Broker (Part 1: Bad Debt)

We've all heard it before. The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. But we often leave out the middle class. What the hell are they doing? Well they are left being average. Lets paint a picture of what it means to be an average man in America.

You wake up on a Monday morning around 5:30 AM. You live in the suburbs, so you have a bit of a commute to work. Your wife could get up with you at that time because she might work, but most likely she stays at home with your 2 to 3 children. Both of you are in your mid to late thirties. You get out of your nice king size bed that you financed from the local furniture store at zero percent interest for 68 months. You walk downstairs in your nice 2 story home worth about $200,000. You get ready for work and are out the door by 6AM. You get in your new $30,000 to $40,000 car that you financed for 5 years. You make your commute to your full time job. You likely are educated. Maybe you are an accountant or an engineer. You probably work for a good company with good benefits. You probably make about $50,000 to $150,000 per year in taxable income. Most likely all this income comes from your primary job or occupation.

Sounds pretty good so far, right? Lets dig a little deeper.

Twice a month you get your paycheck. Before the money gets deposited in your account, Uncle Sam comes by to snap your neck off with taxes. Take that $50,000 to $150,000 and drop out about 20 to 30% if you live in my home state of Texas. Head over to Cali and you can drop about half your income into the government's bank account. The weather and beautiful people don't seem so nice anymore, do they? So using a really awesome website called Paycheckcity.com, I calculate your new net income to be about $40,000 to $110,000. Sounds like a lot of money, right? That is because... well, it is a lot of money. You can do really well off of that income, but the Super Middle class has a kryptonite. All those nice things we described above were bought using debt. So every month your paycheck gets chipped away little by little. The furniture, the house, the cars, the credit cards, the home equity loans, all of that just buries you in so many payments that you barely have anything left. Stack on eating out, clothes, kids activities, groceries, cable and internet, electricity, and water and you might as well sell that Superman cape back to the goodwill you bought it from because that, my dear readers, is my definition of BROKE!

While the poor don't have much, the middle class have a lot! But they could be in the exact same financial situation as the poor people because they don't have enough money to do any sort of saving or investing after all the bills come out of their paycheck. They spent too much trying to keep up with the proverbial Joneses only to find out that the Joneses are broke as hell! And it gets worse! Close the doors and I can almost guarantee that you will have serious marital problems. Stress about the finances turns little things into all out fights to the death. Eventually leaving a marriage in shambles with divorce written all over it. No wonder divorce rates are at 40%!

I don't know about you, but this sounds like a living hell to me. So the question is how do we stop it? Over the next couple of posts I am going to be dissecting the mindsets of the poor, middle, and wealthy. Together we will see what behaviors cause each person to be in the class they are in. First, we will tackle the major factor that keeps poor and middle class people broke, Bad Debt.

Bad Debt

Pretty much in almost every facet of our lives we are getting debt shoved up our butts. From cars and boats to furniture and electronics. Everybody has a financing plan. I am surprised I don't get asked if I want to finance my Big Mac at McDonalds. Oh hold up a second... they do! They are called credit cards. Great! All of our debt bases are covered. But what the poor and middle class people in America don't realize is that this bad debt is what is going to keep them exactly where they are no matter how much income they bring in. So lets tackle my top 3.

1. Pay Day Lenders

okay, so I have to admit that these places seriously make me angry. Here is the premise behind these huge pieces of crap. The first of the month is coming up and your bank account looks like the Sahara Desert. Your rent and electricity bills are coming due and your paycheck doesn't come in until a week from now. So you go get a pay day loan to pay the bills so that they are not late and get reported to the credit bureaus. You write them a check that is dated for pay day and you get, lets say, $500 in hand without a credit check. So when your pay check comes in they will cash the check that is for $500 plus the fee of about $75 to $150. Woo who! The day is saved. Except if you calculate the annual percentage rate (APR), IT IS 300% TO 750%!!!!! WHO IN THEIR RIGHT FREAKING MIND WOULD BORROW MONEY AT THAT RATE! I mean seriously people. Then what happens when your entire paycheck that you were supposed to get is eaten up by the cash advance and you spent all the money? Welp, time for another cash advance for next paycheck! Then you start having to pay the cash advance bills with credit cards and at that point you have successfully become a modern slave. You work and then you don't get paid because it all goes to cash advance bills. The dumbest part is that the people sometimes don't want to be late on bills because they don't want to ruin their credit score. In which the credit score is used primarily to GO INTO MORE DEBT!!

I dare you to do an experiment. Sit outside of a pay day loan place and watch who comes in. I guarantee you that it will be people from the poorest areas around. These places are complete scum. Taking advantage of ignorant people and pretty much stealing from them. If you have half a brain in your skull, you will avoid these places like a dirty strip club.

2. New Car Loans

I know I am going to catch a good amount of crap for this one, but someone has to say it. Buying a new car is a complete rip off! Plain and simple. Now if you are anything like me, you need some cold hard facts to back something up before you believe it. So lets run some game (that is nerd talk for use math).

In the links at the end of this post I will post a great article about this posted in 2010, but for now I will summarize it. The example they use is buying a new Nissan 370z. Very sick car! The sticker price comes in at a whopping $29,827 starting. No worries though! They are offering financing at 0% APR for 5 years with 0 down! So you sign the paper and drive it off the lot. It takes you like 2 seconds to drive it off the lot because you are so excited! In that 2 seconds you just lost about $2,500. That is about 8%! Now I don't know if you have ever lost that much money in 2 seconds, but I would be pretty pissed. You could have bought a used one that had .1 miles on it for $2,500 less! This is only the very beginning of the very downhill road so lets continue. After the first year you lost another 10% bringing the lost value up to $5,700. Lets fast forward 2 more years. The car you bought at 0% is still not paid for. It is 3 years old now and probably still in great condition. Maybe it has like 20,000 miles on it. The value of the car has dropped 42%!! You could have bought that car at a 42% discount if you would have just bought a used one! "But the new one has nice butt warmers and a cool touch screen". Let me tell you something, all that crap they put in there can be put on just about any car after market. Take the 12.5k that you saved and put in a cool touch screen. My main squeeze, Gary Briggs, put a 3G iPad mini into the dashboard of his used car Pimp My Ride style for a fraction of what you would save buying used!

After five years, you finally have a car that is paid off that lost a grand total of 60% of its value. Now we sell that car and start the whole process over again. This is exactly how middle class people will stay broke. Middle class people think that someone who has a nice new car is "rich". In reality, they are investing their money in a object that depreciates in value rapidly over time. Economists call this "a really sucky investment". Which would indeed make the new car owner much more like a poor person. More on this in later posts. In the mean time, use the calculator on this link to determine how bad you lost your ass on your new car.

http://www.edmunds.com/car-buying/how-fast-does-my-new-car-lose-value-infographic.html


3. Credit Cards

Last, but definitely not least, we have the credit card debt. The idea of always having credit card debt is so ingrained in American culture that most people can't even fathom the idea of not having it. People are so attached to them that it is like a part of the family. Hanging around eating all your food, sleeping on your couch, and stealing money out of your wallet. Sure, if you use them correctly and pay off the balance every month in full, then it is a good way to build your credit score. But the problem is when we start falling for their incentives. "Spend $500 in the first month to get $100 cash back!" Then you run out and charge it up only to realize you cant pay the balance at the end of the month because you haven't budgeted your money correctly. Still think I am lying? The third top reason people go bankrupt is poor use of credit debt. Let that sink in for a bit.

We've all heard the "reasons" for having them around. I am going to pick apart the stupidest one.

"I need it for emergencies"

This is just complete and utter crap. Using OPM (other people's money) for emergencies is a good way to make your emergencies turn into lifetime crippling event. The only reason you would need to use a credit card for an emergency is if you have no money saved. So, therefore, you wont be able to pay down the balance on your charged credit card before the interest starts to roll in. Add on a missed payment by a day and your interest skyrockets to 29.9% INDEFINITELY! So that busted AC will cost you probably twice as much after it is all said and done. Solution: save 3 to 6 months of expenses in a savings account. That means if you lose your income source, you could survive 3 to 6 months. Or if your AC goes out or your dog gets bit by a rattlesnake (this is a problem in Texas... just like horse traffic). So then your emergencies only cost you exactly what they cost you and you wont be stuck paying the piper and ruining your credit score which was the whole reason you got one in the first place, right? 

Bottom line, if you don't know how to handle your money and can never seem to keep any money in your checking account, much less your savings account, then you have no business owning a credit card. Especially if you are not even earning an income! 

Thanks for reading!! Stay tuned for parts 2 and 3 to come where we will compare the behaviors of the wealthy with the poor and middle class. I promise you will be shocked.

Recommended Links

Calculate your paycheck: http://www.paycheckcity.com/calculator/salary/

Interest on Pay Day Loans: http://paydayloansonlineresource.org/average-interest-rates-for-payday-loans/

Car Value Depreciation: http://www.edmunds.com/car-buying/how-fast-does-my-new-car-lose-value-infographic.html

Top 5 Reasons For Bankruptcy: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/pf_article_109143.html

Relevant Books

Total Money Makeover, Dave Ramsey