It All Begins With Proper Philosophies

The road to wealth begins with the simplest thing... The way we think. What you think and how you think affect's how you lead your life. We’re not talking about visualization or any New Age stuff, simply the way we view the world around us. This is a very important concept, often simplified by asking the question: "Is the glass half empty or half full?" Although the question is simple, the answer one gives to the question determines everything. If for example, you are someone who came back from the war without any limbs, would you come back a bitter person who drinks himself to sleep every night cursing at the world while feeling sorry for yourself (the glass half-empty mindset)? Or would you come back sad, but not discouraged, instead figuring out a way to make the best of your newly acquired situation; perhaps opening a rehabilitation center for veterans missing limbs or going into Biomedical Engineering creating new equipment for people in similar situations (the glass half-full mindset)?

Sergey Brin, the co-founder of Google has a great philosophy. His mother was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease. To make matters worse, he discovered he possesses a mutation in one of his genes that drastically increases the likelihood of him developing the same condition. An editorial in The Economist states that:

Mr. Brin regards his mutation of LRRK2 as a bug in his personal code, and thus as no different from the bugs in computer code that Google’s engineers fix every day. By helping himself, he can therefore help others as well. He considers himself lucky.

Jim Rohn, author of The Five Major Pieces to the Life Puzzle and The Challenge to Succeed, describes all circumstances in life as “the wind”. In our own individual ship of life, one cannot blame the wind for blowing us in the wrong direction. What guides us to different destinations in life is determined by the way we set our sail. When the winds change, we must change otherwise we don’t know where we’ll end up. Some people do so little constructive thinking they don’t even have their sail up, therefore end up shipwrecked.

If you are not where you want to be, you have no one else to blame but yourself; not the people around you, not the lack of money, not the economy, only yourself. As a student of success and successful people, I can say there is a common thread that links all successful people together: Their Thoughts and Philosophies. Many of them were in worse situations than you and I, but the way they decided to set their sail drifted them to the exotic islands where they now reside.

Now, If you decide you want to take the journey through the road to wealth, you have to decide what philosophies you are going to follow and what direction you will set your sail.