The Wealthy Billionaire

People tend to agree with the idea that your inner world can match your outer world.

However, I often test their belief when I tell the story of when I used to pollute my body with crap food, that within minutes, I literally experienced roommates actually polluting the house I was living in with toxic chemicals.  This made me realize how important it is to take care of my body because I can improve the health of the earth simultaneously.

Sounds a bit crazy?  You bet it is.  I still pick up litter and stuff like that, but I usually say no to joining environmental causes, political and social movements because I realize that it’s the inside that matters.  I also don’t believe in dredging the Hudson River, or unearthing old contaminated soil and replacing it with new soil..etc…   When you do nothing, nature cleans itself and finds its balance again.  The key is to just stop polluting and allow nature to achieve its balance.  It does this with little effort both within your body and the world we view.  Everything strives towards balance or what some call homeostasis.

If you hate pollution and want clear rivers, pristine lakes, and healthy balanced oceans, then clean up your own body and don’t pollute it with stimulating junk food.  Deal with your emotions properly and your wellbeing will be such that you won’t crave stimulating junk to put into your body, which perpetuates the negative thought cycle as your body attempts to clear itself of the crap you keep ingesting.

Want a peaceful mind?  Clean your inner body and change your thoughts.   I can help.

I recently moved to Ann Arbor Michigan from Jacksonville Florida.  Let me just say there was a huge difference.  I preferred the culture and energy of this vibrant midwest college town.

The big difference mentally was whether to get myself happy first and then move or just move from where I was (very disconnected).  I have heard tons of rhetoric about “wherever you go there you are.”  Ideally, yes, I would change, solve all my problems where I was located (Jacksonville) and then move to a city I loved and be happily ever after.  One problem was I was using the city as a huge excuse not to change.  One can use any excuse for that of course.  My reasoning to move to Ann Arbor:

1.  It’s a place I would like to settle down in and make a life for myself.  (I didn’t want to do that in Jacksonville)

2. Ann Arbor, as a city, aligns with my values (It’s politics, hybrid buses, very bike friendly, gay friendly and much more…)

3. I needed four seasons.  I was actually miserable in “sunny Florida” where day in and day out it would be sunny.

4.  I found my passion for business and entrepreneurship by joining a coworking community in Jacksonville, but I wanted to network with others in a place I knew I would live long term.  That was in Ann Arbor.

5.  Ann Arbor has a mix of big city things to do, combined with the charm and warmth of a smaller town.  It has everything I want.

6. The University of Michigan brings in big names, ambitious students, and plenty of disposable income looking to go to my future business.

7.  The University Health System here is huge pool of people come from all over the state.  Some of this traffic, plus the progressive nature of the town that values alternative medicine is important for my my future wellness business I have planned for downtown.

8.  I believed that Ann Arbor will help encourage my growth, health, and journey to wealth.

I am a true believer in the idea that happiness begins and ends within.  However, on my road to joy and love, I’d like to stack the deck in my favor with beautiful surroundings, positive and idealistic energy, and a culturally rich setting.

Being around people who are more ambitious, and goal driven has a huge influence upon others and tends to lift me up too.  I’d like to better myself and grow, and moving to a different city may not be the solution, but it certainly has had a positive impact.

It takes courage to step out from an hourly job, a salaried position, or government welfare to build your own business.  Some entrepreneurs and business owners had appropriate modeling from their parents and easily stepped into the role of entrepreneur, while others had little modeling in the area of entrepreneurship and had to teach themselves many necessary skills for success.

With the obvious shift in our economy many people are being forced to sink or swim.  The rich get richer and poor get poorer.  Where would you like to fall?  Granted, there are jobs available, but they are the most routine, boring, and often repetitive ones that exist.  Unless you’re a highly skilled software engineer, Facebook and Google just aren’t hiring.  The remaining employers has a list of exact things you are to do and you are expected to do them up to their standards.  You are given little freedom for creativity because you must comply with their job description.  Think of a Starbucks barista and all of the anal retentive procedures they have to perform day in and day out.  Also, despite the rhetoric of more conservative politicians, almost all government agencies are trying to regulate the remaining “middle class” professions that do exist, specifically in education and healthcare.

Humans are not machines, and can’t be expcted to be a cog in the wheel of some repetitive routine without loosing part of their soul.  A human who is just existing to comply with rules and regulations is not a very happy one.  We thrive when creativity is allowed to flow and we act in accordance with our passions.

The good news is that  with the technology of the web, we can focus on creativity itself while outsourcing the routine, boring tasks to someone else (often using technology or someone in a less wealthy country).  Creativity is important and makes us humans feel alive.  Being a creative entrepreneur takes courage because there can be very little structure for us to follow since we’re often treading on new grounds.  I do my best to ameliorate these drawbacks.  I give my team a road map to success, methods that work on their mindset, an amazing diet that shifts their mood, and specific  tools that lead them to victory.  I can’t hold their hand, keep them on task, or do anything other than lead by example, one creative step at a time.  

Life is the ultimate paradox.  The biggest lessons in life tend to contradict each other.  Here are just a couple.

• The more you surrender control, the more control you receive.
• The more you try to control, the more you lose control
• The more you allow true sadness, the more joy you receive

There is nothing wrong with feeling good.  There is nothing wrong with doing as many things as possible that make you feel good.  Feeling good is one of the purposes of life afterall, yet this doesn’t always work at all times.  Somestime we have to do things that don’t make us feel good.  Sometimes we must do what terrifies us the most.  We have to distinguish between doing something that makes us miserable versus doing something that we’re afraid to do.  If we’re doing things that make us sad or angry, we’re on the wrong track.  However, if we’re doing something that we’re afraid to do, tests our boundaries, and forces us to grow, then we’re on the right track.

Think about these situations:

• Often times people take jobs because they’re afraid of being poor, yet they make themselves miserable because its not something that makes them happy.  They then justify they have responsibilities to pay the bills, their family..etc….
• Many people don’t go into business for themselves because they are afraid of failing and the growing pains it takes to believe in your ability to successfully perform the tasks necessary.
• People want to feel good, so instead of allowing themselves to feel their emotional pain, they choose to stay busy doing things they don’t like doing all in the name of avoiding the emotion of fear.  This ultimately creates their own suffering, sucking energy from everyone around them.
• People want to feel good, so they avoid things that make them temporarily feel bad, and end up sacrificing feeling good.

Of course, Society labels positive thinkers and optimists as often misaligned with reality.  Yet, we all know that positive thinking works.  However, the more positive we become, we tend to run into our own boundaries, and then we experience anxiety or fear.  So, we might be inclined to stop thinking positive, because it just doesn’t work since we ran straight into the emotion of fear, right?  Don’t fall for that trap… The fear is there to help us grow and to expand into a bigger broader more impactful person.  Accept that some anxiety and fear is normal, especially when venturing into unknown territory, no matter how seemingly simple.

It’s important to differentiate between fear as a warning or fear the derives from the fear the unknown.  Only you can decide whether its fear that comes up when you encounter a true danger, or just fearing change and growing into a bigger, broader person.