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Economic Multipliers (93)
Do you know what these are?
They help CREATE wealth in systems.
Increasing the probabilities that you create good things in life is an economic multiplier for everyone.
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Years ago, I wrote a book entitled: Visioning for Success!
… using probability-based thinking to create your life …
I presented the materials to many organizations (even at the state and national level although many times you get no or little compensation for not-for-profit conferences), published the book and a supporting workbook, lined up a distributor, licensed some of the materials to schools and did a couple radio and TV shows (even as my presentation skills still needed a lot of work … stick to radio if you don’t think you photograph well at every angle … I am in awe of people who do … but also keep in mind that good photographers find your best angles).
Financially though, the project was not a ‘success.’ I’m glad I went through the process because of the things I learned along the way but the goal is to make money as a result of your efforts. The project did not provide an adequate income stream even though the materials were sound: I clearly was not ‘Miss Marketer.’
During that time, I moved back to my parent’s home to save on expenses. Moving back was not easy: It is harder to feel ‘successful’ when you are an adult living with your parents. They prioritized very differently than I did on household and personal matters and when you live with other people, you cannot choose their actions: You can only choose your own.
Over the years, I’ve ‘plodded on’ on a number of projects that most people wouldn’t be interested in unless they work in some very specific areas. And, although I did not know the neighbors well (I was older when my parents originally moved into the house), I always tried to be a good neighbor.
When I selected the title for the book on visualization, someone told me to use something catchy. At the time I was selecting titles like: Smart Children-Poor Readers:
Using Audio/Text-Based Learning for Reading, Comprehension and Language Development (the title is almost longer than the mini eBook!) so I didn’t: I wanted the words ‘probability-based thinking’ on the book’s cover.
Some partially accurate but rather boring titles would have been: ‘Think Like an Athlete’ (for the individual development component) or ‘Think Like an Engineer’ (for the societal development component). I didn’t use those.
There is a point: If the title was the key, I lowered the probability that the project would be successful.
And that is the key to everything in life … probability … the probability that you’ll end up with supportive people in and surrounding your life … the probability that you’ll know the things you need to know when it’s really important to know them … the probability that you’ll change your and other people’s probabilities in positive ways.
Recently I’ve been revisiting projects I’ve worked on because I wanted, as part of this community development web site, to share one key point in the book:
Success is all about how you feel.
Getting all A’s in school matters not if you don’t feel successful: Knowledge can be overwhelming for even the best students who might have assessed more clearly all that they do not know and what is still expected of them. And, having knowledge sometimes just gives people opportunities to get themselves and others into trouble: They might end up in a job where they meet the wrong people or become tempted by opportunities that they should not be taking. They might be so ‘clever’ that they are always finding ways to ‘cheat the system’ and everyone else who lives within it.
Likewise, failing at things that others might see as tangible success isn’t quite so bad if you still feel like you’ve accomplished something.
Since we change the probabilities that good things will occur in our lives, the lives of those around us and the world we live within, I’m still comfortable with the original title.
I have always wanted these materials to be accessible … particularly to young people … so I am attaching a PDF file to this article which covers just the exercises that the book and workbook covered if you ever want to know more about how you define your own success.
If any person ever has a better life because I took the time to put these materials together, my time will have been well spent … and isn’t THAT what success is all about?
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P.S. When you consider success, you should remember that probabilities have ‘outliers’ … the exceptions … and you could be one … but it’s more likely that you are not:
My father survived a car crash because he was NOT wearing his seatbelt: That is rare.
George Burns smoked cigars his whole adult life and lived until he was 100: That is rare.
It’s possible to find a lot of rare occurrences and sometimes I annoy people because I hope they do or they don’t take an action. I evaluate things in terms of probabilities: That is different than wanting to make other’s choices for them (I have enough trouble making my own!).
If I ever express myself (in writing or verbally) in ‘annoying’ ways, know that I am just simply interested in the best possible outcomes in everything that everyone does throughout their lives.
For some reason I’ve always believed that if your world is better, then so is mine.
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