Am I alone with this feeling that certain fundamentals in life have now changed? Is it only me that believes that nothing is ever going to be the same again? Of course it isn't just me. This is something that I believe we're all feeling. Some are feeling it more deeply than others.
Have you found yourself thinking more than ever lately about the future and what is coming? Even if you have always been inclined towards thoughts about the future, have you recently felt more inclined to this than ever before? I think that we would be kidding ourselves if we thought that things were going to get back to normal after this.
You don't have to be a mathematical genius to work out that the world cannot afford this absolute escalation in borrowing at the same time as a massive decline in tax revenues.
There are many ways to try to describe this "feeling" but I think there is only one way that truly describes what this is and I believe it this:
What we are feeling right now is the unmistakable vibration of "adjusted expectation". The question is, are you grasping it? And I really do mean "vibration". Our bodies vibrate with energy at, normally, a stable, consistent current. When things do not feel right. this vibration can be off balance, out of kilter and can cause us to feel ill at ease.
I wrote a book called "unlock your true potential" some years back (you can still get that book on Amazon). And it was always my intention to publish a follow up book called, strangely, "The power of adjusted expectation". That has always been a working title but, so far, I haven't managed to finish the book.
The reason I haven't finished it is because I wanted it to become my defining stamp in life. I wanted it to be the thing that, in the end, I am most remembered for. And the trouble with that is, straightaway, the bar has been set so high in my mind that how could I ever be satisfied with it?
Nevertheless, I am determined to get it finished one day because it is based around the core of what makes us do what we habitually do and how understanding that can improve so much in our lives. If we can master our expectations in a positive way we can achieve absolutely anything.
Some people, perhaps wrongly, have referred to this thing as "the law of attraction" and that to me, the more I think on it and study it, doesn't really explain what can happen with the way someone thinks and then turns that thinking into action, if, indeed, it is ever turned into action.
That said, I have gathered much material and some of it has even been written down and I recently revisited my latest set of notes, research and updates. It served to remind me of just how powerful a particular way of thinking can be. More importantly, it absolutely reminded me of how damaging another way of thinking can be to us all.
Don't worry if you think I am talking about things I might not understand. I have been studying this stuff for many years and, in fact, even once had my own life-coaching business. But that is another story for another day.
Even I have noticed of late that I have sometimes allowed my mind to slip (temporarily until I correct myself) into some very poor ways of thinking.
I am no Bob Proctor, Anthony Robbins, Brian Tracy, Jim Rohn or Les Brown (to name but a few of the masters in this field) but then again, why shouldn't I be capable of creating a body of work that even those great thinkers could be proud of?
And there, in that statement, lies the truth of all we can achieve if we so wish and we want it badly enough.
Why shouldn't I, why shouldn't you be capable of achieving something that, perhaps, was thought of as being beyond us before? How could there ever be a better time than right now to seriously re-assess how you want to move forward in life and how you could put things in place to help you to make that happen.
I'm not suggesting here that you immediately now retire to a quiet place and start writing your own book (unless of course you feel that you want to do just that). But what I am suggesting is that you stop what you are doing for a while, break the normal routine, and think about just what "adjusted expectation" really is and how it can be used to your advantage.
Perhaps the thing holding you back is lack of money. Perhaps it is lack of hope. Perhaps it is lack of confidence. Only you can really know what it is. It could simply be the lack of good information and how to find it. If it is a perceived lack of skill, then here's some really good news. You can learn any new skill with time and determination.
The way we think about things, the way we assess and consider, is entirely based upon habitual thinking. Everything works in that way and you cannot escape it. If you are presented with anything that sounds or looks a little like something you have been presented with before, then any previous conclusion you made and any previous assessment you arrived at will instantly enter and dominate your current thinking.
We can't help it, we are massively influenced by the decisions we made and the outcomes we experienced before, be they right or wrong decisions, good or bad outcomes.
If we had a failed business venture before, instead of seeing it as a learning process that helps us very positively now as we move bravely forward with a new business venture, we are at first inclined to assume that we will simply fail again and, because of that, we may not even make the attempt.
You have to start thinking like a serious athlete with everything you do. A 100 metre runner wanting to get under 9 seconds for the first time does not look at 9.2 seconds as a failure. Rather it is looked upon as "not quite there yet".
If you have been given bad information in the past and believed it to be true and accordingly then experienced a bad outcome, then remember that it is simply just not quite there yet and move forward. In fact, even if you were given good information, correct information; do not assume that the new thing you are assessing is the same as the old thing even if they are dressed the same.
If that previous thing, that decision, that experience seemed to be a good thing at the time and you embraced it then you are likely to embrace the new thing with enthusiasm. If the past thing disappointed, then you will, at first, automatically expect the new thing to disappoint.
If you believed the past thing to be bad or wrong, even if that conclusion was based on bad or incorrect information, you will expect the new thing to be wrong. In fact it is worse than that. You will KNOW that it is wrong whether that conclusion is correct or incorrect.
The point here is very simple. Do not do the automatic, the habitual. Do not assume that the outcome will always be the same. Instead, treat everything as if it were the first time you encountered it. Make every assessment on all the information available now. Not on the old information you carried with you.
We all, every one of us, can make a misinformed conclusion about something simply because someone we trust gave us wrong or bad information. We may have incorrect information about something because what we read about it or what we saw through the media led us to think in a certain wrong way about it. Misinformation is rife in the world and we need to be cautious.
And if it so happened that we experienced this situation or a similar situation again and again, our thinking could soon become automated and habitually wrong about any new thing we encountered simply because we recognised "the type" every time we saw similarities with this new thing and that past thing.
Why am I sharing these thoughts with you? Well, partly because there is no doubt in my mind that right now you, along with me, are being fed an ever growing pile of bad information about our current circumstances and it is (perhaps deliberately) restricting our ability to think about what is going on around us in the right way.
Do we know for sure that everything we are seeing and hearing in the mainstream media is accurate and correct? Can we always rely on the power of the "so called" free press? Of course we can't.
But mostly I am sharing these thoughts because I think that we all need to be very clear about how we appraise things moving forward. I think we all need to go back to the drawing board in every way and treat any idea that comes toward us as if it were an idea encountered for the very first time.
I think we all need to allow for adjusted expectation in a positive way. We need to be able to say "what if I have been wrong about this in the past?" And, maybe, as a result, seek opportunity instead of catch. Potential gain (even if it is just the gaining of new knowledge) over potential loss.
This isn't a suggestion that you throw caution to the wind. Far from it. It is merely a suggestion that you use the time you have (perhaps it is more time than you normally have to spare) to think more about possibilities and, specifically, how you can make changes, make additions, perhaps re-consider what can be done from home to improve, for example, your financial security and ability to earn.
If ever there was a time to embrace the idea of learning new skills, this, surely, has to be it. It need not, of course, be all about finances. You may be secure in that respect. Maybe it is a time to simply ask yourself if you want new challenges in life or a new way of working.
I, for myself, am looking more and more at home based businesses and opportunities to improve my life and I know that many others are doing the same. I read just the other day that networking type businesses (well the good ones anyway) where you build a business through sharing the business with others you know are enjoying unprecedented growth right now.
I get sick of hearing people grouping all things together simply because they sound the same and because they have never bothered to learn about how something really works. A great example of that is the "all multi-level or network marketing businesses are pyramid schemes" line that I so frequently hear.
And then, as a result, anything that involves one person sharing a business opportunity with another person gets labelled the same way. We have to stop thinking like a herd of sheep and draw our own conclusions based on fact and real personal experience before we throw every opportunity we ever see under the bus automatically. Here's a good process to remember:
How about before you take someone's advice on something you always check to see if they have actually been involved in it and experienced it from the inside.
It should come as no surprise to anyone that networking businesses are growing exponentially right now. This is because they are a powerful form of home business. They offer a way for someone without any real capital to invest in a business of their own. It allows them to do this without having all the responsibility for actually running the day to day business. Without having to hire staff, create products, deal with product fulfilment, customer support and marketing.
I love network, referral and affiliate marketing businesses because of those things. How else could you earn thousands, tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands without having to set the company up yourself?
Perhaps networking businesses for you serve as an example of just one area where you may just carry an unduly negative view of something based purely on past information that may have changed or maybe was always incorrect to begin with.
So what was my motive for sharing this with you? Well, you may be surprised to know that there wasn't one. Well unless you think that I was trying to drive you towards Amazon to buy my book - I do earn about 50 pence a copy after all!
No, I hope only that this message served a positive purpose for you and that it simply made you want to think about how you appraise things and how you could adjust your expectations some, as a way of maybe seeing opportunities that you didn't see before during these very trying times.
If I have achieved that then I have achieved everything I wanted from this message.
Be safe, be careful, be well and, perhaps, just open your mind to the possibilities and opportunities around you.
As always, if I can help you with this, then just let me know.
John
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