A Message From Bill Gouldd

THE GREAT DEPRESSION & CURRENT EVENTS

Manically depressed people and perpetual victims rejoice! The economy is bad! People are losing their jobs everywhere! Nobody is buying homes! The stock market is out of control! People have lost their retirement accounts! The banks and insurance companies are going bust and need billions in bailouts! The big three automakers need billions of dollars to remain in business but their unions refuse to reduce employee earnings in order to produce competitively priced cars and are demanding billions in bailouts! Tax payers, on top of their own out of control personal debts, are falling trillions of dollars further into debt as our elected officials have decided to give money to executives who mismanaged their companies to the verge of bankruptcy, yet took hundreds of millions of dollars in bonus money for their incompetence! The recession is worsening and comparisons to the "Great Depression" of 1929 continue to multiply!

The media has always had some type of hype going on that the average person seems to love to bathe in. There is always going to be some sort of drama promoted by the media and it normally is boom and bust, just like the stock market has the bulls and the bears. When things are good, the media dispenses fear that the good can't last; just like it predicted the housing bubble would break and the boom would be bust! When things are bad, the media focuses on it getting worse or how bad it will eventually get. Now it seems as though they are constantly comparing our economic situation to the "Great Depression."

Now, it seems every time you pick up a newspaper or turn on the television, another economist or new commentator is predicting more doom and gloom. If life isn't hard enough, this constant bombardment of negativity is enough to drive us into a "Great Depression" in our head, if not conjure up the desire to eat a bullet! Since mankind evolved to the point of speaking, negativity has always remained the greatest topic of conversation. Like the story most of us heard as a child, way too many business owners, salespeople, and government leaders must agree with "Chicken Little" and now also believe the "sky is falling!" What most Americans, and now the rest of the world, fail to understand is that negativity evolves to fear, fear evolves to panic and panic eventually creates self-fulfilling prophecies.

Depression is nothing more than focusing on what's wrong in your life instead of what's right. Depression allows fear to take control of your thoughts and your thoughts control your life. If anyone thinks about it long enough, they will certainly find something wrong in some area of their life. On the contrary, albeit more challenging for most, if they would just look hard enough, they will also discover something great their life!

For those people who are fearful of the future, despondent about their current circumstances or who are feeling sorry for themselves; finding solace in the company of others who are experiencing similar feelings is just about the worst thing you could do! That kind of companionship and support is responsible for creating wars, riots, lynch mobs, and the runs on the banks in 1929 that marked the beginning of the "Great Depression!" That's a stupid as trying to diet in a donut shop!

Throughout history, it has been proven repeatedly that great challenges always bring with them great opportunities! The truth is, business, opportunities and situations are usually good or bad in your head before they become good or bad in your life! Just like the proverbial saying, "Every dark cloud has a silver lining," our current economic situation is no different. While millions lined up at soup kitchens during the "Great Depression" begging for food, more millionaires emerged from that same time period than any time in prior history, including most of the super wealthy like the Rockefeller, Carnegie and Vanderbilt families. Once again the vast majority of Americans are filled with fear, worry and anxiety. And just like in the past, those with the right attitude, a strong work ethic and positive expectations that take massive action today, will emerge as some of the wealthiest and most successful people tomorrow and will also be looked upon as geniuses and visionaries!

The saddest part of all, is that most Americans, rather than taking responsibility themselves, will simply blame "the economy" for their unfortunate situations. But, like it or not, most Americans are responsible for creating their current financial situations. That's right! Americans created this current economic downturn through their gullibility and stupidity. First and foremost, while America was a country founded by brave men and woman who were willing to give their lives for liberty and the right to achieve "the American Dream," most Americans today graduate school, find a job and strive to survive financially until their pension kicks in. Not only did most Americans give up their liberty and opportunity to achieve financial independence upon graduation, but they also believed their guidance counselors who advised them to spend their lives working a "job they liked" rather than pursuing "careers" that would provide the lifestyle they desired!

When Osama bin Laden and his cohorts planned their act of terror on September 11, 2001, although their intentions were to destroy the World Trade Center, the American symbol of financial strength, none of them could have imagined that act could have resulted in such a severe global economic downturn as we are now experiencing. But it wasn't the collapsing towers that caused the current free fall; it was the ignorance and fear of the American people coupled with the short-term thinking and advice offered by our political leadership. September 11th marked the beginning of one of the most severe economic collapses in our nation's history. The stock market was declining at an incredible rate as Americans were afraid to fly, afraid to travel and afraid to buy just about anything. Imagine that. America, once the home of the brave, instantly became the home of the afraid in 2001! In an effort to end the economic decline, our national leaders encouraged us to show our patriotism by freeing up the equity in our homes and buy a new car, take a vacation or buy a bigger house in a better neighborhood! Overnight, millions of Americans, whose parents treasured paying off their mortgages and owning their homes as "living the American dream," sacrificed the progress they had made toward home ownership and went on a seemingly endless spending spree! While the terrible events of 9/11 began with Osama bin Laden, the economic destruction began when Americans reacted with fear and followed that fear with irresponsible spending.

I personally believe the real culprit behind our current economic situation is the result of our current education system. We send our children to school where they learn the founders of our country were wealthy, successful businessmen who were brave and strong, then are instructed that success is the result of getting good grades, finding a job and working hard! That advice, which has resulted in countless financial failures, has created more stress, resulted in more failed marriages, more spousal and child abuse, more depression and more suicides than any other single act I can conjure up! The real root cause of the current situation many Americans are faced with occurred when they decided to follow this misleading advice and sought jobs rather than creating careers! Let's face facts, with the exception of those who suffer from extreme narcissism, most people would agree accepting a job and working for someone else is far easier than creating an opportunity for yourself. All you need to do is to find someone who already created an opportunity and simply apply for a position in their company, which is called a job! The problem becomes more apparent when one discovers that their job comes with several elements besides medical benefits.

For example, accepting a job also causes one to accept the limited income that comes along with it, ergo the acronym job, or J.O.B. that has been defined as meaning "Just Over Broke!" Ironically, the vast majority of Americans opted to accept jobs with limited incomes because they were instructed to do so by their guidance counselors and now claim they "love what they do." Today, these people account for the majority of those who used their home equity and personal credit to live a lifestyle that far exceeded the financial limitations that accompanied their job choice. This, in essence, is the foundation of the global financial debacle we are now experiencing! Another element that comes along with choosing a job is that one also surrenders their right to be involved in decisions that influence the direction and future growth of the company, thereby relying on the decisions of others to determine their financial future and job security, or lack there of. Millions of Americans, whose priority was once health insurance, are now finding themselves without health insurance benefits as well as the job that came with them!

I've been in sales and marketing for over 37 years and I have created, developed and performed many success seminars, personal development programs, enlightenment trainings and business opportunities that have helped thousands of people create wealth and success in their lives. Without exception, the first lesson each and every successful student I have ever worked with needed to master is that they do control their own destiny! They all needed to learn a valuable lesson; one taught best by the great Napoleon Hill. Mr. Hill was hired by Andrew Carnegie, one of the first recorded billionaires, to find the difference between those people who achieve financial independence and average people who work jobs and retire with a limited pension. Mr. Hill, who spent more than 15 years completing his research, discovered "thoughts are things" and they have a dramatic impact on the person thinking them! Mr. Hill found one of the main differences between successful people and average people, is that successful people generally entertain positive, creative and ambitious thoughts which generate enthusiasm, while average people tend to entertain negative, pessimistic and anxious thoughts which result in depression and feelings of helplessness or even worthlessness.

While average people allow the circumstances around them to affect their attitude, successful people allow their attitude to affect their circumstances. While our current economic situations may cause millions of people to lose their jobs, who will then stand in line for unemployment benefits while they wait for their jobs to become available sometime in the future, others will take the opportunity to realize it was their job choice that led them to be a victim of circumstances. These individuals will be the ones that resign themselves to take control of their lives and their destiny and secure their future regardless of what it has in store for the rest of mankind. Great leaders, innovators and successful people emerge from great challenges. Some of the best ideas, inventions and marketing concepts come as a result of great challenges.

While average people are sitting around waiting to hear some good news before they will give a "sigh of relief" and regain motivation in their lives, successful people are already excited because they are buying houses far below their value and financing them at interest rates most of us thought we would never see again! Successful people are now buying stocks well below their value and will, most likely, hold onto them until the average person, once again, thinks it is safe to get back into the market. That is when the successful people will sell their holdings, once again, to the average investor for substantial profits and wait for the market to reverse itself again in the future, when they will buy back what they sold for less than the buyers paid! Exotic automobiles and art collections are selling well below their values because many of the people who purchased them did so by extending their finances and "hoping" they could someday sell them for a profit. Now, the smart buyers are buying these items far below their value as those "hopeful" people are taking substantial loses!

Many years ago, a wealthy man I had the opportunity to spend some time with said, in response to my use of the word 'hope,' "Hope in one hand and shit in the other and tell me which gets heavy!" For far too long, far too many Americans have lived their lives "hoping" things would turn out OK. Once again, we are witnessing the "hopers" taking a financial bath, while the "planners" are securing and compounding their fortunes.

While it may sound harsh to many of you, the "Great Depression" should be a dent in your head left from someone who knocked some sense into you! Right now is the greatest opportunity you will ever have to take control of your life, your future, your financial security and your destiny. Quit whining. Quit feeling sorry for yourself. Quit being a victim of circumstances. Pull up your pants and be a real man, or woman, as the case may be!

Instead of feeling hopeless, ask yourself, "What can I do to change my situation?" Instead of worrying about stuff, get off your backside and do something about the stuff you're worried about! I know, I know; many of you will respond by saying, "It's just not as easy as it sounds!" I would then respond by saying, "Yes it is, yes it is!" At the lowest point in my life, I was homeless, living on the streets of Los Angeles. While I never stole any items that would be considered "valuable," I routinely broke into homes for the sake of finding food because I was hungry. During that time, I ran into a wealthy man I had met years before. I will never forget the look on his face or the words he spoke. He shook his head slightly from side-to-side as he looked at me with both sadness and disgust and said, "Whoever told you success was going to be easy. Getting rich is the hardest thing you will ever do in your life! It will take more out of you than you think you have to give, boy! Getting rich is the hardest thing you will ever do in your life; but it's worth it! It's worth it!" Less than two years later, I was a self-made millionaire as a result of hearing, understanding, believing and responding to those words!

Like I said, quit your whining! Stop "hoping" and start "planning." Decide on the changes you are going to make in your life, then take massive action to make those changes immediately. You will probably see tremendous improvement in your life instantly if you focus on the things you can change, rather than those you can't! You are the only one who can decide if your attitude is going to be determined by your altitude, or if your altitude will be determined by your attitude. The choice is yours; and your future depends upon your choice!

The decisions you make determine your direction in life, and the thoughts you entertain determine the speed by which you travel in your chosen direction. Most people fail to achieve much because they either fail to chose a direction, or their thoughts inhibit their travel to such a great degree they never seem to make any progress. Your mind is yours because God gave it to you, and therefore, by sake of ownership, you are responsible for controlling what goes on in there! I always like to ask, "If you are not controlling your thoughts, who should I talk to?" When you're at home watching television and a show comes on you don't want to watch, what do you do? Why, you change the channel, of course! Just like your T.V. set, you also have the ability to change the channel of your thoughts.

Whenever I find myself thinking thoughts that are not in my best interests or those of my family, people I care about or my businesses, I immediately change the channel and create thoughts that are positive regarding something I can control. As a matter of fact, many of the ideas I have come up with, which have generated millions of dollars for me and those I have worked with, have come as a result of me doing exactly what I just described. If you are still of the mind set to entertain negative thoughts, how about this one: how many million dollar ideas have you failed to conjure up because you spent your time watching useless thoughts play on in your mind rather than changing the channel and thinking about something constructive? While it's to late for those countless wasted opportunities, it is not to late to begin controlling your thoughts and creating ideas from this point forward, now is it?

If you have a great opportunity, then outperform your competitors and work like there is no tomorrow! If you don't have an opportunity, then you are faced with the task of either creating one, or finding one that's been created by someone who has a history of developing great opportunities and a track record documenting the success of those who work with them. Hello!

Rather than succumbing to current affairs, why not choose to live your life as though it where a marathon? Don't run so fast you fail to enjoy your life, but not so slow you never leave the sofa and fail to actually have one! While a marathon is a race to the finish line, be sure it is a long distance experience filled with joy, laughter and great memories. Run the race knowing around every turn there will be new opportunities for personal growth and fulfilling experiences that make the race worth the effort. Try to include those you care about most and allow them to enjoy the race of life with you. Don't run the marathon of life because you are in a hurry to finish; but rather because you desire to include as much pleasure, experience and fulfillment in your life as you possibly can. Most importantly, imagine your creator is your biggest fan, your greatest spectator, who is cheering you on as you make every turn and immerse yourself in every experience your life has to offer.

We can control our thoughts. We can change our circumstances. We can create greatness in our lives. We can create abundant wealth in our lives; not only monetarily, but a wealth of health, a wealth of vitality, a wealth of love, a wealth of passion and a wealth of positive influences we have on those around us! The best part of life is that each of us has countless opportunities each and every day to decide if our lives will be filled with wealth and abundance, or poverty and yearning. Like it or not, the opportunities you pursue, the people you choose to follow, the decisions you make, the passion you put behind them, and the controls you place on your thoughts are the key ingredients that determine your ultimate destiny and the fulfillment you receive along the way. May God bless you and help you with each of them!

Best of life,
Bill Gouldd