Mind Viruses are everywhere
Mind viruses are crippling many of the worlds nations and people!
We’re becoming a planet of whiners. People want to change everything around them. “If I could only live in a better suburb or town” they say. “If my children could only attend a better school! If I could only get a better paying job!”
Some of us want the economy to change. Some of us want the weather to change. For some people there’s too much rain. For others there’s not enough rain. Some people don’t like the summer and others don’t like the winter.
My friend, you can’t change the economy, you can’t change the weather, and you can’t change the seasons. The answer to your problems is not out there, it’s in your thinking, it’s in your mindset.
Nice Day For a Wedding
I remember going to a wedding of a famous sportsman, lets call him John. Many of his teammates were at the reception and a couple of them were at our table.
Now, as we were being seated there was a selection of fruit, cheeses, wafers and pate bought to our table. One of the guests leaned over and used his spoon to get a large spoonful of the pate. Now, you could imagine the reaction when the footballer popped the large portion of pate in his mouth.
The girl who was with him said “What are you doing, that’s gross!”
Do you know why the footballer ate the pate like that? Because he didn’t know any better. Many of us are like him. We want a better life. We want to be prosperous. We want to improve our relationships. But we’re going about it the wrong way and we just don’t know any better!
You Have To Shift You Mindset
The first thing you’ve got to do is shift your mindset, and the next thing you’ve got to do is get rid of some of your mind viruses,
There are many viruses out there that infect our minds. These viruses are reflected as attitudes and thought patterns that have entered our minds quietly and unobtrusively over the years.
Many of them we catch during our childhood. When we’re young, we’re vulnerable and teachable, and we absorb both good and bad mindsets because we don’t know any better.
Many of these viruses affect the way we think about money and success. If you catch these viruses, they limit your opportunities for success because they cause you to see everything as negative, as threats, and as problems.
Let me illustrate. I love receiving bills! You may think I have a problem. But it’s true! I love bills.
Too many people shake in their boots when a bill arrives in the mail. If you’re one of those people, you need to shift your mindset about bills.
Do you know what bills mean to me? They mean that I am decreasing my liabilities and I am increasing my assets! Now there’s a real mindset shift!
You see, for many of you your reaction to bills shows you have a mind virus about bills.
In business it is necessary to have bills in order to trade. You have to pay other people for their services so that you can provide yours.
How To Spot A Mind Virus
You can quickly recognize mind viruses in other people by the way they react to things, like other people’s success.
You can easily test whether someone has a mind virus by asking them questions.
For instance, ladies you could try this on with your partner: next time you go shopping for a dress, ask your partner to go with you. When you see a really expensive dress, tell them, “I’ve chosen this one! Isn’t it nice!” Then watch for their reaction, because what comes out of their mouth will reveal whether they have a mind virus.
You can also test whether your friends have a mind virus. Tell a friend about a successful CEO of a well known corporation who recently resigned and was given a multimillion dollar pay–out…and wait for your friend’s response.
Talk to a colleague about how wealthy business people seem to be better than most at clever tax reduction strategies…
Next time you are at the hairdressers, talk about how so many celebrities end up divorced within a few short years…
Talk to your work buddies about network marketing…
Twenty Eight Examples of Mind Viruses
Here are just 28 mind viruses I’ve spotted, some of which you too may have caught over the years:
- Money doesn’t grow on trees!
- I’m not made of money!
- We’d never be able to afford that!
- It’s not whether you win or lose, it’s whether you had fun that matters! (Generally people say that to someone who has just lost.)
- The rich get richer, the poor get poorer, and the middle class go shopping!
- I didn’t have it easy as a kid, so why should you?
- No one ever gave me a free lunch!
- Money ruined my marriage! (No it didn’t — you did it all by yourself!)
- Money made him greedy! (No it didn’t — money magnified what he already was!)
- You mustn’t give people false hope!
- Who do you think you are…better than me?!
- The rich keep all the secrets to themselves!
- Welcome to my humble home!
- No one in our family ever amounted to much!
- Don’t rock the boat!
- Money is the root of all evil! (No it isn’t — the love of money is the root of all evil!)
- I could never wear that! I could never drive that! I could never live there!
- Money won’t make you happy! (Well, neither will being broke!)
- Life wasn’t meant to be easy! (Don’t try to make life easy — try to make life better!)
- Get an education so you can get a good job! In fact, get a government job or a job at the bank!
- You’ve got to acknowledge your strengths, but focus on your weaknesses! (No, you will never build prosperity out of your weaknesses, you’ll only build prosperity out of your strengths.)
- I wonder how many people he had to walk over to get to where he is?
- I bet she’s never done a hard day’s work in her life!
- That’s impossible! It can’t be done!
- You don’t have what it takes!
- It’s been tried before. What makes you think you can succeed where others have failed?
- You’re being too ambitious!
- We pay too much tax!
People Who Have Been Famously Caught Out By Mind Viruses
Now, look at what happens when you let a mind virus affect your judgement. These people obviously had a virus:
“There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home!”
– Kenneth Olsen, President and Founder of Digital Equipment Corporation (1977).
“Computers in the future may perhaps only weigh 1.5 ton.
”Popular Mechanics forecasting the development of computer technology (1949).
“The horse is here to stay, but automobiles are only a passing novelty.”
The President of Michigan Savings Bank advising Horace H. Rackham (Henry Ford’s lawyer) not to invest in the Ford Motor Company in 1903. Rackham ignored the advice, bought $5,000 worth of stock, and sold it several years later for $12.5 million.
“Television won’t be able to hold onto any market it catches after the first six months. People will soon get tired of staring at a plywood box every night.” – Darryl F. Zanuck, head of 20th Century Fox (1946).
“I have no political ambitions for myself or my children.” – Joseph P. Kennedy (1936).
“I confess that in 1901 I said to my brother Orville that man would not fly for 50 years. Ever since I have distrusted myself and avoided all predictions.” – Wilbur Wright, US aviation pioneer (1908).
“Who the hell wants to hear actors talk?” – Harry M. Warner of Warner Brothers Studios (1927).
So next time you have a reaction to something just think, is this a reaction that is due to a mind virus and is the thought process benefiting my future progress.
DCL
