If we can define our world, we can understand it, right? Whose definition do we use? Diamandis point out that the definition of poverty in and undeveloped country and the definition of poverty in developed countries wouldn’t be the same at all. It is unlikely that everyone in the world can be elevated to the height of luxury some enjoy in those developed countries. For one thing, there are many parts of the world that don’t have the infrastructure to have easy availability of goods. But, can we change their quality of life?

Change your mind. Change the world.

I typed that pretty darn quickly. Reading it will be quick too, but doing it – that’s another matter.
I’ve shared that “my work for time” mentality needed to be refocused to finding work that makes money whether I’m there or not. I’ve also shared that looking for those options Lucy talked about was scary/exciting. What I didn’t share is that I didn’t know I needed to change my mind-set to find some of them. When I first retired, my intent was to supplement my pension with sewing for people, computer projects for people, or daycare. I found out that having my time controlled by someone else wasn’t such a fun retirement. I also learned that there weren’t a lot of folks lining-up in my yard for my expertise. Deciding to jump into real estate investing with my kids was a knee-jerk reaction to wanting to help them.

What I didn’t know was that I needed to learn the real estate stuff as fast as possible. And along that journey is where I found my mind being blown away by cluing in on today’s style of doing business. One of the books I’ve read during that time is Abundance by Peter H. Diamandis and Steven Kotler. I want to share some of the things I found out about the present and technology. He paints a picture that I can still hardly process, but now I at least know there are things to see with open eyes and mind.

There are several things outlined by the authors to prep us for what comes next.

“…evolution shaped the human brain to be acutely aware of all potential dangers….has a profound impact on human perception: It literally shuts off our ability to take in good news.”
“…a quick look at history shows that progress continues through the good times and the bad.”
“The 1918 Influenza epidemic killed fifty-million people, World War II killed another sixty million.”
“…this period also saw infant mortality decrease by 90 %, maternal mortality decrease by 99%, and,
overall, human lifespan increase by more than 100%.”
“…using almost any metric currently available, quality of life has improved more in the past century than ever before.”
“…In today’s hyperlinked world, solving problems anywhere, solves problems everywhere.”

If we can finally tackle some of the global standards of living in undeveloped countries through technology, what will happen? I think this is the most interesting part! Diamandis and Kotler posit that, “Over the next eight years, three billion new individuals will be coming online, joining the global conversation, and contributing to the global economy. Their ideas – ideas we’ve never before had access to – will result in new discoveries, products, and inventions that will benefit us all.”

Technology, that’s what will prove the old way of thinking obsolete. When I hear about more and more money and resources leaving our country, or funding being cut by our government, I keep wondering how much longer we can do so much for so many with so little? That thinking is labeled as a “scarcity mind-set.”

Too often we have given into the “scarcity” viewpoint. Depression era children learned conservative habits because scarcity was their reality. But was there a need for that conservative mind-set when they were adults in the 50’s and 60’s? Often, time itself will make us question whether there was really a scarcity, or just a “scarcity mindset.” What is proven, over and over, is that what is hard to come by today will likely be made plentiful tomorrow through technology. Something to think about?

Without coming across as a zealot, I believe there is a new world order coming – and it’s going to be like nothing we have known before. This one thing will be enough to generate another Bronze Age or Renaissance period and will clearly demonstrate the concept of America’s perceived entitlement of “manifest destiny”. What will move people all over the world into this change? Those of us fortunate enough to have been born in the USA, Europe, and Asia in the late 1800’s to the middle of the last century, have already watched this change unfold around us.

Just think- my three grandmothers (Yes, I was lucky enough to have more than any of my friends!) were born between 1897 and 1899 in the “wild, wild, west”. One grandma was the first white child born in that part of the White River Valley in Colorado. (Probably politically incorrect, but we are proud to be one of the pioneer families.) My grandmother born in 1897 celebrated her 100th birthday, and clearly remembers the Indians in Montana coming to stare through the windows to see a pale-skinned person. Her father’s journal recounts Custer’s last stand from the viewpoint of the ranchers in that area. My youngest Grandma was born in the US but her older siblings were born in Norway. I have letters she received from her family in North Dakota written in Norwegian on one side and translated into English on the other by one of her siblings that knew both languages. The younger children were punished if they spoke or learned Norwegian because it was that important to her parents that their children be true Americans. What do you think they and their parents would have thought of someone talking to them about astronauts, jet planes, vaccines for nearly every disease that killed the people of that time? Or motor cars, indoor plumbing, electricity, or refrigeration? How about computers, telephones in everyone’s pocket that allow constant contact, satellite TV? Yet my grandmothers saw, and adapted to, all of that in their lifetimes!

They were the first ones be swept up in the change. My parents and I were the next; but my children have never known a single day where all that and more wasn’t normal. My grandchildren are frighteningly adept at using these things practically from birth. (I think we may be seeing our species evolve before our eyes.) What is making this catastrophic change? Technology.

Abraham Maslow was an American psychologist that studied why some people could make it to incredible achievement and others couldn’t. He developed Maslow’s Pyramid to help give his observations of common traits and circumstances structure and coherence for laymen. His tool is known as the “Hierarchy of Human Needs” and is in the shape of a pyramid.

His pyramid is comprised of 5-levels, and the needs of one must be fulfilled to move forward to the next. The base is physical needs, next comes safety needs, third is love and belongingness, four is esteem, and the top tier is self-actualization. What would happen if everyone, everywhere had all these needs met? What options might percolate up through the process? I think that’s a topic for another day! 

Just under 3-years ago I found myself working in an environment that was poisonous to people with a belief that much can be accomplished when we work together. I had worked there for 25 years but suddenly couldn’t make myself get up and go to work. My health was being seriously affected, physically and mentally but there was no way out. I was a single mom, no college degree, no money in the bank, too young to retire and make enough money to keep my house, and no longer capable of doing my job. It had to be me failing….right?

I had a friend who was considering an early retirement, and although we were both in education, I could see that she had options out there to supplement her reduced pension. Imagine my surprise when she said I had options too, that I just hadn’t looked for them. Huh, what options?
I couldn’t think of anything but retiring after she said that – whether I had everything figured out or not. I simply could not continue to try to control what I had no control over – my job environment. What I could control was myself. I would figure out something to bring in more money or I’d learn to live on what the pension was. My two kids, grown men by then, supported my decision. So off to retirement I went!
In October of 2012 my youngest son came to his brother and I with a proposal to go to one of Dean Graziosi’s real estate events and see what options we might all have to work together towards something that we couldn’t even imagine was possible. So here we are 18-months later – doing the “impossible”. We took the pro’s we learned from seriously when they said it would not be easy – it would not be quick – it would require a totally different mind-set than we had. They didn’t lie. Are we where we wanted to be by now? No, but we have made some money. Are we closer than we thought we could get? No, we know we can do this. Where are we? We are getting up every day and showing up to work on getting to where we want to be!
The more I look for my options, the more I look around and learn about what is possible the more I believe in myself, the fewer limitations I see. I have had to be willing to broaden my thinking from the old formula of money for time – work long enough and you can retire. What I need to find is something of value that people will pay me for. It has to be something that makes money for me regardless of what I am doing with my time. We all have options! It’s just unfortunate that it may take someone else to see we have them, and fortunate that there are so many ways to learn about finding our options. Options that didn’t even exist 10-years ago! Real estate investor? Me? Own a nationwide business with no upfront money? Really? Yes!!! Always believe options are there and look for them!

Where it all started…

When I was first divorced and realized that I had two boys to raise alone, I knew I needed to leave Wyoming (which is 2-weeks from everywhere ) and find somewhere that could give them the most opportunity within the budget I’d have. One of the top items on that list was how was I going to get them thru college? With a bit of investigation, and a summer traveling with my folks and their 5th-wheel trailer to actually see places that might work, the kids and I figured out that we would build our life in California. Continue reading →