Shielding Children From Failure

What's behind the recent spate of mass killings? Some blame the easy availability of guns. That's silly. If guns were not available, they'd use swords; or knives; or baseball bats; or anything else that would kill. The availability of the means to kill has nothing to do with the motivation to kill. What's behind these mass killings is the "shielding" of our children from failure, which does not allow them to learn how to deal with failure and they blame others for it. The urge to kill those they blame is not far away. (Ray Thomas 101)

Self-Image vs. Self-Esteem

There seems to be a difference in understanding these days between "self-esteem" and "self-image." Liberals seem to think they need to hide negative information from people (mostly children) and get rid of competition so as to not hurt the "self-esteem" of children and others. This is not the way to help people live better lives. There is a difference between "self-esteem" and "self-image," and that is "truth." "Self-image" is your own opinion of your talents and abilities based on your learning and experience. "Self-esteem" seems to be your opinion of your talents and abilities based on HIDING the truth from you and keeping you away from ANY kind of competition. This will not work because it gives you a FALSE image of your talents and abilities, based on NOTHING. You must judge your talents and abilities based on TRUTH, not ignorance of shortcomings. The trend toward eliminating competition in sports is evidence of that. What is the PURPOSE of sports, except to allow "the cream to rise to the top?" What is the purpose of playing a game such as baseball or football if there's no score? Believe me, the players know the score, even if those in charge don't keep track of it. They KNOW who made the most scores, even if those "in charge" want to keep that information from them. The article linked below mistakes "self-esteem" for "self-image," but otherwise is mostly right. Those who want to completely eliminate competition and keep negative information from people to avoid "hurting their self-esteem," are wrong, and are systematically hurting the people they try and instruct. A good "self-image" comes from becoming superior at what you do, and by knowing it. It does NOT come from making decisions based on LACK of information about your own talents and abilities and by AVOIDING all kinds of competition. (Kid's Health,

Personal Motivation in a Philosophy

It has been 50 years since the publication of Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged. Many people reject, out of hand, Ayn Rand's philosophy of objectivism because they don't agree with EVERY tenet of it. I don't agree with every word she says, either. But her philosophy was, in the main, correct and I have used it (mostly) as a guide for my life and my "method of operation." When I was studying personal motivation back in the sixties, I didn't realize that her philosophy was pure personal motivation. It took me a few years to make the connection although I have used most of the tenets of Objectivism to guide my life. It is the fiftieth year since the publishing of her "seminal work," "Atlas Shrugged," in which the "producers of society," those who produce all the things that make life better for all of us (they have all the original ideas and hire all the people necessary to produce them) while being systematically looted by those who are jealous of their success, but who cannot equal it and want an unearned share "went on strike" (the producers) and refused to produce for them any more. Naturally, this caused the collapse of society and then those same "producers" rebuilt it without the input of the "looters." This book literally changed my life. It should be a "must read" for everybody who is living under today's march toward the collectivism (socialism) she abhorred. Before I read this book, I had to ask, "What is happening today that alarms you?" of her. I don't need to ask that today. (Colorado Freedom Report, 10/10/07)

What is "Individualism?"

Back in the sixties when I undertook what was to be a five-year intensive study of "personal motivation," I didn't understand what that meant politically. I didn't understand that to be an "individualist," I could not be a socialist (collectivist). Later on in life, as I learned more, I figured out that a collectivist cannot be an individualist because that very philosophy denies the importance of the individual and wishes to suborn it to the importance of the group. Unfortunately, collectivism does not recognize the fact that a "collective" is merely a "collection of individuals," with each individual within the group primarily interested in his/her own interests. This destroys the whole idea of the "collective" because nobody is interested in the goals of the collective unless those goals coincided with his/her own. That's why I will never be a collectivist (socialist) because that (those) philosophies just do not work. They put the interests of the group above those of all the individuals within the group. Therefore, those "group interests" must be imposed on those individuals Therefore, for a socialist (collectivist) society to flourish for any time at all, it must be a "dictatorial" society with the power to by force force its ideas on all the individuals within the "collective." If it is not, there is no way a "collective" will work because it destroys individual initiative. People will do "just enough" to get paid. they will not do anything more and if they find a way to collect by doing nothing, they will. They'll "line up" to prove how "needy" they are because "need" becomes a "demand" on the earnings of those capable and willing to earn for themselves.

The "Magic of Believing"

This book was written a long time ago and I read it at my wife's behest in the early sixties. This book changed my life in ways I wouldn't have imagined before I read it. The simple concept here is that unless you believe in your own talents and abilities, you'll never do anything, He goes on and on at the beginning of the book telling you all about how people looked at small things and made big things out of them. Such things as the eight notes that made up the musical scale, from which all the world's musical masterpieces were created; the 26 letters in the alphabet, from which all the great writings in history have been written; and the three colors in the spectrum, from which all the great masterpieces of art have been created. It is this that affected me profoundly and started me on what was to become a five-year quest to learn as much as I could about "personal motivation" (and a lifetime of practicing what I learned) which resulted in my giving seminars and my company leading the nation in sales of carbon paper! By that, I mean real motivation. The kind that comes from within. Not the kind sales managers try to instill in you by "rah, rah" sessions, after which you go out for coffee. And by the time you return to work, it's gone. If you sincerely believe in yourself, you can ultimately do anything. But that motivation must come from within. It cannot be "instilled" from without. Bristol speaks about computers that would "take all the power put out by Niagara Falls" to stay cool enough not to melt. That no longer applies, since much better and smaller computers have been invented, using the 64k of memory that was available. Those massive computers in the past only had 64k of memory, for all their size. But imaginitive people who believed they could, linked these 64k modules together and made computers with unimaginable (then) power. Today, the computer that sits on your (and my) desk has more power than that building-large computer because of those people who believed in themselves and what they could do. So they did it. If you read only one "self-help book" in your lifetime (you won't), make it this one.

Last Post Outdated

The last post (about "negative people") is somewhat outdated because most of what I had planned didn't happen, due to a heart attack in 2005 and the need for a quadruple bypass. Kinda messed up my plans (some of them). I was never able to run around and sell advertising because I have a lot of difficulty just moving around. So driving all over the mountains selling to car dealers and real estate brokers is out, at least for a while. So instead, I'm running an Internet business owned by my son, marketing disguised self-defense products such as a cell-phone stun gun. It looks like a cell-phone, stuns like hell. Makes for a big surprise for anybody who is trying to attack or rob you. Women, especially, need these products, mostly just for protection on the street, or from ex spouses or boyfriends who just don't get it, and the like. Oldsters, like me are excellent prospects, too because, like women, we are considered "easy targets" by the "bad guys." I don't plan on being anybody's "easy target. In fact, recently I used one of our "Runt" stun guns to stop a "road rage" incident that could have ended up with me being severely beaten by a reckless driver who took offense to my shaking my head at the way he drives. This business is excellent for me because I can not only sell these products on the Internet and through the mail (without leaving my bedroom), I can also sell them simply by using the "three-foot rule" when I do get out and around. (If you get within three feet of me, you hear about my products). With my desktop publishing skills from way back, I can create my own brochures and forms, which saves Mike (my son) a lot of money. I spend a lot of time promoting this business, and that keeps my mind busy, as well as my hands. I could go around doing the "negative" thing, as do many people in my situation, but I refuse to do that. Oh; did I mention the book I wrote and am now promoting? So whatever happens in your life, stay positive. If you're a "positive person," you can find something that will keep you alive. I did.