Countering Cynicism
All of us have some Chicken Little in us. You remember Chicken Little—the character in the children’s fable who ran around the barnyard warning other animals that the sky was falling. Chicken Little had a doom and gloom attitude toward life. He was a classic cynic.
There are Chicken Littles everywhere, especially in the financial world. If you want to be rich, you need to stop listening to their clucking. “The-sky-is-falling” warnings from financial cynics are just a lot of empty noise. We hear that noise all around us, from friends, family, co-workers, and the media, and we tend to succumb to it because inside each of us there is a little bit of chicken.
Why should we ignore and counter the cynics? Because cynics never win. They’re do-nothing alarmists who spend all their time spreading fear. Cynics are pessimists. It’s the people who read a situation correctly who end up winning—the analysts.
According to Kiyosaki, Cynicism blinds you to opportunities, while analysis opens your eyes to possibilities. One leads to paralysis, the other to action. Peter Lynch of Fidelity Magellan recalls the time during the 1950s when the threat of nuclear war was so prevalent that people began building expensive fallout shelters and storing food and water. Had they used their hard-earned dollars to make some wise investments instead, those Chicken Littles would probably be financially independent today.
Rich Dad Tip:
“Cynics criticize and winners analyze.”
HOW CAN YOU COUNTER CYNICISM?
Kiyosaki said to think of things you don’t want to happen and things you do want to happen. If your I-don’t-wants outweigh your I-wants, you may be letting doubt and fear close your mind instead of open your eyes.
Financial education is the key in countering cynics. If you are educated enough, you will be able to fully analyze the details of each investment that you will about to enter. You can weigh the pros and cons. Surely, a lot of your friends and relatives will sway you away from investing with a lot of negative feedbacks most especially if it involves a lot of risks and huge capital. However, if you know what you are doing, then you can counter those cynics. You can overcome your fear. After all, risks and failures are always part of every success!
Source: Robert Kiyosaki’s Coaching Program
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November 11th, 2009 at 7:51 am
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November 11th, 2009 at 10:04 am
Hey, funny that this post not only gave me insight into cynicism but also gave me an adsense trick ‘tip’. That’s a strategic rich dad tip you got there.
(wink)
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November 11th, 2009 at 1:44 pm
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February 25th, 2010 at 12:10 am
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