Texas Investment Network


Recent Blog


Pitching Help Desk


Testimonials

"Our small, early-stage company recently signed up for your service. We got numerous inquiries, several of which we are pursuing, and hopefully will find an investor partner as a result. It is almost impossible for young companies to attract investment capital in the current financial climate, but you managed to bring a number of qualified and interested parties to the table. I would recommend your service to any early-stage company seeking capital. Bruce Jones, CFO "
Bruce Jones

 BLOG >> Recent

Positive Psychology [Motivation
Posted on November 13, 2015 @ 06:36:00 AM by Paul Meagher

I recently picked up a book called "Who Ordered This Truckload Of Dung" (2006) by a theoretical physicist who became a buddhist monk for the last 30+ years..

The book starts off with a story called 2 bad bricks that appears to be foundational for many of the stories that follow. I recommend reading the 2 bad bricks story if you want to change your perspective on measuring personal success and failure.

There are lots of "keys" to being a successful entrepreneur or investor. One of them is probably maintaining a positive outlook on life because if you become down on your project it is harder and more unpleasant to proceed. This story, and the rest of the book, provides some guidance on how to remain positive in light of life's difficulties.

I like to think I have the ability to remain positive when confronted with difficulties although I also lapse on a regular basis. Permaculture has helped me to remain positive and optimistic. Also when I run into problems that are beyond my ability to solve I often view these as learning opportunities. This week I tried to diagnose a noise coming from the transmission of my farm truck and tried to get my old MF 135 tractor started again after removing the distributor to get it fixed. In both cases, I am still at somewhat of an impasse but I feel fortunate to have been able to apprentice under a retired mechanic for a couple of days trying to troubleshoot and fix these issues. Yesterday I helped him build a small cement pad in return for the help he provided me in trying to solve my mechanical problems. Learning is fun and you often learn the most when you don't know much about what you are trying to fix or do. I don't feel stupid or get too stressed about my temporary incompetence with certain tasks.

Everybody needs their own tricks and teachings that will help them maintain a positive outlook on life. Permaculture, viewing challenges as learning opportunties, and now this book are some of the tricks I use to maintain a positive outlook. In addition to all the other skills an entrepreneur must master, one more skill is how to maintain a positive psychology because without it you are probably looking at an uphill battle both from a motivational point of view and in terms of your personal interactions with others. There are some people that seem to be positive by disposition but for many of us we must do what we can to cultivate a positive psychology. Maybe a little bit of buddhist wisdom will be helpful to you as well.

Permalink 

 Archive 
 

Archive


 November 2023 [1]
 June 2023 [1]
 May 2023 [1]
 April 2023 [1]
 March 2023 [6]
 February 2023 [1]
 November 2022 [2]
 October 2022 [2]
 August 2022 [2]
 May 2022 [2]
 April 2022 [4]
 March 2022 [1]
 February 2022 [1]
 January 2022 [2]
 December 2021 [1]
 November 2021 [2]
 October 2021 [1]
 July 2021 [1]
 June 2021 [1]
 May 2021 [3]
 April 2021 [3]
 March 2021 [4]
 February 2021 [1]
 January 2021 [1]
 December 2020 [2]
 November 2020 [1]
 August 2020 [1]
 June 2020 [4]
 May 2020 [1]
 April 2020 [2]
 March 2020 [2]
 February 2020 [1]
 January 2020 [2]
 December 2019 [1]
 November 2019 [2]
 October 2019 [2]
 September 2019 [1]
 July 2019 [1]
 June 2019 [2]
 May 2019 [3]
 April 2019 [5]
 March 2019 [4]
 February 2019 [3]
 January 2019 [3]
 December 2018 [4]
 November 2018 [2]
 September 2018 [2]
 August 2018 [1]
 July 2018 [1]
 June 2018 [1]
 May 2018 [5]
 April 2018 [4]
 March 2018 [2]
 February 2018 [4]
 January 2018 [4]
 December 2017 [2]
 November 2017 [6]
 October 2017 [6]
 September 2017 [6]
 August 2017 [2]
 July 2017 [2]
 June 2017 [5]
 May 2017 [7]
 April 2017 [6]
 March 2017 [8]
 February 2017 [7]
 January 2017 [9]
 December 2016 [7]
 November 2016 [7]
 October 2016 [5]
 September 2016 [5]
 August 2016 [4]
 July 2016 [6]
 June 2016 [5]
 May 2016 [10]
 April 2016 [12]
 March 2016 [10]
 February 2016 [11]
 January 2016 [12]
 December 2015 [6]
 November 2015 [8]
 October 2015 [12]
 September 2015 [10]
 August 2015 [14]
 July 2015 [9]
 June 2015 [9]
 May 2015 [10]
 April 2015 [9]
 March 2015 [8]
 February 2015 [8]
 January 2015 [5]
 December 2014 [11]
 November 2014 [10]
 October 2014 [10]
 September 2014 [8]
 August 2014 [7]
 July 2014 [5]
 June 2014 [7]
 May 2014 [6]
 April 2014 [3]
 March 2014 [8]
 February 2014 [6]
 January 2014 [5]
 December 2013 [5]
 November 2013 [3]
 October 2013 [4]
 September 2013 [11]
 August 2013 [4]
 July 2013 [8]
 June 2013 [10]
 May 2013 [14]
 April 2013 [12]
 March 2013 [11]
 February 2013 [19]
 January 2013 [20]
 December 2012 [5]
 November 2012 [1]
 October 2012 [3]
 September 2012 [1]
 August 2012 [1]
 July 2012 [1]
 June 2012 [2]


Categories


 Agriculture [77]
 Bayesian Inference [14]
 Books [18]
 Business Models [24]
 Causal Inference [2]
 Creativity [7]
 Decision Making [17]
 Decision Trees [8]
 Definitions [1]
 Design [38]
 Eco-Green [4]
 Economics [14]
 Education [10]
 Energy [0]
 Entrepreneurship [74]
 Events [7]
 Farming [21]
 Finance [30]
 Future [15]
 Growth [19]
 Investing [25]
 Lean Startup [10]
 Leisure [5]
 Lens Model [9]
 Making [1]
 Management [12]
 Motivation [3]
 Nature [22]
 Patents & Trademarks [1]
 Permaculture [36]
 Psychology [2]
 Real Estate [5]
 Robots [1]
 Selling [12]
 Site News [17]
 Startups [12]
 Statistics [3]
 Systems Thinking [3]
 Trends [11]
 Useful Links [3]
 Valuation [1]
 Venture Capital [5]
 Video [2]
 Writing [2]