We're All Investors

Whether we know it or not. Not just of money--of time, love, energy, etc. We start off like mini trees. As we grow, we provide more for others until we've got nothing left to give but a stump.  Allocating money is one way to grow rich, but if we see ourselves as investors in life, our limited time, fragile hearts, personal dreams. How "tall" will we grow?

Investing has a bad reputation because it's frequently in conversation with greed, fraud, and corruption. That's a narrow perspective. Most decisions are investments. I give or do something now for some future outcome. Better decision makers will be better investors.

It's not just for banks, Wall Street, and Silicon Valley. Investing is for everyone. We do it all the time, even if it's not with money, we just don't call it investing. Give now, even if you can only spare a few seeds. Many years from now you'll have a tree.

Saying No

It takes guts to say no. No to coffee, no to drugs, no to "opportunities". Yes is easy. Most of us are natural peace keepers, so saying yes is the less turbulent response. But, if you stand for everything, you also stand for nothing.

Saying no requires conviction in your own ideas. It means that the easy thing might not always be the best thing.  Sometimes we have to find our own path. Just because this is how things have always been done does not mean that's how they should continue to be done. Habits are hard to break.

The great innovators of the world: Einstein, Edison, Jobs, and even political revolutionaries like Gandhi, MLK, or Mandela all have one thing in common. They dare to question the status quo. Why? Why is this the way things are? What about electricity, relativity, civil rights?

It takes courage to say no, but that's how progress is made. Show conviction in your ideas. Dare to ask why. Practice saying no.