I Am Just Asking You To Be Positive
Pessimists are right, but optimists get paid.
I have a fairly inconsistent cadence of journaling. I will journal five days in a row or have weeks go by where my journal will collect dust. There’s no rhyme to reason other than when my thoughts are convoluted, it’s time to scribble. Too many thoughts with no place to go and no sense of direction must be spewed out somewhere to somehow make sense of it all.
Journaling is great because you can’t lie to yourself. There’s nowhere for you to hide and there is no reason to. No one is there to judge you. You get your real thoughts, your real emotions, and the authentic version of you. I think of this quote from Fred Buechner,
“It’s important from time to time to tell some secrets about yourself because it will remind you, you’re not the person you pretend to be for the world. It’ll make it a little easier for others from time to time to tell secrets to you.”
Journaling allows you to tell those secrets that might have forever laid dormant. A journal can be a confidant who never shares your secrets. It allows you to be you and not the person you may pretend to be. Plain and simple. It’s a time capsule that allows you to transport back into the past. You can see on a random winter day at 10:00 AM just how you were feeling. You can see just how you felt after you got the job you desperately wanted.
Often, I go back to see just how I was feeling. I reread my old entries. I talk about the places I want to go, the person I hope to be, the highlights and lowlights of my life, and the emotions surrounding me. It can be quite the exercise. It’s a vulnerable one at the very least. It allows you to take notice and recalibrate on the path you are charting. It doesn’t allow you to drift passively. You become incredibly in tune with where you were and where you hope to be. It helps to show you just how far you might have come.
It helps the small, incremental progress shine through. It exposes the small steps that are slowly morphing into the big results and with enough commitment, it allows you to see progress. It helps you to be positive in a world that is rich in negativity.
It helps to remind you, yes you, are doing something in this world. It reminds you, in a world where you feel like you are just standing still, that you are moving right along with everyone else. It provides explicit proof that things you once yearned for, you may now have. Hopefully, things are positive and trending well.
We live in a society where things are optimized for negativity. So the glimmer of hope that journaling can provide is much needed. There’s a reason why it provides a necessary outlet for many.
The headlines that get the clicks are those that incite fear, the tweets that go viral are those with some outlandish claims that are almost certainly negative, the hits that populate the nightly news are rarely wholesome, and the people that get air time are those who call for a deep economic recession or steep market correction. People yearn to be immortalized. All it takes is to make the holy grail call and your legacy will forever live on. Negativity may make you right, but positivity gets you paid.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average hit 40K for the first time ever as it went to an all-time high last week. Not too shabby. Of course, it is easy to find headlines that let you know this is a high built on shaky foundations. Certainly, people don’t let you forget a recession could be impending or how it truly doesn’t matter because The Dow isn’t an accurate representation of the broader market. The Dow has been around for 139 years, since 1885 for that matter, and still has relevance in today’s times. Safe to say if something has been around for 139 years, it is here to stay. The Lindy effect is alive and well. It never hurts to celebrate the milestone and not try to tarnish it.
If you don’t like the Dow Jones, the S&P 500 also hit all-time highs this past week as well. Quite good, huh? The companies continue to improve, innovate, and expand. Yes, I do realize this is driven by the largest companies and that is another discussion in itself. However, 14 of the world’s 20 biggest stock markets have hit all-time highs recently. Some positive vibes in the financial markets around the world. And if you are ever concerned about the positive outlook in the economy and markets, just follow Michael Antonelli on Twitter. He will get you on the right path. He certainly did for me.
Now, this is not to parade the markets and gloss over issues that are still clearly present. Rather it is to say, being positive in markets pays and it works. Take a look at annualized returns in the S&P 500 or see how most of us expect to retire, having our 401k grow through investments in the financial markets. We are positive about the future of those markets. Optimists get paid and optimists get to retire. There is more to this than the stock markets.
Jamie Dimon puts it well in a clip brought forth to me by Michael Antonelli on Twitter. It mainly focuses on The States but I think some of it can apply to other countries and other countries can certainly benefit,
“Think of it the other way around, America has the best hand ever dealt of any country on this planet today, ever. Americans don’t fully appreciate what I am about to say, we have peaceful, wonderful neighbors in Canada and Mexico. We’ve got the biggest military barriers ever built called the Atlantic and the Pacific. We have all the food, water, and energy we will ever need. We have the best military on the planet, and we will for as long as we have the best economy… We have the best universities on the planet, there are great ones elsewhere, but these are the best. We still educate most of the kids who start businesses around the world. We have a rule of law… We have a magnificent work ethic. We have innovation from the core of our bones.”
He finishes by saying,
“I just made a list of these things, and maybe I missed something, it is extraordinary. It’s extraordinary. And we have it today.”
It may not seem that way at times. The vibes could be off. We could have bad days. But from an objective perspective, we are doing quite well. The world is the most advanced and innovative it has ever been. Most of us, especially those reading this, are afforded a land of opportunity. A world of moments waiting to be seized. There is a reason to be positive. A reason to believe in what is to come and a reason to believe in you.
When we were young my dad always preached to us,
“The body achieves what the mind believes.”
I struggled to see this at the time but it was sage advice. I even read In The Pursuit of Excellence on the bus rides home freshman year of high school to try to make sense of it. A 14-year-old high schooler really wrestling with what mental strength was.
It was my dad’s way of saying you have to believe in yourself and the work you have put forth. The work has been done but for the work to ever get anywhere, the mind has to take it places. The body follows what the mind sets forth. We did cross country and track as our sports, mainly. Running is an incredible mental battle that spares no one. To ever achieve something in running, a positive mindset is a necessity.
Jim Valvano, remembered for his inspirational speech delivered at the 1993 ESPY Awards while battling terminal cancer, has a good quote on the need for enthusiasm in his iconic speech,
“Nothing great can be accomplished without enthusiasm to keep your dreams alive in spite of problems."
It coincides well with what my Dad always told us when we were young. You have to have a positive mindset and be rooted in enthusiasm. It is the belief that your body and your efforts can take you somewhere, anywhere, and persist when the inevitable roadblocks arrive. And perhaps my Dad followed Daniel Kahneman’s advice,
“If you were allowed one wish for your child, seriously consider wishing him or her optimism.”
Optimism can be rare, rarer than it should be. We are fed negativity but if we can fight the currents and see the positive things out there, it can do wonders for us.
I am just asking you to find a little positivity in this world. A small glimmer of hope. There is plenty out there if you go looking. We can retire because we believe in the future of our financial markets. We are positive about the future. We continue to advance as a society because we believe we can change the world and leave it a better place than we found it.
Positivity is there, even in the small things. Even in something as simple as journaling. Perhaps, this is a journal entry for myself. The piece is just an extension of my journal but I figured why not share a little positivity with the world. Positivity not only helps you see how far you come but positivity gets you paid. And in life, I think we would much rather get paid than be right.
Appreciate you reading.
-Scantron