The Beauty of Being a True Believer
December 10, 2023 by MarkHaroldsen
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The beauty of being a true believer is that no one can ever prove to the believer that they are wrong. True believers are totally convinced that they are right. I’m talking about a person who totally believes in a specific dream, goal, religion, or even myth. Whether it’s about life or death or about the person who believes that their own particular brand of religion is the “one true” religion, then for them, it is an absolute truth.
How about the person who believes he is bound to fail at whatever he tries? Or the person who truly feels and believes she is the luckiest person in the world? If they really believe it, then it’s true for them and no one can prove their belief to be wrong, at least to them. And they live their life based on their version of the truth.
Belief is a matter of faith and confidence. It’s basically an opinion that some particular thing exists or is true, no hard facts required. This all makes it very difficult to argue with.
If you stop and think about it, maybe you would agree that whether the belief seems to be true or not, it won’t matter in the end. The only thing that matters is that the person really does believe that their view the world is true.
At this point, being such a strong believer doesn’t sound like such a great thing. But I’d like to show you how beautiful and very healthy it can be to be a true believer, because there really is a positive side to this subject.
So, here is the simple truth. Belief is one of the most powerful things a human being can have. Do you think that some of the young Taliban or al-Qaeda followers believe strongly in their cause? Do they really believe that if they strap on a bomb and blow themselves up along with some infidels they will go straight to paradise and be blessed with 72 virgins?
We know they must believe in this as we see the results of their actions in the news. But do the end results of such terrible acts bring these rewards they so fully believe in? Most of us, I’d guess, would say that, at a minimum, it’s questionable, but, more likely, the majority opinion would be that these beliefs are ridiculous. But what we think is the ultimate truth doesn’t really matter if that young man or woman Truly believes in that cause and their actions’ ultimate reward.
A belief think cannot be changed is so super powerful. So, why can’t we develop that kind of intensity and attach it to a wonderful and worthwhile objective that uplifts our lives and helps people around us, making the world a better place?
That’s the thing. I think we can. Extremists and zealots of all kinds believe what they do with such intensity because they chose to and because the people around them tell them it’s true and support their belief. It’s not impossible for us to do the same thing when it comes to our dreams, goals, and faith in ourselves.
We just need to set our doubts aside, surround ourselves with people who believe in us, and focus on positive thoughts. Like I said, belief is one of the most powerful things in the world and there’s no reason why any one of us can’t use it to make our lives and our world better.
Another Kind of Reward
December 11, 2022 by MarkHaroldsen
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I certainly have had some very great rewards in my life from writing my books and posting my weekly blog. Now, I’m not talking about rewards of money, although I’ve had great monetary rewards along the way and have ended up with much, much more money than I ever dreamed of making. But there are many more rewards that have nothing to do with money.
So, what are these huge, non-monetary rewards? They are receiving letters, emails, or phone calls from people who have read my writings and, having followed those words, have cashed in big time. For some, the results have been huge.
One of the first notes I received was years ago when a guy who was going to college read my book and start putting some of the strategies, methods, and systems into practice. He soon began to make big bucks. Later this guy wrote me a letter to thank me for writing the book he’d read and for sharing with my readers how to make big bucks by following the formula that had made me a fortune, ensuring readers that anyone can do the same thing.
In the end, this guy made many millions more than I did and he gave me almost all the credit. Dell Loy Hansen is a billionaire now and is still going strong. He has some very huge office buildings and even owned a terrific professional soccer team for a while.
If you have read my book, The Next Step to Waking Up the Financial Genius Inside You, you may have seen that I copied the first letter he sent me in which he thanked me for helping him make a fortune. I love his postscript in the letter. It reads, “Thanks a Million — or more appropriately, ‘Thanks a Billion’.”
Dell is just one of many people that have thanked me and given me so much credit for helping them make tons of money. Helping people and getting lots of thanks and appreciation is a huge reward! It just makes you feel so, so good to know that you changed a person’s life in such a positive way.
Just a couple of weeks ago, I received a great heartwarming text from Scott Keller, another real estate expert and entrepreneur, who had just been interviewed by Jimmy Rex for his podcast. Here’s is what Scott wrote to me:
“I was interviewed by Jimmy Rex on his podcast today. Are you happy and all good? I hope you are well. Thank you for your great influence in my success. I exceeded the $1B mark, which had much to do with your early influence and book, Waking Up the Financial Genius Inside You.”
There was one more thing Scott said on The Jimmy Rex Show podcast that I would like to share. He said that he gave me a shout out. To be precise, he said, “I gave a shout out to you as the best financial book I read out of 12 books.” What a heartwarming shout out and what a great reward.
The Power of Gratitude
May 9, 2021 by MarkHaroldsen
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It looks like we are slowly getting this COVID thing fixed, or at least we are making some progress. I must admit, I’m a pretty lucky guy. Not only did all my family make it through with no super serious problems, but there were some great rewards and big payments that lifted my brain and heart.
There is one type of big payment that comes to me constantly that I am so very grateful for. And no, I’m not talking about financial payments but something much more rewarding and pleasing, something that lifts my brain to a higher level. I’m talking about the messages of gratitude that so many of my blog and book readers send to me because the things I shared in my writing helped their lives.
There’s not a lot of things more rewarding in this life than gratitude and love from friends, family, and followers. I just received a great letter from a guy who calls himself Fixer Jay DeCima who thanked me for helping him. He writes books and training programs on profiting in real estate. You can find them at www.fixerjay.com. Also, there is the super billionaire, Dell Loy Hansen, that gives me credit for him making a fortune. His letter crediting me is in the front of the latest edition of my book, The Next Step to… Waking up the Financial Genius inside You.
These notes of thanks and words of gratitude come in randomly and, yep, they certainly lift my mind, body, and soul. There is almost nothing like that feeling in the world, and it’s so much more important than money. If you have experienced helping other people and then receiving thanks and gratitude from them, you know what I mean.
Also, this darn COVID thing has taught me a lot of lessons about the power and mind lifting benefit of being social and, especially, giving your friends and loved ones big hugs. Our social life and these experiences with gratitude and love drive, in a good way, our existence here on planet earth.
Now I’m not one to say that I know what happens to us after we die. I don’t know whether there is a next life or if we will live again with family and friends, but I do know that only a fool wouldn’t at least hope for that. So, my challenge to myself, and you, is that we take more time to express our gratitude and appreciation for other people and remember that these things are so important for a happy and fulfilling life on this planet earth.
Bad Habits into Good
January 26, 2020 by MarkHaroldsen
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Most of us humans have at least a few bad habits. I certainly have a few. In last week’s blog, I listed 30 fairly common bad habits, but now I want to list a few proven ways to change or drop those bad ones.
- It is wise to first take some time, maybe a week or two, thinking about your habits, which ones you want to change and why, before you begin trying to drop or alter the bad ones.
- Try to figure out what triggers a particular bad habit.
- See yourself as a coach and direct yourself like you think, or know, a coach would.
- Make small changes at first.
- Identify good reasons you want to stop that bad habit.
- Identify the cause of the bad habit, like stress or boredom.
- Don’t be too hard on yourself.
- Think about what good habits you can use to replace the bad habit.
- Focus on how much good changing that bad habit will do for your life.
- Get a friend or relative to help coach you.
- Try not to hang out with people that have the same bad habit. Seek out new or other friends that don’t have the same bad habit.
- Form a new routine that keeps you away from the triggers that moves you into the bad habit.
- Develop substitute routines, plans, and actions.
- Reward yourself each time you resist the bad habit.
- Visualize and see yourself succeeding.
A very dear and very smart friend of mine said this about habits:
“Habits are driven by a 3 part loop. 1. TRIGGER–the stimulus that starts the habit. 2. ROUTINE–the doing of the habit and behavior itself. 3. REWARD–the benefits associated with the behavior.
By the way, one of my rather good habits was aggressively pursuing very successful people and picking their brain about how they made their millions. One of the best, who turned out to be a very good friend, was this guy who I just quoted. His name was Zig Ziglar. He was a super successful guy in many, many ways. He motivated me and many thousands or others big time. Sadly, he is no longer with us but his legend and what he taught me, and so many others, lives on forever.
Bigger Rewards Than Money
July 8, 2017 by MarkHaroldsen
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It’s tons of fun making big money and it can help your life in so many ways. It not only allows you to live in a wonderful home, or even a mansion, but it gives you a chance to see the wonders of this great world of ours. On top of that, you can easily be a great giver to others including charities, struggling students, homeless people, and the sick.
Even with all these advantages, there are still other great rewards that supercharge your brain and give you big feelings of satisfaction, inner peace and happiness. And what would that be? Read the text message I recently received and I think you will see what reward I am talking about.
“Dear Mark: To me–now hold on big fella–you are a celebrity. It was such a privilege to have finally met you recently. I’ve wanted to do this for the 41 years that I’ve applied your basic fundamentals of real estate investment (coupled with my father’s teachings and influence with his rental property as a young boy) and learned and implemented from my first real estate book, HOW TO WAKE UP THE FINANCIAL GENIUS INSIDE YOU, in my year of marriage. It instilled confidence and was easy to understand. I’ve had “Fire in the Belly” ever since.
“That picture of you standing next to a Mercedes hood ornament screamed with success, at the time, in the advertisement of your book. I’ve had business mentors in my life, all unaware of the far and wide ripple of influence they’ve had in my life, unless I tell or have told them. And all of which were many years after the fact. You are one of those mentors that I’ve not had the opportunity to personally acknowledge and thank.
“So, thanks a million or better said, a few hundred million and even most likely, a billion times over. 🙂 How many millionaires/billionaires you created? I can’t imagine! Hopefully this created wealth has been used to parlay, edify and lift others in doing good things. It has for me. This is all I hope to do, as I attempt to keep all things in proper balance and perspective. You have blessed my family, me, and many other lives. Thank you most sincerely,
Scott C. Keller, CEO/President of Keller Investment Properties (KIP)”
I’m told that Scott’s net worth is well into the 9 digits and has been there for many years! So, I think you can probably guess how receiving this text made me feel and I sincerely hope you, the reader, are super financially successful and coach, help out, and teach others along the way! The feeling you get from doing so is as big a reward as the money, if not bigger.
Getting Away from It All Should Never Be Forever
I think most of us know that busy lives are usually happy lives. But I think we’ve also been sold a bill of goods with our thinking that if we could only make lots of money then we could quit or retire and sit by the pool drinking Mai Tai’s the rest of our lives and be happy as pigs in slop. I am here to tell you that it just ain’t true!
We think this because when we are working hard and staying busy and then we take a break –going on vacation or a quick getaway–it makes us feel so good and refreshed that we mistakenly believe that if we could just do that all the time we’d have a permanent refreshed and a super great feeling. But it doesn’t work like that. The fact is, if we don’t do the hard work then it’s really not a break and it doesn’t give us any reward or, at most, very little reward. We must all burn into our brains that the pause or the break should always remain as just that and never become a permanent thing.
Look at the recent London Olympics. Think of the four years of work that lead up to the moment we watched those young people step up on the award platform. Those award ceremonies were their break and their reward and you could see how immensely they enjoyed it. But what would become of those athletes lives if they sat back, doing nothing, trying to make that super reward moment last the rest of their lives without doing any more hard work? We can all imagine it, their lives going quickly downhill because each day there would be nothing to look forward to.
We all need to take a much harder look at our own lives and make sure we don’t ever turn the pause into a permanent state of living. Passionate, fulfilled lives come from action and staying busy. Push yourself hard then, and only then, take a break and celebrate your hard work and accomplishments.