I´m a person who´s highly interested in what so called reality. Or maybe I´m not and it´s just a thought which has been arising in the past. Or to say it in other words: I don´t want to die in theory. This means that I´m not interested in explaining theoretical concepts to other people to show them how things work. Moreover I prefer to make my own experiences and learn from them. If then someone asks for advice and based on my own experiences I feel that I have profound knowledge to share then I will gladly assist. But I need to feel comfortable that the knowledge I´m sharing has completed the proof of concept in reality. In other words, for me it´s essential that what I´m sharing is true and that it´s not something based on vague assumptions.
And this is what deviates theory from reality. Theory is exactly about vague assumptions. Reality is exactly not. Reality is about reality.
In this context I struggle with the fact that truth is not a requirement for theory. To sum it up, theory can create a perfect world with perfect assumptions. The problem is: It sounds nice. It sounds good. But in no way it will be the truth. So what´s the sense in doing so? What´s the sense in creating theories without practical implementation? In this context I´m asking myself: What can be more fascinating than starting with a minor theoretical assumption and THEN turn it into reality to see how it works?
Why this article?
I started writing this article as currently I´m focusing again on my investments in terms of my challenge which I have written about here. By doing so I recognized a severe disproportion. I assume that I´m aware of that disproportion for a long time. But I never wrote about it. So now it´s the time to dedicate some thoughts in written to that topic.
Since around ten years I´m increasing my knowledge in terms of financial investments by reading a lot (theory). In addition, I´m implementing investments with real money (reality). To come to the point directly, the disproportion which I detected is the following: Actually I already know everything what needs to be done to become a millionaire by investments on the stock markets. However until now I´m not able to implement this knowledge and turn it into reality (meaning becoming a millionaire by implementing my investments). That´s scary in a certain way. On the one hand there´s this clear sign in front of my forehead saying: I know EXACTLY what I need to do. On the other hand I´m asking myself: Why am I not doing it?
One constraint might be that until now I´m not able to handle my emotions of fear and panic in an effective way. This means that I´m not able to draw the correct conclusions when negative feelings arise. The point is that I´m fully aware that the wrong conclusions based on negative feelings which have arisen are exactly what hinder me to master my challenge. So I´m questioning myself: What needs to be done so that I´m able to master these emotions effectively? In this context it´s worth to mention that I´m not interested in preventing them. They will always arise. So the focus of my learning needs to be on how to move these emotions into a balance so that they do not hinder my financial success anymore.
This is reality. And nothing else. This is it. This is far, far away from a theoretical concept. The theory says: Do this and this and this and then you will become a millionaire. But the actual challenge is to implement these this and this and this into reality.
That´s one reason why I feel a huge respect for entrepreneurs. Why? Because they confronted themselves with reality. Based on that they were able to implement essential steps which led to success. In this context it´s being said that every person who became successful has mastered the challenge on how to deal with negative feedback. I guess that´s important to mention as most of the time the success of a person outshines the failures.
Negative feedback = Financial loss
In terms of my investments I assess negative feedback to be equal with financial loss. So going forward I have to figure out on how to manage my financial losses which WILL arise. In theory I know that it´s impossible that I will become a millionaire by only implementing positive investments. There will be failures. The picture which is still in my head of becoming a millionaire by solely implementing positive investments is wrong. I know about it. Moreover it´s much more likely that it works by the following: In the case I make it this means that I will have won an amount of e. g. three million US dollars due to positive investments and losing an amount of e. g. two million US dollars due to negative investments. As a result there will be one million US dollars left.
But that´s just the result. This result simply neglects that in order to achieve one million US dollars, I need to be willing to loose two million US dollars first. Am I willing to do so?
Based on my current thoughts arising the answer is: No. It seems that currently I´m not in possession of the mental capacity to loose an amount of two million US dollars. If going forward I´m not able to increase my mental capacity then my challenge will fail before it has even started.
Back to reality
Yes. Back to reality. Or better say: Back to the contrast of reality and fiction.
It seems that I´m highly interested in understanding the world. For example, I prefer documentaries rather than fiction movies. But moreover I want to experience things with my own eyes and ears. On the one hand I enjoy reading stuff about other countries. On the other hand the worthwhile aspect for me is to travel to that country and making my own experiences. In this context I´m not interested to escape into a science fiction world in hope for a better life. Moreover my rational mind is driving me to understand the circumstances and aspects which influence my current environment. As a conclusion I´m highly convinced of the fact that if I interpret these circumstances and aspects in the right way then in no way I require an additional science fiction world which predicts a potential better life.
I´m not against fantasy in general. In enjoyed watching movies like the Lord of the Rings, Pirates of the Caribbean or especially the first Avatar movie. I´m aware that these kind of characters do not exist in reality. So I´m fine with creating a fantasy world around these kind of characters.
But in now way I´m able to dedicate my time for things like Star Wars, Star Trek or any fiction worlds where humans act like aliens. It´s a totally misrepresentation of what I call reality. Yes. Maybe aliens exist. But I highly doubt that they will look like the characters shown in Star Wars or Star Trek. To point it out, I simply cannot stand these kind of fake worlds. If I see aliens or monsters arising on a TV screen at a friends house I need to close my eyes and ears or leave the room. Otherwise I will feel pain arising within myself due to the fact that I´m recognizing that I´m simply wasting my time.
What I consider as reality
Back to reality. In a foreign county I´m more interested in daily conversations rather than visiting a famous monument. To a huge extent I prefer exploring the environment by my own rather than being part of classical sightseeing. If then, by coincidence, I detect a famous monument, I will feel happy about it.
But for me that´s not an essential thing. It´s a bonus. I don´t consider myself flying to New York to visit the Statue of Liberty and then return home. To sum it up, classical sightseeing simply does not work for me. In this context I´m not interested in staying in so called fancy areas. At least I prefer lively areas as chances are high to have meaningful conversations. However, I still remember enjoyable walks through not lively industrial and business parks on the weekends or ports on a Sunday afternoon. This being said, I don´t mind if there´s something going on or not. I don´t mind if a building looks pretty or ugly. For me, they both tell the same story. And the story is that this piece of building, pretty or not, is a piece of reality.
And that´s what I´m interested in. I simply recognized that I´m highly affected by the environment and aspects which surround me. So I draw the conclusion that it´s more interesting to stick to these conditions rather than creating a parallel world. For example, when I´m at the airport waiting at the gate, I can spend hours on watching how the airport works. In this context I´m scared of people who are waiting at the airport spending their time with their smartphones and who then commence to watch an airport documentary once they returned home. I´m afraid of this as I simply don´t understand that kind of behavior.
Holy words
There are two major aspects which I derive from the above. First, I´m aware of the fact that I tend to invite people to share their thoughts. I do so in order to be aware of what´s going on. I do so because I´m convinced of the fact that if we figure out the truth then we can work on a solution. Probably that´s one reason why I feel such a strong antipathy to fake worlds as well as fake behavior.
Second aspect to mention is the following one: Although I know how certain things should be and what I need to do I´m partially failing in doing so. Therefore going forward the solution will be to master my emotions in an effective way so that I can draw conclusions mainly based on my rational mind rather than my emotions. I´m aware of the fact that my rational mind will always be influenced by my emotions. I´m a human being. But going forward and especially when it comes to my financial investments the emotional influence requires adjustment.
Any thoughts on this can be sent privately to send@realthoughts.me or publicly via the comment function below
Martin