JUST ONE THING
The News Feeds Your Threat Center!
Episode 50
With Rick White, 180BIZ
What I want to talk to you about today is the news. What is the news there to do? The news is there to sell advertising. That's all it's there to do. This is important to understand because the more eyeballs they have, the more they can charge for their advertising. And there's an old saying in the news that says, “If it bleeds, it leads.” Why? Because it triggers the survival part of our brains.
We have a threat center in our brain and we're constantly looking for any threats. The news just feeds that threat center. It creates a kind of addiction inside our minds where we need to have more news and more news and more news. That’s logical as our brain wants to keep an eye on the threat. It's to make that threat, go away. But it's, it's not real. And it can create some mental health issues. If you're not careful, especially today, anxiety and depression can creep in.
Here’s my issue with the news. If you get into it all the time, it can actually take your eye off the prize. It can take your eye off of growing your business and crea ting the life that you want for yourself, your family, and your team. I'm not saying you should be oblivious to what's going on. That's not it either. I can get most of the news that I want in about 30 seconds. I can scan things. I can read a couple of articles or something like that. And at that point, I feel like I know what's going on and I can be aware of it.
That's the big thing here. You want to be aware of what's going on, but you don't want to let it grow and grow and grow in your mind until it consumes everything else. When you watch this stuff like what’s going on in Ukraine and inflation, after a while, your brain says, “Why bother? Why bother pushing? Why bother trying to get better?” And that's not what this is about. It's about understanding and putting things in their place.
Some of you might not be old enough to remember, but I remember a time when I was just about 18 years old when we had 20% inflation. Well, guess what? We all survived. It's not forever. It's a result of a bunch of different things that we can't even begin to unpack here. It doesn't do any good to blame. It doesn't do any good to shake your fist or get mad about it. You must learn to adapt. Those that can adapt are going to survive. Do you remember the saying “Only the fittest survive” or “Only the strongest survive”? That's actually not true. If you read Charles Darwin's book, he actually says the species that is able to adapt the best, the quickest is the one that will survive.
That's what we need to work on. We must be able to adapt to our surroundings and respond, not react, or even worse, get paralyzed. I want you to be aware of what's going on, but I want you to stay focused on creating the world that you want, the life that you want. This is really important. And this stuff with Ukraine can seem a little bit scary. Your mind can awfulize things and you can see World War III with nuclear missiles and stuff like that. Yeah, it sucks right now, but don't let it take control of your brain.
And here's the thing. Don't feel like a victim. Don't let yourself feel helpless. If you feel called to do something about it, send some money to an organization that's helping put together a food drive or something like that, so that you can ship it out to them. Or you can set up an organization where you can help Ukrainian families that have been displaced by the war. Help them get them over to our country here and help them get settled. There are so many different things we can do, but don't let it overwhelm you.
The news is important to understand. You want to be aware of what's going on, but never, ever, ever let the news dictate or define your worldview. Don't let the news dictate or define your actions. Stay focused on creating your part of the world. And if each and every one of us does that, we can put a real dent in the world. We can make the world a better place. Don't think it must be somebody else, some big leader or something like that. It starts with us. You will end up with a better family. You start being better and your family gets better, and your neighborhood gets better, and your city gets better, and your state gets better. And eventually, the country gets better, and the world gets better. We can have that kind of effect.
There's a really good book by Andy Andrews called the butterfly effect. The premise of the book is that every action we take has a worldwide effect. So today make a decision that you're going to see the positive. Make a decision that you're going to see the good in people. It's funny how the actions of so few can dictate and get us to miss the actions of so many. Look at the people in Poland and the things that they're doing. Moms leaving strollers at the train station. So, when the Ukrainian moms get off the train they can grab a stroller and put their babies in them.
There's so much good in this world. Let’s you and I decide to be a part of that to magnify it. I promise that if you do something and take charge of our little part of the world and do something a little bit better, it will make a difference. That's why I do these videos. It’s to just make a little bit of a difference in the world.
Take care. God bless. Stay safe. Go have some fun and make some money.
