Watch out for those ideas

Whether you like it or not, you and I are bombarded by ideas all over the place. As my favorite philosopher Dallas Willard would say “Our mind picks up ideas like a coat picks up flints but we need to process it under the microscope of truth and righteousness.” And I highly agree.

We are never at a lack or loss for ideas, they are everywhere. The wise person has the discernment to sift those ideas, discard those that are harmful, store those that may not be of use for the moment and use ideas that may help the person do better or be better. Ideas are plentiful but the question is which ideas would help you and which ones would harm you?

There are spreaders of idea that may limit, hinder or obstruct our progress. Whom many of them may have meant well but sometimes because of their limited knowledge and lack of experience, they spread their idea to their audiences and when their “beneficiaries” receive the ideas, keep it and apply it. Some may have used it and be negatively affected by it or in extreme cases even be destroyed by the idea. Let me give you an example.

Some men in the past years would say that fooling around and being unfaithful is a sign of healthy manhood. Some men I know would even pass on this “doctrine” to their sons and they would grow up storing these ideas, using it and eventually destroy his family. These “spreaders,” usually are authority figures and parrot what they have learned or lived and then pass it on to the next generation.

Here are the spreaders of negative ideas that you need to watch out for:

1. Miserable people

This category may include your friends and family because misery loves company.

They have not been happy with their lives and so they do not want you to be happy with yours. I have been told, “Francis there is no future in writing and speaking.” How can you afford to raise up your family; this is not America, book authors here can never earn much.” Well, one thing they do not understand is that my writing and speaking has very little to do with my intention to earn money; it is always with the joy of curating concepts, expressing ideas that would help people improve their businesses or their lives and money becomes a delightful surprise for me when I do my job well.

“That start up business of yours will never take off.”

“The person you are in love with will never provide you with a good future.” Aren’t these words familiar?

Friends, colleagues and in many cases even managers and leaders are spreader of negative ideas that may impede your progress:

“That project of yours will never get the approval of the higher-up’s.”

“This has been attempted before but it has never worked.”

“There is no budget for the project you are proposing…”

Perhaps they mean well and some may actually even genuinely care for you but let me be brutally frank. People may like you, admire you or even praise you until they are threatened by you. They may want you to succeed but they will never want you to succeed beyond their level of success.

2. Formal education

Get an education, graduate and get a diploma. Formal education will be the key to success and wealth.

This is strange because I know certain people with PhD’s who are still broke and struggling with their finances. Business philosopher Jim Rohn was right when he said, “Formal education will make you a living but self-education will make you a fortune.” I have so many wealthy and successful business friends who even dropped out from school but they continue to learn and are curious to know more things and combined with hard work have become millionaires and billionaires today.

Formal education is vital and essential but it is not the means to make you wealthy and successful. Formal education merely teaches and trains you to learn how to “learn, relearn and unlearn” as the great management guru Peter Drucker would say. So if kids who go to school fail to understand this and do nothing but “copy, cut and paste” then they will go through life missing the point of what formal education can do for them.

Many people have had formal education but the question is have they learned anything and the things they have learned, are they still relevant and useful today?

3. Media and entertainment

Media defines culture and the very convincing portrayal of excellent actors and actresses supported by excellent screenplays are the most potent form of idea spreaders that can affect our worldview as well as way of thinking. And these determine the value system we carry and lead to the behaviors we exhibit.

Marriages have been portrayed as failed projects, lose living has been presented as the way to happiness. Narcissism, violence, quick fixes, worldly pleasures, instant success and the quest for self-aggrandizement has been presented as sexy and romantic and the world has brought into the idea that “taking care of number 1” is a right and logical thing to do.

Yet more and more movies and screenplays today have been depicting teenage suicides, violence and depression churned out by Hollywood and subscription app format and so it seems that the ideas propagated and spread in the last 10 or 20 years have not delivered its promise.

The thing to understand that if you like to live your life well, do your business better and pursue more goals that would lead to joy, peace and happiness, you just need to better reconsider the advices you get from the spreaders more cautiously shouldn’t you?

Well, these are also ideas I am presenting you. Now take some time to think and evaluate. Doctors often times say: “You are what you eat.” I guess what I am trying to say is that “You are what you think.”

Now think about that.

(Mark your calendar, as Francis Kong runs his highly acclaimed Level Up Leadership seminar-workshop on Jan. 16-17, 2018 at SEDA Hotel, BGC. For registration and inquiries contact April at +63928-559-1798 or register online at www.levelupleadership.ph).