GETTING IN THE FLOW

The goal of all enterprises should be success. Few people think in terms of achievement but it is essential in all endeavors. This is the purpose of profit and loss statements. This statement is designed to demonstrate objectively success or failure. It is better to be in the black rather than the red. Red ink means that adjustments must be made in order for a business to be considered a going concern. Red ink cannot flow forever without serious ramifications i.e., death of the business. What was the cause of the death of the business? The answer would be it bled to death.

All endeavors begin with the learning curve. This is a period when someone learns about a business. This is where the individual is thinking and conscious of his actions. This is the pre-concept era. This is where the majority of mistakes take place. Mistakes take place because the individual believes that he is going to mess up and then he does confirming what he thought. This period of time is where the individual over thinks. He is overly conscious. In other words, he has not learned how to get in the zone.

Being in a zone is where the endeavor has been fully conceptualized. Zone thinking is characterized by intense focus. Focus is directed to the successful completion of any undertaking. Those in the zone are focused on one result, successful completion of the task. Zone thinking is the opposite of multitasking. Multitasking is trying to do to many things at one time. Those in a zone are single minded. They know what they want and then they go out and make it happen.

Zone thinkers have ice water running through their veins. These individuals have taken the emotion out of what they are doing. These individuals are in a hurry without being in a hurry. Zone thinking is detailed oriented. All details have to be covered for completion. When I was in the Navy, it was drilled into our heads pay attention to detail. Those in the zone have learned to pay attention to detail. Paying attention to detail means that mistakes are minimized. Making a lot of mistakes slows down your progress and you do not have time to make mistakes.

Zone thinkers are mentally prepared for the task at hand. They have seen in their mind’s eye the successful completion of the task. They have played the same video over and over again. They do not think in terms of failing, only succeeding. Zone thinkers are methodical in all that they do. They have developed a system that works every time. They put their system into play in the endeavor that they are currently working on. This system leaves out all superfluous details. The system works because it is based solely on essentials. All non essentials have been flushed out and discarded.

Tasks involve flows or a process. Tasks have steps that must be taken to succeed. Methodically taking the steps one at a time and not leaving out any steps allows one to develop skill and confidence. Trying to short cut the process will not end up good in the long run. Develop a system and then work the system over and over again. Working the system puts you in the zone and you are on your way to success.

THE INDIRECT METHOD

I was sent an e-mail recently where the writer calls himself a Christian agrarian. He believes that he has come up with a system that will overcome inflation. He is blinded by not understanding things spiritually. His example sounds good but it is a version of the direct method which is inefficient in supplying our needs. He thinks that all he has to do is go out to the chicken coop and get some eggs and if he has excess eggs, he can use those to barter.

We live in a complex economic age and barter is a primitive system of exchange. What this Christian agrarian is proposing is a return to the past. He is as all visible thinkers are, tied to the past. They are not forward looking. He is proposing the destruction of the division of labor. The division of labor is based upon a common medium of exchange that we call money. Money allows us to be free from the limitations of barter.

Visible thinkers look longingly backwards to what they think is a simpler life. Actually, past life was not easier, it was hard and arduous. The complex life we live in today is a simpler life than in the past. Today, there is less manual labor and more mental labor. Machinery allows man to build bigger institutions quicker and at less cost than his manual labor can. Manual labor without machinery is using the direct method. The Christian agrarian is proposing a system of poverty. Those who are past oriented are lower class. The future oriented are upper class.

The future belongs to those who believe in looking forward. The Christian agrarian is not relevant. Anything he says can be disregarded. While he may be able to eat eggs, is he also going to make his own shoes? His solution is to go barefoot, that is the direct method right out in the open. Who is going to make his clothing and provide other needs that he has? If he is going to be doing it all himself, he is going to run out of time and energy and he is going to be poorer.

The Christian agrarian does not understand economics nor the indirect method. The indirect method of production as defined by Bohm-Bawerk is using our minds to solve economic problems before going about working on them directly. In other words, the indirect method is another way of saying that the spiritual precedes the physical or the law of cause and effect. The indirect method is a complex way of thinking but one that delivers the goods.

A recent example of the direct method versus the indirect method was in trying to catch a cat to give to a family. We have been feeding feral cats for quite a few years. We are preparing to move and my wife wanted to see that two of these cats have a good home. A widow lady wanted two cats. I told her that we could get them for her. My wife and I tried to capture one of the cats using the direct method that is catch the cat and put her into the cage. We tried this method twice and failed twice.

My daughter had a better plan. Her plan was an indirect method. If animals are blinded they will not fight. This is the reason that a horse has blinders on him. What she did was to put an old t-shirt over the head of the cat so that the cat could not see the cage. The cat did not fight her and she was able to put the cat easily into the cage. When the widow lady arrived with her daughter, she did not think that we got the cat but I told her to look in the cage and there was the cat.

The indirect method worked where the direct method failed. While this example deals with catching a cat, the indirect method works in every situation where it is tried. The indirect method delivers the goods, the direct method is severely limited. The direct method leads to viewing the world with doom and gloom whereas, the indirect method allows us to overcome difficulties. The indirect method is used to fulfill the dominion mandate. The indirect method allows us to subdue the earth.

TAX RELIEF

Few things are more apparent than the economic ignorance of Americans. I did not learn about economics until I was in college. Most Americans do not attend college nor take a course in economics. The economics that are taught in our colleges and universities is Keynesian. They follow the idiocy of John Maynard Keynes. This form of economics is false and Keynes was a false prophet. He is a pariah. His contribution to economics and politics is bankruptcy i.e., running deficits. This is slow economic suicide for anyone that tries it and yet every government in the world is wedded to Keynesian economics.

Our political system is all about buying votes. The rich are outvoted by the parasites who want to steal from the productive. The attitude of these parasites is one of entitlement. The worst of the worst are our senior citizens. They have voted themselves an income in their old age from younger workers through Social Security and Medicare. I have lost respect for seniors. I resent them having access to money that I have earned. I do not go to work to support these parasites but I am forced by law which means by a gun placed to my temple forcing me to fork over my earnings.

Retirees lives consists of going to their next doctor’s appointment and they get in the way of those who are doing something useful with their lives. We are told that the seniors deserve these things. Why do they deserve it? What did they do that is so special? I have no problem if they earn these things but Social Security is not earned income. You do not have to work to get it. You just have to attain to a certain age. Social Security discriminates against younger workers.

I received sticker shock the other day when I went to license a truck I use for business. The overpaid clerk said that will be $645. I said what? I was not expecting to pay that much. That is because I forgot that I would have to pay sales tax on the purchase of this work truck. Think about this, this is the third time that sales tax has been paid on the same truck. Why should I have to pay sales tax on something that had sales tax paid when it was originally purchased?

What happens to economic activity when taxes are placed on everything. Let us take the $645 sales tax as an example. I handed this money over to the local government. What happens to this money? It goes to fund some government program and everyone knows that apart from law enforcement, these funds will be spend inefficiently. I could have used this $645 to purchase something that I needed or wanted.

What would have been the result of my purchasing something I wanted or needed? It would have stimulated demand in the private economy. It would have helped to employ someone in private industry. In other words, it would have created employment. With tax relief, employers would have to increase their payrolls. This would cause an increase in private employment and thus economic activity. It would also increase tax revenues because more people would be paying taxes. Do not tell the government this though. Our government is run by dolts.

MAKING MORE MONEY

You can always tell that someone does not understand something when they make a statement like, "If I made more money, I would not change a thing." Obviously, the person making this statement has not had a substantial increase in their monthly budget. Making more money is going to change the way that you view the world. Money will change you and that change will either be good or bad.

Making more money opens up more opportunities to do more of what you want to do. Making more money means that you are not bound by providing only for needs, you have now entered into the world of wants. You can purchase things that you want, not just what you need. Making more money means that you can purchase a nicer home and you do not have to settle for something that you do not want.

It is still wise to be frugal. Frugality has degrees. The principle of frugality is managing efficiently resources at one’s disposal. Frugality means wasting nothing. Frugality takes place at different levels for different people. Those who make more money are able to still be frugal but it is at a higher level. Proper management of our resources is applied wisdom. A frugal man will not spend more than he earns, no matter how much money he makes. The frugal understand the way to wealth.

While looking for bargains, those who make more money are not constrained to such a point that, if they have to pay a little more for something, it does not put a crimp in their budget. There is an important principle at work here. Those who have an abundance will increase in abundance as Matthew 25:29 says, "For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath." Those who have an abundance understand the principles required in gaining this abundance. Those who have not have taken away even what they have because they failed to understand the way things work in God’s world.

Making more money means that you can go to a restaurant and get what you want and even have dessert. You do not have to worry about how you are going to pay for it. You can take out others and be glad to pay the bill. You can buy better home furnishings. Instead of buying the particle board furniture, you can purchase furniture that uses real wood. By buying better quality furnishings, they will last longer and can be passed on.

Making more money makes you feel better about yourself. You have the ability to be generous. If there is a need, you are able to contribute. Making these contributions opens up avenues for you to make even more money. It is amazing how that those who have money continually have new ways of making more money open up to them. Generosity is an admirable trait and making more money enables you to exhibit this trait. John Wesley instructed us to make as much as we can, to save as much as we can, and to give as much as we can. This is wise advice.