The Sky Is Falling | Rich Dad Poor Dad Best Motivation | Overcoming Cynicism

Overcoming Cynicism

 “The sky is falling! The sky is falling!”

Most of us know the story of Chicken Little who ran around warning the barnyard of

impending doom. We all know people who are that way. There’s a

Chicken Little inside each of us.

As I stated earlier, the cynic is really a little chicken. We all get

a little chicken when fear and doubt cloud our thoughts.

All of us have doubts: “I’m not smart.” “I’m not good enough.”

“So-and-so is better than me.” Our doubts often paralyze us. We

play the “What if?” game. “What if the economy crashes right after

I invest?” “What if I lose control and I can’t pay the money back?”

“What if things don’t go as I planned?” Or we have friends or loved

ones who will remind us of our shortcomings. They often say, “What

makes you think you can do that?” “If it’s such a good idea, how come

someone else hasn’t done it?” “That will never work. You don’t know

what you’re talking about.” These words of doubt often get so loud

 

 

that we fail to act. A horrible feeling builds in our stomach. Sometimes

we can’t sleep. We fail to move forward. So we stay with what is

safe, and opportunities pass us by. We watch life passing by as we sit

immobilized with a cold knot in our body. We have all felt this at one

time in our lives, some more than others.

Peter Lynch of Fidelity Magellan mutual-fund fame refers to

warnings about the sky falling as “noise,” and we all hear it.

Noise is either created inside our heads or comes from outside,

often from friends, family, co-workers, and the media. Lynch recalls

the time during the 1950s when the threat of nuclear war was so

prevalent in the news that people began building fallout shelters and

storing food and water. If they had invested that money wisely in

the market, instead of building a fallout shelter, they’d probably be

financially independent today.

When violence breaks out in a city, gun sales go up all over the

country. A person dies from rare hamburger meat in the state of

Washington, and the Arizona Health Department orders restaurants to

have all beef cooked well-done. A drug company runs a TV commercial

in February showing people catching the flu. Colds go up as well as

sales of cold medicine.

Most people are poor because, when it comes to investing, the

world is filled with Chicken Littles running around yelling, “The sky

is falling! The sky is falling!” And Chicken Littles are effective, because

every one of us is a little chicken. It often takes great courage to not

let rumors and talk of doom and gloom affect your doubts and fears.

But a savvy investor knows that the seemingly worst of times is actually

the best of times to make money. When everyone else is too afraid to

act, they pull the trigger and are rewarded.

Some time ago, a friend named Richard came from Boston to visit

Kim and me in Phoenix. He was impressed with what we had done

through stocks and real estate. The Phoenix real estate prices were

depressed. We spent two days showing him what we thought were

excellent opportunities for cash flow and capital appreciation.