The Squishy Stuff (episode 1)

In this series we look at the notion, “what you think, you will become”.

We explore the idea that by changing your thoughts, you can affect the world around you and the way others react to what you say and do. Think differently and become successful. The Squishy Stuff investigates this idea to find out if it is true, or just a big load of baloney.

Scott Phillips, CEO of The Motley Fool Share Advisor, reflects on success, and what is needed to be successful. He wrote, “Each of these men (Buffett, Lynch, Fisher, Graham, Munger, Schloss, Pabrai, and Klarman), I feel confident in saying would agree with me that even the stated elements of their own investing styles were ‘necessary, but not sufficient.’ That it takes more than just a simple application of a predetermined framework to be successful. That you need to be able to understand the “squishy stuff”—the things that can and will change, or the things that you simply can’t quantify.”

Phillips questions why individuals such as Richard Branson, Jeff Bezos, and Bill Gates are successful, while others are not. He quotes film producer Samuel Goldwyn who once said, “The harder I work, the luckier I get”. But Phillips thinks hard work is not enough. Part of their success was because of luck, “We can’t know the many thousands of lucky breaks that lead to success (and failure). The people they met. The products they sold. The decisions their competitors made—for every Branson, there are ninety-nine small business people that went broke. For every Gerry Harvey, there’s a would-be electronics king running a single store in suburban Perth.”

The question remains, does luck exist, or do we make our own luck? Can you ‘think’ your way to becoming luckier than the next person?

David Schwartz, PhD, doesn’t believe luck has any part in an individual’s success. In his book published in 1959, The Magic Of Thinking Big, he outlines strategies to change the way we think, and therefore change our lives: think success, don’t think failure; remind yourself that you are better than you think you are; the size of your success is determined by the size of your belief.

The idea that we can change the way we behave by altering our thoughts goes back to as early as five thousand BCE. Ancient Egypt, China, Judaism, Hinduism, and Buddhist cultures practised meditation. Buddhist have fundamental teaching based on the Four Noble Truths that declare life is suffering, and there is a possibility for a cessation of suffering through following the Noble Eight Fold Path. Karma, contrary to popular belief, means ‘action’. Good deeds give rise to a positive mentality which in turn affects the life and future of the doer.

 In the next episode we continue the journey through numerous claims that our thoughts, and even our brains, are changeable, and such alteration can bring about a better life.