When it comes to the history of humanity, it’s easy to get caught up with the negative things like wars, famine and poverty. But actually, the quality of life is getting better and better all the time, and slowly more and more people are climbing out of poverty and going up in class. Yes, there is still a significant number of people living in poverty, but over time, this is slowly improving – there is less death and disease; less war. But there is a disconnect because often, only the negative view is portrayed.
So as we continue to focus on the negatives portrayed in mainstream media, we very rarely notice anything positive. And if we just consume this news, we may have a warped perception of what is actually going on. Bad news sells – that is a fact.
It’s important to look for positives, too. We’re not encouraging anyone to bury their heads in the sand, but it can only lead to good things when we search for more positives in life. So get in the habit of looking for good news!
Our mentor and finance expert Nick Murray sends out a monthly newsletter, and each issue includes a little fact about something positive that’s happened. It’s not necessarily related to finance, but something people can cheer about.
If you train your thoughts and focus, over time you will start to notice more positives and less negatives.
Life on the whole is getting better. People often long for the good old days. But are they thinking of sitting in the lounge room listening to great tunes on the radio? Chances are they only remember the positive stuff.
Looking at positives is important when it comes to deep and protracted downturns in the sharemarket, too. People who always read and focus on the negative news tend to panic the most. They say things like, “This is going to end badly.” Or, “Things will never recover.”
And we know that that just isn’t true.
Our take away message here is simply to look at the positives, too. Not just in the news – but in the world, too.