How Are You Programmed?

Learn How to Turn off Those Negative Messages In Your Head – and Finally Get What You Want Out of Life

Just about everything we touch on a daily basis is run by a computer program. Our cars, our thermostats, our telephones – hell, even our coffee makers -- are run by tiny little microchips full of data.

We get frustrated with these things, but the truth is, they only do what they’ve been told to do. They’re programmed to act in a certain way, to react or respond to things with actions of their own. If we want a different reaction, it’s up to us to reprogram the thing.

Our brains work the same way. From the time that we’re kids, we’re programmed to react and respond a certain way. All your life, you’ve gotten programming messages from your father and mother, brother and sister, teacher and preacher.

Sometimes, that works out fine. But more often than not, people are programmed to play it safe. The message is, "get a job, pay your bills, don’t do anything too risky. Be satisfied with what you have, you could have a lot less. This is enough for me, and it should be enough for you, too."

Where does that lead? If you’re like a lot of people, it doesn’t lead anywhere good. You get out of school, you get a job – any job – just to pay your bills. Then you find yourself years later still doing a job you hate that doesn’t pay enough money to get you the life you want.

Here’s where another type of programming comes in. Just about every decision we make in our lives is rooted in one of two motivations: to avoid pain or to gain pleasure. Our programming being what it is, the impulse to avoid pain is a lot stronger. When you toil away at a job you hate for years and years, your subconscious learns that earning money is a painful process.

If earning a little money is painful, earning a lot of money must be really painful, right? So when the computer in your head is presented with the idea of earning big money, it thinks big pain. The avoidance impulse kicks in, and starts generating all these negative thoughts about why you shouldn’t do it, whatever it is – it’s too risky, it’s too hard, it won’t work. It reinforces all the negative programming you’ve been fed since you were a kid. It’s a one-two punch of negativity that knocks a lot of people out of the ring before the ref even rings the bell.

I don’t know about you, but I never had a class in high school that taught me how to make money. I didn’t go to college, but I know lots of people that did – and they didn’t learn it there, either. Maybe a teacher or professor along the way taught you some theories about how to make a million dollars – but if they haven’t done it themselves, how can they teach you? Most of them are just reinforcing the negative messages: stay on the path, do what we did, and everything will be alright.

I’ll be the first to tell you I had a rocky start in life: my parents both died when I was young, and I didn’t even finish high school. I was pretty much on my own from the time I was 14.

But the good thing about that was I didn’t learn all the reasons why I couldn’t. I didn’t have anyone to guide me through my young adult years – but that also meant I wasn’t being programmed to settle, to avoid risk, to follow a typical path. No one was telling me why my ideas wouldn’t work – and guess what: I was successful. Over time, my experiences taught my brain to overcome its fears and see things in a positive way.

It doesn’t matter how old you are or what you’re past experiences have been – you can reprogram your brain, too. You can teach yourself a new way to think, react and respond. It’s not easy – it takes determination and lots of practice. But it’s the only way to change your life.

What does this have to do with real estate? Everything, really – because you’re reading my stuff for a reason. Chances are you’re dissatisfied with your current situation, and you’re looking for a change. If you really think about it, I’ll bet you’ll realize how the situation you’re in is a result of negative programming. On top of that, I’ll bet that negative programming is getting in the way of your jumping into real estate investing with both feet. It’s telling you that it’s too risky, it’s a scam, it’s better to maintain the status quo and be happy with what you have. Chances are there are people in your life telling you the same thing, probably a lot of the same people who programmed you in the first place.

I’m not saying that positive thinking will clear all the obstacles out of your way. But when you reprogram your brain to think positively, you learn to face those obstacles in a different way. Instead of saying, "That won’t work because…", you’ll say, "How can I get around that problem? What can I do to fix it?"

Just try it for a week. Every time you have a negative thought or reaction, force yourself to reframe the same thought in a positive way. It takes practice, just like everything else. If you keep at it, after awhile it will become a habit – and that’s the way you change your life.


Russ Whitney story is proof in becoming financially independent or build a nest egg so you can enjoy your retirement years.If you want to learn first hand from Russ Whitney. Visit us at: http://russwhitney.com/