For all of you that have put up with my rants over the last few months, I’m going to do something that really isn’t out of character – just not something I do very often. I’m going to give away a huge amount of information for FREE. This blog is a bit long but hopefully helpful.
Sustainability in the real world
When people talk about sustainability on the Internet, they are usually talking about environmental sustainability. But did you know that environmental sustainability is only one-third of the total sustainability equation?
That’s right. You cannot obtain environmental sustainability until the craving for resource consumption is diminished in society. This craving originates in the beliefs and minds of each individual in the social structure of a community, nation and global population. Economic sustainability is also required and here by “economic” I mean not just money, but “wealth” as it applies to resource attraction and distribution. That includes knowledge and a myriad of other categories.
The environmental side of sustainability is the easiest to see, but focusing on it as a cure is like trying to treat malnutrition by rubbing cream on the skin. The cream may make things look a bit better, but it certainly won’t stop the organs from failing.
The human world is comprised of individual beliefs. A community is built upon shared or common beliefs and that is the foundation for society. Society uses resources to survive and those resources are consumed, converted, and in some cases replaced.
For any system to be “sustainable”, it must be able to balance its resource consumption and conversion with replacement and recycling. By recycling here, I do not mean “cans, plastic and paper”, but by being aware of the byproducts of consumption and conversion processes and their positive and negative impacts on the larger resource base or environment.
With this in mind, we have a situation that looks like this currently:
Current Conditions
To solve the sustainability issue, the conditions need to look more like this:
Yes, that is a big difference because we are talking about a global scale, but change starts in an individual’s head first and spreads into their community, then into society at large.
Your inner world is made up of “mind sets” – literally beliefs that you either adopted from exposure to people around you or from you own reasoning. On a global scale, the majority of the population (roughly 83% based on statistical data) have these mindsets:
1.Religious authority – A specific religious identification and collection of personal rituals.
2.Identity – In this group, it is a poverty mindset based on “entitlement” and unrealistic expectations and misplaced trust.
3.Leadership authority – The belief that those “in charge” have their best interests at heart and even if they didn’t they are powerless to change things.
4.Change Aversion – Any kind of disruption of the world around them is bad. Things should stay the same forever and taking personal action to make positive change is a last resort.
5.Near sighted view – We only live for about 100 years and who cares if mankind lives past that. All of our thoughts are based on what I/Me wants and not on what is best for our biological kind – our species – in the long run. “It’s not my problem” indicates a mentality of entitlement and disconnection with the long term concern for survival of the human species.
6.Finding an excuse is easier than finding a solution – This group of people will exhaust every bit of their energy trying to tell us how they “cannot do” something. The other 17% will ask “How do I” do it. This one difference represents the main boundary between the poor and the affluent. This boundary is the belief that this 17% is not entitled to anything and they must act to make change and bring their goals closer. They do not make excuses and do make change happen.
From here, the mindset collection tends to become more egocentric. To put this in a easier to manage perspective, this 83% population is focused entirely on “I/ME” when they view their world. The other 17% are focused on “kingdom expansion” as a process and will readily sacrifice the I/Me comfort for the greater group. As an interesting result, this 17% is also the richest population.
Wealthy people do not have a problem with implementing sustainability. In fact, most of them already have made huge efforts in this area. Their houses are insulated and filled with energy efficient appliances, their lighting has been replaced with low energy bulbs and they have in many cases made changes to their heating and power supplies. Money isn’t an obstacle for them, so they just did it. That takes care of about 9% of the population. Another 8% have sustainable modifications on their list, but “haven’t had the time” to implement them yet. As for the rest of the 83%, well some have done a great job, and others are full of excuses.
If you think one corporate jet is the cause of global warming, take a look at what all those cars on the road produce each day. Who’s the biggest offender, the corporate jet that will be at its destination in 3 hours carrying 8 people or the string of traffic in front of you driving 45 minutes each way (to and from work) five days a week?
Back to mindsets
I will not address the religion mindset because you have already made up your mind there and it would be counter productive to discuss. Number 2 is Identity. Right now, there are two main kinds of identity that I will propose: Those who “have”, and those who “have not”.
The “have” people (H) do not believe in entitlement and do not expect anyone to do anything for them unless they deliver value to the other(s) first. The “have not’s” (HN) believe that just because they ‘show up’ they should be given consideration, and anything else they want. Yes I’m being harsh here, but a direct approach that shows the contrast is very fast when addressing this kind of topic.
H people build on their skills and knowledge every day and work at making connections with other people – creating bigger groups of people that believe in their goals and dreams. HN people isolate themselves and do not like to share their dreams. They will talk about them, but do not like others to benefit from their “vision”. If the HN does share, it is only with a set of close friends or relatives. The H people believe that if you add value to the progress toward their goals, then you are welcome. The H people aggressively defend their circle of supporters from negative influence. In fact, the H people tend to try and avoid negative thinking and negative people all together.
The HN people tend toward looking for the negatives in a situation. They use the negatives to justify their fear and inaction. They expect to fail and will go to great measures to ensure failure. Fear and uncertainty rules their mind and doubt is their core decision tool.
When faced with the opportunity to become sustainable, their first responses are:
1.I don’t know you.
2.I don’t trust you.
3.I can’t afford to.
4.I don’t believe you.
5.Leave me alone.
Ask anyone in sales and you’ll hear the same “objections” that they have to address at each sales call. Consider this, if it were not for TV and Radio, most people would not have heard of Donald Trump. In fact, unless you lived in NYC you would not have known about him at all – even after his first book was released. Without the media you would not know about him.
Most affluent people do not invest in individual publicity, they invest in publicity that helps their causes grow. You probably haven’t heard of any of the 17% of the wealthiest people and probably won’t until you are in that income group. The wealthy learn about each other by networking, not by news.
Just because you don’t know me (Paul McDowell) doesn’t mean that I can’t help you or that the company behind me cannot solve 98% of your problems if you would let it. It just means that we have not met before. But chances are, you haven’t met Donald Trump either.
As for Trust, trust is earned on both sides. I reach out with my hand and offer it to you, will you take it? If you were in a burning building, would you take a hand out? If you were in shark infested waters, would you accept help onto the safety of a boat? You have to extend your hand too or the brief opportunity to change your conditions will be extended to someone else and you will be left to burn or be eaten.
“I work hard every day and have nothing to show for it at the end of the week.” I can’t afford “help” from you. Sounds like you can’t afford not to get help. If you are working hard and not experiencing a positive change, you don’t have what it takes to fix the problem alone. You need a hand up and that means you will have to reach out to get it.
Belief is an internal thing. It happens in your head. You can strengthen the belief that you cannot be helped or you can strengthen the belief that help is all around you, you only need to accept it. It is your belief that limits you and keeps you poor. The good news is that since belief is a mental thing, you can simply change your mind and the belief changes with it.
As for the last item, “Leave me alone.”, well you are born connected to your mother and you die alone. Unless you really want to die or kill your opportunity – miss the chance to regain your happiness and achieve your dreams – prevent a life of poverty and suffering from being yours, then you need allies. You need an inner circle of friends that will share and contribute to your happiness as you do to theirs.
It is this sharing that builds a successful community around you and raises you up from the bottom. As an individual against the world, you have little power. As a community of successful, happy people, you have tremendous power. Make your choice and change your life.
There is an amazing process to obtain this quickly called the “golden key” that has been the family secret of the wealthiest families for literally thousands of years. You are welcome to explore it if you like.
With wealth out of the way, and community building, then we are in a place to address the issues surrounding environmental sustainability. When our social connections are in support of our beliefs and our wealth can be allocated toward our goals, then the issue of obtaining the items needed becomes non-existent. You simply get the items and have them installed.
Value is the driving concern of the wealthy. Does the proposed goods or services solve the problem that they are facing? If so, what is the return on their investment (ROI – usually measured in dollars over time)? If the return (replenishment of resources) is acceptable, then the solution is sustainable and has value. If not, then the solution is a resource drain and has low or no value. This kind of thinking is sustainable in itself as it requires a used or allocated resource to be replaced before it is depleted or depletes other resources.
I cannot express how important your mental states play in this. If you are poor and feel that there is no hope, then you will not be motivated to change and will not care if humans live or die as a species. You will simply not care. Your problems are bigger than you are and you don’t need everyone else’s problems on your hands.
If you wake up every morning looking to find new friends that will become part of what you are building, people that can benefit along side of you, then you will see hope and opportunity around every corner and want the success to be shared with everyone that is willing to contribute to it. Now and forever if possible.
It’s all in the mind – your mind. Think about that.
P.S.
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Tags: Donald Trump, eco-movement, economomy, environmental movement, green living, how-to sustainability, Padma Gonpo, poverty, Sustainability Advice, sustainable, wealth
