My great friend and fellow coffee-lover, Melissa Stewart, founder of She Owns It, a company based on “Celebrating, Supporting & Connecting Women Entrepreneurs” recently tweeted,
“Your mind is a multimillion-dollar property.
Screen your tenants VERY carefully!”
How true that is!
Imagine owning a rental property and not screening your prospective tenants before allowing them to move in. I mean, wouldn’t you do a credit and background check, and perhaps even ask for references? Sure, because to make the decision to let someone impact your valuable property should not be made without as much thought and consideration as humanly possible!
How much more important is it then to make sure that, before you allow people (and their thoughts, opinions, belief systems, etc.) into your brain — your MOST valuable property — you do the same?
And, if it looks as though they could in any way damage that property, gently encourage them to look elsewhere.
No vacancies here. This is your mind we’re talking about.
Melissa, you up for another coffee tweet? I like your style! 🙂
Of course, awesome readers…may I ask, how do you do at protecting your most valuable property? And, what are the best ways you’ve found to do that?
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I use caller ID to ignore callers who have historically been battery drainers. If I happen to be speaking to someone on the phone and the conversation takes a turn towards negativity or gossip I abruptly end it.
Sheila: Sounds like you’re doing what you need to do in order to create and maintain the correct environment for yourself (and your mind) 🙂 to thrive! Now, if there’s any way you can retrain some of your current battery drainers (not always possible) so that you actually can take their calls…wow! Thank you for sharing with us!
Bob,
Coming from IT background, I compare our mind with computers. We buy all kids of anti-virus, anti-spamming softwares to protect our computers.
But most of us don’t take time to protect our brain, the most powerful computer we are blessed with for FREE. How irresponsible is it to not protect it from the viruses of negativity, complacency and apathy?
You just provided another perspective on it. Thank you for bringing another great topic today.
Regards,
Kumar
Kumar: Thank you for sharing that excellent perspective with us. Absolutely!
Thank’s Bob!
Again a BRILLIANT article!!!!
This point I’m VERY careful with!!!! The kind of people you allow into your life and business, you will atract MORE of!!!!
SO better off saying NO thank’s – and GROW for real – juse your time for the better and so forth!!!! Take your time to explore your new “connection” – Be open but not “stupid”, just because they show interest 🙂
Huge hugs from Denmark
Lene
Hi Bob!
Thanks for sharing Melissa’s tweet this morning, it is a great reminder to “filter” the seeds that get planted in the garden that is my mind. Like any other garden, I don’t have to plant weeds; they just happen. In my mind, weeds are thoughts that are negative, filled with self-doubt, scarcity based, and at times rooted in jealousy. If I don’t actively tend to my garden, these grow naturally. To live the life I believe I am meant to live, I must pull those weeds and plant seeds of abundance, gratitude, optimism, and focus. As Gandhi once said, “I will not let anyone walk through my mind with their dirty feet.”
Thanks again for taking the time to share, I admire your abundance garden! 🙂
Warmest regards,
Rick
Bob,
Your post makes a ton of sense. Kumar’s comment about an IT background made me think of the old computer term GIGO. Garbage In, Garbage Out. If we pollute our brains with a bunch of trash it will keep us from realizing our potential.
I would like to take it a step further though, once you find a tenant who moves into your head that is ideally suited, sign a long term lease. By learning from positive models such as yourself, John C. Maxwell, Seth Godin and many others you can improve the value of the real estate that is above your shoulders.
Thanks for sharing this idea with all of us. It is much appreciated!
Take care,
Mike
Lene: Thank you, as always. You are one of those people we ALWAYS want to be a tenant in our most valuable “property” (our minds) because you are always so uplifting and encouraging. Huge hugs back! 🙂
Rick: Great wisdom, my friend. It’s awesome how all these very cool analogies can point to the same basic lesson. Love it!
Mike: Thank you for your kind comments. And, what a great idea about signing the long term lease. Makes a lot of sense. When you’ve got good tenants, do your best to keep em’ there. And, an extra thank you for including me in your tenants along with people like John Maxwell and Seth Godin! 🙂
Great post Bob.
A few years back I stopped watching TV. Many of the shows and definitely the news are actually quite negative. But the biggest advantage was additional time. Time that can be spent to grow the mind and nurture the good relationships.
In the last years or so I also stopped getting drawn into negative news. I stay aware. Sometimes I crack and get into too much detail. But now I force myself to stop watching, that the situation is not something I can change or help right now and the best thing I can do not watch it any further.
Still lots to learn and master yet to keep the billion dollar mansion clean. Lifelong journey.
Cheers, Doug
Doug: Terrific. As always, I love the way you put it! As you implied – and, interestingly enough – the news we *need* to know still finds its way to us. Yet, we don’t need it to inhabit the mansion any longer than to inform us. Thanks for sharing with us!
Hi Bob, So true! I used to think that I had to be “nice” to everyone. However, over the years, the saying, “you are who you are with” rings true, and if I want to have a positive outlook and thoughts, I need to surround myself with the same. The world has so many negative factors that can easily pull us down and keep us down, that we have to make an effort to fill our minds with positive, great coaching, read, subscribe and follow the movers and shakers……..not the ones that flatten you. I’ve had to walk away from many and learning to be OK with that. We can’t fix others, only ourselves
Tina: I love what you wrote and how you have created a context for your success and prosperity. The only thing I might respectfully take just a bit of issue with is your sentence near the beginning in which you say you *used* to think that you had to be “nice” to everyone. While, of course, you don’t “have” to do anything, I think it is important to be “nice” whenever possible, but that being nice (in this context, “nice” meaning polite and respectful) should not be confused with buying into their ideas or even allowing them into your mind/property. I’m sure we’re talking about the same thing and that it’s just a matter of semantics. Thank you for sharing with us!
Yes, Bob, I agree, we should always be polite and respectful to everyone. Never burn a bridge, no matter where or what the circumstance is. Learning to discern and walk away from people, thoughts or ideas which aren’t building our success should not be allowed into our minds and become our thoughts.
For too many years, I’ve allowed toxic people/words to influence me, however, that shouldn’t be the case. I’ve learned to respect myself more and not allow others to bring me down, because after all, people do respect you to the extent you respect yourself.
Absolutely, Tina! Very well-said!
Such a GREAT post and So important… I always say how you treat anything shows up in all areas of ones life. If somebody treats their car like Crap I have always found that they treat other things or people in their life the same… Great reminder and message
Hi Bob,
Thanks for the important reminder!!! I protect my valuable mind space by meditating daily, journaling, and taking time for yoga each day to get centered BEFORE I open up to other information. I choose my news sources very carefully, and I regularly engage in “news fasts”. Having worked in mass media for years, I have seen it’s dark side (as well as its inherent beauty). Many major media outlets seek first to engage the audience and thus prove their worth to advertisers. This is achieved with titillating, often fear-inducing, stories. The news I care most about is the news of philanthropists and others who strive to make a positive impact in the world. Every story isn’t “positive”, but knowing that there are people who are dedicated to making life better for all is uplifting. (Note: I have a list of such people & organizations on Twitter. It’s called #Altruists. Check it out and subscribe if you like it.)