Is Your Thinking Evolving?

People often ask why I’ve written so many books.  There are a number of reasons, not the least among them is cleaning up earlier books…

In 1996 I wrote my first book, How to Build a Multi-Level Money Machine because there wasn’t a true “how to” guide on becoming successful in network marketing.  To say the book did well would be quite the understatement.  It was hailed as the Bible of the profession, placed in the starter kit for many companies, and sold more than two million copies across 20+ languages.  That book changed the game because up unto that point, the only books on the subject were feel-good inspiration or sketchy, rah-rah hype.  I’m proud to tell you that the book introduced tens of thousands of people to the business and advanced the profession greatly.  I’m also embarrassed to tell you the book was dreadful...

The first edition had some very useful content but was amateurishly written and had no professional editing.  The second edition was incrementally better, as was the third, and the fourth.  But in 2020 when it would have been the moment to write an updated fifth edition, I chose to blow up the past, got a blank canvas, and write Direct Selling Success.   Which I’m proud to tell you has greatly advanced the profession and is a well-written, professionally edited book reflecting the progress I’ve made in my thinking, teaching, and writing abilities.

A similar dynamic occurred when I took my five-book prosperity series and my Why You’re Dumb, Sick, and Broke… books and wove them together with years of developments into Radical Rebirth, my latest book.   Which not only am I extremely proud of – but eagerly anticipate the day when I will look back on the book with cringe-worthy shame, reflecting on how dumb I was back then.   In fact, about every three or four weeks I marvel about how ignorant I was last month.  The price of becoming the highest possible version of yourself is continuous embarrassment about who you used to be.  But it’s a price worth paying…

The beauty of doing blogs and podcasts is that you’re able to quickly present your modified thinking when additional information or structural changes affect what you believe about something.  But that only works if you have the ability to change your thinking.  And that, boys and girls and non-binaries…is the biggest challenge facing our collective civilization right now.  There are literally tens of millions of people whose thinking has become so ossified, that they are unable to change their mind about almost anything.

It’s shocking how many profiles on dating sites have bios that read something like, “Don’t message me if you are a [Republican/Democrat].”  Likewise, all the social media accounts that say something like, “If you voted for [Trump/Hillary] you will be blocked.”  This isn’t just virtual signaling for low self-esteem people.  It’s part of an emerging pattern of people restricting their data inputs to only mirror their current view of the world.  This is essentially a volunteer lobotomy where you kill of a majority of your brain cells from inactivity.

We have never had access to so much information, knowledge, and wisdom before, and never had an easier time accessing it.  Yet most people are self-filtering everything through their confirmation bias to prove what they already believe.  And social media now functions as a cudgel to beat up and shame anyone who changes their opinion about anything.  Reverse your position on something and there will be an army of trolls attacking you for it.  But if you don’t change your mind once in a while, you’re not actually using it are you?

When I see a young person who believes socialism is good and billionaires are immoral, I’m happy for them.  It shows they have open hearts of empathy and caring.  That’s exactly how most people at their age should be thinking.

When I see someone in their 30s who believes in a pure Libertarian society, I’m happy for them too.  It shows they have recognized the folly of believing a government Nanny State can solve all ills.  That’s ideally how someone at their age should be thinking.

But when I see someone in their 40s or older, who still believes in either extreme, it’s disappointing. I believe it shows they’re not willing to do the critical thinking to recognize the inherent flaws in their beliefs – and the necessary tension required between liberty and personal responsibility to create an enlightened society.  Honestly, when is the last time Nancy Pelosi or Mitch McConnell had an opinion about a policy proposal that didn’t confirm something they’ve believed for the last 30 years?

But the time you reach 40, you should be getting the money thing out of the way, questioning the mind viruses and beliefs you were programed with, dropping your narcissism, and starting to figure out what’s really important in life.  By the time you reach 50, you should be developing some wisdom and seeking to leave the planet at least a little better than you found it.

Most of the grateful messages I receive about the Radical Rebirth book are from people who woke up to discover they’ve been spending their whole lives living the story someone else wanted for them, not their own.  Before they were ten years old, they were programmed with an operating system built around foundational beliefs about god, money, sex, health, relationships, and careers that they blindly adopted, and have never questioned since.  They’re grateful that I have the balls to get up in their grill and challenge their most sacred beliefs, knowing that I’m doing it from love and empathy.  I wrote that book at 60, because it’s the book I wish someone would have written for me at 30. This post is the next best thing.  Allow me to challenge you to profoundly question if your thinking is evolving, and if so, how so.  How many people who have radically different beliefs than you have made it into your inner circle? What have you changed your mind about in the last six months? It’s worth thinking about.

Peace,

- RG

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