It’s NOT NEW, but it’s SPOT ON!
Paul White's nationally distributed syndicated column, “It’s NOT NEW, but it’s SPOT ON!” is published in 22 publications across seven states. This includes the following newspapers and digital publications: Midland Daily News (MI), SFGate (CA), Seattle PI (WA), Connecticut Post (CT), Laredo Morning Times (TX), Huron Daily Tribune (MI), The Telegraph (IL), and more. In this week's article, Paul provides essential life tools that will help you feel, happier, healthier, and discover the power of inner peace and kindness.
I found a post on social media stating “Happiness is the new Rich. Inner Peace is the new Success. Health is the new Wealth. Kindness is the new Cool.”
New? Not even close.
If someone said “thousands of years old” you’d have an accurate assessment of the timeliness of the statement. Why not turn the statements around to give us something we can contemplate and immediately choose to put into practice in our life. RICH is defined by HAPPINESS. SUCCESS is defined by INNER PEACE. WEALTH is defined by HEALTH. COOL is defined by KINDNESS.
So, how do we create a measuring tool we can all utilize to define the role each one of those flipped statements plays in our life?
Everyone wants to be rich. The problem with that is the tool they use to measure it, which is money. When someone asks themselves if they are rich, they look at either their income or assets and decide where they fit as compared to others. They never realize they’re attempting to turn in a screw with a hammer which is a quick path to frustration and failure. The correct measuring device when assessing whether you are rich or not is the happiness measuring tool. If you think through what percent of each day you’re happy and the number is over 90, YOU are one of the richest people on this earth. If your happiness each day is consistently below 50 percent, you need to immediately develop a new strategy on how you approach finding the best that each day in your life has to offer. Assignment: at the end of each day, figure out the experiences that brought you happiness and determine if those experiences can be utilized every day. Did exercising, drinking coffee, or eating avocado toast first thing in the morning get your happiness off to a roaring start? If they did, take note. Embrace all the experiences that move the dial forward each day. Eliminate all the experiences that move the dial backwards each day, meaning, you have to manipulate or “change your perspective” with the experiences you can’t avoid in order to change the dial from backward to forward. Within a month you’ll be hitting that 90+ percent each day. Now, when you measure utilizing happiness, you’ll find that you’re rich.
Everyone wants to be successful. The problem with that is the tools they use to measure it, which is money and status. When someone asks themselves if they are successful, they look at income, assets, and the status or title of the job they have and decide where they fit as compared to others. This is a horrible way to measure success. Success should only be measured comparing your present self to your previous self and determining how much closer you are to achieving Inner Peace on a consistent basis. Assignment: at the end of each day ask yourself if you’re better today than you were yesterday. If you are, it means that you acquired knowledge you didn’t possess before, made progress on a goal, or advanced a personal skill. If you can consistently say that you’re better today than the day before, you’ll be a success regardless of what you do for a living. Measuring being better each day than the day before is the quickest path to long-term inner peace.
Everyone wants to be wealthy. The problem with that is the tools they use to measure it, which is the total amount of money and possessions they’re able to acquire. That’s a problematic method of measuring wealth when you consider that a billionaire facing imminent death due to a medical condition would trade all of their wealth for good health. Utilizing health as a measuring tool, some of the wealthiest people in the world are people that feel loved, respected, and appreciated even if they don’t have a penny to their name. People having deep faith in any religion seem to possess great wealth were money and possessions have no real impact on their wealth. Instead, they use love, commitment, and devotion as tools to measure their wealth. Assignment: devote some time to thoughtfully assessing where your physical, emotional, and spiritual life line up. Think of the ways that you love others and the ways you make it easy for others to love you. Assess your character traits and ask yourself if they naturally allow others to respect and appreciate who you are. Be committed and devoted to being the best version of yourself each day which will lead down a path of wealth beyond your wildest dreams. The wealthiest people in the world are measured by the love they share and the love they receive from others. They may be penniless and have no possessions, yet they have wealth.
Everyone wants to be COOL! The problem with that is the tools our society uses to measure it, which is a flawed system seemingly based on popularity and a person’s ability to garner attention on demand. While this has been going on for centuries, wouldn’t it be great if we could develop a NEW COOL based on kindness. We could weave this NEW COOL into our current culture and create enough of a shift to make it last for centuries to come. What would the world look like if the entire planet was judged by a kindness factor? Assignment: admit that there isn’t a single area of your life that kindness can’t improve (you’ve just never thought of it that way before). At the end of each day, think about every experience you had and ponder how kindness could have added value to each experience. Then, based on your answers, come up with a plan to inject kindness into every experience you have tomorrow. Be prepared for things to be different (improved) just with a subtle dose of kindness added. You’ll be defining the NEW COOL with all that you do. Do this for 21 days and you’ll not only be COOL, you’ll be RICH, SUCCESSFUL, and WEALTHY! The only thing NEW will be YOU!
So inject a little GiddyUp into these four areas of your life, and have fun with your new measuring tools!
And remember, I Believe in YOU!
In addition to being a nationally syndicated columnist, Paul White is an author, motivational and inspirational speaker, entrepreneur, podcaster, and life coach located in Midland, Michigan. He offers self-help and culture development to start your journey towards consistent growth and joy. If you’re interested in getting in touch with Paul, please submit an inquiry via our Contact Page.