Creativity isn’t something that only “creatives” need. Anyone who creates useful ideas is always in high demand.
And in our services-dominated economy, we need to be creative to succeed.
Sharing a helpful idea during a work meeting
Making your pitch unique for a client
Creating “original” art
and so forth
Netflix is a great example of being competitively creative in today’s high-paced world.
In the early 2000s, Netflix was a struggling DVD-rental subscription service with little creativity. Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings tried to cut his losses by selling the business to Blockbuster, then a major video and game rental store. But Blockbuster declined.
With the country going through a recession, Hastings had to lay off 30% of his staff.
This forced him to rethink things. If Netflix were to survive, it had to be creative and think of new ideas. It wasn’t just about efficiency anymore. They had to do everything differently.
In an interview1Source: L.A. Times, Hastings looked back at some of Netflix’s low points. And he reflected:
“If you think of the last 300 years, we’ve had factories providing enormous economic value, and so a lot of our society has the factory as the model of the organization. Very top-down, very process, very efficient.
But it’s not the right way to run a creative organization. An organization that needs new ideas needs to be able to make mistakes.”
Nowadays, productivity books and blogs are everywhere (you’re reading one right now). This shows how much people want to live a productive lifestyle. But we can also overdo it.
As I’m writing this in October 2022, the S&P 500 — which tracks the top 500 companies in the United States — was at its lowest since March 2020.
Meanwhile, the global inflation rate is at a level we haven’t seen in 40 to 50 years. On top of that, we have a list of other global challenges, ranging from climate issues to war. It’s not looking good.
To people without experience with investing in the stock market, it seems extremely risky to start investing when prices are low.
The assumption is that stocks are down for a reason. On the surface, that seems true. When there’s unrest in the global economy, stocks are generally lower, which is actually a positive thing for long-term investors.
But it’s perceived as bad. They assume that investing is somehow more dangerous when prices are low. But the relationship between risk and reward is not a complicated topic at all.
Put simply: When perceived risk is high, expected returns are high because real risk is likely low.
Welcome to Wise & Wealthy: A weekly newsletter full of proven ideas to become smarter and wealthier. I send this every Monday and every other Thursday.
Do you ever feel misunderstood by others? Maybe you feel that people at work don’t get you. Or that your friends are not on the same page.
Maybe others truly don’t get you. But that’s not because of them, it’s most likely because of your own behavior.
We live in a world where we’re constantly judged. And how do people judge you? By looking at what they see.
In other words, the perception that people have of you becomes reality in their minds. Now, it doesn’t matter how you truly are when it comes to perception. When people perceive you in a certain way, it’s almost impossible to change that.
That’s why it’s important to be mindful of how you present yourself. Always present the best version of yourself, no matter how tired or unmotivated you might be.
In 99 out of 100 cases, it takes years to get rich. But since the media loves highlighting that one person who got rich overnight with a few passive income ideas, many of us have a screwed-up idea of how people get wealthy.
While we know that get-rich-quick schemes never work (otherwise they wouldn’t be called that), most folks don’t know that building wealth is not that complicated.
The problem with getting rich is that it takes time. And in this impatient world, people just don’t want to wait. They want to be rich now.
But if you decide to go against the grain and commit to building long-term wealth, you will inevitably become wealthy if you do one thing: Increase your net worth every year.
The best way to make that happen is to have multiple income streams. If you only have one or two income streams right now, that’s fine. With consistency and time, you’ll eventually get there. It doesn’t happen overnight.
If you’re serious about building wealth over time, you will accomplish that goal because you control your behavior. When executed well, the following passive income ideas will increase your net worth gradually.
The Austrian psychotherapist, Alfred Adler, believed that we are the masters of our destiny:
“No experience is a cause of success or failure. We do not suffer from the shock of our experiences — the so-called trauma — but we make out of them just what suits our purposes.”
Never let the bad things that happened to you in the past define how you look at yourself today.
Every day is a new opportunity to do things differently.
Thanks for reading! I hope you found this edition of Wise & Wealthy useful.
All the best,
Darius
Join the 7-day Stay Centered challenge
I’ve created a one-week email course that you can do together with a group. It’s called Stay Centered, and it will help you to reclaim focus and live a meaningful life.
When you’re centered, nothing can hurt you. You will have inner peace no matter what happens.
How to unlock Stay Centered
You can join the challenge for free. Every day, you’ll receive a short email with a small challenge that inspires you to live better.
I highly recommend sharing it with your friends so you can go through the program together. I did it with my team, which was a lot of fun.
In 99 out of 100 cases, it takes years to get rich. But since the media loves highlighting that one person who got rich overnight with a few passive income ideas, many of us have a screwed-up idea of how people get wealthy.
While we know that get-rich-quick schemes never work (otherwise they wouldn’t be called that), most folks don’t know that building wealth is not that complicated.
The problem with getting rich is that it takes time. And in this impatient world, people just don’t want to wait. They want to be rich now.
But if you decide to go against the grain and commit to building long-term wealth, you will inevitably become wealthy if you do one thing: Increase your net worth every year.
The best way to make that happen is to have multiple income streams. If you only have one or two income streams right now, that’s fine. With consistency and time, you’ll eventually get there. It doesn’t happen overnight.
If you’re serious about building wealth over time, you will accomplish that goal because you control your behavior. When executed well, the following passive income ideas will increase your net worth gradually.
