Save $271.23 by Moving to ING Electric Orange

Posted on May 30, 2007

I ran some numbers and here are the savings that we will receive in the next year by migrating our checking accounts to ING Electric Orange checking. It is not a ton of money, but it comes from a change that will also simplify our personal finance system. Two for one deal.

» Filed Under ING Electric Orange, Personal Finance Systems

ING Electric Orange here we come

Posted on May 29, 2007

With the previously posted guidelines in mind, we set out to come up with positive changes to our financial system that would increase our freedom and support the things we truly want to focus on. Here is the link to the previous system.

And without further adieu, here is the map of the updated system :

_{Note: On some screens the map appears off center, you can click and drag it to center it. Sorry.}

As you can see the main change the move from our Wachovia free checking to the paperless ING Electric Orange Checking as our primary checking account. The push was to get the money in our checking account working for us.

The 4% interest on the checking account balance should bring us an extra $100+ a year.
The other big benefit is that it streamlines our main finance accounts into one hub of savings, checking, and mortgage.
Transfers between all of the ING accounts are INSTANT, instead of the normal two do waiting period that it used to take.
Debit card use is fee free.
No more stamps for bills.
Electronic transactions downloaded to Microsoft Money are free.
They have the reputational capital of a large established financial institution, despite a few recent hiccups.
The only drawback that I see is that the Electric Orange account does not allow accounts to have an paper checkbook.

The final point will add some inconvenience, but what they do offer is the ability to fill out an online check that will be printed and sent snail mail at their expense. My wife and I talked it through and decided that even though it will be a little added inconvenience at first, it would eventually become habit. Here is why we came to that conclusion:

I sent e-paper check to myself and it took about three days to get to me. The process was easy enough and was an acceptable speed.
If needed you should be able to send a check to yourself that is made out to someone else.
Finally, we will keep our Wachovia checking for access to an occasional check and counter services.
We will not have to use another stamp on bills again.

I will post a review or two on how we are managing with this account as we get a better handle on the experiential benefits and drawbacks.

As for other changes we decided to make, we are adding an Educational Savings Account(ESA) or other college savings vehicle to the to do list. My son is a top priority, but our finance system was explicitly excluding him. Looking at our finance map reminded us to make him a priority. I will also post my research on which account we will open.

We will close the NJM checking account and have the Happy Rockette’s check deposited into the Electric Orange account. This will simplify the system and allow that money to be working harder for us.

Finally, we will search for a new rewards credit card that matches our spending habits to maximize the returns. Currently we probably get $100-$150 a year cash back, but I know we can do much better than that. Already the Chase Freedom or the Blue Cash card look promising. We may wait for a big $250 signup bonus or triple points, but they come around often enough.

Overall, we are excited about the changes. The fact the the system will be more tailored to our habits, work harder for us, and better support our freedom from finances is invigorating.

» Filed Under ING Electric Orange, Personal Finance Systems

Happy Memorial Day!

Posted on May 28, 2007

To those who served to protect our freedoms, The Happy Rock remembers you. I realize that without your sacrifice, my personal journey to freedom would not be the same.

In remembrance of those fallen in honorable duty to our country, I leave you with a website and a poem.

First, the website : http://www.remember.gov.

Second, the poem Freedom is Not Free by Kelly Strong.

» Filed Under Holiday Wishes

What should our personal finance system “buy” us?

Posted on May 25, 2007

Before I post on how we are going to change our current system, I wanted to discuss what I am looking for in a good finance system. Note, I am using personal finance system to mean the accounts and tools that your money flow through from paycheck through payment and/or savings. As always, the purpose of analyzing this and the overall theme of The Happy Rock is to continually simplify our lives in order to create more freedom for the goals and people we truly value in life.

Here are five areas that should be analyzed when creating, tweaking, or assessing a personal finance system. A personal finance system should be :

Simple - First and foremost, I am convinced that a good system needs to be simple. If it is not simple, it can rob us of the motivation to use the system to our best advantage, or waste time that could be spent on other areas. Simplicity is a broad term, but here I am mostly talking about number of accounts. With each extra credit card, bank account, and savings account in the system, comes add complexity(even if the accounts themselves are ’simple’). Complexity breeds more rules to juggle, more points of failure, more time investment, and ultimately more stress. Complex schemes seem easy when everything is running smooth, but throw in a lost job, unfortunate death or injury, or even a mistake and the system can collapse. One late fee or bounced check can quickly wipe out all the benefits we thought we were receiving from our schemes.
Freedom is usually sacrificed as complexity increases. If you really feel that you ‘need’ added complexity, make sure that you get a premium for the extra time, stress, and complexity. For me, 40$ or even 100$ dollars a year in interest isn’t worth the negative side effects of too much complexity.
Finally, simplicity is crucial for facilitating good financial patterns in marriage. If one spouse creates a system that is inaccessible to the other, it creates an imbalance of power and destroys communication. The system should foster sharing of stress/responsibility, ideas, workload, and accountability. Without the ability for each spouse to ‘do their part’, the system loses the bulk of its effectiveness.

Working for you - The ability for the system to provide returns on the money you earn is a key component. It boils to down to more freedom. The more your system earns for you, the less you need to focus on earning. When drawn out over the years(retirement), the importance of this factor becomes even more apparent. Here the main components to look for: interest rates in your savings account and checking accounts, credit card rewards, and performance on retirement vehicles. Performance needs to always be balanced against risk. The higher the risk, the better return you need to earn. As a guideline line, savings should earn above 4%, checking above 2%, credit cards rewards from 1%-5%, and retirement performance would hopefully be 10% or more over for those with a long time before retirement.
- Fees/Rates - I also want to lump in fees, because they will detract from you earning power. Late payment fees, service charges, overdraft fees, mortgage rate, credit card rate, and ATM fees will effect your bottom line. For example, $20 a month on ATM withdrawal fees would probably warrant a close look at new options.
Easy to Use - Ease of use speaks to the complexity and convenience of the tools that the system offers you. Instead of breaking this into categories, I will throw out some questions that I think about are relevant: Is the website straightforward and easy to use? How hard is it to transfer money? Check card options? What does it take to deposit? Is customer service easy to contact, friendly, and efficient? Do I have access to branch services? Easy payment options? Do I have to wait in long lines? What happens when the internet is down? Good training materials? Remember, each person may have different requirements here, so balance the questions I posed with the particular questions you need to ask.

Provide Protection from Mistakes - The idea here is that when we inevitably make a mistake(and we will), how badly with the system penalize use? A large part of this requires doing business with companies with solid reputations that aren’t out to ‘get you’. Other than fee structure, this is based mostly on the experience of others. Research really helps, and the internet and blogosphere provide a plethora of relevant material. Most people bounce their first check, and don’t realize that they can call the bank and be given fee reductions. For example, the other day I emailed Wachovia to see if they could do anything about the Microsoft Money service fee. Although they couldn’t help long term, they did remove May’s $5.95 monthly fee.

Supports your Goals - Your whole financial system should be setup up to support your values and goals, but what does that really mean outside of helping me earn the most money. For me, I noticed that a college fund is noticeable absent from my system. Since my family is of the utmost important, I decided to pursue an ESA as part of our system. This support could even be more personal. If one of your values is earth friendliness, then maybe you would choose companies that are more environmentally aware. When a system aligns with your goals, using it will provide a sense of fulfillment that will help propel you forward. I know this may seem like overkill, but a little forethought and planning can go along way to creating success and achieving freedom from in your personal finances. So what does your financial system look like, and how does it stack up? Next post I will tie these criteria into the changes that we are making to our finance system.Does any one have any other criteria they use? Feel free to drop a note in the comments.

» Filed Under Favorites, Marriage(Communication), Personal Finance Systems

Map Out Your Personal Finances With Bubbl.us

Posted on May 22, 2007

For just under a year we have been saving to fund our emergency fund. During that period our finances have been on auto pilot. Monthly budget meetings were taking five minutes, and there weren’t many decisions that needed to be made. We finally have our emergency fund to $12,000 or about 5 months expenses and now it is time to attack the retirement and college savings. Seems like a perfect time to shake things up and create more simplicity and freedom in our finances.

Before we get there though, I wanted to thank Wachovia for graciously providing the impetus to simplify our financial system. The final straw was when an unexpected $5.95 charge showed up. I later found out this was a new monthly service fee for electronically downloading account information to Microsoft Money. We were ready to change. I decided it would be helpful to map out the flow of money through our current financial system. I decided to use a Web2.0 mind mapping tool, because it is easy to use, free, and provided a nice interface for wordpress. Here is a the map of our current personal finance system using the very cool bubbl.us interactive wordpress plugin. Feel free to drag and zoom the diagram for your viewing pleasure.

Please email or comment, if you are having problems seeing the clickable diagram.

I did this for a couple of reasons : first, it is hard to keep track of all of the money movement in my head. Second, I tend to be a visual learner. Third, it is would be a nice reference for the family. Finally, I thought it would be neat to share in the blog.

Here are some things that I noticed as I thought about each piece of the system and the money flowed between them.

Complexity. The system worked not because it was a great system, but because we had developed good habits. There is significant time being wasted when shuffling between all of the accounts.
The NJM account is pointless. As soon as money is transferred in, I transfer it to savings. Even though all of our finances are joint accounts and managed together, there was needless separation of the accounts. The account happened to be left over from a half-hearted switch to the internet friendly NJM Bank years ago.
Our main checking account was not giving us any interest. A brief check in Microsoft Money revealed that we carried an average balance of $2,500 to $3,000 in our checking account last year. This could earn us an extra $100+ a year in interest.
The two day settle period to move funds between checking and ING savings is very cumbersome.
My credit card is really outdated. There are much better options that have come along in the last few years.
I liked having access to branch services like counter deposit,bond cashing, change cashing, and international money exchange, etc.

In my next post I will share how we are updating the system to create more freedom for the things we truly. value.

» Filed Under About Me, Personal Finance Systems, Productivity(Financial)

Overwhelmed? Here are a few steps to walk your way out

Posted on May 22, 2007

My todo list has been overflowing lately. How did I know?….I was subconsciously avoiding adding any tasks to it. I was barely finding time to get the basics done, let alone attack anything on my list. Like a deer in headlights, I wasn’t even getting things done when I had time. My so called productivity system left me wasting valuable time searching Steve Pavlina’s sleep experiments for more time. For days and maybe weeks I was making feeble attempts to drag myself out of the hole I was digging. Nothing was working. I wrote these steps while having too much on my todo list in mind, but I think they are applicable to creating freedom in other areas like debt and finances.

The breakthrough came when I asked myself “What would I say to a reader who asked for advice?”. Here is what I came up with and what I have been personally working through :

Realize You Are Overwhelmed - The first part is realizing that you are overwhelmed and not just procrastinating on a few tasks. If you are just procrastinating, look here for some tips. It may sound stupid, but I often find myself wandering frustrated for days until I recognize my patterns that point to deeper problems. My signs were the not using my PDA for processing and recording tasks, needlessly unproductive in ‘free’ time(avoidance), looking for quick fixes, and devouring of some junk food.

Accept Reality - Again, this sounds easy, but it really isn’t. For me, it took the form of admitting to others that the ship is sinking. I mean an author of a productivity blog, can’t admit this sort of stuff, right? Father and husband of the year(sarcasm), can’t admit to his family that he is struggling. Well, I did. I resigned to write a post addressing the exact issue. Then, the next morning I shared with my wife how I was feeling. In a world that tells you not to show weakness or rely on others, it sure feels cathartic to let those false pretenses go despite the uncomfortableness. It paves the way for true change.

Get Perspective – This took two forms :

Step Outside Yourself – First, I started thinking through my blog post. What would I tell someone who asked me how to deal with a similar situation? The answers become a lot more clear, manageable, and practical when not trying to deal with my own baggage. Stepping outside myself on my journey also leads me into prayer.

Life Is A Journey – Again a productivity blogger has to have it all together, right? Nope, that is why we call it a journey. Epiphany moments are rare, so most of life is filled with gradual up and downs. Some months are better, some are worse. Remember, we are steering a boat through this journey. You don’t automatically turn a boat around 180 degrees, it takes time to navigate that big boat from the valleys to the peaks. This type of perspective helps us to accept our reality without the self-pity and frustration that helps keep us trapped in the mud.

Priorities – At this point we can begin to look at the overwhelming list of things to accomplish. I like to keep these rules in mind when sorting through which tasks are the most important, which can be put off, and which can be outsourced/delegated or deleted:

People are more important than things – For me family comes first
Bills before thrills, or more clearly needs before wants

This time around there wasn’t anything that I removed from my list, but I did realize that there were a at least dozen tasks that would probably take less then fifteen minutes each.

Seek Simplicity – Focus on removing clutter from your life, your time, your systems, and your mind. It is amazing how quickly ‘stuff’ builds up as time goes on. I will let Leo over at Zen Habits who is a master at writing about simplicity guide you through some of that process.

Focus and Do – Finally, comes the DOING! After I told my wife about how I was feeling, she let a gentle pearl of wisdom fly. You just need to “reorganize and tackle one thing at a time”. Yeah, great pearl of wisdom, right? Well maybe it was more of a motivational boost, but it did help me remember that this is how I should be tackling things. It gave me some control back. Even with a trip to Longwood Gardens for Mother’s day, I was able to take a few hours on Saturday to focus and tackle one thing at a time with the help of The Happy Rockette. There were a bunch of small tasks that I knocked out, and even a larger one or two that I got through. It has been much better sailing the last few days, and it will continue. Hope this helps, I know it helped me. I’ll leave with a Thoreau quote :

Our life is frittered away by detail… Simplify, simplify, simplify! … Simplicity of life and elevation of purpose.

- Henry David Thoreau (”Where I Lived and What I Lived For” Walden)

» Filed Under Motivation, Procrastination, Productivity

What does getting out of debt “buy” you?

Posted on May 16, 2007

So we battled for three years to get rid of our $70,000 dollars in debt….so what! Here are the benefits that being debt free(besides the house) and the process of becoming debt free gave us.

Cash Flow - First and foremost, we got control of our money back. Instead of the bank requiring hundreds and thousands of dollars a month, that money was staying in our account.

Catharsis - I didn’t see this one coming, but eliminating debt helped me to revisit and deal with some bad decisions I made in college. Instead of just chalking them up to youth, I was able to accept them, learn from them, and do something to positively change my life because of them.

Lower Risk - Not having any debt lowered our overall risk level. The prospect of losing income is not that scary anymore. With so few monthly payments, I could probably survive delivering pizza. Second, since we changed our spending and behavior patterns, the chances that we will find ourselves in financial trouble in the future are small.

Less Stress – Even though the debt we had was not very old, we still felt the stress of having it hang over our heads. Without debt the juggling act is gone. We aren’t afraid to talk about our finances, and I know that our marriage and relationship has benefited from getting debt free.

Free Time - Along with the debt removal came much less time worrying about money. After a year or two, the system we were continually tweaking became second nature. I don’t spent more than maybe a minute or two a day, and 30 minutes on a budget meeting each month. Not only was my money mine again, I was able to reclaim extra time each day.

Change of Values - The debt elimination process caused us to really think about what things were wants and which were needs. Things like clothes, new furniture, and vacations took a back seat to the things that we truly valued. Long term success and happiness became more important than indulging our immediate desires.

Freedom - Finally as the title of the blog suggests, the journey was designed to give us more freedom. Debt can be stifling, and it is amazing how many more possibilities you can see without debt clouding your vision. We are freer to take advantage of life opportunities as they come our way. Free to give more. Free to seek after the things we truly love. For example, my wife was able to drop down to 18 hours a week, when our son came along. She could have stayed at home full time, but she wanted to keep her foot in the professional world.

This result of getting out of debt isn’t something I could have imagined before I could see the light at the end of the debt tunnel. If you are on the fence about the no debt thing, seriously give a try for a few months, completely eliminate some debts, and see if you notice your life changing. If you don’t like, it will only take a few minutes to get back in debt again.

Let me know which of these ring true for you, and which ideas I am deluding myself on.

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» Filed Under Debt Elimination, Favorites, Motivation, Psychology of Debt

My Get Out Of Debt Success Story - $70,000 In Four Years

Posted on May 15, 2007

The title of the site mentions gaining freedom through personal finance, so it is about time that I share some of our journey. The family’s finances are now on auto pilot, but that is only after 4 years of blood, sweat, and tears. The idea is to not only share the overview of the last 4 years, but also highlight the key concepts that we encountered while paying off over $70,000 in debt.

One would think that defaulting on a Sears credit card freshman year in college, and then having to get an 8% deferred interest student load to finish sophomore year would have changed my life. Well it didn’t. What it did do was set the stage nicely for my vengeance against debt. The chains started to loosen during my two year engagement as we started preparing for marriage. Take a look at the post on the book that started most of our great conversations during that time. What happened was that we began to evaluate our thoughts, philosophies, and relationship towards money. This evaluation started to give us power and was our first step to financial freedom.

Evaluate Your Relationship with Money - During many long conversations, we explored what we learned in our family of origins about money, how we currently operated, and what we thought money would look like when we were married. Our eyes were opened and we felt like we could have power over money and not let our finances control us. With my brief sordid history with debt and my wife’s loathing of credit cards, we were encouraging each other to despise debt(Step 2)

Despise Debt - Shortly after we were married in October of 2002(paid with $10,000 CASH), we had about $72,000 in debt. 70% school loans and about 30% in cars. We rented a reasonable apartment for a year, but were still feeling the bondage of the debt on our life and relationship. Frustrated, we started randomly attacking our debt with extra payments. This is where I came across Dave Ramsey, and was inspired to learn as much as possible to help us out.(Step 3).

Get Knowledgeable - Dave Ramsey’s book launched me into the world of personal finance. I checked out arm loads of books from the library, and devoured anything and everything I could find on the subject. I eventually returned to the Ramsey Snowball method. It suited me and I enjoyed the motivation his free streaming radio show provided. The best part was the simplicity of the plan and the ease at which my wife to climbed on board. With the new found plan, and all of the other information I was soaking up we began to take control of our finances(Step 4).

Take Control of Your Finances - We were renting DINKS(Dual Income No Kids) armed with a pretty shovel to dig out of debt. We watched our spending, trimmed our expenses, and put every extra penny towards debt. We learned how to plan, save, and spend CASH on larger items. We set up Microsoft money, created a budget, and communicated about how we were spending our money. The growth of control bred more motivation and energy. We sold our junk on eBay, and were able to put a $1,000+ towards debt each month. The debts began to fall, and with each one we became more focused. We even saved for a small down payment on a condo. An amazing thing happened when we got down to under $30,000 in debt…a world of options started to open up. We could envision a great future, and it seemed attainable. Things like working for myself, pursuing jobs we wanted, and having a family were definitely things that were within our grasp. Now that we were in control, we could have perspective on our life(Step 5).

Gain Perspective - In about three years, we were debt free; $24,000 a year towards debt!! As our money became our own and not the banks, we talked a lot about were we wanted to go in our lives. It was a wonderful feeling to realize that we could seek things that we truly valued in life. We saved $10,000 for the adoption of our son, increased our giving, and started building an emergency fund. In about 4 years our lives, finances, and marriage had been transformed. What an amazing ride it was, and journey is just beginning. As Dave Ramsey says : “We changed our family tree”. Our lives and the lives of our children will feel the effects of the last few years for a long time.

» Filed Under About Me, Debt Elimination, Favorites, Personal Finance

13 Creative Ways to Push Through Procrastination

Posted on May 10, 2007

Here are thirteen tips that can help you push through those times were you find yourself avoiding the things that you want to get done.

1. Find Meaning- We don’t usually have problems accomplishing the tasks that we really want to do, so try connect deeper meaning to the task at hand. For me this will take the form of gaining perspective. Realizing that wasting time trying not to do some task is keeping my from doing the things that I truly enjoy. Maybe the task means a lot to someone else, maybe it affects other areas of you life, maybe it will grow your character. For example, doing the dishes might make you wife very happy, or cleaning up a bedroom will give you restful sleep and energy for the rest of your life.

2. Rewards - Treat yourself to something special when the task is complete. Head for ice cream after you cut the lawn, or maybe buy a new tool after you clean out the garage. It may not seem like much, but it can really help our motivation. One caveat is to make sure the reward is appropriate for the task.

3. Realize your tendencies - Take note of the type of tasks that you procrastinate and the things that you do to procrastinate. Just being aware of your pattern will help you see the procrastination coming and help you create the structure to deal with yourself. Awareness will also help to attack our procrastination head on.

4. Create a time budget or plan - Managed time is less likely to encounter procrastination. Having already made conscious and active decisions about how you are going to spend you time, can really help fuel your motivation. For me structuring my time helps me feel more in control instead of the tasks controlling me. Not being in control is one thing that leads to procrastination. With a plan in place it becomes easier to see were you are going, and that vision can push you through the wall.

5. Create a deadline - Seems obvious, but I often found myself floundering in a task as the hours just roll by. By setting a deadline, and sticking to it, we create built in motivation. Decide that you will have the vacumming done by 7, or that you need to have a book read by Thursday at midnight. Avoid vagueness, since it will only afford us the ability to rationalize moving or missing the deadline.

6. Don’t do it/be lazy - Take stock and see why you are actually doing a task. Does it really need to be done? Can you do it in a more efficient way? Be creative. A fellow blogger Scott Young had a nice post on ‘being lazy’.

7. Create Accountability - It is amazing how much accountability can do for our desire. People in AA find accountability one of the mainstays to getting over an addiction, and it can help avoid procrastination too. Anyone who is married has a good idea of how accountability can shape our behavior. Ask a friend to ‘check up’ on you. The embarrassment of being caught not doing the task can be a motivator. Sometime even a To Do list can provide enough accountability to move us to action.

9. Break it up - Large tasks are often overwhelming and energy killers. One of the toughest parts is usually just starting a large task. Once we break through that barrier we start to flow. Break the activity up into smaller milestones that are easily accomplished and start it the first one. The idea of a 20 page research paper is daunting, but take some time to break it up into smaller parts like research X, create an outline, write part 1 of the outline, and so on.

10. Visualize - Someone next to you brings in a scrumptious piece of chocolate cake. Your mouth waters and without realizing you are subconsciously picturing yourself eating chocolate cake. A day later while grocery shopping, you pass the bakery section and throw a chocolate cake in the cart. We are not all wired the same way, but the idea is clear; the mind can be a powerful tool for accomplishing your goals. Visualize not only the act of doing the tasks, but also the completion, reward, and even the satisfaction you will gain from completing it. Try it, it does have some science behind it.

11. Delegate/Outsource - This one is the new fad. Don’t like to clean, hire someone else to do it. Maybe a neighborhood teenager would be interested in cutting your lawn for a reasonable price. If you find yourself struggling to motivate yourself, be creative and find ways to offload the activity. I have noticed that if I delegate, I am even more willing to ‘help out’, because I am helping someone else now and not doing the task myself. This could even include a task trade. Maybe your wife would rather cut the lawn in exchange for some other thing that she wants done. The great thing about outsourcing is that it will free up some large chunks of time in your life. The downside is usually the cost.

12. Involve Others - This is different then accountability. Having others around creates social energy that can motivate and energize us to action. Find a friend to go out walking to burn a few calories, or to head to the gym with you. Is your son or daughter interesting in learning how to change the oil on the car. Maybe if they are good they will be able to do it themselves after a few tries.

13. Make it Fun - Finally, find interesting ways to spice up your mundane and/or tough tasks. If it takes using the hamper as a basketball hoop to pick up some clothes, so be it. For me, I will often make tasks competitive. Can I run to the store and pick up msoe milk faster than the 8 minutes I took last time(without speeding!)? I am not sure, but it certainly gives me something motivate me to action and accomplish as fast as possible. A bonus making it fun is bringing a smile to my face. Even as I sit here I am laughing at the silliness of some of things I have done in the past!

Enjoy

-The Happy Rock

» Filed Under Motivation, Procrastination

We are what we think!

Posted on May 8, 2007

Any fact facing us is not as important as our attitude toward it, for that determines our success or failure. The way you think about a fact may defeat you before you ever do anything about it. You are overcome by the fact because you think you are. - Rev. Norman Vincent Peale

We start with a quote from the author of The Power of Positive Thinking. I won’t go into the controversy or the following this book has, because we are here to talk about how our thought life changes the physical world we live in. As the quote suggests, what data we choose to interpret and the psychological perspective that we interpret the data from can drastically change the outcomes in our lives.

Picture two young entrepreneurs who on the day off their big presentation are having computer problems and get a flat tire while picking up some last minute supplies. The one entrepreneur says to himself “it is going be one of those days’, and the other “I am prepared for this meeting, and nothing will get in my way”. Intuitively, which entrepreneur do we think will perform better?

Examining the way that we talk to ourselves is one of the easy to spot the psychological context that we are living our lives. The idea is to become aware of how we ourselves and life, and then attempt to create a more useful mental outlook. Awareness will be the key to change. Spend some time actively watching for the assumptions that you are making about the world around you, and how you will interact with it.

“Change your thoughts and you change your world.” -Peale

As we saw on our example, actively work on feeding yourself positive words and mental pictures. As our underlying perspective changes, so will our behavior and outcomes. The inverse of that quote is true too. Change your world, change your thoughts. If a angry and disparaging person attempts to smile and be friendly to his inner circle(even if it is a false pretence), his thoughts and outlook will have a tough time remaining unaffected.