The mindset is the decisive factor of how far you will go in your lifetime. Money, fame, wealth, and fortune have nothing to do with how far you go. There are people with money who spend it wildly. There are famous people who have been arrested because they were caught using illegal drugs. The wealthy people had to become wealthy somehow. The people of good fortune could lose that fortune if everything went wrong. In fact, more lottery winners than you would think have ended up going bankrupt after winning the lotto.
The mindset is unquestionably the decisive factor of success. Having a powerful mindset allows those rags to riches stories to actually happen. Having a powerful mindset also allowed people to come up with new innovations, be persistent, and do remarkable things.
With the giant shift in technological advancements, it is important to question how much of an impact technology has on our mindsets. There are many people who are finding more opportunities because of the web. Some people are using the web to create businesses and build powerful social media presences at young ages (like me, but Houston Gunn, Jeet Banerjee, and many other teenagers are creating their own businesses as well). Other people are using technology to completely halt their progress. This comes in the form of a 5 hour YouTube video watching spree or something similar.
In addition, technology has made everything faster. I become very impatient when I see the five second ad on YouTube, and I know I am in the majority on this one. Technology has resulted in some people losing their patience. When a certain task takes a week to complete, one week seems like years. The people who are able to complete several tasks and stick with something for years are the people who looked at success stories. We all see the success story of the blogger who started with nothing a few years ago and now makes a solid $100,000 a month.
Technology has the power to dramatically strengthen or cripple the mindset. There is no in between. It is important to accept that technology has had a big impact on this world in several ways. Improved communication and organizing hundreds of documents on one computer are some of the ways that technology has had a big impact on the world. Technology has also had a big impact on our mindsets, and the people we become is dependent on how we look at and respond to the technology around us.
Marc, I like your discussion on technology and patience. I question whether technology is the problem, or simply the latent manifestation of human behavior that we otherwise wouldn’t see if technology didn’t provide us with the unbridled access that we have today. What I am curious about is whether this phenomenon (technology) spills over into other aspects of our lives, i.e. are we more impatient in general BECAUSE of technology? That would be an interesting question to answer.
I believe how we interact with technology without a question spills into our lives. I also believe that how we use technology determines our overall response. Some people use it to change the world while others use it to watch inappropriate videos. How we use something determines what we get out of it.
Hi Marc. 17 years young and yet so wise and mature. I look at the way my (now) 12 year old has grown up knowing no other life than one that is “connected” and wonder (and sometimes am in wonder) how effortlessly and unquestioningly he adapts new technology into his daily routines at school and at home. And yet he does not let technology get in the way of his personality or individualism. I hope it stays that way!
Thank you James. The culture we are in is an amazing but fragile one. Technology has the power to bring us together, but it also has the power to ruin us. How we use the technologies we have been given will determine how far we go as individuals and as a group.
Hi Marc,
A good analysis and a very nice article.
Thank you. I am glad to hear that you enjoyed the article. Technology is very powerful and has the ability to make or break us. Always be sure to use technology in a way that will enhance you.
Hi Marc. I like your post. I like that I live remote from you and we’d never meet yet we can share thoughts and ideas.
It is amazing how much technology has changed the world. I only hear about what life was like without the internet (what a scary place).