Rose colored glasses

Never let success get to your head.  Never let failure to get to your heart. I love this statement.  According to a study the number one reason for failure is arrogance.   I don't want to get into politics but it seems that Washington D.C.  has got  more than its fair share of arrogance.  My dad, Cliff Olson, use to say that sometimes we just get too big for our pants.  I think that is the same thing. OK, back to Rose Colored Glasses, which is the thinking that something is better than it is or at least seeing the positive side of things.  I guess that is me as I am a positive kind of guy and that I like to look for the good in things but sometimes that is a problem.  I think wisdom is the beginning of looking at both sides of the coin before drawing a conclusion.  Another way of describing that is through an example. Have you ever had someone draw a conclusion without knowing or at least examining the other side of the story?  I was examining a business opportunity for a friend of mine and he was very excited about the income opportunity and wanted to move forward on it.  He was exactly correct, he could make a lot of money with the new business.  I asked him how much of his time it would take and he said about 5 minutes each time and he would make more than $100.  I asked who would do the billing and collection and accounting and set up the appointments and run the ancillary operations.  I also asked him how much he would be giving up in income by spending 15 minutes each hour on this as he would perform the 5 minutes evaluation 3 times per hour (maximum).  I also suggested that he might not be able to assume 3 per hour and that some folks will take more than the 5 minutes.  Guess what?  when it was all said and done he would lose about $5 per hour. Then there is the story of a person who is getting a divorce because the other person cannot handle money and they are always broke.  But after talking to the other person there were at least 3 sides to the story.  His, Hers and the correct story.  She was not handling the money well because she thought making over $200,000 per year allowed her to be free spending.  She did not take into account that the house was about $400,000 and the monthly payment was over $3000 per month and the two cars were over $1700 per month and after taxes they were making about $14,000 per month and they needed to be saving 15% for retirement or more and that they had 3 children and two were teenagers with cars and they needed to be saving for college.  Of course they were going to private college and a private high school.  They were BROKE!  Not because of how much he made but because of the decisions they were making TOGETHER!  She had Rose Colored glasses on and he was focused on his image by the cars they drove, the schools their kids were in and the  house he said they needed to live in.  There is a lot right and a lot wrong with all of this. Don't we all look at life differently and some with Rose Colored glasses and some with a negative orientation and some with just plain naivety or lack of understanding. So what do you learn in the Osage? Always ask a few questions before giving our opinion Opinions are just that, OPINIONS Pause every time before making a decision except when driving, it might save you a lot of money and headache Put on your Rose Colored glasses and look at life, it will make you feel better Thanks for listening, gary@thepioneerman.com