Capital Gains | Smart Thing I Leaned Dining Stopped Things

The way you view things determines the way things happen to you

Life is an endless spiral, and if you are not careful enough, you’ll find yourself running the same circles over and over again. The worst situation is also a learning experience. A lot of people live their lives focusing on the bad things that could happen to them — this is a wrong mindset that breeds fear.

Fear is a barrier that stands between you and your potential. Once you eliminate fear, you’ll realize that you can actually take a lot of positives from a negative situation. Some of the world’s greatest people like Walt Disney, Albert Einstein, Michael Jordan, and Oprah Winfrey all learned from negative situations. You cannot afford to let negativity overcome you. Some of the stupid things you do can also be used as a learning experience to make you a better person, and that’s why this book is important.

There's no single formula for lasting happiness; you must always make the best of your current situation and look forward to better days.

 

Chip Gaines, an experienced writer, has used his life as an example of how you can learn from doing stupid things. If you want to know how to make the best of a bad situation, then this is the right book for you.

When you always see the positives of any situation, it’s really difficult to be affected by the negative aspects

Seeing things from a positive angle eliminates negative feelings.

Chip Gaines was a slow first-grade learner. At the age of seven and a half, he had yet to learn the basics of the alphabet, but he wasn’t particularly bothered by it. His school split the first-graders into four groups; Eagles, Falcons, Blue Jays, and Penguins. Gaines belonged to the Penguin group, and when it was time for reading classes, the Penguins were taken to the gym instead.

Even though Penguins were the only birds who couldn’t fly among the other group of birds, Gaines never saw it as something to be ashamed of. Instead, he saw it as being special and unique. He believed he was special too, and that’s why he refused to focus on the negative aspects of his slow start.

The failure to believe in yourself is the start of a life-long inferiority complex. The best way to stay positive is to believe in yourself.

 Growing up, Gaines had always loved baseball like it was his life. He shared the passion with his dad, and together, they played and practiced. Gaines’s love for baseball grew into an obsession, and it almost caused his downfall.

He paid maximum attention to baseball in school, and made the college team. Thinking he was on his path to becoming a professional baseball player, he was cut off in the first year in college. The sudden change affected him so much because he had already tied his existence to the prospect of being a baseball player.

When you attach your self-worth to a particular thing, you are putting yourself at the risk of falling hard.

Gaines knew he couldn’t continue to wallow in self-pity, so he decided to move on with his life. He worked in a lawnmower company, and it was there he found another passion — being an entrepreneur.

Sometimes, your initial passion is only a means to an end. Gaines’s initial plan to become a baseball player made him so disciplined with his work, and this will later help him in the future.

Did you know ? In 2016, in its first full year of operation, Magnolia Market reported an estimated 1.9 million visitors?

It is important to take calculated risks because the decisions you take affect the lives of others

Gaines started three small businesses in Texas, one of which he did with some Mexicans. The Mexicans were able to communicate with him in English, but he was not able to communicate with them in Spanish. He felt he needed to learn Spanish as a way of showing respect to his business partners, so he took a Spanish class in Mexico.

He left the larger part of his businesses in the hands of his girlfriend, Joanna , and he went on the trip to Mexico. While Gaines was in Mexico, his businesses threatened to fold up because Joanna wasn’t well-prepared to handle them. This realization made Gaines understand that running businesses wasn’t as easy as he thought it was.

Being an entrepreneur requires being in charge of everything.

 An entrepreneur must know about everything that makes the business run because if anything goes wrong, he bears most of the damage.

Gaines’ marriage to Joanna taught him the power of love and commitment. He believes that love is more than just a romantic journey; it’s a force that should be used to develop positive energy.

On Gaines’ forehead, there’s a scar in the middle that’s in the shape of a wishbone. The scar came about when he took a new four-wheeler cart up a steep hill and landed on his face after losing control. That moment, as he thought about what could have gone wrong, he came to terms with the enormity of his role in his family’s life. With a wife and five children, Gaines realized that though it’s good to have fun, taking calculated risks is the best way of surviving.

Being a father and a husband carries a lot of responsibilities, and having had a close shave with a disaster, he realized that whatever choices he made would affect others around him.

Fear limits your achievements b y making you believe that risk-taking is wrong

Life happens in such a way that you can never plan enough. You might have plans A, B, and C, but life will show up with a plan D. There’s no limit to what you can achieve as long as you eliminate fear and understand the logic behind risk-taking.

Risks are there to scare you off huge things, and the moment you allow fear to overcome you, you will never realize your true potential.

A lot of people spend their days living in fear of the unknown and avoiding risks, yet life still finds its way to them, in deadly manners.

Joanna was pregnant with the couple’s second child when she announced to Gaines one day that she thought it was time to close her Magnolia Market. The Magnolia Market was her little shop that was starting to grow bigger with more customers. When he asked her why she made the decision, Joanna claimed that she felt it in her gut. She explained that she had to give her kids full attention. Joanna was willing to forgo one dream to fulfill another, and Gaines supported her decision.

Sometimes, forgoing a winning situation doesn’t mean you’re losing. It’s okay to give up one dream to chase another, as long as it’s a valid dream.

 After the birth of their fourth child, the couple agreed to reopen the Magnolia Market, and Joanna went back to business.

After reopening the Magnolia Market, the couple established an online market. They did this simultaneously with filming the first season of the Home and Garden Television Network (HGTV) show “ Fixer Upper.”

As they progressed, the Magnolia Market expanded and needed more space and bigger warehouses.

Their growth had started to make them uncomfortable, but as an experienced person, Gaines knew to make the best of every situation. Also, their TV show gained a lot of viewers, and soon they had people from across the world visiting the Magnolia Market in Waco, Texas.

The growth of the business brought challenges to them as they struggled to get a bigger warehouse and keep up with the demands of the people.

Bigger businesses bring bigger challenges, and it takes commitment and determination to overcome those challenges. As they looked for a solution, Joanna found a big property with two huge silos that they bought.

Despite the high cost of the property and the renovation it would take, the couple purchased it and spent a fortune on it. They weren’t scared they could run at a loss because even if they did, they would both see it as an experience and move on.

The property ended up solving a big part of their problem, and they were able to operate the business well.

The decisions you make might seem irrelevant now, but in the future, your idea might become the next big thing

This was evident in the purchase of the Silo property. Gaines and Joanna had decided to stay in Waco permanently to look after their business. The couple were still filming with HGTV, and they were adamant with the fact that they were not going to move from Waco. HGTV felt Waco was too remote and underdeveloped, but the couple believed that if HGTV needed them, they would come to them.

Fortunately, the show picked up massively and attracted visitors to the silo, bringing unprecedented development to Waco.

The single act of purchasing the silo property led to a chain of reactions from people that worked for the greater good of Waco.

Gaines describes himself as a handsome yet scrappy man. In this context, scrappy isn’t being unkempt and uncoordinated; it means being tough and determined never to give up.

When hiring for the Magnolia Market, Gaines and his wife make sure they hire people who are hard-working and proactive.

If you figure out what drives you, run, don’t walk, in the direction of making real, fulfilling work, out of the drive. Make sure you have a dream and accept the failures that come your way as you plan to achieve that dream.

The Gainses taught their employees that money can’t teach passion and that the best way to be productive is to be passionate about what you do.

Passion brings a sense of belonging that effectively boosts your production in any situation you find yourself in.

 Gaines’s deal with HGTV took a lot of time and effort. The deal emphasized Gaines’s dislike for being controlled. HGTV controlled most of the actions, and this somehow made him uncomfortable. The couple were running the Magnolia Market, the “ Fixer Upper” show, and a family all at once. HGTV provided them with a lot of money and privileges, but it was affecting their personal lives.

You need to examine and re-examine your position at regular intervals to know where to stand. You need to set priorities in life, and regardless of what happens, you need to be courageous enough to make a decision.

Knowing the difference between a work and a job is very important

A job is like a task that must be accomplished for an agreed price while work is the effort and commitment poured into accomplishing a goal.

Knowing which one works for you between a job and work is very helpful. Once you find your dream, chase it, you make it.

The couple decided to quit “ Fixer Upper” and focus on the Magnolia Market and the family.

You must learn to include people with different views in your circle. Surrounding yourself only with people whose ideas are in line with yours limits your exposure. Gaines believes that “ No growth. No change .” You can’t really grow in life if you do not extend your views beyond what’s right in front of you.

 The willingness to put your thoughts into action separates you from the novice.

 The novice will always remain a novice as long as his thoughts do not manifest beyond his head.

Gaines’ dream to become a living pathway for other people became a reality because he was active about his dreams. Your actions, to a large extent, affect the lives of those around you. When you’re inactive, you’re ineffective

You must have integrity, character, and faithfulness if you want to be successful in life.

 Gaines’s legacy is one that teaches the importance of selflessness. You cannot sit idle and expect your dreams to unfold before your eyes.

"Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts."

 

Conclusion

Failing with courage is better than being scared of taking risks. If you fail, you will surely learn something. You must also remember that in seeking your passion, your age doesn’t matter. Failure is an important, inevitable phase in our lives. It's a way of gaining experience and learning about life in ways that would change the way we think.

Our ability to fail is in-built, and so is our ability to rise up from the failure. Whenever we fall, we shouldn't stay down and wallow in pity. The best motivation we can give ourselves is to keep pushing. When we falter and refuse to stand, we'll never know what made us fall and how to avoid it the next time.

Our ability to survive also depends on our decision-making skills. Nobody is an expert at making decisions, and sometimes, failures teach us how to make the best decisions. When we learn how to calculate our moves using our past experience as a roadmap, we'll find it easier to achieve success. Trusting your guts means you are willing to take calculated risks. You must find a way to learn from your stupid mistakes and apply these lessons to every aspect of your life.

Try this

Take the time to evaluate your current position and ask yourself if you love your current job or you'd like to start your own work. You must always be able to make decisions for yourself and those around you no matter how tough it may seem.