The Introvert's Guide to a Wealthy Life

Good Advice About Attitude for the Grads

Earlier this month, I watched my nephew graduate in a class of nearly 1,000 from Husson University in Bangor, Maine. He’s now got a degree in Mass Communication and is pursuing his dream of becoming a regional sportscaster in the real world with a summer-long internship at a historic ballpark in my neck of the woods.

It is the tradition of the University to confer an honorary degree to someone who has accomplished great things in the world. This year it was Husson Alumnus Saundra Pelletier–fellow Mainer and CEO of Evofem Biosciences. She has made a tremendous impact on the world through running multiple organizations including Evofem—which provides reproductive health products to women in need all over the world and practice “science with a soul.”

Of course, these honorary doctors give a little speech to go with their award. Normally, it’s boring, forgettable, and all about chasing your dreams and blah-ditty-blah-di-blah. Ms. Pelletier, however, had some tremendous advice that echos almost identically what I’d recently been reading in Jen Sincero’s best-selling self-help book You Are a Badass at Making Money.

The synchronicity was just too much for me to ignore. I sat rivetted as Ms. Pelletier talked about how Mainers have a backbone stronger than that possessed by anyone from anywhere else in the world (maybe true), and that we work harder (definitely true), and how we never give up (never surrender). But what really hit me between the eyes was when she started talking about the importance of attitude and mindset when it came to our own personal success.

Don’t Believe the Hippy Dippy Appeal of Happiness? I Didn’t Either

Before I read Sincero’s book, whenever some rich, successful, dude (because it is almost always a dude) started preaching about the power of your mind in business and in life, I would turn the channel, toss the book on the floor, or tune out until he was done speaking. It seemed far too hokey for me to really put any stock in it. If your mindset, attitude, and thoughts have so much to do with it, how was I not already a millionaire? I thought about progressing in my career, becoming more successful, and committed myself to various plans to get there throughout the years with very little success.

However, starting with Sincero’s words, I began to open my eyes to the fact that even though I had been focused on these things, I was also holding onto a ton of negative energy. I was complaining about how my master plans always fell through, griping about my bosses being jerks, complaining to my fellow employees about other fellow employees. Whining that it wasn’t fair certain people were promoted over me.

I began to think that maybe all that noise was drowning out the good stuff.

Scientific Experiments Point to a Mind-Matter Connection We’re Just Uncovering

Having always been interested by the paranormal, physics, and the weird ways in which the world really works, I was aware of experiments and phenomena (including synchronicity) that seemed to point at a sort of collective energy that influenced and responded to our meager human minds. But did these successful business types really buy into that garbage?

Digging further, I found multiple verifiable scientific experiments that seemed to confirm that:

• Humans and animals can engage in direct brain-to-brain communication
• Thoughts actually influence the real world
• Our mind helps us form our own realities
• Synchronicity happens far more often than the laws of coincidence would have it
• The effects of actions here can literally be measured around the world

So here was yet another very successful person (a woman this time) telling me that reciprocity was a very real key to her success. Put good vibes into the world through a positive attitude, mindful words and actions, and positivity and it would come back to me.

The Placebo Effect Doesn’t Just Apply to Healthcare

Although I am enthralled by supernatural theories and parapsychology, I’m not a spooky sort of fellow. I rely on science and factual information to help me form my own thoughts and opinions. That’s when I started doing a little research into the placebo effect. Of course, I was familiar with it—having heard it on every news outlet from Oprah to MSNBC—but I had never realized before that the effect actually went deeper than medicine.

If you’re not familiar (which I find hard to believe), the placebo effect is a phenomenon in which patients actually have measurably better results with various health conditions when they simply believe they’re taking medication that will help. Often researchers use ineffective sugar pills to dupe study participants but see very real positive results.

However, new research shows that the placebo effect can have measurable effects on parts of our lives outside recovery from health conditions.

For example:

• People who consider physical activity during their workday “exercise” actually live longer.
• When we are told a food is more “indulgent” we actually feel fuller longer
• Placebo Management has shown improved results in in real world business situations
• People with positive attitudes outperform others at nearly every level of professional competence

Now I’m not so quick to dismiss the power of positivity. There really seems to be something there (even if scientists haven’t yet identified it). It’s like the Higgs boson—or God Particle—of professional and personal success! We can see the effects of it even though we haven’t actually seen it yet. But just because we can’t definitively put our finger on the Quantum nature of the very real mind-matter connection doesn’t mean we shouldn’t start to shape our lives around it and reap the benefits.

So, if you haven’t yet, have a listen to Ms. Pelletier and let some of her positivity and mindfulness rub off on you. I did!