BennyEast.Com/Blog The official blog of Kenny West

Iced Coffee

So, life, is a bit like having an iced coffee at your favorite coffee shop.  The next time you go to your favorite coffee shop notice everything the way it is when you sit down.  Then notice the way it is when you leave.  This is more true when you plan to stay for a few hours to do work by yourself and not when you go with a friend and are only there for a short period of time.

This also works in bars.  When you get there, notice how it's different from when you leave.

Change is all around us.  But the problem is most times change works against us if we buy into it, or get sucked into it.  If we rise above it and arm ourselves with knowledge and the tools to maneuver the rapids, we'll be okay.  This happens anywhere.  When you move somewhere new.  When you get a new job.

When you make new friends.  Or in love and relationships.

The problem in it all is that we are attracted to how things are now.  And not future prospects.

This is the same with stock trading.  Most people buy stocks at their peak when they are extremely overvalued... Then when the price falls they sell in panic.  No one wants to let go of something good, but they run for the exit on bad news... Even if it's only temporary.

This is where the good traders make money.  Buy on fear, sell on greed.

The key to most things is being able to see value and potential in anything, in future.  Finding something undervalued.  Finding a gem of a worker to hire who does solid quality work over and over again and not someone that thinks they are hot stuff but can't accomplish a single task on time.

Nothing stays static.  Everything changes from the moment you first encounter it.  Be it a person, a place, or a thing.  You have two options, it either gets worse, or better.

When you buy a new car and drive it off the lot, it starts to immediately decline in value.  However let's say that new car is bought and then used for Uber.  Now you've added future value to an initial investment.

The problem with a lot of change is it can't be predicted.  Sometimes there are signs or small indications.  But mostly, there's a LOT of noise.  But what can be done is using constant feedback to adjust course.

Research.  Paying attention to what is happening and using that info to make decisions.

If you get to a bar or a coffee shop and you sit down in a spot that is near people that seem quiet or nice.  Chances are, they will get up and leave at some point.  And a rowdy group or belligerent drunk will take their place.

What was a good situation when you initially arrived turned into a problem situation.

Now you can't do quality work at the coffee shop because kids are constantly bumping your table and running around making noises and picking up things and their parents are telling them to put the thing down that they just picked up "Put that back down!".

Now you and your friend can't enjoy your beer and conversation at the bar because this belligerent drunk is next to you telling you all about some conspiracy theory of his on the current news up on the TV screen.  About how the Zika virus was introduced on purpose by some secret world elite power as a form of population control.

And you you just want to smack him in the face because you've recently completed listening to a college lecture course on the very topic of virology from Columbia University and you know more than 99 percent of people on this planet as to how virus evolution and transmission actually occurs.  And if he had even a clue he would know that governments spend BILLIONS of dollars a year on research for vaccines and treatments for viruses just like Zika.

Zika is a real threat and has already had a damaging effect on the children of many mothers that were infected with the virus during pregnancy.

Zika is another example of the change theory I'm discussing.  The Miami area now has a small outbreak of the virus.  While it's predicted that it will be contained, one never knows what it might turn into.  Viruses have the ability to evolve and mutate at any time.  The key to controlling any virus is controlling the way it's transmitted.

This is why, for example, condoms are the number one way to stop STDs.  It's just a  fact.  It's not debatable.  If you stop the mechanism that transmits, you control the outbreak.

Miami is a luxurious alluring spot to live and vacation... Or at least that's the image that it portrays.  When you tell people you live in Miami, or anywhere in South Florida... There's always a "Oooooo!".  Same with Southern California.

It's not the same as saying you live in Columbus, Ohio.

But people that moved to Miami even last year... Now have a change.  Just like sitting down at the coffee shop at that quiet table, and sitting down at the bar next to that old married couple.

Zika is like the belligerent drunk that's now yapping in your ear and won't stop.

Yes, Zika isn't on the scale of something like Ebola.  After all it only causes symptoms in 1 in 5 people.  But that's kind of what makes it even more dangerous as it has the possibility to infect many people who will then infect many more and not even know they have it.

The problem with a massive outbreak will be that many young mothers who might have maybe recently gotten married and think all is heading in the right direction in life, could then suddenly find themselves with a child they weren't exactly expecting to have.  Their whole life changes now.  If that child survives and lives a full life, it will need care.

"Zika has been linked with other birth defects, including eye defects, hearing loss, and impaired growth." - http://www.cdc.gov/zika/parents/what-parents-should-know.html

Life can change just like that.  It can go from a young happily newly wed couple expecting their first child to a whole new set of challenges for that family.  It could strain the marriage.  Maybe they end up divorced.  Maybe the child doesn't survive.  Maybe the father or mother become so depressed they commit suicide.  There are real far reaching effects.

And here this belligerent drunk is spewing misinformation about how Zika is a secret world elite/government plan and was introduced on purpose.  It's just offensive.

Life is always changing.  It's challenging.  And the best way to handle it is to enjoy the iced coffee and know that there will be unknowns anywhere you go.  But on the flip side, sometimes you sit down next to someone that brightens your day a little.  Sometimes you forget you had a free iced coffee card at your favorite coffee shop and remember it when you are flipping through your wallet to pay for the drink.

They key is to separate the misinformation and noise from the good stuff.  To know the facts and know when someone is a babbling idiot by continuing to learn more about the world and suck up knowledge and weed out the hype and junk from the real deal and value.  When you arm yourself with knowledge you arm yourself with the single most powerful tool anyone could ever arm themselves with.