How to Stay Informed Without Going Crazy | The Better Than Rich Show Ep. 2

Question The Narrative

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Question The Narrative 〰️

How to Stay Informed Without Going Crazy

Recently, there is more to know and worry about than ever. We are all constantly consuming high volumes of information and oftentimes it can be overwhelming. As a person in society, it’s important to keep up with what is going on within your community. So since it isn’t likely you can get rid of all the outlets funneling your information, the best thing to do is decide what your relationship with social media and new information is. What will you take from what is being given to you?

Real vs. Feel

Not all information provided by the media is true. Sometimes the media will inflate information that they release to the public to receive a certain emotion or feeling from the viewer or readers.

Curiosity is a good relationship to have with the media, not quite taking it for truth but taking it in. The objective here is to only focus on what you can control, not be attached to problems you can’t currently do anything about.

With that curiosity remember that all media has an agenda, a bias. It is true to that person’s point of view, truthful to them. So it’s important to do your research on topics that you find out about from someone sharing their truth rather than telling the truth.

Sometimes it’s not the truth because they have missed information, an agenda, or a one-sided perspective.

The best way to stop yourself from being overtaken by ‘sharing truth media’ is by being your individual. It’s an important skill to know how to create your thoughts and opinions. The reason people get caught up in the media and allow it to drive them mad is that they hadn’t stopped to think for themselves and ask, Is this real? Where did I get this information from?

How does this information relate to me and is there anything I can logically do with it right now?

Just because you see things multiple times doesn’t mean that it’s true, just means that is what you’ve been showing the algorithm you are interested in. Media drives what people pay attention to, not what’s true.

Family Beliefs

We all learn things from our family naturally. So we tend to take on the beliefs of our family members, most often our parents. Though there are plenty of things our parents teach us that we should continue doing, we should also make that decision knowledgeably.

Why do you believe that? Have you explored other options for yourself and decided on continuing the belief your parents taught you? Or is the answer just “ because of my family”?

We at Better Than Rich know these questions can be tough to answer, sometimes it can be difficult to understand what you believe in and what has been taught to you.

Once you do though you will find a new level of independence, no matter if your beliefs change or not. Making decisions like this one for yourself helps you take more control of your life.

What Does This Have to do With Being Better Than Rich?

To be Better Than Rich you have to have a realistic plan, how are you meant to have a realistic plan if you don’t know the truth.

How realistic is a plan with no detail? You must seek the truth to ever reach any goal you set for yourself.

People who want things to stay the same, and aren’t trying to improve themselves or their community aren’t Better Than Rich. When you are educated and Better Than Rich you want to add positivity and improvement to the people around you and your community.

And nothing can be accomplished without knowing the truth.

Andrew Biggs 1:50
What's going on everyone welcome to the better than it show. I'm your host Andrew Biggs and I'm back here with my co host, Mike Abramowitz. Mike, how you doing this morning?
Mike Abramowitz 2:00
Good morning. Feeling Good. Great Monday morning.
Andrew Biggs 2:04
Awesome. Fantastic. Yes. And yes, if you're with us live, go ahead and shout us out in the chat. Let us know what you're up to this morning. And what brought you here as well as liking comment and obviously share. That's the easiest way that you can support the show. It's just, you know, sharing our content and making it aware to everyone else who's out there, that we exist, and that better than rich is changing your life in some way, shape, or form. But yeah, we are here we're Episode Two, by the way, just you know, elephant the room, I am in Dallas right now I'm in a little business trip here. So different background. And hopefully everything, though, is still working here. And we're good to go. But good. Good and sound good. As always. All right, beautiful. Well, hey, man. Um, yeah, we got into some awesome topics. Now we're gonna kind of do round two here, on what you've learned from investing in yourself what I've learned from investing in myself, and we're gonna start to unpack that further. I thought some really good topics came up yesterday, if you haven't watched yesterday's show, make sure you do go back and watch it. But, you know, I really love to just start diving right in man. One of the things we were talking about before the show was how to stay informed without going crazy. And I think that, these days, that's more important than ever, right? The news cycle moves very fast. A lot of times, it actually really is affecting our lives, whether it's COVID, or lockdowns, or, you know, different things that's happening with politics or health. And so, you know, I thought it'd be fun for us to unpack a little bit about how you do that I can unpack a little bit about how I do that, or at least attempt to do that. And we'll we'll see where it takes us. But yeah, man, talk to me a little bit about that, from your perspective, you know, staying informed without going crazy. Yeah, how does one do that?
Mike Abramowitz 3:48
Well, I think I think it's it comes back to yesterday talking about curiosity. I know when I I'm watching and learning and listening to things and I see these political posts or I see these posts about COVID or I see things and I just decipher from Okay, what is really trying to get accomplished right here because I was something not many people know about me, is I was actually on the front page of a newspaper article. Back when I was in high school, and it wasn't a positive thing.
Andrew Biggs 4:24
Tell me more. This is intriguing. I'm learning here, tell me more.
Mike Abramowitz 4:28
It was in the Asbury Park press. And, you know, the cliffnotes version of the story was my buddies and I, we went to a friend's had access to like a catamaran club and he's like, Hey, we're gonna go to this catamaran. it's it's a it's my parents or whatever it was, we're gonna get this party going. And we're like, yeah, cool. It's an April we got nothing else to do. It's a school night. Let's go hang out there and just like, you know, go chill, whatever. So I was 16. All of us were 16. And while we're there The cops came and busted up the party. Okay, so I didn't know what to do. I had a drink I was in smoke I didn't do anything I was you know, completely straight edge at that point in my life and so I just fled I just ran. I was like, I don't want to be guilty by association here. So I went and played manhunt with the cops and I just laid in a marsh for till about three in the morning and the NYPD helicopters who found me so NYPD helicopters. Yeah, the radar everything. So the whole thing went down. Well, the the press the Asbury Park press, picked up the story. And the front page of the newspaper, I actually have the I have the article still I saved it. And it says, injured boys saved in drug party raid. That was the headline front page. headline was deadly his day ever in the war. It was like our headline was more significant than this other headline that was in the war. And the article was just so over done, like hype was in fact, like factual. Was it real? So ever since that moment when I was 16? I'm like, Huh, it created a question of like, what actually is real, versus what is being portrayed to the public? And since then, my relationship with the media is a little bit more of a curiosity than a let me take this for what is truth? Hmm. So. So with everything that's happening right now, even even when originally When, when, when COVID happened, you and I had many conversations of what is how do we discern? How do we take what's given to us? How do we figure out what is real versus what is feel? What is what is actual versus what is panic? What is what is relevant to me, what is relevant to my people? How do I respond? And it was just a lot of question asking. So that's, that's how I approach it. And I can I seek counsel, I seek wisdom. Everyone has an opinion. I don't go to people's opinions. I seek counsel and wisdom. I went to you, I went to other mentors. I didn't go to people who were very traumatized by everything that's going on. And that's what I do. That's my relationship with the media. That's how I what what do you what are you what are some things that show for you here? Well, I
Andrew Biggs 7:34
think we can unpack this quite a bit. But I I want to ask one quick question and follow up. How do you know if something is counsel versus opinion? How do you how do you determine what is wisdom versus good advice? How do you determine what is counsel versus opinion? If you seek counsel and someone's giving you their opinion or their counsel How do you know the difference? What do you think?
Mike Abramowitz 8:03
Well, I know the difference is the judge of it's my judgment i mean, i i i have a circle of influence like a sphere of influence of people that I have in my tribe that I have established some sort of trust with. I also have people that are not in my tribe like a Tony Robbins that is someone that I he I he lives a principle based life that aligns with my principles so I need to make sure that who I'm getting that wisdom from has some sort of alignment to my my view of the world so that way I could align with their view of the world and I try to make it as principle based as possible where it's not it doesn't change with environment it doesn't change with you know who they're with like it's very much like Stephen Covey says like, it's the I don't know how I pet his paradigm that he talks about having a paradigm of principle centered living versus relationship centered or business centered or money centered. He says principle said that does not change regardless. So having those people in my life that I can say they are principle centered, so therefore, I can respect their lens of the world, because I know they have more counsel or wisdom and their opinion matters to me. I don't know if that is really that's how I kind of sift through some of the noise.
Andrew Biggs 9:34
Right? So it's not it's not constantly changing with the way and it's not changing with what's popular today or, or unpopular today. It's saying this is what who I am this is how I live. And, you know, take it or leave it. Sometimes it works for me, sometimes it doesn't, but this is who I am. And this is how I'm going to respond in different situations. I love that. So seek counsel of people who are principled in their approach. And they aren't so volatile with how they change with how the news cycle happens, or what's what's happening in their personal life or whatever, they're they're not swayed with the wind so easily. You know, one of the things I would say with seeking counsel, since we're on this topic and on this thread is, look for somebody who's going to ask you questions, you know, look for somebody who's not just going to give you opinion, but is maybe going to give you a particular way to potentially Think about it. But then say, Well, what do you think? Let's figure this out together. And let's, let's have a conversation about it. I think that the people that I want to seek counsel from are people who are actively not so certain about their their perspectives all the time, and they're always seeking new information, they're always seeking to actually want to be informed, even better, and they're married to their positions about any one thing, because we're always working with an incomplete model and view of the world anyway, we have incomplete information. So we have to make the best choices with the information we have. But somebody who's really principled when new information comes, they change their perspective. Right. And so that's really important when we're seeking counsel. I think that's, that's really cool. You know, I want to go back to that story.
Mike Abramowitz 11:22
I love what you just said, I just want to make sure that was captured. Because sure when you a someone who's willing to ask questions, it's I mean, that triggered with me, because that is what the some of these individuals have done that they would offer a little bit of their opinion. But they would definitely question our ask good questions, thought provoking questions, help me forge my own opinion. Which would you you've just done excellent work with me on during the last over years. I'm glad you said that. I want to make sure everyone caught that is, is, you know, it's true that anyone who I just looking back on certain chapters in my life where I needed counsel. And I got thought provoking questions that were posed to me. Even when I listened to some of the, you know, some some influencers, many of them, when I listen to them, they're asking their guests really good questions, versus telling them this is what I think what do you think? It's like, tell me, like, this is kind of what I think but um, you know, I want to hear from you first, what are your thoughts? And it's like, well, these are my thoughts about your thoughts. What do you think about my thoughts? So it's like very much a conversation with leading with questions. So I just wanna make sure I was captured.
Andrew Biggs 12:42
Absolutely. And I want to go back to this story. I mean, I I love learning new things about you, Mike, and I love this story. Injured Boy, you know, rescued by police in a in a drug raid or something like something along those lines? To paraphrase? And yes, it does make us question. Okay, how do we actually want to stay informed? What's the best way to stay informed? And how can we stay vigilant, obviously, if we, you know, take kind of an extreme perspective that everything that we, you know, see in the news, or read in the reading articles is the absolute truth, then that's probably a wrong way to live. Also, if we take an extreme perspective, that no one's to be trusted, you know, there's no truth out there that, you know, I can't trust anybody. And all of a sudden, we're going down conspiracy theory alley, that's probably not a great way to live, either, you know, part about being better than rich is trying to have our map of the world map reality. Okay, this is the foundational principle for being fulfilled, if we want to be fulfilled, we want to have a really good map of reality, and then map it on to the actual world in which we live in three dimensions. And what typically happens when we're experiencing fulfilment is we don't have a great map of reality, we think that if you go to college, and you work hard, and you, you know, stay in school, and you graduate, the life's gonna be easy, and you're gonna be able to travel the world and make millions of dollars. And so that's your map map of reality, and then you get hit alongside the head when the real world comes to add knocking at your door. So there's an example of where the map, your map internally doesn't map this three dimensional world that we live in. What we need to do is try to shape our reality shape our model of the world, how we think about the world to map onto reality. And so the foundational quest that we're all on here, at least in the better than rich community, is the quest for truth. We want the truth. And sometimes the truth is really hard to come by these days. And so we need to be ever more vigilant and aware of of how we're actually parsing that out and how we're figuring out what The truth is, you know, somebody was doing a little test and they was a professor, he was talking to his class, he said, hey, how many of you guys would want to know if your significant other was cheating on you? And every single hand in the class was raised. Now, why would that be? Because, you know, certain perspectives of human nature would say, well, all we want to do is take the path of least resistance, we don't want to experience any sort of pain, we don't want to experience any sort of discomfort, were strictly driven by these evolutionary forces that would say, Hey, you know, if you have to experience discomfort, avoid it. Right? But why would people want to know if their significant other is cheating on them, because the the quest to actually know the quest to understand the world and have the truth is actually better. And a higher value for human beings that it is for the the desire to not be inconvenienced, the desire to not experience pain, and so people would rather experience pain than to live in a fantasy world. And I think that's really interesting. And I think that really highlights, you know, why it's so important to try to see the truth. So one of the things that I wrote down that Mike was talking about was curiosity, right, so approaching what's happening in the world with a curious eye. And also, you know, this really requires you to stay sovereign, and to not get sucked into whatever it is that you're engaging with. Because no matter where you're getting your news from, we have to understand that it is biased, there is some sort of biased tilt or bias perspective, even if that bias is simply a market force that is trying to get you to click on something, or it's a bias force is simply trying to sell more, you know, newspapers, in Mike's case. So you know, there's all sorts of dynamics and incentives that are happening. And so if you're not able to stay sovereign and say, Okay, let me try to understand what those different incentives might be and where their bias might be, you're not gonna be able to parse out the information very well. And therefore, you're gonna have a map of the world that's really not all that sophisticated. So you know, I'm going on my little rant here, Mike, but, uh, you know, what's landing or resonating with you? I see you nodding over there. So, so fill me in. Yeah.
Mike Abramowitz 17:21
I love it. I think it's, um, you know, there's two words that show up for me is interesting and fascinating. Okay, cool. Those are the two words that show up. And, you know, I hear Tony say that he's like, anytime something happens in his life that is, like, odd or different, or, you know, even if it's frustrating at times, he's just like, wow, this is fascinating. You know, like, that's, that's his word of choice. It's like, this is fascinating. versus this is frustrating. And also, I use the word quite often that as you were talking, I use the word This is very interesting. That's interesting. You know, wow, that's interesting. Versus like, I'm so pissed at this shit happening right now. It's just like, wow, this is really interesting. Um, and one of the things that showed up as you were talking is I, I was at I was at the barber shop, getting this awesome haircut. And they had a show on in the barbershop. And I never heard of this show before. And it was like these superheroes that were kind of good, but kind of bad. Like, I didn't quite understand what was going on. But I was like, immersed into the show, because there's nothing else to do while I'm getting my haircut, except watch the TV. So I'm watching this show. And I had no idea what the show is. And I want to ask the barber like, Hey, what is this awesome show that's on. So I went to my phone and I googled because the subtitles were on. Some of the names were like, money milker or something like that. And home lander. Like I had no idea what they were. So I just went and like, went and typed them in my phone. And I found that the show was called the boys. And then when I was in Austin, Texas recently, a lot of individuals are gathered around the TV watching this show. And I was like this show again, like, what is this? And they're all like, I'm like, immersed in, zoned into the TV watching this as well. So I of course join. And it's very entertaining. So I just went on a binge of watching the first four episodes, just to kind of see what all the hype is. And I'll tell you right now, if you have to watch the boys is actually a really good and why is the line with what we're talking about right now is because the show is very, very, um, it correlates very much to what's happening in our society right now. Because the superheroes of the show are like the famous actors and actresses, there's like a list act a list superheroes, then there's like B and C and D list superheroes and the public space, makes these heroes and puts them on this pedestal. Like they are, you know, they're really human Gods just like we do for the Lady Gaga of the world. And, you know, all these celebrity figures and you know, actors and actresses and musicians, we put them on this pedestal and wait in line and get their autographs and, and we believe what they say at the surface level, they go to the Grammys, or they give their speech on their lens of the world. And it's like, oh, my gosh, everyone's listening. It's like this is the truth, because this is that person's opinion. But what the show is really showing is that even the superheroes are working for, you know, the shirts and ties, the suits that they're working for behind the scenes with this agenda that they're pushing. And the superheroes aren't really necessarily saying what they want to say they're saying what the agenda wants to wants to press forward. And they will manipulate and do whatever they need to do to make sure that their agenda continues to push forward in this in this show called The boys. And some of these characters are really bad, some of these characters are really good. But it's so interesting using that word again, it's interesting how it seems as if it could be correlated to what might be happening in our society. And what happens is by Hollywood, using a show like the boys, it almost like, desensitizes us a little bit to like, could this really be happening? Like? I don't know, I think that's really Lady Gaga, his opinion, that's not someone else's agenda coming through her now. But it's kind of interesting, if that's the case, you know. So that's what kind of shows up where again, I'm not saying I'm a conspiracy theorist, but I am curious as to, are there certain things that might be happening, and there are certain agendas being pushed from people talking about certain things? It's interesting.
Andrew Biggs 21:56
Fascinating, even. Yeah, I'll have to check this out. Man, I hadn't heard of the boys. I'm excited to check it out. And, you know, one of the things that I'll just get to share with
Mike Abramowitz 22:07
you, why watched the boys and you're listening right now, hit us up in the comments, all right, because then I know, there's people are seeing this, alright.
Andrew Biggs 22:16
So So basically, you know, this brings us to an important concept, which is kind of like responsible conspiracy theory theorizing. And, you know, we really need to understand that, you know, there's a saying that don't ascribe to malice that which can easily be ascribed to stupidity. And I think a lot of people just simply get hijacked by agendas, unknowingly unwittingly, right. So they think that they are standing up for a good they think that they are standing up for a cause they think that they are ultimately, you know, living out their belief system there. They're out there professing true statements, at least as according to their own perspectives, right? So there's a difference between something that is someone who's being truthful to themselves and true information. Right. So let's just start with that distinction, by the way, Daniel schmeckt. And Berger, if you guys ever heard of him, you should check him out. He has done extensive research on this. He's probably one of my best, but one of my favorite thinkers on this topic, would love to get him on the show. If anyone knows Daniel, he is just, you know, world class at understanding what's happening in the world right now. But he, he talks about how there's difference between someone being truthful and someone sharing truth, right, being truthful is well, this is what I believe, and I'm telling you all heartedly, I'm sharing honestly, the last thing I want to do is give you wrong information. But the information that I got from somewhere else wasn't parsed correctly. And so I did bad sensemaking or I just proxied my sense making to some other authority that I trust, who did that sense making or has an agenda. And so this is where the layers of complexity can come in. And so you have to understand that someone being oftentimes, you know, just to share your example, the celebrity class or whatever, they probably are being truthful with what they believe. But what they believe oftentimes is is either misinformed or misguided, or perhaps there's agenda behind it. And so it's just there's a, there's a difference there between those two topics. And I think that's where we can get into some responsible conspiracy, conspiracy theorizing, if you will. But I think that this is an amazing topic. And you know, we could probably spend the whole day on it, but I'm really glad that we were able to kind of parse this out. I'm trying to think what else came up for me, one of the things that came up was this idea of just being your being an individual, right? And making sure that you're able to actually come up with your own perspective. That's unique. Just to share with you share with you guys, it's interesting, you know, obviously tech and algorithms and all these different things. Facebook thinks I'm a liberal and in Instagram thinks I'm a conservative, which is really cool for me because I can see how they're looking to try to influence me in different ways. And I'm very much in the middle, and always have been. And so it's very interesting that, but they think they're always trying to drive the extremes, right? Because that gets engagement. So it's, it's very fun to the fun to watch. And if you're able to be an individual and say, Hey, this is where I think these people are making sense. Here's where I think these people are making sense. Honestly, isn't that what our country needs more than anything else is some sort of unity. And obviously, there's people who are not incentivized for unity. But we the people really are so it's just obviously an interesting topic that is very precious these days. But any closing thoughts on this topic, and then we can move to
Mike Abramowitz 26:03
what you just said is, resonates with me because what happens is most people, I can't speak for everyone, but most people tend to believe what they were raised to believe. So it's, um, there's an old, there's an old, you know, story that I will share often where it's about the ends of the ham getting cut off. And so, so it's, um, he's this, this guy asked his wife, he says, Hey, babe, why do you cut the ends of the ham off before you cook it? She says, Well, that's the way my mother always did it. said, Yeah, but why she asked her. So he calls her and says, Hey, Mom, why do you cut off the hams? Before you cook it? I your daughter said she learned it from you is, is there just make it taste better? She says, I don't think so says what do you do? And she says, Well, that's the way my mother always did. It says, I gotta get to the bottom of this. So he goes and visits Grandma, or his, you know, mother in law's mom, he says, Graham's, your daughter, and your granddaughter both cut the ends of the hammock before they cook it. They said they learned it from you. What's the benefit? Does it make it taste better? She says, No, I just had a small pan.
Andrew Biggs 27:21
Nice.
Mike Abramowitz 27:22
So often times, these kids that are raised, they're just raised to believe what they've seen. So this is all they've been exposed to is this is what my parents thought, This is what my grandparents, that's what I'm supposed to think we're, we're negating the opportunity to think independently to your point. And, and I believe that where you said We the People, we ought to think independently. And that might be the exact way that we like our what the what our parents believe should be what we believe to maybe, but at least get educated and get informed and think for yourself independently. Because maybe there's a possibility, just maybe, that there's some left principles, you're like, I kind of aligned with some of that. And then there's like, some right principles, you're like, I can't align with that, too. Then it's like, Well, shit, I got to choose. I gotta compromise which one's more important than the others? I'm not at least you're conscious of which philosophies you are aligned with, based upon your own. Your own research are your own decision making. And I think that's really important for more now than ever, to say, Okay, this is because I'm educated, I can make these decisions. This is what I've learned not from, again, social media, posting a bunch of stuff. Like what are the policies get educated? What do you believe? Forget about politics, forget about that for just what do you believe on, on certain topics, and now I'm trying to, you know, kind of dance around and I don't want to, you know, go to political here, maybe you can kind of support this, Andrew, but like, they try to say the most important topics that we should think about are the big topics, environment, abortion, you know, like, these are your COVID. They bring up these big, big, big topics that some of us are going to be influenced by, and many of us might not be. What about, like, just a conversation like this? Why are teachers paid, the way they're paid? And why are doctors paid the way they're paid? And why is the law enforcement paid to where they're paid and why are celebrities and actors pay them and entertainers paid the way they the way They're made, like, like, Why? Why are the salary structured the way they're structured? And if you just did your research and just figuring out your answers to those questions, you might be fascinated by what might come up,
Andrew Biggs 30:19
huh, totally, totally. I love that just making it practical, right? Let me let me ask you a question. Because I fear that some people listening may say, Okay, what, what does this have to do with being better than rich? What does this have to do with personal growth? You know, and I'll share my answer, I want to hear yours. But for me, it's about again, that seeking of the truth, so if you want to live a life that's better than rich, you again need to have a model of the world that's mapped to reality. So if you are misinformed, then you're not going to have a map that's, that's reliable, and you're going to constantly, you know, be it devastated. You know, after a certain point in your life, certainly, you know, when you're younger, this happens more often. But as you get older, and as you mature, and as your model of the world is more sophisticated, you really shouldn't be getting devastated and wiped out and going bankrupt and trying these, you know, trying to get rich overnight and lose, you know, $50,000 in the stock market where like, you shouldn't be doing silly things like this. And you shouldn't have to experience catastrophe the way you did in your teens in your early 20s. And the reason for that is because you are have a sufficiently sophisticated model of the world. So you know, when we're talking about being better than rich, part of it is being, you know, realistic, it's, it's good to have a vision, it's good to have a purpose that is really profound, and huge and massive. And certainly, Mike and I are two of the biggest proponents of that. And we love to think big. And we also love to think practically, we also love to make it pragmatic, what are you going to do today about it, you know, our motto is leave today, better than you found it? Well, if your head's always in the clouds, and you're always thinking about some amazing vision in the future, but you're not mapped to reality, it's not gonna work out. All of us know, certain people. And I talk to people all the time, who jump on coaching calls, who just live in fantasy land. And, you know, they always think that next month is going to be their big month, they always think that next year is going to be their next year. They're basically like a pathetic gambler who always thinks like the next scam, the next bet I make is the one I'm going to make my million, or whatever. And, you know, that's how they operate their business. It's not a practical way to go through life. And so, you know, when we're thinking about being informed, obviously, we're talking about politics and these sorts of things, because it's very relevant right now. But it also is really practical, when it comes to how to actually be happy and how to be fulfilled. So what are your what's your take back what is being informed, and educating yourself have to do with being better than rich,
Mike Abramowitz 33:07
when I get educated, and I'm informed, I can make decisions that are aligned with that information. So for example, I can't speak to everything that's happening in the world, but I could speak to what's happening in my lens of the world. So if I'm going down the street, and then I'm driving down the street, and I see a homeless person asking for food on the side of the street, I see that as real. That is in front of me, it's real, there's a person there asking for food or asking for money. So therefore, I can physically and visually see the problem in front of me that, if that's a problem that I align with, that I would like to solve, then I can try to do something about it. So what do I do, I'll usually give that person if I have, I usually will have a snack in my car that I like, that was my nickname in high school was snacks. So I always had snacks with me love snacks. And I'll usually have something and I'll usually, I would say nine out of 10 times, if I have a snack in my car, nine out of 10, maybe even 10 into 10 on a roll down my window and I'd say Hey, are you hungry? and nine out of 10 times, when I asked that question, they're gonna say yes. And then I give them food. What's the point? The point is, I can't change the world. But that one person now has more food now than he did before my interaction. I've done that my whole life because that's what I saw my dad do. I saw my dad, my mom, very charity oriented people. So people ask me, where did pb&j for Tampa Bay come from? It's like, we just wanted to make some sort of change. We do whatever we can, because I was informed. There's a big homeless populations like let's do our part. What's are apart, what can I do? I can't change every single person's view of what they're supposed to do. I got informed, what can what is in my control what is in my sphere of influence, what can I do? I could gather up some friends, we can make some sandwiches and distribute them out to the homeless, cool 82,000 sandwiches later, hundreds of volunteers later, we were able to do something about it, what we're able to do, I don't know, a little awareness helps some people feel good, make sure they feel seen, they got a meal. And we were doing our part with the troll, I shouldn't say trolls, but under, you know, for lack of a better term, but the people that are trolling on other people's giving their opinion and not doing shit about it. They're not better than rich. They're trying to bring down those people that are trying to create positive change in the world that they live. And that's why I believe that has to do with better the rich because this has nothing to do with how much money someone has. This has to do with, am I living a principle based life that wants to leave today better than yesterday. And if I can make a positive change in my lens, and in my sphere of what's in my reach, then I'm going to do that, because I'm educated because I'm informed. And I'm willing, I think that's another thing is I'm willing. And that's how this kind of ties into the better than rich principles in my opinion. Hmm,
Andrew Biggs 36:30
that's beautiful, man. I really, I really love that. And it's amazing to watch that journey that you've taken on and this this mantle of responsibility that you've taken on free community 82,000 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches fed to the homeless. Did out you're sparking a movement. And I can't wait to see that across the the 100k. Mark. What's your anticipation and when you're going to cross 100k?
Mike Abramowitz 36:58
Well, the goal is this year, and then COVID hit, right? Yeah, so we're gonna do another we're gonna do one before Thanksgiving. Black couple years ago, we had a massive one before Thanksgiving, we made something it was like 9000 sandwiches a couple years ago, in a Thanksgiving frenzy that we did. It was back when the napkin challenge was popular. It's on YouTube. We did. It was like hundreds of people came out. And it was amazing. And it was we did the large Mannequin Challenge making these PB n J's. It's somewhere on YouTube. It's pretty cool.
Andrew Biggs 37:34
Drop it in the comments after the after the recordings over, we'd love to see it. That's awesome, man. And I think you know, 80,000 to 100,000. And eventually to, you know, half a million and a million plus, if you want to get involved with with pb&j for Tampa Bay and pb&j for USA. Make sure you hit up Mike in the comments. And I'm sure that he can direct you on how to actually do that. One of the things that came up as you were you were talking was focusing on what's in my control. You know, this is a foundational piece of wisdom. I think it was it was EPA titas, I believe right way back in the day. And this is one of his foundational principles. Definitely fact check me on that here in the comments. But I believe it was Epictetus, who said that the essence and beginning of wisdom was understanding what's in your control and what's not. And I want to ask you, my How does one hone that skill? How does one actually learn how to focus on what's in their control? Because let's face it, a lot of things aren't in our control. What are your thoughts on that?
Mike Abramowitz 38:44
I talked about this every single week. With my with my sales team. And, you know, the first question is, do I have a problem right now? And if the answer is yes, cool, then question number two, that is, Can I do something about it? If the answer to that is yes. Then take action. Make a list? What are all the things that I can do about that problem? And how to create some sort of resolve? If the answer the question is, no, I can't do anything about it. Then how can I reach a place of acceptance as fast as humanly possible? Because anything in between that is worry. And worry, is not going to create any type of outcome. It's an acronym create any type of progress. It's just going to create an emotion that moreso stabilizes or debilitates. So I would say Do I have a problem? My life? Yes. Can I do something about it? Well, what's so do I have a problem or life COVID Can I do something about it? Um, I guess I could wear my mask. I could practice to social distancing, I could you know, get informed whenever, you know, you have a problem in real life. Um, yeah, I have friends that you're judging other friends based upon their political views. Cool. Can I do something about it? About my friends judging other friends about the political views? Not really like I, what am I going to what am I going to do about my friends judging other friends. So I'm going to reach a place of acceptance, I'm going to say, that friend is just, that's just how they are. And when they're ready to change, and when they're ready to be open minded, and they're ready to not be as judgmental, that'll be up to them. That's not my responsibility. I'm going to stay over here, not my responsibility. So therefore, I'm going to reach a place of acceptance and move on. And that's it. What's in my control? What's not in my control? How can I reach a place of acceptance? How can I make a list of activities and actions that I can take right away? Now maybe those aren't the best examples of just relevant examples of what's happening in the world right now. But the more I can answer those, the more I could ask those questions, and answer them and make my list and start taking action or reaching a place of acceptance, the more fulfillment I'm going to feel in my life, so I'm not going to just get influenced by everything around me for more than a few minutes, at least. You know, I just, that's how I'll choose. What, what actions I'm going to take. Probably losing example, too. It's like, is that my control? Yeah. Okay, do something about it. Yeah, I can. Now there are certain things that I can't do. Like there, there are certain exercises that create lower back pain for me. So it's like, I can't do those, but what can I do? Okay, I'm going to do that. Let's make a list of all the things I can do. I'll do those versus making excuses of why I can't work out I just say, Well, I could do these activities. Those are my control.
Andrew Biggs 41:55
thoughts, and you guys are watching the master at work here and decision making? Do I have a problem? Yes. Can I do something about it? Yes, go do something about it. Can I do something about it? No. How can I reach acceptance as quickly as possible? If you can take just one thing away from our conversation today? That would be amazing to take away and Mike I believe you have a flowchart that maybe we could also drop in the comments a little bit later when we get a chance. But I think that this this concept of is it in my control? Yes, awesome. Let me exercise the full extent of my will to do something about this problem. Let me mobilize every single faculty that I have, whether it's you know, my brain power, or it's my network, or it's my capital or whatever to solve this problem, you know, within reason I'm going to I'm going to put forth my energy to solve this problem. Can I do something about it? No. Well, let's not worry about it. Maybe it goes on the back burner and you reevaluate in three months six months 12 months if you can do something about it that and that's it and if you do that you're going to be happy you're gonna be fulfilled and you're actually going to be making the difference that you purport you say you want to So Mike it looks like has a little bit of a let's do this should be able to share it you're trying to share the screenshot
Mike Abramowitz 43:25
Yeah, I was just seeing if it worked. I don't know if it
Andrew Biggs 43:28
I don't know if it showed up what they tested but maybe next time, we can share it. But um, but yeah, this is this has been fun. Man, I really have enjoyed this conversation we we've got covered a lot of ground. I think the last thing I'll just kind of say before we start heading for the exits today is that, you know, we talked a lot about being informed we talked a lot about, you know, sort of current events, but the principles to evaluate what's true and what's not really don't change the principles and faculties and reason that you have need to be sharp as a knife and need to be able to parse through data and information. And, you know, sift through bias and incentive structures to be able to arrive at a model of the world that's actually going to map to reality. And if you do that, and you practice that and by the way, if you're bad at it right now, that's okay, just practice just be better today than you were yesterday and you're going to get better and better and better. And eventually, your aim is just like if I gave you 100 arrows and said, you know, hey, shoot at the target, your 100 arrow is probably going to be a lot better than your first and your 10,000th arrow is going to be pretty spot on. The more practice you get and honing in honing your your faculties of reason and being able to parse through information, the better and that's going to lead up to a life that's better than rich because then you're going to actually be able to make decisions that are based upon reality, not decisions that are based upon ideology and not decisions that are based upon information that is that is misguided. The last thing I'll just say is focus on what you can control. You know, that could be the biggest message that you guys take away from today. The reality is that no matter what's happening in the world, no matter what's happening in the political system or whatever, it's not the government's job. It's not your parents job, it's not society's job to take care of you. It's your job to take care of you. So no matter what my job is to keep running my business as best as I can. My job is to keep showing up for my clients as best as I can, regardless of who's in office and regardless of what's happening in the world. So I hope this has been fun for you all. And Mike, any closing comments before we park for the day?
Mike Abramowitz 45:35
Now, just live your journey leaps today better than you found it like today better than yesterday, and make small, small, tiny decisions that are aligned with your goals and just the small actions daily are gonna really lead you towards towards the life that you desire.
Andrew Biggs 45:53
Awesome, everyone have a great day on your journey to becoming better than rich. We'll see you tomorrow. Bye.