Your Philosophy Rules Your Business

If you have read “The Ominous Parallels” by Leonard Peikoff, or any of Ayn Rand’s books, (Atlas Shrugged, For the New Intellectual) you will probably agree that one’s philosophy of life and his belief system govern his choices, expectations, and environment. Your religious views, political views and perceptions all govern your reaction to the world and the opportunities around you. The circumstances that you have created are simply a mirror of your philosophy.

Altruism, multiculturalism, mysticism, environmentalism, and socialism all reflect one’s philosophy of collectivism. In addition, collectivism is in direct opposition to capitalism. Look at your business and you will see your philosophy. Is it working for you? Our minds are magnets. The Buddha said, “We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts, we make the world. Speak or act with an impure mind and trouble will follow you as the wheel follows the ox that draws the cart. Speak or act with a pure mind and happiness will follow you as your shadow, unshakeable. The Bible tells us, “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.”

The way you handle money and do business is not a random thing – it is in lockstep with your philosophy. Capitalism is the only system that can make you successful in business. Any philosophy that contradicts capitalism will undermine and sabotage your business. Ayn Rand put it this way: "Capitalism is the only system that can make freedom, individuality, and the pursuit of values possible in practice. When I say 'capitalism,' I mean a pure, uncontrolled, unregulated laissez-faire capitalism – with a separation of economics, in the same way and for the same reasons as a separation of state and church." The root of your business success or failure is your philosophy. Everything else is fruit.

If you want to improve your business, correct your philosophy.

I’ll end off with another quote by Ms. Rand: "The world you desired can be won, it exists, it is real, it is possible, it's yours. But to win it requires total dedication and a total break with the world of your past, with the doctrine that man is a sacrificial animal who exists for the pleasure of others. Fight for the value of your person. Fight for the virtue of your pride. Fight for the essence, which is man, for his sovereign rational mind. Fight with the radiant certainty and the absolute rectitude of knowing that yours is the morality of life and yours is the battle for any achievement, any value, any grandeur, any goodness, any joy that has ever existed on this earth." - John Galt quote that ended Ayn Rand's last public speech (New Orleans Nov 1981)

Robin J. Elliott www.DollarMakers.com