7. In a very basic sense, it's any time you
get more out of a system than you put
in.
8. If you grow corn, for example, and it
costs you $1000 to grow the corn, and
you can sell them for $1200, that
means you've made a profit of $200.
9. If this particular corn farmer wanted
more profits, he'd figure out a way to
grow more corn.
10. And so long as people weren't FORCED
to buy his corn, the more he sold, the
happier people would be, since they
were buying them based on their own
choice.
11. In this simple case, more profits is
good for everybody.
12. More people that want corn get it, the
farmer has a job he knows is
benefiting people, AND the farmer's
making some decent money.
13. Of course, whenever there are all
kinds of complicated laws and hidden
agreements it can spoil the system.
14. But on a basic, fundamental level,
profits are a good thing.
16. For example, any time you think about
doing something, you imagine yourself
in the future, with your new "state"
better than your current "state."
17. Then you imagine the action and the
risks involved in going from your
current "state" to your imagined
better "state."
18. If you are successful, you could say
that the difference between the two
states (the better future state minus or
current state) is your own personal
"profit."
19. In fact, many economists have called
this "psychic revenue."
20. Meaning you get a benefit, but since
it's not money, it's based on your own
feelings, emotions, and subjective
values.
21. And unless we think we'll be better off,
we won't take action.
29. We imagine the outcome as better, but
we don't want the costs associated
with it (going through those scary
risks).
30. This is why it's so crucial to get a
handle on your fears.
31. Since most fears are imaginary and
NEVER happen, there's plenty of
things that are easily within our reach,
but we simply talk ourselves out of it.
32. Get rid of those imaginary fears, and
life becomes a LOT more fun, and a
LOT easier.