Dr. Robert Genetski, one of the nation’s leading economists and financial advisors, has spent more than 35 years promoting the use of classical economic and investment principles for sound financial decisions. He heads ClassicalPrinciples.com and is a popular speaker who entertains thousands of people at conferences and investor meetings around the world each year. He is one of the nation’s premier interest rate forecasters and investment advisors, providing insights to economic, financial, and investment matters.
My Definition Of Success | My definition of success has not changed. Success is fulfilling your life’s key objective. God creates each of us for a purpose. Success is discovering your purpose and living your life in such a way to achieve it.
I Am Driven By | I am driven by an unquenchable desire to learn and improve. This applies both to my field of expertise as well as to any project I undertake. My father once said, “If you’re going to do something, do it right.” I strive to fulfill his sage advice.
The Difference Between Good And Great | Those I know who are great at what they do have a passion for what they are doing. They set goals and spend as much time as necessary to make sure they understand all aspects of what they are doing. They freely seek advice from others, pay great attention to detail and work tirelessly to accomplish their objectives.
A Key Talent | My greatest strength has been my perseverance. When I was young I discovered an interesting thing about people—the difference between the most gifted and the least gifted isn’t as great as many would assume. I have seen very gifted people fail while others with far fewer gifts succeed. There is no shortcut to success. It involves setting and accomplishing goals, committing yourself to the task, organizing things better than others, attending to details and never letting up.
The Characteristics Of Success | First, determine the type of person you want to be. Ideally, have a variety of interests—academics, sports, volunteer work. Then, be the person you want to be. Don’t change your personality or style to accommodate others. Recognize that every person is important. No one is better than anyone else. Everyone should be treated with respect. With this as a basis, it’s important to talk in the same relaxed, respectful manner whether you are talking to the school janitor, the President of major company, or to an audience of thousands of people. Just be the person you want to be.
Principles I Live By | Faith in God is my guiding principle. This means whatever task I undertake must be done in as honest and thorough a manner as possible. While I always try to do my best, it’s always possible my best may not be enough. Things happen. Failures occur. When adversity strikes, I double my efforts to overcome it. If I’ve given something my best shot and it still isn’t good enough, I accept the outcome. There are reasons why things happen, reasons we don’t always understand at the time. We just have to accept them and move on.
Critical Skills I Develop | I’m always working to improve my writing and speaking skills. On one occasion a former boss asked why I was in town. I told him I was attending a course on public speaking. He wanted to know why I would ever do such a thing since I was already a good speaker. I told him I wanted to be better.
Lessons I Have Learnt | The most important lesson I ever learned was to be sceptical of experts. I almost didn’t go to college because my advisor said it would be a waste of my time and my parents’ money. Had I accepted his advice, I would have missed out on a wonderful career. I have found there are many “experts” who know far less than they think they know. Don’t accept what a teacher, doctor or other so-called expert says until you have considered the opinions of others, done your own analysis, and followed your own instincts.
Dealing With Doubt | As a high school and college student I was often troubled by self-doubt, fear or negativity. These can be difficult years. Rejection is painful. One thing I did to deal with my problems was to write a list of all those things that were troubling me. I would then look at the list and put them in perspective, asking myself how many of these things would still be problems in another five or ten years. It soon became apparent that none of my current problems were likely to last that long. In time, they will be replaced by new and different problems. I would then add to my list a question of how my real problem might not be things on my list. I wondered if my real problem might be an inability to deal with the setbacks that were likely to occur throughout my life. Sure enough, as the years went by my problems changed. As new problems emerged, I would often take out the old list and look back at those problems that seemed so insurmountable in college. They now seemed trivial. I would then look at what I wrote about the real problem being my ability to deal with adversity and was thankful for the perspective it provided in surmounting each new set of challenges.
Performing At My Peak | I pray regularly, eat healthy, exercise and make sure I’m well-prepared for whatever task I undertake.
The Meaning Of Life | God gave us life, so He is the key to its meaning. Our job is to do our best to find and fulfill the purpose He has in mind for us before our life is over.
Advice On Building Wealth | There is nothing wrong with wanting to grow rich and build wealth. However, your goal should be happiness first and riches second. Wealth without happiness is a fool’s goal. To achieve success your efforts must revolve around honesty, integrity and respect for others. The ideal way to grow rich and build wealth is to have a passion to create something that will improve the living standards of others. Microsoft made people’s lives far more productive and raised living standards throughout the world. The massive riches Bill Gates acquired were a tiny fraction of the additional wealth he created for others.
