What are you putting in your head?

My friend Neil wrote a good essay recently, on the connection between where we get our information about crime, and our perception of crime in society.I'd already been wondering about what I've been putting in my head lately, and his post kind of hit home.

But I'm not thinking about crime lately, I'm thinking about business and entrepreneurship, and about the daunting task of building a profitable farm/farming career. And I'm reading about business, marketing and entrepreneurship, and I find these topics exciting. An entrepreneur is taking charge of their own lives and attempts to create a business that starts as little more than an idea (and maybe some money).

I came across this book recently: How to Get Rich, by Felix Dennis, the guy who brought you Maxim, as well as many other magazines of varying degrees of respectability. I picked up the book because I'd heard it was a fun read, and that it had some good business ideas in it. I was surprised to find that it actually made me want to become rich, and had me considering whether or not I could muster the energy or the courage to single mindedly pursue wealth. What's up with that? That's not like me.

I think what I learned here is, to be careful what I put in my head, a good author, speaker or artist can be highly convincing, take it with a grain of salt. That said, there's something to be learned from people who are working hard and taking risks to achieve their goals, whether or not your goals are the same.