Mark Carter says understanding your personal values, what motivates you and how you make choices will lead you to success as an investor.
Mark is a human behaviour expert and renowned professional trainer in Australia who has dedicated his career to helping others create opportunity through value.
He talked to KnowHow founder Bushy Martin on the Get Invested podcast about defining what ‘value’ really is, which he said is all about perception. Therefore, Mark emphasised that in order to create success through investing, you need to understand yourself and your decision-making processes.
“One of the five elements of value is personal value. It’s you as an individual. How are you made up? How do you like to function? What’s motivating you? Where are your skills? Where are your competencies?” Mark said.
“Work on your intelligence and let go of your fears and limiting beliefs. The more you master and know thyself, then you’re equipped to go into the world and add and absorb value for yourself.”
He explained that part of understanding your values and investing behaviour is also identifying what motivates and drives you.
“Maybe I’m driven by utility resources or financial return. Maybe I’m driven by knowledge and continual learning. Maybe I’m driven socially and I want to make an impact to other people. Maybe I’m driven by the individualistic, which is devising and implementing a winning strategy, or maybe I’m driven by traditional beliefs. And that’s like a value system by which I base my decisions on.”
Once your values are defined, Mark explained it’s important to be able to adapt your mindset to strive towards your goals.
“Learning to choose our own mindset and choose our own thoughts is the same way we choose our own clothes. That is one of the greatest talents and skills, and it’s a continual journey. No matter how good you get, you keep having to do that. So learning to really choose your attitude and learning to look for what’s good and what’s the lesson and whatever’s going on around,” he said.
Part of adapting your mindset is also investing in your continual growth.
“My best investment by a long shot has been investing in myself and my continual development, and it’s something I always do. And no matter what’s going on in my life, I’m always doing that. I’m always reading, studying, and expanding my own programs as well,” Mark said.
Mark said investing in your values is accepting when a situation doesn’t follow them and learning to let go, so you don’t miss out on other opportunities.
“The worst investment I made is where I’ve continued to invest time and energy into situations that I can’t control and where those situations don’t value me, and learning to realise not fight it and appreciate the resistance and let it be,” he said.
“Sometimes we invest so much time and energy into things like relationships and trying to get people to see our value and worth. If they don’t, they don’t. It’s OK. So what I’ve really learnt is I’m really more mindful as to where I invest my energy and who and what I invest in.”
Finally, Mark warned that sometimes investors can fall into the trap of only seeking advice and information from those who directly align with their opinions. While it’s crucial to not steer away from your values, it’s also important to have a more objective view and seek insight from a variety of sources.
“Sometimes we may turn to people in our circle for input. And the danger with that sometimes is we’re asking the same people and their friends and they may tell us what we want to hear,” he said.
“Be brave to ask people that you respect who don’t necessarily agree with you, and identify different masterminds for different inputs for different parts of your life.”
Listen to the full interview here.
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