Loren Johnson, CMPS

Now more than any other time in our recent history, it is important that we find ways to stay positive no matter what. Why? Because success depends on your mindset, not on the economy or on the marketplace. I think when times get tough, people start to look outside of themselves for answers and what they really need to do is look inside themselves and ask themselves the question, "How can I stay positive, how can I stay hopeful, how can I stay optimistic?" I'm hoping that I will provide you with some tools to make it easier to be in a positive mindset no matter what.

The first tool is to really stop watching, or listening, or reading the news. Why, because the news is based on negativity. The news amplifies fear and negativity in order to capture more listeners, more readers, and more viewers. The media is a business like anything else and there's a saying called, "If it bleeds, it reads." So the more scared they can make people, the more people will buy more newspapers to find out what's going to happen, or turn on the TV more, or in some way stay fixated because they're in fear, they stay fixated on what the media is telling them.

The second tool is stop being around negative people. Your colleagues are going to want to constantly come up and talk to you and tell you how bad it is. Maybe your clients or prospective clients are going say to you on the phone how bad it is, and even friends will do the same thing. You will go through a day and everybody will want to tell you how negative it is.

Here are my suggestions. First, avoid those kinds of people that are negative and second, if you're stuck with them in an elevator or your car, I suggest you do what a former client of mine does. When the other person is talking negatively, my client just tunes them out and just says, "Well that may be true for you, but that's not true for me." It's like an inner mantra "It may be true for you, but it's not true for me." You're creating your own inner environment.

The third tool is a technique That I just call "Stop". The way it works is that if you start to notice your mind going in a negative direction such as, "Oh I can't succeed in today's economy, Oh I just don't have what it takes to be successful or to make money. I have to work really hard and struggle and sacrifice." Any of those negative thoughts that will bring your energy down, your job is simply to catch those as early as you can in the beginning and say, "Stop." Take a deep breath, and then put in a positive new thought.

You can put in your choice of however many positive new thoughts you have ready in your arsenal. If some of your negative statements are about yourself like, "I'm not good enough, or I'm not smart enough, or I'm not experienced enough," or whatever those kind of disproving thoughts, I would say a really good generic thought to put in, an empowered belief to put in is, "I love and approve of myself unconditionally." That takes care of those self judgmental statements.

Another kind of self limiting belief is something that you continually tell yourself, "Oh well, to succeed I'm going to have to really struggle, and sacrifice, and stress out, and work hard, and then I won't have a life." If that's been your primary belief then you put a stop on that when you hear it coming, and in inside you're saying to yourself, "I'm not going there. I'm not going there." You take a deep breath and positive new thought could be, "I'm committed to working smarter, not harder."

One of the things that's great about this technique is that it really forces you to become aware of what you're thinking from moment to moment, and it's what you're thinking from moment to moment that will create a negative or positive mindset. If you're continually thinking negative thoughts either about yourself, or the market, or about money, or any of that, then guess what, you're going real fast into a negative mindset. Then what happens is what you believe tends to come true, and it becomes a self fulfilling prophesy. For example if you tell yourself, "I don't have what it takes to succeed in today's market," and you tell yourself that over, and over, and over again, your thoughts will create your reality and then you'll find that you don't have what it takes.

Henry Ford said, "Whether you believe you can or you can't, either way you're right." The way to create a positive mindset is to continue to bring your thoughts back to, "I can do it." You need to have unwavering faith in your ability to be successful. As we all start the first full week of 2009, my hope is that we can all be successful with a proper, positive attitude!

Good Luck to you and have a great week!

This week, most of the "big news" is squeezed into 2 days.

Friday, the important Employment report will come out. As usual, this data on the number of jobs, the Unemployment Rate, and wage inflation will be the most highly anticipated economic data of the month, since the condition of the labor market is perhaps the single biggest factor in the performance of the economy. Early estimates are for a loss of 475K jobs in December.

Before that, the Pending Home Sales index, a leading indicator for the housing market, will come out on Tuesday. The FOMC minutes from the December 16 Fed meeting will also be released that day. This detailed record of the discussion between Fed officials often provides additional insight into the reasoning behind the Fed statement.

Otherwise, 'instant' news will affect the markets- like this mornings announcement by the Fed that it has begun buying Mortgage-Backed Securities as part of it's announced plan to keep mortgage rates lower. Rates have aleady improved this morning.

During this Christmas week, all of the economic data will come out on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The final revisions to third quarter Gross Domestic Product (GDP) will be revealed on Tuesday. GDP is the broadest measure of economic activity. Both Existing Home Sales and New Home Sales will be released on Tuesday as well.

Durable Orders, another important indicator of economic activity, is scheduled for Wednesday, along with Personal Income. Consumer Sentiment and Jobless Claims will also come out before Christmas,probably Wednesday morning.

Mortgage Securities markets will close early on Wednesday and Friday, and will be closed on Thursday. Since many investors take this week off, there can be some wide fluctuations in Mortgage rates, due to light trading volumes. Things will stabilize by the start of the New Year.

I certainly wish a wonderful holiday week for you...enjoy some time with your family & friends!

Merry Christmas!!

The big news this week will actually be packed into Tuesday, culminating with reports from the Fed meeting.

Expectations are for a 50 or 75 basis point rate cut, and the accompanying statement will provide the Fed's latest views on the state of the economy and the financial system. The Consumer Price Index (CPI), the most closely watched monthly inflation report, will also be announced on Tuesday. CPI looks at the price change for those finished goods which are sold to consumers. And the Fed numbers for Housing Starts is also scheduled for release Tuesday morning.

Industrial Production, an important indicator of economic activity, was released today, and was in line with what was expected, which was a 0.6% decline.

The regional manufacturing indexes will be released starting on Thursday with the Philadelphia Fed Report.

During the first half of this week, Pending Home Sales on Tuesday will be the only economic data reporting.

Import Prices and the Trade Balance will come out on Thursday.

Friday will be the big day with PPI inflation data, Retail Sales, and Consumer Sentiment. The Producer Price Index (PPI) focuses on the increase in prices of "intermediate" goods used by companies to produce finished products. The Retail Sales report is a major indicator of spending levels by consumers, who account for about 70% of economic activity.

Treasury auctions and Fed speakers may also have an impact this week. We will see if the Fed begins to buy MBS notes during the week. It will shape up to be another volatile week!