Embracing farsighted thinking
A friend asked me recently, "What makes you see the [crap] that is going on and realize the reality of the state of the things that are going on and want to have the plans to protect yourself?"
I firmly believe that the limiting factor for humans is the human inability to evolve beyond the greed of the hierarchy of the individual (the myopic) and embrace a hyperopia line of thinking that prioritizes the larger environment. A large part of me striving to do that is recognizing that I am wired by evolution to do the former, so I have to consciously reject that and embrace the latter.
I am a data person and I'm very good at pattern recognition due to an abusive childhood. I'm also a very emotional person and I've learned that my emotional responses to things can be often misguided and temperamental - the myopic part of my evolution - so for that reason I place high emphasis on anchoring or fact-checking myself against data.
When I combine current data with projections that are solidly based on historical data and patterns, that tells me that whether or not I feel a certain way, all of the data is pointing to a path. Then I look at my options for how to handle that path to long term protect myself and my family. I do the same thing with investing.