Who are you?

People would always like to give advice – even advice that they interestingly don’t understand and follow!

Be this. Do that.
Don’t smoke! – suggested by a guy who’s holding a cigarette!
Go to college & get a safe and security job! – advised by parents who become successful by doing the opposite.

I did too to be honest.

But now I change. I start reading books; I become consciously choosing who I wanna associate; I’m building my own team & cabinet. Most importantly, I’m afraid to give advice – I’m just not there to do that yet.

That’s why before you talk to me and you want me to treat you & whatever you say seriously, let’s go through this quick checklist:

1. How many non-fiction books (self-help in particular) that you’ve read? #Knowledge #Perspective
2. What’s your 5-aside Team? Who are your 5 closest friends? #Association
3. Who are your mentors? #Teacher/Coach #Perspective
4. What have you achieved personally and professionally? #Achievements & finally
5. What’s your bank accounts right now? #Finance

#1 Many people learn & get knowledge passively, meaning they only know what they’re taught, which is very little & one-sided. Read books & open to new ideas & knowledge.
Show me what you’ve learned!

#2 You can also help yourself a lot by associating with beautiful, inspiring people & environment.

#3 Model, copy, mimic – whatever you wanna call it – those who you wanna become. Don’t reinvent the wheel. No one is 100% “self-made”!

Show me your closest friends, team and teachers, I can more or less tell who you are.

#4 Many people mistake “saying” as “doing”; “doing” vs “achieving”. That’s why many people spend their whole entire life achieving and contributing almost nothing.
Some people are simply gifted with natural talents (and good enviroment) that requires little additional personal development. Show me what you have achieved, I may ignore the rest of the conditions.

#5 Real values equal monetary values (= money). I don’t believe in stories about talented but broke people. They ain’t that talented. And if you only can create “half-values”, you work for someone else! (or you’re broke!) LOL

A Chinese Businessman

– How much is your salary?*
– A plus plus.
– How much is your rent?
– A/6
– How much do you spend a month in total?
– Around A/2
He’s happily nodded his head!

In Asia, it’s usually said:

No men are wiser than Chinese businessmen!

That reputation is built from their tremendous success on various fields around the world. This short conversation once again shows why they earn that reputation.

He skipped those usual small talks & jumped straight to what matters. By asking better questions, he got better answers. How a man spend his money says a lot about him.

* I hate being asked this question – this is a rare exception when I know why he asked that question

My Money Rules

(2014)

1. I Pay myself First

No matter how much money I make at a particular time, I’ve always paid myself first. My salary is automatically transferred to 5 different bank accounts where I manage my 6 financial accounts, namely GIVE, MOM, Personal Development, Traveling & LTSS, PLAY and Financial Freedom.

2. I’d have unlimited Budget for Food & Hobbies*

I used to eat less to save for entertainment & shopping while in University. After a while, I realized it became an unhealthy habit. I didn’t want to starve myself anymore! I’m grateful that money is now hardly a deciding factor for me when it comes to dining 🙂

Though I’m still not able to eat whatever I want at wherever I want now, I WILL soon. I don’t want to eat “chicken” forever.

3. I believe Giving is Receiving

4. I Invest on myself

Brian Tracy says the best investment one can make is on themselves. Books, seminars, courses, meet-ups… whatever could help me learn more. I’ll make sure I equip myself with good knowledge and experience.

5. I buy Experience, not Things

What a saying! What a lesson! Instead of buying a big Television, I’ll rather spend it on a private event or traveling. Eventually, my life is all about my experience and stories (memories) not about what I’ve bought (diamonds). As a matter of fact, I hardly remember what I bought last year. It doesn’t matter at all. Things don’t last; experience does!

Buy Experience, Not Things”

In 2015, I spent around S$4,000 for traveling (in which roughly $2,000 was for my trip to China). It’s quite a lot but I believe it’s worth it!

(Updated in 2015)

Buy to Use; not to Impress

One of the main reasons I bought consumer products apart from necessity is to impress others (a decent & functional but unpopular watch vs a Rolex). That tends to make me to buy unnecessary stuff as well.

6. I’m not a cheapskate

Having said that, when I do shop, I will buy superior (and therefore usually expensive) products. I learn this lesson through personal experience. Inferior products will have to be replaced much sooner than superior ones [EXPERIENCE]. Besides and more importantly, two or even three cheap Xs usually cost more than one expensive Y. I’d waste time looking for them as well.

As wallet and watch are as important to a man as bags and shoes to women, I’m willing to spend big on them (refer to the rule 4). My ex-girlfriend also said shoes are one of the things you wear everyday and often, I should get a good one as well.

Periodically Shopping for Diversity

Even superior products if used everyday wouldn’t last long [EXPERIENCE]. And to make sure I don’t look too boring, I’d shop periodically for diversity. For example, two new t-shirt every 2 or 3 months will make sure I won’t run into the shortage of clothes situation. “I shop for what I’ll need” is totally different from “I shop before I need”. So do “Buy 2 every 2 months” vs “Buy 4 at a time”. When it comes to shopping, this equation works perfectly for me:

Superior Products + Periodically Shopping = Time & Money Saving

7. I always Negotiate

I try to negotiate everything. As mentioned, I negotiate not necessarily for the sake of money alone but to build a good habit to getting Great Deals in both life and business. I learn that I can get a better deal than what is presented in most cases.

I used to say “- it’s OK” though I know the product’s significant overpriced. “- It doesn’t matter much!” (as hundreds in weaker currencies are sometimes worth only a few cents). But in fact, it does (habits):

The way you do anything is the way you do everything!” – T. Harv Eker

Ask. The worst thing could happen is a “No” from them.

> Invest (in progress)

Saving without investing is a curse. In fact, it’s why most people are struggling financially.

Dead Money

Money is not in use is like dead money. As such one of the worst you can do with money is to save it. Saving is losing, Robert Kiyosaki says it best. Invest whatever you have. Otherwise, I would rather spend it lavishly on whatever I love such as shopping, dining & playing (than fucking stupidly save it)!

The Billionaire Club

Billionaire is the most prestigious Club on earth. Surely I will be there one day Meanwhile, here are some success & failure stories and lessons from the Club:

Success Stories:

Warren Buffett’s 10 Ways to Get Rich

About.com website is usually a bunch shit. But since they mention this awesome tip I have to include it in How to Become Wealthy

Unless Your Parents Were Wealthy, Don’t Do What They Did

Billionaire Mark Cuban’s Advice On How To Get Rich

Richard Branson Reveals His Customer Service Secrets

7 lessons from Richard Branson

1. Be Visible (go out there get feedback – notebook)
2. Express a passionate commitment (superior customer services)
3. Your employees are your greatest asset
4. Hire for attitude (1 over 10k?)
5. Empower your employees (teach you the basis, expect you to use imagination to connect the dots, rather to ask forgiveness than permissions)
6. Social Media with a Genuine voice
7. Have fun (Customer experience is everything. It begins with you)

Spanx Creator Sara Blakely Turns $5,000 Into A Billion

Billionaire T. Boone Pickens Reveals Childhood Lessons Which Made Him a Success

When you’re hunting elephants, don’t get distracted chasing rabbits”

 John Paul Jones

Believe in yourself & Be prepared for lots of rejections!”

The Forgetten Lesson Intro

I’m lazy. I don’t like to read book by book. I don’t like to work (as in a rat-race) either. I rather play games and sport. I want to travel all around the world, chill and relax at some nice beaches. I want.. I want…

But because of those “I want”s, I know I must read then do something really cool first (!)

As you may know, I’ve got an online library but it doesn’t contain many books. Like as I said, I’m lazy. I only read those that are highly recommended by others. I’m lucky though. My reading list is shortened by a great deal thanks to my bro and friends. They’ve always recommend me the best ones. So here I want to pass the luck to you – particularly those who are as lazy as me, by giving you this FREE & AWESOME report, thereby shortening your reading list even more.

Why should you read it?

This report contains a powerful lesson, a secret. It’s not my own nor a random lesson that I arbitrarily put in. It is the biggest lesson from the 2 greatest personal development & wealth accumulation books of all time, The Science of Getting Rich & Think Rich and Grow Rich yet seems to get overlooked by most of personal development bloggers, professional trainers and motivational speakers. I call it “The Forgotten Lesson”.

I firmly believe that ALL highly successful people learn and master this lesson. It’s the key yet hidden secret that make them stand out from the rest (yes I mean the likes of you and me). Okay before we move on, let me ask you some short questions:

Are you frustrated with yourself because you can’t have what you want?
Do you usually fail to achieve your New Year resolutions and goals?
And if you are same as I was before, you probably read a lot of books & understand and know all what they say make sense YET still get stuck & unable to switch to action mode?

If you happen to experience anything of the mentioned above or have been struggling to achieve great success, this FREE report is for you.

What’s inside?

In this FREE free report, you’ll find:

✓ The reasons why merely reading books, simply setting goals or New Year resolutions just don’t work.
✓ The naked truth about what stops you from taking effective and consistent actions & how to change it.
✓ The shockingly adverse effects of your daily activities such as watching television, surfing Facebook…
✓ The Forgotten Lesson in a very-easy-to-understand terms.
✓ 7 ways you can use the Forgotten Lesson to succeed in life

PLUS this special bonus: the most important skill-set that if you master, will bring a tremendous success and particularly happiness into your life.

And the best thing is: it’s FREE – it costs 0 dollar and just a minute to sign up.

Again I strongly believe this “Forgotten Lesson” is the prerequisite for all great success. Failing to realise that lesson may cost you a fortune. On the contrary, realising and mastering it definitely help you achieve your dreams, wealth, happiness and much more as demonstrated by thousands of highly successful men in all over the world.  It’s been changing my life thoroughly till now and maybe yours as well! So don’t miss out on this FREE report, enter your email now.
Thanks for reading. Remember, it costs you nothing but potentially bring you a very good fortune!

Well folks, as I will be giving this incredible shit away for FREE, I’m not going to spend any more time to convince you to read it. Read it free and get a good life or just go away. I leave it up to you.

ps: This report is expected to fully launch at the end of July. But if you guys are so interested in it, click like and share! The more you like and share, the shorter the launch date.

Life is fun and Success is easy

Success is easy, do the easy things

Jim Rohn – the American’s foremost business philosopher, gives us a naked truth concisely: success is easy; do the easy things and do it everyday. Why is it easy? Well, it’s easy because almost all of us basically know what we should do and if we actually do it, it’s not hard at all. First, we know we should keep improving our skills and abilities; we know we should learn to communicate well; we know we should excercise regularly to keep healthy. Second, we also know we should stop eating fast food, junk food and smoking as they are harmful to our health in the long run. Don’t neglect to do the easy things is the advice he want us to really master. Here comes another great saying about life and success:

If you do what’s easy, your life will be hard; if you do what’s hard, your life will be easy

Does the famous “hard – life” Les Brown’s saying contradict with the “easy – sucess” Jim Rohn’s? The answer is not at all. Let’s first find out what he means by “easy”? Easy things here means the jobs and tasks that are simple, fun and irrelavent to our works and goals such as watching funny videos on Youtube, go Facebook, Twitter and reading news. It’s relaxing to watch videos. It’s fun to chit chat with friends. It’s conformtable to read news. Everyone can and wants to do those. Those time wasting activities contribute nothing to your skill improvement and goals at all, that’s why if you keeping doing what’s easy, your life will be hard. But did Jim Rohn just say, success is easy, just do the easy things? Well, Les Brown also clarifies what he means by hard? He said, we must try to do the hard things; make tough decisions. Tough decisions are tough not because we don’t know the answers. It’s tough because most of us don’t have the courage to do what we know.

Tough times never last but tough people do. Say, I’m tough! – Dr. Robert Schuller

Back to Jim, when being asked, if success is easy, why aren’t more people become successful? He said, what’s easy to do is also easy not to. He told us, the things he found to be easy to do, they found to be easy not to do. He found it easy to read the books that could affect his thinking and ideas. They found that easy not to do. He found it easy to attend the classes and the seminars, and to get around other successful people. They said it probably really wouldn’t matter. Six years later, as a result, He became a millionaire while they were all still blaming the economy, the government, and company policies, yet they neglected to do the basic, easy things.

In summary, let me give you some other words of Jim Rohn to conclude the article, when giving the choice of “easy to” and “easy not to”, do not neglect to do the simple, basic, “easy,” but potentially life-changing activities and disciplines. Successful people are willing to do what unsuccessful people are not. Be successful, do the easy things.