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Archive for the ‘Book Reviews and Insight’ Category

Fear of Old Age May Stop You From Being The True You

Tuesday, June 8th, 2010

The Fear of Old Age is a fear that encompasses most of the six major fears. The fear of criticism, fear of ill health and fear of dying are all symptoms of the Fear of Old Age. The Fear of Old Age has nothing to do with the level of success that you can achieve in business. Napoleon Hill writes about the six major fears in “Think and Grow Rich”. The other minor fears are all a subset of the six major ones. It is never too late to be successful in business no matter the age. When people become older society dictates that they should be a certain way. When you get older in our society you are expected to retire and travel the world.

They are some people that no matter the age there are always in the right mindset and are still parachuting out of a plane and don’t miss a beat. I am not discussing those people in this article I am talking about people who allow “old age” to interfere with them being the person that were always meant to be. These people as they are entering the era of “old age” might feel a combination of the six major fears. Your confidence might falter a little due to the fact that you might not be as active as you were a few years ago.

The fear of criticism might start to rear it ugly head, because now you might hear people say “you look good for your age”. You might tend to feel more self conscious about your physical appearance, sexual prowess and mental faculty. You are more concern about being ill health or diseases possible deteriorating your body. The older you get the closer that you feel you are to dying, so therefore you might not take as much chances as you did when you were younger. If you control your mindset all of these fears may be overcome. The opportunity to achieve the level of success that you want in your business of choice will open up. When you enter retirement it should because you want not, because you are expected or forced to retire.

The Fear of Old Age can defeated easily be being careful with the thoughts that manifest in your mind. You may have success at any age and any time period of your life. Our thought become our destiny; if you spend time thinking about death then guess what you will be that much closer to death. My grandma is eighty-nine years old and she sometimes makes me nervous when she speaks like if death is upon her. I would love her to live to at least a century, but I am obviously biased. If my grandma was not truly inflicted with illness I would love to know that if she wanted to be semi-retire and with the right attitude she would be able to do it. This fear has nothing to do with you continuing being a vibrant, contributing and outstanding member of society. Forget about it and live your life the way that you choose.

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A Pleasing Personality – Leadership Qualities That Are Critical to Be Successful in Business

Friday, May 7th, 2010

Leadership qualities that Napoleon Hill’s “Think and Grow Rich” book discusses to get phenomenal results in life and business. I have discussed unwavering courage, self control, definiteness of decision, definiteness of plans and the habit of doing more than paid for in previous articles. We will discuss a pleasing personality where Napoleon Hill believes that “no slovenly, careless person can become a successful leader”. Napoleon Hill wrote about approximately twenty different factors to describe a pleasing personality. He believed that the main key to this leadership style is do unto others as you would have others do unto you.

The factors of a pleasing personality are listed below:

1. Positive mental attitude
2. Tolerance
3. Alertness
4. Common courtesy
5. A fondness of people
6. Flexibility
7. Tactfulness
8. Personal magnetism
9. A pleasant tone of voice
10. Control of facial expressions
11. Sportsmanship
12. Sincerity
13. Sense of humor
14. Humility of the heart
15. Smiling
16. Enthusiasm
17. Control of temper and emotions
18. Patience
19. Proper dress

You don’t have to make all these factors a part of you leadership style, but any combination of them will make a better leader. There is no perfect leader so you can never be disappointed but a leader continuously tries to improve them self is by far the leader that I will follow. When you are trying to be successful a willingness to learn and adapt to new ideas are very crucial. Your success is based on how much you work on your inner self as opposed to the knowledge that you have.

When you first hear about this concept you automatically think of a leader without a backbone. A leader with this trait actually has an unwavering courage that allows him or her to lead their followers. When you look at the above factors you realized that that is not the case. When your team consist of many different people with different personalities being able to be flexible is required. A successful leader is one who is able to take these personalities and draw the best out of them. A positive mental attitude draws on the fact controlling your mindset is very important in all aspect of running your business. When you have the right mindset you are able to make the correct decisions where appropriate. Common courtesy goes a long way in making a person feel that they are respected by the leader. You tend to get better from people when respect is shown and a genuine sincerity is detected in your interaction with your followers.

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Leadership Philosophy That is Critical To Be Successful – The Habit of Doing More Than Paid For

Tuesday, May 4th, 2010

The gems of knowledge that you get from Napoleon Hill’s “Think and Grow Rich” are endless. The previous articles we discussed Napoleon Hill’s leadership’s philosophies of unwavering courage, self control, definiteness of decision and definiteness of plans.  We will discuss of a leader who has a habit doing more than he or she is paid for. This leadership philosophy in correlation with his other ideas gives you different ways to achieving success in life and business. The question of who makes a great leader is an idea that is dependent on the person. Leadership means different things to different people. A person who you respect is a leader in your eyes might be a nuisance to others.

People are more prone to keep following a leader that goes above and beyond the call of duty. The ideal world is prone to perfect execution and flawless execution of all plans. We don’t live in the ideal world so a leader who can roll with punches and succeed no matter the obstacles is truly appreciated.  Successful leaders do whatever it takes to accomplish their goals. When you have goals that are not on track someone has to do extra work. Leaders sometimes take it upon themselves to put the extra time necessary to get back on track.

Michael Jordan was always the first one at practice and the last one to leave. Michael wanted to make sure that he was prepared to win every game. Michael work ethics made many of his team mates improve their game. He did so much more than was required of him that he inspired many others to do the same. Michael Jordan’s commitment to excellence led to many NBA Championships and the respect of millions of people. Some followers believe that it is their job to pick up the slack and don’t like to see the leader do the extra lifting.

A leader has to able to get down in the trenches and do the “dirty” work sometimes. When your subordinates know that you have no problem rolling up your sleeves and getting to work they have no issues doing more than is expected of them. We are not talking about the people who do it to further their own agenda. The followers who truly believe in the ideals of the leader and are committed to helping him or her accomplish these goals are the one deserving of the praise. If the habit of doing more than is expected of you becomes viral, then your business may explode beyond belief. If you start applying this leadership philosophy and the others in the previous article that Napoleon Hill writes about you will see a change in your business in a relatively short time.

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Leadership Attributes That Are Critical in Leadership Development to Be Successful – Self Control

Saturday, May 1st, 2010

Napoleon Hill believed that people who cannot control themselves can never control others. A leader is placed under a microscope by your followers, his or her actions or inaction may be magnified to the extreme. Self-control along with unwavering courage could dictate whether someone believe in you as a leader or perceive you as a “fake”. The governing of one’s self and actions are indications of whether or not you have the ability to lead.  A follower will emulate a leader who stands by his conviction instead of the one who loses control of himself on a regular basis. For example, if you are an advocate against smoking cigarettes, but yet every chance you light up a cigarette.  This conflicting message will force many people to look at you in differently.

Most people are looking to succeed with as little amount of effort as possible to generate phenomenon results. We live in a world with many roadblocks and distraction opposing our ultimate goals and objectives. We live in a society of instant coffee, instant tea and instant gratification. When you live in the now with no concrete plans for the future, then you will have to suffer the consequences. The something for nothing mentality must be erased from your being and be replaced some of the attributes that Napoleon Hill wrote about.

The people who restrain themselves and put the necessary sweat equity into their endeavor are far more successful, than those who feel society owes them something. For example, Joachim de Posada, speaker and motivational coach, talks about an experiment where they took 4-5 year old kids, and left them in a room for 30 minutes. The kids were instructed that if you don’t eat the marshmallow that was in front of you, you would get another one when we return. Many of the kids did everything, but stand on their head to avoid eating the marshmallow.

The scientists then re-visited the kids 13-15 years later and found that the kids that ate the marshmallow before time was not as successful as the one who did not eat it. This experiment was about self control where you had a choice between instant gratifications or delayed gratification with a bonus. A true leader with self control may make the decisions that could impact the lives of many people and be trusted until the results come to fruition. The successful leader makes decision quickly, but changes slowly. Leaders must have unwavering courage and self control to build a network of followers who will trust them implicitly.

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Leadership Attributes That Are Critical in Leadership to Be Successful – Definiteness of Decision

Thursday, April 22nd, 2010

Napoleon Hill’s “Think and Grow Rich” wrote about eleven attributes of leadership that are critical to be successful. The leadership attributes that I will discuss in this article is definiteness of decision.  Napoleon Hill believed that “people who waver in decisions show that they are not sure of themselves.  This author d id not list these attributes in any particular order of importance, but he felt that all or a combination of these attributes will make you a leader that your business partners will respect and appreciate.  Successful people make decision quickly and change them slowly, while unsuccessful people make decision slowly and change them rapidly.

We must be steadfast in the decisions that we make and not change them even when nothing is going right.  Steven Spielberg is an excellent example of this he made the decision to be movie director from a very early age.  Steven Spielberg kept focused on his endgame and he did whatever it took to make his dreams come true.  “Jaws”, his second film, released in 1975 broke box office and Steven Spielberg went on to phenomenal success. He did not give on his dreams and did something else when he was turned down.

The turtle outran the hare in that famous nursery rhyme because he had made a decision to finish the race no matter what.  The hare on the other hand felt that it was an easy win so he took a rest and when he decided to finish the race the turtle had already won the race.  When you make decision slowly and change them quickly, then you are destined to be an unsuccessful person.

These unsuccessful people do not have the intestinal fortitude to hold fast to their dreams.   The beautiful thing about personal development is that if you identify the obstacles in your path to success you can figure out a way to overcome them.  If you are a starter but not a finisher in your decision making processes. One way to get around that is get a finisher in your mastermind group.  The synergy of you as the starter and having a finisher would help you achieve your goals.  Napoleon listed the eleven attributes of leadership and he knew with desire you can become this successful leader.  You can become successful by mimicking the habits of successful people. You can become a person who has definiteness in the decisions that you make to become the successful person that you want to be.

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Specialized Knowledge The Fourth Step to Riches Per Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich

Monday, April 19th, 2010

The types of knowledge that you may acquire are General Knowledge and Specialized Knowledge. Napoleon Hill famous book “Think and Grow Rich” stated that Specialized Knowledge is the fourth step to riches. The key differences between these two types of knowledge are Specialized Knowledge will attract money with organized and intelligent plan of actions. The person with this specialized knowledge normally has the power.  General Knowledge is useless in the accumulation of money. Universities possess every type of general knowledge that is available, but they specialize in teaching knowledge. We go to these to institutions to learn new skills that give us power, but true power will never be gain there.

The saying goes that knowledge is power, but actually it is only potential power. The use of knowledge with definite plans of action and directed to a definite end is power. Henry Ford had little “schooling” but yet he was instrumental in developing his “Model T”. Henry Ford secret was that he hired people with the “schooling” to help him run his business. Henry Ford informal “schooling” led to riches beyond his imagination. Form Motor Company has been in business for over one hundred years. Henry Ford was an educated person in more way than his critics could ever understand.

A truly educated person is one who knows where to get knowledge when needed. He or she also knows how to organize this knowledge into definite plans of action. The personal with an education is normally the person who you expect to have an abundance of general and specialized knowledge. When you start your home internet business opportunity you are not expected to know everything. You would more than likely have a general idea about how you are supposed to run your home internet business opportunity. You will need specialized knowledge to succeed.

The lifeblood of most home businesses is lead generation. There are so many different ways to generate a lead. You must acquire specialized knowledge in mastering one method, then move on to the other. You want to master it till it produces results for you. When I went to school it was recommended that you become good in different subjects. You become a jack of all trade and a master of none.

This only leads to mediocrity because you become at expert at nothing, but have general knowledge about everything. It is better to determine the purpose for which you want to use the knowledge that you seek to gain more knowledge. You must then learn where you can obtain this knowledge. You would not go to someone who is not in your industry to learn about lead generation. You will go to the leaders in your industry to acquire that knowledge. Lead generation is a specialized art in itself.  It is a cycle of always getting specialized knowledge to help your home internet business opportunity grow.

Specialized knowledge with definite plans of action and definite purpose will help your home internet business opportunity become successful. They are a wealth of knowledge available that you may use to help your business grow. You must select the right source to gain this knowledge on an ongoing basis. Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich” outlined specialized knowledge as the fourth step to riches. Your riches are dependent on what you want to accomplish in your life, relationship and business.

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Leadership Attributes That Are Critical in Development To Be Successful – Definitive Plans

Saturday, April 17th, 2010

Napoleon Hill’s “Think and Grow Rich” wrote about 11 leadership attributes that are critical in leadership development to be successful. I have written previous articles on unwavering courage, self-control, a keen sense of justice and definiteness of decision. This article is about definiteness of plans where Napoleon Hill believed that a leader must plan the work and work the plan. He felt that if you do not have practical and definite plans, then you are lost.

The leader who makes decisions purely by guesswork is like a ship without a rudder. Leaders who are constantly flying blind will eventually crash and their followers will stop following them. As a leader you must not fail to plan otherwise you will plan to fail. One method that you may use to set your plans is the S.M.A.R.T method. S.M.A.R.T is an acronym for specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and time-based.

Your plan must be specific meaning you know exactly what you want to achieve, for example a plan of losing forty pounds in two days. If you achieve this feat then it is measurable, because if you achieved it and the scale allows you to count the weight lost. If you are forty pound overweight and you want to lose that weight in two days, your plan must be attainable. The goal of losing 40 pounds in two days is not realistic, so make your plan based on reality. The time-based of two days is definitely not possible, therefore your mind reject the plan even before you embark on it.

When you make a plan that fails, then your followers start to critique and are very critical of your proposed plans. When a number of your plans fail then your ability to lead will be seriously hindered. When a leader makes a plan he has to have unwavering courage, self-control and definiteness of decisions to follow through all the way with his or her plans. These attributes becomes interdependent on each other. These attributes start to overlap once you start talking about more than three or more of them. You do not have to have all of these attributes to succeed, but you must master the majority of them.

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7 Practical Ways to Save and Invest slowly

Thursday, September 24th, 2009

George S. Clayton writes in “The Richest Man in Babylon about seven cures for a lean purse. The setting for this book is in ancient time, yet his practical advice is very relevant to today times. The concepts presented are very simplistic in nature, but once applied these principles could help you to acquire wealth. It will be necessary to apply consistent and persistent actions to achieve success.  The inner actions of developing your mind are even more important than the outer actions.  The seven cures below takes discipline to control your mindset because a breakdown in your mindset might lead to a breakdown in one of the stages.

The 7 cures for a lean purse are listed below:

1. Start saving money now

Pay your immediately living expenses with 90% of your income and save the other10% of your income.

2. Control what you spend

You must control the money that you spend on a daily and monthly basis. Your results will be drastically different if you constantly spend your money on a want instead of a need. You must figure out your needs and minimize your wants to control your expenses.

3. Make investments with your savings

Your purse is fattening so now you must invest it. The true way to build wealth is by finding ways to invest your savings. You must find profitable investment that will give you a great return on your money. If you fail in your first attempt to build wealth, then start over at step 1 again.  The point of failing is learning from it and continues to move towards your goals.

4. Protect your Return on Investment

You must weigh the risks versus the rewards of every possible investment. You must only seek advice from people who specializes in investment strategy. You must make sure that you select the right person, interview and researched their credential.  Your due diligence at all stages before investing in a risky enterprise that may eradicate your nest egg.

5. Invest in property

This cure is self explanatory because everyone always dreams about owning his or her property. You would be wasting money if you are renting instead of buying your home.

6. Insure a future income

Strategic planning about your future when you have a growing surplus will help you keep your wealth. Your investments must be enough to take care of your family during your retirement years.

7. Invest in knowledge

The best way to keep your newly acquired wealth is to always invest in acquiring new skill sets.  Perfecting your craft with a solid commitment to your goals will be greatly rewarded. What would you do with your last $200.00 if you had a home based internet business?

The seven cures to a lean purse described above are a simple plan that may be followed in the Babylon of yesteryear as well as the World of today. Saving 10% of your income on a consistent basis is only the beginning. The advice offered by “The Richest Man in Babylon” may be used by everyone now or in the future.

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Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki Really Changed my Thinking

Thursday, September 10th, 2009

When I read the book Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki and Sharon L. Lechter earlier this year it really elevated my thinking to a new level.  I am originally from Barbados West Indies but I have done most of my growing up in America.  You are bombarded at an early age to get good grades in school, go to college, get a good job and you know the rest. The teaching from this book is totally opposite and I believed if I read this book in 2002 I would never have gone back to school to complete my Masters’.  I went back to school for exactly the same reasons he discussed.  I felt that an advanced degree would more make me more marketable therefore I would command a higher salary.  The increased salary I received due to my new degree was not worth the time and money that I spend on earning this advanced degree in 2004.    My Masters’ degree did not have that desired effect on my life.

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When I look at my life almost a year later after reading Rich Dad, Poor Dad I now live my life to a different beat.  I no longer deprive my *essential self by conforming to the calling of my social self.  I am truly taking advantage of the free enterprise that is available for all of us.  The clear defined path that was outlined for us as a child by our parents, teachers and anyone who has influenced our lives definitely does not work.  The beautiful thing about life is we may change our path without having to worry about our age.  When I was on that path earlier in my life I stayed because of obligations that I felt for my family. The self talk in my head stated that I had a family who depended on me and they were no way in the world that I could change what I have always done.  When you always do what you always done you will always get what you always got.

The catalyst to make a change happened was when my boss walks into the store and stated that my services are no longer needed.   The decision to become part of a top home business opportunity was all mines.  The decision to become an entrepreneur has lead me to new heights in my life, relationships and business.  The joy which I always wished for is now a common day occurrence.  Live your dreams and get off that path.

* Read my previous posts regarding social self vs. essential self

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The 6 Every Bodies That Deter us From Reaching Our North Star.

Wednesday, September 2nd, 2009

This is some more musing on the “Finding Your Own north Star claiming the life you were meant to live” by Martha Beck.  Martha Beck writes the every body in our lives that we use to stop us from finding our North Star.  My previous post discussed your essential and social self.  When the essential self and social self are in alignment then we will have eternal bliss.  When our social self is dominating we sometimes use some kind of “every bodies” who deters us from achieving continuity in ourselves. For example when making a decision you consider what everybody would say if you decided to be a professional clown and not continue to be a banker.

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The “every bodies” that we form in our minds comes from the following 6 networks:

1. Family

2. Media Culture

3. Ideological Camps

4. School

5. Peers

6. Organizations

The fact remains that nobody or any organization has the right deter you from reaching your North Star.  When you make the decision to line up your social self with what your essential self is feeling then you will your most happiest.  If you hate being a doctor but you continue to practice medicine because everybody in your family were or is a doctor, then you will be miserable.  The best way to overcome this is to listen to your essential self over your need to conform to your social self.

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