How you define
yourself will be how
you will act.
Wealth is the product of man’s capacity to think.
—Ayn Rand
Remember that your perception of yourself is your
reality. How you define yourself will be how you
will act. If you believe that you’re a lazy, inept, weak,
dim-witted individual—that’s how you will act. Your
definitions of yourself are self-fulfilling prophecies.
Why? Because as human beings, one of our greatest
needs is consistency. You will find yourself acting
consistently with your self-concept and self-definition.
The most vivid experience I had with this
incredible truth came during my student years many
years ago.
All my life, I defined myself as a C student. My
most sublime goal in school was to get a grade past
75%. Why? Because that was my self-concept. I never
saw myself as academic, studious or intelligent. That
wasn’t me.
But something happened along the way. On my
third year in college, I had to quit for a while to work
full time for a community project. One day, someone
asked me if I wanted to take up post-graduate studies
in theology as night classes. I told him I wasn’t
qualified because I wasn’t a college graduate. But
when the dean of the school talked to me and learned
about my volunteer work, he said I could take the
course if I wanted to. They’d just keep my Masters
diploma until I finished my college degree.
But in those classes, I was surrounded by priests,
nuns and seminarians, and my mind was challenged.
My paradigm shift took place after my first exam. Our
professor wrote down on the blackboard the five top
students of the test. I wasn’t even paying attention
until someone tapped my shoulder to take a look. I
found my name in the number one position, beside
the words “perfect score.” I couldn’t believe my eyes.
After class, I remained glued to my seat, still
gazing at that blackboard. My whole being was
in shock. “You mean all this time,” I reprimanded
myself, “I was wrong? That I can be bright?”
That day changed my life. My self-concept was
transformed forever. I went through that Masters
program picking up A’s every time I took an exam.
I then went back to the last two years of my college
years with a vengeance. Whatever class I took, be it
statistics, science, philosophy or literature, I was in the
honors list. I was a changed man!
Let me go back to the topic of this chapter: If in
your thinking you believe that you can’t earn enough
money for your family, then you won’t. If you see
yourself as a C employee or worse, an F businessman,
then that’s what you will be. If this is your selfconcept,
then that’ll be your life forever. Sometimes,
people are trapped in a vicious cycle of poverty,
handed down in their families from one generation to
another. Their very family identity is indelibly wedged
and welded with poverty. They see themselves, define
themselves, describe themselves as poor. I’ve seen this
phenomenon so many times in my work, I think it’s an
epidemic.
I am totally convinced that we are limited by our
own core beliefs, and if we have small beliefs about
ourselves, then we will remain small forever.
But if you believe in your heart that you can create
money, then you can.
Your Creator has given you this capacity to earn
money—for yourself, for your family, for your lifedreams.
Use it!
Create a paradigm shift for yourself right now.
Believe in your capacity to make money.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Monday, February 1, 2010
MAKE SOME MONE Y
Not having enough
money for your basic
needs isn’t the simple
life. That’s poverty, and
that complicates life.
All hard work brings a profit.
—Proverbs 14:23
You might wonder what this chapter has to do
with simplifying your life.
You see, I receive tons of letters from readers, most
of them happy, but some of them heart-rending. Just
yesterday, one letter I read was from a man who was
poor all his life. He didn’t even know how he’d get
food for his family the following week. Sure he had
a job, but it paid miserably and wasn’t even enough
to keep his kids in school. I opened another letter the
other day and read about a woman who had so many
debts, her monthly payables were double her monthly
need a minimum amount of money in order to live. It
is because of letters like these that I wish to share with
you now the six key principles of making money—
without robbing your soul.
The next six chapters of this book will be devoted
to the six steps on how you can make money. They are
as follows:
1) Purify your thinking towards money.
2) Purify your motives towards making money.
3) Take on an abundance mentality.
4) Believe in your capacity to make money.
5) Make yourself more valuable.
6) Discover something that you have that others
need.
Simplify your life.
Make some money.
Action Plan
Are you living simply and yet still can’t fit your
income to your very simple expenses? It doesn’t
have to be this way. You don’t have to accept this
“complication” in your life forever. Write down in
your journal, “I believe that I can raise my earning
potential.”
income. And according to her, she was already living
very, very, very simply! She hasn’t bought a new dress
in ages, never went to movies unless it was a freebee,
and had sold most of her belongings.
Not having enough money for your basic needs isn’t the
simple life. That’s poverty, and that complicates life.
Read carefully. Money isn’t everything and people
are totally mistaken if they think that money will solve
all their problems and make them happy. But we do
money for your basic
needs isn’t the simple
life. That’s poverty, and
that complicates life.
All hard work brings a profit.
—Proverbs 14:23
You might wonder what this chapter has to do
with simplifying your life.
You see, I receive tons of letters from readers, most
of them happy, but some of them heart-rending. Just
yesterday, one letter I read was from a man who was
poor all his life. He didn’t even know how he’d get
food for his family the following week. Sure he had
a job, but it paid miserably and wasn’t even enough
to keep his kids in school. I opened another letter the
other day and read about a woman who had so many
debts, her monthly payables were double her monthly
need a minimum amount of money in order to live. It
is because of letters like these that I wish to share with
you now the six key principles of making money—
without robbing your soul.
The next six chapters of this book will be devoted
to the six steps on how you can make money. They are
as follows:
1) Purify your thinking towards money.
2) Purify your motives towards making money.
3) Take on an abundance mentality.
4) Believe in your capacity to make money.
5) Make yourself more valuable.
6) Discover something that you have that others
need.
Simplify your life.
Make some money.
Action Plan
Are you living simply and yet still can’t fit your
income to your very simple expenses? It doesn’t
have to be this way. You don’t have to accept this
“complication” in your life forever. Write down in
your journal, “I believe that I can raise my earning
potential.”
income. And according to her, she was already living
very, very, very simply! She hasn’t bought a new dress
in ages, never went to movies unless it was a freebee,
and had sold most of her belongings.
Not having enough money for your basic needs isn’t the
simple life. That’s poverty, and that complicates life.
Read carefully. Money isn’t everything and people
are totally mistaken if they think that money will solve
all their problems and make them happy. But we do
Born from the Streets
If you want to become really wealthy (not just middle class), you need to learn practical strategies that can only come from actually doing it. Risking it. Making your hands dirty. And failing.You don’t learn that in school. You learn that in the streets.
T.J. Watson said, “If you want to increase your success rate, double your failure rate.” I totally agree. I’m successful today because I’ve failed so many times. And I’ve failed so many times because I’ve made so many attempts. Look, I’m not talking about foolish, impulsive attempts. (Okay, I must admit I did those too.)
Today, I’ve learned how to fail. Do you want to start a business?
Follow these 4 important rules of failing wisely.
• I only start with small amounts
I don’t bet the farm. I put little amounts of money. So that if it fails, I don’t cry. I consider my investment as a tuition fee for learning in the best university in the land: University of Failure.
•I only do it with coaches behind me.
I don’t do anything without mentors beside me. People who have been doing what I want to do for years.
• I stick with my expertise.I stay within my game. I’ve got core gifts and won’t venture too far from that field.
• I only work with people of character.
I don’t work with just anybody. Through the years, I’ve learned to profile people. Obviously, I make mistakes. But I (sort of) can guess if a person is dependable or not.
And if I fail eight out of 10 attempts, I’m very happy. Because the two attempts where I succeed will far outweigh all my failures. Here’s my complaint of schools: They’re training our kids to fear failure. Woe to the kid whose report card has a red mark. Students will try everything not to fail.But failure is good.
Google founder Eric Schmidt said, “Fail often and fail quickly. So you can try again.” Powerful words. It’s the reason why Google is so successful. It fails in so many of its projects. That’s one of the reasons why we homeschool our sons. We want them to fail often and fail quickly. How? We decided to immerse our kids to real life assignments. Because they realize it’s okay to fail. My 9-year-old boy started three blogs to earn money. (His blogs are about video games.) So far, he has only earned a few centavos from his Google ads. In other words, he failed. Which is good. He has realized that failure isn’t so bad. It simply tells him to try again.
My friend, fail quickly. Fail often. So you can try again.
May your dreams come true
T.J. Watson said, “If you want to increase your success rate, double your failure rate.” I totally agree. I’m successful today because I’ve failed so many times. And I’ve failed so many times because I’ve made so many attempts. Look, I’m not talking about foolish, impulsive attempts. (Okay, I must admit I did those too.)
Today, I’ve learned how to fail. Do you want to start a business?
Follow these 4 important rules of failing wisely.
• I only start with small amounts
I don’t bet the farm. I put little amounts of money. So that if it fails, I don’t cry. I consider my investment as a tuition fee for learning in the best university in the land: University of Failure.
•I only do it with coaches behind me.
I don’t do anything without mentors beside me. People who have been doing what I want to do for years.
• I stick with my expertise.I stay within my game. I’ve got core gifts and won’t venture too far from that field.
• I only work with people of character.
I don’t work with just anybody. Through the years, I’ve learned to profile people. Obviously, I make mistakes. But I (sort of) can guess if a person is dependable or not.
And if I fail eight out of 10 attempts, I’m very happy. Because the two attempts where I succeed will far outweigh all my failures. Here’s my complaint of schools: They’re training our kids to fear failure. Woe to the kid whose report card has a red mark. Students will try everything not to fail.But failure is good.
Google founder Eric Schmidt said, “Fail often and fail quickly. So you can try again.” Powerful words. It’s the reason why Google is so successful. It fails in so many of its projects. That’s one of the reasons why we homeschool our sons. We want them to fail often and fail quickly. How? We decided to immerse our kids to real life assignments. Because they realize it’s okay to fail. My 9-year-old boy started three blogs to earn money. (His blogs are about video games.) So far, he has only earned a few centavos from his Google ads. In other words, he failed. Which is good. He has realized that failure isn’t so bad. It simply tells him to try again.
My friend, fail quickly. Fail often. So you can try again.
May your dreams come true
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