THE TRUTH ABOUT GIVING

My discussion today is on GIVING.

We are told that the secret to living is giving! Research has shown that the more you give to others, the happier you are and the more you have the more you are able to give. People get more satisfaction spending money on others than they get spending it on themselves. In other words, giving makes you happier and healthier.

You see, you make a living by what you get, but you make life by what you give. The secret to wealth too is that giving in any form builds wealth faster than getting will ever will. Note that the secret to a fulfilled life is not only to do well but to do good and that is in giving! Andrew Carnegie, Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, Tony Robbins are all billionaires known to be giving away billions of their money every year and their wealth rather than dwindling has been increasing.

Note, among its many benefits, giving librates the soul of the giver. That only comes about when you realize that life is not about me but about ‘we’ and when you do that your life will change forever. It is at that moment that you become a wealthy man.

Like Tony Robbins said, ‘Give freely, openly and enjoyably. Try to give even when think you do not have anything to give, and you will discover an ocean of abundance inside of you and around you.’ Also note this, the more you give, the more you will receive.

Finally, you can never live a perfect day without doing something for someone who will never be able to repay you.

THE MAGIC IN ASKING

My discussion today is on the magic there is in ASKING.

The holy book said, ‘Ask and you shall receive.’ Meaning if you do not ask, you will not get. If a child wants something from the parent, he must first ask before receiving it. If a man desires a relationship with the opposite sex, he must first ask before the woman will accept. So is also the case of a man looking for a job, he must first request for employment before being considered for it.

To get whatever you want in life, you must first ask for it! When you ask for it, it is almost always given. However, you must refuse to take ‘no’ for an answer. You must realize that behind that ‘no’ there might be a yes. That is the catch.

Whenever you are asking, do so with determination and persistence. Ask clearly and specifically. You must stay focused on your desire.  Expect that a ‘yes’ will come, eventually. Belief that you have already received and you shall receive. However if you doubt, the reverse is the case.

With the magic of asking, you can ask for a raise at work. You can ask to be of service. You can ask for the commencement of a relationship. Connect with source to accede to your desire and belief that the universe has already said ‘yes’ to your desire!

With the law of attraction and the magic of asking, you become the conscious creator of your reality. Therefore beginning from today, endeavor to sow the seed of ‘I can, I have’ and it shall manifest in your life. Realize that your desire is yours and you only have to ask to take it.

This then brings us to the issue of thoughts. As you think, so shall it manifest in your life. If you ask for something and belief within yourself that can have it, you shall surely receive it.

Trust me.

The Miracle of the Mind

My discussion is on THE MIRACLE OF THE MIND.

Listen, for him who has conquered the mind, the mind is the best of friends; but for him who has failed to do so his mind will remain his greatest enemy. This is because your mind can be likened to an undiscovered goldmine! The ultimate capacity of the mind is infinite. The only thing that can take you to the achievement of your goals is your mind. That is, its effective use. However we fail to realize this.

You see, your goal is in the future. To be a success in life, your duty is to bridge the gap between your goal (in the future) and where you presently are. How to bridge that gap now becomes a problem which you must solve! Success is being able to solve the problem (bridging the gap) between where you are presently and where you desire to be in the future.

That is where your mind/brain comes in!  Your mind was given to you by the Almighty for problem solving purposes. The reason why the mind is called an undiscovered goldmine is because of its problem solving capacity. It is even more powerful than the computer! However, man has only learned to utilize only a small fraction of his mind for problem solving.

Successful people are not exceptional or without problems. They are simply people who have learned how to solve their problems by making use of their minds/brains regularly for that purpose.  Problems are part of living. How you are able to solve your problems is what separates the successful from the failure.

What separates the human being from other creatures is the mind/brain. The use of your mind for problem is therefore infinite. Yet is the last place the average human being turns to for problem solving.

Therefore to be the success you are destined to be, endeavor to regularly make use of your mind for the problems you will encounter daily in your life. You see, as your muscle grows with regular exercise, your mind too increases in capability with continuous use.

As you therefore regularly continue using your mind for problems solving purposes it gets better and better. So also will you become more and more successful in your endeavors!

Think about this.

Change Your Thoughts and Change Your Being

My discussion today is on THOUGHTS.

‘Thoughts are things’, so said Napoleon Hill in the book ‘Think and Grow Rich’.

Why do men with goals succeed and those without goals fail?

The key is that we become what we think about all day. All philosophers agree on this. You are what you think about all the time! You can alter your life right now by altering the way you think. This is because wise thinking leads to right living while stupid thinking leads to wrong living. Therefore as you think, so shall you be!

Note, this world is a looking glass and it gives back to you a reflection of your thoughts, beliefs and enthusiasm. When you are able to harness the power of your thoughts positively, you will make life say ‘YES’ instead of ‘No’ to your plans and ambitions.

You should therefore think of good things, visualize and believe that you can achieve them. Build a filter in your mind so that it will filter away the negative thoughts that will often come into your mind. Your mind is like a magnet which attracts to it whatever you draw to it and manifests it into reality.

I think, therefore I am.

TRUST: The #1 Value in Your Life

My discussion today is on TRUST.

Trust is being able to predict what other people will do and what situation will occur. Trust is faith. It is the glue that holds followers and leaders together. It is the glue that binds love. Trust contains the secret to living a happy life. It is also another word for ‘allowing’. Without trust you do everything by yourself.

When you trust, the currents of life will carry you to all the destinations you want. With trust comes belief and expectation. So trust what? Trust God. That he is the provider of everything. Trust your emotional guidance. Trust that you can achieve your desire. Trust that the universe will accede to your acclamation. Free yourself from judging everyone. Trust in the natural order of things. Trust that all is well.

When you trust that all is well life becomes yummy and delicious for you. Trust is like a change in your pocket. Each time you make good judgments and decisions, you earn some change. Each time you make bad judgments and decisions you lose some change. You cannot lose trust and continue to earn the respect of others. It cannot happen.

You do not build trust by talking about it. You build it by achieving results always with integrity and in a manner that shows real personal regard for people.

Remember, he who does not trust enough will not be trusted.

Think about this.

An Investment Mistake That Taught Me More About Investing Than Any Book Ever Did

‘Gold slippeth away from the man who invests it in businesses or for purposes for which he is not familiar or which are not approved by those skilled in its keeping.’ - George Samuel Clason – ‘The Richest Man in Babylon’ There is this common adage that says knowledge is power. I have however come to realize that it is not knowledge that is power. Instead it is applied knowledge that is power. This therefore is the subject of my discussion in this post. Back in the year 2000 when I first read the book, ‘The Richest Man in Babylon’ by George Samuel Clason, I was so overjoyed that I made it a duty to share the practical knowledge encapsulated therein with all my friends and acquaintances. I felt then that this was a book that provided all the practical answers that could fast track your journey financially from where you are to where you want to be. However this could only happen if the principles are diligently applied. Come year 2007, I retired from paid employment and was paid a handsome gratuity running into millions of naira. Though this money was payment for my effort of almost two decades of work, I soon realized that easy money does not stick around. Think of those who have won lotteries and how have not been able to much save out of their winnings. You see the wealth that comes quickly often goes the same way if not properly handled. The year 2006 to early 2008 was the time when investment in stocks was at its prime. Thinking I had acquired enough knowledge in stock trading I invested heavily in it. In point of fact the bulk of my gratuity went into the stock market. Then came the eventual recession and economic melt-down of the years mid 2008 to 2010 and the bubble busted. I lost my entire gratuity to unrestrained spending and unwise investment in stocks. Rather than diversifying my investment, I only concentrated on stock trading. Why? It was because I wanted quick and immediate profit. It was therefore my greed that brought about my financial ruin. You see the worst thing that can happen to you in stock trading is to initially win big which I did. It made me think I was smart and knowledgeable in stock trading. It was the greed to win more that propelled me to invest more which consequently wiped off my gratuity and my other savings. My experience thereafter is a story for another day. What therefore is the moral in this story? The moral is that you should never invest in any business which you are not familiar! Apart from this, I also learned from this my investment mistake several other lessons out of which I will like to pick out ten which will benefit you my readers today. 1. Your past failure or mistake has no bearing on your future. 2. Be cautious with the advice of financial experts when it comes to the issue of investments. Most of them are not competent. They are only interested in the gain they stand to gain. 3. Success in investments comes from intelligent investment judgments. That is the intelligent choices and decisions you make in your investments. 4. Intelligent judgments/decisions come from experience. Your experience on the other hand comes from bad choices/judgments made in the past and what you have learned from them. 5. There is benefit in the ‘Principle of Accelerated Failure’ (Mark Morgan Ford coined this in his book, ‘The Pledge’). That is, the faster you learn from critical mistakes, the sooner you will acquire the knowledge and wisdom to succeed. Put in another words, never fear to make mistakes or fail. You should seek it out and learn from it. 6. Hard work though necessary does not necessarily bring about prosperity. 7. Money is a means of exchange and wealth is a state of mind. Wealth grows whenever men exert energy in the pursuit of a worthy goal. 8. You invest not for building assets but to generate income for the rest of your life. 9. To become a successful investor you have to seek and learn the secrets. You must learn how to invest. 10. There are investment principles/laws which if applied would generate for you income for the rest of your life. In spite of my mistake in this investment, have I really stopped investing in stocks? My answer is a resounding no! Rather I have made efforts to learn from this mistake. My judgments and decision making in investment have also become better and wiser. This has therefore brought me gains instead of pains. In addition, I also learned something which is priceless. I have learned the benefit in portfolio diversification. This then led to do a little bit of research on the topic and thus far, Tony Robbins seems to have provided the best insight. Portfolio diversification is what Tony Robbins referred to as Asset Allocation. In his video seminar titled, ‘Financial Freedom: 3 Steps to Creating the Wealth You Deserve’ Tony shared some practical financial and investment secrets which I have been putting into good use and have served me well till today. I belief if applied it will benefit you my readers and immensely too. You see, the secret to good investment is proper asset allocation. This I did not do when I collected my gratuity. I only concentrated on stock trading which is only one form of income generating medium. Asset allocation is the single most important investment decision in your life. It is the only thing that can protect you against loss of your investments. Asset allocation means creating three buckets into which your investments would go. So whatever amount of money you intend to invest goes into all three and not one. They are:  Security bucket: In this bucket you have the investment that gives you guaranteed rate of returns. It is the most secured against loss. Therefore your first investment has to go into this bucket. Examples of such investments are: bonds, insurance and of course your home.  Growth bucket: This kind of investment guarantees you greater returns on investment if successful. If you however screw up in your growth investment, you get zero returns. Examples are stocks and real estate. The two main strategies in this bucket of investment are the buy and hold strategy and the trading strategy (which is the strategy of the momentum players).  Dream bucket: These are the investment in your dreams. Examples are: travels, owning properties in choice part of the world, owning a boat, owning choice cars etc. How do you then decide how to fill up your investment buckets? This will depend on your stage in life. The older you are, the more you will need to fill up your security bucket first. As an elderly person (in your 40s, 50s or 6os), you need to fill up your security bucket first since you have less time to make up for your investment mistakes. This practically is how I allocate my investments today and I have been the better for it. However what do we have today when people want to invest? Most people tend to fill their dream buckets first. They want the best cars. They want to live in choice areas. They like to indulge in living big. You see you can only live big or indulge in your dreams when you are financially free and independent. That is when you consistently make money from your investments for the rest of your life and you never have to work again. Next they fill their growth bucket and finally the security bucket. This is wrong. I want to thank Tony for providing me this insight. I want to thank you too for taking your time to read this post. I hope you have benefited from reading it as much as I have enjoyed crafting it.

Wealth Building Lesson From A Mentor

Being in debt and being indebted is surely not an ingenious way to get rich.  A good recipe for wealth building is first getting rid of your indebtedness and staying out of debt. An arduous task in these days of materialism. However you could achieve these if you follow the advice of my mentor. He is one who has experienced it all and is in a better position to inform and educate. Hope you enjoy reading this article and learn from it as much as I did. Happy reading.

- Adekunle Agbaje.

 

How to Get Out of Debt Fast

By Mark Morgan Ford

Do you spend more than you make? I used to.

When I started working as an editor at a Washington, D.C.-based newsletter publishing company, my salary was $14,000. My wife was earning less than that. Our two salaries barely covered our basic living expenses. On top of that, I was attending graduate school and we were paying off student loans. Then our first son was born. For the first six months of his life, he slept in an open drawer in our bedroom.

Meanwhile, I was spending money I didn't have on things I couldn't afford. Struggling to pay for my education and brand-new family, I overspent because it seemed to provide some happiness, some relief.

But the thrill of buying stuff soon waned. Each new object brought less relief.

Eventually, I realized that I was getting 80 percent of my pleasure from experiences that didn't cost much money. But recognizing that you don't need junk food and kicking the habit are two distinct things.

Here's how I got myself out of debt:

First, I got rid of all my credit cards. I figured that what I couldn't buy with cash was either worthless or worth saving for. Although the fear of going without credit was great, I never experienced any anxiety after I trashed the cards. It seemed like a drastic decision before I made it, but after half an hour I never gave it another thought.

The second thing I did to get out of debt was to start saving. I had made myself a promise that I would save a percentage of my take-home pay, but I never did it. The breakthrough came when I was talking to a friend about how the IRS manages to collect a big chunk of our income through the evil genius of withholding. I recognized I had to do the same thing to myself. The only way I was going to save money was through force.

The solution was available in a new-at-the-time savings-bank program, one that withdrew a set amount of money from my primary account every month and put it in another one. That program allowed me to gradually increase my saving from 10 percent of my income to 25 percent and pay down my debt in a few years.

If you are spending more than you are making, get rid of your credit cards. And to get used to spending less, remind yourself repeatedly that most of the junk you buy (a) becomes unused after a few months and (b) doesn't provide you with much value anyway. Remember that the best things in life - the picnics you have with your family, the walks you take by yourself, the time you spend with your friends - are free, or nearly so.

Create a separate bank account that you'll use to pay down your debt, or have your debts automatically deducted from the one account you have. You might even consider a debt consolidator. (But watch out. Most of them are crooked.)

Increase the amount of your take-home that goes into debt payments every month. You might start, for example, with 10 percent and then increase that by 5 percent a month.

Six months from now, you could be living on half of what you spend now - and I'll bet you will be feeling a lot better about yourself. You'll have less stress, more energy, more confidence, and the beginnings of a lifelong habit of wealth building.

There are so many ways to save money. You can spend less on just about anything without giving up either the pleasure you take in buying or the quality you get from your purchases.

Instead of buying new clothes that will be out of style in a year, buy vintage clothing that looks great and distinguishes you.

Instead of signing a lease for an expensive car, buy something old but still good that has a personality.

Instead of going out to lunch every day, eat some fish or other protein at your desk. This is one of the things I did. By eating a can of tuna every day instead of going to lunch with my co-workers, I saved almost $2,500 in a single year. Plus, I went from staff editor to publisher by applying that extra lunch-hour time to improving the business.

Instead of plodding along in your same old job, make the decision to earn more money.

I did that by making myself a more valuable employee. Until then, I was doing my job and leaving when my job was done. To prepare for my raise, I started working extra hours - even though I didn't have many. I used those extra hours to help my fellow workers do their jobs (which they appreciated) and launch a few new products. I didn't know anything about marketing at that time, but those two activities turned me into the go-to guy at the office.

Several months later, I walked into my boss's office and told him everything that was wrong with the business. "You are not telling me something I don't know," he said. "If you let me run this business I will fix all these problems," I promised. He liked my moxie - and he had no one else to turn to - so he let me take over. With my added responsibilities, he gave me a raise. Every six months, I asked for more money, and I got it. In three years, I had nearly doubled my salary.

In addition to working extra hard at my primary job, I earned a second income by teaching a class of undergraduates early in the morning. It wasn't a ton of money, but it helped pay off those debts.

I was working 14 hours a day, spending two hours with my family, and getting it done.

It wasn't easy but it was a lot of fun.

What I discovered was that working hard when you are motivated is a lot more fun than hardly working when you don't like your job. That was a lesson that made a big difference in my life. If you are in debt and have too little income, it's a lesson you should teach yourself.

Work more. Save more. Spend less. Waste less. You'll be out of debt and on your way to building real wealth in no time.