During one of the forums I’ve spoken at, I brought the audience on a journey in search of their Genie.
Imagine this:

You receive a nicely typed brochure that promises the Genie’s existence. Find the Genie and you will have all your wishes come true. At first, you were a bit sceptical about the whole idea. But something inside you told you to keep the brochure. A few months passed, and you bump into a long-lost friend. He seems very excited and passionate about life and can’t wait to tell you everything about it. He tells you the secret: He found his Genie. As he continues to describe in minute details of his adventure, you get more excited about the whole idea of searching for Your Genie. You start to believe it now.

After due consideration, you finally jump up and say to yourself, “I’m gonna do this!” You start planning for the exciting adventure ahead of you, prepare to sail into the unknown. Some of your family, friends and relatives try to convince you that it is not “realistic”. They discourage you. They even laugh at you and make a joke out of you. Fortunately, your belief is so strong, it’s unshakable. So you go ahead and take risks.

As you handle your life and prepare for your adventure into the future, you realise that there are sacrifices you need to make. Tough decisions. You stop for a moment and think again. “Should I go ahead?” You hear a lot of noises in your head—that try to tell you otherwise. Those are the voices of the fearful, logical, rational and “realistic” you. But then you focus hard to find that little voice within you. That ever so gentle and calming voice, that is finally heard, “This is it. Go for it.” That’s your voice of courage, instinct and inspiration. And you decide to make those sacrifices, because you know they are just short-term.

So you set sail towards the most important journey of your life, in search of your turning point in life. It isn’t an easy journey.

Two years have passed, and you are still searching for that magical moment. You know it’s not going to be an easy journey. At this point in time, you start imagining what would those critics have said about you should you quit and turn back now. That very thought angers you and thrusts you forward. This time, not only you have belief, but you have conviction. You tell yourself, “Let’s see who will have the last laugh.” And you put up a broad smile, and move ahead into the unknown. You are extremely hopeful.

Now you are enjoying your journey and find excitement in exploring the unknown. You love your new adventure! You scream on top of your lungs, “Life is so amazing when I don’t play it safe! Woohooo!” As you start to enjoy your journey, you enjoy new challenges too, knowing that they are stepping stones towards your ultimate destination. You persist through all the challenges ahead of you.

Five years and eight months later, you have arrived. This is it. You stand there in amazement, staring at the magical lamp in front of you. Speechless. Tears of joy are rolling along your cheek towards your broadest smile ever. Congratulations! You’ve made it!

Whatever your Genie in life is—whether it’s financial freedom, quality relationship, your dream job, dream house, dream car, dream lifestyle, health freedom or time freedom—if you want what you desire in life, these are the 5 crucial steps you must take:

Believe in the long-term promises

Dare to risk losing face & looking stupid

Willing to make short-term sacrifices

Be hopeful at all times

Persist through challenges

Remember, winners have commitment. Losers want convenience. If you want to win in life, you must commit to do whatever it takes in spite of inconveniences.

Believe… and you shall achieve.

Further reading

• Do Pain And Pleasure Use You?
• What I Saw At The Graveyard
• Take Action!
• The Magic Of Thinking Big
• You Deserve A Second Chance

Making New Year’s resolutions have become a traditional routine that people do at the end of every year. But how often did we have a resolution that lasts through 3 months into the new year?

Here’s an Easy, Effective and Enriching way to make a New Year’s resolution that sticks like super glue! This kind of New Year’s resolution has “width” and “depth” built into it, and it will empower you to take actions all year long.

Watch this short video that shows you how.

Further reading

• Do Pain And Pleasure Use You?
• Take Action!
• How To Have All Your Wishes Come True
• Do It Anyway
• Do You Think With Your BUT?

Life is the best teacher of all. Most of the time, life does not talk to you. It just sort of pushes you around. Each push is life saying, “Wake up. There’s something I want you to learn.” If you learn life’s lessons, you will do well. If not, life will just continue to push you around.

People do two things. Some just let life push them around. Others get angry and push back. But they push back against their boss, or their job, or their husband or wife. They do not know it’s life that’s pushing. Life pushes all of us around. Some give up. Others fight. A few learn the lesson and move on. They welcome life pushing them around. To these few people, it means they need and want to learn something. They learn and move on. Most quit, and a few will fight.

If you learn this lesson, you will grow into a wise, wealthy and happy young man. If you don’t, you will spend your life blaming a job, low pay or your boss for your problems. You’ll live life hoping for that big break that will solve all your money problems.

Or if you’re the kind of person who has no guts, you just give up every time life pushes you. If you’re that kind of person, you’ll live all your life playing it safe, doing the right things, saving yourself for some event that never happens. Then, you die a boring old man. You’ll have lots of friends who really like you because you were such a nice hard-working guy. You spent a life playing it safe, doing the right things. But the truth is, you let life push you into submission. Deep down you were terrified of taking risks. You really wanted to win, but the fear of losing was greater than the excitement of winning. Deep inside, you and only you will know you didn’t go for it. You chose to play it safe.

—Rich Dad teaching Robert Kiyosaki his first lesson

Source: Rich Dad Poor Dad

Further reading

• Our Time On Earth
• What I Saw At The Graveyard
• Do You Have The Power To Own Your Own Life?
• How To Have All Your Wishes Come True
• Do Pain And Pleasure Use You?

People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centered.
Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives.
Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies.
Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and sincere people may deceive you.
Be honest and sincere anyway.

What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight.
Create anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous.
Be happy anyway.

The good you do today, will often be forgotten.
Do good anyway.

Give the best you have, and it will never be enough.
Give your best anyway.

In the final analysis, it is between you and God.
It was never between you and them anyway.

Here’s a song that tells this message clearly:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Further reading

• Do You Have The Power To Own Your Own Life?
• How To Have All Your Wishes Come True
• How To Make A New Year’s Resolution That LASTS!
• Do You Think With Your BUT?
• Do Pain And Pleasure Use You?

To me, the most devastating word you can use to limit yourself from getting what you want is “but”.

Have you ever come across people who told you about a great idea they wanted to venture in, and you encouraged them to take action, only to hear them say without hesitation, “yeah, but…” followed by a string of reasons why it won’t work?

These are the people who think with their “but”.

Your “but” might be trying to protect you from danger at times. Unfortunately, more often than not, your “but” reacts too quickly and automatically kill your creativity. You need to be fully aware of what you are telling yourself internally and what you are saying out loud through your mouth. If you let your “but” wander around unchecked, it can ruin your life in the long-run.

Too many people with great talent have failed in life by letting their subconscious mind outsmart them, making them believe the 55 famous alibis are real.

So, how do you discipline your “but”? Here’s how. Put a thick rubber band on your left wrist. Every time you catch yourself limiting yourself from taking actions by thinking limiting, negative, unproductive thoughts or by saying “yeah, but…” you snap the rubber band hard. Ouch! The pain interrupts your thought pattern. This causes your mind to go blank for a split-second, and open to new suggestions. Then, ask yourself “how” can you achieve what you want instead of “but”.

“The worst thing a poor person says is, “I can’t afford it.” If you say that you can’t afford something, you become poor. You become your thoughts and your actions. By saying the words “I can’t afford it” your brain automatically stops working. By asking the question “How can I afford it?” your brain is put to work.”

—Robert Kiyosaki

Now, put on a thick rubber band and go “but” hunting for the next 30 days. Consciously replace your “but” with ideas on how you can achieve it in spite of, and you are on your way to stop thinking with your “but”.

Further reading

• Do Pain And Pleasure Use You?
• How To Have All Your Wishes Come True
• Take Action!
• How To Make A New Year’s Resolution That LASTS!
• Do It Anyway

“The secret of success is learning how to use pain and pleasure instead of having pain and pleasure use you. If you do that, you’re in control of your life. If you don’t, life controls you.”

—Anthony Robbins

Today, in one of my weekly trainings, I shared about the Pain-Pleasure Principle (PPP) that was popularised by Anthony Robbins. The PPP explains that all decisions and choices that we make in life are motivated by either:

• gaining the pleasure of; or
• avoiding the pain of not

making those decisions and choices.

Think about it. You’ve made the choice of getting into that job, relationship or business at some point in time. You did it probably because of the promises you saw in it. Or you probably did it because of the pain of not having it. Either way, you were motivated by the PPP.

In the training today, I asked the participants what were the motivating factors (pleasure) behind their reasons to want to achieve success in life. Most shouted out the promises of having more time and money freedom, the sense of achievement and the ability to leave a legacy for their generations to come. I then asked them about what were the pain of not achieving success. They shouted even louder this time. “Being looked down at”, “Being criticised”, “Tarnished reputation”, “Being broke”, “Feeling like a loser” etc. were just some of the most common reasons.

“People change only when they hurt enough that they have to, learn enough that they want to, or receive enough that they are able to.”

—John C. Maxwell

Personally, I believe that one of the ways to use pain and pleasure effectively is to:

1. list down in a piece of paper all the pleasure you will gain from making that decision or choice and taking the necessary actions; and
2. on another piece of paper, list down all the pain you will get for NOT taking the necessary actions and thus not having the results you desired.

The first list will be your source of motivation and willpower. Look into this list whenever you feel that you are about to breakdown or give up. These are your intentions—your very reasons for doing what you’re doing.

The second list will be your source of urgency. Look into this list whenever you feel like you’re not fast enough in achieving your results, or stagnant. Many people completely ignore this list because they fear being reminded of the things in this list so they can avoid taking actions and thus avoiding the responsibilities to make things happen. But we all know that we owe it to ourselves to create what we want in life, and no one else.

If it’s to be, it’s up to me.

You only have one life in this lifetime. Own it. Live it. Make it the best life you’ve ever had in this lifetime.

Further reading

• How To Have All Your Wishes Come True
• Take Action!
• What I Saw At The Graveyard
• Do You Think With Your BUT?
• Dying Professor’s Last Lecture

When you have set the desired thermal range and the temperature in the room approaches the edge of your desired thermal range, the thermostat sends an electrical signal to the air-conditioner to turn it on or off. As the temperature in the room begins to change, the electrical signals continue to respond to the changes and keep the temperature within the desired range.

Eventually, the room temperature always remains at the thermal range you have set.

Your comfort zone works the same way too.

But instead of electrical signals, your internal performance regulator uses discomfort signals to keep you within your comfort zone. In fact, you have an internal psychological thermostat that regulates your level of performance in the world—and governs everything you do, want and have.

Think of your comfort zone as a prison—a large, self-created prison.

It consists of the collection of can’ts, don’ts, musts, must nots and other disempowering and limiting beliefs formed from all the negative thoughts and decisions you have accumulated and reinforced during your lifetime.

As your behaviour or performance begins to approach the edge of that zone, you begin to feel uncomfortable. To avoid the discomfort, you unconsciously pull yourself back into your comfort zone.

• Some people are comfortable as long as they have $1,000 in their savings account. Some are uncomfortable unless they have 6 months’ income put aside (say, $24,000). Still, some are comfortable with no savings at all plus a credit card debt of $25,000!
• Some people are comfortable with staying in a budget inn when they go travelling. Some are only comfortable with a 3-star hotel or above. Some are only comfortable staying in a 5-star or above.
• Some people are comfortable with long hair. Some are comfortable with short hair. There are also some who are totally uncomfortable with no hair!
• Some people are uncomfortable with being late, but we all know there are some who are totally comfortable with being late.

When you are not comfortable with the way things are, you will do something about it. You will request for a better arrangement, demand for a replacement, negotiate, bargain… anything. You will do something about it.

The fact that you have never done something about it shows that you have already conditioned yourself to be OK with what is. For so many times, we have sold ourselves short, tolerated with mediocrity in life, accepted a lower standard than what we deserve… convincing ourselves that “it’s OK”.

Here’s an example:

A salesperson had a goal to present his services to at least 3 prospects a day. If he upheld his thermostat at that level, he would be comfortable as long as he had presented to 3 people on any given day. If he had not presented to 3 people by evening, he would probably go meet people at night just to be comfortable with his goal. Likewise, if he had met 3 people in the morning, he would probably slack off for the entire day.

Let’s say he had a colleague, who didn’t stand firm on his thermostat and accepted mediocrity as his standard. He also had a goal to present to 3 people a day. One day, he was only able to meet 2 people by the end of the day. He then told himself, “It’s OK. 2 is better than none. It’s still not bad.” That moment, he had allowed himself to accept something less than he wanted to achieve. Soon, he would be comfortable with just meeting 2, 1 or no prospects on any given day. When he had been accustomed to that new but low standard for himself, it then becomes harder for him to reset his standard back to meeting 3 people a day as that would become uncomfortable for him for it is outside of his comfort zone.

Therefore, we must always be aware of the comfort zone we have unconsciously set for ourselves for all areas of our life. If you’re not happy with the way things are in your life, do something about it. Don’t let fear pin you down to inaction. Start doing something… anything. Just get up and get going. Just take action!

You only have one life.
Make it the best you’ve ever had.

Further reading

• How To Have All Your Wishes Come True
• Do Pain And Pleasure Use You?
• Take Action!
• What Is Your Life Metaphor?
• What I Saw At The Graveyard

Here’s the real meaning of: Satisfaction

In Latin, the word satis means “enough”. Combine satis-of-action (enough of action) and you get satisfaction. Now you know clearly that enough action ultimately produces satisfaction.

Quit Waiting

It’s time to quit waiting for:

• perfection
• inspiration
• permission
• reassurance
• approval
• acceptance
• someone to change
• something to change
• someone to buy from you
• the right person to come along
• the kids to leave home
• a better feng shui
• a better horoscope prediction
• the fear to disappear
• the risk to disappear
• someone to discover your talent
• instructions
• more self-confidence
• more courage
• the pain to go away
• the right timing
• the next New Year
• your spouse to get in the mood
• the next promotion
• the next increment
• the perfect customer to come by
• your downlines to change
• your siblings to apologise
• the interviewer to call
• your surroundings to change
• someone to understand your situation
• luck
• the next big break
• your mood to change

Just stop waiting and move on already.

Quit waiting for the next raise to afford that downpayment. Start doing something now to get you closer to affording it. Quit waiting for your mood to change to start doing something. Start doing something to get yourself in the mood. Quit waiting for that uncertain promotion from your boss. Ask him/her what does it take for you to get that promotion and start acting on it already. Quit waiting for another New Year’s Eve to start creating your resolutions. Start with one of your biggest goals and start taking actions towards it already.

Nobody says it better than Nike does:

Note: If you’re concerned about being judged by others, read this.

Further reading

• Do Pain And Pleasure Use You?
• How To Have All Your Wishes Come True
• Do You Have The Power To Own Your Own Life?
• How To Make A New Year’s Resolution That LASTS!
• Do You Think With Your BUT?

“It’s a shame you have to be away from home and your family so much,” he said. “Let me tell you something that has helped me keep a good perspective on my own priorities. You see, one day I sat down and did a little arithmetic. The average person lives about seventy-five years. Now then, I multiplied 75 times 52 and came up with 3,900, which is the number of Sundays that the average person has in his lifetime.

“It took me until I was fifty-five years old to think about all this in any detail,” he continued, “and by that time I had lived through over 2,800 Sundays. I got to thinking that if I lived to be seventy-five, I only had about a thousand of them left to enjoy.”

He went on to explain that he bought 1,000 marbles and put them in a clear plastic container in his favourite work area at home. “Every Sunday since then,” he said, “I have taken one marble out and thrown it away. I found that by watching the marbles diminish, I focused more on the really important things in life. There’s nothing like watching your time here on this earth run out to help get your priorities straight.”

Then the older gentleman finished, “Now let me tell you one last thought before I sign off and take my lovely wife out to breakfast. This morning, I took the very last marble out of the container. I figure if I make it until next Sunday, then I have been given a little extra time.”

We can’t choose whether we will get any more time, but we can choose what we do with it. You write your own destiny. Make the most of the time and talent that God gives you.

Further reading

• What I Saw At The Graveyard
• How To Have All Your Wishes Come True
• Push Back & Live Life
• Do Pain And Pleasure Use You?
• The 18/40/60 Rule Of Life

When wealth is lost, nothing is lost; when health is lost, something is lost; when character is lost, all is lost.

The following poem “Am I True To Myself?” by Edgar Guest will serve as a “Mirror Test” to evaluate how you’re doing to build your life on the foundation of integrity.

I have to live with myself, and so
I want to be fit for myself to know,
I want to be able, as days go by,
Always to look myself straight in the eye;
I don’t want to stand, with the setting sun,
And hate myself for things I have done.
I don’t want to keep on a closet shelf
A lot of secrets about myself,
And fool myself, as I come and go,
Into thinking that nobody else will know
The kind of man I really am;
I don’t want to dress up myself in sham.
I want to go out with my head erect,
I want to deserve all men’s respect;
But here in the struggle for fame and pelf
I want to be able to like myself.
I don’t want to look at myself and know
That I’m bluster and bluff and empty show.
I can never hide myself from me;
I see what others may never see;
I know what others may never know,
I never can fool myself, and so,
Whatever happens, I want to be
Self-respecting and conscience free.

Further reading

• The Magic Of Thinking Big
• Truth About Network Marketing
• 4 Crucial Characteristics Of Leadership