Lost Or Pro-Found

A man walks into a service station wearing one shoe. The attendant calls out, ‘Looks like you lost a shoe.’ The man responds, ‘No mate. Found one!’

It’s all a matter of perspective.

Lost? Found? Half full? Half empty? Can’t afford it? How can I afford it?

So what perspective are you viewing your world from?

The way you think will determine the way you live. And the difference between a winner and a loser is determined by what’s happening between their ears. So that’s why I continue to invest in my ongoing education, because I am fully convinced that ‘as a man thinks in his heart, so is he.’

If you want to live a rich life, then invest in your mind.

Apparently the average American buys less than one book a year.

Why not read at least one mind challenging book a month, and see how far your thinking and your life will have advanced after twelve months of disciplined reading. Even if you read even a page or a chapter a day you will be way ahead of the populous.

Turn off the TV and turn on a book.

Don’t get lost. Be pro-found.

Growing Young

Chronologically, with the passing of every second, our physical bodies grow older. But I have good news – no matter what is happening without, you can grow young within.

This will happen if you are:

1) Willing To Never Cease Learning

2) Willing To Reach Beyond Your Current Capacity

3) Willing To Dream Big Dreams

4) Willing To Never Retire, But Rather Re-fire

So let’s take a closer look at these four areas that will keep you growing younger, no matter how old you are.

1) Willing To Never Cease Learning

Someone once said to me that we will be where we are in the next five years as a direct result of the people we associate with and the books we read. That is why I choose to hang around people who are younger, and those of any age who are smarter than myself. I simply choose to keep the company of those who have a much higher IQ than myself and ask lots of questions while taking plenty of notes. I don’t need to know everything. I just need to have access to those who know more than I do.

In addition, I spend the bulk of my reading time reading ‘wisdom’ literature, starting with the Glorious Quran and then working my way through books written by brilliant men and women who have lived throughout the ages and into this present time. They inspire me, teach me, and cause me to think beyond my current thought patterns. They in fact mess with my head – and yet out of that mess comes great clarity.

2) Willing To Reach Beyond Your Current Capacity

Some people are ‘toe dippers’ while others are ‘plungers’. I have to admit it – I’m a plunger. I go where angels fear to tread as it were. It’s either sink or swim. But I’m pleased to report that I have to date never come close to drowning. Oh sure, I’ve probably gasped and spluttered along the way, but have finally, because I had no choice but to survive, learnt very quickly how to put together the necessary strokes that were required for me to reach the other side.

By stretching beyond our current capacity we suddenly become a bigger person who can handle more stress, pressure and responsibility, because we have dared to grow beyond the status quo.

3) Willing To Dream Big Dreams

I dream more while I’m awake than when I’m fast asleep. I dream ‘impossible’ dreams. I dream ‘ridiculous’ dreams. But the crazy thing is this – I have watched many  of these dreams come true, because I dared to dream.

To be a dreamer is to be someone who looks forward with anticipation towards a promising future. It fills you with hope. It packs your brain with plans. It forces you to become creative. It brings you into the company of other dreamers. This is the place where life must be lived if you are to continue to grow younger with every breath that you take.

4) Willing To Never Retire, But Rather Re-fire

Man was never created to retire. We were created to re-fire. With the addition of years the wisdom , the experience, the insight that you have obtained needs to be imparted to the generations that follow. Retirement in fact is a selfish word. If you simply settle into retirement you are robbing future generations of the riches that are yours, and which have always been given to you to share with others.

Every time I’m given the opportunity to mentor someone younger  (Specially my younger brother) than myself, I feel that I have become richer because of it – and often learn much more about myself. I find that I’m actually smarter than I first thought, and am amazed as to how much I’ve actually learnt throughout the years. The law is true – the more you keep giving, the more you keep receiving.

So shelve your plans for retirement, and reposition yourself by finding someone younger to help, and burn with a fresh zeal in your re-firement.That way – until the day you leave this earth – you’ll continue to always grow young.

5 Ways to Break-up with Stress

Stress is like a partner to many of us, who is always with us, making our lives miserable. But for some reason we are unable to Break-up with it. And you know? Stress is like a slow poison. It will kill your health, your dreams, your productivity very slowly. So let me give you five suggestions from my experience to avoid getting stressed.


1. Know Your Priorities: 
Most of the times we get stressed because we try to do everything. Accept that it's not possible. So please write down your priorities, focusing on your dreams and values. And be strict about it. Learn to say NO to less important things to say YES to more important things in your life.


2. Finish What You Start:
Another very common cause of stress is heap of unfinished projects. Lot's of SMS and Emails to reply, lots of unfinished blog posts (which you left to reply your tweet), piles of magazines and books left half-read (as you started reading another one). As the list grows, so does your stress. So make it a habit from today, to finish what you start. If something can't be done immediately keep it noted under DoItLater category.


3. Simplify Your Life: 
Wait! I am not going to advice you to be Gandhiji, to wear just loincloth. Just think for a moment, which complexity of your life makes you stressed? How do you feel when your more than one mobiles start ringing simultaneously, or all of your inboxes (as you have subscribed to every Email provider available)are flooded with mails, or you surf through 10-15 Social Networking Sites you use? If you simplify these aspects, you will feel much better. Some quick steps:

Use Single Mobile
Use maximum two Email Id (My Recommendation: Gmail + work)
Use one/two Social Networking Site (My Recommendation: Twitter, Facebook)
Get in a relationship (Lol! Otherwise it will make your life most complex)

4. Learn to Relax:
When people feel stressed, what they do is to dive into the pending works, and gets  more stressed within a few minutes. So whenever you feel stressed, stop! and RELAX! Nothing productive can be done with a troubled mind. How to Relax? Well you should find your own techniques, let me give you some suggestions:

• Pray 
• Have a walk (best if you can walk in the nature)
• Do what you love (Like painting, playing games)
• Spend time with your friends and family.

5. Remind Yourself "AALLL IZZZ WELLL!" :
People get stressed because they worry too much. My suggestion is to Stop Worrying and Start Living(as the title of the book by Dale Carnegie suggests) . As Rancho (the lead character in the bollywood movie "3 Idiots" ) says "Whenever you are in difficult situations, facing problems keep your hand on your heart and say AALLL IZZZ WELLL (All is Well). This may not solve your problem, but it will give you strength to look for the solution"

So wish you all a stress-free life. I will be coming up many more ideas on how to deal with the stress.

Faith As Our Currency

Throughout history the currency of many nations and its worth has fluctuated, and at times even become totally worthless. So to put your confidence in a nation’s monetary system alone is to build your foundations on shaky ground. This is where you need to invest in your faith account. And how do you do this? Well, I can only speak from personal experience.

So here are a few tips to enable you to position yourself time and time again for success.


1) Have Faith In God – I personally have faith in the Allah (The creator for the whole world) . And that faith is simply expressed in my trust and a confidence in my creator. So much so that I stake my life and my very existence on Him. In my life I have seen Him supply my greatest needs time and time again that proves to me that He is personally interested in my well being. I talk to Him as my friend and my mentor.

2) Have Faith In Your Strengths – I have consistently needed to identify my strengths and learn to operate in those strengths if I wished to walk in success and satisfaction. The first thing was to identify them. To do this I simply needed to recognize those things that I do naturally and the things that I have a passion for. And then I needed to do them on a consistent basis – ever seeking to improve along the way.

3) Have Faith In Others – Then I have at the same time learnt to delegate my weaknesses. This has been helped by gradually surrounding myself with a strong support network of people who can help me in these weak areas. Mentors are in this group. And the older I get the greater need for these is becoming more evident in my life. These individuals are strong individuals who assist, support and guide me in the daily decision and activity process that make up my life.

So no matter where I find myself in the world geographically or financially, this faith currency is the currency I use on a daily basis, and it sufficiently sustains me.

Try using it yourself, for it is of eternal value

Vocation = Vacation

‘The secret of success is making your vocation your vacation.’ Mark Twain

There have been short periods in my life where I have found myself employed in a job that I didn’t suit and didn’t like. I didn’t stay there for too long, but learnt as much as I could from the experience before seeking out work that I enjoyed. I knew that this was going to be the only way that I was ever going to live an enjoyable and productive life.

I suppose that’s why I am in business for myself now. See, the thing that I really love to do is to create something new. And I suppose that’s what I’m in the business of doing on a daily basis.

I am reminded of my high-school years. There was this one maths teacher, one science teacher and one English teacher who inspired and encouraged this creativity in me. And it was no surprise that during those years that I had those three teachers that I excelled in those three separate subjects.

These days I create books, speeches, businesses and opportunities for not only myself to succeed, but to help others to succeed. And it is in this that I find my greatest joy, and it is in my current vocation that I find myself always on vacation. Work is not work for me – it’s fun, and because I love what I do I work hard and I often work long.

I’m not a ‘Thank God it’s Friday’ kind of guy. I declare seven days a week, as soon as I open my eyes of a morning, ‘Thank God it’s TODAY!’

So don’t be satisfied with second best. Find what you love doing and go do it. If at first you don’t succeed, don’t stop. Just keep trying until you find your vacation vocation.

aggressive progressive

You must also acquire the correct knowledge and then put yourself within an environment whereby you can access ongoing wise counsel.

I recently heard about a multi-millionaire who had a dream.

It may surprise you, but his first dream was not to own a condominium or a hotel resort beside the ocean.

His very first dream was to have at his disposal a team of wise lawyers, accountants, financial advisors and mentors.

He knew that they in turn would be able to provide him with the necessary information and guidance that would supply him with the necessary knowledge to acquire those very things.

In addition to pursuing great deals, he spent much of his time seeking out the right people to guide him in those purchases. In doing so he set himself up to procure wealth that secured both his and his families future beyond his wildest dreams. That also included the condominiums and hotels.

He was an ‘aggressive progressive’ and you too can be one.

Here are four qualities of an ‘aggressive progressive’?

1. Invest In An Ongoing Education

One of the greatest investments you can make is in yourself.

This was once again reinforced in my own life recently when I watched a teenager I know spend  42000 Rs, of their hard earnt money which they had been earning at 8000 a month in a part-time job, on a course that would expand his financial education.

There were many other things that they could have spent their money on, but they realised that if they invested this money now, that they would in turn learn how to make so much more money in a far shorter period of time.

It always amazes me how many adults wince at paying 90K Rs to 1.5 Lac for a three day seminar and yet are willing to struggle for twenty years of their life and never change the way they think or act.

2. Gain Access To Wise Counsel

Henry Ford was once accused of being ignorant. But the fact was that eventhough he didn’t know the answers to TRIVIA-type questions, he knew people who could get him the information, because he surrounded himself with experts in their own specific fields of endeavour.

To be successful, you don’t have to be good at everything. You need to surround yourself with people who know more than you, and as you associate with them more and more it won’t be long before that knowledge will overflow into your life.

3. Acquire Knowledge

An ‘aggressive progressive’ is hungry for the acquisition of knowledge.

They listen to tapes, they attend seminars, they read book after book after book. They ask questions. They join forums on the Internet.

They seek out opportunities to learn from every circumstance and continue at all times to have the attitude of a student.

4. Act

I have read a book entitled ‘Good Things Don’t Come To Those Who Wait’.

If you’re waiting for your ship to come in it won’t be long before you’ll find yourself shipwrecked.

‘Aggressive progressives’ don’t wait.

They TAKE ACTION.

The ‘Aggressive Progressive’ Challenge

If you haven’t experienced significant positive change in the last five years then you need to do something drastic.

NOW!

Change will only happen if you ENFORCE change on your life.

If you want a different life then do something different to what you did last year and the year before last. Don’t remain in a state of ‘degressive regressive’. Move ahead now by becoming an ‘aggressive progressive’ once and for all.

Nothing will happen until you make it happen.

Purchase that book. Buy that tape. Enrol in that seminar. Learn and Act on the teaching

DO SOMETHING!

Apply the four qualities of an ‘aggressive progressive’ to your life and watch powerful and exciting changes start to occur.

Motivational Quote:  An ‘Aggressive Progressive’ makes progress through fearless action.