The 5 Success Senses

As humans, we are born with 5 senses: sight, touch, hearing, smell and taste.

However, success requires 5 other senses:

1. Common sense (how to avoid "stupid" mistakes)
2. Tactical sense (how to achieve an objective)
3. Strategic sense (how to achieve a goal)
4. Business sense (how to make money - more and more)
5. Political sense (how to lead others by skillfully shaping perceptions and wielding influence)

By the time a young person becomes an adult, he/she usually has acquired common sense. Well, supposedly!

Tactical, strategic, business and political senses are harder to acquire. Parents would be making a mistake if they assumed their kids can learn these four senses at school.

There is an eleventh sense, which is very difficult to acquire: the sense of who we naturally are and, by extension, who we are destined to become.

Without this 11th sense, a person has no "I" and merely becomes a part of "they" -- the crowd where everybody thinks alike and obeys the same fears.

All the great artists and scientists -- and all great leaders -- in history have succeeded in escaping the force of gravity exerted by the masses. They achieved excellence by first achieving independence.

Aristotle wrote that "excellence is a habit." I would clarify further by saying that excellence is the habit of following one's bliss. In other words, by doing what you really, really, really WANT to do, you become really, really, really GOOD at it.

Strangely enough, when others around us have mastered the tactical, strategic, business and political senses, they are often able to influence us to forget about our eleventh sense. That is, they make us ignore who we truly are. In doing so, they render us powerless.

The key to success is to continually develop and sharpen all our 11 senses.

Money is philosophy

There's nothing more philosophical than money. Indeed, at the heart of the issue of money is the most important philosophical question of all: "How shall I spend my life?"

Let me put it this day:

1. Everybody needs money to survive in society
2. To get money, you have to do something
3. So the main question in life is, "What is that thing which I do which will bring me money so I can have a good life?"

Everybody agrees with points #1 and #2, except perhaps sons and daughters who inherit a large sum of money. But even in their case, they cannot escape the question "How shall I spend my life?"

The challenge lies in answering the question in point #3.

As a broad generalization, let's say that everybody wants to make a lot of money. Some even want great wealth and financial freedom.

The question then becomes, "Do you want to acquire great wealth the easy way or the hard way?"

If you look at Nature itself, you immediately realize that everything grows abundantly AND most naturally! I've never seen a tree "making an effort" in order to grow. Have you?

Even birds fly high in the sky with apparent ease. This is because they have highly developed sensors under their wings which allow them to detect streams of hot air on which they glide. This way, they don't have to flap their wings.

Even geese flying in formation (in the shape of a "V") focus on achieving ease and grace by positioning themselves so that each goose benefit from the vacuum created by the goose flying in front. This way, each goose reduces the air resistance by 30%. Only the leader goose -- right out in front -- experiences the fullness of air resistance. Fortunately, each goose will willingly rotate into the leader position so as to share the load.

If those geese could look down at us humans, they would probably wonder why we all seem to work alone. Why do most people insist on competing alone and striving alone without collaborating with other people?

This concept of collaboration is very relevant to the question of how to spend one's life. If you network and collaborate with others, as many people do on Linkedin, then you can align with the efforts of others and achieve success more easily and more effortlessly.

But before a person begins networking and collaborating, he/she has to answer the question posed by Einstein: "Do you believe the world is a friendly place or a hostile place?"

This is why I say that money is philosophy. This is why Jim Rohn says that to change your fortune, you must change your philosophy.

Philosophy is the foundation for wealth. This is because philosophy is the ultimate instrument for helping a person to align with her true self and the universe around her.

Once a person finds her true self, it is very difficult for the world to resist her. As a result, it is very easy for her to get what she wants: all the happiness and all the wealth that she can imagine for herself.

Alignment is better than achievement

I read recently in the newspapers that an acquaintance of mine, a high-level executive, made $900,000 last year in salary alone, but "unfortunately" could not receive the one-million-dollar bonus due to a corporate performance below expectations.

Oh, I'm so sorry to learn that. (Yeah, right!).

I had lunch with him a while ago and trust me, he's a very down to Earth person and is very kind. Yes, he's obviously very smart, but it's not the kind of smarts that is unreachable to any of us.

We all have millionaire brains; it's just that we don't use our brains to BECOME millionaires, as he does.

Here's an interesting proven fact: if you could align all the muscles in your body and pulled them in the SAME direction, you could lift an object weighing one ton (that's 1,000 kg!).

In mental matters, it gets even better: there are no limitations at all. You could become a genius, IF you decided to align all your thoughts, feelings and actions in the SAME direction. This is why goal-setting is so important!

Goal-setting is important not so much for achievement, but for alignment. Achievement refers to something external whereas alignment refers to something internal.

Alignment refers to "optimally configuring your being for graceful and effortless achievement." Think Roger Federer or, more recently, Jokovic.

Notice that in the very word "achievement," there's the feeling of strain, the hint of something hard to do. "Alignment" feels smoother, more natural, like the flow of a river.

Achievement is like karate whereas alignment is like aikido, where your hyper-sensitivity and speed leverage the force and momentum of the opponent.

Henry Ford and Bill Gates used alignment principles to become rich. Can you guess what those alignment concepts or techniques were?

In the case of my millionaire acquaintance mentioned above, he simply aligned his career with his natural talents. It's as simple as that.

Most people neglect the search for their unique talent and therefore are condemned to a lifetime of strain and stress in the pursuit of achievement.

(to be continued)

Join the free Millionaire Consulting Network!

I posted the following on Linkedin Answers and got 26 positive responses within 24 hours. Please go to Linkedin.com and join also, if you are interested! Thousands of dollars worth in audio and ebook/workshop materials will be offered completely for FREE!

===

Am starting a free Millionaire Consulting Network to help people achieve financial freedom. Interested?

This is a nonprofit endeavor designed to pass around valuable MBA-level instructional materials so people can successfully achieve financial freedom.

Would you be interested in becoming a member of this network? There is no cost involved. Members received instructional materials that I developed in various business workshops (that I usually charge $300 for).

Thanks for your feedback.

Peter Nguyen
Serial entrepreneur and business coach (tyark.com, cefq.ca)
Principal & editor in chief, CareerKnowledge.net
CEO & co-founder, Talentelle.com

Click HERE for the original question on Linkedin.

The Law of Attraction

Many people have a hard time believing the Law of Attraction, and it has mostly to do with their refusal to believe that a person can "get anything he wants to get," if he focused on it intensely and consistently and long enough.

Later on, we'll get to the part where I explain that thinking, feeling AND acting are all required -- and not just thinking or imagining ideal outcomes while "meditating" in your living room. Indeed, if you don't act and just sit there on your sofa and visualize nice outcomes, pretty soon, you'll be sitting on the floor because your creditors will drop by and lawfully seize all your furniture!

The question is, "Can a person really get ANYTHING he wants?"

The answer is yes. If he really wants it. Here, it's super important to understand what is meant by "wanting."

If I say, "I want a harem full of beautiful, exotic women," then that would be more of a wish. It's not a "want" because nothing in my past life experience has driven me to want such a thing (although, of course, being the master of a harem packing 100 beautiful women ready and willing to fulfill my every male desire would be a memorable experience for sure!).

But if I say, "I want a job where I will not be bored, one that excites me and stimulates me and drive me to create new ideas, things or solutions all the time!", then that might be considered a biographically credible "want" because in the past, I've had to "endure" so many boring jobs that drove me out of my mind!

A few years ago, I read some research cited by Brian Tracy to the effect that 95% of corporate CEOs come from poor backgrounds. This is not surprising: because they grew up in poor families, they naturally had the desire for wealth, power and status. Their "wanting" was biographically justified. Therefore, the Law of Attraction began to work and they were able to achieve what they really wanted.

So this means the expression "Be careful what you wish for" is not exactly true. It should be "Be careful what you really, really want."

What you wish for never comes into being. What you really want, based on and arising from your (usually unwanted or negative) life experiences, usually comes into your life -- IF you align your thoughts, feelings and actions.

This distinction between a wish and a want is not clearly understood by most people, especially people seeking financial freedom or wealth.

They wish for wealth, but they don't really want it. To want something means your entire being is screaming out for it. Your entire being becomes a sort of voracious mouth eating everything in life and society that could lead you to wealth, including books, encounters, ideas, workshops, etc.

Here's a practical exercise: if you can write 5 pages explaining why you want wealth, then it's probably a good bet that you really want wealth.

Or you could write an essay of 5 pages on why you want something else, such as "a great boyfriend or girlfriend, a big house, an amazing sports car, a fulfilling career, an exciting social life, a big harem, etc. Sorry, Freudian slip! :-)

(to be continued)

Conversation with a newborn, Part 2

NEWBORN: You mentioned that as I grow up, I should ignore "the indoctrination of society, culture and, above all, the educational system." I feel confident I can stay true to myself, but I sense that you have concerns about newborns like me.

PETER: All newborns have great confidence in their ability to stay true to their Source. However, as the newborn grows up and mingles with other humans, he will also grow an "ego" or image of self. Initially, the baby is all "soul" and no "ego." Slowly but surely, the ego will take over and will seek to assert itself. This happens during the teenage years, where the soul must "negotiate" with the ego. The soul creates while the ego competes. The soul is inner directed whereas the ego is outer directed and cares a great deal about what other people think. This is where peer pressure comes in and can disturb the sane, rational thinking of a teenage youth.

NEWBORN: Have many people been successful at resisting indoctrination?

PETER: Unfortunately, the vast majority of people succumb to the educational system and the societal system which, according to Buckminster Fuller, "degeniuses" children. Not surprisingly, many great entrepreneurs, artists and scientists did not fit in very well within the educational system: Bill Gates, Richard Branson, Albert Einstein, etc.

NEWBORN: In your case, how did you escape "indoctrination"?

PETER: I spent years meditating in a library on important questions like, "How can I create massive wealth? How can I achieve ultimate happiness? Where can I meet young, beautiful women?" Just kidding. Wealth is not that important. :-)

NEWBORN: What's wrong with the educational system?

PETER: The educational system is based on a mass industrialization model which treats students like raw materials in a factory to be "assembled" into a finished "product" for sale to "customers."

NEWBORN: What is the finished "product" and who is the "customer"?

PETER: The finished product is a docile, conforming and obedient employee and the customer is the corporate employer.

NEWBORN: How does this world define "success"?

PETER: External signs such as money, material possessions, status symbols, etc. are usually used as markers of success.

NEWBORN: How would you define "success"?

PETER: I define it as "having the freedom to create the amazing, joyful, exhilarating life experience that you want!" In other words, success for me has more to do with "experiencing" and less with "owning."

NEWBORN: What do you mean?

PETER: Many people view success as accumulating material things at the expense of experiencing life. For example, you can buy a house for $200,000 or $300,000. If you buy the bigger house at $300,000, then you might be sacrificing $100,000 worth of life experience, such as traveling. Many people ask me whether they should go for a job they love or a job that pays more money.

NEWBORN: And your response?

PETER: ... is actually a question. I ask them, "What do you want? A life or a piece of colored paper?" Sometimes, people interpret this as meaning that they should choose either happiness at work but being paid a low salary vs. being miserable at work but being paid a lot of money. Quite the contrary. You can have BOTH professional happiness AND money.

NEWBORN: How so?

PETER: Money always follows people who follow their bliss. So if you follow your bliss -- that is, you choose a profession that you're really passionate about -- then money will flow to you. But if you follow money, you will end up chasing money for the rest of your life -- and you will also have sacrificed your bliss, which is the same as saying that you will have lost your life.

(to be continued)

Every thought you have is magnified a MILLION times

Every thought you have, whether it's fear or faith or joy, is magnified more than a million times because all the cells in your body instantly get the signal from your brain cells and waves.

This is why a person feels "something funny" in the stomach when he or she is nervous. This is rather obvious when you watch people about to make a public speech and they look like they're trembling.

This is why it is extremely important to catch, as early as possible, any fearful thought you might have, and to STOP that thought immediately. If you don't stop that fearful thought within a fraction of a second, it will instantly propagate throughout your entire body and lead to the very negative outcomes you were afraid of.

Bodhi, the mystical Zen surfer played by Patrick Swayze in Oliver Stone's movie PointBreak, says a brilliant line: "Fear makes you hesitate, and hesitation will cause your worst fears to come true."

Sometimes, fear even makes you panic, and when you panic, you lose your mind.

It's important to understand fear because it's the only thing that can really stop a person on the path to great success, wealth and happiness.

Fear is a spectrum, and at one end, we have great fear such as when you suddenly see a tiger come out of a bush and he looks like he hasn't eaten for days.

I hope you never find yourself in that situation!

At the other end, we have a more subtle, more devious kind of fear. This fear is invisible and barely perceptible. You might have this fear and NOT know that you have it.

In other words, this second sort of fear is more of an intellectual paralysis, whereas the first sort of fear is an emotional response.

It's useful to think of this subtle, undetectable fear as the limit or boundary of your self-confidence.

How do you make this fear visible and detectable, so you can deal with it or kill it?

Create thought experiments.

For example, if I were to make you Vice President of one of my companies, how would you feel?

Remember what we discussed at the beginning of this post: every thought you have is magnified one million times.

So your first thought is either "Sure, I'll do it! This sounds very exciting!" or "Er, I don't think I have the qualifications..."

One response is based on faith, the other is based on fear.

Most people face difficulties in life because they do not realize the power of thoughts to build or destroy their own lives, careers, businesses, even marriages.

People often think carelessly or let other people introduce fearful thoughts into their minds.

For example, you might be excited by an idea you just had, so you share it with a friend or sibling. He then says, "I don't want to discourage you, but..."

That's a sign that he's about to introduce fearful thoughts into your mind, and my advice is to turn around and run as fast as you can!

People who are "well meaning" will usually help you to dig your own grave. Similarly, people with "good intentions" will usually lead you to disastrous results.

This may sound a bit harsh, yet a person who wants to succeed must realize that only one out of 20 people is positive. 95% of people are negative and are quite unconscious of the effects of fear on one's self-concept and self-esteem. Without self-esteem, there is no solid foundation for happiness or achievement.

Self-esteem begins when you decide, once and for all, that you will NEVER, EVER entertain any self-doubt, fear, remorse, guilt, shame, regret, etc. in your mind -- not even for a fraction of a second. They are self-defeating thoughts that will be instantly magnified a million times throughout your body and once they do proliferate in that manner, it then becomes extremely difficult to get rid of them.

It's better and much easier to kill the first thought of fear, than to have to fight one million mini-fears spread out among the cells of your body.

If you are a parent, may I suggest forwarding this post to your teenage kids. I will write more about how to fight fears and build self-confidence.

Wealth creation secret - replicability

Never do anything that you cannot easily replicate or easily teach someone else to do.

This is the genius of Ray Kroc, founder of MacDonald's. He made sure that every single task was easily replicable, that is, easily taught to another person with little skill.

Because so little skill is required to work in a MacDonald's restaurant, one out of 15 Americans had his/her first job at MacDonald's.

However, Kroc was not the first to understand the power of wealth creation replicability. Henry Ford understood and mastered this principle by creating the assembly line auto factory.

In other words, to create massive wealth, you've got to create and refine a system that CREATES wealth for you.

For example, I recently create a "publishing" system where I get every reader to forward my eBook to 5 other readers. In a matter of months, I can thus sell to millions of readers. It doesn't matter whether I sell my eBooks for $2 or $50; under such a system, I cannot, simply CANNOT, escape my destiny as a multimillionaire.

The question you have to ask yourself is, "What are the value adding tasks that I do every day that I can replicate? That is, what tasks can I easily teach others how to do?"

Replicability can occur at various levels: task level, process level or system level.

When you outsource a replicable task, look for a good employee.

When you outsource a replicable process, look for a good manager.

When you outsource a replicable system, look for a good entrepreneur.

Think of a task as a specific thing to do, like pouring two table spoons of salt. Think of a process as a recipe. Think of a system as the kitchen in a famous restaurant.

The mistake of the overwhelming majority of professionals and managers is that they do NOT document what they do. Therefore, they cannot easily teach it to others. Therefore, they are "trapped" doing the same thing for decades!

I know a few project managers who understand the principle of replicability, and have documented how they manage projects. They were then able to become consultants teaching project management at a cost of $2,000 per day. I know, I used to hire them for a training company I worked for.

Robert Kiyosaki is totally right about the sequence to wealth: Do, Learn, Teach.

I would just add that for some people, the sequence is "Learn, Do, Teach." These are intellectually inclined people (like myself!) who need to master something mentally before they can do it in "real life."

Other people, like my sister Zoonie who founded Talentelle.com and is now in the process of creating a major portal for women worldwide, prefer the other approach of doing, then learning from what they are doing.

People like her who dare to do things even though they haven't figured out all the details, usually have a lot of self-confidence.

Wait, that doesn't mean I don't have self-confidence! I just need more "intellectual" reassurance before I do something; I'm a perfectionist.

Regardless of whether you are more entrepreneurial (do before learning) or intellectual (learn before doing), you will eventually have to capture your knowledge in order to teach it.

Those who master the art of teaching, become rich quite easily.

It is easier than ever today to become a "worldwide" teacher through blogs, Slideshare.net, Youtube, etc.

The Internet is the 24/7/7 classrom (available and open 24 hours a day, on 7 continents).

Financial freedom depends on mental freedom

Most people want financial freedom. They want the freedom from having to "work for a living."

This is a legitimate desire. It is indeed the right of every human being to live a fantastic life, exactly as he/she wants it. Freedom is the basis for such a fabulous life.

If that is the case, how come most human beings do NOT achieve financial freedom?

That's because they forgot one thing which they ALL knew when they were kids: we all have ABSOLUTE MENTAL FREEDOM.

Nobody, not even God himself, can force you to think a thought that you do not want to think about.

Yet, not realizing that they have ABSOLUTE MENTAL FREEDOM, most people keep thinking the same thoughts over and over again.

This self-imposed "mental bondage to the past" is what prevents people from achieving financial freedom. Other factors such as access to opportunities, intellectual skills, talents, etc. pale in comparison, because unless you have mental freedom, you will NOT be able to capitalize on ANY external advantage or resource or opportunity.

The first step to financial freedom, therefore, is to FREE YOUR MIND.

Let me give you an example. Last May 2007, I dared to think that I could create a special club for women aged 18 to 30 years of age. This "Club 1830" would serve young women by giving them ALL the tools, resources, assets, training, opportunities, connections, etc. that they require in order to have a fabulous life. I dared to think that within 2 years, this Club 1830 would have 10,000 members.

This big idea (which now seems rather small, since I'm thinking of aiming for 100,000 members) is now rapidly becoming a reality.

My point is that once you stretch your mind by thinking a BIG thought, your mind will NEVER shrink back to its original size.

And once you learn to expand your mind by having big ideas and big thoughts, then you will create in your mind and life a big space which will ALLOW an endless flow of wealth opportunities to flow into it.

As a result, you will naturally become fabulously rich.

Conversation with a newborn

Yesterday, I had the immense pleasure and pride of holding in my arms my new nephew, who was only three days old. We had a very interesting conversation. Below is the verbatim transcript, if you can believe it. In fact, I'd love to have a similar conversation with every newborn.

"Hey! Tonton Pierre! How are you?! Please excuse me if I'm not smiling, I haven't yet learned to control my facial muscles! So, what's this world all about? I'm so excited!"

- Yes, indeed. Welcome beloved little one!

- Oh, before I forget, did you know that everyone on the other side of the Veil is really intrigued by your work? Some believe you will change the course of humanity.

- Yes, I sense it too. By the way, flattery will get you anywhere with me. :-)

- Can I ask you a question?

- Of course! You're my nephew, you can ask me anything -- except money.

- Upon arriving on this Earth, I detected using my sixth sense an unusual amount of fear in this world. My five senses are not yet developed, but as you know, my sixth sense is still quite sharp. Why is there so much fear?

- It's a long story, but basically, humans have forgotten that they have the spiritual power to create the life experience they want.

- But how can they forget that? What else is there to shape their life experience, if it's not their spiritual mind? Don't they know that the structure of their life experience is preemptively set by the structure of their unconscious mind?

- Well, people have come to believe that it is their physical actions that create results in their lives. They believe actions matter more than thoughts.

- You must be joking, right? Thoughts ARE actions. We all know that, no? Thoughts are actions performed by the mind on the universe at the quantum level. Haven't scientists discovered that yet?

- Not yet, I'm afraid. We live in a world that is very mechanistic, very Newtonian. We believe that effects only come from actions.

- But don't people know that thoughts are much more powerful than physical actions, and that in fact, a series of consistent and aligned thoughts can create a parallel universe in which a person begins to control more and more deliberately what comes to him, until his life is precisely what he had in mind a while ago?

- I see that your understanding of how the universe functions is quite advanced. You have stated in a single sentence what Einstein himself could not understand in a lifetime.

- So does that mean I can create the life that I want?

- Well, that depends on whether you can successfully ignore the indoctrination of society, culture and, above all, the educational system. But don't worry, I'll be there to guide you so you can fully develop your Jedi powers. In time, you will call me "Master." :-)

- Oh, wait! Here's my Mom, trying to take a picture of you and me! Can you please smile for me, I'm trying hard but I can't control my facial muscles yet!

(to be continued)

Turn your knowledge into money, Part 1 of 4

Many people write to me expressing their desire to know how to "turn their knowledge into money."

Some have been doing the same thing for 12 years, and wonder whether they have knowledge that is "commercializable." That is, they wonder whether it is possible for them to "monetize" their knowledge.

The first question I would ask people is, "Would you be able to sell a bottle of water for $100?"

Most people would answer "No."

But what if you had a bottle of water and encountered a person who just came out of a desert and was dying to drink some water because his body was completely dehydrated?

My point is simple yet it could reveal a great many insights for people who want to turn their knowledge into money: the VALUE of your knowledge is never IN your knowledge itself, but depends on what another human being is going through.

Knowledge is simply food -- different people have different foods to offer. Knowledge is also a drink. Different people have different drinks to offer.

Knowledge is anything that another person would accept to put into their mind, just as a food or drink is anything that a person is willing to ingest into their body.

The AMAZING thing is this: unlike food or drinks, when you give away your knowledge, you still have it!

Imagine that your knowledge is an apple, and you walk through the city and you give away apples to every person you meet. People thank you for the sweet apple, but they also wonder: "Hey, mate! How come you've been giving away apples (hundreds of them) and you keep on giving apples like that? Where do you get your apples? You seem to have an infinite supply of apples!"

And you respond: "My friend, not only do I have an infinite supply of apples, but every time I give away an apple, I create another fruit -- and that fruit instantly becomes infinite so the day after, I can give away an infinite number of that fruit. For example, tomorrow, I'm giving away thousands and thousands of oranges. And then the day after that, I'm giving away thousands and thousands of mangos."

- But how were you able to discover the secret to growing so many fruits?

- I listened to Peter. He said: "The more you give, the more you have. The more you try to get, the less you have."

- What does it mean?

- It means that ONLY when you feel abundant, will you attract abundance. If you want to become wealthy, ACT like a wealthy person and give away everything you have. Give away your books, your bookmarks, your knowledge, your favorite blogs, etc. Share with as many people as possible and you will become rich.

The rich get richer because they give away everything they got, to as many people as possible, as often as possible. The more they give, the more they receive. So the rich (the truly rich) are almost "obsessed" (in a good way!) about finding more and more ways to give away all the value they got.

The poor have a "poor" image of themselves, and are focused on their "poverty," so they try to hide what they have and refuse to give to anybody. So they remain poor.

Whenever you see a poor person, it is always because he/she thinks poorly. Such a person is not good or bad, it's just that he hasn't discovered the way to "think and grow rich," as Napoleon Hill brilliantly put it.

Many people come across a blog such as this one, with over 720 posts on success secrets. They immediately share it with all their friends, family and coworkers. They think "rich" and as they share the knowledge, they will inevitably come across many opportunities to become wealthy.

But there are people who think "poor" and try to hide value from others, they think that "only by keeping value to myself will I become rich." That is really against the law of the universe, so not surprisingly, people who hoard knowledge remain poor.

Everything in nature grows and blossoms and blooms naturally. Plants and trees grow naturally and offer everything they have to all around them. They never try to "keep value for themselves."

I've never seen a tree trying to hide a fruit so it can keep it for itself!

I've never seen a dog trying to keep its joy to itself! Quite the opposite: dogs will share their joy and happiness of being alive with their masters.

It's the same with knowledge. As we adopt the natural (i.e. powerful) principle of "giving away in order to receive more," we will naturally become wealthy.

The correct way to think, so that you can turn your knowledge into money, is to ask yourself: "Who could benefit from my knowledge?" Then, seek those people and offer them your knowledge.

You are like a tree and your fruits must be given to others. In the same way that a fruit cannot benefit the tree that gave it birth, your knowledge will not enrich you as long as you hang on to it. You must give away your knowledge.

I have been doing this for the last two years, writing at least one post per day. And wealth is coming to me faster than I can handle it!

Wealth will come to you too, if you spend some time considering and clarifying what it is that you know which could be useful to another person.

(to be continued)

You create your own life experience

We live in a world made up of 6.5 billion people and so, as individuals, we are only 1 person (out of 6.5 billion!).

Therefore, feeling insignificant is natural. It's even logical to feel that we do not matter that much.

But the secret to perceiving life correctly -- and the secret to self-empowerment -- is to realize that although there is ONE objective world in which we all participate and in which the facts are the same for everybody (that is, you can have your own opinions but you cannot have your own facts), there are 6.5 billion DIFFERENT and UNIQUE life experiences.

There are 6.5 billion different SUBJECTIVE universes, for the simple reason that NOBODY can experience life for you. Nobody can taste life for you. And nobody can put a "life experience" into your mouth (or mind) unless you agree to it. (The mind is really a mouth that is tasting life at a much deeper, and often unconscious, level -- this is a big insight!).

Each life experience is totally determined by the individual whose life it is.

In other words, the world is a big, vast kitchen containing every possible ingredient you can imagine, BUT we each "eat" the dish that we make. This "dish" or life experience is what we make with our mind. Our mind is the "chef." Of course, not all minds are well trained in the art of gastronomy. It requires "culinary" skills to create a great dish. (I don't know about you, but this discussion is making me really hungry!)

The world is also a "buffet" that we walk through. Nobody can put on your plate any kind of food that you do not want. Just as in any buffet restaurant, no waiter is allowed to put food onto your plate and tell you, "Try this!" You simply walk around, look at various foods, and decide for yourself what to put on your plate. It's about trial and experimentation. You never know what you'll like until you taste it. (Let your sense be the master, and your logic the servant. More on this below).

This reminds me of the famous scene in the movie When Harry Met Sally where, to make a point, Sally fakes an orgasm in a restaurant. After she's "done," an older woman next to her says to the waiter, "I'll have what she's having."

Now, I don't know much about women faking orgasms because, of course, such things never (and I mean, never) happen in the course of my relationships with women. Seriously. I am not kidding, folks. I always offer 100% satisfaction guaranteed or your money back! :-)

Anyways, I'll stop here because I'm too scared my Mom might come across this blog. But my point is, we go through life and we look at how other people "experience" life. And then we try to develop a similar recipe for engaging in a similar experience.

(The best experience seems to be when you "merge", at the spiritual, emotional and physical level, with another human being (also known as a "soul mate"). This is a fascinating yet complex subject I'll delve into some other time.)

But this requires that we "outsmart" ourselves every day. This requires that we continually increase our ability to create new experiences (which are like new dishes).

A person who only knows how to make spaghetti will experience less out of life than a person who has learned to cook a variety of different cuisines, from Indian to Chinese to Vietnamese, etc. Well, unless you're an Italian mom, of course, in which case an entire universe of pasta is available for the tasting!

My point is that the key to success and happiness is not to compete against other people, but to continually increase or refine one's ability to create new life experiences every day.

Dr Edward de Bono, probably my greatest teacher, once wrote: "There may be no reason for saying something until after it has been said."

Similarly, "there may be no reason for trying something or doing something until after you have done it."

Sometimes, you have to forget your "intelligence" or experience and just do something for the heck of it. Just try it.

People who ONLY do what their intelligence says is logical to do, live very poor lives. They rely too much on their intelligence or judgment, which is very, very, very small.

It is better to rely on one's imagination. Just look at kids. They will always try anything new at least once. And they do it with so much enthusiasm! They don't care about "succeeding" or "failing," they just care about experiencing the fullness of life.

This is what I mean by "outsmarting" yourself every day. Forget your intelligence, experience, judgment, etc. and just do what you feel like doing. Develop your intuitive sensitivity and creative ability by quieting your mind and just do what feels good and right to you, without caring about what other people think.

This is part of a powerful art or practice based on what I call the "sensitivity/rationality" ratio.

People with a high sense/logic ratio experience more out of life. They are less interested in being "right" than in being "happy" and "in the moment."

People with a low sense/logic ratio will always do what they are "expected" to do or what they are "supposed" to do, yet they live such boring lives. They prefer to be "right" rather than "happy." They live by obligation, not choice. They favor security, not freedom. They put their logic first, and their 6 senses second. They live abstract, conventional, fear-based lives, not experiential, original, fearlessness-based adventures.

A person who insists on being right, is usually not happy. A person who pursues the path of happiness is usually right (in the grand scheme of Life) and naturally attracts other people, for the simple reason that most human beings prefer being happy over being "right" according to social convention or societal standards.

The key thing to remember is that because you are the master of your subjective universe, you are free (and have the power) to be, do or have anything you want.

Wealth comes through ideas!

Einstein said that "imagination is more important than knowledge."

Let's take a closer look at the distinction between "imagination" and "knowledge."

Religion: knowledge
Spirituality: imagination

Employee: has knowledge
Entrepreneur: has imagination

Worker: has knowledge
Creator: has imagination (think of Picasso's statement: "Give me a museum and I will fill it."

Culture: contains knowledge
Individual: contains imagination

Republican: knowledge (trust what worked in the past)
Democrat: imagination (trust human potential -- what could work in the future)

Non-fiction books: knowledge
Fiction books: imagination (think of Harry Potter and how it made J.K Rowling a billionaire)

So we can see that everywhere you look, there is a distinction between the world of ideas and the world of knowledge.

Brian Tracy is one of my favorite teachers, and one technique I learned from his book (I think it was the book Maximum Achievement) is to develop the creativity reflex by writing, every day, 20 ideas for solving a problem or tackling a challenge.

For instance, on a blank sheet of paper, just write at the top a challenge, like "How to bring more traffic to my blog?"

Then, write out, without thinking, 20 ideas on how this can be achieved. It's important that you NOT judge your ideas as you write them out. The screening process can be done later, once you have 20 ideas written out.

The specific ideas you come up with will truly impress you. You will discover that you have more creativity than you give yourself credit for.

Dr Edward de Bono, the creativity guru, goes further by creating specific techniques for generating ideas. Anyone who's serious about becoming wealthy and achieving financial freedom should seriously study Dr de Bono's books.

Indeed, wealth comes through ideas. It is really that simple.

Wealth doesn't come through hard work. Hard work is good in that it builds character and increases self-confidence as well as the sense of self-control. But hard work, like knowledge, has severe limitations.

These limitations do NOT exist in the world of ideas. This is why the self-made billionaire Ross Perot said, "It just takes one idea to live like a king for the rest of your life."

Of course, what he doesn't mention is that it might take a person 1,000 ideas BEFORE he gets to the one idea that will make him rich!

Thomas Edison understands this very well, so rather than say that he "failed 900 times," he would rather say that he "discovered 900 ways that something did not work." His success and the eventual creation of General Electric, is historical proof of the power of ideas in building wealth and improving the quality of life for mankind.

So if you're interested in wealth and financial freedom, consider this: wealth will come to you as fast as the rate at which ideas come to you.

The best news is, ideas come to you all the time! You just have to take note and WRITE THEM DOWN!

At my place, I have over 5,000 ideas written in notepads, notebooks, and all kinds of paper! I have 900 ideas typed in my Palm pilot. I have over 1,000 ideas written on a secret blog.

And more and more ideas keep coming to me every day! (Usually, they come after my second cup of coffee! This is my convenient excuse for not quitting coffee!).

I throw as many of my (product/service/business) ideas as possible on Linkedin Answers, in order to get feedback from people.

All the workshop I've created came from ONE single idea, which then attracted other ideas (from other books, conversations, emails, TV shows, etc.) and was able to develop most naturally. (http://businessmodelworkout.blogspot.com is an example).

The bottom line is that financial freedom will not likely come UNLESS you begin to appreciate the power of ideas, and let them FLOW into your life.

The key is to clearly tell your subconscious mind that you LOVE ideas and WANT them in your life.

One way to do this is to buy a notebook of 200 pages, and keep writing ALL the ideas that occur to you in that notebook. Review them often, improve them, implement them as fast as you can.

I have dozens of such notebooks!

If ideas were living entities, they would consider "notebooks" to be "parties" where they can "hang out" with other sexy ideas!

Your job is only to launch a party! And then, inevitably, ideas will come and will help you to create more value, more wealth and more happiness.

Best of all, you'll be on your way to financial freedom and it will happen really, really, really fast. And the whole process will be a helluva lot of fun!

Choose to be rich! (questions/answers)

A reader asked me questions about the last post, so here are my answers.

---

Why is it that the rich get richer while the poor get poorer?

They have different philosophies about life.

QUESTION: How do you define "philosophy"?

ANSWER: A philosophy is the very structure of a person's life. In other words, we are ALL practicing philosophers, whether we know it or not. Our beliefs are CLEAR from the way we behave every day, the way we spend our time, with whom, doing what, etc. For instance, someone who spends 40 hours working for someone else necessarily BELIEVES that working for someone else is better than running his/her own business. There is no right or wrong here, it's just that the person believes that working for someone else is "right for her." Since belief tends to perpetuate itself because it has great momentum and "reality," it is always difficult for people to change. This is why Jim Rohn says that to change your fortune, you have to change your philosophy.

Poor people have developed the habit of buying, buying, buying. Often, they buy on credit -- that is, they buy with money that they DON'T have!

QUESTION: But why do people spend so much? Why spend on credit?

ANSWER: They are missing something in their lives. I call it "compensatory consumption." Of course, people eventually realize that no amount of consumption of material things or sensations can adequately compensate for what the soul is sorely missing. The soul misses the freedom, the joy and the growth that no longer are possible in many workplaces. There is a spiritual longing or lack, and people try to fulfill it at the physical level. Even in love and relationships, people try to compensate at the physical and emotional level while at the spiritual level, it is often lacking. A soul mate is when all three levels in one human being merges with all three levels in another human being.

QUESTION: Peter, have YOU ever experienced love with a soul mate?

ANSWER: I won't answer that question unless you give me a Kleenex box. So there's your answer! :-)

Rich people, on the other hand, have developed the habit of selling, selling, selling.

QUESTION: Define "selling."

ANSWER: Marketing actually comes before selling. Marketing is all about being "sexy" while selling is all about being "seductive." Being sexy is a perception while seduction is a process. "Sexy" means "obviously having what they desperately want." Indeed, "sexy" doesn't necessarily mean a feminine figure of 36, 24, 36 (although if you do meet such a woman, please give me a call asap!). In other words, marketing is more visual while seduction is more verbal. "Se-ducing" means "to draw to oneself." The art of seduction is a sophisticated art, I teach that in a separate workshop, contact me for details! :-)

I know the following is obvious, but let me state it anyways:

Buying = You lose money
Selling = You gain money

Assuming that everybody wants to gain money, then why is it that most people buy more than they sell? In fact, most people do not sell much.

The only thing they sell is themselves. It's called a job. For instance, a person would sell his labor 8 hours a day in order to receive cash.

The key to financial freedom is to project your mind, your creativity, your ideas, etc. ONTO an object, and then to multiply that object infinitely so as to sell to the masses.

QUESTION: What do you mean by "project your mind"?

ANSWER: My young Padawan, projecting one's mind is a mental art that requires practice. It requires that you connect to your Infinite Source within. To do this, you first have to DISCONNECT from all the sound and noise and chaos that characterize modern society. These distractions also come from your own biography, your "personal history." Forget who you are. Forget what you've done. Be reborn. Be new. Be fresh. Peer into the depth of your soul and you will see a dancing star. This inner star has infinite light, infinite creativity, infinite imagination. You just have to let it express itself. But you've got to capture its expressions by writing it down! This is why I always say that "the jet set is the jot set." People who jot down their ideas, eventually become the elite in society through their highly refined and magnificent wealth creation ability! Yet, they are the creative, cultural, financial, intellectual elite not because they are smarter than you. We all have the SAME infinite creative ability. It's just that they have stopped resisting their own genius, and have practiced the art of allowing their inner star to shine. They have very little ego. They are almost pure souls.

QUESTION: Wow!

ANSWER: Indeed.

This is precisely what Henry Ford did, by creating the assembly-line auto manufacturing system which produced thousands of black T Model cars.

This is what Bill Gates did, with the Windows operating system.

This is what Jeff Bezos did with Amazon. Notice that in this case, the value is co-created by consumers since they "contribute" their computers and Internet connection -- two assets without which the Amazon business model would not work.

The success secret here is to remember that:

1. You become rich by selling
2. The best thing to sell is an object (physical or digital), NOT your person (your time)
3. To create a sellable object, you must project your mind/ideas/creativity/expertise/etc. onto an object
4. You must then find or create a system that delivers that object into as many hands or minds as possible

QUESTION: What do you think of the Internet as a method of delivering value worldwide?

ANSWER: It is indeed that and much more. The Internet or cyberspace is a highly accelerated "manifestational instrument." In other words, wealth manifests itself really, really, really fast. Look at the (young!) multimillionaires behind ventures such as Netscape, Hotmail, Google, Youtube, Skype, Yahoo!, Amazon, etc. There are many more to come, and they will come from outside of America.

Paris Hilton is a very interesting example of mind projection. She's not really projecting anything from her own mind; rather, it is the viewers who are projecting their thoughts and imagination onto her.

Or maybe she's projecting the glamorous image of a beautiful billionaire heiress, a seductive image that appeals to both men and women.

My point is that wealth requires a medium of transmission, and this medium can be a product or an image or a feeling.

In other words, financial freedom requires that a person change the focus from "me" to "media."
But how do you pour who you are into a medium like a book, blog, video, podcast, film, etc.?

This is an area where we can learn a great deal from Hollywood.

Writers, directors, actors, set designers, producers, etc. all work together to create experiential products (movies) that totally immerse people into a quasi-hypnotic universe of sound, images, feelings and words, all weaved into a nice (or horrific) story that touches the soul.

Well, except for Jean-Claude Van Damme movies, where you just feel the urge to hit something. Or maybe it's just me!

Anyways, my point is that to get rich, we all have to become like artists and begin to create something with our mind, our heart and our hands.

The road to financial freedom is, indeed, filled with self-liberating creativity and much imagination and artistry. It is a very enjoyable journey!

But it requires that people stop thinking of themselves as "employees who are working" and
begin to see themselves as "artists who are creating."

QUESTION: Why do most people think of themselves as "workers" and not "creators"?

ANSWER: It's because the industrial revolution, which created the modern plant and office, was based on routinization and standardization. The success of the "system" was based on efficiency, and efficiency requires blind obedience to routines and procedures. In such an environment, creativity was not only discouraged, it was punished by corporate policy. Today, however, due to increasing competition and the proliferation of creativity tools, people have more opportunities to create. People want to create. The creative instinct is an essential part of the human spirit. Organizations that understand this and enable their people to create, will win. Organizations that don't, will be evacuated like a sinking Titanic.

Once you switch your mind and self-concept from "worker" to "creator," I guarantee that you will feel much better and your life will improve at many levels.

QUESTION: What do you mean by "your life will improve at many levels"?

ANSWER: You will shift your mindset or philosophy from a belief that "reality creates me" to one that says "I create my own reality." You will begin to feel the awesome power of your mind to shape your life experience the way you want it to be. This increasing self-confidence and self-appreciation will then attract all positive things and people and events into your life. Many people believe that "everything happens for a reason." It would be more accurate to say that "whatever you are ready for, is ready for you." In other words, a "co-incidence" is nothing more than the intersection of TWO incidents: the Universe is ready to give you what you want, and you are ready to receive it. Most people are not "ready" to receive wealth or abundance or peace or true love or well-being etc. from the Universe, because they have low self-esteem and do not appreciate themselves. Imagine, for instance, hundreds of people lining up in front of your house, and they each carry a "gift": wealth, abundance, fitness, well-being, business success, friendships, etc. -- everything you want in your dream life. However, because you have low self-esteem and do NOT believe you deserve those gifts, you refuse to open the door. This sounds crazy, yet it is a common (and unnecessary!) tragedy. Human beings need to love themselves more. Self-appreciation must become a spiritual discipline that is taught in schools to the young.

You no longer see life as something limited, but as infinite raw materials from which your creative mind selects the right components to create objects of great beauty or great utility to others.

The best part is, throughout this creative endeavour, this artistic expression, you will FEEL like a very beautiful and wealthy being -- and indeed, you are -- and beauty and wealth and well-being will flow into your life.

NOTE: This post was particularly inspired. I encourage you to share it with friends and family!

Choose to be rich!

Why is it that the rich get richer while the poor get poorer?

They have different philosophies about life.

Poor people have developed the habit of buying, buying, buying. Often, they buy on credit -- that is, they buy with money that they DON'T have!

Rich people, on the other hand, have developed the habit of selling, selling, selling.

I know the following is obvious, but let me state it anyways:

Buying = You lose money
Selling = You gain money

Assuming that everybody wants to gain money, then why is it that most people buy more than they sell? In fact, most people do not sell much.

The only thing they sell is themselves. It's called a job. For instance, a person would sell his labor 8 hours a day in order to receive cash.

The key to financial freedom is to project your mind, your creativity, your ideas, etc. ONTO an object, and then to multiply that object infinitely so as to sell to the masses.

This is precisely what Henry Ford did, by creating the assembly-line auto manufacturing system which produced thousands of black T Model cars.

This is what Bill Gates did, with the Windows operating system.

This is what Jeff Bezos did with Amazon. Notice that in this case, the value is co-created by consumers since they "contribute" their computers and Internet connection -- two assets without which the Amazon business model would not work.

The success secret here is to remember that:

1. You become rich by selling
2. The best thing to sell is an object (physical or digital), NOT your person (your time)
3. To create a sellable object, you must project your mind/ideas/creativity/expertise/etc. onto an object
4. You must then find or create a system that delivers that object into as many hands or minds as possible

Paris Hilton is a very interesting example of mind projection. She's not really projecting anything from her own mind; rather, it is the viewers who are projecting their thoughts and imagination onto her

Or maybe she's projecting the glamorous image of a beautiful billionaire heiress, a seductive image that appeals to both men and women.

My point is that wealth requires a medium of transmission, and this medium can be a product or an image or a feeling.

In other words, financial freedom requires that a person change the focus from "me" to "media."

But how do you pour who you are into a medium like a book, blog, video, podcast, film, etc.?

This is an area where we can learn a great deal from Hollywood.

Writers, directors, actors, set designers, producers, etc. all work together to create experiential products (movies) that totally immerse people into a quasi-hypnotic universe of sound, images, feelings and words, all weaved into a nice (or horrific) story that touches the soul.

Well, except for Jean-Claude Van Damme movies, where you just feel the urge to hit something. Or maybe it's just me!

Anyways, my point is that to get rich, we all have to become like artists and begin to create something with our mind, our heart and our hands.

The road to financial freedom is, indeed, filled with self-liberating creativity and much imagination and artistry. It is a very enjoyable journey!

But it requires that people stop thinking of themselves as "employees who are working" and begin to see themselves as "artists who are creating."

Once you switch your mind and self-concept from "worker" to "creator," I guarantee that you will feel much better and your life will improve at many levels.

You no longer see life as something limited, but as infinite raw materials from which your creative mind selects the right components to create objects of great beauty or great utility to others.

The best part is, throughout this creative endeavour, this artistic expression, you will FEEL like a very beautiful and wealthy being -- and indeed, you are -- and beauty and wealth and well-being will flow into your life.

When the apprentice is ready, the master appears

When people hear the popular saying, "When the student is ready, the teacher appears," they often don't understand that the student IS the teacher.

Also, "when the student is ready" means "when the student is ready to teach."

This is because in teaching, we learn. The more we teach, the more we learn. As a result, we have more to teach. And round and round this virtuous cycle goes.

Indeed, you cannot know what it is that you know clearly until you begin to teach it.

For instance, once you begin to teach a topic, it will become obvious to you whether your students "get it" or not. If they don't "get it," it simply means that your knowledge is disorganized. If your knowledge is disorganized, it means you haven't yet mastered it.

This is why it's important to teach in order to learn.

The great "students" in history have also been great teachers continually imparting knowledge to their students: Martin Luther King, Bruce Lee, John Paul II. In the case of John Paul II, you can read his encyclicals for free on the Web, they truly reveal his intelligence.

If success, as you define it, includes an important financial component, then you should begin to teach business or finance or entrepreneurship or innovation as soon as you can.

Some people can teach business for hours, while others can only talk intelligently about business in ten minutes. After ten minutes of "teaching," they no longer have anything useful to say.

This is not bad in itself, because the person then realizes he/she must learn more about business.

It is not possible to become wealthy in a capitalistic society, in a legal and legitimate manner, without knowing and mastering business principles.

Many people have a prejudice toward business, they link it to "getting rich by exploiting others."

Business, in fact, is just a way to unleash your creativity so it can serve more and more people. In so doing, you become wealthy BECAUSE you become more and more useful to other people.

There is nothing more logical than business, and there is nothing more inevitable in business than that you will become naturally rich if you follow business principles simply and without hesitation.

In fact, it is illogical for people to be poor in our democratic, capitalistic society!

Wealth is a natural state, being a millionaire is a natural state, it's just that people resist the idea that they should become wealthy. Maybe they don't think they deserve wealth, maybe they don't think they're smart enough, maybe they "learned" from their parents that hard work and self-sacrifice were more important than wealth and well-being.

The truth is, your self-concept (which determines your self-worth) is the vortex through which the wealth of the Universe flows to you. If you have a small self-concept, then the "opening" is very small, and only a little amount of money will flow to you. Say, $30,000 per year.

If you have a BIG self-concept, like Donald Trump, then a BIG amount of money and wealth will flow unimpeded to you.

It's tough for people to hear this, but the truth is, THEY are the biggest obstacle to their becoming fabulously wealthy.

This is why, for instance, more than half of lottery winners become bankcrupt after two years. They can't "handle" all the money because their self-concept is too small.

This is also why Trump was able to come back from a near-bankcruptcy situation in the early 90s, when he owed nine billion dollars, to where he is now. He lost his money, but his vortex (self-concept) was so big that money kept flowing to him.

You may ask, "What exactly flows through this vortex?"

I would say three entities: Ideas, people or things.

THINGS

For example, I could look at an application like Audacity (http://audacity.sourceforge.net) and have an insight as to how to use it to create value and sell it.

I also recently discovered a way to use calligraphy to personalize soaps and sell them worldwide.

PEOPLE

For example, I could identify certain people with certain talents in my Linkedin network of over 700 connections, and outsource to them tasks that I don't want to do. Of course, they make a lot of money by working with me.

IDEAS

This is the best of all. Ideas come to me all the time, and because I always welcome them with open arms (or, rather, an "open mind"), they keep coming. I have more business ideas than I know what to do with, which is why I created the blog http://greatmoneymakingideas.wordpress.com. People will pay me $100 a year to access that blog so they can pick up valuable and profitable business ideas.

So there you have it. A most powerful success secret: increase your sense of self-worth, and your "wealth vortex" will expand, enabling the Universe to flow great wealth into your life.

I know that not everybody is ready for this kind of teaching. Many people might feel they have to "work hard" in order to achieve or produce results.

But "work hard" is a four-letter word (actually, it's an eight-letter expression!).

I teach people to stop working so damn hard! Go with YOUR flow, do what feels easy and joyful and natural to you.

Hard workers will fail in the Knowledge Economy, because in mental matters, "effort defeats itself."

Here's a metaphor so you can understand how to "work effortlessly" and not hard.

Consider the eagle. Beneath its wings, it has sensors which detect changes in the atmosphere. Specifically, those sensors detect streams of hot air, so the eagle will always fly toward such streams of hot air. This is how the eagle maintains a high altitude WITHOUT flapping its wings! The eagle is just floating in the sky!

There are many ways that a human being can "spread out his wings" in order to sense what is going on in the environment and capitalize on "streams of hot air."

One way is to expand your network of connections and often communicate with them. For instance, on Linkedin, I have over 700 connections in 22 countries.

A second way is to read as many books as you can, to increase your sensitivity to new ideas and new doctrines.

In the end, nobody can really teach you. Only you can teach yourself. This is why I said, at the beginning of this post, that the student IS the teacher.

Everything you think, say or do, WILL teach a lesson to yourself. So it's important to be careful about your thoughts, your words and your actions.

Your thoughts, words and actions will constantly communicate to you what your self-concept is, and therefore, how big your "wealth vortex" is. Through this vortex, wealth can flow to you effortlessly if the vortex is big. If it is small (that is, if you have a small self-concept), then you are willingly stopping the flow of wealth into your life.

Practically speaking, this is why you should always treat yourself like AS IF you were already a multimillionaire, because ONLY THEN will you become one.

I'll tell you all my business secrets!

A few days ago, I posted this offer on Linkedin Answers and got a lot of good feedback! So I offer you the same "deal"!

===

All my business secrets -- My 2008 resolution is to share them freely with everyone. Incredible?

This is a resolution that can't fail since an increasing number of people are beginning to search for a better path through life, and they will ask questions in order to get answers. They hear an inner voice telling them that life is too short to "work" and they want financial freedom ASAP. They want to "play" not "work."

I agree that the purpose of life is to maximize fun, not time spent at the office.

So my intention for 2008 is to share as many of my business secrets as possible with as many people as possible. I will answer all questions free of charge. It is my desire to stimulate people's thinking so they can arrive at the same conclusions I arrived at, which enabled me to create prolific wealth while teaching thousands through workshops and seminars.

I don't charge for this since enriching others (through knowledge-sharing) does not impoverish me in any way. :-)

Peter Nguyen
Serial Entrepreneur and Business Coach
www.careerknowledge.net
www.businessmodelworkout.blogspot.com
www.realtimesuccesssecrets.blogspot.com
www.linkedinusermanual.blogspot.com
www.idealcareerframework.com (password: idealcareerisideal)

Subconscious teachings

If you know, you don't have to do. If you don't know, all the doing in the world will not help. In fact, all the "doing" and "taking action" will only reveal your ignorance and force you to do more and more.

Most people don't understand the supreme value of knowledge, and this is why they don't search for it. Yet, there are clear examples of how non-action people arrive at great wealth.

Billionaire Charlie Munger, the partner of Warren Buffett, is one such example. He is obsessed about searching for practical, universal knowledge from all fields of human endeavour -- biology, mathematics, science, economics, etc. Then, upon discovering a principle, he integrates it into his existing constellation of "mental models."

As this permanent constellation of mental models expands through readings, conversations and experiences, it dramatically improves his decision-making ability.

In fact, it was Charlie Munger who "taught" Warren Buffett how to "correct" his own thinking. Buffett writes that he is always the first to recognize his own mistakes and correct them.

This points to the fact that in life, we all need a teacher. Someone who has a broader perspective and can point out our thinking mistakes.

However, before a teacher can have any impact, the learner must abandon everything he has learned before from misguided "teachers." As Yoda says, "You must unlearn what you have learned."

This doesn't mean you have to unlearn the useful knowledge you acquired from your parents or from high school and university.

The "unlearning" refers to what the mass society, which treats human beings like informational entities to be processed for bureaucratic efficiency, has "taught" people to believe.

Indeed, society "teaches" every single day. The minute you wake up in the morning, you are subjected to this teaching, whether you know it or not. In fact, the teaching is most effective when you are NOT aware that you are being taught!

Your own daily behavior teaches you who you are, whether you are conscious of this teaching or not.

Here are just a few examples of what society (as well as your choices and habitual behavior) teaches at the subliminal level:

1. You get into the subway and you see hundreds of other people. TEACHING: You are "taught" that you are the same as everybody else, going to work like everybody else.

2. You enter a classroom, you sit down in rows and columns. TEACHING: You do not know much, you are like all the other students. The teacher knows. You must learn.

3. You work at McDonald's and you take orders all day long. TEACHING: You don't have a creative mind. You do not have the right to a private consciousness. Your mind must be empty in order to receive orders from strangers.

4. You sit down to watch on TV the evening news. TEACHING: You don't know. You need to know what's going on in the world. It's more important than what's going on in YOUR life.

Of course, I'm exaggerating a little bit to make my point, but basically, millions of people are being "subconsciously taught" who they are. The cumulative result of all this subconscious teaching is that people don't believe themselves to be highly capable and indeed majestic beings who can be, do or have anything they want.

The incontrovertible proof that the overwhelming majority of people feel "disempowered" is that they submit, five days a week, to the control of another mortal -- also known as the boss. Note: Boss comes from the Dutch word "baas", meaning "master."

Assuming that we sleep 8 hours per day and work five days per week, it means we are "free" 72 hours per week (8 X 5 + 16 X 2 (Sat. and Sun.) = 72 hours).

We are "not free" 40 hours per week (8 x 5 days).

So overall, employees have a non-freedom/freedom ratio of 40/72, or 55.6 %.

This means that employees (or most people) are NOT free 55.6% of the time!

This is the fundamental teaching of our times: that we do NOT have freedom.

How can a person say he has freedom when he is REQUIRED to show up at work five days a week, at precisely 9 AM?

I remember the days before June 2000, when I quit corporate America for good, how I used to call my boss at 8 AM and leave a message in her voice mail box that I was sick and would not come in. Often, I was just "sick and tired" of working and just wanted to take the day off. But of course, you can't say that to your boss! So I often had to cough and use a "sick" voice -- my performance was really worthy of an Oscar nomination!

Today, 7 years later, I'm on the brink of making a fabulous fortune, and it will all happen in 2008.

It is quite impossible for me NOT to become a millionaire, because everybody WANTS to become a millionaire, and my products and teachings show them how. People will pay whatever it takes to become free because as we've established before, most people are NOT free 56% of the time. And there's nothing people hate more than bondage.

I found a way to reduce my 7-year journey into a 7-month learning experience for all those who want financial freedom. It's really not hard, especially because I did the hard work so you don't have to!

The main thing is to first understand that EVERY MINUTE of EVERY DAY, you are being taught something by someone. So make sure you understand what this someone is teaching you, and whether it fits with your self-concept.

If you want to become a millionaire, you must ONLY allow teachings that strengthen your self-concept as a millionaire.

(To be continued)

Are your inner conflicts stopping you?

0:19

I used to own a Mac computer and, in order to make programs run smoothly, I used an application called "Conflict Catcher."

Conflict Catcher scans the computer and detects applications that slow one another down because they are incompatible. In some cases, a program can't even run because it is in conflict with another program that's running simultaneously.

In fact, these are not really programs but "extensions" of the operating system. Think of "extensions" as mini-programs that extend the capabilities of the operating system.

I talk about this because often, I see people have inner conflicts. In other words, they have beliefs that are conflicting, and often, they don't know it.

These conflicting beliefs create interference, and from the following formula, we know that interference is diminishing your potential:

Success / Happiness / Wealth / etc. = Potential - Interference

For example, a person WANTS to become rich and even multimillionaire, yet he always shops around for discounts or always looks for bargains. This is a conflict because you cannot possibly become a millionaire if you act like a non-millionaire!

Millionaires never shop around for "bargains" or "discounts." They want something, they pay the full price. Why? Because they are CONFIDENT they will continually make more and more money.

In other words, they have NO (or very little) inner conflict.

Similarly, I see many entrepreneurs being afraid of selling. It's a bit like a guy who wants to have a girlfriend but is afraid of "dating." The inner conflict will ENSURE that he remains single!

In the case of the entrepreneur who's afraid of selling, the conflict is this:

1. He wants to sell as many of his products or services as possible
2. He rejects himself even before he begins selling. That is, he "rejects" himself by refusing to give prospects the opportunity to say "yes" to him.

This is obviously a major conflict, yet many first-time entrepreneurs don't realize it.

Self-confidence is, indeed, the basis for jumping as high as you want to jump. But if you have a weak self-confidence, it's like standing on moving sands. As you try to jump, you will only sink deeper.

So the success secret is to really scan your mind and heart and detect all the inner conflicts within you, for they are stopping you without your knowing.

The biggest conflicts come from the difference between

1. What you WANT and
2. What you feel you DESERVE

The key is to always remember that "whatever you DESIRE, you DESERVE!"

Never argue against yourself. Never let anyone diminish your self-esteem or self-confidence, whether they do it consciously or unconsciously.

Every day, affirm to yourself -- through words, gestures, writings (blogging, etc.), etc. -- that you DESERVE whatever you DESIRE.

Whatever you truly want, WILL come to you -- but you have to remove the inner conflicts first. You have to stop doubting yourself and second-guessing yourself.

I speak from personal experience. Ever since I was a kid, I've always done what I wanted, and paid little or no attention to what others thought I was capable of. I received 4 standing ovations before I reached the age of 18.

That's not because I'm more "special" or more "talented" or smarter than other kids. It's just that I never had any inner conflicts. I want something, I go and grab it.

Think about it this way: there is a massive amount of money out there waiting for you to grab it!

"Money" is just a certain perception, a way of seeing things and especially seeing the value in things and people. When you develop this vision -- this ability to see what others cannot -- then you will realize that all the money you want is OUT THERE, just waiting for you to grab it!

But because you have inner conflicts, you stop even before you start!

Seneca wrote centuries ago: "It's not because things are difficult that we don't do them. It's because we don't do them that they are difficult."