How specific should your goal(s) be?

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If goal-setting is critical to success, then how big should one's goal be?

If your goal is not big enough, you will not be excited nor motivated to pursue it.

However, if your goal is too big, then you might disbelieve it. That is, a goal that is too big might cause you to doubt whether you can actually achieve it.

For instance, a person who begins to study and practice karate should not aim for the black belt. The desire to achieve that level of mastery will EASILY be drown or diluted or even negated by the doubt or disbelief that one can achieve it.

So the beginning karateka should rather aim for the yellow belt, then the orange belt, then the pink belt. Wait, I think there's no pink belt! Anyways, you get my point.

Many people want financial freedom, and many even want to become millionaires.

Nothing wrong with that. It's good to THINK BIG.

However, I recommend this formula: "Think big, start small, improve fast."

By starting small, you can experience success more easily, which will increase your sense of self-confidence and build your momentum toward achieving progressively bigger goals.

The book "Flow - the psychology of optimal experience" provides a good framework to balance CHALLENGE and SKILL.

In other words, look for or design challenges that you are skillful enough to tackle successfully.

If you take on a challenge that is too far above your skill level, you will be stressed.

Alternatively, if you take on a challenge that is too low for your skill level, you will be bored. Worse yet, you will not grow as a person.

This sounds like common sense and you might wonder why I'm even mentioning it. Yet, most people either set up a goal or challenge that is too far ABOVE their skill level. An entrepreneur, for instance, might set up a goal that is too big or too ambitious. This becomes a recipe for failure, which then damages the person's self-esteem and self-confidence.

Employees, on the other hand, often have goals that are too unambitious (for their skill level) and therefore, they experience boredom -- which means no personal growth.

The key is to understand that success comes from succeeding. And to succeed continuously, one must:

1. Set goals that are big enough to excite and motivate you, but not so big that doubt or disbelief will enter your heart.

2. Design tasks and challenges, in the pursuit of that goal, that are appropriately matched to your skill level. If the task or challenge is too hard, stress will be the result. If the task or challenge is too easy, boredom will be the result.

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To make a million dollar, deliver an Oscar performance

A few years ago, I met a young founder and CEO of a small company. He made a deep impression on me. He walked into my office and, flanked by two of his executives, he seemed to vibrate with unshakable self-confidence. There was a palpable, distinct and clear energy coming out from him, from his words, his gestures, his entire being.

Meeting him was a highly memorable and deeply instructional experience.

However, in the following years, I was never able to pinpoint exactly what I had learned from the experience. I knew I had learned something IMPORTANT, but what exactly? I couldn't tell.

I know that I saw his picture again in Montreal Magazine at McGill University's business library, and the magazine spent an entire article on him and his small company. He mentioned that one day, he would take his company public. He fascinated me so I photocopied the article.

Then, several years later, I discovered that indeed, his small company expanded so fast and he needed capital, so he did (as he said he would) take his company public. It is now listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

It was only recently that I finally realized why he made a deep impression on me, and what I had learned from him.

Even though he was running a small firm employing no more than half a dozen people and I was working for a publicly traded company at the time I met him, he seemed incredibly self-confident.

Actually, "self-confidence" is not the right word. He played a particular role very well -- the role of CEO of a large, publicly traded company. Yet, at the time, he was only president of a small firm.

In other words, he became an actor and ACTED OUT a certain role. The role of CEO of a large, publicly traded company. He did NOT play the role of president of a small firm. That was what surprised me and made me remember him.

I was expecting to meet the president of a small firm. Yet, I met the CEO of a large, publicly traded company. His "acting" was very convincing, worthy of an Oscar.

So that's the success secret I wanted to share with you today.

To become a millionaire, ACT like one right now, starting today. Think, feel, dress, talk, move, eat, etc. EXACTLY the way a millionaire would.

Of course, you can choose to be someone else and not a millionaire. A successful entrepreneur. A successful network marketing leader. A successful public speaker. A great wife. A great husband. A great lover. A famous, prolific and brilliant intellectual (er, that would be me!). Etc.

No matter who you want to become, make sure you thoroughly research the role the way a serious actor would research the character he/she would play in a movie. Then, turn your life into a theatrical stage or movie set and start acting!

Keep acting until you BECOME the person you want to be. Be as convincing as possible. Have fun at it.

And before you know it, you will become the ideal person you have in mind. And you will find it difficult to remember a time when you were not the ideal person you now are.

I failed BIG TIME

This blog is about success, but let me share with you a failure story. MY failure story!

I shared this story two days ago with high school students when I was teaching the BMW workshop.

I told them how, in 1995, at age 26, I embarked upon a business venture with two partners -- and completely FAILED.

My partners did graphic design and photography/printing, while I was the VP Marketing.

We had bought the best computers and laser printer, and had printed our own postcards, letterheads, envelopes and business cards. We even rented a large office which was also my appartment, since I lived in a 6-room appartment (I lived in one bedroom and designed the rest of the appartment to look very professional like a design firm).

However, we did not understand what business was all about. So we would have many meetings and we would discuss many things, yet we did not attract many clients. Even the few prospects we attracted were not converted into contracts because we did not have a clear sales methodology.

This total lack of productivity went on for almost a year (talk about self-denial!), and we had no business results to show for all our hard work. Then, I finally decided to quit and went back to school to study management (at McGill University) in 1996.

Since I had dropped out of university twice (from McGill Biology and from Concordia Journalism in 1991 and 1994, respectively), McGill Management refused to let me get into the full-time BCom program (apparently, they accept only one student out of 100 applications). I don't blame them. McGill is known as the "Harvard of Canada."

But I wasn't going to let that stop me. So for one whole year, I worked full-time and took two courses per semester in the evening to prove to them that although I dropped out of school twice, I was now a serious person. I don't know if you've ever worked full-time while taking two management courses in the evening, but I can tell you it was HELL!

So after a year of working full-time and studying part-time as an independent student, I was able to get a GPA of "A" upon completing 7 courses. So when I applied a second time in 1997, they finally let me in and I studied furiously in the BCom program and aced every course until I graduated with Distinction in 1999.

This was my revenge! I was able to prove to myself and the world that I'm back, and I'm ready to compete against the best! This period of my life was quite exciting, so in my upcoming autobiography, I will write a chapter on it. Being a modest person, I decided that the chapter would be titled "Return of the Jedi." :-)

I'm telling you this personal story because I know that many of you will experience failures and setbacks. It's part of life. It's what you do afterwards that counts.

Your failure -- at school, in your career, in love, in business, etc. -- is your UNIQUE opportunity to become a hero or heroine!

Your failing at something is simply Life's way of telling you, "Listen, I tried to get your attention before but you were too busy to listen so I had to use a strong tactic to make you pay attention. But don't worry, you WILL come out as a strong person. You WILL grow through this experience. And many years later, you WILL be glad that you failed, because failure teaches more than success."

In my case, failure forced me to fall to my knees. My entire being was so weak, and I was totally disempowered. Was I angry? Sure! I even blamed everybody but myself.

And it's okay to feel angry, because anger gives you power. It gets you OUT of depression. But you should not stay in that anger. Rather, express your anger, then move on to the next step on the emotional ladder, like feeling frustrated. Then, from frustration, move a bit higher to hope.

Once you get to hope, you're beginning to see the light. Next, move on to contentment, then joy, then empowerment.

This moving up the emotional ladder is done step by step. You CANNOT jump from depression to joy. Impossible.

Rather, move incrementally like this: depression --> anger --> frustration --> hope --> contentment --> joy --> empowerment, etc.

In other words, failure gives you a chance to get to know your true self. It gives you an opportunity to learn about your feelings, and to learn how to manage them.

Often, women will try to repress their anger because somehow, society has conditioned them to think that a "lady should never get angry." That's balooney.

Be angry if you feel like it, because anger is BETTER than depression. Shout at your husband or your boyfriend or your relatives and friends if you have to. Use the "F" word if you have to. It's good to let it all out.

But don't stay in your anger. Use it as a stepping stone to get from depression to frustration, hope, contentment, joy, etc.

If you are a man, please don't consider this emotional intelligence stuff to be the domain of women. I've used it myself and I can tell you that emotional mastery is the true source of power.

If you're a man and you dismiss techniques and methods that will increase your emotional intelligence, you will never know what power is all about. Wealth, social status, excellence, prestige, etc. all depend on your emotional self-mastery.

Emotional mastery means you are able to accurately identify what emotion you are currently feeling, and you are able to skillfully formulate your perception of reality so as to feel a little bit better, until you slowly but surely move UP the emotional ladder as I've shown above.

Ultimately, fear is the bottom of the emotional ladder while faith is at the top. But like I said before, you can't move from fear to faith in one single leap. You have to go through intermediate steps.

Another thing: this is NOT about positive thinking. Oftentimes, "positive thinkers" will ignore reality. They are blind and willingly close their eyes on aspects of reality (especially about themselves) that they do not like or that seem negative.

Emotional mastery means being able to look squarely and directly at negative aspects of your reality, and formulate a positive or hopeful or optimistic interpretation.

For example, being out of a job is negative. But an emotionally skillful person will say that "being unemployed is great because she gets to explore life a little bit more to know what she is truly passionate about."

This reminds me of a marvelous saying I read a few years ago: "Things always turn out best for those who make the best out of how things turn out."

In my case, my character and determination and, to a certain extent, my "manhood" were severely tested during those tough years when I seemed to fail at everything I did. But I never lost faith in myself. I always said to myself, "Peter, if you're failing, it's because there's SOMETHING that you do not know. Just find out what it is and then learn it!"

There's nothing in this life that you cannot be, do or have. You just have to go about it one step at a time and never lose faith in yourself.

> Secret to wealth on Internet: Buy high, sell low

You're probably thinking: "Er, Peter, you mean "buy low, sell high", right?

No, I mean: Buy high, sell low.

In other words, in today's knowledge economy, things are upside down. A person should pay (or be willing to pay) a high price in order to acquire knowledge, and then be willing to sell it very, very CHEAPLY to millions of people.

That's the main difference between an "intellectual" economy and a "financial" economy. In a financial economy, capital is exclusive: if I have $5 in my hands, then that $5 is NOT in your hands.

In an intellectual economy, I can have a powerful idea or a valuable piece of knowledge in my head and, after sharing it with you, you can ALSO have it in your head. This characteristic of knowledge -- that it can be shared WITHOUT impoverishing the sharer or the original "owner" of the knowledge -- is a real source of hope for people who want to get rich via the Internet.

Concretely speaking, the Internet allows you to share $1 worth of knowledge to millions of people.

For example, that's one way in which I'll become a millionaire this year: by selling my knowledge for $5-$50 to 17 million users of Linkedin. It's a no-brainer, really.

You can do the same. Just remember to buy high and sell low.

In other words, do whatever it takes and pay whatever price required to GAIN valuable knowledge, and then sell that knowledge CHEAPLY to millions of people.

Teaching kids about business -- think BIG!

I was teaching the BMW workshop (http://businessmodelworkout.blogspot.com) again today to a group of 15 students, aged 18 to 22, and they seemed extremely interested about business and entrepreneurship.

One point I stressed today, which I did not previously, is that WHATEVER the sales goal they set for themselves, they WILL achieve that goal.

Usually, participants set a first-year sales goal between $40,000 and $60,000, but this kind of goal is more fitting for an employee. An entrepreneur leverages a system, and NOT his person, therefore he should think BIGGER.

A sales goal of $1,000,000 in the first year or first two years would be acceptable.

The goal you set for yourself is like a certain amount of space that you create in your heart, mind and life.

If you set a small goal, then you create a small space. If you set a big goal, then you create a BIG space into which a great many ideas, resources, coincidences, insights, opportunities, people, assets, books, knowledge, etc. will flow.

Your goal is like a cup: if you have a small cup, then even if the universe pours a LOT of water into your cup, the water will eventually overflow and you will LOSE the surplus water.

But if you have a big goal (i.e. a big cup), then your cup can receive more from life, from other people, from the environment, from everything that is out there and that is reserved for you!

In other words, whatever you are ready for, IS ready for you.

For instance, let me share with you my secret plan about Linkedin. I plan to recruit every single Linkedin user and turn them into a business associate. And last time I checked, there were 17 million of them.

"Business associate" means they work for me and I work for them, and together, we make fabulous sums of money.

Why do I choose Linkedin? Because most people on that site seem very professional and, most importantly, they hold responsible jobs. Yet most of them -- at least from what I can infer from their profile -- are not doing work that they feel passionate about, nor are they doing work that is profitable. Still, they have enough discipline and professionalism to succeed at their job.

So by associating with me and being guided to FIND the work they are passionate about which is also more profitable (because they will OWN the work/products they create), they will do EVEN BETTER.

My point is that you don't have to struggle alone when you strive for financial independence. And because you can work with others through the creation of win-win partnerships (which is actually one of Stephen Covey's 7 habits of highly effective people), you CAN set BIG GOALS.

25-year-old millionaire

Inspiring story of 25-year-old millionaire: http://www.ryanallis.com/

People who believe, achieve!

The Internet exists to make you rich. Period.

This post might get me in trouble with the Dean of the Faculty of Management at McGill University, but what the heck, I care much more about the truth than a piece of vellum with an impressive institutional seal on it!

I studied business for three years at McGill University, from 1996 to 1999, yet I did not -- I repeat, did NOT -- learn about business.

No, I did not skip any class. In fact, I graduated with Distinction (GPA of "A"). Several professors told me I was their best student (and, of course, I fully and immediately agreed with their highly accurate statement). :-P

Of the dozen or so group projects, I was the leader AND the writer of the final report. We usually got "A" for those reports and presentations.

Yet, throughout my studies at McGill, I never heard about Adrian Slywotzky, Peter Drucker, Mack Hanan, Tom Peters, T. Harv Eker (well, okay, he was not famous at that time), Robert Kiyosaki, Brian Tracy, Edward de Bono, etc.

These folks have been my REAL business teachers. I've studied their material most carefully, and have read their books over and over and over to FULLY master business principles.

Don't get me wrong. I loved every management teacher I had. They were smart people who had something to teach, for sure. And I did learn from them.

But I also live by what Leonard Da Vinci once wrote: "Sad is the student who does not surpass his master." This is why I will become a millionaire this year. (Here's a secret I recommend that you memorize: "It is not possible to not become a millionaire when you teach others how to become a millionaire." In other words, the precise teaching stimulates precise thinking, which stimulates or activates precise being, which culminates in precisely having what you desire.) And I will teach business to millions of people. Because I know, from personal experience, that business is not taught at the BCom level, nor I suspect at the MBA level, I feel it is my moral duty to teach business to liberate people's economic creativity (that is, creativity that generates real value) and enable them to achieve financial freedom.

My point is that there is a huge difference between "management" and "business."

A manager works every day to manage someone else's business while a business person is running his/her own business.

A manager is responsible for a team or a function (e.g. accounting department, marketing department, etc.) while a business person is responsible for how the WHOLE business system operates and performs, in order to maximize return on investment or capital.

There are millions of managers on Linkedin, yet most of them are not financially free. They are still working for somebody else. They are employees, like most people.

You have a shot at becoming financially free (i.e. not having to work for a living, although you CAN choose to do ANY kind of work you like which actualizes your potential) only if you become an entrepreneur. But like I said, even in business schools, they don't teach business. They don't teach students how to become an entrepreneur or independent business person.

I'm not complaining, of course, because I can then bring my BMW workshop to ALL business schools in the world and make a killing. :-)

Gen Y people (aged 18 to 30) are much more aggressive about living the good life than Gen X and Baby Boomers, who grew up with different beliefs and values. The latter believe in the work ethic while Gen Y, I suspect, believes more in the "worth ethic": They ask questions like, "Is this job WORTH my time? My precious time in this short life?" Gen Y also respects themselves more, and respects the Joneses less. That is, they will not work like crazy in order to generate more money so as to "keep up with the Joneses."

Gen Y even has tools like Facebook to help facilitate business networking and customer relationship management. Unfortunately, most people have not yet realized that Facebook is an instrument to help them achieve financial freedom. I predict many people will become millionaires by using Facebook strategically, in the same way that many people DID become millionaires by using Google/AdSense strategically and commercially.

Linkedin is yet another great business tool which, somehow, is used by professionals and managers merely as a "networking" tool. What they don't realize is that social networking sites like Facebook and Linkedin are in fact creating an enormous "disequilibrium" situation where a person can suddenly amass great social power and multiply connections for the purpose of creating or co-creating value and wealth in collaboration with thousands of other like-minded people.

The key question that none of the 18 million users of Linkedin are asking is: "What do I have that is of value and that I can distribute through the Web to all my connections?"

That's the million-dollar question. That's the mark to aim for. And 99.99% of Linkedin users are completely missing the mark.

GOING FROM $0 TO $1

Here's what I mean: If you had a PDF document worth $1 and you legally owned the copyright, you could sell it to 18 million Linkedin users (assuming, of course, that the appeal and value of your document are aligned with the needs and interests of the typical Linkedin user).

Even if your knowledge, captured in a PDF document, were priced at $0.50, you could still become rich through Linkedin or Facebook. Read the book The Long Tail to know more about this new commercial doctrine of selling bits and pieces to the entire world.

In other words, employees sell their ENTIRE self: they show up at work and perform whatever tasks prescribed in their job description. Entrepreneurs, on the other hand, sell bits and pieces of themselves and their mind, in the form of products that can be easily circulated through existing distribution networks.

In the past, it was difficult, if not impossible, for a normal person to build such distribution networks. Today, however, these networks have been built by others at a cost of millions of dollars! Youtube, Linkedin, Facebook, etc. were built for you! And it cost you absolutely NOTHING!

All you have to do is USE them in order to enrich yourself and others.

The Internet, my friends, is truly the Land of Millionaires. If you're not using the Internet to create value and build wealth so that you can eventually retire rich at an early age like 30 or 35,
then you do not know the power of the Internet.

Using the Internet just for email or surfing websites, is like merely using the headlights of a Formula 1 race car to signal your intentions to others!

The whole point of the existence of the Internet is to ENRICH YOU! And you can enrich yourself only by enriching other people (whom you connect to through the Internet!).

In a future post, I'll talk about this interesting yet somewhat plausible scenario: Imagine that a Supreme or Divine Being were observing life on this planet. He (or She) is saddened by so many people wasting their lives away in cubicles and high-tower offices instead of enjoying Nature and the richness of cultures all over the planet. So this Supreme Being, in its great Wisdom, decides to help mankind. However, It cannot intervene directly in human affairs. It can only guide what exists already. So one day, it detects a certain interesting project funded by the U.S. Defense Department: a covert and highly secure communications network designed to offer communication capabilities within the U.S. in the case of attack by a foreign power. Our Supreme Being shakes its head and sighs: "Will they ever learn? Then, suddenly, the Supreme Being has a great insight! How about turning this military communications network into a powerful tool that could enrich mankind while fostering an environment where friendships across oceans and continents could flourish? To be continued..

Every day on the job digs your financial grave

This post might shock you a little, especially if you're an employee. But don't worry, it's not hopeless at all. Just thought I'd give you a friendly advance warning. :-)

Human beings are learning all the time, and the more subtle the teaching, the more effective the learning.

Here's a concrete example. Every day that you spend at the office, working for somebody else, you are "learning" to be an employee. An employee is a person who usually does only what he is hired to do. Indeed, it is a rare employee who will do more than what is required to get his paycheck.

It's not that employees cannot do more. It's just that under the current employment system where doing more will not result in a salary increase, it simply makes NO SENSE to do more. It also doesn't make sense to finish your work faster, because you know that your boss will give you more work.

The result is that most employees will do as little as possible and will work as slowly as possible.

You might be laughing, but this is really what is happening in corporate offices!

In Corporate America, people merely push paper. It's very bureaucratic. Few people know what value they are creating, and even fewer people are able to put a precise cash value on the work they are performing.

Entrepreneurial America is different. Entrepreneurs don't push paper. They print money. Not only that, but they also create machines that print money. It's called franchising. More on that later.

So every day, millions and millions of people take the subway or drive to work and ... dig their own financial grave.

This is so because the entire environment they work in, will "teach" them -- every day! -- to be good employees (defined, as mentioned above, as people who do the minimum and do it as slowly as possible).

Of course, it eventually gets to a point where the entire organization is no longer able to survive due to aggressive competition or foreign competitors, at which point the CEO begins to downsize.

Then, suddenly, everybody begins to produce more and work faster. Eventually, people "calm down" and begin to work slowly and produce the very minimum. This infernal cycle goes on and on. This is really crazy, if you ask me. I'm so glad I quit Corporate America when I was 31.

However, if you are an employee, it is NOT hopeless at all. You can study how your employer is creating value, how they organize their processes, how they recruit people, how they train people, etc. All this valuable knowledge, which you are learning from a (hopefully) successful organization, WILL serve you once you become an entrepreneur.

In other words, consider your job as a training ground for your future life as an entrepreneur!

The amazing thing is that while you're being trained to become an entrepreneur, they're paying you!

The trick, of course, is to choose an employer organization where you can learn useful business knowledge. "Business knowledge" refers to knowledge about how to create value and convert that value into money.

The good news is that ANY business organization can teach you something. The very fact that they are able to hire you, already shows that they are somewhat successful. You can learn about business at any business organization.

Contrast that with my own 3 years spent at university studying business. I read a lot of "required" readings and passed many exams, but did not really learn how to create value or how to convert that value into money! Don't get me wrong, I'm very proud of my management degree. It's a framed piece of vellum with my name inscribed in calligraphy and with an official seal from a well-known university (McGill). It's amazing how such an artfully crafted institutional artifact can positively impact my self-esteem. :-)

But back to business.

During the 90s, I consciously sought out the best employers and began to work for them. I rejected permanent job offers and deliberately chose to work on contract for Fortune 500 companies. I learned everything I could from them. In fact, I know secrets about IBM and American Express and Abbott Laboratories that I can't -- ever -- reveal to anyone since they are insanely valuable and proprietary business secrets.

Of course, not revealing those business secrets is one thing. Learning from them and creating my own business processes is a different thing, and is perfectly legal.

My point is that you may currently be working as an employee, and that's alright. But be careful not to let them teach you how to be a good employee.

A good employee is a poor person -- cash-wise, asset-wise and time-wise.

Take the initiative and learn to become an entrepreneur who is absorbing all the knowledge available at the corporate workplace.

In the end, all employees are "digging." The only question is, are you digging your own financial grave (by doing minimal work and doing it as slowly as possible) or are you digging a tunnel through which you can escape Corporate America and become financially free (by learning about business as much as you can in order to become an entrepreneur soon)?

Brian Tracy, one of my great teachers, wrote that "In America, you work 8 hours a day to survive. Every extra hour that you work every day, is a direct investment into your future." I read that line in the early 90s and instantly memorized it because I felt there was a great truth in it.

Product quality is critical in new ventures

Someone on Linkedin asked about feedback on the following "litmus test" for new ventures, which I thought was a good test. I share below my answer.

http://tinyurl.com/2cg58w

The litmus test covers basic issues, but it leaves out the most fundamental issue: the product.

In other words, I submit that the product's quality, the technology behind it, the cost, the benefits, etc. are far more important than the "business" issues.

My own "litmus test" for aspiring entrepreneurs and for myself is to put my product (even a prototype version if I have to) into the hands of a real customer, and then to ask her what she thinks about it.

My philosophy is that nothing succeeds like success, and therefore, a product must succeed in itself and satisfy a real need before other issues can be tackled (marketing, sales, business planning, etc.).

This is why, when I teach entrepreneurship, I encourage students to ask, "What exactly is my product?" A crystal clear definition of the product and exactly what it will do to improve the lives of customers, is paramount to success.

Rather than talk vaguely about "launching a venture," it would be more strategic and instructional to talk about "improving a life." The life of the customer. There is nothing more common, alas, than people launching ventures that are useless to others.

The real courage -- and genius -- of successful entrepreneurs lies in focusing all their energies and ingenuity toward solving a real problem experienced by real people. This relentless focus on getting to know targeted customers in order to be able to create products and services that will improve their lives, is what leads to success and great wealth!

Peter Nguyen
Serial entrepreneur
http://millionaireconsultingnetwork.wordpress.com

Imagination is power

There is a certain kind of knowledge that is extremely powerful and once you know it, you feel a tremendous sense of power. Once you know it, you cannot "unknow" it. In other words, you will possess such knowledge for life.

The BMW workshop, which I'll be teaching yet again this coming Tuesday, contains such knowledge. It's the kind of knowledge that can turn an ordinary human being into an extraordinary millionaire. (Details here: http://businessmodelworkout.blogspot.com).

However, no matter how great or powerful knowledge is, it is only half the equation. The other half has to do with one's resolve or willpower or determination in executing as per one's knowledge.

To illustrate, here's a line from the movie Elizabeth, delivered to chilling effect by Academy Award winner Jeffrey Rush (who plays Sir Walsingham, a shrewd advisor to the young queen Elizabeth):

"Madam, if I may. A prince should never flinch from being blamed for acts of ruthlessness which are necessary for safeguarding the State and their own person. You must take these things so much to heart that you do not fear to strike even the very nearest that you have, if they be implicated."

The path to becoming a millionaire is similar to the path that a person must embark upon to become a prince. What is required is a certain ruthlessness in executing as per one's knowledge.

Of course, I'm not suggesting that you commit murders and execute your enemies in order to build your political capital!

But I am suggesting that knowledge, even the secret kind that is jealously guarded by the elite, is only half the equation. The other half is your ruthlessness in achieving your goals. This ruthlessness has three parts: 1. Know precisely what it is that you have to do 2. Feel infinite motivation to do it 3. Do that and only that and nothing else but that.

As you can see, I mean "ruthlessness applied to oneself." I don't mean ruthlessness in the sense of being cruel or brutal or harsh with other people. That would not be civilized, and I suspect my Mom would be against that.

I mean ruthlessness in the sense of knowing what is true from what is false, and immediately and permanently abandoning what is false. Knowing what is productive from what is not productive. And knowing that feels right from what feels wrong.

The natural state of all people on this planet is well-being and overflowing wealth. Yet, because human beings cling to falsehoods and illusions (often about themselves), they generate enormous interference to the flow of well-being and wealth into their lives.

People cling to falsehoods and illusions because they cherish their memory too much. They cling to their past and in doing so, are not ready to receive their future.

It's like the saying I read a few years ago about baseball: "You cannot steal second base if you keep your foot on first."

I put it this way: "You cannot find your future self if you refuse to let go of your past self."

Yet another way to put it: "To find your fortune, lose your memory."

People hang on to their memory too much, without realizing that their past will not make them happier or richer. At one point, we all have to decide: either you grab your fortune and let go of your past, or you hang on to your past and lose your fortune.

Imagination is truly more important (and profitable!) than intelligence. For instance, imagine the ideal person that you could be. Think of that ideal person as a role you would play in a movie. (In my case, I imagine myself playing Thomas Crown in the movie The Thomas Crown Affair. Yes, go ahead and laugh at me; however, I'm having one hell of a good time playing this part! Sometimes, I also imagine myself playing a young William Parrish, the billionaire media mogul played by Anthony Hopkins in the movie Meet Joe Black).

If you are not financially free and don't see a way to achieve financial freedom, it simply means that you are hanging on to your past. Your mind, therefore, is clouded and you cannot see yourself as you truly are: a being who naturally possesses infinite wealth.

The cure is simple: learn to use your imagination more. Daydream a little bit more every day. Stop being too logical or rational.

If you were a millionaire, you might have a good excuse for being rational and not imaginative. But if you are still working as an employee and are still spending 5 days a week enriching other people, then there is no excuse for not using your imagination and creativity to envision new solutions that would increase your value and net worth.

Learn to become a millionaire!

If becoming financially free is your goal, I highly recommend that you go to http://millionaireconsultingnetwork.wordpress.com, download the invitation in PDF format, and join the Millionaire Consulting Network for FREE before February 14, 2008. After the deadline, membership will cost $500.

Here's how my teachings on financial freedom are DIFFERENT from the work of other authors: consultants who help people find their true careers, still do not teach people about business, so even if they find a fulfilling career, they are stuck working for somebody else. This does NOT lead to financial freedom.

Other authors ignore people's natural talents and passion and values, and suggest an impersonal method of building wealth. My view is that even if people did succeed in becoming rich, they would still miss the point of life, which is about personal growth based on one's special talent and unique passion.

Through MCN, I will teach people about how to become a PASSIONATE MILLIONAIRE! In other words, I will teach people how to follow their bliss so that money will follow them!

I expect hundreds of thousands of people to join MCN for the simple reason that the value of the instructional materials being shared is worth THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS and took me over 7 years to develop! Best of all, membership is free of charge! (Yes, that's free as in "$0.00").

But it's free ONLY before February 14, 2008. After that, it costs $500.

So please join ASAP and let all your friends and acquaintances know about it!

To your success, wealth and happiness,

Peter

Work doesn't work!

I quit Corporate America in June 2000 at age 31.

I've been in semi-retirement since then, and am on my way to COMPLETE retirement in 2008. How do I know that for sure?

Here's an excerpt from Lester Thurow's book Building Wealth:

"The old foundations of success are gone. For all of human history, the source of success has been the control of natural resources -- land, gold, oil. Suddenly the answer is "knowledge." The world's wealthiest man, Bill Gates, owns nothing tangible -- no land, no gold or oil, no factories, no industrial processes, no armies. For the first time in human history the world's wealthiest man owns only knowledge.

Knowledge is the new basis for wealth. This has never before been true. In the past when capitalists talked about their wealth they were talking about their ownership of plant and equipment and natural resources. In the future when capitalists talk about their wealth they will be talking about their control of knowledge. Even the language of wealth generation changes. One can talk about "owning" capital equipment or natural resources. The concept of "owning" is clear. But one cannot talk in the same ways about "owning" knowledge. Owning knowledge is a slippery concept. The human beings who possess knowledge cannot be made into slaves. Exactly how one controls (owns?) knowledge is in fact a central issue in a knowledge-based economy."

My conclusion, after reading the above, is that "work doesn't work anymore."

In the old industrial era, where employers owned the means of production (land, equipment, capital, etc.), it made sense for a person to "submit" to a boss (which comes from the Dutch word "baas", meaning "master"). In other words, it made sense for a person to become an employee who obeyed orders without questioning them. An employee, in that sense, is like a storm trooper in George Lucas' Star Wars trilogy.

Of course, some people are more disciplined and focused than others, and so they become highly skilled and resourceful mercenaries or free agents. They are like Jango Fett or Boba Fett, the father and son in Star Wars. They work on contract. They get paid very well.

However, as Thurow has written above, we are witnessing today the rise of a new form of decisive power called "knowledge." People who have this sort of sacred knowledge are like the Jedi knights and masters who not only master "outer" technologies like computers, Internet, etc. but also master "inner" technologies (the kind that the movie The Secret talks about, although it merely addresses the most superficial aspects of the Law of Attraction).

In other words, the economy is less and less a "machine" and is fast becoming a "mind." Wow, that was a big insight! Believe it or not, it just occurred to me!

A "mind" economy means that value and wealth are created by thinking and feeling, not doing.

The great news is that in a "mind" economy, you can easily communicate your thoughts and feelings through the Internet. There is no need to show up in person at the office to "do" something.

(This is why India is fast becoming a major world economy: Indian people use the Internet to deliver computing services as well as professional services. They are building their wealth base while most people in North America, sadly, are just wasting time and money on the Internet as unthinking consumers, not creative producers.)

Also, in a "mind" economy, you can create UNLIMITED WEALTH.

This fact is basically why I believe I'm on my way to great wealth (and you're invited to join me at the Millionaire Consulting Network at http://millionaireconsultingnetwork.wordpress.com). I'm giving you $500 worth of value but join before Feb. 14, 2008 please.

I realized in June 2000 (almost 8 years ago!) that "work doesn't work."

But it took me 7 years to figure out a way to achieve wealth WITHOUT having to physically work. I call it the "wealth without work" doctrine! Of course, some of you astute readers have immediately recognized the acronym "WWW," which indeed links the doctrine to the Internet. I will write more later about this secret connection.

Through MCN, I hope to share my incredibly valuable teachings with all serious seekers of financial enlightenment.

I created MCN because I feel the knowledge I have can liberate and empower people creatively, economically and financially. I would feel like a criminal if I decided to hide this knowledge from people, especially when the Internet allows me to communicate with millions of human beings on the planet.

Another factor that drives me to create valuable content for MCN is that I believe human beings are born to be free, seek joy and realize growth. "Work" that doesn't fulfill one's heart or soul MUST be abandoned.

It is indeed time for mankind to evolve to a new plane of existence, where we become artists who joyfully engage in the blissful act of creation every day.

My conclusion as a relentless intellectual who has diligently studied over 800 books in the last decade, is that human beings are not born to "work" but to "create." And in creating beautiful and useful things, objects and spaces in the world, they will get re-acquainted with who they truly are -- royal and sovereign spirits on a magnificent journey on planet Earth.

Your life is a movie and you are the STAR

The physical universe is one of a multitude of universes or "systems of reality", some physical in nature, some mental or spiritual, and some completely foreign to human concepts, each with its own natural laws, and each as valid as any other. As in the "many worlds hypothesis", our physical universe has multiple "probable" renditions. Any event or action which is likely to occur in one probable universe will be actualized in that or another probable universe, or will be actualized in the dream universe or in some other system of reality. There are, as examples given by Seth, probable universes in which the dinosaurs are still alive, and probable universes in which Christianity did not develop.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Roberts

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I shared with a friend recently that one of my major discoveries in 2007 is that we live in a probabilistic universe. In other words, you are who you are today only as a probable projection of who you were in the past.

In other words, if you were making $40,000 on average in the last five years, chances are that you will keep making that kind of money in the next five years.

Here's the success secret or insight: you can let the past create the probable you, OR you can let your imagination create the improbable you. The improbable you is the person you fantasize about becoming. For example, you might fantasize about your being a millionaire.

For this improbable you (the millionaire) to become a reality, you MUST think improbable thoughts, feel improbable feelings and do improbable things. In other words, you must defeat habit over and over and over again.

Why? Because your current habits and reflexes are MAINTAINING your current self-concept and are keeping your life exactly as it is. This prevents you from growing as a person.

Indeed, every single reflex and habit that you currently have, whether or not you are conscious of them, are aggressively militating to keep you EXACTLY AS YOU ARE. As a result, your future becomes nothing more than a replication of your past.

You have to make a conscious choice to side either with your past or your future.

Your past shows up in your physical present, and is materially very powerful. Everything you see in your life right now is an agent of the past; a result of past decisions; a consequence of past thoughts and feelings.

In your psychological present, however, you are completely free. This is why I say that "to find your fortune, you have to lose your memory." In other words, you have to live in the here and now, meaning that "place beyond time and beyond past, especially your personal history."

This is why Anthony Robbins says that "decision is destiny." The decision to change is an especially important decision.

I call it the "suspension of biographical belief" or the "hijacking of biographical momentum."

"Biographical belief" is the set of beliefs that you hold because of your particular life experience (which includes the people you know, your parents, your education, your friends, the books you've read, the plays or movies you've seen, the relationships you've had, etc.).

Here's a concrete statistic showing how a person's biographical belief can be suspended and bring about a positive outcome: research has found that when a person knows a successful entrepreneur, he/she is TWICE as likely to launch a business.

Another statistic, by Newsweek magazine, reveals that if you're a small business owner, you have one chance in 1,000 to become a millionaire.

When you consider the two stats above, you begin to realize how important networking is. Especially networking with successful people.

However, even without meeting successful people, you CAN "suspend your biographical belief" by simply deciding to become a new person. Just decide to become the ideal person you want to be. Then start by dressing up like that ideal person, speaking like him, walking like him, planning activities like him, project confidence like him, etc. Of course, do so incrementally, one step at a time. One day at a time.

In other words, think of yourself as an actor playing -- to perfection -- a new role. The leading role in a new movie or play!

Play that new role with conviction, skill, authenticity, enthusiasm, and masterful control. As you do so, you create your own reality and the life you have always wanted, will be right there in front of you.

If it's not downhill, it's not a good opportunity

Opportunity is a word that is extremely important to understand if one is to succeed in life, whether it's in one's career, business, social life, love life, etc.

The best way to illustrate what an opportunity actually is, is to think of yourself as an alpine skier.

You walk through life with those darn skis and they actually impede you. However, you suddenly see a slope and it looks smooth enough. THAT'S what an opportunity is! A nice slope for a nice skier like you.

Sometimes, somebody might approach you and invite you to climb a mountain. He might say, "Look at that mountain! It's a wonderful opportunity for you! Climb it and conquer it and be successful! Achieve your dreams!"

However, that is NOT an opportunity, because it is not downhill -- like a slope. Climbing a mountain actually requires a lot of work, chiefly because you are working AGAINST gravity.

Skiing down a mountain, however, is easy work since gravity does most of the work!

Therefore, remember this neat success secret: If it's not downhill, it's not a good opportunity. In other words, look for valleys, not for mountains!

Note: Climbing a mountain or doing anything that involves hard work may not be a good opportunity although it can be a very good training exercise.

Now that we've established that "downhill" is the way to go, let's examine different types of slopes. Some are for beginners, some are for intermediates, some are for experts and some are for truly suicidal people!

When I go skiing, I never go down the "expert" lane, I always choose the "intermediate" lane.

It's the same in life. You have to know your skills level. Practice first with the "beginner" slope, then move on to "intermediate" and finally to "expert."

For example, if you want to go into business, start with something really, really, really simple.

Note: Contact me at superscribe@gmail.com if you would like to hear opportunities for launching a micro-business that is really, really, really easy to succeed at. I can get you started on the right track.

Below is a ladder of difficulty so you can understand what I'm talking about:

1. Network marketing (e.g. Melaleuca)
2. Direct sales (e.g. Avon)
3. Order taking by phone + cross-selling/up-selling
4. Order taking by phone
5. Order taking by email
6. Working as a paid apprentice for an entrepreneur
7. Working as an apprentice-volunteer for an entrepreneur

The above list is not exhaustive, but it gives you an idea of the level of difficulty involved at each stage. 7 is easiest while 1 is hardest.

Anyone can go from 1 to 7. And you can go slowly or rapidly. But what you cannot do is fail at one stage and expect to succeed at a higher stage.

In the early 90s, someone approached me to join his network marketing organization. I carefully considered the opportunity as I was looking for a way to make money (I wasn't sure what I wanted to do in life since I had just dropped out of university).

Now, in retrospect, it seems to me that I declined the offer because I was not ready for it.

Then, over the years, I went from stage 6 to stage 1 as explained below:

1. Network marketing (I'm currently building a network marketing organization -- or rather, an e-viral marketing company to be exact)
2. Direct sales (I ran my own marketing company with a partner who did the graphic design work)
3. Order taking by phone + cross-selling/up-selling (I sold extra and advanced computer courses)
4. Order taking by phone (I sold computer courses by phone)
5. Order taking by email (I sold computer courses by email)
6. Working as a paid apprentice for an entrepreneur (I worked on salary for an entrepreneur)

If you are having difficulties with your current business, it could be that you are "taking on too much." That is, you are at a level that you are NOT prepared for.

For instance, you might be prepared for level 3 (order taking by phone plus cross-selling/up-selling) yet you are pursuing a level 2 business opportunity (e.g. Avon).

This ties in with our previous discussion about an opportunity being anything that is downhill. In other words, do what comes easily to you. Do what you have done before and have succeeded at.

Then, as you master that activity, you can graduate to a higher level.

Don't jump to a higher level too soon because you will fail and then feel bad about yourself (although it is not your fault at all).

In other words, do only what you are WELL prepared to do and are CAPABLE of doing.

This is the best explanation I can give you regarding self-management: give yourself only work that you CAN do. This is the "downhill" part.

The other part is to continually go higher, as shown in the ladder of difficulty above.

If you follow this process carefully ("seek opportunities down the slope, seek growth up the ladder"), you will inevitably become very powerful and very rich.

The 5 Success Senses - Q & A

READER: Peter, you wrote that "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." Can you elaborate?

PETER: I've met kids of wealthy parents who apparently lacked those four senses, so a successful parent may have those four senses without knowing how to teach them to his children. On the other hand, parents of low socioeconomic status or from the middle class could, if they wanted to, encourage their kids to value learning and thinking so that they can develop their tactical, strategic, business and political senses. The bottom line is that a parent cannot teach what he/she has not been able to achieve. Financial freedom, entrepreneurship, the design of a creative and fulfilling career, etc. cannot be taught by a parent if he/she has not been able to achieve it in his/her own life.

READER: You wrote that "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." What do you mean?

PETER: If you're clay, then you know that you could be shaped into a pot. A nice-looking pot! If you're marble, you know that you could become a great-looking statue. In other words, who you can become is only a particular shape or manifestation (in physical / temporal format) of who you already are. We are all destined to become very useful or very aesthetic (i.e. useful to a higher sense, the spiritual sense) "objects" in the world. Most people are stuck at the "raw materials" stage: they are amorphous lumps of clay or a raw piece of lumber. They don't become refined into a useful or aesthetic object that could occupy a special place in the world. They remain a part of the "they" and never become a unique "I."

This is why pursuing an "ideal" career is vital (download the free Ideal Career report at www.idealcareerframework.com -- password is "idealcareerisideal"). A person should choose a career where she will feel growth, and will feel that she is becoming her best self. Remember what Leonardo Da Vinci said when someone asked him what his greatest achievement was. He replied: "Leonarda Da Vinci."

READER: You wrote that "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." Why do people think alike and obey the same fears? What can I do to develop my 11th sense?

PETER: The Industrial Revolution has brought about great benefits but has somehow also created many threats. People have come to believe they are just part of the "masses." The educational system, the factory, the mass media, etc. are all based on the fundamental idea that people are not unique but are part of like-thinking groups. Indeed, it would be too hard for society's institutions to treat people as "unique human beings." Even corporate employers treat people as mere human resources (not resourceful humans). The ultimate proof that people think alike in very unoriginal ways, is that people rarely come up with new ideas.

Think about the conversations you've had with people in your life over the last few weeks. How many new ideas have been voiced by people you know? People are not really thinking anything new, and THIS is the fundamental reason why they can never achieve financial independence. If you always think the same thoughts, you will keep getting the same income.

This is why it's so important for financial freedom seekers to network and meet new people, in order to have new conversations. Without change and new stimulation, something inside us sleeps and rarely awakens. The mysterious thing that does not awaken is our "soul," which is powerful enough to create all the wealth imaginable.

If you think originally, you dramatically increase your chances of becoming financially independent. That's because financial independence depends critically on mental independence. Yet, most people are literally incapable of formulating new thoughts or new ideas. Like Einstein said, they merely "rearrange their old prejudices."

To learn how to think originally, one only has to pick up a copy of Lateral Thinking by Dr Edward de Bono, or The Six Thinking Hats, also by the same author, and then practice again and again and again what Dr de Bono teaches.