Wednesday, January 8, 2014

3 Reasons Why You Should NEVER Break The Rules

I had an epiphany today. I was actually considering doing something... bad. Something that would break the rules.

However, after carefully thinking over my actions, I finally decided against it.

NEVER break the rules.

It may seem like a totally cliched and over-worn out saying, but it holds its truth up steadily.

3 Reasons Why You Should Never Break The Rules

1. Hands that are tied up doing bad opportunity won't be able to catch the good opportunity.

If you decide to do something that would be considered "breaking the rules," your hands will be tied up with that "bad work." And when your hands are tied up doing "bad opportunity," you won't have any hands left over to capture the "good opportunity."

You need to let go of the bad opportunity, so that you can catch the good opportunity.

2. You won't be able to boast about your acts.

If you achieved some big goal, like earn $1,000, you won't be able to tell other people about it because you earned it by selling illegal goods. On the other hand, if you do good works that don't break the rules, and you achieved a major milestone with that, you can boast about it to your friends without any worries of getting caught, because you did it honestly.

3. Bad works breeds more bad work.

Similar to the saying, "Success breeds success," the #3 reason is saying, the more you do bad works, the more bad works will come to you. Also similar to the law of attraction.

Monday, January 6, 2014

Go Time Traveling When You Get Depressed

I've been battling depression for quite some time now, and I've finally discovered one technique to banish depression immediately.

When you're depressed, it means you're extremely sad about something and it's affecting more than one area of your life.

Depression is in the mindset. If you can tell yourself to not be sad and to be happy instead, if you can tell yourself that you WANT to be happy, you'll likely end up being happier.

However, for many people, the depression has gone down so deep that the person doesn't even feel motivated enough to WANT to be happy.

So my solution is to time travel.

When you're being sad, it most likely has to do with something in the past or present.

Something that happened to you in the past didn't resonate happily with your being so you became depressed. Maybe you're not happy about your current situation.

So instead of thinking about the sad things in the past or present, think about the things in the future.

Think about your goals, what you want to achieve, what you want to do, where you want to end up. Think about your dreams and visions.

Then think about your current situation again. Is what you're doing now aligning with where you want to end up?

Maybe you don't want to be doing the things you're doing now, but you need to do them nevertheless if you want to reach your goals and dreams.

Have long-term vision and short-term motivation. -Tropical MBA

Sometimes, you need to sacrifice instant gratification to gain delayed gratification.

So in time traveling, there are 3 different time periods you can think about:

  1. Past
  2. Present
  3. Future
When you're sad thinking about the past, try shifting your mindset to something in the present or future, like your vision, dreams, or goals.

If you're depressed thinking about the future and what's to come, try shifting your mind to happy thoughts in the past, like your past vacations, or a time when you felt extremely elated.

I've discovered this technique on my own, and it may or may not help you out; the theory is still in its infancy and experimental phase.

Try this time traveling out! Let me know in the comments if it has worked out for you.

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

How to Get Rich (3/3): How to Overcome the Psychological Barriers That Are Keeping You From Getting Rich

You want something. You know you want it. You're trying everything you can to try and get that "want." But for some reason, you can't get it. Why is that?

Sometimes, we will have something called psychological barriers popularized by Ramit Sethi. It doesn't even have to be psychological barriers. It could be some other kind of barrier, but nevertheless it is a barrier that is keeping you from attaining what you want. 

What are psychological barriers?

In psychology, psychological barriers are explained as the more or less insuperable obstacles, non-social or social, external or internal, which obstruct the achievement of needs and aspirations.

Barriers are bad. 

You need to get rid of them as fast as you can.

The most common type of psychological barrier is fear. Pat Flynn's podcast session with Dane Maxwell talks a lot about all of this deep stuff, and you can find out the 5 basic fears that are holding people back from taking action.

For getting rich, a lot of the psychological barriers come from limiting beliefs, as explained here.

So how do you get rid of them?

Here are the steps you should take to overcome your psychological barriers.

1. Acknowledge the Barrier


Become aware that you have something that's keeping you. You need to acknowledge the fact that you have an obstacle, because how can you get rid of something if you don't know you have it?

2. Realize the Barrier


This involves getting down to the ROOT of the problem. You have to dig deep for this one.

Examples of some psychological barriers that may be holding you back include

  • Fear of the unknown
  • Fear of change
  • Fear of rejection
  • Fear of loneliness
The most prominent fear, however, is the fear of pain. Everyone has the fear of pain, because we don't want to feel pain! Thus, we try to avoid it as much as we can. 

The fears associated with getting rich may not be as obvious.

For example, you may have a belief that you can only get rich if you're being greedy and manipulative. Because you have this belief, you fear becoming greedy and manipulative so you put off getting rich. 

Another example is if you believe getting rich will mean losing your friends. You fear that you will be alienated or cast away by your friends, and you don't want that to happen. So you prefer to continue doing the habits of your friends even if it means not becoming rich. You would rather keep your friends than get rich. Again, that's a limiting belief that acts as a psychological barrier that needs to be rid of.

Sometimes, just by realizing your barrier is enough to let it go and be rid of that barrier. Your body is like a pipe, and you don't want anything to clog it up. This applies physically, mentally, emotionally, and anything else "-ally." You want everything to be flowing. 

That's why they say it's better to feel your emotions rather than to just keep them bunched up inside of you. You want to be able to free yourself from those negative emotions. 

That's why sometimes you feel bad more than you feel good. When you feel good, you're happy to be experiencing those positive emotions, and when you experience them, they go away. When you feel bad emotions, some people will keep those emotions holed up inside of them, which causes them to never be rid of those bad emotions.

Feel your emotions, positive or negative, and you'll be free of them. 

Realize the barriers, obstacles, and blocks that are keeping you from getting rich, and let go of them.

Did you find this helpful? Do you need some more clarification? Any comments or opinions? Let me know in the comments!

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

How to Get Rich Part 2 of 3: The Most Popular and Quickest Way to Getting Rich

The most popular and quickest way to getting rich is by creating a business on the internet.

That may seem so overwhelming and technical to you... You may be thinking...

  • I don't know how to program, code, or create websites!
  • I don't know how I could create a business online!
But fear not. Creating a business online is probably one of the most lucrative and simplest way to getting rich.

However, do not misread what I have said. It's not going to be easy. It is popular, quick, and simple, at times, but it's not easy. Creating a business online is just the same as creating a business offline. There's just more potential to grow and reach more people online. 

Here are some GREAT free resources for creating a business online:

  • Smartpassiveincome.com - Pat Flynn is the founder of SPI, and he provides excellent information, guides, and inspirational experiments about creating businesses online.
  • Paidtoexist.com - Paid to Exist gives you inspiration and help in starting your own business.
  • Empireflippers.com - The people at Empire Flippers have created multiple "niche" websites that bring in their profits. They also teach you how to do the same. Sign up for their newsletter, and you can get their ultimate guide to building a niche website empire for free.
  • Nichepursuits.com - Spencer Haws at Niche Pursuits also creates niche websites.

What are niche websites?


"Niche websites" are websites that focuses on specific information that are both useful and interesting for the audience. Creating niche websites is a great business, because...

  • there is low competition
  • there is a high demand.
But of course, the success of a niche website all depends on something called keyword research.

Keyword research is the act of finding great and profitable keywords. Keywords are the things that people search for on major search engines. Google is the main player here, so when talking about keyword research, all the data and information is mostly talked about is associated with the Google search engine.

The most used keyword research tool is Google's Keyword Planner.

The realm of niche websites is quite large and it includes many things ranging from setting up websites, creating content for the websites, monetizing the sites, to getting traffic. Talking about niche websites is outside the scope of this article, but you can find more information about niche websites here.

Internet Business


For some great resources, you can check out this post, 20 Ways to Make Money Online, and it'll tell you different ways to make money online and how much time, money, and energy you can expect to spend on each different method.

Do you have any comments or questions? Let me know in the comments below.

Monday, December 16, 2013

How to Get Rich Part 1 of 3: How to WANT to Get Rich

Yes, I know what you're thinking. Who doesn't want to get rich? 

The truth is, there are many people who don't want to get rich, because they have a subconscious belief about the meaning of rich. They may have one of the following beliefs below.

Limiting Beliefs About Money


1. "If I get rich, people won't like me. I'll be judged. I won't be loved."

This is a destructive belief about getting rich, because it automatically keeps you from getting rich. You may not be aware of this belief you have, but it may be in your subconsciousness, and when it's in your subconsciousness, your actions will be inconsistent with getting rich, causing to never get rich. 

Anyway, this is a false belief, because you can still have people love you when you get rich. In fact, people will probably love you even more now that you're rich! That's when you'll have to be careful with who you think are truly your friends. 

2. "Money is the root of all evil."

Money is not the root of all evil. Have you ever seen anyone kill, steal, or commit a crime because they had money? No. You only see them commit crimes because they had NO money. 

Lack of money is actually the root of all evil.

3. "If I get rich, then someone else probably won't be able to get rich. There's not enough to go around."

This is another false and limiting belief. To prove this false, let's illustrate a scenario. 

Pretend there are 5 people standing in a circle with 5 different items. So each person is holding a specific item, like a pencil, piece of paper, eraser, ruler, and a highlighter. A 6th person comes into the group with a dollar bill and buys one of the items from someone. The dollar bill has shifted from one person to another. Now the person with the dollar goes to the next person and buys the other item from him. This keeps going until everyone has traded their items for something else. In the end, everyone has gotten some form of value, and yet there was only 1 dollar that was used. 

The truth is, there is enough to go around. In fact, when one person gets rich, more people get rich. It's just because of the way people trade value.

4. "Who cares about getting rich? We're all going to die eventually anyway. I'm going to choose to make the most of my life right now in the moment, even if it means spending."

There is no problem at all with living in the moment, but there is a problem with constantly gratifying yourself instantly. If all you want to do is spend money on things that will make you happy only for a moment, that won't be a very good investment.

It's also important to think about your future, your health, and to value yourself and your life. Take measures now to get what you want and never give up until you get it.

5. "If I get rich, I might turn greedy or evil."

As mentioned previously in How to Get Rich Part 0, more money will only make more of who you are. If you are inherently greedy and evil, then yes, getting rich will make you more greedy and evil. But if you are inherently nice and good, then more money will make you more nice and good. The reason being is because more money gives you more freedom to become more of who you are.

6. "No one can have it all."

This is another false belief. If you choose to adopt this belief, then it will become real to you. However, if you choose to accept a different belief then the other belief will become real to you. 

We can look at this differently by realizing that one CAN have it all. You just need to know HOW to get it all. Rich people aren't takers. In fact, they are GIVERS. They give value to people, to the community, and to the world. The things they make help others' lives to become better. When they GIVE value, they are paid in return with money. The more they give, the more money they get. So if you want to get rich, you must first learn how to GIVE. Then, and only then, can you have it all.

7. "I don't deserve to be rich."

This belief is only a self-destructive and worthless one. It makes you feel like you're not worthy enough to get rich. 

Let me tell you something. Everyone on this earth was born to deserve everything and anything he or she wants. This means, YOU are deserving of getting rich. If you allow this belief to leak into your head, then you are only infecting yourself with self-destructive thoughts. If you want to get rich, you need to value and trust yourself. Everyone deserves to get rich, but very few take it. 

Don't ask for permission. Just do it. But do it in the right and honest way by giving value to other people first.



8. "It's okay. I'm enjoying my life now anyway."

This belief is the root of all complacency. When you're enjoying your life now, you are content with the way things are. You don't want to strive harder for more and better things.

Now if you truly love the way your life is now, you're happy and you're healthy, then no one should be able to force you to do something you don't want to do.

It is only when you are unsatisfied with the way things are, and it is only when you are WANTING more, that you will get more. You can't attain something if it wasn't in your heart to attain in the first place.

Also, do not confuse this with always wanting more and not being grateful with what you already have. It is very important to be grateful with what you already have. Because if you aren't, how will you use those things to further better your life? Be grateful with what you have, because those will be the tools you will be using to better your situation.

One of the best books I've come across teaching about limiting beliefs is Adam Khoo's Secrets of Self Made Millionaires.

So the first part in getting rich is WANTING to get rich, both consciously and subconsciously. 

To help you even further, you can try this exercise to even more engrave the idea of getting rich into your head.

Exercise

  • Write down 100 reasons WHY you want to get rich.
  • Write 20 things you love about yourself.
  • Write 30 things you're grateful for.
Partaking in this exercise will allow your mind to fully focus on the way to getting rich.

Question, comment, or suggestion? Let me know in the comments!

Sunday, December 15, 2013

How to Get Rich Part 0 of 3

Getting rich is not all about investing in stocks and bonds, creating businesses, and selling. It may include all of those things, but there is another deeper world in getting rich. If you Google the term, "How to Get Rich," you will find 1.2 billion results telling you how to save, cut expenses, and a whole lot of various ways to get rich.

However, there are very few that actually show you how to get rich. Very few show you the technique, the strategies, and the way to get rich. There is a certain way to get rich, and you won't be able to find it unless you are seriously committed and actively looking for it.

There are numerous resources, books, websites, and information on this topic. You just won't be able to find them unless you are actually committed to getting rich.

Here are the top resources I recommend for this topic:


This tutorial is going to be about my explanation about getting rich. I have split it into 3 parts.
  1. How to WANT to Get Rich
  2. The Most Popular and Quickest Way to Getting Rich
  3. How to Overcome the Psychological Barriers That Are Keeping You From Getting Rich
I will be making a post on each of the 3 parts of the series over the next 3 days, so stay tuned.

Firstly, I want to talk about getting rich. I have read all of the resources mentioned above, and I highly recommend them, for they will vastly open up your mind about getting rich. 

Getting rich is not all about saving, cutting expenses, and investing in your retirement fund, or 401k, or whatever. Sure, all of those things may help you to get rich one day, but they will not get you to a high level of wealth fast. All of those usually take years before you will start to see some progress.

Also, getting rich is not bad at all. In fact, it is the opposite. Getting rich will allow you to buy all the things you want and need, so that you can even more expand your life in the areas of your mind, body, and soul (taken from The Science of Getting Rich). 

Although I stole that from the book, I highly agree with it. Getting rich has that connotative meaning of being evil, greedy, and manipulative. But you can choose to see it in another light. Getting rich allows you to attain freedom. 
  • You don't have to worry about money when buying things you want and need
  • You don't have to work extremely hard with long hours in order to just "get by"
  • You can focus your time and energy and providing value for other people
  • You can focus your time and energy and more important things, like
    • spending time with your family and friends,
    • creating things that could change other people's lives,
    • and more.
When you're poor, you won't have that freedom to buy the things you need in order to make your life more fulfilling and satisfied. You won't be put in a more advantageous situation in which you can use your skills and passion for more people. You won't be able to make a difference in the world or change someone's life. 

I have this question, and every time I ask it to myself, I instantly get put into a state of humility. However, I still really love this question, because it helps me to focus on what really matters in life. 

The question to ask yourself is:

(Your name here)... You're about to die and leave this world. What have you done to make this world or someone else's life better?
After I ask myself that question, I instantly flashback to all of the moments of my past and try to find things that I have done to help someone or something else. When I found that it was nothing, I got emotional and very inspired to create something - anything that could help further help someone's life.

So anyway, getting rich is not about being greedy, evil, nor manipulative. Sure, it may make some people those things in their quest for money, but that's those people. More money will only make more of who you are.

So if, inherently, you are an evil, greedy, manipulative person, then more money will only make you more evil, greedy, and manipulative. On the other hand, if you are an honest, hard working, good person, then more money will make you more of that.

Why is that? It's because more money gives you more freedom. Imagine you have all the freedom in the world. You have enough money to buy as much of anything as you want. You can go anywhere and do anything. What would you do?

If you were the bad person mentioned previously, more money would give you the freedom to do more of those evil things. If you were the inherently good person, more money would give you the freedom to become more kind, caring, hardworking, and honest.

So getting rich is not a bad thing. It's only bad if you make it bad, and it will be good if you make it good. Because of the negative connotative meaning of "getting rich," I like to call it more along the lines of "getting wealthy," so you may hear me refer to it as that.

Stay tuned to this series of getting rich. Subscribe to this blog via email at the top right hand corner of the sidebar to get updated when a new article is posted.
  1. How to WANT to Get Rich
  2. The Most Popular and Quickest Way to Getting Rich
  3. How to Overcome the Psychological Barriers That Are Keeping You From Getting Rich
Let me know your thoughts in the comments!

Saturday, December 14, 2013

Live the Way You Want by Designing Your Lifestyle

Yesterday, I told you the one thing I wanted to tell people before I die and that was to live a life truest to yourself.

That's a lie.

Actually, there are a ton of things I want to tell you before I die.

They include the so many things I have learned over the past couple months in my self studying of personal development, changing the mindset, and attaining things that the majority of people find impossible to attain, like getting rich, starting up a business, being able to work from any location in the world, being able to spend and balance time between work, family, friends, and self.

After learning about many of these things, I now look at the world differently. Now, every time I go outside, I look at people and observe them, how they're living their lives. And I wonder if each and every one of them are living their lives to the fullest. If each of them truly do want to be in the exact situation and state they are in at the moment.

Most likely, only 1% of those people are living their lives to the fullest, and that's sad.

So that's why I want to help you open your mind to the possibilities of the world and your life. I want you to feel the transformation I felt when my eyes opened to a whole new world of opportunities and a fulfilling life.

With that, let's talk about designing your own life.

Lifestyle Design


In Corbett Barr's words, lifestyle design is about "designing your life instead of letting society design it for you," and I completely agree with him. Lifestyle design is about making your life the way you want it instead of following what everyone else is doing. 

Society's way of living life involves going to college (and graduating), getting a job, working the "9 to 5" job hours, paying bills, working again, paying bills again, and so on, in a routine that lasts for years until you reach your retirement age, where you move to an island to live the last remaining moments of your life. 

Timothy Ferriss is the one who first vocalized lifestyle design in his book The 4-Hour Workweek

In this particular "New Rich" lifestyle, one would need to...

Create and build enough passive income to support the desired lifestyle. 

If your desired lifestyle is to live extravagantly with lot's of sports cars, mansions, and swimming pools, you'd need to build a large enough income to support that. On the other hand, if you desire to live modestly with only a nice, small apartment and a dog, you'd only need to build a small passive income with that. 

The key word here is passive. The main source of income for most people is earned income, in which one actively works at a job to receive wages, salary, tips, commissions, and/or bonuses. 

The problem with earned income is that the person working for it needs to trade his or her time for money. This is a problem, because there is a limited number of hours a person can work per day. Thus, the person is limited in his or her earned income. 

Of course, there are other ways to increase that income, through higher education, promotions, bonuses, but eventually, there will come a point where you can no longer increase that sort of income. Also, the highest paying job would be an anesthesiologist with a top salary of $400,000. But even attaining that type of job requires at least a decade of higher education and thousands of dollars on education expenses. Then, when you finally get that type of income, you will be spending the majority of your life paying off those student loans. 

So the best type of income to go for is passive income which includes
  • Rent from properties
  • Dividends and interest from owning securities, such as stock and bonds
  • Royalties from publishing a book or licensing a patent
  • Creating and owning a business
To live the "New Rich" way, as Tim Ferriss would say, you would need to build up enough passive income to support the type of lifestyle you want. In building up passive income, you are supporting your desired lifestyle without having to work.

The most popular way to create passive income is to create a business, most particularly, an internet business. There are a number of reasons why people prefer internet business over the other many ways to create passive income.
  • You can start with little money to investment. Rental properties require thousands, and income from securities require hundreds of thousands before you can start to see a return. All while an internet business only requires a few dollars per month to set up a website.
  • You'll see a return faster. Rental properties and securities need ample time, usually months and years, before you can see a nice return on your investment. On the other hand, you can see multiple internet businesses maturing in as little as 1 month.
A nice resource to go to for learning about passive income online is Pat Flynn at smartpassiveincome.com.

But Is It For You?


Is creating a business for you? Does the idea of living an extravagant life without having to work seem unethical to you? This may or may not resonate with you, but the thing you should remember is that you always have a choice. You can choose to see it as unethical or you can choose to see it as a way out towards freedom. 

Let me know your thoughts in the comments.