Know Your Life Purpose in 5 Minutes

Have you ever figured out what is your life all about?

If you haven't, do take some time to watch this enlightening video.

How to Know Your Life Purpose in 5 Minutes: Adam Leipzig

Use these 5 questions to help you find your life purpose:

• Who you are?
• Refers to your name.

• What you do?
• Refers to what do you love to do. Eg. teach, cook, write, etc. Focus it down by asking yourself this one question - what is the one thing right now that you feel supremely qualified to teach other people?

• Who you do it for?
• Refers to people whom you think will benefit from what you do.

• What those people want or need?
• Refers to what those people want or need that you have, that they come to you so you can give them this thing.

• How they change as a result?
• Refers to how do they change or transform as a result of what you gave them.

This formulation shared by Adam Leipzig is so powerful because of all these 5 things that you need to know, to know what your life purpose is, only 2 of them are about yourself, while the other 3 are about other people. This formulation makes you outward-facing, leads you to think of the people you serve, rather than how you are served yourselves.

"Happy people make it a point to make other people happy and do things that make them feel well taken care of and secure. If you make other people happy, life teaches us we will be taken care of too." ~ Adam Leipzig

Here are some examples of a powerful elevator pitch given by Adam Leipzig that you can use when people ask you "What do you do?":

"I write books for children, so they can fall asleep at night, so they can have awesome dreams."

"I design apparels for men and women who need affordable choices, so they can look and feel their best."

"I train entrepreneurs and creative people to take decisive actions, so they can get their greatest work into the world."

Learn about your life purpose, and start your next day living purposefully  :)

The Power is in the Palm of Your Hands

Before I watched this short video by Allan Pease, I thought that the only "power" that we can harness from our palm is like what Tony Stark a.k.a. Iron Man does best...

After watching the video, only did I realise the significant impact of the positioning of our palms have on our daily communication - whether your palms are faced up, faced down, or clasped in a finger-pointing style.

Watch this and get yourself amused by what you'll learn from the "master of body language" Allan Pease.

Body language, the power is in the palm of your hands: Allan Pease

What we've learned from this short video explains clearly to us why we find Iron Man's...

"I'm dangerous! Don't come near...or I'll blow you off!"

more intimidating and powerful than Spidey's...

"Hey there, here comes your friendly Spiderman!"

It's all in the positioning of the palm of your hands  :)

Compassion, Deep Listening, Mindfulness, Happiness and Suffering, and the Four Mantras

I stumbled upon this inspiring video clip by chance, and was very touched and enlightened by the wisdom displayed by Venerable Thich Nhat Hanh in this interview session by Oprah Winfrey.

Here's a list of wonderful quotes from the interview:

There is a possibility to handle every kind of event and the essential is to keep the peace in yourself.

And we call it the beginner's mind. The deep intention, the deepest desire that one person may have.

I said this is not suicide. Because in a difficult situation like Vietnam, to make your voice heard is difficult. So sometimes we have to burn ourselves alive in order for our voice to be heard around...so that is out of compassion that you do that, the act of love and not of despair. And Jesus Christ died in the same spirit, out of love.

I thought that the American people had produced King. But are not capable of preserving him.

Deep listening is the kind of listening that can help relieve the suffering of the other person. You can call it compassionate listening. You listen with only one purpose, help him or her to empty his heart. And if you remember that you are helping him or her to suffer less, and then even if he says things full of wrong perceptions, full of bitterness, you are still capable to continue to listen with compassion. Because you know that listening like that, with compassion, you give him or her a chance to suffer less. If you want to help him or her to correct his perception, and then you wait for another time. But for the time being, you just listen with compassion, and help him or her to suffer less. And one hour like that can bring transformation and healing.

The fear, the anger and the despair is born on the ground of wrong perception. We have wrong perceptions concerning ourselves and the other person, and that is the foundation for conflict and war and violence.

And we should be able to say like this, "Dear friends, dear people, I know that you suffer a lot. I have not understood enough of your difficulties and suffering. It's not our intention to make you suffer more. It is opposite. So please tell us about your suffering, your difficulties. I'm eager to learn to understand." It has to start like that, loving speech. And if you're honest, if you are true, they will open their heart and tell us. And then we practice compassionate, deep listening. And during the process of deep listening, we can learn so much about our own perception and their perceptions. And that is the best way, the only way, to remove terrorism.

Anger is the energy which people use in order to act. But when you are angry, you are not lucid. And you might do wrong things. That is why compassion is a better energy. And the energy of compassion is very strong.

I think we can learn, can always learn from our suffering. In the ash of suffering, a phoenix can be born. And that is why mindfulness helps us to look deeply into the difficulty, the suffering we have. And many positives will come out of that. It depends on our way of responding to the event. There are ways that can bring more suffering. Then, there are ways that can bring relief right away and hope. It depends on our mind. And that is why mindfulness and concentration can help tremendously in bringing insight.

Don't worry about tomorrow, tomorrow will take care of itself.

And if we know how to handle the present moment, we don't have to worry much about the future.

If the present moment has peace and joy and happiness, and then the future will have also.

Happiness and suffering, they support each other. They "inter-are". To be is to "inter-be". It is like the left and the right. If the left is not there, the right cannot be there. So the same thing is true with suffering and happiness. Good and evil, they "inter-are" also. In everyone of us, there are good seeds and there are bad seeds.

There is the lotus that grows out of the mud. We need the mud in order to make the lotus. You cannot grow lotus on marble. You have to grow it on the mud. So suffering is the kind of mud that we must be able to use, in order to grow the flower of understanding and love.

The first mantra is: "Darling, I'm here for you." When you love someone, the best thing you can offer him or her is your presence. How can you love if you are not there? And you look into his eyes and say, "Darling, you know something? I'm here for you." You offer him or her your presence, and your true presence. You are not preoccupied with the past or the future, your project. You are for your beloved one.

The second mantra is: "Darling, I know you are there and I am so happy because you are truly there." You recognize the presence of your beloved one as something very precious. And you use your mindfulness to recognize that, embrace your beloved one with mindfulness and she will bloom like a flower. To be loved means to be recognized as existing.

The third mantra is what you practice when your beloved one suffers. "Darling, I know you suffer...that is why I am here for you." Before you do something to help her, to help him, your presence already can bring some relief.

And the fourth mantra is a little bit more difficult. That is when you suffer. And you believe your suffering has been caused by your beloved one, so you suffer so deeply. And you prefer to go to your room and close the door and suffer alone. You get hurt. And you want to punish him or her for having made you suffer. And the mantra is to overcome that. The mantra is: "Darling, I suffer. I am trying my best to practice. Please help me." You go to him. You go to her. And practice that. And if you can bring yourself to say that mantra, you suffer less right away.

Thank you thank you thank you, dear Oprah Winfrey, for setting the stage for this interview to happen.

Thank you thank you thank you, dear Venerable Thich Nhat Hanh, for the enlightening and liberating wisdom.

The Common Denominator of Success by Albert E.N. Gray

Title: The Common Denominator of Success
By: Albert E.N. Gray
Full article: http://www.amnesta.net/mba/thecommondenominatorofsuccess-albertengray.pdf

Excerpt from the full article:

"The common denominator of success --- the secret of success of every man who has ever been successful --- lies in the fact that he formed the habit of doing things that failures don't like to do."

Several years ago I was brought face to face with the very disturbing realization that I was trying to supervise and direct the efforts of a large number of men who were trying to achieve success, without knowing myself what the secret of success really was. And that, naturally, brought me face to face with the further realization that regardless of what other knowledge I might have brought to my job, I was definitely lacking in the most important knowledge of all.

Of course, like most of us, I had been brought up on the popular belief that the secret of success is hard work, but I had seen so many men work hard without succeeding and so many men succeed without working hard that I had become convinced that hard work was not the real secret even though in most cases it might be one of the requirements.

And so I set out on a voyage of discovery which carried me through biographies and autobiographies and all sorts of dissertations on success and the lives of successful men until I finally reached a point at which I realized that the secret I was trying to discover lay not only in what men did, but also in what made them do it.

I realized further that the secret for which I was searching must not only apply to every definition of success, but since it must apply to everyone to whom it was offered, it must also apply to everyone who had ever been successful. In short, I was looking for the common denominator of success. And because that is exactly what I was looking for, that is exactly what I found. But this common denominator of success is so big, so powerful, and so vitally important to your future and mine that I'm not going to make a speech about it. I'm just going to "lay it on the line" in words of one syllable, so simple that everyone can understand them.

The common denominator of success --- the secret of success of every man who has ever been successful --- lies in the fact that he formed the habit of doing things that failures don't like to do.

It's just as true as it sounds and it's just as simple as it seems. You can hold it up to the light, you can put it to the acid test, and you can kick it around until it's worn out, but when you are all through with it, it will still be the common denominator of success, whether you like it or not.

It will still explain why men have come into this business of ours with every apparent qualification for success and given us our most disappointing failures, while others have come in and achieved outstanding success in spite of many obvious and discouraging handicaps. And since it will also explain your future, it would seem to be a mighty good idea for you to use it in determining just what sort of a future you are going to have. In other words, let's take this big, all-embracing secret and boil it down to fit the individual you.

If the secret of success lies in forming the habit of doing things that failures don't like to do, let's start the boiling-down process by determining what are the things that failures don't like to do. The things that failures don't like to do are the very things that you and I and other human beings, including successful men, naturally don't like to do. In other words, we've got to realize right from the start that success is something which is achieved by the minority of men, and is therefore unnatural and not to be achieved by following our natural likes and dislikes nor by being guided by our natural preferences and prejudices.

The things that failures don't like to do, in general, are too obvious for us to discuss them here, and so, since our success is to be achieved in the sale of life insurance, let us move on to a discussion of the things that we as life insurance men don't like to do. Here, too, the things we don't like to do are too many to permit specific discussion, but I think they can all be disposed of by saying that they all emanate from one basic dislike peculiar to our type of selling. We don't like to call on people who don't want to see us and talk to them about something they don't want to talk about. Any reluctance to follow a definite prospecting program, to use prepared sales talks, to organize time and to organize effort are all caused by this one basic dislike. 

Perhaps you have wondered what is behind this peculiar lack of welcome on the part of our prospective buyers. Isn't it due to the fact that our prospects are human too? And isn't it true that the average human being is not big enough to buy life insurance of his own accord and is therefore prone to escape our efforts to make him bigger or persuade him to do something he doesn't want to do by striking at the most important weakness we possess: namely, our desire to be appreciated? Perhaps you have been discouraged by a feeling that you were born subject to certain dislikes peculiar to you, with which the successful men in our business are not afflicted. 

Perhaps you have wondered why it is that our biggest producers seem to like to do the things that you don't like to do. 

They don't! And I think this is the most encouraging statement I have ever offered to a group of life insurance salesmen. 

But if they don't like to do these things, then why do they do them? Because by doing the things they don't like to do, they can accomplish the things they want to accomplish. Successful men are influenced by the desire for pleasing results. Failures are influenced by the desire for pleasing methods and are inclined to be satisfied with such results as can be obtained by doing things they like to do. 

Why are successful men able to do things they don't like to do while failures are not? Because successful men have a purpose strong enough to make them form the habit of doing things they don't like to do in order to accomplish the purpose they want to accomplish. 

Sometimes even our best producers get into a slump. When a man goes into a slump, it simply means that he has reached a point at which, for the time being, the things he doesn't like to do have become more important than his reasons for doing them. And may I pause to suggest to you managers and general agents that when one of your good producers goes into a slump, the less you talk about his production and the more you talk about his purpose, the sooner you will pull him out of his slump? 

Many men with whom I have discussed this common denominator of success have said at this point, "But I have a family to support and I have to have a living for my family and myself. Isn't that enough of a purpose?" 

No, it isn't. It isn't a sufficiently strong purpose to make you form the habit of doing the things you don't like to do for the very simple reasons that it is easier to adjust ourselves to the hardships of a poor living than it is to adjust ourselves to the hardships of making a better one. If you doubt me, just think of all the things you are willing to go without in order to avoid doing the things you don't like to do. All of which seems to prove that the strength which holds you to your purpose is not your own strength but the strength of the purpose itself.

ABCDE for Your Health

Today I read this article from the Star which talks about a subject very important for our health. So I searched for its original article from the website.

Title: Vitamins and Supplements: What You Need to Know
Link: http://www.healthnewsdigest.com/news/Supplements_340/Vitamins-and-Supplements-What-You-Need-to-Know.shtml

One of the most important takeaway from this article is that the author offered a very easy way to remember what do we need to do when it comes to choosing the right vitamins and supplements for our diet.

A - Analyse (Why do you take it)

B - Beware (Interaction and side effects)

C - Check (Label or packaging for seal of approval)

D - Dose (Proper dosage)

E - Expiration date

Do click on the link above to read through the rest of the article for more information on the use of Vitamins A, B, C, D and E.

How to Achieve Anything that You Want in Life

Today I heard a funny but meaningful joke from a very successful entrepreneur from Indonesia. It went something like this:

There was a man whose son was still a bachelor. Wanting to secure his son a good future, one day, he went to see his son.

Man: Son, I have a good candidate for you as a wife.

Son: Thanks Dad, but I don't need that. I can settle my own future.

Man: But Son, this lady is the daughter of Bill Gates.

Son: Well, in that case, it's okay.

The next day, the man went to see Bill Gates.

Man: Hi Mr. Bill Gates, I have a good candidate for you as a son-in-law.

Bill Gates: I don't think my daughter needs that. She can settle her own future.

Man: But, this man is the Vice President of the World Bank.

Bill Gates: Well, in that case, it's okay.

Subsequently, the man went to see the President of the World Bank.

Man: Mr. President, I have a good candidate for your organization as a Vice President.

President: We already have a few Vice Presidents in our organization. I don't think we need another one.

Man: But Mr. President, this man is the son-in-law of Bill Gates.

President: Well, in that case, it's okay.

This joke may be as funny as it is, but it does shed a light on the 4 simple steps for achieving anything that we want in life.

Step 1 - Identify what we want.

Step 2 - Identify the people who can give us what we want.

Step 3 - Identify what are the things that we have, that can be offered for exchange with the people who can give us what we want.

Step 4 - Work out the deal.

Here's an example to help you understand better.

In the context of getting a job, first you identify the kind of job that you're looking for. Then, you search through advertisements looking for a company which is offering such a job position. Next, you prepare your resume listing down all the things that you can offer to the company. Finally, you go for an interview to work out the deal.

As simple as it sounds, but truly this is what it takes to achieve anything that we want life. Try it. All the best!

Time is the Best Teacher in Life

Why do I say so?

Because, time...

Teaches us the meaning of life.

Helps us to find out the purpose of our existence.

Helps us to discover the values that we represent as a person.

Helps us understand our priorities in life.

Shows us who are the real friends and associates who care for us.

Shows us who are the "friends" who just merely want something from us.

Shows us what works and what doesn't.

Shows us the difference between importance and urgency.

Reveals to us what is genuine and what is fake.

Reveals to us who are the real contenders and who are the wannabe's.

And many more.

Learn from Time, don't just allow it to pass by.

It Pays to be Ignorant

I recently did some research and found the following good reads on Direct Selling and Pyramid Schemes:

Link: http://www.directselling411.com/about-this-site/
Description: DirectSelling411.com – your one-stop resource for information about direct selling.

Link: http://www.directselling411.com/forms/CompanyFormPublicMembers/search?action=find
Description: A complete list of all legitimate DSA members.

Link: http://www.directselling411.com/for-sellers/who-can-help/the-dsa-code-of-ethics/
Description: DSA Code of Ethics and what it means.


Some information which you may want to take note of:

• Not every country has regulation which requires a company to have a license to run a direct selling model.
• Example: In the UK, there is no requirement for a company or an individual to have a license to operate a direct selling business. (Source: http://dsa.org.uk/about/legislation)
• What it means if a company is not a member of DSA?
• It means association with the company is totally "at your own risk", as the company does not have an obligation to abide by DSA's Code of Ethics.

Here's a case study on a company which has recently made quite some furore in our local market.

This company is no where to be found within the list of DSA members even though:

• They "made a commitment to being the most-trusted name in the direct-selling industry through our transparent business processes and open management philosophy." Link
• They originated in the US (Plano, Texas). Link
• They started way back in Dec 2005. Link
• They just recently obtained a 2-year license to operate in Malaysia (Don't ask me. It beats me. Malaysia Boleh!). Link 

Other interesting things that I have found about this company's operation in Singapore:

• They were not listed in DSAS's list of companies. Link
• They claim that even a famous celebrity is IN! Don't pray pray! (I guess when there's nothing much of a happening in the entertainment scene, even the celebrities would have to find alternative source of income.) Link

So what?

What it means if a company is not a member of DSA? It means association with the company is totally "at your own risk", as the company does not have an obligation to abide by DSA's Code of Ethics.

Other good reads:

Link: http://www.directselling411.com/for-sellers/myths-facts/#myth6
Description: Top 10 Myths & Facts About Direct Selling.

Link: http://dsas.org.sg/about-us/faqs/
Description: FAQs from DSAS website.


It pays to be ignorant. Get the right information.

Everything Happens for A Reason

Nelson Mandela, or affectionately known as "Madiba" by the people of South Africa, was a heroic symbol for peace, diversity, equality, and forgiveness. One of the highlights of his life is his imprisonment for over 27 years prior to being released and eventually becoming the President of South Africa.

Question: Would Nelson Mandela be the legend that he is today if he were to escape the 27 years of imprisonment?

Answer: Probably no. Without his continuous fighting for peace and equality while being in prison for 27 years, there's nothing much he could teach the world about forgiveness and reconciliation.

Steve Jobs was a charismatic symbol for revolution and innovation in the computers and smartphones industry. One of the highlights in his life is his sacking from Apple in 1985 after a boardroom tussle, which led him to Pixar, and eventually returning to Apple to introduce the iconic series of "i" gadgets to the whole wide world.

Question: Would Steve Jobs be the legend that he is today if he were to escape the sacking from Apple in 1985?

Answer: Probably no.Without his continuous search and innovation in different fields of technology, there's nothing much he could bring together in terms of experience to form the ideas for the iconic "i" gadgets.

These are just two of the many role models in our life, whose life stories had inspired many people around the world. These stories all have common themes which teach us about the important principles of success. Among them are:

Belief
A belief that we are born into this world for a special purpose to serve the world we live in.

Adversity
All golden opportunities and defining lessons in life often come to us in the form of long and arduous adversities.

Perseverance
It is only through perseverance and having a positive mental attitude that we can survive the adversities in life to be able to learn the important principles of success, see the golden opportunities that come in disguise, and realize our special purpose to serve the world we live in.


Everything happens for a reason, and it serves us well.

What Do You Know About Our Drinking Water?

The current floods in Kuantan got me thinking about one thing - where can people get clean source of water during such times. My search got me stumbled upon a very informative article which, I think, gives a thorough education on the water that we consume.

Article: WATER FOR HEALTH AND LONGEVITY
Link: http://www.drlwilson.com/articles/water.htm

P/S: There are tons of articles available online, but why do I recommend this one? Because it's written in a very scientific and fact-based manner, and most importantly, appears to be objective and unbiased as it presented both the good and bad sides of the picture.

If you don't have the time to read through every detail, this is probably the only part which you must not miss:

(Excerpt from the article)

SUMMARY OF WATERS TO AVOID

Please avoid: 

Trinity Water, as it is much too high in fluoride. 

All “drinking water” and “purified water” including Aqua Fina and Dasani. Do not be fooled by fancy sounding names or fancy bottling. These are just filtered tap water or water produced by reverse osmosis. 

Alkaline waters of all kinds. 

Distilled water, except perhaps during a toxic elimination or healing reaction. Too much distilled water will demineralize the body. 

Water from water machines found at supermarkets, for example. 

Water from water stores. This is always made with reverse osmosis, in my experience. 

Well water, in many cases. 

Tap water, unless filtered with carbon only. Tap water is not ideal, but it often will hydrate the body. If it is all you can afford, preferably at least use a Britta or other simple carbon filter and change the filter about once a month. 

Multiple stage filters in most cases. Beware that some multi-stage home and industrial water filters use reverse osmosis or other types of filtering methods that damage the water severely. Carbon is safe, however. 

Other “designer” waters. These include Penta Water, Vitamin Water, Smart Water and others.

On a side note, don't be fooled by advertiser's claim. Whenever in doubt, check the following websites:
http://www.nsf.org/certified-products-systems (look at "Drinking Water Treatment Units")
http://info.nsf.org/Certified/DWTU/ (certification to verify claims)
http://www.wqa.org/goldseal/goldsealSearch.cfm (certification to verify claims)


Water is good for you, if it's only good water.

Sour Grapes

Sometimes human nature is such that when we achieve something good, we want people to be there to cheer and congratulate us for our effort and achievement; whereas, when we achieve nothing good, we then shy away from lending our cheer and acknowledgement towards other people's achievement.

I remember back in school, at the end of the year during the school's annual prize giving ceremony, students who were supposed to receive their prizes would turn up for the event, whereas others would be absent.

I had been on both sides.

Whenever I was expecting to receive an award, I would hope that most of my friends and schoolmates would be there to witness my glorious moment; but when I was not expecting to receive any award, I would not even care to attend the event, thinking that the whole ceremony was just some form of "wayang" for people to showoff.

Such a loser I was.

And I'm sure many of you have been in the same circumstance before.

Why is it that we just want to taste "sweet grapes" and despise the taste of "sour grapes"?
It could be due to feelings of envy, inferiority, or resentment.

Whatever it is, I have learnt to accept and make the best of out the "sour grapes". Many things in life behave in a reciprocal manner. If we want people to treat us well, we need to first learn how to treat people well. If we want people to feel happy for us, we need to first learn how to feel happy for others. If we want others to acknowledge our good work, we need to first learn how to acknowledge other people's good work.

Apart from that, being able to take the taste of "sour grapes", in a way, would make us acknowledge our own mistakes and shortcomings, and trigger us to strive to be better in our next attempt.

Meanwhile, resenting the taste of "sour grapes" would only keep us at where we are and living in denial, because resenting out mistakes and shortcomings is akin to not acknowledging the need to improve.

Therefore, if you want to succeed in life, you must first learn how to accept the taste of "sour grapes". The more you taste, the more close you'll move towards a better you.

Fail Forward

I remember when I was in school, whenever I scored well in exams, I would go home brimming with joy and pride, waving my record card high up in the air in front of my parents asking for my reward; whereas, whenever I scored poorly in exams, I would tip-toe myself back home, pretending that it's just another sunny day, until my parents asked for my report card.

In Hokkien, that's what we call "chow kuan", which loosely translates as "loser's attitude" in English. Haha  :)

Here's the irony in life. We grew up learning about the success stories of great personalities, such as Thomas Edison, Abraham Lincoln, and Michael Jordan:

“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” ~ Thomas Edison 

“Success is going from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm.” ~ Abraham Lincoln 

“I have missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I have lost almost 300 games. On 26 occasions I have been entrusted to take the game winning shot… and missed. And I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.” ~ Michael Jordan

In short, we know that in order to succeed, we must first go through and learn from mistakes and failures.

But yet, most people are still so afraid of making mistakes or embracing failures. This is made even worse by the prevalent and non-supportive culture in our society which tends to punish or look down cynically at people's mistakes and failures, thus further affirming the negative belief.

So what can we do about this?

Honestly, there's nothing much we can do to change what others think. But we can start from ourselves, creating a more positive and conducive environment for people to learn how to fail forward by forming an association with the right people who understand and advocate the success principle of "failing forward".

Start by reading this splendid article and share it with others.
Link: http://www.forbes.com/sites/mikemaddock/2012/10/10/if-you-have-to-fail-and-you-do-fail-forward/

"The last time you failed, did you stop trying because you failed, or did you fail because you stopped trying?" 

~ John C. Maxwell

The Journey to Success

The journey to success is amazingly similar to these 8 steps in the process of farming and harvesting in the agriculture world.

#1 - Identify the crop

• The "crop" is your objective or dream.
• You need to identify clearly and specifically what you want to achieve before you can even start taking any action towards achieving it.
• Otherwise, you may end up harvesting the wrong "crop".

#2 - Clearing the soil

• The "crop" needs soil to grow on, and the "soil" is your mind.
• The education and programming of your mind over the past years have brought you to where you are now, and if you haven't achieved your objective or dream yet, obviously it means your mind has been filled with so much "weeds" (i.e. preconceived negative thoughts and ideas) that the crop has no place to grow.
• Therefore you have to clear your "soil" off the "weeds" in order to make place for the "crop" to grow.
• You may go for a long and painful process of clearing the "weeds" by manually plucking with your hands, i.e. getting over your bad habits and self-rejections one by one.
• Or you may go for a quick and no-return process of clearing the "weeds" by burning the soil, i.e. the sort of "burning your bridge" determination to never look back.

#3 - Conditioning the soil

• Just like ploughing the soil, you need to continually stretch and set your mind free off any self-limiting thoughts, so that you can 
• Just like a parachute, your mind can only work when it's stretched wide open.
• Otherwise, your "soil" may be too hard and tough for the "crop" to grow.

#4 - Sowing the seed

• "Sowing the seed" is akin to taking the right actions towards achieving your objective or dream.
• "No seed, no crop" is just the same as "no action, no result".
• Sowing the wrong or bad "seed" will give you the wrong or bad "crop".

#5 - Nurturing the crop

• The "crop" needs to have all the right care and absorb all the right nutrition in order to grow healthily.
• Giving the right "care and nutrition" is like feeding your mind with the right education and inputs from credible sources which are geared towards helping you succeed.

#6 - Protecting the crop

• Just like the "crop" being prone to attacks from "weeds" and "pests", your objective or dream is also prone to attacks from "destructive thoughts" and "non-supportive friends" who try to talk you out from your dream.
• Therefore you need to continuously protect your "crop" by being associated with the right people who really want to see you succeed. They are the ones who will give you the right advice, telling you the things that you need to hear instead of the things that you wish to hear. They will help you stay focused on your objective or dream instead of letting you wander far from your intended path.

#7 - Allowing the crop to grow

• Just like a crop, your objective or dream needs time to become reality.
• Instant gratification - bean sprouts can grow in a few days, and last not even a week. How much is a handful of bean sprouts worth for you?
• Delayed gratification - an oak tree takes 10 years to grow into full maturity, and can last for a century. How much is an oak tree worth for you?
• Is your objective or dream worth a handful of bean sprouts? Or a mighty oak tree?

#8 - Harvesting

• When all the 7 steps above work in perfect tandem and harmony, the harvest will come.
• Perfecting your skills of implementing all the steps will allow you to increase your yield accordingly.

I'm definitely not an expert in the farming and harvesting of crops, but these timeless principles of success are definitely applicable across all areas of our life.

There shortest path to success is the straight line from point A (where you are now) to point B (where you want to be), which means...

STAY FOCUS!

What Can Stop You?

"If you're going to let a three-hour drive or a three-hour flight or a three-day trek stop you from doing something you need and want to do, then what else will stop you? Here's the easy answer: anything! Anything will stop you. Not because of the size of the challenge but because of the size of you!

Either you are a person who will be stopped, or you are a person who won't be stopped. You choose. If you want to create wealth or any other kind of success, you have to be a warrior. You have to be willing to do whatever it takes. You have to 'train' yourself to not be stopped by anything.

Getting rich is not always convenient. Getting rich is not always easy. In fact, getting rich can be pretty damn hard. But so what? One of the key enlightened warrior principles states, 'If you are willing to do only what's easy, life will be hard. But if you are willing to do what's hard, life will be easy.' Rich people don't base their actions on what's easy and convenient; that way of living is reserved for the poor and most of the middle class."

~ T. Harv Eker, "Secrets of the Millionaire Mind"

What we want in life is always outside of our comfort zone. Why? Because if it's in our comfort zone, we would already HAVE IT, instead of WANT IT.

The pathway to success already come with its fair share of obstacles. But most of the times, people still keep adding more "obstacles" in front of them, in the form of "excuses" and "convenience". How do you achieve success if the "obstacles" keep increasing?

"Everything is uncomfortable in the beginning, but if you stick with it and continue, you will eventually move through the uncomfort zone and succeed. Then you will have a new, expanded comfort zone, which means you will have become a 'bigger' person.

The only time when you are actually growing is when you are uncomfortable."

 ~ T. Harv Eker, "Secrets of the Millionaire Mind"

Are you willing to get uncomfortable?

How Much Money Can You Handle?

"Imagine you're walking along the street with a five-year-old. You come across an ice cream store and go inside. You get the child a single scoop of ice cream on a cone because they don't have any cups. As the two of you walk outside, you notice the cone wobbling in the child's tiny hands and, all of a sudden, plop. The ice cream falls out of the cone onto the pavement.

The child begins to cry. So back you go into the store, and just as you're about to order for the second time, the child notices a colourful sign with a picture of the 'triple scooper' cone. The child points to the picture and excitedly screams, 'I want that one!'

Now here's the question. Being the kind, loving, and generous person that you are, would you go ahead and get this child the triple scooper? Your initial response might be 'sure'. However, when considering the question a little more deeply, most of our seminar participants respond, 'No'. Because why would you want to set the child up to fail? The child couldn't even handle a single scoop, how could the child possibly handle a triple scoop?"

~ T. Harv Eker, "Secrets of the Millionaire Mind" 

If you were to play the role of the God of Prosperity, and your job is to give money and prosperity to those who deserve it, would you give it to an inexperienced "five-year-old child" who would most likely mismanage and waste it? Or would you rather give it to an experienced "grown up" who would most likely make good use of it?

I'm sure you would give it to the experienced "grown up".

And that's the point!

Life works in exactly the same way. When we have proven through obstacles that we can handle success, success will come naturally into our life. If success comes prematurely, sooner or later it will "fall off from our cone" in our wobbling hands.

"Until you show you can handle what you've got, you won't get any more." ~ T. Harv Eker

If you want success, take action and start growing up!

Would You Prefer to Own or Being Owned?

Watching this short video clip below by Robert Kiyosaki about assets vs liabilities reminded me of an article which I read online regarding a major MNC in Penang's plan to "optimize their resources".

"Intel plans 300 job cuts at Malaysian plants"
Link: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/intel-plans-300-job-cuts-at-malaysian-plants-2013-11-11

In this article, it says that:

"Like any other large organization, Intel continually optimizes its resources in line with its evolving business requirements," said Nick Jacobs, Asia Pacific public relations director, in an email.

And:

The company is increasingly relying on larger, newer factories in Arizona and Oregon as well as plants in Ireland, Israel and China, where it regularly upgrades production processes that shrink the size of circuitry while packing more features into chips.

This reminds me of Robert Kiyosaki's definition of assets vs liabilities:

ASSETS put money into the owner's pocket; while

LIABILITIES take money out from the owner's pocket.

Having understood that, being smart investors:

People KEEP ASSETS which are MAKING MONEY for them;

And, OFFLOAD ASSETS which are NOT MAKING MONEY for them.

This goes on to say that:

When the company is making money, employees become its ASSETS which will be retained;

And, when the company is not making money, employees become its LIABILITIES which will be offloaded.

Most people have come to accept this very fact about the business world. But the question for us now is:

Would you rather become the OWNER of an asset?

Or,

Would you rather being OWNED as an asset?

Mental Toughness

Imagine yourself riding on a motorcycle. The more you accelerate, the stronger you feel the air pressing on your body. And if you try to sit up straight and release both your hands with your motorcycle riding in high speed, you'll find yourself blown off your seat.

It's just the same in life. In order to achieve the things that we want in life, we need to move forward. As we move forward, just like the air pressing on our body, there will be lots of challenges coming our way. That is why we need to have mental toughness to survive the ordeal of moving forward in life.

This article here talks about how we can develop mental toughness.

"How to Develop Mental Toughness"
Link: http://www.lifehack.org/articles/productivity/how-to-develop-mental-toughness.html?utm_source=post&utm_medium=wanttobetougher&utm_campaign=innerlink

In summary, mental toughness comes from:

Self motivation - There's not much others can do to motivate us if we cannot even motivate ourselves. Self motivation comes from answering "Why you do what you do?"

Positive, realistic attitude - Focus on our own strengths, not on others'. Gain confidence and inspiration from them.

Emotional self control - Keeping check of our emotions allows us to keep on with the game plan we have in mind from the beginning.

Calmness under fire - Learning how to cope with pressure will enable us to grow and perform best under pressure.

Energetic and ready for action - "The pride you get from doing your best in less than optimal circumstances makes it that much easier to succeed in all circumstances."

Being Mentally Strong

Are you a mentally strong person? Check the list of behaviours in this article and see how well you score for being a mentally strong person  :)

"13 Things Mentally Strong People Don’t Do"
Link: http://www.lifehack.org/articles/communication/13-things-mentally-strong-people-dont.html

Here's how I would summarize. Mentally strong people:

Take responsibility for all the positive and negative outcomes in their life.

Understand that their life can always change for the better.

Focus on developing constructive behaviours and attitudes.

Move on with their life after learning from past mistakes.

Fail forward, instead of backward.

Understand the law of harvest.

Are inspired by other people's success, instead of feeling jealous.

A New Look at Introverts

We used to see introverts as people who lack confidence in themselves, people who don't like people, people who are social outcasts. But is that true? Maybe yes. Maybe not.

Here's an alternative view of the introverts. This simple yet comprehensive visual offers a new perspective on how to understand introverts better.

"Dr. Carmella's Guide to Understanding the Introverted"

Link: http://themetapicture.com/how-to-interact-with-the-introverted/

To summarize, introverted people:

Tend to avoid people because they don't want to "spend" their limited energy on "unnecessary" social contacts.

Tend to stay alone because that's when they "recharge" their energy.

Tend to enjoy the company of people who respect their personal space (hamster ball).

With the concept of "energy conservation", it's now a lot easier to understand how people (both extroverts and introverts) relate and interact with one another.

Never Again Will I Pity or Belittle Myself

Last month I completed my practice of the ten scrolls in The Greatest Salesman in the World. It has helped me tremendously throughout the past 10 months of my journey towards my goal.

Thanks to my business partner who gave me this book "The Greatest Salesman in the World - Part 2", now I am going to practice "the Ten Vows of Success" for the coming 10 months of my journey towards my goal!

Here are some of the inspirational quotes from the First Vow of Success:

Never again will I pity or belittle myself.

How foolish I was when I stood in despair, by the side of the road, and envied the successful and the wealthy as they paraded by. Are they blessed with unique skills, rare intelligence, heroic courage, enduring ambition, and other outstanding qualities that I possess not? Have they been allotted more hours, each day, in which to perform their mighty tasks? Do they have hearts full of compassion and souls overflowing with love that are different from mine? No! God plays no favorites. We were all fashioned from the same clay.

Now I also know that the sadness and setbacks of my life are not unique to me. Even the wisest and most successful of our world suffer chapters of heartbreak and failure but they, unlike me, have learned that there is no peace without trouble, no rest without strain, no laughter without sorrow, no victory without struggle and that is the price we all pay for living. There was a time when I paid the price willingly and easily but constant disappointments and defeats first eroded my confidence and then my courage even as drops of water will, in time, destroy the strongest granite. All that is now behind me. No longer am I one of the living dead, remaining always in the shadows of others and hiding behind my sorry apologies and alibis while the years waste away.

Never again will I pity or belittle myself.

Success, when it comes overnight, often departs with the dawn. I am prepared, now, or a lifetime of happiness because I have finally recognized a powerful secret hidden in the years that treated me so harshly. Failure is, in a sense, the highway to success, inasmuch as every discovery we make of what is false leads us to seek earnestly after what is true and every fresh experience points out some form of error which we shall afterward carefully avoid. The path I walked, often dampened by my tears, has not been a wasted journey.

Never again will I pity or belittle myself.

I am on the right path to succeed! I'm going for GOLD!

Things that You May Want to Take Note

What's the importance of product labeling? Do you have a habit of verifying information on product labels?

What's the importance of certification and approvals? Do you check whether the products that you buy are certified and approved as being safe for use?

What's the difference between a "pricier original product" vs a "cheaper counterfeit product"?

Read this report: http://edition.cnn.com/2013/10/09/health/oxyelite-pro-liver-damage/

Here are the things which caught my attention:

OxyElite Pro is sold nationwide. Because it is a dietary supplement, it did not have to be approved by the FDA before going to market.

My take: Not everything that is sold at the local stores are approved by FDA as being safe for consumption. Would you consume a product that is NOT labelled as safe?

USPlabs informed the FDA that counterfeit versions of OxyElite Pro have been circulating in the United States, according to an advisory issued by the FDA. The agency is investigating whether counterfeit products are linked to any of the hepatitis cases.

My take: Counterfeit products are definitely not certified or approved for safety. Even if a counterfeit version can copy 100% the quality of its original, when something is found to be wrong with the original, there is no way the counterfeit version can be warned of a potential hazard because of not being in radar.

In April, the FDA said it was using "all available tools at its disposal" to eliminate supplements containing the stimulant dimethylamylamine, or DMAA, from the market. The agency said DMAA can cause increased blood pressure, shortness of breath, chest tightening, cardiovascular problems and even heart attacks.

My take: Being in the radar of FDA, a product manufacturer can be immediately warned of any potential hazard in their products, thus action can be taken immediately to eradicate the hazard.

FDA spokeswoman Tamara Ward told CNN at the time that 11 companies had received warning letters from the FDA over the past year asking them to stop marketing products that contain DMAA. All but one -- USPlabs -- agreed to stop using DMAA in supplements.

My take: Track record says everything about a company. Would you still trust companies who ignored warnings from authorities?

Can You Identify the Problem Here?

What happens when the seller doesn't really know what they are selling (because they don't own the product)?

Read this report: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/10/oxyelite-pro_n_4081375.html

The following quotes from the report got me thinking:

When the Hawaii Department of Health issued a request Tuesday that the diet supplement OxyELITE Pro be voluntarily removed from store shelves, they received almost unanimous acquiescence from stores across Hawaii. 

There was just one problem: one of the largest distributors of OxyELITE Pro in Hawaii said no. 

“GNC uniformly informed us they were not going to remove it,” said Hawaii Deputy Director of Environmental Health Gary Gill. While all other retailers immediately agreed to remove the product from shelves, every local GNC manager visited by the DOH said they did not plan to stop selling the supplement.

My take: Which seller would you rather buy from? The ones who say "Let's temporarily stop the sale of this product just in case someone else got hurt"? Or the ones who say "Let's just wait for more scientific evidence before we stop the sale of this product"? For me, I choose the ones who put customers' safety first, not the ones who take a gamble on customers' safety.

A national representative for GNC said in an e-mail that GNC “never ‘refused’ to pull the product,” but that “GNC is not aware of any scientific or medical evidence that establishes that the OxyElite Pro product is unsafe.”

My take: Which seller would you rather buy from? The ones who "have proven credibility and capability to do their own research, manufacturing and certification of their own products"? Or the ones who "rely on other parties to do the research, manufacturing and certification of the products'? For me, I choose the ones who know 100% of what they sell to their customers, not the ones who are clueless of what they sell to customers.

It's always better to buy something from sellers who take FULL RESPONSIBILITY and OWNERSHIP of their products, rather than from sellers who merely sell products for a profit and avoid responsibility when things go wrong.

Changing World of Retailing

My business partner recently shared an article which talks about how the world of retailing is changing now.

"6 TRENDS THAT WILL CHANGE RETAILING FOREVER" by Henrik Persson
Link: http://www.scenariomagazine.com/6-trends-that-will-change-retailing-forever/

Here are the key messages:

The demand for online purchasing opportunities is increasing as more tech-savvy generations are getting older. A quarter of US consumers aged 24 to 35 currently do around a quarter of their shopping online, according to The Economist.

There is evidence that a growing number of people do not bother to go down to the store and bring home products themselves anymore. A couple of years ago, Netflix launched a service in which people could rent DVDs online and get them sent by mail to their homes. It soon turned out that many customers preferred this to going down to the local Blockbuster movie rental store.

The first thing many people do when they wake up in the morning is to go on Facebook, and the last thing they do at night is to check their profile. They do not bother to go on the internet and type in an address or to do a search on Google anymore. They expect you to have an app or you will not really have a place in their mind.

Mobile retailing, or m-commerce, is growing even more rapidly than any other kind of retailing activity. eBay’s global mobile sales reached close to USD 2 billion in 2010. In 2011 this figure more than doubled, to USD 5 billion.

Social commerce takes place when online social networks and group activities are combined with e-commerce and/or offline retailing. The key to social commerce is to create an interest among buyers so that they spread the word to their contacts on social networks and other places. A growing number of companies are using this form of business logic with success. A common example is Groupon, which provides customers with big discounts if a sufficient number of members pounce on a particular offer.

Multichannel retailing is a powerful trend that is gaining momentum. Most traditional retailers are moving in this direction or will be forced to do so in the coming years. Multichannel retailing is growing in response to all of the five trends presented above.

They may also be something like Tesco’s experiment with virtual shops on South Korean subway stations, targeting people waiting for trains home from work. Tesco plastered the walls of the stations with pictures of groceries laid out as they were in a “real” store. These pictures featured QR codes for every product, which commuters could then scan with their smartphones, filling up a virtual shopping basket within minutes. The experiment increased sales by 130 per cent in a period of three months, and made Tesco the number one online grocery store in South Korea.

Are you ready to capitalize on these 6 trends for your business?

High Income Nation, Low Income Rakyat

My business mentor shared this article with me a week ago, which I find very intriguing.

"Malaysia: High Income Nation, but Low Income Rakyat" by Anas Alam Faizli
Link: http://blog.limkitsiang.com/2013/10/22/malaysia-high-income-nation-but-low-income-rakyat/#more-25515

Here are 3 excerpts which I find most compelling:

"...even if most of this nation’s income in year 2020 accrued to say, only 100 of the richest people in the country, we can achieve that $15,000 per capita target because it is grossly divided by the whole population..."

My take: Our government's vision of a high income nation may prosper few, but definitely not the majority. Are you positioning yourself in the correct financial quadrants in order get a piece of the wealth distribution? In my opinion, the self employed (including traders), business owners and investors are the ones who will stand to gain.

"...there is the grave issue of purchasing power. High income alone does not necessarily translate into better economic well-being and quality of life if that high income cannot purchase much. A simple analysis would show how a fresh graduate in 1980 could purchase more compared to today’s graduate. With an estimated pay of RM1,000 a graduate could afford an Opel Gemini costing RM12,400 or about 12 months of his salary and purchase a decent house, perhaps even in Taman Tun, costing at RM62,000 or 56 months of his salary. Today, a graduate can have a basic pay of RM2,500 which is only 2.5 times higher than a graduate in 1980. But a comparable Mazda 6 now costs RM178,000 or about 71 months of his salary and a decent house far outside Kuala Lumpur, say in Nilai, would cost RM350,000 or 140 months of his salary. The cost of living has spiraled viciously upwards and the purchasing power of the average salary man has slumped..."

My take: No matter how well they play around with statistics to come out with a deceiving number, we cannot run away from the impacts of true inflation in price of goods. When petrol and sugar price go up, everything else goes up except an employee's salary. When petrol price increases by 10%, the price of goods and services will go up by 20%, because if I were to be a goods and services provider, I will definitely make my customers pay for the 10% increase in cost of raw materials plus the 10% increase in my cost of living. Again, fixed-pay employees are the ones who will suffer the most.

"Earning RM10,000 a month on a household basis will already put you as the top 4 percent of Malaysian households, and essentially in the same group as even tycoons like Ananda Krishnan. 73 percent of households earn less than RM5,000, with an average of 2 income earners or workers per household. This alone shows how much disparity there is. Furthermore, it renders our $15,000 High Income Nation target achievable in form, yet void in spirit and substance."

My take: Are you earning RM10,000 a month now? If not, are you going to wait? Or are you going to do something?

"Rakyat didahulukan, pencapaian diutamakan." Really?

Are You An Excellent Receiver?

To become wealthy, you need to make money; to make money, you need to receive money from others.
Which means, if you want to be wealthy, you need to be an excellent receiver of money.

Some people complain of being poor, and they despise those who make lots of money for being greedy.

Some people choose to stay poor, because they believe money will make them evil.

If you're one of those people, or you happen to know of people who have such thoughts, you may want to look into these alternative references. Here are some important points taken from this book:

Rich people are excellent receivers. Poor people are poor receivers.

People are challenged by receiving for several reasons. First, many people feel unworthy or undeserving due to the conditioning of their social environment. Second, most people bought into the adage "It's better to give than to receive."

For most people, the conditioning of punishment is so ingrained that, because there's no one around to punish them, they when make mistake or just aren't perfect, they subconsciously punish themselves. When they were young, the punishment might have come in the form of "You were bad, so no candy." Today, however, it could take the form of "You were bad, so no money."

What's better, hot or cold, big or small, left or right, in or out? Giving and receiving are two sides of the same coin. Whoever decided that it is better to give than to receive was simply bad at math. For every giver there must be a receiver, for every receiver there must be a giver. How could you give if there weren't someone there to receive?

How does it feel to give? Wonderful and fulfilling. Conversely, how does it feel when you want to give and the other person isn't willing to receive? Terrible. If you are not willing to receive, then you are "ripping off" those who want to give to you.

If you're not willing to receive your share, it will go to someone else who is. That's one of the reasons the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Not because they're any more worthy, but because they are willing to receive while most poor people are not.

Rich people work hard and believe it's perfectly appropriate to be well rewarded for their efforts and the value they provide for others. Poor people work hard, but due to their feeling of unworthiness, they believe that it is inappropriate for them to be well rewarded for their efforts and the value they provide.

Get really rich and then help people who don't have the opportunity you did. That makes a lot more sense than being broke and helping no one.

Money will only make you more of what you already are. If you're mean, money will afford you the opportunity to be meaner. If you're kind, money will afford you the opportunity to be kinder. If you're a jerk at heart, with money you can be jerkier. If you're generous, more money will simply allow you to be more generous.

How you do anything is how you do everything. If you're a poor receiver, you're a poor receiver in all areas. When you become an excellent receiver, you'll become an excellent receiver everywhere.

If you're not good at receiving, don't even dare think of becoming good at giving, because you have nothing much else to give.

How Big is the Size of You?

I once heard a saying, "Every living thing in this world has problems. The only ones without problems are the ones living six feet under."

Looking back at the days when you were a little child, were the problems you faced back then still bothering you today? Most likely not. Because you have grown up. Because you have grown bigger than the problems that you faced back then.

If you still find there are some problems you faced back then that still bother you today, that means you haven't grown enough in that particular aspect of life.

The same thing actually applies to the financial aspect of our life. Here are some important points which T. Harv Eker has shared in his book:

Rich people are bigger than their problems. Poor people are smaller than their problems.

Poor people will do almost anything to avoid problems. They see a challenge and they run. The irony is that in their quest to make sure they don't have problems, they have the biggest problem of all...they're broke and miserable.

The secret of success is not to try to avoid or get rid of or shrink from your problems; the secret is to grow yourself so that you are bigger than any problem.

If you have a big problem in your life, all that means is that you are being a small person! Don't be fooled by appearances. Your outer world is merely a reflection of your inner world. If you want to make a permanent change, stop focusing on the size of your problems and start focusing on the size of you!

The bigger the problems you can handle, the bigger the business you can handle; the bigger the responsibility you can handle, the more employees you can handle; the more customers you can handle, the more money you can handle, and ultimately, the more wealth you can handle.

Think of yourself as your container for wealth. If your container is small and your money is big, what's going to happen? You will lose it. Your container will overflow and the excess money will spill out all over the place. You simply cannot have more money than the container. Therefore you must grow to be a big container so you cannot only hold more wealth but also attract more wealth. The universe abhors a vacuum and if you have a very large money container, it will rush in to fill the space.

Rich and successful people are solution-oriented; they spend their time and energy strategizing and planning the answers to challenges that come up, and creating systems to make certain that problem doesn't occur again.

Poor and unsuccessful people are problem-oriented. They spend their time and energy bitching and complaining and seldom come up with anything creative to alleviate the problem, let alone make sure it doesn't happen again.

If you're complaining about not being financially wealthy, ask yourself first, how big is the size of you? Are you big enough to handle the money that is entrusted to you?

WORLD RENOWNED HEART SURGEON SPEAKS OUT ON WHAT REALLY CAUSES HEART DISEASE

Here is a great article of utmost importance if you really care about preventing heart disease. Forget about what you've learned about cholesterol causing heart disease. Time to re-learn!

Link: http://myscienceacademy.org/2012/08/19/world-renown-heart-surgeon-speaks-out-on-what-really-causes-heart-disease/

Important points:

Inflammation in the artery wall is the real cause of heart disease.

The long-established dietary recommendations have created epidemics of obesity and diabetes.

Without inflammation, cholesterol would move freely throughout the body as nature intended. It is inflammation that causes cholesterol to become trapped.

If we chronically expose the body to injury by toxins or foods the human body was never designed to process,a condition occurs called chronic inflammation.

The injury and inflammation in our blood vessels is caused by the low fat diet recommended for years by mainstream medicine.

The biggest culprits of chronic inflammation are the overload of simple, highly processed carbohydrates (sugar, flour and all the products made from them) and the excess consumption of omega-6 vegetable oils like soybean, corn and sunflower that are found in many processed foods.

Foods loaded with sugars and simple carbohydrates, or processed with omega-6 oils for long shelf life have been the mainstay of the American diet for six decades. These foods have been slowly poisoning everyone.

While omega-6’s are essential -they are part of every cell membrane controlling what goes in and out of the cell – they must be in the correct balance with omega-3’s. If the balance shifts by consuming excessive omega-6, the cell membrane produces chemicals called cytokines that directly cause inflammation.

Today’s mainstream American diet has produced an extreme imbalance of these two fats. The ratio of imbalance ranges from 15:1 to as high as 30:1 in favor of omega-6. That’s a tremendous amount of cytokines causing inflammation. In today’s food environment, a 3:1 ratio would be optimal and healthy.

The excess weight you are carrying from eating these foods creates overloaded fat cells that pour out large quantities of pro-inflammatory chemicals that add to the injury caused by having high blood sugar.

There is no escaping the fact that the more we consume prepared and processed foods, the more we trip the inflammation switch little by little each day. The human body cannot process, nor was it designed to consume, foods packed with sugars and soaked in omega-6 oils.

Choose foods closer to their natural state. To build muscle, eat more protein. Choose carbohydrates that are very complex such as colorful fruits and vegetables. Cut down on or eliminate inflammation- causing omega-6 fats like corn and soybean oil and the processed foods that are made from them. Instead, use olive oil or butter from grass-fed beef.

The cholesterol theory led to the no-fat, low-fat recommendations that in turn created the very foods now causing an epidemic of inflammation. Mainstream medicine made a terrible mistake when it advised people to avoid saturated fat in favor of foods high in omega-6 fats. We now have an epidemic of arterial inflammation leading to heart disease and other silent killers.

The Principle of the Path

Here's an awesome principle called the "Principle of the Path" which many people understood, but oftenly being taken for granted when it comes to application in real life.

The Principle of the Path by Andy Stanley

If you want to stay fit (intention), but you're not consistently exercising (direction/path), then you're not going to be fit (destination).

If your ambition is to be a doctor (intention), but you're enrolled in a law school (direction/path), no matter how hard you studied in school, you'll never get to be a doctor (destination).

If your goal is to achieve financial freedom (intention), but your attention is focused on your job (direction/path), no matter how much time and hard work you put into your job, you'll never be financially free (destination).

"Direction, not intention, determines our destination." 

~ Andy Stanley

Selling and Promotion

Many people have the tendency of mistaking promoting their value for blowing their own trumpet. When others praise them for something good they have done, the most common response given is, "Nah...I'm just normal lah...(with a shy look)". Honestly, I have also been guilty at times for doing so.

But imagine if you were to praise a customer service officer for something good they had done, and the person replied, "Nah...we're just normal lah...(with a shy look)", what would you think?

My point here is that, while it's important to stay humble all the time, we must also know how to accept praise and be proud of the good qualities that we have. All you need is just to say, "Thank you. I'll take that as a compliment and encouragement to improve further."

Why exactly do we have to change and adopt this new behaviour? Here are some of the perspective offered in this book:

Rich people are willing to promote themselves and their value. Poor people think negatively about selling and promotion.

Resenting promotion is one of the greatest obstacles to success. People who have issues with selling and promotion are usually broke.

People have a problem with promotion or sales for several reasons. First, you may have had a bad experience in the past with people promoting to you inappropriately. Second, you may have had a disempowering experience when you tried to sell something to someone and that person totally rejected you. Third, you issue might come from past parental programming, where many were told that it's impolite to "toot your own horn". Finally, some people feel that if others want what they have, those people should somehow find and come to them.

There's a huge difference between a best-selling author and a best-writing author. One pays a lot more than the other.

Rich people are usually leaders, and all great leaders are great promoters. They are adept at selling, inspiring, and motivating people to buy into their vision.

The critical point isn't whether you like to promote or not, it is why you're promoting. Do you really believe in the product or service you're offering? Do you really believe that what you have will be of benefit to whomever you're promoting it to?

People who have a problem with promotion don't fully believe in their product or don't fully believe in themselves. If you believe that what you have to offer can truly assist people, it's your duty to let as many people as possible know about it.

It's a matter of perspective. One leads you to wealth. One leads you to obscurity. Choose whichever serves you better  :)