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?