A friend of mine impressed me today.
This friend of mine is an avid fan of Disney. In particular, he loves Walt Disney World, so much so that he hopes to build a long term career there. Against the recommendations of some of his friends and family, he applied last year for the Disney College Program as a custodian. This guy is very intelligent and probably could have picked his jobs a bit more wisely but he ran with it.
Long story short, he got the job. He loved working there but circumstances in his personal life coupled with not being quite fit for custodial work led to his going home early. He was a bit distraught as it was still a place he wanted to build a career.
Some people give up on their dreams. My friend chose to pursue it again. This time he has reapplied to work for Disney in a job for which he feels great enthusiasm: "Attractions" (basically, the people who operate the rides). Good deal.
Now, most people would be content to reapply and leave it at that. Some go an extra step and call/email to confirm their interest in the position. He did that too. But a few days ago he did something which displayed excellent hustle and surprised me a bit, to say the least.
He created a website.
His website is called I Want To Work At Disney. He even took the time and extra money to register the name www.iwanttoworkatdisney.com! It's still a work in progress, of course, and he says he's constantly working to refine it, but I'm impressed that he's made the effort in the first place.
The winnings in life go to those who are willing to go the extra mile in life and put in extra effort where others are content to rest. I'll keep you updated regarding how he does.
Showing posts with label success. Show all posts
Showing posts with label success. Show all posts
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Reflections of a Freemason
As some of you more conspiratorial-minded readers might have surmised, I am a Freemason. I'm very proud of that fact -- the Masonic brotherhood is one of the greatest organizations I have had the honor of belonging to.
Many people have peculiar ideas about Freemasonry. At its heart, it's a benevolent fraternity mostly composed of men of high principles. It is not a secret society, nor is it a conspiracy of men who secretly run the world from behind the scenes. We don't represent a hidden agenda or any such nonsense. We are merely a group of guys devoted to living out the principles of brotherhood amongst ourselves who strive to apply the lessons we learn in doing so to society around us.
We have men from all walks in life. We're not all saints, nor do we claim to be.
There are requirements for becoming a Freemason. You must be a man. You must be at least 18 years of age. You must believe in deity. It is expected that you be a man of good character. You must also be willing to ask to join -- we don't recruit. Perhaps most importantly of all, you must desire to join out of a positive opinion of the institution itself and not for the purposes of personal gain. Freemasonry is not for everyone.
Freemasonry is an effective organization. Masonic lodges and our appendant organizations (such as the Shriners) provide on average a million dollars a day to charitable causes. We provide support to numerous causes throughout society.
Part of the reason that Freemasonry is so effective is that it is an effective network. While many outsiders would consider our rituals and customs to be strange, what they do is create a unifying culture within this network -- a shared sense of identity among our members. Through this unified culture we build bonds of trust between each other. We become acquainted with the talents of those brethren with whom we meet in our lodges and during our travels.
This network contributes to our success, both as an institution and in our personal lives.
I've stated plainly in the past that you can't get ahead of life on your own. You need other people. There are various ways of meeting people, but the best ways involve being part of a network together. You can join an existing network or create your own -- it doesn't matter. In being part of a network, you have the skills of others at your fingertips -- both directly and indirectly.
Masons are traditionally accused of playing favoritism with other Masons. That's not a conspiracy. Whose talents are you more likely to tap into for a future project or venture -- some one you just met or someone you know, trust, and whose talents are readily apparent to you? The first is a gamble. The second involves a calculated risk. Gambles can cost you big. Calculated risks are what lead to success.
My point here isn't to convince you to become a Mason. Only you can decide whether that's the right course for you. What I'm saying is that it's to your benefit to belong to a network of individuals of some sort, whether it's something you have to join or whether it's something you create yourself. This goes far beyond financial well being. Sometimes it's useful just to have a group for emotional support that you can fall back on when times get tough. It doesn't matter if it's the Masons, the Rotary, the Elks, your local Church, your school chess club, or Alcoholics Anonymous -- networks of every sort will get you ahead in life.
Many people have peculiar ideas about Freemasonry. At its heart, it's a benevolent fraternity mostly composed of men of high principles. It is not a secret society, nor is it a conspiracy of men who secretly run the world from behind the scenes. We don't represent a hidden agenda or any such nonsense. We are merely a group of guys devoted to living out the principles of brotherhood amongst ourselves who strive to apply the lessons we learn in doing so to society around us.
We have men from all walks in life. We're not all saints, nor do we claim to be.
There are requirements for becoming a Freemason. You must be a man. You must be at least 18 years of age. You must believe in deity. It is expected that you be a man of good character. You must also be willing to ask to join -- we don't recruit. Perhaps most importantly of all, you must desire to join out of a positive opinion of the institution itself and not for the purposes of personal gain. Freemasonry is not for everyone.
Freemasonry is an effective organization. Masonic lodges and our appendant organizations (such as the Shriners) provide on average a million dollars a day to charitable causes. We provide support to numerous causes throughout society.
Part of the reason that Freemasonry is so effective is that it is an effective network. While many outsiders would consider our rituals and customs to be strange, what they do is create a unifying culture within this network -- a shared sense of identity among our members. Through this unified culture we build bonds of trust between each other. We become acquainted with the talents of those brethren with whom we meet in our lodges and during our travels.
This network contributes to our success, both as an institution and in our personal lives.
I've stated plainly in the past that you can't get ahead of life on your own. You need other people. There are various ways of meeting people, but the best ways involve being part of a network together. You can join an existing network or create your own -- it doesn't matter. In being part of a network, you have the skills of others at your fingertips -- both directly and indirectly.
Masons are traditionally accused of playing favoritism with other Masons. That's not a conspiracy. Whose talents are you more likely to tap into for a future project or venture -- some one you just met or someone you know, trust, and whose talents are readily apparent to you? The first is a gamble. The second involves a calculated risk. Gambles can cost you big. Calculated risks are what lead to success.
My point here isn't to convince you to become a Mason. Only you can decide whether that's the right course for you. What I'm saying is that it's to your benefit to belong to a network of individuals of some sort, whether it's something you have to join or whether it's something you create yourself. This goes far beyond financial well being. Sometimes it's useful just to have a group for emotional support that you can fall back on when times get tough. It doesn't matter if it's the Masons, the Rotary, the Elks, your local Church, your school chess club, or Alcoholics Anonymous -- networks of every sort will get you ahead in life.
Concepts in Success: Glenn Beck
Glenn Beck. The man is a polarizing figure, to say the very least. Love him or hate him, one cannot deny that he is a very successful man. I believe that success seekers can learn a lot by both studying and applying some of the methods he has used in his own life.
Glenn Beck represents a wonderful dual application of both principles I had mentioned yesterday: hustling and leverage. His success is the product of an optimal synergy between the two that has propelled him to heights of which most can only dream.
To repeat what I stated in The Art of Leverage, hustling in the sense I mean it is not criminal and has nothing to do with scamming the people around oneself. Instead, it is the quality of putting unimaginable amounts of time and effort into developing a skill so that you are better than nearly 100% of other people. While others relax and spend most of their time engaging in all sorts of mindless diversions, you study, practice, and hone your skill. It's hard work. The end result is the ability to apply the talent you have developed to tasks as if it is simply natural to you.
You don't have to be born with a talent to be successful. You just have to enjoy doing it enough so that you're willing to devote inordinate amounts of your time doing it. This is one of the primary reasons why, in a previous post, I recommended doing what you love as the key to never working again.
Glenn Beck spent years upon years developing his abilities to speak and to connect with audiences. These are not easy talents to develop as most people do not enjoy embarrassing themselves in front of groups of people. One of the greatest benefits to the particular skill set that Glenn Beck has developed is that it has enabled him to develop a brand around himself. Branding is another part of what separates the successful from the ordinary. We'll cover that concept another time.
Imagine for a moment that Glenn Beck, armed only with his highly honed speaking abilities, operated solely on his own. During the course of a day he would have to research, plan out, and write both a radio show and a television broadcast. He would then have to perform both. Meanwhile, he would be responsible for writing and managing his news site The Blaze as well as several others. On top of that, he would have to sit down every evening to put in several hours of work on the various books he releases every year in between calls from companies seeking endorsements for their products. Let's be realistic here -- there aren't enough hours in a day to operate like this! He has the same 24 as the rest of us!
What Mr. Beck does, then, is leverage the talents and time of others towards these ends. He has people who hustled to become good at research to do his research, people who hustled to be good at production to produce his shows, and people who hustled to become good at writing to script his shows. He has extremely capable people managing his personal brand and overseeing every aspect of his business. He most likely has individuals that ghostwrite his books. It's more than likely that he compensates everyone within his organization quite well, as skilled talent tends to come at a premium. All he really provides is the skill and brand that hinges it all together.
There's nothing wrong with this. It's how the world works. Everything must be flawless in its presentation when you want to break through to the upper pinnacles of success. Everything must be checked, double-checked, refined, and perfected before others can see it. Solitary individuals haven't the time nor capacity to present such perfection, which is why they fail. Successful people know to develop a skill that makes them indispensable to an organization. They then set about to find the means to use that skill so that they might leverage others into doing the other tasks they need done. You can do this around any skill so long as it has value and so long as you are able to build a brand around it.
Master the concepts of hustling and leverage and you will go as far as your dreams will take you.
Glenn Beck represents a wonderful dual application of both principles I had mentioned yesterday: hustling and leverage. His success is the product of an optimal synergy between the two that has propelled him to heights of which most can only dream.
To repeat what I stated in The Art of Leverage, hustling in the sense I mean it is not criminal and has nothing to do with scamming the people around oneself. Instead, it is the quality of putting unimaginable amounts of time and effort into developing a skill so that you are better than nearly 100% of other people. While others relax and spend most of their time engaging in all sorts of mindless diversions, you study, practice, and hone your skill. It's hard work. The end result is the ability to apply the talent you have developed to tasks as if it is simply natural to you.
You don't have to be born with a talent to be successful. You just have to enjoy doing it enough so that you're willing to devote inordinate amounts of your time doing it. This is one of the primary reasons why, in a previous post, I recommended doing what you love as the key to never working again.
Glenn Beck spent years upon years developing his abilities to speak and to connect with audiences. These are not easy talents to develop as most people do not enjoy embarrassing themselves in front of groups of people. One of the greatest benefits to the particular skill set that Glenn Beck has developed is that it has enabled him to develop a brand around himself. Branding is another part of what separates the successful from the ordinary. We'll cover that concept another time.
Imagine for a moment that Glenn Beck, armed only with his highly honed speaking abilities, operated solely on his own. During the course of a day he would have to research, plan out, and write both a radio show and a television broadcast. He would then have to perform both. Meanwhile, he would be responsible for writing and managing his news site The Blaze as well as several others. On top of that, he would have to sit down every evening to put in several hours of work on the various books he releases every year in between calls from companies seeking endorsements for their products. Let's be realistic here -- there aren't enough hours in a day to operate like this! He has the same 24 as the rest of us!
What Mr. Beck does, then, is leverage the talents and time of others towards these ends. He has people who hustled to become good at research to do his research, people who hustled to be good at production to produce his shows, and people who hustled to become good at writing to script his shows. He has extremely capable people managing his personal brand and overseeing every aspect of his business. He most likely has individuals that ghostwrite his books. It's more than likely that he compensates everyone within his organization quite well, as skilled talent tends to come at a premium. All he really provides is the skill and brand that hinges it all together.
There's nothing wrong with this. It's how the world works. Everything must be flawless in its presentation when you want to break through to the upper pinnacles of success. Everything must be checked, double-checked, refined, and perfected before others can see it. Solitary individuals haven't the time nor capacity to present such perfection, which is why they fail. Successful people know to develop a skill that makes them indispensable to an organization. They then set about to find the means to use that skill so that they might leverage others into doing the other tasks they need done. You can do this around any skill so long as it has value and so long as you are able to build a brand around it.
Master the concepts of hustling and leverage and you will go as far as your dreams will take you.
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
The Art of Leverage
I'm going to tell you a little secret. Pay close attention; this secret is vital to your success.
You can't get wealthy without other people.
Let's face it. None of us lives in a vacuum. We live in societies and are defined by the relationships we build with others. Sure, you could go out and live in the woods all by yourself, not depending upon a single soul. Are you taking any supplies with you? No, that's cheating -- most of those supplies were only made possible by others. Even if you grow your own food and sow your own clothes, the tools you used in doing so were provided by other people.
The fact is that we depend upon others to survive and even the most capable of mountain men would fail were he to accept the challenge of living entirely independently in the woods without help from nary a soul. Mere survival is absolutely dependent on social cooperation of some sort. Why is it, then, that people believe that they can become wealthy and successful entirely on their own?
Leverage. Leverage is one of the main tools that set the winners apart from the losers. Leverage is the ability to use the people around you and their resources to further your goals. I'm not, of course, talking about taking advantage of people. That'll only get you so far and you'll meet with failure long before you meet with success. Instead, you must learn the art of making mutually beneficial arrangements where both sides profit in the end.
Why bother with mundane tasks which you hate to do, aren't good at, and just eat up your time? Find ways to outsource such activities to others who are better at them and more efficient than you. Make it well worth their time. Do you lack the resources to pay them in money? Pay them in trade of services. Even better, build up the value of your own services by taking the time to develop your skills and allow others to leverage your talents towards their goals. Far from there being any shame in that, it is actually how you become successful in the first place! No one in the history of humanity has ever become wealthy or successful without offering some sort of service of a value highly perceived by the society around them. The more you have to offer, the more you will receive.
Leveraging utilizes networks. When you use the services of a person to complete a project, what you are actually tapping into is that person's network. When others use your services, they are tapping into yours. If you want to utilize an effective leveraging system, learn to recognize those that know how to leverage the talents of others in their own efforts. The cumulative effect on your own success will be exponential.
Leveraging others to take care of less-important activities which eat up your time frees you up to perfect your particular skill set. The other part of success is knowing how to hustle when it comes to the activities which you don't leverage. When I say hustle, by the way, I'm not talking about anything illegal -- this article at The Art of Manliness sums it up best -- The World Belongs to Those Who Hustle.
Hustle when it comes to what you're good at. Leverage individuals who have hustle and know how to leverage when it comes to things you're not good at. The abilities to leverage and hustle are what set successful individuals apart from those who are simply ordinary.
You can't get wealthy without other people.
Let's face it. None of us lives in a vacuum. We live in societies and are defined by the relationships we build with others. Sure, you could go out and live in the woods all by yourself, not depending upon a single soul. Are you taking any supplies with you? No, that's cheating -- most of those supplies were only made possible by others. Even if you grow your own food and sow your own clothes, the tools you used in doing so were provided by other people.
The fact is that we depend upon others to survive and even the most capable of mountain men would fail were he to accept the challenge of living entirely independently in the woods without help from nary a soul. Mere survival is absolutely dependent on social cooperation of some sort. Why is it, then, that people believe that they can become wealthy and successful entirely on their own?
Leverage. Leverage is one of the main tools that set the winners apart from the losers. Leverage is the ability to use the people around you and their resources to further your goals. I'm not, of course, talking about taking advantage of people. That'll only get you so far and you'll meet with failure long before you meet with success. Instead, you must learn the art of making mutually beneficial arrangements where both sides profit in the end.
Why bother with mundane tasks which you hate to do, aren't good at, and just eat up your time? Find ways to outsource such activities to others who are better at them and more efficient than you. Make it well worth their time. Do you lack the resources to pay them in money? Pay them in trade of services. Even better, build up the value of your own services by taking the time to develop your skills and allow others to leverage your talents towards their goals. Far from there being any shame in that, it is actually how you become successful in the first place! No one in the history of humanity has ever become wealthy or successful without offering some sort of service of a value highly perceived by the society around them. The more you have to offer, the more you will receive.
Leveraging utilizes networks. When you use the services of a person to complete a project, what you are actually tapping into is that person's network. When others use your services, they are tapping into yours. If you want to utilize an effective leveraging system, learn to recognize those that know how to leverage the talents of others in their own efforts. The cumulative effect on your own success will be exponential.
Leveraging others to take care of less-important activities which eat up your time frees you up to perfect your particular skill set. The other part of success is knowing how to hustle when it comes to the activities which you don't leverage. When I say hustle, by the way, I'm not talking about anything illegal -- this article at The Art of Manliness sums it up best -- The World Belongs to Those Who Hustle.
Hustle when it comes to what you're good at. Leverage individuals who have hustle and know how to leverage when it comes to things you're not good at. The abilities to leverage and hustle are what set successful individuals apart from those who are simply ordinary.
One Secret Behind Ramit Sethi's Success
Yesterday I came across a blog post from a couple years back. It's an evaluation of how Ramit Sethi successfully built up a faithful following several years before releasing his book. It covers many of the principles he used, all of which are worth studying.
The dirty little secret behind Ramit Sethi's book launch
I've said it before. If you want to be a success you absolutely must learn to market yourself. Watch what successful people do and how they build that success. Learn to establish value in the minds of others. Don't merely emulate them -- study them and try to understand the principles they've utilized!
And don't think it's easy. It's not! It takes hours upon hours upon hours to perfect a skill and pull it off naturally. That applies as much to selling yourself as it does to anything else.
The secret, however, is that once you can sell yourself you can sell anything. Not only that, but once your value has been firmly established in the minds of others, you can pretty much ask whatever price you want.
Just remember, be ethical -- God is infinitely just and will always punish those that abuse their talents. Sometimes it happens in this life and sometimes it happens in the next but justice is never avoided.
The dirty little secret behind Ramit Sethi's book launch
I've said it before. If you want to be a success you absolutely must learn to market yourself. Watch what successful people do and how they build that success. Learn to establish value in the minds of others. Don't merely emulate them -- study them and try to understand the principles they've utilized!
And don't think it's easy. It's not! It takes hours upon hours upon hours to perfect a skill and pull it off naturally. That applies as much to selling yourself as it does to anything else.
The secret, however, is that once you can sell yourself you can sell anything. Not only that, but once your value has been firmly established in the minds of others, you can pretty much ask whatever price you want.
Just remember, be ethical -- God is infinitely just and will always punish those that abuse their talents. Sometimes it happens in this life and sometimes it happens in the next but justice is never avoided.
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
The Road to Riches is Paved by Your Mind
America is truly the golden land of opportunity. For over two centuries, men and women have been immigrating to this great land seeking to make names for themselves. American history is full of stories about those whom, through hard work and patience, paved their own way from rags to riches.You and I both know that you're looking for the same thing. Everyone wants to make money. It's desirable to have the means to both look after yourself and your loved ones. Unfortunately, not everyone is born with the knowledge necessary to get ahead in life. That's where I come in, along with this blog.
I'm here to help you. But I can’t promise you this success. The fruits of prosperity never come in an instant. The labor put forth to produce those fruits is entirely in your own hands. All I can do is motivate you with my own knowledge and experience and perhaps give you some of the great tips that have led to my own personal success.
Creating wealth is much like constructing a building. There has to be a basic structure but what's primarily important is the foundation that you lay. The foundation to building wealth is the development of your own personal outlook on the world around you.
I’m sure you've heard that before from other motivational writers and speakers. It's very true. The only limit upon the wealth you can earn lies within what you choose to believe about the reality around you.
You must decide at the outset the answer to a question that is purely a matter of choice. Which do we live in -- a Malthusian world of limited wealth or a world of abundant prosperity?
I wouldn't dare answer that question for you. I've got my own answer to that question which defines my own reality, but it'd simply be out of place for me to define your paradigm for you. All I'll say is that if wealth is limited and money making opportunities are both risky and few and far between, then your ability to prosper and make your fortune is severely hampered. If you believe in a world of limited wealth, I can't help you. That wealth is obviously spoken for. I guess some of us just lucked out in the wealth game and the rest are doomed to scraping together their existence from our table scraps.
In such a scenario, there just isn’t much material with which to build your foundation and you might be better off sticking to your boring 9 - 5 job, whatever it may be. There is no shame in that.
If, however, you are willing to live in a reality of ample prosperity, where opportunities exist wherever you are willing to make them, then there is hope! The next step for you is a very big one. It'll sound very hokey, but it's quite necessary for a wide variety of reasons.
Just do it and don’t ask questions… don’t even entertain questions for a second.
Close your eyes and imagine the wealth you desire. Imagine yourself living in the house of your dreams, sitting on the couch of your dreams watching TV on the big plasma TV screen of your dreams. Your son or daughter calls - they need you to pick them up from school. You walk out to your garage, in which sits the car of your dreams. You pull out into the driveway, stopping for a second to appreciate your beautiful yard… as you pull out into the road, the mechanical gate shuts behind you.
You get the idea.
You have to imagine the wealth you desire, but that’s only the first half of this step. The second half is that you must force yourself to realize that this wealth already belongs to you! It's yours, even as you read this blog entry! The trick is that you must accept that all you have imagined really belongs to you. It might not be in your possession right at this very minute, but you have to open your eyes and see that it's truly yours!
God WANTS for you to have your hearts desire. The catch, however, is that it can't simply drop these things in your lap. Due to some hidden clause in the Contract of Life, you have to be both willing and able to receive what God wants to give you. I’m not going to get into details, but it’s not as simple as God inspiring some wealthy stranger to write you a check for several million at random… the intricacies of THAT occurring are far too complex.
Instead, what's required is that you help things along. Your goal, in making wealth, is to find ways to enable God to funnel your wealth to you. This isn’t about getting rich - it’s about enabling the world to give you that which is rightfully yours.
If you take that to heart, this blog will certainly be an aid to you in your journey. If it is simply beyond the bounds of what you are willing to accept as your reality, however, then perhaps that reality is just not for you.
Monday, February 7, 2011
Determine Your Value in Life
In one of my posts yesterday I spoke about the importance of creating wealth within your inner world as a prerequisite for manifesting wealth in the world around you. I'd like to expand upon the importance of that concept for you today.
We spend much of our lives being programmed by the society around us. Society programs us to believe that we amount to very little and that we're worth what it decides to give us. That doesn't tend to be very much. We are further trained to believe that there isn't much we can do to rectify this. We just have to accept it as our lot in life. When we have no job, we beg for what we can get and we eagerly accept whatever they throw our way to prove our worth.
Yesterday I spoke of the principle of "As Within, So Without." The thing about principles such as this is that, depending on the circumstances, the inverse can be true instead. If you don't take the time to form your inner world and develop a true sense of your own will, the principle at play within your life will be "As Without, So Within." You can see the effects of this everywhere you look. People are constantly defined by the circumstances of the world around them. It forms their sense of whom they are. Most insidiously, it forms them in such a way that they're powerless. The society around them defines the value of their life and they merely accept it, along with whatever price tag comes attached.
When you take the time to change your thinking and to shape your inner world you fundamentally change this dynamic. How much would you like to be making right now? Choose a number, higher than your current salary. Keep it realistic so that your mind will have no trouble accepting it. Congratulations, you've just changed your value! Now justify it. Sit down and list all of the reasons as to why you're worth this new value. It might be hard at first but whatever you do don't talk yourself out of believing it. List your education, your concrete accomplishments, and your various proven talents. Keep it worded in positive language -- write about what you are and not about what you're not. Make every statement an "I" statement. "I graduated from high school at the top of my class." "I have a doctorate in chemical engineering." "I was responsible for designing the new office mailing system that improved efficiency by 10% last year." Include even the small accomplishments that you don't think are worth much on their own -- taken together, they'll turn out to be substantial! At the top of this list, write, "I am worth $[insert your new value here]."
Now keep this list in a safe place where you'll see it every day. Read it out loud, once when you get up and once when you go to bed, every day. Read it more than once if you have the time. Embed the new amount and the reasons for the new amount deep within in your head.
When it comes time to ask for a raise or to negotiate a salary for a new job, keep this number that you have set in mind and do not settle for anything less. Make sure to do your homework before going in. Look at your list and determine the ways in which the qualities you listed apply to the job in question. "I graduated from high school at the top of my class" might not mean much twenty years after the fact, but it does translate into you being a motivated hard-worker who can meet deadlines and memorize loads of useless information! Tailor your list beforehand and, when you're asked to justify your new value to your employer or potential employer, name off the items. Don't beg for the new amount -- sell yourself like a polished marketer. Explain the reasons as to why you've assigned this particular value to your services. Convince your employer that this is really what you're worth.
If you want to be in the driver's seat of your life, it all starts in your head. Set a value in your head. Justify that new value with the facts. Assert that value in the world around you so that it is set in the heads of others. Look for ways to offer the service of your talents when opportunities arise, both around work and outside of work. When you start to think and act in this manner you'll find yourself on a road towards greater success than you had previously imagined.
We spend much of our lives being programmed by the society around us. Society programs us to believe that we amount to very little and that we're worth what it decides to give us. That doesn't tend to be very much. We are further trained to believe that there isn't much we can do to rectify this. We just have to accept it as our lot in life. When we have no job, we beg for what we can get and we eagerly accept whatever they throw our way to prove our worth.
Yesterday I spoke of the principle of "As Within, So Without." The thing about principles such as this is that, depending on the circumstances, the inverse can be true instead. If you don't take the time to form your inner world and develop a true sense of your own will, the principle at play within your life will be "As Without, So Within." You can see the effects of this everywhere you look. People are constantly defined by the circumstances of the world around them. It forms their sense of whom they are. Most insidiously, it forms them in such a way that they're powerless. The society around them defines the value of their life and they merely accept it, along with whatever price tag comes attached.
When you take the time to change your thinking and to shape your inner world you fundamentally change this dynamic. How much would you like to be making right now? Choose a number, higher than your current salary. Keep it realistic so that your mind will have no trouble accepting it. Congratulations, you've just changed your value! Now justify it. Sit down and list all of the reasons as to why you're worth this new value. It might be hard at first but whatever you do don't talk yourself out of believing it. List your education, your concrete accomplishments, and your various proven talents. Keep it worded in positive language -- write about what you are and not about what you're not. Make every statement an "I" statement. "I graduated from high school at the top of my class." "I have a doctorate in chemical engineering." "I was responsible for designing the new office mailing system that improved efficiency by 10% last year." Include even the small accomplishments that you don't think are worth much on their own -- taken together, they'll turn out to be substantial! At the top of this list, write, "I am worth $[insert your new value here]."
Now keep this list in a safe place where you'll see it every day. Read it out loud, once when you get up and once when you go to bed, every day. Read it more than once if you have the time. Embed the new amount and the reasons for the new amount deep within in your head.
When it comes time to ask for a raise or to negotiate a salary for a new job, keep this number that you have set in mind and do not settle for anything less. Make sure to do your homework before going in. Look at your list and determine the ways in which the qualities you listed apply to the job in question. "I graduated from high school at the top of my class" might not mean much twenty years after the fact, but it does translate into you being a motivated hard-worker who can meet deadlines and memorize loads of useless information! Tailor your list beforehand and, when you're asked to justify your new value to your employer or potential employer, name off the items. Don't beg for the new amount -- sell yourself like a polished marketer. Explain the reasons as to why you've assigned this particular value to your services. Convince your employer that this is really what you're worth.
If you want to be in the driver's seat of your life, it all starts in your head. Set a value in your head. Justify that new value with the facts. Assert that value in the world around you so that it is set in the heads of others. Look for ways to offer the service of your talents when opportunities arise, both around work and outside of work. When you start to think and act in this manner you'll find yourself on a road towards greater success than you had previously imagined.
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Ramit Sethi's "I Will Teach You To Be Rich"
I found what I considered to be an excellent blog on the topic of wealth creation -- Ramit Sethi's I Will Teach You To Be Rich. At first glance his site appears to be a marketing scam. After raking through the voluminous information he has to offer, however, I can plainly state that there is much there that is worth your time. He offers it for free and appears to take a very ethical approach. I very much like how he's all about action.
I wouldn't say that I'd necessarily pay him for his services, of course. The value of his site comes from elsewhere. Pay attention to the techniques he uses in what he writes. Study them. His ultimate goal is to set a high value in your mind as to what his services are worth. That's what most wealth gurus do. Always pay attention to the marketing used when dealing with people who want to teach you to be rich. That's truly the key.
Marketing is about using what you know about yourself, using what you know about the other person, and, perhaps most importantly of all, using what the other person does not know in order to create a sense of value. Your services become valuable when you imbue them with a sense of value. That's what Sethi does throughout his blog. That's why he offers 99% of his information for free. That other 1% is where his bread and butter is. It may or may not be as valuable as the rest of what he's given you (and what he's given you is easily available elsewhere) but his website creates a sense in your own mind that it's worth every penny he asks.
Without going into details, he also uses subtle and very effective psychological techniques in what he writes to increase that sense of value even further. Study what he says, but also pay attention to how he says it. Study the gears that move in your own mind as you read through his words. It's effective and, at the end of it all, it's like you'll want his services.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with this. The ability to attach a high sense of value to your services is perhaps the single most profitable skill you can develop. No one forces you to pay for a particular product or service. It's all about the value you choose to attach to it. A great example of how he does this involves a contest he was running every week for the past month. As a reward for successfully applying his principles, you could choose between an expensive prize worth thousands of dollars or 15 - 30 minutes of his time. The implication is that his time and the value of his services far surpass the value of whatever else he was offering. It's a classic psychological marketing technique.
There is nothing wrong with this. Value is in the eye of the beholder. This is exactly what he teaches.
At any rate, I would recommend Mr. Sethi's website unreservedly, if only as a study guide for the methods he uses in establishing value in the minds of his readers. I don't personally recommend his premium services. I personally do not need such services and I believe that no one's advice is worth as much as he asks. If you find yourself considering paying for his services, listen to this bit of advice -- the value of a particular service is no more or no less than that which you personally assign to it. If you find yourself convinced to pay that sort of money for advice, it's not so much that the advice is worth that so much as that you've been convinced it is.
Study, examine, and recognize the marketing methods that go into the way he sells his services before agreeing to put your hard-earned money into paying for them. Realize, just as he recommends, that an intelligent individual would negotiate a buying price before going in. Finally, recognize that nothing is given to you in life. Even with the right mentors and consultants you absolutely must earn your success every step of the way.
I wouldn't say that I'd necessarily pay him for his services, of course. The value of his site comes from elsewhere. Pay attention to the techniques he uses in what he writes. Study them. His ultimate goal is to set a high value in your mind as to what his services are worth. That's what most wealth gurus do. Always pay attention to the marketing used when dealing with people who want to teach you to be rich. That's truly the key.
Marketing is about using what you know about yourself, using what you know about the other person, and, perhaps most importantly of all, using what the other person does not know in order to create a sense of value. Your services become valuable when you imbue them with a sense of value. That's what Sethi does throughout his blog. That's why he offers 99% of his information for free. That other 1% is where his bread and butter is. It may or may not be as valuable as the rest of what he's given you (and what he's given you is easily available elsewhere) but his website creates a sense in your own mind that it's worth every penny he asks.
Without going into details, he also uses subtle and very effective psychological techniques in what he writes to increase that sense of value even further. Study what he says, but also pay attention to how he says it. Study the gears that move in your own mind as you read through his words. It's effective and, at the end of it all, it's like you'll want his services.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with this. The ability to attach a high sense of value to your services is perhaps the single most profitable skill you can develop. No one forces you to pay for a particular product or service. It's all about the value you choose to attach to it. A great example of how he does this involves a contest he was running every week for the past month. As a reward for successfully applying his principles, you could choose between an expensive prize worth thousands of dollars or 15 - 30 minutes of his time. The implication is that his time and the value of his services far surpass the value of whatever else he was offering. It's a classic psychological marketing technique.
There is nothing wrong with this. Value is in the eye of the beholder. This is exactly what he teaches.
At any rate, I would recommend Mr. Sethi's website unreservedly, if only as a study guide for the methods he uses in establishing value in the minds of his readers. I don't personally recommend his premium services. I personally do not need such services and I believe that no one's advice is worth as much as he asks. If you find yourself considering paying for his services, listen to this bit of advice -- the value of a particular service is no more or no less than that which you personally assign to it. If you find yourself convinced to pay that sort of money for advice, it's not so much that the advice is worth that so much as that you've been convinced it is.
Study, examine, and recognize the marketing methods that go into the way he sells his services before agreeing to put your hard-earned money into paying for them. Realize, just as he recommends, that an intelligent individual would negotiate a buying price before going in. Finally, recognize that nothing is given to you in life. Even with the right mentors and consultants you absolutely must earn your success every step of the way.
As Within, So Without
There's a very popular concept out there right now. You hear about it in books like The Secret and in the writings of Abraham-Hicks. I'm talking, of course, about the Law of Attraction.
It's a simple principle. It basically goes like this: what you have and what you put out into the world are what you'll get. It's not a new idea by any means. It has, in fact, created wealth and happiness for countless individuals throughout history.
There are multiple ways to utilize this principle. The first involves recognizing that you reside in two worlds: the outer and the inner. The outer world is what you wake up to every day. It's the world that your conscious mind wrestles with from hour-to-hour between the times at which you sleep.
The inner world, on the other hand, exists within your mind. It's largely defined by your subconscious. All your hopes and all your fears exist within this world. It's where your patterns of thinking reside. Everything you believe about yourself and about reality lives within your inner world.
The reason I'm sometimes so heavy-handed in my rhetoric against liberals and those that advance a materialistic view of the world is that such views ultimately boil down to these worlds being almost completely disconnected. The pure materialist will tell you that your "inner world" is merely a combination of chemicals and synapses firing in the outer world and that, when you die in the outer world, your inner world dies as well.
This is the most damnable lie in the history of mankind and the single most destructive belief which an individual or society can hold.
The truth is that our inner worlds are both connected to each other as well as to the Source of All Things, God. When our will is in conformity with the Will of God and is exerted with proper focus and forcefulness, it begins to manifest itself in the outer world. This is a fundamental law of the universe known throughout the ages -- as below, so above.
I describe my philosophy as "Spiritual Materialism." I believe it's our duty to manifest that which is Spirit, residing in the Inner World, into the Material world, that Outer World which surrounds us. Through such action we imbue meaning into the Outer World and, in doing so, we become successful according to our own terms. We do this through personal action and through what many would consider to be a form of Magic -- not the Magic, of course, that comes from talking to demons or the spirits of the dead but rather the Magic which occurs when God manifests His Will in the world around us and everything seems a bit more beautiful and, well, Magical.
If you want to attract wealth into your life, you need to begin creating an abundance of wealth within your Inner World. You have to truly convince yourself that it's indeed possible to change your station in life and to be successful. You have to take possession of the wealth you desire within your very soul and create patterns of thought which allow you to believe that the wealth is truly yours. This isn't an easy task. To do this you must overcome years upon years of conditioning which has convinced you of the contrary. You have to embed these new thoughts into the very way you think. You'll know you've been successful when you feel a will within you to stand up and take action to take what is yours instead of just whining about how you wish you had more money. It's hard.
Another important concept is that in order to receive you must first give from that place of abundance. If you want to position yourself to take possession of the wealth that's yours, you must first be willing to give of yourself to others. I'm not necessarily talking about giving away money. Look for ways to use your talents to open doors for others. Aid them in their lives. Provide them with services that add to your value in the outward world. If the service is valuable and if they can afford it, don't be afraid to ask for money.
Convince yourself in your inner world that you're a person of value and then act in the outer world to make it so. The outer world will bend to accommodate your inner world. As Within, So Without. As Below, So Above. Proper understanding of this principle is what will make you wealthier beyond your wildest dreams.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
