Have you ever told someone to do something that you would never do yourself? Gandhi hasn’t:

A woman once came to Gandhi and asked him to please tell her son to give up eating sugar. Gandhi asked the woman to bring the boy back in a week. Exactly one week later the woman returned, and Gandhi said to the boy, “Please give up eating sugar.” The woman thanked the Mahatma, and, as she turned to go, asked him

Recently, I decided to pursue a passion that I’ve been interested in for many years now.  An industry where odds are almost never in your favor. An industry where there are people who are more than likely better than you.  But then again, this probably sounds a lot like many of the industries out there, doesn’t it?

A very old Chinese Taoist story describes a farmer in a poor country village. His neighbors considered him very well-to-do. He owned a horse which he used for plowing and for transportation. One day his horse ran away. All his neighbors exclaimed how terrible this was, and would say, “wow you have such bad luck and misfortune.” The farmer would simply reply with, “Maybe.”

A few days later the horse returned and brought two wild horses with it. The neighbors all rejoiced at his good fortune and said,

Have you ever seen the movie the Pursuit of Happyness?  Don’t worry, if you haven’t, this won’t spoil it.  Will Smith’s character, Chris Gardner comes across a well dressed man who drives a Ferrari.  Chris becomes flabbergasted with excitement and curiosity and decides to ask asks the man what he does for a living.  The man tells Chris that he’s stockbroker.  Chris immediate becomes compelled to follow that same career path. I personally found that scene to be quite motivating.

That scene with Chris and the Ferrari was very similar to an incident that occurred to me many years ago (before the movie). When I

Almost everyone I know has told me a story about how they lost a lot of money and regret some of the decisions they have made in the past.  I used to think like this all the time before I became consciously aware of what it does.  Regretting decisions we’ve made in the past is like driving a car while looking at the rear view mirror.  Have you ever said that you would have $x more dollars today if you changed something you did in the past?

Who you are today, is because of the decisions you’ve made in the past. Who you will be in the future, will be determined by what you do now. Obviously, if I didn’t go through the

The snowball effect was originally an analogy that was used to describe the Great War. It simply means something of little to no significance building up to become miraculous and great.  Snowball, was also the title for a book written about Warren Buffet.  He started out as not a big deal and then worked his butt off to eventually become one of the most powerful men in the world (one the richest).

Like a snowball, most of you are

Most people are weary and unsure of what will happen to our economy. Sometimes the stock markets soar high and other times they plummet low. Everything seems to be boarder line chaotic.  Does America really have it that bad? “…Short answer yes with an if, long answer no with a but…”

I love the cliché line: cream always rises to the top. What does that tell me, well it tells me

Have you ever influenced someone to do something or buy something? Then after they made the decision, there was an opposing influence greater than your own which caused them to reconsider.  Most of you are nodding your head YES.  It seems as if no matter how good you are at persuading someone, people can easily get influenced to change their mind on you. Don’t feel powerless because there is a way!

Everyone wants to be good at something. That something could be the skills to play basketball, it could be skills to sell, or even the skills to sing. Whatever that something is, learning any skill is a process.

The Process of learning:

Subconscious Incompetence

This is the stage the first stage in the process of learning. Subconscious Incompetence means that you are NOT consciously ware of what skill you lack. Then as you come across situations you’re unfamiliar with, you’ll start to ponder about it.  This leads us to the next stage,

When an airplane takes off from the ground to cruise mode, it exerts more energy then the entire flight. By energy, I mean that the engines work a lot harder then when the plane is leveled off in the sky or landing. When you start a business or a skill set you wish to master, you must spend most of your time and energy making it successful. Once the plane gets to the altitude it wants, it will level off, in which there is just smooth sailing so to speak. Once your business has become as successful as you’d like it to be, you’ll be able to relax and enjoy what you’ve

This word has been extensively used toward the end of 2008 and will continue to become popular throughout 2009. The obvious question: why? The loss of jobs, the horrendous stock market, inflation, and everything else that has been happening around us because of the bad economy. This can easily put anyone’s  mind in the gutter. I personally believe that most people right now have a terrible mindset. Unfortunately, most people don’t realize that  you have 100% control over your mindset. You have complete control over your emotions and the decisions you make

So what exactly is mindset?

Mindset is a habitual or characteristic mental attitude that determines how you will interpret and respond to situations. To simplify, it means you

Donald Trump told a story about himself to his daughter Ivanka in the backseat of a limo driving in New York City. They were halted to a red light and saw a bum pan handling for money.  Donald turned to his daughter and told her that the bum sitting on the curb actually has a higher net worth than he does.  His daughter was confused and questioned Donald on what he meant. Donald explained that after a series of unfortunate events, he was

We can generally place the type of person you are in 4 personalities: Driver, Analytical, Expressive, and Amiable.  Each of us falls under only one of the listed types.  We hold to that type and live our lives within its bounds. We do not change types except

Most people only like being around people who are like themselves.  The concept is similar to how it works within tribes.  A tribe consists of a (x) amount of people who are all similar. They all talk, walk and do things a similar way.  When someone from tribe A comes to interacts with tribe B, tribe B will be a little standoffish and uncomfortable.  This is mainly because the person from tribe A is different and tribe B doesn’t trust people who are different.  Has there ever been a time when you

People are motivated 1 of 2 ways: move away from pain or go towards pleasure.  For example, in most religions, there is the Heaven and Hell concept.

People who are motivated by pleasure:
A person lives their life to go to Heaven. This means that the thought of going to Heaven (pleasure) motivates them to be a good person.
People who are motivated by pain:
A person lives their life to stay away from Hell. This means that the thought of going to Hell (pain) motivates them to be a good person.

Since many religions use it as