I know many of my readers are real estate investors, as am I, and here is a little encouragement for you... In May 2008 I attended a Robyn Thompson (aka The Queen of Rehab) four day “Real Estate Millionaire Mastermind Conference” in Altamonte Springs. The last speaker she had, to close out the event, was Frank McKinney. For those of you who don’t know, Frank McKinney is known as ‘The Real Estate Rock Czar’, because of his long blond hair, his crazy advertising antics, and the multi-million dollar spec homes he builds (he is currently working on his latest and greatest, which he plans to sell for approximately $130 million)! Frank is also heavily involved in building free housing for the homeless, especially in Haiti.
The only thing that Frank pitched when he spoke was a trip he is doing that includes touring his latest mansion, plus his personal mansion, plus some of the stuff he is doing in Haiti, with all proceeds from the trip going towards the Haiti projects. The talk he gave, in a nutshell, was his personal story, followed by his opinion of the current real estate market.
The best I can recall, here is what Frank said about the current real estate market. First and foremost, he said it is a great time for investors, because now is when we can buy at the bottom. Second, he said the number of investors has thinned out, so there is less competition. Third, he stated his personal opinion that the current real estate downturn will end this year, or next year at the latest, and here were some of his reasons... The average length of a recession is only ten months. He feels that the current downturn in the real estate market is enough of a correction in pricing, and possibly even an overcorrection (not completely sure I agree with that one). He stated 5-6 economic stimuli that have been put into place, and says that these will help jump start our economy, but it will just take them a little time to kick in… The stimulus I can remember are: the income tax break checks currently being sent out to Americans, interest rates being dropped back towards their lowest levels, the Federal Reserve proving their willingness to support banks and financial institutions, and the expansion of our money supply.
Now, I talk to a lot of people about real estate, and I have heard from many that they already feel the market is improving some. Plus, when someone with Frank McKinney’s credentials talks, with no ulterior motives, and says that he has studied our current economic and real estate climate extensively, and he feels that we will experience an upturn soon, that carries a lot of weight with me.
Now, Frank can’t guarantee he will be right, and I certainly can’t guarantee it, but a bottom does have to come some time, and wouldn’t you rather be buying at the bottom than tucking your head in the sand because the declining market chased you out of real estate? Personally, I am getting back into buying mode now, though I never really quit buying, and I plan on buying as we head towards the bottom, buying at the bottom, and buying as we come out of the bottom. I believe in real estate investing, and I plan on doing a lot more of it in the years to come. Now, to be fair, I don’t think we will see the kind of crazy appreciation again that we saw before the market turned (things definitely got overheated), but I still love the long term benefits of real estate, which I have preached on before. Done correctly, you get positive monthly cash flow after all expenses. If you do your homework, you can have significant equity on the day you buy. You should get equity build up as your underlying mortgages get paid down (basically, your tenants buy the properties for you). Long term, your properties will appreciate again. It is easy to apply leverage in real estate. And lastly, you get several tax advantages when compared with alternative investment choices. Taken together, these benefits make real estate an incredible investment option for those who know what they are doing.
Well, that is my pep talk for today. As always, use your common sense, and buyer beware; you are responsible for your own action and results. Also, I am not saying run out and buy all of the real estate you can get your hands on. However, I am saying that well thought out, well planned, long term buy and hold real estate investments that mesh with your lifestyle and personal goals can yield very nice results, as indicated by the fact that the majority of wealthy people in America either got that way, or stay that way, by keeping a lot of their wealth in real estate (and that isn’t just a coincidence!). Best wishes, and happy investing!
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Financial Freedom and All Your Dreams Come True (Ten Years From Today)
Let’s start with the question, “Do you plan to be here, alive, on planet Earth, ten years from today?” If so, where do you plan on being then? Don’t kid yourself, but realistically, based on what you are doing today, where do you plan on being in one year, three years, five years, and ten years? How will you and your life be different or the same as compared to today?
I got my wakeup call at about age 28, when I read “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” for the first time. I came to the realization that, after 28 years on this planet, I didn’t have a lot to show for the time I spent living, and worse, that I had no reason to believe I would do any better in the future. Up until then, my plan was just going through life, living day to day, waiting for something good to happen to me; waiting for my ship to come in. The problem was, I wasn’t even near the water; I couldn’t have seen my ship even if it did come in!
“Rich Dad, Poor Dad” was a great beginner book, which was all I was ready for at that time. It was wealth and success in an easy to read, story format that was able to hold my interest. It showed me that I needed to think ahead, long term, and begin doing little things that would add up to a better life later on. It was then that I started to become an avid learner. I figured out that if I could think what wealthy people thought, and then do what wealthy people did, eventually I would have… what wealthy people had!!!
Just a few changes... Back then, I thought I was doing about 10% of what I needed to do to succeed, and I was missing 90% of the puzzle. Furthermore, I didn’t think the other 90% was achievable before reading “Rich Dad, Poor Dad”. I really thought you had to be born into a wealthy family, and wealth was nearly impossible to achieve in less than one generation. What I eventually learned was, I actually already had 90% of the puzzle inside me, and I just needed to improve the final 10%. I already was a hard worker, with integrity, and ‘learn-ability’. The last 10% is different for different people. It might be a small shift in thinking, one or two minor activity changes, a little more discipline, changing one bad habit, or having or implementing one good idea. For me, it was largely a shift in thinking and, once made, wealth started to gradually come into my life, and stay! One year, three years, five years, ten years… Slowly at first, but then it picked up steam as I went.
Now, when someone asks me when and where they should start working on building wealth, I tell them the best time to start is now, and the best place to start is wherever they are right now! You may have to get tough on yourself to get started. You will have to ask yourself hard questions, like, “Am I reading the books that will take me where I want to go in one year, three years, five years, ten years? Am I working today on changing bad habits that hold me back from my full potential, and beginning to replace them with good habits, like living below my means and saving and investing the difference (do I pay myself first?)”?
Excellent questions. You see, what you are doing right now, today, determines who and what you become in ten years. If you keep doing the same things, you will keep getting the same results. So, ask yourself, am I improving me, and, if not, am I okay with being exactly the same person, with exactly the same results, in ten years as today? If not, when will now be the right time to make some changes? The first time I heard it put that way, I really had to think about it, but when it sunk in, it really hit home with me… When will now be the right time for you to start doing better?
So, for every one of us, we are either reading the right books to take us where we want to go in ten years, or we are not. We are either starting to discipline ourselves for a life of more, or we are not. We are either improving our habits, or we are not. Here is what you want to be careful to avoid… Don’t kid yourself. Don’t hope for and expect the best, without taking actions to create that best. Don’t wish for more, and not do something about it. Don’t fail to plan, since we all know that is the same as… planning to fail.
If you are where I was ten years ago, at age 28, with little or nothing to show for 28 years of living, ask yourself, “What can I do right now, today, to start moving towards my dreams? What can I do to begin moving towards the personal, spiritual, physical, and financial goals I want to achieve? What can I do to shake off wishful thinking, and start on a path to become the person I want to be, with the life I want to have, in one year, three years, five years, and ten years?”
Ten years ago, I ‘woke up’, I decided I didn’t want the same things out of the next ten years of my life as I had gotten out of the last 28 years, and I changed who I was becoming with a 10% change in me. A 10% change doesn’t sound like much, but what happened was it compounded, and gathered momentum, and I got on a path of personal achievement that has been absolutely nothing short of incredible! You see, just a little tiny shift in me, compounded over time, changed everything. I had to start small, biting off what I could chew and digest at the time. As time went on, I could do more and more, and I could see things I didn’t see in the beginning. If I had been given a million dollars back then, when I was 28 years old, I wouldn’t have known how to handle it, and I just would have spent and lost it all. I had to grow myself over the years, and the journey to where I am today is worth every bit as much as the money. The money may or may not disappear, but the person I became on the journey can’t be taken away, and if I started over again today with nothing, I would be able to rebuild my wealth much quicker and easier the second time around (because of who I became the first time around).
The key is to start right now making a few small changes so you can make all of your dreams come true. When will now be a good time for you to get started? How exciting, that just a few small tweaks, a 10% change from who you already are, and who you can be in one year, three years, five years, and ten years is limited only by your willingness to dream it and believe it. As Napoleon Hill said, “If your mind can conceive it, and you can believe it, you can achieve it!” You already have 90% of what it takes – why not do just 10% more??? Go for it!!!!!!! If you do, you won’t ever regret it, and if you don’t, well, the saddest truth of all… You may grow old wondering what could have been, and wishing you had done something different.
'And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.' –Anais Nin
My wish for all of us is that today be the day when the risk to remain tight in a bud is more painful than the risk it takes to blossom – and that we open up and bloom (as human beings) like the most beautiful flowers imaginable! Best wishes on the path to making all of your dreams come true!!!
I got my wakeup call at about age 28, when I read “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” for the first time. I came to the realization that, after 28 years on this planet, I didn’t have a lot to show for the time I spent living, and worse, that I had no reason to believe I would do any better in the future. Up until then, my plan was just going through life, living day to day, waiting for something good to happen to me; waiting for my ship to come in. The problem was, I wasn’t even near the water; I couldn’t have seen my ship even if it did come in!
“Rich Dad, Poor Dad” was a great beginner book, which was all I was ready for at that time. It was wealth and success in an easy to read, story format that was able to hold my interest. It showed me that I needed to think ahead, long term, and begin doing little things that would add up to a better life later on. It was then that I started to become an avid learner. I figured out that if I could think what wealthy people thought, and then do what wealthy people did, eventually I would have… what wealthy people had!!!
Just a few changes... Back then, I thought I was doing about 10% of what I needed to do to succeed, and I was missing 90% of the puzzle. Furthermore, I didn’t think the other 90% was achievable before reading “Rich Dad, Poor Dad”. I really thought you had to be born into a wealthy family, and wealth was nearly impossible to achieve in less than one generation. What I eventually learned was, I actually already had 90% of the puzzle inside me, and I just needed to improve the final 10%. I already was a hard worker, with integrity, and ‘learn-ability’. The last 10% is different for different people. It might be a small shift in thinking, one or two minor activity changes, a little more discipline, changing one bad habit, or having or implementing one good idea. For me, it was largely a shift in thinking and, once made, wealth started to gradually come into my life, and stay! One year, three years, five years, ten years… Slowly at first, but then it picked up steam as I went.
Now, when someone asks me when and where they should start working on building wealth, I tell them the best time to start is now, and the best place to start is wherever they are right now! You may have to get tough on yourself to get started. You will have to ask yourself hard questions, like, “Am I reading the books that will take me where I want to go in one year, three years, five years, ten years? Am I working today on changing bad habits that hold me back from my full potential, and beginning to replace them with good habits, like living below my means and saving and investing the difference (do I pay myself first?)”?
Excellent questions. You see, what you are doing right now, today, determines who and what you become in ten years. If you keep doing the same things, you will keep getting the same results. So, ask yourself, am I improving me, and, if not, am I okay with being exactly the same person, with exactly the same results, in ten years as today? If not, when will now be the right time to make some changes? The first time I heard it put that way, I really had to think about it, but when it sunk in, it really hit home with me… When will now be the right time for you to start doing better?
So, for every one of us, we are either reading the right books to take us where we want to go in ten years, or we are not. We are either starting to discipline ourselves for a life of more, or we are not. We are either improving our habits, or we are not. Here is what you want to be careful to avoid… Don’t kid yourself. Don’t hope for and expect the best, without taking actions to create that best. Don’t wish for more, and not do something about it. Don’t fail to plan, since we all know that is the same as… planning to fail.
If you are where I was ten years ago, at age 28, with little or nothing to show for 28 years of living, ask yourself, “What can I do right now, today, to start moving towards my dreams? What can I do to begin moving towards the personal, spiritual, physical, and financial goals I want to achieve? What can I do to shake off wishful thinking, and start on a path to become the person I want to be, with the life I want to have, in one year, three years, five years, and ten years?”
Ten years ago, I ‘woke up’, I decided I didn’t want the same things out of the next ten years of my life as I had gotten out of the last 28 years, and I changed who I was becoming with a 10% change in me. A 10% change doesn’t sound like much, but what happened was it compounded, and gathered momentum, and I got on a path of personal achievement that has been absolutely nothing short of incredible! You see, just a little tiny shift in me, compounded over time, changed everything. I had to start small, biting off what I could chew and digest at the time. As time went on, I could do more and more, and I could see things I didn’t see in the beginning. If I had been given a million dollars back then, when I was 28 years old, I wouldn’t have known how to handle it, and I just would have spent and lost it all. I had to grow myself over the years, and the journey to where I am today is worth every bit as much as the money. The money may or may not disappear, but the person I became on the journey can’t be taken away, and if I started over again today with nothing, I would be able to rebuild my wealth much quicker and easier the second time around (because of who I became the first time around).
The key is to start right now making a few small changes so you can make all of your dreams come true. When will now be a good time for you to get started? How exciting, that just a few small tweaks, a 10% change from who you already are, and who you can be in one year, three years, five years, and ten years is limited only by your willingness to dream it and believe it. As Napoleon Hill said, “If your mind can conceive it, and you can believe it, you can achieve it!” You already have 90% of what it takes – why not do just 10% more??? Go for it!!!!!!! If you do, you won’t ever regret it, and if you don’t, well, the saddest truth of all… You may grow old wondering what could have been, and wishing you had done something different.
'And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.' –Anais Nin
My wish for all of us is that today be the day when the risk to remain tight in a bud is more painful than the risk it takes to blossom – and that we open up and bloom (as human beings) like the most beautiful flowers imaginable! Best wishes on the path to making all of your dreams come true!!!
Monday, May 19, 2008
It’s Time For You To Be Rich!!!
Here is a fundamental truth that many people won’t admit – we would all like to be rich. If we are capable of being rich, and we can get rich via win-win situations, without hurting or taking advantage of anyone in any way, why would we not choose to be rich? If rich doesn’t agree with your moral values, think of the good you could do with millions of dollars at your disposal… How about starting up a charity to support your favorite cause? How about my personal goal, which is to give lump sums of one million dollars each to my church and a children’s charity that is near and dear to me? How about what Robert Allen and Mark Victor Hansen aspire to – to create a million millionaires who all give a million away to their favorite church or charity?
We live in an abundant universe, and God wants us to be abundant, and thinking that money is the root of all evil is so old school. Closer to the truth is that lack of money is the root of all evil. I hear biblical phrases thrown about saying how good it is to be poor, but I seldom hear mention of biblical phrases about prosperity… So here are a few.
“Let the LORD be magnified, who has pleasure in the prosperity of His servant.” -Psalm 35:27
“If they obey and serve him, they shall spend their days in prosperity, and their years in pleasures.” -Job 36:11
“Blessed is the man that feareth the LORD, that delighteth greatly in his commandments… Wealth and riches shall be in his house.” -Psalm 112:1-3
Or, how about the parable of the talents, where the servant who multiplies his talents is rewarded with many cities, and the servant who buried his talent in the sand gets nothing, because to he who hath, more will be given, but to he who hath not, even that little which he hath will be taken away? Was this not a direct biblical command to manage the money God allows into our lives, and to manage it well, and to make it grow and multiply?
Many people don’t have the why part of getting rich down, and I promise you this, if you don’t have the why, you will never, ever get the how. Also, personally, I feel that giving back has to be part of your why (especially if you have issues regarding whether or not you deserve to be rich). There is nothing at all wrong with wanting to improve yourself, your life, and the lives of your family, but for most people, the recipe doesn’t work if giving back isn’t part of the equation, too. The why is the first, necessary ingredient. Next, on to the how.
Most of you have been reading my blog for a while, and my e-mails before that, and you know that I don’t do too many actual sales pitches… But every now and then it is necessary to give people a nudge towards something that will be in their own best interest, and that is what I am about to do.
“Rich Dad, Poor Dad”, by Robert Kiyosaki, is among my recommended books, for several reasons. First, it is a great book about having the mindset of the rich. Second, it is in storybook format, which means it is easy to read, and it is a real page turner. When I first read the book, I couldn’t put it down – I stayed up until the wee hours of the morning reading, wanting to find out what the boys, Robert and Michael, learned from their Rich Dad. I started it one day, and finished it the next. It is that good! Third, it is the book that started me personally on the path to wealth – it is where I really started to get my millionaire mind, and many others as well. Also, let me throw one other thing into the ring… I read the book the first time at the public library. It was so good, I eventually had to have it, and bought myself a copy. I loaned that copy out, and it never returned, so I bought myself another copy. Then, either I loaned that one out, or misplaced it, and I bought myself a third copy. I have recommended the book to almost all of my family and friends. To most people who ask me how to build wealth, I tell them, if they haven’t already, to start by reading “Rich Dad, Poor Dad”. I have read the book at least a half dozen times or so, and I just finished reading it again right now. I also read all of the Rich Dad books, and own several more, either books or CDs. If you don’t already own this book, ask yourself, if someone who is financially free at 39 years of age feels this book is good enough to purchase three copies, study every book in the collection, read it over and over again, and recommend it to family and friends and anyone who will listen… If it has helped countless numbers of people learn how to create wealth… Ask yourself, “If I want to be rich, is there a chance that maybe I should own it too?” If you realize you should, click on my link now and buy it through Amazon, which is where I buy almost all of my wealth materials these days. The 4% associate fee I earn won’t mean much to me one way or the other, but the book could make a difference in your life, and if I didn’t prompt you to get it, shame on me!!!
Now, to finish up, I am going to give you a few samples from the book – just a small taste of what “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” will give you…
Rich Dad says that fear of being without money motivates us to work hard, and then, once we get that paycheck, greed or desire starts us thinking about all the wonderful things money can buy. The pattern is then set. “The pattern of get up, go to work, pay bills, get up, go to work, pay bills… Their lives are then run forever by the two emotions, fear and greed. Offer them more money, and they continue the cycle, by also increasing their spending. This is what I call the Rat Race.” “There is another way?” Mike asked. “Yes,” said rich dad slowly. “But only a few people find it.” “And what is that way?” Mike asked. “That’s what I hope you boys will find out as you work and study with me.”
A little further along, Rich Dad says, “I’ve met so many people who say, ‘Oh, I’m not interested in money.’ Yet they’ll work at a job for eight hours a day. That’s a denial of the truth. If they weren’t interested in money, then why are they working?”
Now, here is a rich dad quote I really love… “A job is really a short-term solution to a long-term problem.”
“Wealth is a person’s ability to survive so many number of days forward… or if I stopped working today, how long could I survive?”
“The rich buy assets. The poor only have expenses. The middle class buys liabilities they think are assets.” Robert Kiyosaki basically says that an asset is anything that puts money into your pocket, without you having to work for it. Liabilities are anything that cost you money.
Rich Dad forbade the words, “I can’t afford it”, because he said it shut down the brain. Instead, he said to ask, “How can I afford it?”, which forces your brain to think and search for answers.
“The main reason people struggle financially is because they spent years in school but learned nothing about money. The result is, people learn to work for money… but never learn to have money work for them”, says Robert Kiyosaki.
“Every day with every dollar, you decide to be rich, poor, or middle class”, and 'Rich Dad, Poor Dad' will share with you the differences in mindset between those three groups, then you can choose which one you want to be in, so you don’t risk ending up in the wrong group by default.
Now that my article is done, let me remind you, if you want to own 'Rich Dad, Poor Dad', please click on my link (right hand side of the blog) to buy it through Amazon.com... Thanks, and best wishes!
We live in an abundant universe, and God wants us to be abundant, and thinking that money is the root of all evil is so old school. Closer to the truth is that lack of money is the root of all evil. I hear biblical phrases thrown about saying how good it is to be poor, but I seldom hear mention of biblical phrases about prosperity… So here are a few.
“Let the LORD be magnified, who has pleasure in the prosperity of His servant.” -Psalm 35:27
“If they obey and serve him, they shall spend their days in prosperity, and their years in pleasures.” -Job 36:11
“Blessed is the man that feareth the LORD, that delighteth greatly in his commandments… Wealth and riches shall be in his house.” -Psalm 112:1-3
Or, how about the parable of the talents, where the servant who multiplies his talents is rewarded with many cities, and the servant who buried his talent in the sand gets nothing, because to he who hath, more will be given, but to he who hath not, even that little which he hath will be taken away? Was this not a direct biblical command to manage the money God allows into our lives, and to manage it well, and to make it grow and multiply?
Many people don’t have the why part of getting rich down, and I promise you this, if you don’t have the why, you will never, ever get the how. Also, personally, I feel that giving back has to be part of your why (especially if you have issues regarding whether or not you deserve to be rich). There is nothing at all wrong with wanting to improve yourself, your life, and the lives of your family, but for most people, the recipe doesn’t work if giving back isn’t part of the equation, too. The why is the first, necessary ingredient. Next, on to the how.
Most of you have been reading my blog for a while, and my e-mails before that, and you know that I don’t do too many actual sales pitches… But every now and then it is necessary to give people a nudge towards something that will be in their own best interest, and that is what I am about to do.
“Rich Dad, Poor Dad”, by Robert Kiyosaki, is among my recommended books, for several reasons. First, it is a great book about having the mindset of the rich. Second, it is in storybook format, which means it is easy to read, and it is a real page turner. When I first read the book, I couldn’t put it down – I stayed up until the wee hours of the morning reading, wanting to find out what the boys, Robert and Michael, learned from their Rich Dad. I started it one day, and finished it the next. It is that good! Third, it is the book that started me personally on the path to wealth – it is where I really started to get my millionaire mind, and many others as well. Also, let me throw one other thing into the ring… I read the book the first time at the public library. It was so good, I eventually had to have it, and bought myself a copy. I loaned that copy out, and it never returned, so I bought myself another copy. Then, either I loaned that one out, or misplaced it, and I bought myself a third copy. I have recommended the book to almost all of my family and friends. To most people who ask me how to build wealth, I tell them, if they haven’t already, to start by reading “Rich Dad, Poor Dad”. I have read the book at least a half dozen times or so, and I just finished reading it again right now. I also read all of the Rich Dad books, and own several more, either books or CDs. If you don’t already own this book, ask yourself, if someone who is financially free at 39 years of age feels this book is good enough to purchase three copies, study every book in the collection, read it over and over again, and recommend it to family and friends and anyone who will listen… If it has helped countless numbers of people learn how to create wealth… Ask yourself, “If I want to be rich, is there a chance that maybe I should own it too?” If you realize you should, click on my link now and buy it through Amazon, which is where I buy almost all of my wealth materials these days. The 4% associate fee I earn won’t mean much to me one way or the other, but the book could make a difference in your life, and if I didn’t prompt you to get it, shame on me!!!
Now, to finish up, I am going to give you a few samples from the book – just a small taste of what “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” will give you…
Rich Dad says that fear of being without money motivates us to work hard, and then, once we get that paycheck, greed or desire starts us thinking about all the wonderful things money can buy. The pattern is then set. “The pattern of get up, go to work, pay bills, get up, go to work, pay bills… Their lives are then run forever by the two emotions, fear and greed. Offer them more money, and they continue the cycle, by also increasing their spending. This is what I call the Rat Race.” “There is another way?” Mike asked. “Yes,” said rich dad slowly. “But only a few people find it.” “And what is that way?” Mike asked. “That’s what I hope you boys will find out as you work and study with me.”
A little further along, Rich Dad says, “I’ve met so many people who say, ‘Oh, I’m not interested in money.’ Yet they’ll work at a job for eight hours a day. That’s a denial of the truth. If they weren’t interested in money, then why are they working?”
Now, here is a rich dad quote I really love… “A job is really a short-term solution to a long-term problem.”
“Wealth is a person’s ability to survive so many number of days forward… or if I stopped working today, how long could I survive?”
“The rich buy assets. The poor only have expenses. The middle class buys liabilities they think are assets.” Robert Kiyosaki basically says that an asset is anything that puts money into your pocket, without you having to work for it. Liabilities are anything that cost you money.
Rich Dad forbade the words, “I can’t afford it”, because he said it shut down the brain. Instead, he said to ask, “How can I afford it?”, which forces your brain to think and search for answers.
“The main reason people struggle financially is because they spent years in school but learned nothing about money. The result is, people learn to work for money… but never learn to have money work for them”, says Robert Kiyosaki.
“Every day with every dollar, you decide to be rich, poor, or middle class”, and 'Rich Dad, Poor Dad' will share with you the differences in mindset between those three groups, then you can choose which one you want to be in, so you don’t risk ending up in the wrong group by default.
Now that my article is done, let me remind you, if you want to own 'Rich Dad, Poor Dad', please click on my link (right hand side of the blog) to buy it through Amazon.com... Thanks, and best wishes!
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Making Success Happen - We All Start With the Same Seeds!!!
A craven hung along the battle’s edge,
And thought, “Had I a sword of keener steel-
That blue blade that the king’s son bears,-but
This blunt thing-!”
And lowering crept away and left the field.
Then came the king’s son, wounded, sore bestead
And weaponless, and saw the broken sword,
And ran and snatched it, and with battle-shout
Lifted afresh he hewed his enemy down,
And saved a great cause that heroic day.
-Edward Rowland Sill
As quoted in “The Secret of the Ages” by Robert Collier
Wow… A story about days of old, where just a few short lines say so much. I wouldn’t know how to say it so well myself, so I just left it intact as I came across it.
Now, I will paraphrase, in my own words, a story about tomato seeds that I have on CD, from Dean Graziosi’s “Think A Little Differently”. I have told the story many times, and haven’t listened to it in a while, so I say ‘paraphrase’ very loosely, and I apologize if I don’t do it justice – every time I tell the story it probably changes a little more.
These two neighbors both buy the same tomato seeds, from the same store, at the same time. Neighbor one reads the instructions carefully, goes to a prime location in the back yard, and hoes up the ground. He prepares a garden, plants his seeds at the recommended depth, and covers them over.
Neighbor two grabs the package, goes outside the back door, dumps the seeds on the ground, and kicks some loose dirt over them. Then he proceeds to go inside, grab a cold beer, and sit on the couch to watch some television. He thinks, "Ah, there, I will have delicious tomatoes in no time".
Neighbor one fertilizes his seeds, and waters them regularly according to the directions. He weeds his garden as needed, puts a fence up around it, and stakes the full, beautiful plants as they begin to reach the appropriate size.
Neighbor two checks his plants, sees a few scraggly bushes starting to pop up, and says, “Hmmm… Good… They are starting to grow.”
Some time passes, and neighbor one has big, ripe, beautiful tomatoes for his family to enjoy, and enough to share some with friends and family.
Neighbor two has a few plants, with a few small tomatoes. Neighbor two looks over the fence at neighbor one’s tomatoes, kicks the ground, spits, and proclaims, “Figures! He even got better tomato seeds than I did!!!”
On a personal note, I loaned this CD to a friend of mine, and she was listening to it in her car while driving with her daughter who was about five at the time. She told me that her daughter, on hearing that, proclaimed, “BUT MOMMY, THEY GOT THE SAME SEEDS!” Needless to say, I loved hearing that… Oh, but what sometimes comes “Out of the mouths of babes!”.
And thought, “Had I a sword of keener steel-
That blue blade that the king’s son bears,-but
This blunt thing-!”
And lowering crept away and left the field.
Then came the king’s son, wounded, sore bestead
And weaponless, and saw the broken sword,
And ran and snatched it, and with battle-shout
Lifted afresh he hewed his enemy down,
And saved a great cause that heroic day.
-Edward Rowland Sill
As quoted in “The Secret of the Ages” by Robert Collier
Wow… A story about days of old, where just a few short lines say so much. I wouldn’t know how to say it so well myself, so I just left it intact as I came across it.
Now, I will paraphrase, in my own words, a story about tomato seeds that I have on CD, from Dean Graziosi’s “Think A Little Differently”. I have told the story many times, and haven’t listened to it in a while, so I say ‘paraphrase’ very loosely, and I apologize if I don’t do it justice – every time I tell the story it probably changes a little more.
These two neighbors both buy the same tomato seeds, from the same store, at the same time. Neighbor one reads the instructions carefully, goes to a prime location in the back yard, and hoes up the ground. He prepares a garden, plants his seeds at the recommended depth, and covers them over.
Neighbor two grabs the package, goes outside the back door, dumps the seeds on the ground, and kicks some loose dirt over them. Then he proceeds to go inside, grab a cold beer, and sit on the couch to watch some television. He thinks, "Ah, there, I will have delicious tomatoes in no time".
Neighbor one fertilizes his seeds, and waters them regularly according to the directions. He weeds his garden as needed, puts a fence up around it, and stakes the full, beautiful plants as they begin to reach the appropriate size.
Neighbor two checks his plants, sees a few scraggly bushes starting to pop up, and says, “Hmmm… Good… They are starting to grow.”
Some time passes, and neighbor one has big, ripe, beautiful tomatoes for his family to enjoy, and enough to share some with friends and family.
Neighbor two has a few plants, with a few small tomatoes. Neighbor two looks over the fence at neighbor one’s tomatoes, kicks the ground, spits, and proclaims, “Figures! He even got better tomato seeds than I did!!!”
On a personal note, I loaned this CD to a friend of mine, and she was listening to it in her car while driving with her daughter who was about five at the time. She told me that her daughter, on hearing that, proclaimed, “BUT MOMMY, THEY GOT THE SAME SEEDS!” Needless to say, I loved hearing that… Oh, but what sometimes comes “Out of the mouths of babes!”.
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Visualizing Can Make All of Your Dreams Come True!!!
The first paragraph is adapted from The Success Principles, by Jack Canfield… (see my recommended books at right hand side of the page if interested in this terrific book).
Fred Couples and Jim Nantz were two kids who loved golf and had very large dreams. Fred's goal was to someday win the Master's Tournament, and Jim's was to someday work for CBS Sports as an announcer. Fred and Jim were suitemates at the University of Houston in the late 1970's, and they would playact the scene where the winner of the Masters was escorted into Butler Cabin to receive his green jacket, and be interviewed by the CBS announcer. Fourteen years later, the scene they had rehearsed many times in Taub Hall at the University of Houston played out in reality as the whole world looked on. Fred Couples won the Masters, and was taken by tournament officials into Butler Cabin, where he was interviewed by... CBS sports announcer Jim Nantz, of course. After the cameras stopped rolling, the two embraced each other with tears in their eyes. They always knew it would happen that way, because they had already done it all those years earlier.
There is amazing power in acting as if something has already happened. In visualizing your dreams... especially when you bring all of your senses into play, and make it as real as possible. Dennis Waitley, in some of his material, talks about a study they did of high level athletes (runners, I believe). They tested the runners before, during, and after running, checking how their bodies acted at various points. This is where it gets interesting. Next they had the athletes visualize themselves doing the same run. The athletes saw the entire run in their minds, seeing it as real as possible, and their bodies tested exactly the same when they visualized as when they had actually done the running. Same harder breathing, elevated heart rate, all of it! You see, if you really become a part of what you are visualizing, and you really go there in your mind and your feelings, your body can't tell that it isn't real! What this means is, if we really make our dreams real, in our mind, daily, over and over again, our mind and body think it is real.
Then, your mind starts telling itself, "I need to figure out how to make this dream happen. I need to put together all of the pieces of the puzzle somehow." You start looking for and seeing things that you wouldn't have noticed before. Do you know that, as you go through life, every minute of every day, you don't notice 95% of what is going on around you? Stop right now, and check out every detail of everything around you. Blades of grass moving, a clock ticking, objects around the room, cars passing, everything. Look at every little detail. Up until you started looking for it, you didn't notice 95% of what was there. You couldn't. Your mind can not process that much information at one time. So it focuses on what it thinks it needs to know and pay attention to the most. How does it decide that? One way is habits. Your mind pays attention to what you are in the habit of paying attention to. Another way is pay attention to the most important things, like the road when you drive. Another way is pay attention to what you have trained it to look for. When you visualize certain dreams over and over again, you start seeing things that can help you accomplish that dream. Sometimes you see little tiny things, in bits and pieces, over time. Sometimes you find one huge answer that makes the whole entire dream come true all at once. You train your mind what to look for, and it follows your commands. Science has taught us that human beings only use approximately 5-10% of our brain functions. This might sound a little hokey to some of you, but I honestly believe that by training our subconscious on what we want it to look for, we tap into the vast unused portions of our brain, and it starts working for us. That subconscious has to do something, and I think it does whatever primary directives you give it. If you tell your brain that you are watching TV and vegging, and you don't want it to do anything, it won't do anything. If you tell it to block out something painful, it will block it out. If you tell it to pursue your dreams, it will!!! But you have to make it real. The stronger and more real you make your visualization and images, the harder and faster your brain will work to find ways to create what you are visualizing. Keep in mind, you can't just visualize riches and sit on the couch and wait for the riches. You actually have to think, and plan, and turn your thoughts into actions (T. Harv Eker says this is the process of manifestation: thoughts lead to feelings lead to actions lead to results; T->F->A->R). This process will help you find the missing pieces that you didn't see before. The most successful people throughout history knew this... If you study successful people, you will find this is a key ingredient with almost all of them. There is almost nobody at the top levels of athletics that doesn’t routinely use visualization as a method of enhancing performance, and you want to perform at your best, in any area of your life, you should be using it too! Short version: what you think about comes about! What you focus on expands.
Personally, about 10 years ago I was poor. I made about $8-10/hour, and was solidly lower middle class. I had just started to get seriously interested in real estate, started studying success, etc. My wife Tammy and I went with my Mom and my sister to a gentlemen's house that my Mom was sort of dating. He had a very nice, 3/2/2 block house, with an in-ground caged swimming pool, and beautiful poolside commercial bar and grill (if memory serves me). He was a bit of a wine connoisseur, and, while I am not a wine drinker, most of the rest of them enjoyed sampling a few wines. It was a warm summer evening, the pool had a built in light, and the water was great. We had an amazing time, though my Mom may have drank a little too much wine, and tried to return some (sorry Mom)! The home was unlike anything I had experienced before. When I say I was raised without a lot of money in my life, it is not an understatement. This was a different lifestyle than Tammy, I, my sister, or my Mom were accustomed to. I told my wife, that night, in front of my Mom and sister, that I would get us a home and pool just like that. If memory serves me, they all rolled their eyes, and I am guessing my wife said something like, “yeah, when we are about 80 years old, maybe”. I said I didn't know if it would take a few years, or many, or what, but we would have that again, and it would be all ours. I told my Mom and sister that, if they wanted that house in their future, too, they could learn with me. Unfortunately, they did not take me up on my offer. Later, in T. Harv Eker's course "The Million Mind Intensive", we did some hypnosis, and I saw the same home again. I have visualized it many times sense then. In October of 2006, my wife and I purchased our new home, in the very same neighborhood as that house. It is a 3 bedroom, 2 bath, 2 car garage, concrete block house. We have done a few things to it, and have plans to do some more some time (I rehab houses!). It has an in-ground, screened pool, with a light in it. Every time I drive home, I feel a tinge of joy that part of my dreams is coming true again. I experience that high almost every time I start nearing home. On my way home I drive past the street that man’s house is on, and I sometimes look out at the houses and wonder, which of those houses is the one we visited those years ago. Which house helped me visualize my dream home, and helped push me to make it a reality several years later?
Interesting thing... My wife and I looked at pool homes just under $200K off and on for 2-3 years. I always told her we would get our nice, new, pool home before our son started kindergarten, so we would be in a good school district. She sometimes supported me, and other times gave me a "yeah, right". It didn't matter. I already knew I would have it, because I had been there so many times in my visions. When a realtor friend of mine told me about our current house, the asking price was $249.9K, and I told him it was out of our price range. He said the listing agent said the sellers were very motivated, and we should check it out. I called the listing realtor, chatted with her about the house some, and decided that, even though we probably wouldn't be able to stretch to it, we would look at it, because the pictures were amazing. This house was in a completely different league than anything else we looked at for $200K. My wife and I walked in, looked at each other, and both had this smile on our faces like we were home. I knew I was in trouble, and these sellers better be very motivated. Long story short, at that time, I was not thinking the least little bit about my dream. Months later, I was watching "The Secret", and I was reminded that it was my dream house. In "The Secret", John Assaraf shows his son his dreaming board, and his eyes tear up. He had a picture, from years prior, of the exact same house they were living in, and he hadn't even realized it. It was a picture from some glamour homes type of photo shoot or whatever, and it was of the house he later bought as his personal residence. I think it said about 7,000 or 9,000 square feet, with a 3,000 square foot guest house. You know, your ordinary run of the mill stuff.
I made my own dreaming board recently (and I am trying to encourage my wife and 6 year old son to do the same), and I will do plenty more visualizing, because I am not done yet. I have more, bigger and better things to come, and I hope all of you reading this do as well. Don’t do it because I said so – do it because IT WORKS! Best wishes, and happy dreaming!
Fred Couples and Jim Nantz were two kids who loved golf and had very large dreams. Fred's goal was to someday win the Master's Tournament, and Jim's was to someday work for CBS Sports as an announcer. Fred and Jim were suitemates at the University of Houston in the late 1970's, and they would playact the scene where the winner of the Masters was escorted into Butler Cabin to receive his green jacket, and be interviewed by the CBS announcer. Fourteen years later, the scene they had rehearsed many times in Taub Hall at the University of Houston played out in reality as the whole world looked on. Fred Couples won the Masters, and was taken by tournament officials into Butler Cabin, where he was interviewed by... CBS sports announcer Jim Nantz, of course. After the cameras stopped rolling, the two embraced each other with tears in their eyes. They always knew it would happen that way, because they had already done it all those years earlier.
There is amazing power in acting as if something has already happened. In visualizing your dreams... especially when you bring all of your senses into play, and make it as real as possible. Dennis Waitley, in some of his material, talks about a study they did of high level athletes (runners, I believe). They tested the runners before, during, and after running, checking how their bodies acted at various points. This is where it gets interesting. Next they had the athletes visualize themselves doing the same run. The athletes saw the entire run in their minds, seeing it as real as possible, and their bodies tested exactly the same when they visualized as when they had actually done the running. Same harder breathing, elevated heart rate, all of it! You see, if you really become a part of what you are visualizing, and you really go there in your mind and your feelings, your body can't tell that it isn't real! What this means is, if we really make our dreams real, in our mind, daily, over and over again, our mind and body think it is real.
Then, your mind starts telling itself, "I need to figure out how to make this dream happen. I need to put together all of the pieces of the puzzle somehow." You start looking for and seeing things that you wouldn't have noticed before. Do you know that, as you go through life, every minute of every day, you don't notice 95% of what is going on around you? Stop right now, and check out every detail of everything around you. Blades of grass moving, a clock ticking, objects around the room, cars passing, everything. Look at every little detail. Up until you started looking for it, you didn't notice 95% of what was there. You couldn't. Your mind can not process that much information at one time. So it focuses on what it thinks it needs to know and pay attention to the most. How does it decide that? One way is habits. Your mind pays attention to what you are in the habit of paying attention to. Another way is pay attention to the most important things, like the road when you drive. Another way is pay attention to what you have trained it to look for. When you visualize certain dreams over and over again, you start seeing things that can help you accomplish that dream. Sometimes you see little tiny things, in bits and pieces, over time. Sometimes you find one huge answer that makes the whole entire dream come true all at once. You train your mind what to look for, and it follows your commands. Science has taught us that human beings only use approximately 5-10% of our brain functions. This might sound a little hokey to some of you, but I honestly believe that by training our subconscious on what we want it to look for, we tap into the vast unused portions of our brain, and it starts working for us. That subconscious has to do something, and I think it does whatever primary directives you give it. If you tell your brain that you are watching TV and vegging, and you don't want it to do anything, it won't do anything. If you tell it to block out something painful, it will block it out. If you tell it to pursue your dreams, it will!!! But you have to make it real. The stronger and more real you make your visualization and images, the harder and faster your brain will work to find ways to create what you are visualizing. Keep in mind, you can't just visualize riches and sit on the couch and wait for the riches. You actually have to think, and plan, and turn your thoughts into actions (T. Harv Eker says this is the process of manifestation: thoughts lead to feelings lead to actions lead to results; T->F->A->R). This process will help you find the missing pieces that you didn't see before. The most successful people throughout history knew this... If you study successful people, you will find this is a key ingredient with almost all of them. There is almost nobody at the top levels of athletics that doesn’t routinely use visualization as a method of enhancing performance, and you want to perform at your best, in any area of your life, you should be using it too! Short version: what you think about comes about! What you focus on expands.
Personally, about 10 years ago I was poor. I made about $8-10/hour, and was solidly lower middle class. I had just started to get seriously interested in real estate, started studying success, etc. My wife Tammy and I went with my Mom and my sister to a gentlemen's house that my Mom was sort of dating. He had a very nice, 3/2/2 block house, with an in-ground caged swimming pool, and beautiful poolside commercial bar and grill (if memory serves me). He was a bit of a wine connoisseur, and, while I am not a wine drinker, most of the rest of them enjoyed sampling a few wines. It was a warm summer evening, the pool had a built in light, and the water was great. We had an amazing time, though my Mom may have drank a little too much wine, and tried to return some (sorry Mom)! The home was unlike anything I had experienced before. When I say I was raised without a lot of money in my life, it is not an understatement. This was a different lifestyle than Tammy, I, my sister, or my Mom were accustomed to. I told my wife, that night, in front of my Mom and sister, that I would get us a home and pool just like that. If memory serves me, they all rolled their eyes, and I am guessing my wife said something like, “yeah, when we are about 80 years old, maybe”. I said I didn't know if it would take a few years, or many, or what, but we would have that again, and it would be all ours. I told my Mom and sister that, if they wanted that house in their future, too, they could learn with me. Unfortunately, they did not take me up on my offer. Later, in T. Harv Eker's course "The Million Mind Intensive", we did some hypnosis, and I saw the same home again. I have visualized it many times sense then. In October of 2006, my wife and I purchased our new home, in the very same neighborhood as that house. It is a 3 bedroom, 2 bath, 2 car garage, concrete block house. We have done a few things to it, and have plans to do some more some time (I rehab houses!). It has an in-ground, screened pool, with a light in it. Every time I drive home, I feel a tinge of joy that part of my dreams is coming true again. I experience that high almost every time I start nearing home. On my way home I drive past the street that man’s house is on, and I sometimes look out at the houses and wonder, which of those houses is the one we visited those years ago. Which house helped me visualize my dream home, and helped push me to make it a reality several years later?
Interesting thing... My wife and I looked at pool homes just under $200K off and on for 2-3 years. I always told her we would get our nice, new, pool home before our son started kindergarten, so we would be in a good school district. She sometimes supported me, and other times gave me a "yeah, right". It didn't matter. I already knew I would have it, because I had been there so many times in my visions. When a realtor friend of mine told me about our current house, the asking price was $249.9K, and I told him it was out of our price range. He said the listing agent said the sellers were very motivated, and we should check it out. I called the listing realtor, chatted with her about the house some, and decided that, even though we probably wouldn't be able to stretch to it, we would look at it, because the pictures were amazing. This house was in a completely different league than anything else we looked at for $200K. My wife and I walked in, looked at each other, and both had this smile on our faces like we were home. I knew I was in trouble, and these sellers better be very motivated. Long story short, at that time, I was not thinking the least little bit about my dream. Months later, I was watching "The Secret", and I was reminded that it was my dream house. In "The Secret", John Assaraf shows his son his dreaming board, and his eyes tear up. He had a picture, from years prior, of the exact same house they were living in, and he hadn't even realized it. It was a picture from some glamour homes type of photo shoot or whatever, and it was of the house he later bought as his personal residence. I think it said about 7,000 or 9,000 square feet, with a 3,000 square foot guest house. You know, your ordinary run of the mill stuff.
I made my own dreaming board recently (and I am trying to encourage my wife and 6 year old son to do the same), and I will do plenty more visualizing, because I am not done yet. I have more, bigger and better things to come, and I hope all of you reading this do as well. Don’t do it because I said so – do it because IT WORKS! Best wishes, and happy dreaming!
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