Read to Succeed

I recently finished reading "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" by Robert Kiyosaki. I could not put this book down. It was choc full of information, inspiration and anecdotes. The author opens the door into his life growing up with his real dad (educated, but poor) and his mentor dad (financially literate and rich).

Just a few of the many things I learned:

- Instead of saying "I can't afford it", ask "How can I afford it?" Your brain stops thinking when saying "I can't", but when you ask yourself how, you are forcing your brain to think.

- The poor tell their kids to study hard and get hired at a good company. The rich tell their kids to study hard to find a good company to buy.

- Pay yourself first and invest! Why give your hard-earned money to everyone else, then keep whatever is leftover? Think of each dollar you invest as your employee. Let the "employees" work hard while you sleep.

- There are 3 types of income: earned, passive, portfolio. Earned income is what everyone is familiar with. We work at a job and earn a paycheck. Passive income is money that works for you. Portfolio income is paper assets, such as stocks and bonds. We need to learn to turn earned income into passive and portfolio income.

Money is just an idea. Once you realize this, you'll learn how to get more of it.

Randy Pausch's Last Lecture: Acheiving Your Childhood Dreams

I came across this twice in the two days. It's a sign. I must share this with you. There's a truncated version of the talk when Randy appeared on Oprah, but this version is much better. If you find yourself bored or in need of some inspirational words, watch this.

Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend!

I was talking about diamonds for a good portion of the day, so I've got diamonds on my mind. Did you know, at one point, De Beers controlled 60-80% of the world's diamonds? That means they somehow managed everyone in the world to think of the gem as a hot commodity thereby controlling the pricing. Diamonds aren't even rare. It's like saying dirt is valuable and selling it for the price of diamonds. How CRAZY is that? I read on Wikipedia that the success of the company rested in the business model. A business model is how a company creates value to its products and services.

Hmmm...do you think that if I take a product/service and rant and rave about how great it is, it will do well?

Dare to Dream

A friend and I went out for dinner and drinks recently. We started off by reminiscing about our past and how we've always had fun partying. It was always play, work, sleep, play, work, sleep. As much as we still enjoy going out and having fun once in a blue moon, we are both at points in our lives where we desire more. We shared our dreams and goals that night. I don't know about you, but I don't think I've ever vocalized my dreams. Yes, we all say we want to win the lotto or we'd love to buy a nice, big house, but it's so surface-level. We actually dug deeper and explained the reasons why we wanted to achieve those goals. Reasons ranged from giving back to our parents to feeling that sense of achievement. It was a refreshing and deeply satisfying conversation.

I challenge you to sincerely know what your dreams are. No dream is too small or too distant to reach. The more you think about it and take actions to achieve it, the closer you'll get. I created this blog to record my journey and to share random stories here and there. Thank you for reading.