Monthly Archives: January 2009

Do You Practice What You Preach?

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 why he had not said those words a week ago.”Gandhi replied, “Because a week ago, I had not given up eating sugar.”

-Catherine Ingram

The message from this story is quite simple, practice what you preach. What’s interesting to know is that there are thousands of blogs out there that teach personal development, yet only a select few that actually give sound advice. The reason behind that is that it’s simple to read information and rewrite it. I can study everything there is to know about being a doctor, but if I don’t actually work at a doctor’s office, would you let me operate on you? I know I wouldn’t :).

You, like almost everyone reading this probably has an interest in becoming a better person, being successful, or just t0 learn to do more good faster. Whatever the reason is for you visiting this site, it has to do with communicating with other people. The closer you are to mirroring whatever the message is that your communicating, the more powerful the message will come across. Like Gandhi, he wasn’t able to tell the woman’s son because he didn’t give up sugar himself. After he did it himself, he was able to tell the boy with more conviction and power. His message had a ‘backbone’ to it.

Practice what you preach

All of the strategies that I teach, share, and explain to you have been something I’ve done before or am currently doing right now.  If you’ve ever met me in person, I can talk for hours on end on almost everything related to personal development and self-help. I am TRULY interested in becoming an overall powerful human being capable of understanding fellow human beings with the ability to uplift them to also become powerful.

So, if you’re on the web searching for ideas, like right now being on persuasive.net, here’s the trick to practice what you preach:

Learn something, read it, get it taught to you, or do whatever to get it in your head and then instantly APPLY IT! DO IT! Yes it’s that simple 😉 Gandhi decided to cut sugar that same day the woman asked for him to give her son the message.

Do you practice what you preach? What exactly do you preach, and how do you practice it?

Are You Unique?

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?

Other people are better than you

There will ALWAYS be someone better than you, if not now, then later. If you’d like to argue this point, I’d suggest you take a look at the Guinness Book of World Records. They release a new book every year because records are continuously broken. Advancements in equipment, psychology, training, or any thing can help us humans excel in various ways. Take a look at this past year’s Olympics in China, they created new suites for the swimmers which allowed them to break practically every world record for that category.

Being the best

Many people can argue that you must be the best in order to be successful which I believe to be untrue. Being the best doesn’t guarantee you anything. Take a look at actors. How many actors have you seen who are terrible. You’re probably a better then some of the actors out there, but they are the ones who are getting paid the millions…why?

Unique

Have you seen the movie Madagascar 2?  Let me explain: There is a zebra played by Chris Rock who thinks he’s the only one of his kind. The main animals crash their airplane in Africa where the zebra comes to realize that he isn’t the only zebra on the planet. Chris Rock’s character immediately becomes upset and angry because he feels as if he lost his uniqueness. Long story short, in the end, he realizes that he is indeed unique, not because of his looks but because of his weird and kooky personality. Being unique doesn’t automatically make you a superstar, but it does give you that slight advantage. That slight advantage can easily make or break your career.

Irreplaceable

Uniqueness then brings me to being irreplaceable.  In this economy, people are getting laid off faster than ever and it’s mainly because they are replaceable. Let’s say you made your company 10k a month. If you left and you were replaced by someone else who can make them 10k a month, obviously you were replaceable. However, if the company lost 10k by you not working there, then that means you carry that uniqueness quality and the ability to be irreplaceable.

Not only does being unique help in giving you some job security, but it can also help you make further advancements in your life and career.

We all say we are unique in our own ways, but how do you use your uniqueness to get further in your life or career?

My Broken Ankle is an Opportunity in Disguise

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,“wow you are luckiest man in the village!” The farmer would reply back with, “Maybe.”

The next day the farmer’s son tried to ride one of the wild horses. The horse threw him and the son broke his leg. The neighbors all offered their sympathy for his misfortune and would again say, “wow you have such terrible luck.” The farmer would continue to reply with, “Maybe.”

The next week conscription officers came to the village to take young men for the army. They rejected the farmer’s son because of his broken leg. The neighbors said, “wow, you still are the luckiest man in the village.” The farm still replied with “Maybe.”

Our perception is how we view the series of events that occur in our lives. The reality is that ‘good’ events will not always happen in your life. What exactly do I mean by ‘good’? Especially considering that a ‘good’ event to me can be a ‘bad’ event to you. So classifying an event as ‘good’ or ‘bad’ or ‘positive’ or negative’ is completely up to you, right?

Two days ago, I was a car accident with my brother. He was driving his car straight and we were hit by someone making a left turn. The car was completely totaled and my brother left the accident with a broken wrist while I came out with a broken ankle. Luckily, we were literally right in front of a hospital, so it was quite a short trip to the ER room.
My parents were feeling sorry for us and gave us a speech about how sometimes people have plain old bad luck, just like the neighbors in the story of the Chinese Farmer. I answered them with something much unexpected. I said that this accident is more of an opportunity for me because being stuck at home allows me to have more time to work on myself.

AJ Kumar

I am a strong believer in personal development and am always interested in finding new ways to grow. So for the next 6 weeks, I’ll be taking advantage of my situation and taking powerful leaps to bettering myself. Also, this is my first and hopefully my last broken bone, so now I get to experience my life in ways that I would never have before. Walking in someone else’s shoes so to speak. My parents were also quite amazed at how cheery and playful I was with the nurses in the ER room. Seeing me in that room, you would never think of me as a patient.

Your life will be a time line of events. It is your choice to whither they be ‘good’ or ‘bad’. Every event will have its positive effect along with a negative effect, but it is up to you to which effect you choose to dwell on.

Have you ever had an event that happened in your life that was portrayed as ‘bad’ to most people that you instead viewed it as ‘good’?

Courage. Do You Have it or Do You Want it?

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 first got into personal development, I was very excited and eager to succeed in any way possible.  As I was stepping out of my car at a nearby restaurant for lunch one day, and a brand new silver Mercedes Benz SLR McLaren pulls up beside me.  A man in his 40’s opens the door and steps out.  He starts cleaning the smudges on his car like a hot shot.

I really wanted to ask this guy what he did for a living but then again I was a bit scared to talk to him at the same time.  I had a full debate inside my head, “Should I ask him and he might blow me off in front of all these people (people were eating around along the sidewalk tables) or should I just ignore this and move one?”  First I was convincing myself to move on, which is what most people would normally do, but then, after what seemed like ten minutes of arguing in my head (probably closer to 1 minute) I made a move.

As the man starts walking toward the restaurant area, I excuse myself to get his attention.   As he turns around, I’m thinking that I’m about to get the most amazing advice in the world. I just got the courage to ask this millionaire super successful dude a question and I knew for a fact that he will enlighten me with some wisdom that will change my life forever.  I asked him, “sir, I’m curious, what exactly do you do to get a car like this?”  The man says, “I’m just a mechanic kid, ask that question to Fletcher Jones.” The car belonged to Fletcher Jones, of Fletcher Jones Mercedes Benz.

Even though some people chuckled beside me, I was surprisingly not embarrassed.  This was due to me having the courage to change my mind to do something I didn’t want to do.  After this day, I transformed myself into someone who isn’t afraid to talk to someone, do something, or go somewhere.

Courage is something that many people don’t have which explains why most people don’t get what they want. What are the careers that you want to pursue, the people you want to talk to, and the things you want to do, that you cannot do because you THINK you lack the courage?

How can you convince yourself to change your mind?

Why Make Mistakes, Learn From Someone Else’s Experiences

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 mess I went through in the last 2 years, I wouldn’t be in the great situation I am in today.

My good friend Neil Patel wrote an article about the mistakes he’s made in the past.  The mistakes he’s made have more meaning than just mistakes he’s made.  The mistakes he’s made can also be mistakes you make now or in the future which can cost you a lot of time and money.  Most people know about learning from other people’s experiences but don’t.  Getting rich overnight usually doesn’t happen (as I explained in the snowball effect), it’s all about the learning experiences.  Now imagine if you ran your business, job, or whatever it is that you’re working on, with knowledge of almost every obstacle that can get in your way.  Would you be able to reach your destination a lot faster? It’s like knowing the answers to a test before you take it!  Wouldn’t that save you money you potentially could lose?

Learn from other people’s experiences:

  • Read blogs
  • Newspaper
  • Magazines
  • Friends/family
  • Online (infinite articles on experiences)
  • Books

Look at it like this:  Let’s say, you find books of famous successful people who have done or achieved greatness.  They might sum up their entire life of experiences within a 200 or so page book.  You’ll be getting 30+ years of life experiences in your mind within a few hours.  So if you read a book about someone’s 30 years of life experiences each month for 1 year, that’s 360 years of life experience under your belt.  Do you think you’d be able to walk around some potential mistakes you might make?

Tell us some of the mistakes you made so we can learn from them 🙂

Work Hard, Don’t Play Hard Just Yet

PlayMost 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 Continue reading

Do You Have Mad Learning Skills?

Process of LearningEveryone 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, Continue reading

Go to the Next Level Like an Airplane

Take OffWhen 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 Continue reading

Enjoy the Bad Economy with a Positive Mindset

MindsetThis 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 Continue reading