Speaking of Money...

Normally I don't post a lot of financial stuff here on The Wrighter, because honestly I don't want to be held accountable if you take my financial advice and it doesn't pan out. I'm just being honest here. However, I've read this essay by Mark Ford before, and though I don't know if it is bull's - eye advice, I found it to be interesting. Quite useful in fact. So I decided to share it here, just in case someone else really needed to hear (or read) what he has to say about retirement planning. Even if you're fresh out of high school and far far far far from retirement, I still think it would be beneficial to take a peek at it.

Maybe I'm posting this because for the last month, money is really all I've been thinking about. Well, okay. I'm exaggerating a bit. My life has not come to a screeching hault over this art show I'm organizing (Kobiphysics), but it's been quite a ride, asking for money repeatedly, and running to my inbox checking to see if I have a new backer.

I'm down to the last 48 hours of fundraising on Kickstarter.com. The truth of the matter is, I really need some folks to dig in and be a part of this great show. I need a commitment from people like you who believe in me and my work. In fact, I need you.

Please take this moment and go to Kickstarter .com, or to info about Kobiphysics on my website and review this project. This is your opportunity to make another mark and align yourself with yet another historical event. Think of those who supported and attended the art shows of Piccasso. Or Kahlo. Or Basquiat. Those supporters have earned the bragging rite to announce to the world that they were part of the scene. Part of the movement. Now it’s your turn.

What's Your Magic Number? Retirement Planning Anyone Can Do


By Mark Ford


How much money do you need to retire? A hundred grand? A half million? Ten million?

It is a very important question. Getting the right answer can determine how soon and how well you can retire.

In his book The Number, former Esquire editor-in-chief, Lee Eisenberg talks about why "the number" is so important. He says that for most people, it represents a free pass to a great life without financial stress.

That's what it always meant to me. When I was in my thirties, I had a number in mind. I figured that if I could achieve a certain net worth, I could quit work and live comfortably for the rest of my life. I hit that number when I was thirty-nine years old. But I quickly discovered that amount was not the number I needed... it wasn't even close.

Your net worth includes your house, your toys, and all sorts of other assets you may not be willing to give up in retirement. But your retirement "number" is the amount of money you have to save specifically for retirement. It is a fund of assets that will eventually replace your active income and pay for your expenses... after you've quit your nine-to-five job.

Because I didn't calculate my number correctly, I had to go back to work. I picked a new number–a real number–and worked another ten years to hit it. When that day arrived, I felt fantastic. I was able to change my priorities. I devoted the lion's share of my money to non-financial goals. I never worried about money again.

Reaching your number is a great feeling. If you haven't yet experienced it, what I'm about to say will put you on the right track...

Most people fail to achieve their retirement dreams, Eisenberg notes. There are two common pitfalls that stop them, he says:

Many people enter their forties and fifties are "ensconced in a cloud of avoidance and denial about the years ahead of them." They spend their early years not doing any serious retirement planning. They sense they are far behind from where they should be, but they don't want to face the truth. These are the procrastinators, Eisenberg says.

Other people do retirement planning, but they're sloppy about it. They don't know how to calculate their numbers correctly, so they pick arbitrary numbers and hope for the best. This is the mistake I made when I first retired. Eisenberg calls these people "pluckers," because they pluck numbers out of thin air.

You don't have to be either one of these people. You can begin to realize your retirement dreams today by discovering your retirement number.

Let's do that now. Let's figure out how much money you have to save in order to quit work and enjoy retirement.

To calculate your magic number, you need to know five other numbers:

1. How much money you have saved.

2. How many years you have to save money before you retire.

3. How much money you will need in order to enjoy the retirement you want.

4. What rate of return you expect to get on your savings.

5. The average rate of inflation.

Take These Five Steps and You'll Have Your Magic Number!

I am going to give you five calculations. Each one should take just a few minutes. The entire process, including all five steps, should take no more than half an hour. Please do it now. In terms of your future wealth and happiness, it may be the most fruitful thirty minutes you ever spend.

But before we begin, I want you to write down two numbers: 8 and 12.5.

Step 1: Write down how much money you have already saved towards retirement. This should include not only liquid assets (such as cash, stocks, and bonds) but also any illiquid assets (such as an auto collection or a second home) that you plan to sell prior to retiring.

Sell the house you own (if you own one) for a less expensive house more suitable for retirement and add any profits from the sale into your retirement savings.

For example, if your house is worth $350,000 and you will be happy in a smaller house that will be $100,000 cheaper, you can add $100,000 to your retirement savings.

Step 2: Write down how many years you have before you hit your retirement age. If you are thirty-five years old now and plan to retire at sixty-five years old, that number is thirty. If you are fifty-five years old now and want to retire at sixty-five years old, that number is ten. But be realistic. If your retirement fund is small right now, you might have to work another five years to reach your goal.

I told you above that I hit my number before my fiftieth birthday. That allowed me to start writing fiction and poetry several hours a day... and take lots of vacations. Since I still liked my line of work, I continued to spend some time every day as a consultant to publishers. And that turned out to be lucrative.

Keep that in mind when you hit your number. Like me, you may decide to keep working on a part-time basis. If you do, you'll be making more than you need. Enjoy it. Don't increase your spending.

Step 3: The next step is the one most people start with: deciding how much money you will be spending each year in your retirement to enjoy the lifestyle you want.

A good way to do this is to start with how much money you are spending now on your current lifestyle. I told you how to make that calculation in an essay I wrote a few months ago, titled Three Numbers that Are Essential to Your Wealth. I called that your lifestyle burn rate. What you are doing now is figuring out your retirement lifestyle burn rate (RLBR).

Take your current lifestyle burn rate and add to it any "extras" you want to enjoy. Let's say, for example, that your current lifestyle burn rate is $80,000 a year. To make your retirement more fun, you want to own an extra car–a sports car–and join a golf club. This will cost you an extra $10,000 a year. Add $10,000 to the $80,000 and you have $90,000.

Now subtract from $90,000 any expenses that you currently have but will no longer have when you are retired. This commonly includes expenses for your children and other expenses related to having a family with children. If those expenses are currently $15,000, then you will deduct that $15,000 from the $90,000 and you will be left with your true RLBR of $75,000 a year.

Got it?

One caveat: In determining your retirement lifestyle burn rate, you have to be realistic. If you are already fifty years old, have only $300,000 in your retirement savings account, and are currently spending $80,000 a year to live... it's unlikely you will get your RLBR up to, say, $500,000.

Step 4: Subtract from that number (RLBR) any income you are confident you'll be getting during your retirement.

For example, if you trust that Social Security will still be around when you retire, you can find out what your projected yearly Social Security income will be and subtract that from your RLBR. You can do the same with any pension income you expect. And finally, if you intend to work part-time during retirement, you can deduct that, too.

Working with the same $75,000 RLBR number, you deduct $15,000 a year you expect to get from Social Security, another $5,000 a year you expect to get from some pension, and another $5,000 a year you expect to get by working as a golf ranger two days a week. This reduces your RLBR from $75,000 to $50,000.

This is your net retirement lifestyle burn rate. Save this number.

Step 5: Now it's time to figure out your magic number, the amount of money you need to save in order to retire.

Using the same example, what we are looking for is an amount of money to invest that will generate $50,000 a year in after-tax income.

So how much money is that?

Again, that depends. It depends on the return on investment you can expect to get on your retirement savings.

If you expect to get only 5% on your money, then your number–the amount you'd need to save before retiring–would be $1 million. (One million dollars generates $50,000 a year at 5%.) If you could get 10% on your retirement funds, you could retire much sooner... since you'd need only $500,000 at 10% to generate $50,000 in annual income.

So what rate of return should you plug into this equation?

That depends on what kind of investments you use. If you put all your money in municipal bonds, you could be making 3%. (Municipal bonds are yielding only 3.13% today.) You could earn about 8% by putting your money in stock index funds (since 1970, they have returned 8.14% after taxes of 20%), but I don't like the idea of having my retirement fund in an index fund because the stock market can fluctuate greatly from year to year.

A better choice would be the kind of stocks we recommend each month in The Palm Beach Letter. They are selected to give you–at minimum–an 8% after-tax return. But I wouldn't want all my retirement funds in stocks, because even the best of them are still subject to annual fluctuations.

To compensate for the temporary low yield of municipal bonds and the volatility of the stock market, I've designed a simple three-asset portfolio that should give us 8% reliably and steadily. Or as close to that as one could possibly hope for.

A Sample Retirement Portfolio Strategy

I'm thinking of a portfolio consisting of high-quality dividend stocks, high-yielding bonds, and rental real estate.

Specifically, I would recommend an allocation of 50% rental real estate, 30% dividend stocks, and 20% high-yielding bonds.

In future essays, I'll talk in more detail about how I came up with these calculations, but I feel confident that you can expect the following after-tax minimums from each of these portfolios: 3% from bonds, 6% from dividend stocks, and 12% from rental real estate.

A portfolio that gave you 3% on 20% (your high-yielding bonds), 6% on 30% (your dividend stocks), and 12% on 50% (your rental real estate) is a portfolio that will give you just over 8% overall.

The Final Step: Now we are ready for the number. To figure out your number, take the net RLBR and multiply it by the reciprocal of the expected rate of return. These are the numbers I asked you to remember in the beginning of this essay: 8 and 12.5.

Using the same example, you would multiply the $50,000 (net RLBR) times the reciprocal of 8%, which is 12.5. Fifty thousand dollars times 12.5 is $625,000. That is your magic number!

So if your net RLBR is $100,000, then your magic number is $1,250,000. If your net RLBR is $300,000, then your magic number is $3,750,000.

Get it? Just multiply the income you will need by 12.5.

In case you are lost, let me break it down for you again using the original example. The following is just an approximation...

You need $50,000 a year from your retirement savings. Knowing you can expect to get an average yield of 8% a year, you do the math and determine that you need a total of $625,000 in your retirement savings portfolio. Twenty percent of that amount ($125,000) would be in bonds yielding 3% after taxes. That would give you $3,750 a year. Thirty percent ($187,500) would be in dividend stocks yielding 6% after taxes. That would give you $11,250. And 50% ($312,500) would be in rental real estate yielding 12% after taxes. That would give you $37,500 per year. The total of $3,750, $11,250, and $37,500 is $52,500.

Now remember, that is the minimum. If you got higher yields–even moderately higher yields–you'd do better. You will have more income than you need that year. You will have a choice: either save it for a rainy day or spend it. You won't need to save it, as your retirement fund will continue to produce 8% yields.

I'd like to end here, but there is one final number we haven't looked at yet... And that is the rate of inflation.

When planning for your retirement, you have to consider the effects of inflation on the value of your portfolio. That's because in most cases, inflation makes future dollars less valuable than they are today. The $80,000 a year we've been using in this essay, for example, will still be $80,000 in ten, twenty, or thirty years... but it will buy far fewer things than it can buy today.

So how do you account for that in your planning?

One way is by owning businesses that keep pace with inflation because they are able to raise their prices to match inflation. Many of the stocks we recommend in our portfolio are of that kind. Having 20% of your portfolio in such stocks will definitely help.

Bond yields should increase in the years to come as well. Today, they are low... and our plan is based on a 3% yield. But these are likely to increase in the years ahead. So that will be some help, too.

But the main inflation hedge you have in the portfolio I recommended is the rental real estate portfolio. Real estate, as a tangible asset, appreciates during inflationary times. According to The Case Shiller Index, which has tracked real estate sales of existing homes since 1987, the average annual increase for real estate is 3.6% over this 25-year period. Compare that to the reported Consumer Price Index during the same period at 2.9%.

I didn't count this appreciation into the mix when we went through the numbers. That means that half of your portfolio will likely increase by 0.7% above inflation, not counting the positive effects you might get from your stocks and bonds.

More importantly, as a landlord, you should be able to increase your rent to match with inflation. I've been doing that with my rental real estate portfolio for more than twenty years.

These factors should go a long way towards protecting the validity of your "number." But if you want to be extra sure, you can simply use a multiplier of more than 12.5–just to be sure. In the case of our existing example, you would multiply $50,000 by, say, 14, which would increase your number to $700,000 rather than $625,000.

Again, I feel safe using 12.5 as a multiplier (for the reasons I mentioned)... but if you have twenty, thirty, or forty years to go before retirement, then you might want to use 14.

I know this has not been the most exciting essay you've ever read from me. But in terms of your retirement planning, it may be the most important.

Please take the time to do your calculations today. The moment you have your number, you'll be motivated to begin the journey of achieving it. The sooner you begin, the sooner you can retire.

Great Day Phenomenon

Last week was awesome. I hope yours was too. I wasn't able to do quite as much as I usually do, still, things seemed to be incredibly productive. Don't you love that feeling?

Now, if you've been keeping track, I have TWO DAYS left to reach my $2500 goal on Kickstarter.com. I'm not going to be able to make it without your help. Please pledge today and help me fund Kobiphysics: An Art Show. NOW is the time to act!

This essay I'm reposting is from Craig Ballantyne, and he reviews what's known as "great day phenomenon." A burst of life just before dying. An imperative condition to recognize, if you ask me. Enjoy... and pledge!

Live Like You Were Dying

By Craig Ballantyne


"And I loved deeper and I spoke sweeter,
"And I gave forgiveness I'd been denying."
An' he said: "Some day, I hope you get the chance,
"To live like you were dyin'."
Tim McGraw

It was an odd place for such a deep conversation. I ran into my friend Rob in the hallway at a large Internet Marketing seminar. "Hey Rob," I greeted him with enthusiasm, "It's been a long time."

"Craig," he replied with hesitation, "I'm sorry I haven't been in touch lately, but my mother passed away."

"Oh Rob, I'm sorry to hear that," I replied sincerely as we sat down amidst the hustle and bustle of seminar attendees.

"Thank you. I appreciate it," he replied. "You know, seeing you write about your dad in your email newsletters really helped."

I nodded and thanked him. Back in 2009, the year after my father passed away, I wrote a series of 'personal notes' that I shared with my fitness readers. These included the many lessons I learned from my old man (mostly by watching him and learning what not to do – a topic for another day, perhaps).

As Rob and I continued our conversation, he said something that brought back vivid memories of the final day I spent with my father, one that reminds me to make the most of today.

"It was the strangest thing," Rob started to describe, "When my mom was in the hospital those last days, she hardly recognized anyone. Then one day, she sat up and we had this really great conversation, as if everything was fine. The next day, she passed away."

His story hit me hard. I had the exact same experience with my father.

On a beautiful sunny Saturday morning, September 6, 2008, to be exact, my father, who was very sick with cancer, wanted to go for a drive. That's how we had spent most of our time together in the last 18 months after he was first diagnosed with his illness. We'd hop in his truck, and I'd drive him around through the countryside to "check out the corn" or to visit his old buddies.

About a month before this sunny September drive my dad had been rushed to the hospital with severe abdominal pain. He and I rarely spoke about his illness, and frankly I don't think he ever accepted that he was dying, but I talked to his doctor who said my dad might be able to make it to Christmas. That was my expectation as we set out on our drive that late summer morning.

It turned out that Dad was in great spirits that day. He was moving better than he had been in weeks. This gave me a false sense of hope that he had turned the corner with his recent struggles and that he'd be this way for weeks.

Our first stop that morning was at a cousin's house to check out their new barn, and then we visited a gentleman who often sold my dad tractors. (That was my father's hobby, collecting and restoring old tractors.)

It was one of the best Saturday mornings of my life, and my optimism increased for a fall filled with similar drives through the countryside. We finished off with a trip to the local burger drive-in where my dad wanted to pick up a couple of milkshakes (that's about all he could tolerate eating at this stage).

Once we arrived home, he went to lie down, and I went out to the mall to buy him a new TV. I had my eye on a nice big 40-inch flat screen that would keep him entertained throughout the night when he couldn't sleep.

When I arrived home with his gift, his condition had already started to change. He wasn't really in the mood to watch TV and just wanted to sleep. That was fine, and we agreed upon another drive in the morning.

But he never did get a chance to use the new television set.

The next morning he woke up at 6am with severe abdominal pain. I brought him to the hospital where he was admitted, rushed to intensive care and placed on mind-fogging pain medications. We never did have another comprehensible conversation after that, and he passed away just two days later. Fortunately, my mother was able to get in contact me with at my home in Toronto, and I raced back to the hospital with fifteen minutes to spare so I could see my father one more time.

During the subsequent funeral home visitation for my father, I recounted this story over and over again to those who came to pay their respects.

My aunt nodded her head and explained this 'great day phenomenon' is a common occurrence. For some reason, many terminally ill people have a short-term revitalization for a day just before death.

They perk up, they move with ease unknown to them for months. They are alert, even chipper. They give optimism to their friends and family, and one more chance to visit with the person everyone used to know.

They lived like they were dying.

They took advantage of whatever the source of energy it is to give everyone one last memory. They gave one last glimpse of all the great days that had come before.

It happened for my friend Rob with his mother, and it happened on that sunny Saturday in September for me.

Whatever the source of my father's vitality that day, it gave me one last important memory to hold onto – to remember what really matters in life.

Listen, I hope you're in the greatest of health, but I also hope that you are taking time for what really matters in your life.

Our minutes are not best spent surfing over to another news website, or watching another television show, or arguing on the Internet.

How we spend our time is the most important decision we will make in our lives. What we do with each minute of every day determines our legacy, what our children will remember, and what we will leave behind.

Live every day with purpose. Live every day according to your mission and your plan. Have a vision for what you want to accomplish, and act in congruence with it.

Love deeper, speak sweeter, and give the forgiveness you've been denying.

Live passionately, live honestly, and live the best life that you can.

The Goals!!!

I have SEVEN DAYS LEFT to fund Kobiphysics on kickstarter.com. I need you to pledge at LEAST a dollar today! Come on! Don't let me down.

I'm reposting an article from my favorite newsletter, written by Michael Masterson. I've read it several times and can a test to his methods of goal setting. Enjoy! AND PLEDGE!

One More Thing Before Setting Your Long-Term Goals: Figure Out Your Core Values

By Michael Masterson

Before you can jump feet first into master planning your life, you have one more job to do: Figure out what's really important to you.

Most people you meet on the street don't like their jobs, are unhappy with their family life, and want more money. They believe that if they could just do this or that, everything would be better.

Winning the lottery would make it all okay. At least that's what they think. But the truth is otherwise. Unless you live your life according to your core values, no success will be enough to bring you joy.

So before you attempt to set your goals, you have to spend 15 minutes figuring out your core values. What do I mean by core values? I mean the feelings you have about good and evil that are buried deep within your heart.

What does goal setting have to do with core values? It's all about insuring your long-term happiness. If you set goals that contradict your core values, you will wake up one day and say, "I did everything I said I wanted to do. But so what?"

You don't want to end up being yet another highly successful but fundamentally miserable person – a fate so common it's become a cliche. Here's how to make sure that doesn't happen...

Begin by imagining a funeral. It is taking place in an elegantly appointed room. The room is full of friends and family members who have assembled to talk about the deceased. You look around. You begin to recognize faces. "Who is the deceased?" you wonder. You look at the casket. Good God, it's you!

So what are the people at your funeral saying about you?

Imagine specific people: a parent, a sibling, a neighbor, a business associate, and even a stranger. Don't be vague about this. Think about individual, real people. And imagine them making very specific statements.

It's not enough to imagine your nephew saying something like, "She was a generous woman." You need to imagine a second, qualifying sentence, such as, "She always sent me expensive birthday presents."

And be honest. Don't sugarcoat the pill. Say it like it is. For example, your next door neighbor might be saying, "I thought he was a very inconsiderate person. He never picked up the mess when his dog crapped on my lawn."

Imagine everything the people at your funeral could truthfully say about you – and then think about the way their words make you feel.

If you don't feel good, it means that, in those relationships at least, you are not living your life according to your core values.

Now, for every negative statement you just imagined, ask yourself, "What would I like this person to be saying about me?" The answer to that question will reveal your core values for that particular relationship.

The goal of this exercise is to create a set of about a dozen sentences. Each sentence will be a statement that indicates what you think is important in a particular area of your life.

Let's say you imagined someone saying, "He was always struggling to make ends meet." That statement would make you feel bad, right? So then you imagine what you would like that person to say about you, and you might come up with, "He struggled for a while and then everything changed. He became very successful and died a wealthy person." If that statement makes you feel good, it's reasonable to say that acquiring wealth is a core value for you. And you would write it down like this: "I believe that financial success is a valuable and admirable accomplishment."

Got it?

Negative Statement: "He was always struggling to make ends meet."

Positive Statement: "He struggled for a while and then everything changed. He became very successful and died a wealthy person."

Core Value: "I believe that financial success is a valuable and admirable accomplishment."

I recommend that you shoot for about a dozen statements, because you want to address all the major areas of your life:
Your health values
Your wealth values
Your self-improvement (personal) values
Your social happiness values
Why?

Because your core values should determine your goals. And your goals have to be comprehensive.

Most goal-setting programs are not comprehensive. They focus on just one thing. Making more money. Or losing weight. Or being happy (whatever that means). Setting such singular goals can sometimes be effective if you have the flexibility in your schedule to focus on them. But most people don't. And that creates a problem. They start out enthusiastically and make progress for a while. But before long, life's many urgencies push their way in. Good habits are neglected. Bad habits return. Before long, the goal is abandoned.

You are going to avoid that very common problem by considering the full spectrum of your life – not just your health or your wealth but also your hobbies, personal relations, social obligations, and so on.

Here's what you should do now:
Take out a piece of paper and divide it into four boxes.
At the top of those boxes, write Health, Wealth, Self-Improvement, and Social Happiness.
Inside each box, write down statements in that category that you would like to have said about you at your funeral.
For example...

Under Health:
"He was the fittest 80-year-old I ever saw."
"He could run a mile in eight minutes."
"I once saw him lift up a car by its bumper."
Under Wealth:
"Of all the people who graduated from Riverdale High School in 1972, she turned out to be the wealthiest."
"She had a huge mansion in Laguna Beach."
"She left $4 million to charity when she died."
Under Self-Improvement:
"He was the best chess player I ever knew."
"He was also a published poet."
"He knew more about home decorating than Martha Stewart."
Under Social Happiness:
"She was the world's kindest mom."
"She was also a very generous friend."
"She was a strong supporter of breast cancer research."
Write down at least two such statements in each of the four categories. The purpose of writing them down is twofold: to fix them in your mind, and to have something specific you can refer to later.

You will be referring to these core values many times in the coming years. They should be a source of continuous inspiration. Treat them seriously. They are the crux of your master plan.

Jason's Letter to the Kids

Ten days left to meet my goal on Kickstarter.com - and it ain't over til what... the slim girl struts? Something like that... Right?

It's not everyday that you run across a project like Kobiphysics. You're not going to see the formula for Archemedes' lever in too many paintings, and if you do it will be inspired by Kobiphysics. This duplicit project is for the right and left hemispheres of the brain.

You never know, Kobiphysics could someday be as famous as Picasso's "Guernica" and "Blue Nude." Be a part of it. Help me reach the $2500 goal by clicking here.

The letter that I'm posting is written by Jason Leister. He is an internet entrepreneur, and has written this to his young children. I thought it was moving and wanted to share it with you. Maybe you'd like to share it with someone else, perhaps even your own children. Enjoy.

A Letter to My Kids


By Jason Leister


Dear Kids,

I'm taking the time to write this to you today, years before there's a chance that you'll ever read it.

One of my reasons for doing this is simply because I want to affirm some things that I see you doing and some of the ways you are being before you forget them.

But also, I want to give you an example of how life is a never-ending journey that is filled with shades of gray.

So, although you're not quite ready to hear me talk about all of the challenges in my life, hopefully what follows will help you understand that no one has it all figured out... even your dad.

And that's OK.

Part I: Who You Are – What You Want

When I started out in business, I was missing some key ingredients.

I didn't know much about being an entrepreneur (I had just quit my job and decided to go out on my own. If I teach you right and you decide my suggestion is right for you, hopefully, you'll never have a job, so this won't be an issue) and I lacked confidence in myself.

But most importantly, I lacked a clear understanding of who I was and what I wanted.

I don't blame anyone for that but myself. It was pretty much my way of surviving I imagine. A way to avoid conflict and to ensure that I didn't ruffle any feathers.

If you don't shine too brightly, there's less of a chance of sticking out and calling attention to yourself.

So that's where I want to begin, with the whole idea of who you are and what you want.

It's funny that this is even an issue for me at 33, because right now, at your age, you are very, very clear about WHO you are and what you want.

I'm writing to you to tell you never to forget that.

Just a word of warning...

As you grow up, people around you might react to your clarity in a variety of ways.

To some, your ability to be clear and to say exactly what you want will make them uncomfortable. It might make some angry.

Please don't listen to them. Their lives are the way they are, in part, because they aren't able to clearly articulate what they want.

This lack of ability creates a lot of suffering in the world.

I will do my best to steer you around it now that I understand how it works.

Two of the keys to living a full life are to understand who you are and to be clear about what you want.

Everything else flows from that.

Part II: How to Become Successful

I used to think that in order to become a successful businessperson, I had to become more like successful business people.

So I read a lot of books about other people.

I read about Carnegie... I read about Bill Gates... I read about Felix Dennis...

The books I read were packed with pages and pages of "how to do it" information and stories of how others became successful.

Little did I know at the time that I was walking in the opposite direction of success.

Instead of learning how to be more like someone else, my focus should have been on learning how to become a more effective version of me.

In business, there's this idea of the unique selling proposition. In a nutshell, it's how what you have to offer is different (and therefore better) than anything else out there.

Being you... thinking the way you think... doing things the way you do them... your take on the world....

That's your USP. It's built in. Those are your competitive advantages.

But if those are not well developed, because you have not taken the time to develop them, then those differences are hardly noticeable at best, and completely hidden at worst.

This will work against you, because there will be no obvious reason for people and opportunities to flock to you over another.

You will be competing against the herd and your journey will be harder than it needs to be.

So despite what you might read in books, I recommend that you do become a pioneer.

After all, there's really no other way to be successful as you.

You're the only one living your life. So you are a pioneer whether or not you like it.

The only question is how effective you'll be.

How do you measure success?

I can't tell you that because that's a decision that only you can make.

For me, success means that I'm a better version of myself today than I was yesterday.

Maybe that will work for you. Maybe not.

I'm probably on a very different journey than you are on, so please figure this out for yourself.

Just listen... you'll hear the answer.

Part III: Money

You'll hear a lot of stories about money as you grow up.

Some will say it's good.

Others will say it's evil.

Still others will say it's OK as long as you only have enough... not too much.

Here's my advice: They're all lying.

Money has no meaning.

So when you hear people arguing about it... when you hear them say it's good to have it... when you hear them say it's bad to have it...

Please just ignore all of them.

They are wrong.

Money is energy. It flows to people who understand it.

It flows away from people who do not.

Don't listen to the stories about money, just watch what it does and watch how it moves.

Here are facts:

As I write this, money is required to do things in the world.

Want to go to Italy and live there for 6 months?

You need money.

Needing money is not bad...

Needing money is not good...

Needing money just is.

Be OK with that.

But my recommendation is to develop a deep understanding of how it works. That way you can use it as a tool to live your life, instead of being like most people who use up their life working for it.

If you want to create a lot of it... go ahead.

If you want to exist with little of it, that's your choice.

If you have other plans, pursue them, just don't forget Part I of my letter.

You see, money isn't evil.

Wanting money isn't evil.

Going out of your way to get money isn't evil.

It's all a story. Someone else's story.

The only thing that matters in life is your story. That's why you're here.

You're here to write your own story.

Part IV: Know What You Stand For

In order to attract to yourself the people, the experiences and the opportunities that will make your life full, you have to shine a bright light out into the world.

Its message cannot be mixed, uncertain or unclear.

When the message you send out into the world based on who you are, what you do and what you offer is clear and powerful, you will attract just about anything you want.

But to do that, you have to know what you stand for. Of course, this list will change over time as you grow, but my hunch is that it will not change very much.

Just to give you an example of what I'm talking about, I'm going to give you my list below. Please don't let any of these items make their way onto your list word for word.

You have your own list to make.

Again, if I've done my job well by the time you read this, you'll already know your list without giving it a whole lot of thought.

What I Stand For
•I stand for being real. For being who you are no matter what everyone says about it. Being anything else is living a lie. And it will kill you on the inside far before you die on the outside.
•I stand for looking out for my own best interest. If I choose to help others, that is my choice to make. For helping others is a gift you give, not something you are forced to do.
•I stand for power. Not the loud strong arm way of acting people see on the outside, but the quiet power that exists on the inside. It's this power that you use to create anything you want in your life.
•I stand for taking 100% responsibility for my life. This applies to the good the bad and the ugly. 100% responsibility means no exceptions.
•I stand for living my life how I choose to live it, provided I do not tread on the freedoms of others' ability to do the same.
In the end, the best advice I can give you is this:

Be true to who you are and take one step at a time. There's no rush.

I wish you the best of luck on your journey,

Dad

A Message From the Lemon Stand

This 2011 essay I reposted today is by Clayton Makepeace (I don't know if that's his real last name but isn't it a cool one...). He takes us on a ride through the past and show us how to turn this economic roller coaster into a thrilling ride rather than a vehicle of death.

REMINDER: I have only ELEVEN DAYS LEFT to make my goal on Kickstarter.com for Kobiphysics: An Art Show. Please pledge today, because every dollar counts. Click here to make your pledge.

Time to Turn Lemons Into Lemonade!
By Clayton Makepeace

So let me tell you a true story...

The year was 1976, and life was NOT good in America. And it wasn't just because disco was king and we suddenly found ourselves sporting silly-looking leisure suits.

America's name was being dragged through the dirt worldwide. In the preceding 24 months, Richard Nixon had resigned in disgrace and Saigon had fallen to the Vietcong.

Our new president, Gerald Ford - the only man in history to serve both as vice president and president of the United States without winning a single election - was proving himself to be an affable dunce.

Our nation was still reeling from the effects of a vicious two-year recession. Unemployment was actually worse than it is today: Nearly 8% of our workforce was out of work.

As if to add insult to injury, inflation rates - our cost of living - had soared more than 17% in the preceding 24 months. Our money had lost nearly one-fifth of its buying power in just two years - and our president's only solution was the idiotic proposal that we all wear lapel pins proclaiming "WIN" ("Whip Inflation Now").

Then, just when most investors thought things couldn't get worse... you guessed it: Things got worse.

Unsurprisingly, given the laundry list of woes just cited, millions of Americans were eager for "change." So in November of 1976, they elected Jimmy Carter as the 39th president of the United States. And just to make sure the new president would have no problem getting his economic programs passed into law, they also preserved his party's majority in both houses of Congress.

Now you'd expect any fiscally conservative entrepreneur to be deeply worried... even depressed... about the future at a time like that. But four men - Howard Ruff, Tom Phillips, Bob Kephart, and Jim Blanchard - were not depressed.

Instead, they rolled up their sleeves and laid the groundwork for what would soon be massive personal fortunes.

Because instead of obsessing over our country's massive economic problems or fixating on how the new administration's policies would only make matters worse, these four pioneers saw a huge opportunity.

First, they recognized that, between Nixon's corruption and Ford's economic incompetence, millions of people had lost faith in Washington's ability to do anything right.

They saw that millions of investors were even more alarmed over the new administration's economic plans.

They believed that many investors had come to the conclusion that Washington couldn't be trusted with the economy - and that the ONLY way to save their wealth would be to take matters into their own hands.

And they knew that those investors would gladly pay for leadership to help them protect and grow their wealth - to survive and prosper despite all the harm the government would surely inflict on the economy in the years ahead.

They were right on all counts. Within four years, inflation rates had tripled. The Prime Rate - the "preferred" interest rate that only the highest quality borrowers get - had hit 21%. The Dow had declined 20%. And the U.S. had sunk into yet another recession.

And in those years, Howard Ruff's Ruff Times... Jim Blanchard's Gold Newsletter... Bob Kephart's Inflation Survival Letter... and Tom Phillips's Pink Sheet on The Left... grew to become Blanchard Coin & Bullion... KCI Communications... Phillips Publishing International... and well, The Ruff Times, which, at its height, boasted 180,000 paid subscribers.

More to the point: Each of our four heroes amassed a personal fortune that ran into the tens of millions of dollars - in some cases, into the hundreds of millions.

The Moral of the Story:

In every crisis, there is opportunity.

The greater the crisis, the greater the opportunity.

It's true that this is the greatest economic crisis this country has suffered in nearly 80 years. It's also true that it will get worse no matter what President Obama does. And it's true that some of the greatest opportunities that entrepreneurs, marketing execs, and copywriters have seen in decades are hidden within this crisis.

Mark my words: Over the next few years, you will see companies that find and mine those opportunities positively explode in size and profitability. You will see vast new fortunes made by those who discover ways to help people survive and thrive.

But you can be sure that those new multimillionaires are NOT wasting a moment obsessing over whether or not it was Bush's recession or Obama's depression.

Instead, they're thinking about products and services they can offer people who need leadership to get their companies, families, and themselves through the challenging days ahead.

So What Does Really Matter?

My boyfriend, whom I haven't seen in almost a year, is in town and so I most likely won't get a whole heap of writing done, but I still wanted to share with my readers. So for the next several days, I'll be doing what I've been doing for the last few, reposting essays I find inspirational. Literature I think might have a gem or two tucked away in the pockets of the words of wiser women and men.

Keeping up with the trend, I must also remind you that I have 12DAYS LEFT to raise the funds for Kobiphysics. Everyone has an opportunity to take part in this, yet so many put it off, or assume that someone else will get it done. If you're reading this, and you haven't donated even one dollar, please stop right now, go to Kobiphysics on Kickstarter.com and pledge. It will take two or three minutes. Once you're done, come back and finish reading this post.

This essay titled, "The Only Thing That Really Matters," is by Alex Green the author, The Secret of Shelter Island: Money and What Matters, and Beyond Wealth. Enjoy.

The Only Thing That Really Matters


By Alex Green


Why do some folks look back on their lives and say they wouldn't change much? Or anything?

Is there a formula? Some mix of love, work, habits, or attitudes that offers the best chance of a well-lived life?

Researchers at Harvard have been examining this question for 72 years by following 268 men who entered college in the late 1930s.

Their discoveries might surprise you.

Just listen to Dr. George Vaillant. Since 1967, the Harvard Medical School professor has dedicated his career to the "Grant Study." (It was named after its patron, the department-store magnate W.T. Grant.)

Vaillant's specialty is the comprehensive study of a small number of people over a long period of time.

His subjects were never a representative sample of society. They were all young men from relatively privileged backgrounds.

Yet Vaillant's findings offer profound insights into the human condition. They have universal applications. And they illuminate the one factor that correlates most highly with a positive life assessment in old age.

So let's take a closer look...

From the beginning, the Grant Study was meant to be exhaustive. The researchers assembled a team that included medical doctors, physiologists, psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, and anthropologists.

Participants were monitored, interviewed, and studied from every conceivable angle. That included their eating and drinking habits, exercise, mental and physical health, career changes, and financial successes and setbacks.

They were subjected to general aptitude tests and personality inventories, and were required to provide regular documentation.

Many of the men achieved dramatic success. Some became captains of industry. One was a bestselling author. Four ran for the U.S. Senate. One served in a presidential cabinet. And one – JFK (we now know) – was president. (His files have been sealed until 2040.)

Some of the subjects were disappointments, too. Case number 47, for example, literally fell down drunk and died. (Not quite what the study had in mind.)

Most of the participants remain anonymous. (Although a few, like Ben Bradlee, the long-time editor of The Washington Post, have identified themselves.)

Over the last four decades, the lives of the Grant men were Vaillant's personal and professional obsession. In his book Adaptation to Life, he writes, "Their lives were too human for science, too beautiful for numbers, too sad for diagnosis, and too immortal for bound journals."

Yet more than 70 years of data and enabled Vaillant to reach some broad conclusions.

He found seven major factors that predict healthy aging, both physically and psychologically: education, stable marriage, healthy weight, some exercise, not smoking, not abusing alcohol, and "employing mature adaptations." (Vaillant believes social skills and coping methods are crucial in determining overall satisfaction.)

However, his most important finding was revealed in a 2008 interview. He was asked, "What have you learned from the Grant Study men?"

Vaillant's response: "That the only thing that really matters in life are your relationships to other people."

The Grant Study confirms what the wisest have always known. That a successful life is not about the grim determination to get or have more. Nor is it about low cholesterol levels or intellectual brilliance or career accomplishments.

It's about human connections: parents, siblings, spouses, children, friends, neighbors, and mentors.

Without them, life quickly loses its flavor, whatever material successes we enjoy.

Look back at your life. You'll almost certainly find that the most significant moments were births, deaths, weddings, and celebrations.

Your most profound moments? When you touched others. Or they touched you.

In times of suffering – loss, sickness, death – it is not prescriptions, formulas, or advice we seek. It is the healing presence of another.

When we forget this – when we think only of ourselves – we choke the source of our development.

Real meaning comes from taking care of those you love, letting them know how you feel.

Fortunately, we have countless opportunities to give a bit of ourselves each day through a thoughtful act, a word of appreciation, or a sense of understanding.

As Dr. Vaillant concludes, true success "is more about us than me."

Time: Manage Wisely

FOURTEEN DAYS! FOURTEEN DAYS! FOURTEEN DAYS! Kobiphysics still needs your help for funding and guess how many days we have to meet our goal?

“Kobiphysics” is an art show that is her study of the study of physics on a formulaic and artistic level. It merges one of her painting styles with formulas developed by ancient and modern physicists.

Help fund this project by clicking here.

Also, enjoy this repost of Craig Ballantyne's essay on time management. Some of us REALLY need to take notes. Don't worry, I won't say any names...

How to Overcome Overcapacity


By Craig Ballantyne


Back when I was 13 years old, working away for $3.10 per hour at the local garden center, one of my tasks was to take the empty flats (the plastic container in which you get your petunias) and stack them up in an old warehouse until they were needed again the next spring.

Of course, the old warehouse (that we called, 'the barn') was already overflowing with flats, pots, boxes of Christmas decorations, soil, tools, and even tractors. It was already over capacity. Somehow, I still managed to cram in another stack of flats in a dark corner. But it was far from optimal.

This is also how we treat our minds, and as a result our work and relationships suffer.

We cram our mental faculties full of information, appointments, deadlines, commitments, ideas, and even "bucket lists". We end up giving half-hearted attention to a laundry list of activities instead of sustained, quality attention to fewer, more important objectives. Our careers, stress levels, relationships, and health all suffer.

As I discovered back when I was 13, the real problem wasn't trying to cram more stuff into an already disorganized space. Oh no, the real problem came later when you tried to find things and extract them efficiently.

Likewise, the real problems in our minds arise when it comes to giving focus and attention to problems that matter. When we have half-heartedly committed to a dozen people, activity, committees, events, fundraisers, and groups, all of them suffer, particularly the projects that demand our greatest focus.

It's time for a politically incorrect solution to dealing with the overcapacity in our lives.

Recently two friends and business colleagues emailed me to set up a phone call to explain his their new businesses and how I could partner with them.

I thought about scheduling calls with each of them as both opportunities were interesting and each could be successful for us and beneficial for the people we would help. But each call would need to fit between my deadlines for ETR, Financial Independence Monthly, my fitness business, and the Underground Online seminar, without cutting into the time I have dedicated for my family or health and fitness routine. The call would also need to revolve around my travel schedule.

As I thought about finding space in my schedule and in my mind for the extra responsibilities that these new opportunities would bring, my head exploded.

Boom.

Maple syrup-glazed Canadian brains everywhere. Have mercy on my poor assistant who will need to scrape out my grey matter from between the keys on my laptop.

Okay, my head didn't explode. But it FELT like it was going to explode. My anxiety and blood pressure rose just thinking about trying to shove another opportunity into my already full to the brim mental warehouse.

So I said, "No, thank you, I'm sorry." I went on to explain why I just could not get involved in any additional projects right now. Here's what I wrote.

"I apologize, but I don't have the mental capacity to give this conversation and your opportunity my full attention and preparation. As a business owner, I'm sure you'll understand how we are being pulled in many directions, so you know where I'm coming from. I appreciate your interest in sharing this with me, however at this time I am fully committed to other projects and people."

It felt great to say this. It felt even better to know that the strained attention I have for my current list of projects would not be diluted any further. And while there's still a lot of work to do on cutting out more unnecessary tasks from my day, saying "No" to random opportunities that come my way is a start to reducing mental clutter.

The politically incorrect truth is this: You have to stand up for yourself. Listen, you don't have time to talk to everyone about every single one of their problems. You can't fix the world. Of course, you should certainly decline the invitations politely, but at some point you have to say no.

As much as you want to help everyone, as much as you want to jump into every new project and opportunity that comes along, you must remember that you have a limit on your mental capacity for quality work, meeting deadlines, and dealing with people.

All of these decisions are to be made with a big picture goal in mind. You want to unclutter your brain so that it able to deliver focused attention on major projects. Avoid having your attention diluted by multi-tasking or chasing every shiny new object that comes your way.

On an even bigger scale, remember that every decision you make to get involved in a new project takes time away from other aspects of your life.

With each new opportunity, ask yourself this: What are you willing to sacrifice from your current life in order to insert this new opportunity into your limited mental capacity?

Each time I am tempted to overindulge my desire to be involved in every exciting new opportunity that comes my way, I remind myself to review Kekich Credo #2 that states:

"Cherish time, your most valuable resource. You can never make up the time you lose. It's the most important value for any productive happy individual and is the only limitation to all accomplishment. To waste time is to waste your life. The most important choices you'll ever make are how you use your time."

For all of us, no matter how much we want to take on everything that comes our way, eventually something has to give. We can either take control and choose what gets cut, or we can find out the hard way through experience as to what part of our lives ends up suffering.

Make the choice. Reduce capacity. Do fewer things well rather than a lot of things half-heartedly. Eliminate the demand on your already strained systems, and give more focus and attention to the priority projects in your life that will make the biggest difference.

Viva New Lessons From Old Vegas

Ladies and gentlemen! We have 16 days! Yes! Only sixteen days left to take advantage of the opportunity, to be able to whisper in the ears of movers and shakers at cocktail parties and network gatherings, letting them know you are part of the buzz. Part of the magic and history behind Kobiphysics: An Art Show. Please give and help make this event sensational. Go to Dramaticpause.net for details.

Today, this essay by Robert Ringer is a bit of a history lesson on old Las Vegas. It intrigued me because earlier this month, I bought the French edition of Vogue for my daughter's birthday, and the entire issue is dedicated to Las Vegas. No coincedences right? So there must be some gem to be garnered from the lessons from Vegas.

The essay is targeting entrepreneurs, but I believe everyone can get a little something out of this one. Enjoy.

More on Taming Dinosaurs


By Robert Ringer


Are you old enough to remember Las Vegas? I'm not talking about today's Las Vegas – tract homes thrown up like mud huts with tile roofs ... traffic jams that rival those in New York, Chicago, and L.A. ... and giant gaming corporations that are in total control of anything and everything that goes on there.

When I refer to Las Vegas, I'm talking about the original Las Vegas – the one where men wore coats and ties and women wore fine dresses in the casinos and hotel restaurants. In those days, if you wanted to sit in the front row to see a puffy Elvis perform in his Col. Sanders outfit, you slipped the maitre d' fifty bucks and were immediately ushered in and taken to a stage-side table. If you liked a touch of class with your corruption, Vegas was the place to be.

Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Sammy Davis Jr. would make surprise appearances at each other's shows, blowing smoke rings, sipping booze, and spontaneously yukking it up on stage. Talk about the good old days – Vegas in the sixties, seventies, and early eighties was the embodiment of that phrase.

Then, along came a young upstart, Steve Wynn, who broke up the party. Many credit Howard Hughes with the corporatization of Las Vegas, but the reality is that Hughes was so drugged out in the late sixties that he probably thought he was still in Nicaragua while lying in his bed on the top floor of the Desert Inn Hotel.

Wynn, however, knew exactly what was going on in Sin City, and he had a vision of a very different kind of Las Vegas – a rigidly corporate desert oasis structured for the masses. The son of a compulsive gambler, the Baltimore native somehow negotiated his way into owning a piece of the Golden Nugget in seedy downtown Las Vegas.

After converting the property into a luxury hotel, Wynn mounted a full-scale attack on the Las Vegas Strip itself. He opened The Mirage in 1989, and followed that in 1993 with the Treasure Island right next door. Then, in 1998, he went to the head of the class – as in first-class – and built every socialist's worst nightmare, The Bellagio, a structure so sumptuous that even Saddam would have been happy to count it among his palaces.

The paintings in The Bellagio's art gallery cost more than it cost to build an entire Vegas hotel in the good old days. But long before he built The Bellagio, Wynn had already succeeded in forcing the gaming industry in Vegas to conform to his corporate-structure model.

Once he landed on the Strip, it took him just a few short years to eliminate the old maitre d' bribery system and replace it with tightly controlled theaters where people were given only one choice: Buy a ticket for a specific seat or stay outside. Worse, he turned Vegas into a come-one, come-all town – "Bring your paycheck, and preferably as much of your dwindling savings as possible, and your whole family is welcome."

The coats and ties are now a distant memory. In their place are sloppy fitting Abercrombie & Fitch T-shirts made in Pakistan, even sloppier khaki shorts made in the Philippines, and an army of fast-food-bloated bodies parading around in them.

This army consists of everyday Americans who part with most, if not all, of their money inside the casinos, then wander aimlessly up and down the Strip in search of fun that doesn't exist. Funny how having your last dollar extracted from your wallet seems to take the enjoyment out of everything.

In 2000, Wynn sold his Mirage Resorts group of hotel casinos to MGM Resorts International and became a billionaire. In case you aren't familiar with who the big players are in Vegas, MGM's largest shareholder (through his Tracinda Corp.) is ninety-three-year-old multibillionaire Kirk Kerkorian, who has made Howard Hughes' hotel-buying spree in the late sixties look like a game of monopoly.

What Wynn accomplished in a town where Bugsy Siegel and The Mob once called the shots is about as easy as taming a dinosaur. He got his foot inside the door through his minority stake in the Golden Nugget. Then – slowly, at first – he started to manipulate the entire industry to his way of thinking.

I don't know whether Wynn began with a grandiose plan to change the way Vegas operates, or if events just sort of unfolded for him as things went along. But, either way, like Steve Riggio of Barnes & Noble fame, he proved that every industry is vulnerable to resourceful entrepreneurs. Wynn's success in bending the Desert Establishment to his way of thinking was a remarkable entrepreneurial achievement.

Which brings me to you. Are the companies at the top of your industry arrogant and lethargic? My guess is that they are. If so, think about going against the grain and doing things differently – or, even better, exactly the opposite of the way the big guys have been doing them for years. But don't spend too much time thinking about it. Instead, take action. Move quickly, quietly, and relentlessly, and you may be surprised to discover just how vulnerable the major players in your industry are.

Bill Gates snuck up on IBM and the rest of the computer industry. Google snuck up on Microsoft. Facebook now seems to have its sights set on Google. And, at this very moment, there are young dinosaur tamers working out of their home offices and plotting how to tame Facebook.

Pretty exciting century we're living in, to say the least. Be sure to make it a point not to miss out on getting in on the excitement.

Supportive Folk

Monday is here gosh darn it – and the possibilities for the week are endless. I would like to invite all of my readers to be a part of something great. Something historic. Something magnetic. Help Kobiphysics: An Art Show make the $2,500 goal. Even a dollar counts and is appreciated. Go to: http://dramaticpause.net/news.htm. Then, tell your family and friends about it!

Today I’m reposting an essay by ETR’s fitness guru, Craig Ballantyne. This essay reminds me of the old cliché: “Birds of a feather flock together.” Enjoy your week.

How to Find Good People in Your Life
By Craig Ballantyne

This is one of the most important articles I could ever write for you.

Recently we had a discussion on my Facebook page about whether or not it was difficult to find good, positive, supportive people in your life.

Frankly, I don't believe it is hard if you are willing to stand up for what you believe in, live in a way that is congruent with your beliefs, and put some effort into looking.

Who you associate with makes all the difference in your life. I once heard the incredible speaker, Dr. Nido Qubein, describe the impact of your social network using the example of the Koi fish. "The Koi fish grows in proportion to its environment. If you keep it in a pail of water, it grows only 2 inches. But if you let loose in the wild it can grow up to 2 feet," Dr. Qubein explained. So are you like the Koi fish that has been kept in a pail? Is your environment and social network stifling your growth?

If you believe this to be so, then Dr. Qubein has a suggestion for you, "Make a list of the 10 people you spend the most time with and your top 5 goals and top 5 values. Compare the lists. Are the people you spend the most time with congruent with your values and goals? If not, you might be held back by this association."

You need to spend more time with positive people and in a positive environment. In the weight loss world, study after study have shown that when you spend time with others who have the same goals as you, and who are making progress towards these goals, that you too will have greater success.

To help you attract the right people and positive support into your social network, here is the EarlytoRise.com Ultimate Guide to Finding Good People in Your Life

Step 1) Identify what you value in people.

Step 2) Identify where this type of person spends time.

Step 3) Go there.

Whether it is a church, gym, beach, dance lessons, bootcamp fitness class, Chamber of Commerce meeting, local lectures, weekend seminars, weekly group meetings, or a positive Internet forum, you don't meet good people by watching TV...but good people ARE out there. Go forth and find them.

Let this quote give you some inspiration:

"When you take action, particularly bold action, the boundaries of what you believe to be possible (your belief system) expand. Which, in turn, gives you the capacity to consider new ideas, new possibilities, and new concepts that you previously thought to be impossible." – Robert Ringer

Listen, I'm a lucky man.

The people I know and surround myself with, from my best friends from high school to the most inspirational fitness experts in the world to amazing entrepreneurs from all around the world, are people that I've met because I've lived my life with purpose and clarity.

I will not settle for less. I will not live my life according to anyone else's expectations. I get ridiculed, called names, and criticized a lot, but it's not going to stop me from living the way that attracts the RIGHT people into my life.

The decision to do so has been the most important I've made in my life.

That's why I'm surrounded by positive, high-energy people who are always trying to improve themselves, and who support me in my quest to be a better man.

There are my friends Isabel De Los Rios, a woman who has shown hundreds of thousands of people how to eat better (at last check her site has over 208,000 members and over 7744 questions answered on her forum). And she did it by not settling for less and through living by example without fear of what others thought of her.

Another one of my great friends is Bedros Keuilian, who has overcome being a poor immigrant from Armenia, who didn't speak a lick of English in 1980, and who had to "dumpster dive" for expired food to help his family eat. He too lives by example.

Then there are all the men and women in my businesses, from my business partner Matt Smith who challenges me every day to defend my arguments (we have great debates) to my assistant Amy who helps me run the ship here at Turbulence Training.

All of them inspire me, and all were attracted into my life by my decision to live by example. Lead by living by example.

You may have people resist you at first, but they will come around. Many of my best friends from high school resisted healthy living, but many of them now live even healthier than me (but not by much, and we make a great friendly competition out of it).

Live and lead by example. Attract the right people into your life, both in the 'real-world' and on the Internet. Take full responsibility for your social network.

After all, you are responsible for your results in all areas of life. When you accept your results without casting blame and you learn from your mistakes so as to not make the same mistakes again, only then will you achieve what you want and have the right people in your life. That is how you must live and that is why you will succeed.

If what you are doing now is not working, then you must change. Don't rely on doing "normal" things to get extraordinary results, because it doesn't work that way. Normal and average behaviors only get you average results, and those just aren't very good these days.

Many of the great people in my life have found me and my newsletters because I put my mission out there. I was proud of it, and I don't care who disagrees with me. All that matters are the good people who are attracted to the mission of helping others.

Live by example and stay strong.

To be Great: Ignore the Itch.

Twenty days left!!! That's it! I have Twenty days to reach my goal on Kickstarter.com (please click here to help me). The walls are closing in and I'm sweating bullets. Too cliche? Well it's how I feel never-the-less.

Today I'm reposting an essay by Jason Leister about how to become great. I think it's appropriate as we change time and head into a new weekend. Have a great one.

Sticking Around For Greatness


By Jason Leister


I've spent a lot of time in my life looking for something "better."

When I was a musician, I was "looking" for something better in the business world.

When I was in the business world, I was "looking" for something better in the marketing world.

In each subject area, I'd work really hard at the beginning. I'd either have some good success or great success and then BAMO... the bottom would fall out.

The glitz and shine of the new would wear off, or maybe I'd just get bored.

Either way, the result was the same over and over: Things would start to get old and I'd start "looking" again.

I would always approach "greatness" or the start of it anyway, and then run over and start looking for another mountain to climb.

Maybe I was afraid of success, maybe I was afraid of criticism, I don't know. And it doesn't really matter.

The important lesson I (finally) learned is that operating like this is no way to live or run a business.

One, it's tiring as heck.

Two, it's kind of selfish. Because living like that keeps me from making the real breakthroughs in life. The ones that often require many, many days of what I used to consider monotony. Those are the breakthroughs that will really allow me to make an impact on the world.

Making an impact requires excellence. And that comes from doing stuff over and over.

I did that in the music world. I practiced my instrument a lot. Sometimes as much as four hours in a single day. I talk about it like it's a lot, but in the world of a professional musician, that's really nothing.

Whether I practiced 20 minutes or four hours, I wasn't mature enough at the time to continue doing the work when I got bored.

And I have to tell you, I got bored very often. But that's because I was "blind."

I couldn't see the work for what it was - a path to achieving something great for myself and others. Mainly for others.

Instead, I just saw the work as more work, and I didn't have the discipline to do it.

I've grown up a bit since those days.

Now I know that my "work" is developing the discipline to stick around and to keep doing my work.

I do the work even if it's easy. Especially if it's easy. It's easy because I'm good at it. It's easy because it's a gift. A gift I'm supposed to share. And I can always get better... closer to being EXCELLENT.

For me, I think this is the key to success:

Develop the focus and discipline to do the things I'm good at over and over. To become GREAT at them. Not in a robotic lifeless kind of way, but in a more methodical, deliberate and conscious way.

I'm betting that at the end of my life, I'm not going to look back and talk about how much money I made in such little time or anything like that.

But I do imagine that I'll probably look back on my life and ask myself just how many lives I changed and by how much.

So what does this have to do with business?

I think a lot of business owners do the same thing.

In the end, it's easy to devalue and skip over what comes easy for you. After all, there's no struggle in it. There's no "overcoming adversity" in it.

There's no big "I DID it" release when you get to the end.

That's the story line that plays out over and over again in the movies. Man overcomes all odds to achieve success.

That's just not how it happens most of the time. That's not real, it's just a story.

In my experience, "success" is far less exciting than I thought it was going to be.

It reminds me a bit of a business owner I know who told me about a really successful marketing campaign he did once... and then said something like, "Yeah, we never did it again."

Instead of looking for the "right work" my goal now is to do my work the "right way" for me.

And that is to do it like it matters. Because it does.

We're all on this earth to do something or be something. And we all have to figure out what that is.

I think it's easy for those of us that are afflicted with this syndrome called entrepreneurialism to always be striving... always searching for that thing that's going to give us "the rush."

A new marketing method, a new piece of software, a new cutting edge technique...

I know I'm guilty of it.

Instead of executing what I do well on a consistent basis, my focus was always on searching for the new and exciting.

Sure I could generate traffic, sales, clients, readers by sitting down every day and writing something valuable. But hey, did you hear about this new [insert marketing fad of the week]?

We get addicted to the climb instead of addicted to excellence.

Don't discount what you do well just because it's easy for you. Even if it seems too easy or unexciting.

You could be on your way to something great.

And that is what the world needs now more than ever. The world is waiting for you to discover your greatness.

Do your work. Over and over and over again.

Twenty-two Days

As of today, I have 22 days to reach my $2,500 goal on Kickstarter, and I can’t lie, I’m beginning to sweat bullets. Am I working like a mad woman to get the word out? Absolutely. Do I have plenty of time? Absolutely. Does it stop me from panicking over this all-or-nothing pledge drive I’ve created on Kickstarter.com? Not at all.

For the unfamiliar, I will host an art show called, “Kobiphysics: An Art Show,” at the Huntington Beach Central Library in the city of Huntington Beach, on April 27th from 7pm to 8:30pm and the event will be free to the public.

On February 29th, I launched a campaign on Kickstarter .com to help raise funds for the art show so that I don’t go to the “poor house” to try to put it on, to get the bodies there, and to make the experience as engaging, enjoyable, and memorable as I possibly can. Now, however, I have 22 days left to convince people, potential backers, that it a worthwhile event to invest in.

If I don’t make the goal, I get nothing, zero, zilch.
For more info on Kobiphysics: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2111671218/kobiphysics-an-art-show

My latest Kobiphysics video on YouTube: http://youtu.be/DK2at4lSw38

Here’s to sweatbands and good deodorant…

I DON'T WANT TO MAKE THE WRONG CHOICE

This morning, me and a friend of mine (I’ll call her Pearl) were discussing the act of agonizing over small decisions people have to make. Let me explain. My daughter has an audition today for Honor Choir at her school. Last night, before purchasing the sheet music online we had to figure out which key she would be singing in. I told her she should sing it in G but she thought it was too high. She felt more comfortable singing in F flat.

I thought the decision was made. I said, “Okay let me purchase the music in F flat since you’re more comfortable with it. You should sing what you’re comfortable with.”

She said, “Wait! But I thought you wanted me to sing in G? Should I do G instead?”

I said, “What? You just told me it’s too high, so we’ll go with F flat since it’s the lowest key available for this song. Everything else is too high. This should be simple, you’re making this harder than what it needs to be.”

So she screams, “I DON’T WANT TO MAKE THE WRONG CHOICE!”

To me, it seemed so cut and dry, but she seemed to have seen corners, bends and loopholes in all of this.

I said, “This should not have to take twenty years to decide. I’m going to go, and you can decide by yourself which one you want to choose. When you’re ready, you let me know.” Then I walked away.

Do I sound harsh? My friend Pearl said that my daughter sounded just like her. That she often agonizes over the smallest decisions. She described how it paralyzes her at times, unnecessarily, just as it does my daughter.

I informed her that I had more patience with my girl when she was younger, but she’s in high school now and it’s time for her to move beyond this. I am only interested in forward movement. I make decisions after I think about it briefly because I’m always trying to climb ahead. Most of the choices we make are not earth shattering and I’m constantly reminding her of this. In certain situations, there are no “bad” decisions, it’s just a choice, and I’m trying to help her recognize these situations a lot quicker. I find it tragic to waste time dwelling so long on things that, in the grand scheme of things, really don’t matter.

My friend Pearl is 35 and my daughter is 16 and right now they’re both working on recognition of these times when choice is only a pale and frail option. I hope I’m doing enough to help in this process.

There She Blows! A Hump Like A Snow Hill!

You know, I marval at the fact that political candidates can scrape up 10 million dollars in a month. It's fascinating because I'm working like a dog just round up $2500 for my Art show in April (insert shameless plug for "Kobiphysics" on Kickstarter in case someone would like to contribute). I'm learning as I go a long that I won't be banned into the forbidden forest if I ask for money. Who knew I was so shy about it?

Money is a strange and elusive thing sometimes, and there are a lot of folks out there who spend their whole lives chasing it like its Moby Dick. I get it. People want security and in this society the obvious way to it is through finances.

This beautiful Friday, I woke up this morning and played "Happy Birthday Sweet 16" by Neil Sedaka for my daughter and woke her up (because her alarm clock could not) and gave her my humble gifts - to her delight. I know I'm all over the place here, but stay with me... For the last few months I've been agonizing over her milestone birthday because I wanted to make it super special for her. I had the heart but what I lacked were the finances to do the amazing things I wanted for her. What I realized, however, is that my little peach has always been very grateful for my efforts, despite my limited funds, and the pressure of making her 16th birthday "magical" was pressure I was putting on myself. It's such a great relief to be able to let that go.

What I've posted for you is an essay I've read a few times before, but it's a good read - to keep things balanced and remind us that we're not the only one's out there hunting whales and trying to live as lavishly as possible within our limits.

You CAN Live a Rich Life While Building Wealth


By Mark Ford, editor


I grew up relatively poor, the second of eight children. My father earned $12,000 a year as a college professor. As a teenager, I was ashamed of our small house, my hand-me-down-clothes, and my peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches.

I dreamed, literally dreamed, of living like a rich man.

And so, when I got my first job at age nine as a paperboy – and then at 12 as a lackey at the local carwash – I would spend my money on luxuries, like a pair of brand-new Thom McAn shoes.

I worked every chance I got through high school, and then worked two or three jobs during college and graduate school. I spent 80% of my money on necessities: food, clothes, and tuition. But I always spent a bit on little niceties. Even back then, I had the notion that I didn't need to deprive myself now for some better life later.

I tell you this to emphasize a key part of the simple money-management system I've used to generate more than $50 million in wealth...

I don't believe in scrimping severely to optimize savings. I believe you can live a rich life while you grow rich, so long as you are willing to work hard and you are smart about your spending.

Think of the typical earning/spending/saving pattern of most wealth-seekers...

During their 20s, they spend every nickel of their modest income to make ends meet. At that age, it is nearly impossible to put aside money for the future.

During their 30s, their income increases. But this is also when they start a family. Expenses soar. There are more mouths to feed, a "family" car to buy, and the dreaded down-payment on a first house. They manage to save a little during these years, but not nearly as much as they thought they would.

If they work hard and make good career decisions, their income climbs much higher in their 40s and early 50s. They have more money to put aside for the future, but they are also tempted into buying newer cars, nicer clothes, more exotic vacations, and – the biggest wealth-stealer of them all – that dream house.

In their later 50s and 60s, their income plateaus or even dips... and they may have to start shelling out for college tuition. Aware that their retirement funds are being depleted rather than enhanced, they invest aggressively to try to make up the difference.

Finally, sometime in their mid- to late-60s, they realize that they don't have enough money to retire. They have spent almost 40 years working hard and chasing wealth, but they never managed to attain it.

It's sad, but it's the reality for most people. And it is just as true for high-income earners (doctors, lawyers, etc.) as it is for working-class folks.

There are two lessons to be drawn from this: •First, it is very difficult to acquire wealth if you increase your spending every time your income goes up.
•Second, setting unrealistic investing goals means taking greater risks. And taking more risks, contrary to what many pundits say, will almost always make you poorer... not richer.
The truth is, there is only a marginal relationship between how much you spend on housing, transportation, vacations, and toys and the enjoyment you can derive from them.

My spending strategy is simple: Discover your own, less expensive way to live a rich life. By a "rich life," I mean a life free from financial stress, but also filled with things that give you pleasure.

For example, good, restful sleep is essential for a happy life. Ideally, you're going to spend around one-third of your life sleeping. So rather than "pay up" for an expensive car or an expensive necklace, buy a great mattress. By getting a great mattress (which can be had for less than $2,000), you'll sleep as well as any billionaire... and be just as happy.

Your family can be just as happy in a house that costs $100,000 or $200,000 as opposed to one that costs $10 million or $20 million. Likewise, a $25,000 car will get you where you want to go just as well as a car that costs 10 times that amount. There are dozens of ways to live like a millionaire on a modest budget. If you learn those ways, you will have a tremendous advantage over everyone else at your income level.

Make smart spending decisions. Stop thinking that because you're earning more money, you should be spending more. Your future wealth is determined by how much you save and invest, not by how much you spend.

So here's what I'd like you to do: Figure out how much you need to spend every year to live your own personal version of a "rich" life. It might help to spend a few minutes thinking about all the things you truly enjoyed last year. If you are like me, you'll find that almost all the things you enjoy require very little in the way of money. (Those are the true luxuries.)

Keep the biggest wealth-stealing expenses – like your house, your cars, and entertainment – to a necessary minimum. And eschew any expenditure that has a brand name attached to it. Brand names are parasites that gobble up wealth.

Don't nod your head and promise to get to it sometime in the future. Do it today. Estimate, as well as you can, what you need to spend each year to have the life you want.

This is a number you must have firmly in your mind if you intend to be a serious wealth-builder.

This simple system for managing money can work for you if you commit yourself to it. As I said, it's part of the system I used to build a net worth of more than $50 million – and it's still working for me and everyone else I know who has tried it.

So today, spend the time it takes to establish your own approach to "living rich" now... and in the future.