Formula for Success

Today I read the book I bought 2 years ago, 'Your Right to be Rich' by Mal Emery. I just opened randomly at the middle of the page and found something interesting to share here.

According to Mal, there are 4 basic things that we need in order to success:
1. Decide what it is that you want and be specific. Write it down in detail and read it 3 times daily.
2. Believe that you can actually achieve what you've written down and be willing to pay the price.
3. Take action to make it happen!
4. Lastly, the best way to get result is to model someone who already doing what you want to be doing.

These are the things that basically needed for anybody to success in anything they desired. Sound familiar? Yes, I have mentioned some of the points before. And if you go and talk to anybody who are successful, this would be the basic things most of them will explain.

Michael Gerber, the author of best-selling E-Myth once give a talk in a seminar and during his opening speech he mentioned "If you guys have come to hear something new, you're not going to! You see, the problem is you guys ain't doing this sh-t!"

In-fact 98% of people already know this and they lack of step no. 3. I myself have to admit that I have not really there yet at step no. 3. It is not something which is easy, yet it is not difficult either. But most people who is already in the comfort zone will not take any action until the situation become uncomfortable.

So, first of all I need to remind myself to take the first step. How many among us are reading the dream list every day, or every week, or every month?

Delayed Gratification

Have you ever heard of the terms "Good thing comes to those who wait"?

So what is delayed gratification? According to Wikipedia

"Deferred gratification or delayed gratification is the ability to wait in order to obtain something that one wants. This ability is usually considered to be a personality trait that is important for life success. Daniel Goleman has suggested that it is an important component of emotional intelligence. People who lack this trait are said to need instant gratification and may suffer from poor impulse control."
Read more on wikipedia.

How does it work? It is just emotional stuff which if you can conquer the skills, will benefit you a lot. Studies have shown that a person ability of delayed gratification can cause huge success in one's life. The famous experiment was done by Walter Mischel, who invented the marshmallow test. A group of kids were given a marshmallow and they offer another marshmallow if they can wait to eat them for a period of time. Some of the kids just can't resist and ate them while some others can wait, and be rewarded with a double amount of marshmallow. So what happened next, they keep track of these kids a few years later and find out that the person who can wait achieve significant success in their life.

read more at mindhacks
More on the marshmallow experiment, you can read the secret of self-control.

This is how emotions and motivation affect a person. Most of the time people who wanted something in a short period of time will always lose more. Take the 'get rich quick', ah long borrower and briber. They always wanted a short cut to make more profit. But at the end of the day, they are the losers.

On the other hand, people who can wait especially on sure things will always be rewarded more. A simple example is the unit trust or ASB. We know the guaranteed return of ASB, but most of us rather withdraw the cash and spend on some good unnecessary stuff (which is immediate gratification) immediately after we receive the pay-check.

People can make more money from this natural human habit in stocks and bond. When the price goes up, many people with immediate gratification will buy all the stuff expecting a quick return and later losing money. But wise people like Warren Buffet, prefer to invest during a slow economy because it takes time for the economy to recover. But it is surely after the economy going on track, they will make a lot of money.

So why do you think people are spending more stuff when they received their bonus when they know a guaranteed return waiting for them at ASB?
Why most people don't want to involve in business or become an investor?
One word... delayed gratification.

The Japanese and The Fresh Fish Story

This is a good one. I took it from an e-mail forwarded to me by one of my friend.

The Japanese have always loved fresh fish. But the water close to Japan has not held many fish for decades. So to feed the Japanese population, fishing boats got bigger and went farther than ever. The further the fishermen went, the longer it took to bring the fish. If the return trip took more time, the fish were not fresh. To solve this problem, fish companies installed freezers on their boats. They would catch the fish and freeze them at sea. Freezers allowed the boats to go farther and stay longer. Ho wever, the Japanese could taste the difference between fresh and frozen fish. And they did not like the taste of frozen fish. The frozen fish brought a lower price. So, fishing companies installed fish tanks. They would catch the fish and stuff them in the tanks, fin to fin. After a little thrashing around, they were tired, dull, and lost their fresh-fish taste. The fishing industry faced an impending crisis!
But today, they get fresh-tasting fish to Japan .

Ho w did they manage? To keep the fish tasting fresh, the Japanese fishing companies still put the fish in the tanks but with a small shark. The fish are challenged and hence are constantly on the move. The challenge they face keeps them alive and fresh!

Have you realized that some of us are also living in a pond but most of the time tired and dull? Basically in our lives, sharks are new challenges to keep us active. If you are steadily conquering challenges, you are happy. Your challenges keep you energized. Don't create success and revel in it in a state of inertia. You have the resources, skills and abilities to make a difference.

Take a Risk, take a chance. Put a shark in your tank and see how far you can really go!

Value : Who decide

I learn a lesson last week. I have a long chit-chat with one of my good friend and we talk most about financial and life. We share our opinion and thought and I think it's great to exchange view on your opinion with one another.

What he thought me last week?
He asked me a question. If I gave you RM5 and 50c, which one will be more value to you? I am clueless, thinking what is the trick and the message he wants to deliver. Just to get the answer done, I told him RM5 and waited for the answer of the puzzle. Actually you who decide the value. It doesn't mean that the higher the amount, the higher the value. But you yourself decide!

Sound very simple and tricky. But it is relatively true. If you think back, do you think RM10 is a big amount? The same number can give different answer to different people, different situation and different environment. RM3 for a can of coca-cola will sound very expensive at a stall. But when you go to hotel or pub, the value can reach RM10. The hotel maybe located 10 meters away from the stall. So, number is just a number.

Let me give some example from my experience. Last month I had a minor broke period when it near to end of the month. Suddenly somebody gave me RM30 and I find out that RM30 is very valuable to me at that period of time. But if gave me during I received a bonus, do you think I will value the RM30?

Get excited when you receive money. Don't look at the numbers, but if you can get excited even to a very small amount, you are actually attracting it. Don't complain and always be grateful. Than you will attract the good thing coming your way!