How to start living your life....

As I mentioned in the last post, I was going to write about this self- improvement book that I read yesterday. Once again, let me remind you of the title of the book which is “7 Keys to Success”. I read this book yesterday while I was going through this extremely lazy mood. I didn’t really do anything productive yesterday because of this mood, but as the day went on, this book has helped me to realize one thing, that THIS BUSINESS IS FOR ME.

Like I said, whenever I get into these lazy moods, it usually takes me about 3 days to snap out of it. But yesterday, as the day grew on, my mood began to change. I was starting to get excited. And while I was reading this book, I started to figure out why. I was getting excited because I was going to meet a prospect yesterday and present the business opportunity to him.

So, coming back to the book I was reading, it was actually the introduction that caught my attention.

“When I was quite young, someone told me, if you want be really successful, find out what God wants to you to do with your life and then dedicate yourself to achieving it”.

That was the opening statement. At first, I didn’t realize the truth behind this statement. But as I kept on reading, it started to dawn on me, this statement is true.

Let me put it into a different perspective, mine. To me, to know what God wants you to do is quite simple. Find out what it is that you love doing the most. That’s what I did. I looked into myself (not for the first time), and tried to figure out what is it that I liked doing the most. Which part of my adult life did I have the most fun?

And I found it. After I graduated, I was elected into a Student Union post at the University I studied at, the University of Bath in the UK. Part of the responsibilities of this post was to look after the welfare of students. We had a Welfare Officer (another elected post) but my job as Treasurer was to assist her in her welfare programs. I was also supposed to assist other departments in their programs for the benefit of students. And I had lots of fun. I loved doing it.

So after a while, I realized that what I enjoyed about the job wasn’t so much the job itself, but helping people. I derived a different kind of satisfaction whenever a student or a fellow student union officer would come to me with their problems and I managed to help them out. It was fun. The best part, you can see their appreciation on their faces.

But when I came back to Malaysia, like everyone else, I joined the rat race. And bit by bit, i started to forget that I enjoyed doing it. That’s what the rat race does to you. It eats your very essence. Sooner or later you lose sight of your life. Some people were made for that, but not me.

Anyway, the whole point of this post is actually to say this, if you want to be successful, find something you enjoy doing. If you haven’t found it, then look for it that is if you want to be successful both in your career and life.

“It is time for you to fulfil your dream - whatever that may be. That is why you are here on the planet right now. By finding and fulfilling your own unique purpose in life you will be living your life to the full.”

So, my message is, “LIVE LIFE TO THE FULL.”

P/s: If you want a copy of this book, then just send me an email

I finally realized it...

First say to yourself what you would be;
and then do what you have to do.
Epictetus

There are times when I get into this lazy mood and I feel like not doing anything. I guess everybody gets them. You just feel like you don’t want to do anything at all. You wake up feeling like you want to go back to bed. You’ve got to literally force yourself into the shower, get ready and make that long 1 hour drive to work. Then once you reach the office, you switch on the computer, and you feel as if you can’t think. Your mind is blank and you end up staring at a blank screen for about an hour. Eventually, you force yourself to do something, anything, as long as it can be construed as work.

Today was one such day. The difference is, when I woke up this morning and I felt like I wanted to go back to bed, I did. I didn’t have to force myself to shower, get ready or drive to work (I haven’t driven to work in a long time). I didn’t have to do all that. I love this business. I get to do it anytime I want to.

But that’s not the point of this story anyway. So moving on, whenever I get into one of these lazy moods, it would normally take me three days to recover from it. For 3 days, I’d be sitting around without doing anything much, watching TV, eat and sleep. It would take something or someone really, really special to break me out of this mood.

But ever since I started this business, I’ve noticed something different. You see, today I was in a lazy mood since this morning. I woke up at 7.30, and immediately went back to be. Woke up again at 9.30, and even though I was online, I wasn’t doing anything productive for most of the day. I was supposed to set up an appointment with a prospect for this afternoon, which I eventually did at lunch time. I didn’t do much else.

Like I said, under normal circumstances, I would be in this kind of mood for 3 days or more. But just as I was about to go out to meet the prospect that I had arranged to meet earlier on, I saw this message in my inbox from one of my social networking sites. The sender, wanted to know more about the business. So I replied by telling him a few things on the product and I ended the message by giving him my Yahoo Messenger Id.

Next thing I knew, he added me on Yahoo Messenger and started to ask more about the business. He wanted to find out about the compensation plan, which I didn’t have time to explain because of the appointment I already had made (But I promised to email him the plan). As I signed out of Yahoo Messenger, I noticed that my mood had brightened up a bit.

The prospect that I was supposed to meet arrived late. As I was sitting there waiting for him to arrive, I realized that I was starting to get excited. I started to realize that I was excited about the prospect of presenting the business opportunity to someone. I was then that I realized that this business is definitely for me. I used to have some doubts about that. But now, no more doubts. Let me say that again, THIS BUSINESS IS DEFINITELY FOR ME.

Now, I guess you must be wondering why this is important. I’ll explain all this in my next post. You see, the whole morning while I was in my lazy mood, I decided to at least try and do 1 thing that was productive. So I downloaded an e-book from the internet (I was too lazy to read a proper book. E-books are usually shorter and I could finish them within a couple of hours). I found this interesting book entitled “7 Steps to Success”. Now some of you might be going “Not another self help book”. But this book I would say is a bit of an inspiration. All would be explained in my next post.

Research...

Since I’ve returned to the network marketing and internet marketing arena, I’ve been bombarded by a very large amount of emails promoting a program or a product. I’ve tried to get in touch with some of the people that promote these programs or products just to find out a little bit more about them. Not the product or the program, the individual.

Sometimes it amazes me to find out the reasons behind their decision to join the program. Especially here in Malaysia, I find that a lot of people join a program because the person that recruited them, or people above this person has made money in the program. I find that most of the reasons given to me about why a person joined a particular program have nothing to do with the business. These people were not making a business decision, but more of an emotional decision.

Let me put this argument into a different perspective. If you wanted to set up a conventional business, the first thing you would do is RESEARCH. You have to:

1. Research the product, is it a good, high quality product,
2. Research the market, do you have competitors and if you do, what is your advantage over them?
3. Research the consumer or end user, who are they and why are they buying the product and why should they buy from you.
4. Research the returns, find out what is your breakeven point.
5. Research the company selling the product. How long have they been in business. Try to find out if any complaints have been filed against them or any negative comments or press coverage.

These are just some of the more important points. There are a lot of other points you need to research, but these are the more important ones.

The same goes for network marketing and internet marketing. Research the product and the company before you join. The program might offer you a superb compensation plan but what is the product like?

Before I decided to join 4Life Research, I did a lot of research. I wanted to know how good is the product, is it as effective as they claim. Do people know about the product and if they do, what are their opinions about the product. Do they have any competition which of course the answer to that is that they don’t. What about the company, 4Life Research. Have there been any complaints filed against them. Have they had any negative comments or negative press coverage?

Do the research. Take your time to make a decision. Don't just join any program that looks good or looks like it pays well. Research the program. I see a lot of phrases like "join and you make money", "no need to recruit" or "making money in your sleep". All these phrases are coined to make the program or the business look easy. IT'S NOT EASY.

If you want to build a long term sustainable business where you can earn an income for a long time, then do the research. As for me, I don't want to have to start my business all over gain in a couple of years time just because I could "make money in my sleep". I would rather work hard now, and as the business grows, the work load becomed lighter and lighter.

The main reason I joined this business, 4Life Research is because of the product and the company. I could have joined any other company, but none could beat 4Life Research in terms of the uniqueness of the product and the compensation plan. I wanted a business that is sustainable in the long term. Like I said, I don't want to have to start over again in a couple of years time.

I could tell people how great 4Life Research is and how good the product is, but then I would prefer you to do your own research. Only then you would appreciate how much of an opportunity this is. But if you are too busy to do your own research, you can always sign up at my website and I’ll be happy to tell you why this is such a great opportunity.

FIND OUT WHY THIS IS SUCH A GREAT OPPORTUNITY

Going to deeper waters...

"What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything."
- Vincent van Gogh

I got another email from CrossingTheGoal this morning and found it to be more interesting reading. So once again, since I haven’t got a clue what to write today, I thought I might as well rewrite the email and post it to my blog.

The gist of the email is about taking risks in life. You see, most of us live our lives in shallow waters. We go through life just staying in the shallow part of the waters, not having to take risks and eventually, our lives become a daily routine of monotonous activities. We live our lives in a state of boredom and we become content with the direction of our lives.

I remember when we were kids, our teachers and parents would ask us, what do we want to be when we grew up. I know for most guys, their favourite was to become a pilot or an engineer or a doctor (I remember 1 kid in my class said he wanted to be Superman). But as we grew up, like our bodies and our beliefs, our dreams changed too. Some dreamt of being millionaires (I looked this up in Tagged. You’d be surprised at how many people listed “To become a Millionaire” as their dream). Others dreamt of having a comfortable life and a great family.

Most of us started our careers with these kind of dreams. But as time goes by, some of us realize that we will never achieve these dreams if we’re working for other people. So, these few, will break away from the norm, move to deeper waters, where the risk is great but the rewards are justified. It takes a lot of courage to move to deeper waters and face the challenges and the perils thrown at them. Some will not survive. But if you are determined enough, and you work hard enough, you will get through those challenges. You will find that dreams can come true.

I’ve taken up this calling. I’ve decided to move to deeper waters. The path I’ve chosen might not be the path others would choose, but each must follow his own path. If you work hard enough, you are determined enough and you are passionate about your chosen path, then greatness awaits you.

This is my path.

The Story of the Donkey that Fell Down A Hole....

A difficult time can be more readily endured if we retain the conviction that our existence holds a purpose - a cause to pursue, a person to love, a goal to achieve
- John Maxwell

I received this story in my email inbox this morning from CrossingTheGoal. I find it quite interesting and I feel it applies to everyone especially me considering my circumstances and the business that I’m in. Read it, it might apply to you too.

“Once there was a donkey that fell in to an old empty well. The farmer, who owns the donkey, looked at the beast and tried to figure how to get it out of there. Having thought of nothing to get the donkey out of the well, he decided to simply bury his donkey alive!

So the farmer called his neighbors to shovel dirt into the well. At first the donkey got frightened and panicked. After some time the beast realized that if he shakes the dirt of his back, the ground under him gets higher.

He continued to shake the dirt off and step up until the well was full. I will leave to your imagination what the donkey did to the farmer and his neighbourrs when he got out of the well.

Many times we feel life is throwing dirt at us. Problems seem to hit us at all directions. Even when you feel everything is OK, suddenly dirt smacks you in the face.

Sometimes you can even feel the bitterness of the dirt! There are others who not only feel that dirt is being thrown at them, but feel that they are being buried alive. Their problems seem pile to up from one to the next, until their problems are bigger than they are. They feel like all the world’s trash is being poured out on to them.

But we can use this dirt. We can use life’s problems and troubles to produce strength, wisdom, perseverance, patience and other virtues in us that will help us succeed in life. The dirt thrown at you can be use to increase your stature, your being.

We should imitate the donkey. Instead of giving up and letting himself be buried, he shook the dirt of off him. We too should learn to shake our problems and step on it. And like the donkey we will get out of the hole we are in.

St. Thomas Aquinas describes wisdom as the view from the hill top. We can raise our hilltops with whatever life gives or throws at us. The good, bad and even the most painful experiences can be an opportunity for us to grow in wisdom and virtues.

With much dirt under your feet, you have a better view in life. And you will see that the view is awesome up there."

Overcoming Fear

The greatest mistake you can make in life is to continually be afraid you will make one.
- Elbert Hubbard

Emotion affects people in very different ways. All the different types of emotions can be either good for a person or bad for them. The reaction depends a lot on 2 things, the individual concerned and the circumstances under which the emotion was provoked.

Love, Hate, Courage, Fear, Satisfaction, Displeasure and all other emotions will affect us one way or another. Some people will be spurred by love, inspired by it and others will be more relaxed. Some people will express their outrage in anger, others will be withdrawn and hide their true feelings. We all react differently.

Fear, has always been a powerful emotion. They say that in face of fear, people can work miracles. In one case, I heard about, a mother lifted a car on her own fearing for the safety of her child. It is a powerful emotion and in being such a powerful emotion, it is also a dangerous one.

Everyone has something that they fear. I have never met a person who is fearless. When you listen or read about famous legends, warriors from the past, they are described as being fearless. But those great warriors still encountered fear, maybe not on the battlefield, but other in aspects of their lives.

I know some people who have a fear rejection. I myself used to have a fear of rejection. I would be apprehensive when talking to a woman because I was afraid of being rejected. I would wait and wait and wait before I would make a move, but then that would usually be too late. Even when meeting new people, I would not say much to that person because I was afraid that he or she might reject me as a friend. I’ve lived with this fear for a long time.

But now, I’ve overcome that fear. I never thought that by joining the 4Life Research business, I’d be able to overcome this fear. I’ve noticed that everybody who attends the training sessions will find their characters improve in 2 very important areas. Confidence and Fear. I’ve watched my friends’ confidence increase as the weeks go by and their fear reduced. They now have a more confident aura and they face the challenges of building this business head on.

As for me, I never lacked confidence. But I still had my fears. After 2 full months in this business and going through all the training session, I am tackling my fear of rejection and I’m coming out on top. Now, I’ve developed a new attitude. I no longer care if a person rejects me. It is their loss. I know who I am and what I am capable of. If someone were to reject me, they should feel sorry for themselves and not me as I have confidence in myself.

This business has helped me overcome my biggest fear. The FEAR OF REJECTION. What can it do for you?

The great blessings of mankind are within us, and within our reach; but we shut our eyes, and, like people in the dark, we fall foul upon the very thing we search for, without finding it.
- Seneca

I had a lot of fun on Saturday night. I went to Istana Budaya to watch the M. Nasir concert, Alam Muzik. I’ve seen M. Nasir perform twice before and I more or less knew what to expect. To me, M. Nasir is probably one of the best performers on the local music scene. In fact he’s better than a lot of the international acts I’ve seen.

I’ve always admired M. Nasir. I’m a fan of his music, especially the ones he sings himself. He’s always managed to mix the traditional elements of Malay music well with elements of modern music resulting in timeless pieces. He’s one of the few local singers and songwriters who has stuck to his roots and promoted the elements of traditional Malay music.

As always, his live shows have always bordered on the theatrical. He tries to ensure that the fans have a great time by instilling his own personal values and his sentiments in his performance. Last night’s performance had a more charitable note in it with the inclusion of a song which he wrote about the conflict in Gaza. Although he wrote the song back in the year 2000, it still applies to the situation in Gaza today.

One of the things I noticed about his performance is that he enjoys doing it. He enjoys performing, singing, and song writing. He is probably the most successful singer songwriter on the local music scene and you can see by the way he performs, the way he smiles whenever he talks to the audience, the way he closes his eyes when he sings and he hears the music, you can see that he loves what he does.

A lot of people I know forget the importance of loving what they are doing. They go through their daily routines, just skimming on the surface without actually enjoying or caring about what they do. They will never succeed. They might advance in their station or they might earn more every year, but they will never be truly successful.

Love what you do. Enjoy it. When you love what you do, you will find that life is much easier, and happier. Life becomes more meaningful and success will follow soon after. I’m new at my new business, but as the days go by, I find that I’m enjoying it more and more. It’s been a long time since I’ve enjoyed my job and I believe that if you enjoy your job, if you love what you’re doing, life will be more satisfying.

I love what I do. Check it out. You might love it too.