You’ve read so much.

“Think and Grow Rich” - Napoleon Hill

“The Magic of Thinking Big” - David Schwartz

“Creating Wealth” - Robert Allen

“Unlimited Power” - Anthony Robbins

“The Go-Giver” - Bob Burg and John David Mann

and so much more.

To your frustration you don’t find yourself so much further ahead than before you started reading. You’re wondering why you ever bothered reading these books in the first place, you can’t even talk about them at parties. Who wants to here your success opinions if you are not succeeding?

I’m going to share with you a three step approach that will not only move you toward success but will also save you money on books and possibly shrink your library.

What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.
- King Solomon

Step 1: It’s time to FOCUS

Have you ever reflected on how so many success books start with the same forward “Why another book on success”?

They all say the same thing. The title may be different, the text arranged in story format or pictures, but at the end of the day the message is more or less the same.
So why do the authors keep writing and we keep buying? You read a book, think the ideas are great. A few months later you see another book, you know that you have a success book at home on the shelf, but your situation hasn’t improved, so you figure it probably wasn’t that good and you decide that maybe this one will do the trick.  Wrong.

There is little wrong with the book (especially if you enjoyed it), what is needed is a shift in your approach.

So for step one lets begin to focus ourselves.  Choose a book from your shelf that you really enjoyed. The ideas were strong and the reading was easy. Next get out a highlighter a pen and some paper. The more you engage yourself in the book the more you will get out of it.

As you read the book highlight ideas that stand out to you. Make notes on each chapter, put it in your own words. The ideas in a 150+ page book can be  condensed to around 10 pages. Take ownership of the ideas, reflect on them and work with them till they become your own.

The goal is not to cover as much ground as possible. Read one chapter at a time and really “Get it”. If you cant write out the concept in the chapter in a short sentence then go back through it until you can.

When you finish this process the concepts in the book will no longer belong exclusively to the author, they will also have become yours.

Step 2: Lets Take Action

Knowing is not enough; we must apply! - Goethe

Action is the ultimate key to your success. The reason books don’t bring us success is because we read read each chapter, like the ideas and action steps, say that we will apply them after we finish the book, finish the book put it on the shelf and forget about it. Its like getting a membership to every fitness club in the city, never going and then complaining that you are not in shape.

You have to have to apply the knowledge for it to become valuable.

So the next step in our process is to decide what to take action on. Well if you have gone through the first step, then you have some great notes and ideas on how to build your success. Go through your notes and pick three action steps that you want to focus on for the next week. When you have picked the ideas right them down on a sheet, putting the three action steps at the top of the page. Below the actions steps make a 3 X 7 table with enough room to write down a few sentences in the boxes.

Before you go to bed reflect on the action step and state your intention to develop them within your self, and in the morning do the same thing. Be aware through out the day of opportunities to apply these action steps, because the opportunities for success are always there. At the end of the day reflect on how you applied each action step, what you could improve, and what you did well. Repeat the process for a week and then add 3 more action steps. By the time a month has passed you will have taken 12-15 action steps and you will be seeing greater success.

Step 3: Accountability
If action is the key, then accountability is the lock. Action is so important you can’t move forward without it, but if you try to put the wrong key in the lock the door wont open.
There are to areas of accountability:

1. To the process - You are going to ensure that your focus and action is properly directed. You will be accountable in making sure that you choose a path and stick to it.is ensuring that your focus and action are directed towards your goal.
2. To Yourself - you have made the commitment to take action. Don’t let yourself down.

So in this final step you will need to find a way to be accountable to the process and to yourself. Accountability in the process means reflecting weekly on the overall approach you have decided to take, and to make sure that you are not negatively modifying the process. Negatively modifying means changing the process because you are lazy and looking for excuses. If you see there is a way to make the process more effective then cautiously modify.

Being accountable to yourself can be accomplished in a few ways;

You can set up strong reward motivations for your self (A new outfit, a day at the spa, concert, etc.) to help you stay on track.
Maybe when you tell others this keeps you accountable.
Blog about it.
State your commitment 2-3 times a day.
There you have it.
The end of ill used reading has arrived. The simple process of Focus, Action, Accountability, will prevent your books from becoming dusty paper weights and book end, and transform them in to powerful tools for growth and success.

Read On.

In the last post we began discussing about how money can buy happiness. We started of with Investing in Yourself.  By improving mind body and spirit, you devolope this skills, strength and perspective to get more out of life.

The next sage is investing in others.

Investing in Others

As you could see from the quotes in my resent post  You Get What You Give, fulfillment, success and happiness come from giving to others. We can have all the knowledge in the world, but if we have no one to share it with, if we are all alone then the knowledge is almost worthless.

Investing in your relationships with others is one of the keys to generating the great returns in happiness. Keep in mind when reading the following ideas that it is not just about spending money on others, it is only an investment when the money spent is done with the proper intention.

There are three areas in investing in others:

Investing in your family and friend.

• Cards and thoughtful presents.
  •  Take the time to remember a birthday, special occasion, or even a get well card.
  • Buy gifts that show you think about the person and care enough to buy something that you know they will appreciate.
  • Buy you children gifts “just because”.
    • little toys, books or sweets that show you were thinking of them that day
  • Buy your spouse gifts”just because”.
    • Men buy your wife flowers, chocolates, or anything else they like.
    • Women buy your husband little presents based on his likes; sports, gardening, outdoors, politics, etc.
  • When invited to a somones house bring a nice bottle of wine, flowers, game, etc.
• Have annual family gatherings.
  • Eat, play, share, laugh and cry.

Investing in your community.

• Sponsor and Volunteer at community events (plays, sport team, educations, community beautification).
• Hire the neighbors kid to cut the grass.
• Be a big brother or sister. Though this is a volunteer project, treat the kids as if they were your own sibling. Take them to movies, baseball games, birthday presents. Make them feel like a family member and you will change their lives.
• Find people who are in need in your community and give charity.
  • By donating money.
  • By investing in them to build a business or learn a skill.

Investing in humanity.

If you don’t have a charity account I  highly suggest setting one up.  Set aside 10% (Tithing) of your money to give to those in need and to support worthy causes.  Giving charity is one of the greatest investment, it is a constant reminder that no matter how much money I am making and no matter how focused I am on myself, I need to direct a percentage of my efforts to others, to care about all of humanity.

Once you have set aside charity, look for opportunities to give it away:

• Online donations.
• Kids Selling Chocolate.
• International rescue efforts.
• Save the environment
• Help people in third world countries.
• Support higher learning

To caveats. You don’t have to give large sums and don’t be mindless in your giving.

When I hear about something that I can give towards and there is an online donation, I go online and donate $5. Though it may not seem like much, there are thousands of people giving those small donations and they add up. By giving that little donation I connect myself to something much bigger.

If there are causes that you really want to give to then go ahead.

Happiness is on its way

Throug investing in yourself - mind, body and spirit - and investing in others by giving of your time and resources you open channels that bring success, prosperity and happiness into your live. As you can see the money itself does not buy the happiness, it is the directing of money towards endevors whose devidends have the power to bring life long happiness.

Have a great weekend filled with happiness,

Rob Moshe

For millennia money has often been seen as the root of all evil. If it weren’t for money, we would be happy, serene, peaceful people. In truth money is neither good or evil. I knife can be used to cut food or harm another person, a hammer can build a house or used as a weapon. Like many things money is just a tool. The key is where you choose to direct it.

Examples of directing money towards evil:

• Illegal Drugs
• Weapons
• Gambling
• War
• Excessive Alcohol
• Prostitution
• To dominate others
• To make you think you are better than other
• etc.

Though it will not guarantee it money CAN buy happiness.

Money has two roles when being used in a positive manner. It is either an expense or an investment.

An expense is anything that uses up your money, but does not give you any value beyond what you paid for it. An example would be food, household expenses, personal car, personal cell phone and the like.

An investment is something that gives you a greater return then the money you put in. Examples would be stock and business investments, commercial real estate, and education.

Now that you have some basic ideas of the nature of money and what it can do. Lets discover how money can buy you happiness.
As you might have guest its about investing your money. No I’m not going to start giving you stock tips, and the truth is, if you are not a educated investor, stock tips will take away all your money and happiness.

The two areas of investment are “Yourself” and “Others”

Investing in yourself.

The body is your temple. Keep it pure and clean for the soul to reside in. ~B.K.S. Iyengar, Yoga: The Path To Holistic Health

You buy a brand new $150,000 sports car, you dream of taking it out on the roads and enjoying to exhilaration of pure speed, power and performance.
You get to the gas station to fill up the car and decide that the the premium gas is just to expensive so you put in the low grade. You don’t pay attention to the scheduled maintenance, so instead of changing the oil every 3 month or 5000km it ends up being every 5-6 months or 6500km, you delay in changing the breaks, and tires, and constantly for get about the filters and other fluids. One sunny morning about a year after you bought the car, you hear on the news that they just opened up an Autobahn in your city. Excited you grab your keys and head to the new highway. You get to the on-ramp, grip the wheel tightly and floor it. 100km..110km..125km…13…BOOM. All at once your front tires, enging and transmission blow, and to top it off your breaks give out. You fly off the road sending the care in to a roll, crash into a concrete light post and barley make it out alive.

You come into the world in pure and perfect, if you don’t care for your Mind, Body and Soul, when the potential for success and happiness arises you might find yourself crashing (disease) and barley making it out alive.

Make these three key investments in yourself.

Invest in Knowledge and Awareness.

Buy:
Books
CD
Videos
Take courses and seminars.

There is a vast world of knowledge out there. Study topics that will improve your relationships, perspective and skills. Study books on self awareness and meditation. Study books on healthy eating and lifestyle. All complex machines come with an operators manual. You are the most complex machine in existence, become a student of life to understand how to operate at your best.

Invest in exercise and healthy eating.

Whether its an exercise video or a club membership get active. At the least you should be physically active three times a week, but 6 times is more ideal. Also incorporate 5-10 min. of light stretching in the morning and evening. Eat healthy. I won’t say much more on healthy eating because this is not my expertise, but the quality of the fuel that you put into your body determines how well your body performs.
I personally enjoy the books by Dr. Andrew Weil, and the “YOU” Series of books by Dr. Mehemet and Oz.

Invest in a personal coach.

“Working with Rob, I accomplished things that otherwise would have
remained unfinished ideas. Instead of getting overwhelmed by day-to-day
tasks, he guided me to take measured steps that helped me achieve my
longer term goals. A compassionate and attentive listener, Rob is able
to get to the heart of the matter in a single question. He was always
generous in sharing information about resources I wouldn’t have known
about, and educating me–without ever preaching–about helpful small
business concepts and useful technology.”

Avrum Nadigel, MSW, RSW, B.Comm
Adolescent Therapist and Consultant
http://www.nadigel.com
http://www.nadigel.com/blog

We are not solitary beings, we can’t go it alone in this world. Even the greatest sea captains would use the north star to find their way.
Coaching helps you increase your self awareness so you can chart your course in life. A coach helps you to become aware that your are fully capable of achieving your dreams and goals, and that there is an incredible abundance out there in the world just waiting to be shared.

This is stage one. When you invest in your self, your mind, body and soul, you begin to open up to the world of success and happiness.

I will post stage two “Investing in Others” next Friday.

Have a great weekend,

Rob

I was reading a book on Business Coaching by Steve Chandler and Sam Beckford, and they were discussing the importances of giving value to your clients and customers. I can’t recall reading a book on personal growth or business success that does not express the importance of giving.

I was going to write a fine post on the importance of giving and the benefits you get back, but instead I  will let the quotes of theses wise people speak for me.

Have  a Magnificent Day.

Albert Einstein:

It is every man’s obligation to put back into the world at least the equivalent of what he takes out of it.

Anne Frank:

No one has ever become poor by giving.
Elbert Hubbard:The love we give away is the only love we keep.

John D. Rockefeller Jr.:

Think of giving not as a duty but as a privilege.

Maya Angelou:

I have found that among its other benefits, giving liberates the soul of the giver.

Pamela Glenconner:

Giving presents is a talent; to know what a person wants, to know when and how
to get it, to give it lovingly and well. Unless a character possesses
this talent there is no moment more annihilating to ease than that inwhich a present is received and given.

There is a wonderful mythical law of
nature that the three things we crave most in life — happiness,
freedom, and peace of mind — are always attained by giving them
to someone else.

- Peyton Conway March

Thornton Wilder:

Money is like manure; it’s not worth a thing unless it’s spread around encouraging young things to grow.

Winston Churchill:

We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.

“If you wish to experience peace, provide peace for another.”
-Tenzin Gyatso, The 14th Dalai Lama

“Giving is better than receiving because giving starts the receiving process.”
-Jim Rohn

Life is an echo — what you send out
comes back.

- Unknown

He who allows his day to pass by without
practicing generblacksmith’s bellows — he breathes but does not live.

- Sanskrit Proverb

No person was ever honored for what
he received. Honor has been the reward for what he gave.

- Calvin Coolidge

I don’t know what your destiny will
be, but one thing I do know: the only ones among you who will
be really happy are those who have sought and found how to serve.

- Albert Schweitzer

If you want happiness for an hour, take
a nap.

If you want happiness for a day, go fishing.

If you want happiness for a year, inherit a fortune.

If you want happiness for a lifetime, help somebody.

- Chinese proverb

A single act of kindness throws out
roots in all directions, and the roots spring up and make new
trees. The greatest work that kindness does to others is that
it makes them kind themselves.

- Lawrence G. Lovasik

Giving opens the way for receiving.

- Florence Scovel Shinn

“Material treasures will serve us for a time and fade away. It is
sharing ourselves and our time that creates authentic value; it
enriches life with lasting expressions of gratitude and indelible
memories. Giving opens our spiritual eyes to the many small blessings
before us each moment.”
– Steve Brunkhorst

“The life of a high achiever is one of give-and-receive. We receive
that which we are willing to first give out. Therefore, to grow and
achieve we must first be willing to help others grow and achieve, and,
in so doing, the light of reciprocal achievement will brightly shine
upon us.”
– Greg Werner, Strength & Conditioning Coach

“You give but little when you give of your possessions. It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.”
– Kahlil Gibran, philosopher

“Giving frees us from the familiar territory of our own needs by
opening our mind to the unexplained worlds occupied by the needs of
others.”
– Barbara Bush

“Giving people a little more than they expect is a good way to get back more than you’d expect.”
– Robert Half

“Trying to get without first giving is as fruitless as trying to reap without having sown.”
– Napoleon Hill

“You can have everything in life that you want if you just give enough other people what they want.”
– Zig Ziglar