Reading is Powerful

With so many distractions nowadays, it is no wonder reading is slowly becoming a lost art. But do you know that the average number of books read by a CEO is 60 books per year? Most people don’t even read a single one and I wonder why most of them are average.

For most people, it is not easy to get through even a single book. This is especially true given the fast-paced lifestyle we have today. Reading is a page-by-page process, just like success is a step-by-step process. See the correlation yet? When you start to read regularly, you are actually getting yourself used to the often slow and patient process of becoming successful.

Reading is also a very relaxing activity. People like to say, “I have no time to read.” I always avoid using phrases such as “I have no time” and “I am busy”. These phrases immediately put you in a state of deficiency. If you are someone who is found guilty of over-utilizing such phrases, I urge you to stop doing so. Instead, be clear about what you are busy with. Instead of saying “I have no time”, why not say something like “I am currently working on something that is extremely important and meaningful to me”. How does that feel? People nowadays are also very guilty of over-relying on their digital gadgets. I admit that I am one of them. Therefore, reading gives me a chance to look away from the electronic screens and that is something I really appreciate doing.

Those innocuous-looking books lying on your bookshelf are actually extremely powerful! In the olden days, whenever a new king or emperor was crowned, the first group of people being captured, tortured, and executed was the scholars who wrote intelligent books and poems. This is because although these writers give a kind of feeble impression on the outside, the things they contemplate on a daily basis can be highly influential and can become a threat to the leader’s position and direction.

Books such as, Think and Grow Rich, the Intelligent Investor, the Richest Man in Babylon, the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, the Millionaire Next Door, Rich Dad, Poor Dad, and How to Win Friends and Influence People, are some of the most acclaimed books. Have you read them yet? Why not? Do you think that reading them will make any difference to your current situation?

Personally, I believe that one of the biggest reasons why most of us aren’t reading is because, for many of us, reading is an activity that was forced upon us when we were younger. This caused many of us to have a negative connotation of reading. On top of that, we are being judged by what we read and how well we know what we read. No wonder most of us stop reading and learning altogether, the moment we graduated from school.

You may not realize that magical things happen when you start reading. When you choose to read, you are choosing to give up other activities that are more fun and enjoyable, like going shopping or watching a film on Netflix. You have made a commitment, and people who commit, succeed. You have chosen to invest and when you invest, return on investment can be expected.

A few days ago, I decided to give the Aim for the Moon Mindset away for free as my personal Thanksgiving gift to my readers. It was a pleasant surprise to see it reach #16 of the top 100 free Amazon Best Seller’s Motivational Business Management category. To those who have read it, I hope you like it. For those who haven’t, you can still download the Aim for the Moon Mindset for free (but for a very limited time left) by clicking here.

Too High? or Too Low? How Should You Price Your Products?

This comment caught my attention today:

When I was younger, this was how I thought too. You see, most consumers tend to base their perception of the actual cost only on the material cost.

I’m sure you’ve heard this before – A pair of Nike shoes cost only $20 to manufacture. But is this really the case?

What about all the time, energy, and money spent on marketing, research, and design? What about all endless attempts of trying and failing, try and failing, that finally culminated in a product that’s good enough to be introduced into the market? How are we even going to put a price on all the early years, where thousands, or even millions, of dollars, were being invested, without even knowing if the venture would really turn out well?

Why I find this topic particularly important is not because I want to criticize anybody but I hope to encourage you to see past the things that most people would see.

If there’s a rule that says that we can only sell our products at a markup of, let’s say 50%, then the stuff that will be available will only be functional at best, but uninspiring. Our budget and needs will be satisfied, but not our dreams.

Perhaps you’re thinking about starting a business or perhaps you’re thinking about how you should price your products and you’re worried if you’ll be pricing them either too high or too low.

Of course, you need to at least have some basic understanding and knowledge of pricing strategies but ultimately, let the price come from your heart because when the things you do and the decisions you make come from your heart, your customers will feel it, and if your customers can feel it, they will appreciate it (and hopefully, buy it).

It Has Finally Arrived

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Have you always wanted to be successful but you realized that no matter what you do, at the end of the day, the only thing you get is just more frustrations?

What are the things that are constantly holding you back? Why isn’t the seemingly inspirational quote – Aim For The Moon. If You Miss, You’ll Land Among The Stars – working for you yet? Will it ever work? Are you sick of waiting for your big break already? Or are you just destined to remain average for the rest of your life?

Today, I’m excited to introduce and share with you my new book,

The Aim for the Moon Mindset: The Revolutionary Mindset to Help You Become Successful and Achieve Everything You Want in Life

If you are already sick of being average and deprived all the time, then the Aim for the Moon Mindset is the perfect book for you. In this book, I will be revealing some of my biggest discoveries about success to you. You will find out what exactly is holding you back and how you can free yourself to achieve everything you want in life.

So, be the first to learn about this revolutionary mindset and see your life takes off.

Click here to get a copy of the Aim for the Moon Mindset today!

Revealing 2 Secrets

In 2006, Rhonda Byrne released her book, the Secret. It shooked the world. Today, it has sold over 30 million copies. I must admit that the Secret has left a deep impact on me since then. Today, I would also like to share with you two secrets of my own. The first secret that I want to share with you is the secret of how you can produce your best work.

The best way to producing your best work is to do it even when you really don’t feel like doing it. This is to say if there’s work to be done, even if you truly don’t feel like doing it, you do it anyway. I admit, it is hard. You will feel like it is torture. But you must tell yourself to just do it anyway. The key to achieving that is when every time you don’t feel like doing something important, you detach your emotions from the task as instantaneously as you can. Almost all the time, it is your emotions that are stopping you from doing it and the longer you allow yourself to entertain the idea of not doing it, the more you will end up doing just that.

You see, when you are able to conquer every temptation that’s telling you to not do it, that is special. You have just sent out a message to the world to express how much you really, really want it. Your audience will feel it from the work you eventually ship. It will also impact you in a way you could never imagine. Your work will not just be merely another piece of work but one that is created through grit, focus, and determination. If you’d have given in to your excuses, you would have lost the battle. Success occurs when your dreams get bigger than your excuses. You will never be able to succeed if you are someone who succumbs easily to your excuses.

Average people are always waiting for the so-called perfect time. Perfect financial strength. Perfect energy level. Perfect weather. And even perfect mood. On the other hand, successful people just get started. So, in the future, every time you don’t feel like doing something that you know you ought to do, remember – just do it anyway.

And now, here’s the second secret…

If You Don’t Invest, You Don’t Succeed

Investing is more than just looking for a quick return.

Of course, who doesn’t want that? But unless you are a mayfly who has a lifespan of only less than 24 hours, you might want to rethink your wealth-growing strategy. You see, you are not in a rush. You have a relatively much longer lifespan than the other creatures on earth and if you just want to hop around, always looking for quick gains, I’m afraid that over time, you will find yourself losing more than you gain. After all, Warren Buffett once famously said, “You can’t produce a baby in one month by getting nine women pregnant.”

There is just so much to learn from investing. Obviously, the thing that most investors are interested in is how much have their investments (hopefully) grown? But there is more to just that. And all the lessons can be applied to other aspects of our lives, like in our path to success in our career, relationship, and business.

Zen

People tend to think that investing is seeing the prices in a constant state of fluctuation, always going up and down, like the Space Mountain roller-coaster ride at Disneyland. But once you are in the game long enough, you will realize that it is normal. And most of the time, there’s really nothing much for you to do or worry about.

Decision-making

Should you buy? Should you sell? Or should you just continue to hold? These are the three questions that all investors will have to contemplate from time to time about during their investing career. Successful people are always counted upon to make tough decisions when needed.

Actions More Than Words

When you invest, you put your money where your mouth is. This is an important attribute of successful people. Average people are easy to spot. They always talk a lot but have little to show. On the other hand, successful people always do more, which is why they are always rewarded with the kind of achievements that average people are always dreaming about.

Spot Opportunities

When you invest, you open yourself up to opportunities. That unit suddenly sells at just a fraction of its market price. Or that great stock that just had a dip in its share price. Of course, how viable they really are will require more analysis from you but these are the kinds of opportunities that you will start seeing once you begin to invest. Successful people are always in environments that allow them to take advantage of all these opportunities, while unsuccessful people continue to bemoan about “the rich getting richer” or how unlucky they are to have “just missed the boat.”

When you start to invest, you will see things that non-investors don’t. You will begin to commit to your success and the universe is always more than happy to reward such people.

Do you invest? If not, what’s holding you back?