Author: Trimtab
Taken From: www.ca2020.net

A lot of people these days wanted to be rich. Watch the television and you will see a lot of young people wanting to hit it big on TV. You will also find shows telling you that you can be an instant millionaire. Just look at the line of people buying tickets for Lotto everyday, you would wonder how hopeful a lot of Filipinos has become that luck will fall on them and make them millionaires.

During these challenging economic times, people would rather find a “shortcut” rather than undergo the usual process to becoming rich.

I don’t blame people wanting to win it over luck; the path to richness is not for everyone. It is not an easy path and it is not a calling for the faint-hearted.

One of the millionaires I admire (although he does not belong to the popular likes of Kiyosaki and Trump), Felix Dennis, a British self-made millionaire said if you want to be rich, you must grow a carapace. A mental armour. Thick enough to shrug off the inevitable sniggering and malicious mockery that will follow your inevitable failures, not to mention the poorly hidden envy that will accompany your eventual success.

He actually gave a list to consider by a person wanting to become rich and according to him, if you find yourself unable to measure up to even ONE of these initial demands (even just ONE), forget your quest to richness:

1. If you are unwilling to fail, sometimes publicly, and even catastrophically, you stand very little chance of ever getting rich.

2. If you care what the neighbors will think, you will never get rich.

3. If you cannot bear the thought of causing worry to your family, spouse or lover while you plough a lonely, dangerous road rather than taking a safe option of a regular job, you will never get rich.

4. If you have artistic inclinations and fear that the search for wealth will coarsen such talents or degrade them, you will never get rich. (Because your fear in this instance, is well justified)

5. If you are not prepared to work longer hours than almost anyone you know, despite the jibes of colleagues and friends, you are unlikely to be rich.

6. If you cannot convince yourself that you are “good enough” to be rich, you will never get rich.

7. If you cannot treat your quest to get rich as a game, you will never be rich.

8. If you cannot face up your fear of failure, you will never be rich.

Being in business for almost 10 years already, I totally agree with him. Getting rich means sacrifice. You must learn to get used to it or give up the quest. Another brutal truth, in which I believe anyone wanting to become rich must confront, is the fear of failure. I believe no amount of books will set anyone afraid to fail free. As for the words of Mr. Dennis, “be prepared to remain relatively poor if you will not confront and harness this human emotion, which is fear. In fact, in my years of experience in business, I am convinced that fear of failing in the eyes of the world is the single biggest impediment to amassing wealth.”

People who are afraid to fail never get started. People who surrender to it becomes paralyzed and defeated. Nobody becomes wealthy surrendering to fear. Trust me on this.

[For the complete details, visit the site]

1. Not to forget the project that Sam and I are planning.
This is tough. I need to have the free time and the creativity to do such. I actually have created www.mynaruto.pbwiki.com for this and will see if there will be activities soon.

2. Not to type too fast.
I hate it when I type and submit IM messages too fast and not edit my messages. I am too error-prone in many aspects. And it leaves baaahhhhahaaad impression to the person on the other end. :p

3. Not to procrastinate writing.
Thoughts FLOW and they should be written down ASAP. As I mentioned to Andrew G., I should have a thought-capturing software that writes down what I think. I need one. But for now I have a record book handy.

4. Not to forget updating my blogs.
Yes as mentioned I have two more blogs and I am wanting to make use of them both. I am learning quite a lot from oDesk.

5. Not to forget learning from oDesk
I am learning quite a LOT since I left WWPI and I am so glad this year is starting out well for me on oDesk. There are really things you can’t learn when working for someone and I am so glad I learned very important ideas and concepts that will help me in my future self because I know I should NOT be a drone forever.

6. Not to forget that I am blessed, VERY blessed.
That said, I need a halo hanging over my head in everything I do. For some reason, I am straying away, I know. So pity for self needs to be left in 2008.

Flying, flying, flying through the storms.

Do it again, do it again.
Fly through. Glide through.

“You know,” Yellow said,
“I was wondering that myself
but since there is no way to find out I
decided it wasn’t important.”
She blushed at how silly this sounded –
quickly adding, “No one else seems to
worry about where we’re going so it
must be good.”
But she blushed again.

“How far are we from the top?”
Stripe answered gravely,
“Since we’re not at the bottom and not
at the top we must be in the middle.”

“Oh,” said Yellow, and they both began
climbing again.

But now Stripe had a new feeling.
He felt bad.
He had lost his singlemindedness.
“How can I step on someone I’ve just
talked to?”

Stripe avoided Yellow as much
as possible, but one day there
she was, blocking the only way
up.

“Well, I guess it’s you or me,”
he said, and stepped squarely
on her head.

Years back when I was with the YFC (Youth For Christ), we had an event called Gawad Kalinga. Along with the umbrella groups under the CFC (Couples for Christ) family, we all worked together with one goal – to build homes for the homeless.

At that time, I had the opportunity to travel to far urban poor communities in Iligan City to help build homes. Yes it is as you can imagine it, building a home from bottom to top, brick by brick. That time I could recall painting the wall of one house and also watering plants in the front yard of another. I know, it is just meager. Too meager tasks that left me good memories of YFC and a lasting belief that man is naturally good.

It was a wonderful experience. The kind that will leave your face and your soul smiling. Not only did I get to hang out with my YFC friends but also do something worthwhile. I know I am not a believer of giving alms to the poor but then doing something as meaningful as building a house for a family with little kids as young as my son is, by leaps and bounds, measuring more than the former.

Imagine a home looking like this:

Converted into a place more livable (and colorful!) like this:

Pictures from: http://www.gawadkalinga.org

Now, this is MORE than just Bayanihan! This is nation building!

Let me repost this one. One the many spams in our office email group “Proggies” (of which we, developers, shouldn’t be in because.. well, we’re developers not programmers.

Freedom of Simplicity
By Bo Sanchez

Happiness is not found outside of you. It doesn’t come from cars,
clothes,cash, or Caribbean cruises. Happiness is found within.
But how can you find it if you don’t have the simplicity of time
and space to discover the most important things in your life?

How can you search the depths of your soul if you are too busy
impressing others, acquiring wealth, protecting your properties, and
paying your debts?

Simplicity is not about the external either: living in a doghouse,
eating in Hepatitis joints, wearing rags.

Let me define what it is: Simplicity is living from the core of your being.

A TREASURE MAP OF HAPPINESS

Simplicity will point to you where and what and who the gold is in your life.
Let me share with you the seven powerful lessons I’ve learned on simple living:

1. LIVE ON LESS, AND DELIGHT IN THEM MORE
Some take their pleasure dining in classy restaurants, trips to Europe ,
and owning the latest home theatre-equipment. I’ve chosen the simple path:
If I can simply be with my wife, or take a quiet stroll under a canopy of stars,
or play with a child, or read a good book in my home, or laugh with friends
over a pizza, I consider myself richly blessed.

Focus on what you have and not on what you don’t have.

2. STOP RUNNING AND WALK INSTEAD
Here’s the truth: The person who has covered the greatest distance does
NOT win, but the one who has most enjoyed the journey does. Stop
running around chasing your own tail!

Get off your hurried pace and learn to breathe. Replace doing with
being. Learn to say no to invitations, appointments, and commitments,
activities and events that will rob you of your focus. Learn to say
“yes” to rest, to tranquility, to quietness.

3. YOU ARE MORE THAN YOUR WEALTH
I own very few things today. Because I am more than the brand of my
watch,the logo of my shoes, the name of my car. I believe that if in my soul
I deeply respect and value myself, people around me will sense that, and they too,
will value and respect me-whether I’m wearing Armani or not.

You are more than your wealth.

4. AVOID BUYING ON CREDIT
I don’t believe in borrowing from credit cards. (For convenience, I use one card
but I pay the whole amount at the end of each month.) If I need something really bad,
I save up for it. Sometimes, at midpoint, I realize I don’t really need the darn thing
and give up the whole idea. The only exception I feel we should enter into a
credit is when buying a non-depreciating item, such as housing or land.
I believe we should always live within our earning capacity.
Proverbs 22:7 says, “Those who borrow are slaves of moneylenders. ”

5. GIVE AS MUCH AS YOU CAN
If I content myself with P250 shirt instead of P4,000 Lacoste, I can help others more.
Trust me, there is immense pleasure! You will find that the empty thrill of owning a
diamond ring on your finger pales in comparison to the joy of handing a
piece of bread to an orphan child.

“And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times,
having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.” (2 Corinthians 9:8)

The Old Testament of tithing, or giving 10% of your income is a good guideline to follow.
The New Testament challenges us to give with a cheerful heart. (When you’re cheerful,
you may give more than 10%!) Make it a habit.

6. SAVE AS MUCH AS YOU CAN
Saving is essential to being good stewards of the money that God “lends” to us.
Saving is an important way of providing for our future-both for our needs and
to be generous to others. I recommend that you save at least 10% of your income.
I can almost hear you now: “Bo, that’s impossible!” Oh yeah? Well, how did you
live three years back when your salary was one-half its present amount?”
Sacrifice. Many of our needs are actually wants. Is cable TV a need? Will you
suddenly die if you can’t watch CNN or HBO? Are those new golf clubs essential
to your existence? Invest in time deposits, long-term stocks and housing.

7. BUDGET, BUDGET, BUDGET
Make a list of all your monthly expenses, according to categories. Make also a list
of irregular expenses-those that don’t come monthly. Set up another savings account
for these expenses and put in a little money each month. To differentiate this from
the savings account, we call ours “freedom account” because it frees us from worrying
about them when they suddenly attack. And stick to your budget!

ONE LAST WORD BEFORE WE CLOSE
Balance.
Don’t take living simply to the extremes! Living simply doesn’t mean living in deprivation.
There are special days when my wife and I eat in a fancy restaurant. Or, when we splurge on a
vacation. Very rare, yes, but my point is that you take living simply NOT as a rigid goal-
but as a happy process towards the goals of generosity, inner peace and holiness.

One always has to know when a stage comes to an end. If we insist on staying longer than the necessary time, we lose the happiness and the meaning of the other stages we have to go through.

Closing cycles, shutting doors, ending chapters whatever name we give it, what matters is to leave in the past the moments of life that have finished. Did you lose your job? Has a loving relationship come to an end? Did you leave your parents’ house? Gone to live abroad? Has a long-lasting friendship ended all of a sudden?

You can spend a long time wondering why this has happened. You can tell yourself you won’t take another step until you find out why certain things that were so important and so solid in your life have turned into dust, just like that. But such an attitude will be awfully stressing for everyone involved: your parents, your husband or wife, your friends, your children, your sister, everyone will be finishing chapters, turning over new leaves, getting on with life, and they will all feel bad seeing you at a standstill.

None of us can be in the present and the past at the same time, not even when we try to understand the things that happen to us. What has passed will not return: we cannot for ever be children, late adolescents, sons that feel guilt or rancor towards our parents, lovers who day and night relive an affair with someone who has gone away and has not the least intention of coming back.

Things pass, and the best we can do is to let them really go away. That is why it is so important (however painful it maybe!) to destroy souvenirs, move, give lots of things away to orphanages, sell or donate the books you have at home. Everything in this visible world is a manifestation of the invisible world, of what is going on in our hearts and getting rid of certain memories also means making some room for other memories to take their place.

Let things go. Release them. Detach yourself from them. Nobody plays this life with marked cards, so sometimes we win and sometimes we lose. Do not expect anything in return, do not expect your efforts to be appreciated, your genius to be discovered, your love to be understood. Stop turning on your emotional television to watch the same program over and over again, the one that shows how much you suffered from a certain loss: that is only poisoning you, nothing else.

Nothing is more dangerous than not accepting love relationships that are broken off, work that is promised but there is no starting date, decisions that are always put off waiting for the ideal moment. Before a new chapter is begun, the old one has to be finished: tell yourself that what has passed will never come back. Remember that there was a time when you could live without that thing or that person. Nothing is irreplaceable. A habit is not a need. This may sound so obvious, it may even be difficult, but it is very important.

Closing cycles. Not because of pride, incapacity or arrogance, but simply because that no longer fits your life. Shut the door, change the record, clean the house, shake off the dust. Stop being who you were, and change into who you are.