Money isn’t Everything
It’s the only thing! All kidding aside, money not being everything is very true and something that I have to remind myself of from time to time when I’m pursuing my goals. I have a few friends who have almost no money and seem to be almost content with not at least making a solid attempt to make more of it. Even on the surface when it seems like they could benefit from more money and they even act as if they would like to do something to get more, it’s quite obvious why they aren’t. It’s because they don’t WANT to. My friends are quite content where they are at and they are happy with how simple their lives are. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that either.
If you are at a point in your life and you have all the money in the world, or you have next to nothing but you are content with whatever you have then you shouldn’t be focusing on gaining more income. Really in the end it’s just a lot more that you can’t take with you when you leave this world. As long as your income is sustainable then you should focus on growth in the other two areas of your life. Your relationships and your health could benefit quite a bit due to the fact that you have the wealth side of your life handled. Put that focus and energy into them and see how quickly your life improves.
On the other hand if you are like me, you want more wealth and a lot of it! I am still tinkering with my finances. Recently trying to cut the fat where necessary and minimize unnecessary bills. I ask myself where certain products or services that I am using in my life have a diminishing point of returns on value for the amount of money I am continuing to spend on them. Also I am focusing on writing more and creating more value on this website and my other projects so that I can gain more value in the form of income long term from them. I am going to school so that I have skills I will immediately be able to transfer over to my current career, but that will also serve me as far as being able to get a job any time I need. I would also have more of a skill set if I chose to free lance, not to mention knowing computers much better will help me in my internet marketing endeavors.
I choose to pursue money because I know more money will allow me to do more in my life in the long run. Think about what you could do with more money. You will be able to buy more cool techno toys which give you a slight competitive edge over those who don’t use or aren’t exposed to the newest technology. You could travel more, meet more people, and ultimately learn more. Money is one of the best tools you can have for growth. Keep perspective when you are going after money in your life though. America is the land of excess. Realize that there a lot of people with a heck of a lot less than you probably currently have.
You don’t need a ton of money. Just enough to get you to the next checkpoint in your journey. Work on getting that much and sustaining it and you will find that your life is as complete and fulfilling as if you won the lottery. The cool part is that it will be even more fulfilling because you have the luxury and experience of the journey. Once you learn the powerful skill of creating value and trading it in exchange for money you will be able to do it for the rest of your life and you will only get better each time you do it.
Personal Development Training
I’m taking a break from seminars and courses this year to narrow my focus to improving in very specific areas in my health, wealth, and relationships. That being said I have been very blessed and fortunate to take part in some great seminars and courses over the past few years and those have led to a lot of personal growth and development in my life. I believe that any time you have the chance to take advantage of a high end seminar or course of some kind on a topic that really fascinates you, then you should go all out and take the course.
Here are some of the more interesting courses I’ve taken:
1. Relationships: I took a bootcamp with Venusian Arts led by Mystery himself. I never really spoke about this in detail because I was somewhat secretive about it at the time but I’ve always been a fan of pickup and I really have no qualms about sharing it now. It is the means by which I got into the Rich Jerk’s Playboy Mansion party. This in turn introduced me to my fascination and obsession with internet marketing and led me to starting this blog as well. It was one of the best and most rewarding weekends of my life. I got to meet Neil Strauss, Ross Jeffries, Eben Pagan (a.k.a. David DeAngelo), and a slew of other guys who are big names in that realm. I also learned more about not just women, but relationships and human interaction than at any other stretch in my life.
It literally was a game changer for me and I would recommend that any man who would like to learn more about women and how to improve the relationships in their life to take a bootcamp from a reputable company. The importance behind it is they are not just teaching tricks to get more women, but rather a lifestyle of constant improvement. By cultivating this attitude of always getting better in all areas of your life, you will naturally become more attractive and more women will be attracted to you anyway which is just icing on the cake. I’ve also looked at many related books and courses on the subject since then and have gained a mass amount of knowledge on evolutionary and general psychology. It’s almost eerie how related that dating and marketing can actually be sometimes, which leads me to my next section.
2. Wealth: I have written about a few of these here, but it’s worth noting that I have dedicated a vast amount of time into ebooks, books, courses, and seminars on marketing the last few years. I’ve even selected marketing as a minor when I go back to school later this month because I’m so passionate about it. I’ve gotten courses from the Rich Jerk, Frank Kern, Mike Filsaime, Eben Pagan, and so on and so forth. I’m taking one currently about SEO that is already paying dividends with this site as well as the other projects I’m involved in.
One of my favorite experiences is getting to be at Frank Kern’s Mass Control 2.0 seminar in San Diego and getting to soak up such great information and be around a crowd that is so passionate about the subject. I learned a massive amount of great tips and techniques that weekend that I either have implemented or will in the coming years.
One of the downsides of all this is that I overwhelmed myself with information at times and didn’t take action to the extent that I should have. I’ve gone about correcting that problem this year and am already seeing results from it and hope to build on my progress as I get better.
I have no doubt that someday I will be making my living as a marketer and writer as a result of my introduction to this community. (Be here when it happens! 
)
3. Health: Because of the progress I made in the other two areas of my life, I noticed that I was slipping physically at times. So I started to work out again. I made a little progress right away but wanted a little structure and a plan I could follow. So I got my hands on a copy of P90X and it made a big difference for me. I made it to the third phase but found that I was getting a bit bored with the redundancy of the workouts so I switched to a more traditional weightlifting, cardio, and sports combo of exercise which has been phenomenal for me. I’m now in great physical shape and am training to run a half-marathon in May and then a full marathon later in the year.
The point here though is that P90X was HUGE for me. It got me into a habit of eating in a disciplined fashion and understanding how my body reacts to eating and working out. This allows me to make necessary changes on the fly and even if I eat some junk food now I don’t worry because I know when to be a little more conservative with my diet and/or when to rest and change up my workout routines.
Summary: I’ve been able to either take a seminar or go through a home study course for each area of my life over the past few years and all have made a huge difference for me. I am narrowing my focus to taking more action this year and taking less courses, but the foundation of knowledge I have built by taking high value trainings is invaluable to me. I have invested literally tens of thousands of dollars into my personal development and it has paid dividends for me in every area of my life and my overall well-being. I would encourage anybody else to do the same.
You don’t have to buy a big expensive course, but just simply start out with a book or a good blog. Try to practically apply the fundamentals of what you learn and use what works for you in your life and personal situation. Then as you gain a little more knowledge and experience, consider taking a higher end course of some kind. It will most likely be one of the most rewarding and fulfilling experiences of your life.
Get Your Money Right
Finances are important. If you’re not working on yours and putting systems in place to help you eliminate debt, boost your savings, and prepare for retirement, then WHAT are you waiting for?
Personal finance is a hugely popular topic on the net and there are guys much more qualified than me who I look to for a little guidance from time to time. Three in particular stand out:
1. Ramit Sethi – Ramit is the author of the highly popular finance blog and book of the same name “I Will Teach You To Be Rich“. He is very good at getting you to think about the big picture. In other words, you don’t have to give up your Starbucks to save more but when is the last time you tried to negotiate savings on your regular bills like cable, cell phone, etc.? He’s currently writing what is sure to be an outstanding series on making more income in your free time.
2. J.D. Roth – The man with the peculiarly appropriate name for the topic tackles finance regularly on “Get Rich Slowly“. He and his staff writers put up new articles that constantly have me engaged and thinking about some aspect of my finances that I may have overlooked. Very intriguing stuff and worth adding to your blog reader.
3. Dave Ramsey – I’m a new listener to Dave’s podcast, but I’ve enjoyed it so much that I picked up a copy of his book and I haven’t been sorry. I’m looking forward to having my own Total Money Makeover this year. He has very simple but very powerful advice that anybody can follow as long as they put a little bit of effort into understanding their financial goals. Not to mention baby steps and guidelines that will virtually help you make decisions about money in any situation.
Money isn’t everything but it is important. It can make your other personal development goals a lot easier if you have your money situation squared away. Take a look at the advice these fine mentors have to offer and create a plan for yourself and your family to follow.
Invest In Your Success
What do you want to accomplish more than anything else right now? I’ve been asking myself the same question recently. And I’ve tried to take steps to ensure that I’ll reach my goals, push past them, and set bigger and better ones for the future. Here’s what I’ve been up to lately to help myself in the different areas of my life.
Health: I have been doing P90X to whip myself back into shape. I’ve lost around 30+ pounds overall since I’ve started (including P90X and other exercise) and feel awesome. The improved physical condition has translated over into every other area of my life. I feel better than I have in a long time and even though I’ve been slacking off in the last phase a little bit lately, I’m going to finish the program and write a full summary of my experience here.
Wealth: I have been digesting a lot of material on wealth-building which is nothing new for me. I study internet marketing and ways to create wealth no matter what anyway. But what I’ve really changed is the small steps I’ve taken to invest in my future. I never really looked at having my investment plan in order before the past couple of months. I opened a higher-than-average return savings account and an investment account with ING Direct/Sharebuilder and have started looking into ways I can save more and contribute to my retirement savings more actively. This is an area I have neglected for a long time and feel so relieved to finally be learning more about it at this stage in my life. In addition, I have been killing it with my study of internet marketing recently and I’m at the point where I’m ready to really throw everything I’ve learned into practice within the scope of what’s doable for me. In any case, I have a great desire to put more effort into what I want to be a very successful business one day.
Relationships: I recently separated from my wife of 4 years. Yes, it’s sad but true. We still care a great deal for each other, but it was time to make a change and move on. Fortunately for me, I have taken great strides to not mope around on this loss. Instead I see it as an opportunity to become a master at all the social skills I have left underdeveloped all this time. I am a HUGE fan of pickup theory and evolutionary psychology. Being “single” again gives me the chance to go out meet new women and friends and really learn more about myself and others in a practical environment. What was once sadness has now been replaced with the understanding of patience and anticipation for the adventures to come in my life.
Miscellaneous: I’m starting back to college in February for a degree in Computer Information Technology. I’m not overly excited about it because I know it will probably take more of my precious time than anything else. But I do want to finish my Bachelor’s degree and my GI Bill will more than cover the expense. I also know it will greatly enhance my resume and give me the golden “something to fall back on” egg.
I know you haven’t heard from me in a while, and these are the reasons why. I’ve been investing in myself and my future a great deal. This article is about that very topic: Self-improvement in all areas at all costs.
It’s easy to just sit around the house all day and play PS3. I go through many days where I do that as well. But throughout my time, I’m very conscious of taking little steps to ensure success will be commonplace in my life. Here’s a little bit of what I’ve learned recently:
1. You HAVE to invest something, whether you want to or not. You have to invest time, money, resources, focus and energy just for starters into whatever outcome you desire in your life and there’s no way around this. You may say “I don’t have to invest anything.”, but in all fairness you are then investing in whatever it is that you are choosing to spend your life doing by not actively pursuing the things that you REALLY want. Time is the most precious of these. The time I spend mindlessly web surfing and playing PS3 is time I could be spending building my blog, internet business, and getting things done that have more priority in my life. This is a habit I am working on improving into something more manageable.
2. Don’t be afraid of failure. I fail all the time. I’ve even written an entire article dedicated to not caring about failure. The thing is to not consider small setbacks failures, but instead to frame them as feedback. Dwelling on setbacks is failure. Correcting them and improving in those areas is inevitable to success. Know the difference and implement it.
3. Evaluate the weak areas of your life and see where you can improve. This one has been big for me and it’s the entire premise of this website and a philosophy I live my life by. What is dragging you down and really feels out of order in your life? Health, Wealth, or Relationships? If one is out of balance from the other two, you will feel it. It may even get to the point where it begins to affect the other areas of your life in a negative way. Find weaknesses and take those initial steps to improve them.
4. Maintain and build upon your strengths. This one is easily accomplished. Best example: My fitness and diet habits have consistently yo-yo’d throughout my life. I’ve gone through many periods of being in shape, working out and eating right. These would then be followed by me settling for my physical condition and then allowing myself to eat junk food and not work out as much resulting in me getting out of shape and having to work hard just to get back to where I was. Now that I’m in a good position with my fitness and diet, I am making it a priority to stay there. I even let myself indulge a little bit with dessert and the occasional beer. Moderation in indulgence is okay. Just don’t let it ruin the habits that got you the success in the first place.
5. Make a plan. This can be an improvement to whatever plan you have in place now or a start from scratch manifesto. Just get something down on paper. I went through Tony Robbins’ Get The Edge program a couple of months ago and it was eye-opening. I was able to write down what I really wanted in life, set timelines of when I wanted to get there and immediately begin taking action towards those goals.
6. Be CONSISTENT. Half of the game is just showing up. Once you have your plan and action steps set up, follow them with conviction. You might get sidetracked or derailed, but keep pushing. A little effort is better than no effort at all. It definitely helps to have the right people around you as well. Try to maintain a peer group who consistently moves towards goals similar to what you are trying to accomplish and this makes your successful progression almost inevitable.
If you’re slacking on yourself and what you want, don’t wait until January to get cracking away on your dreams. January 1st is not a fresh start, but just a date like any other date. Get your fresh start now. Even if you take small steps only, they will still be small steps in the right direction.
Malcolm Gladwell, Outliers, & The Rules To Success
I’ve been on a Malcolm Gladwell reading spree recently and if you haven’t gotten familiar with his work then you should. I became aware of Outliers after seeing it referenced by several very successful people and decided to pick it up. I’ve mentioned it in passing but really wanted to go into it a little further here.
Gladwell discusses several prominent examples of massively successful groups and individuals in the book and what led them to becoming so successful. Bill Gates, The Beatles, why Asians seem to be so good at math, and why the best hockey players are born at the beginning of the year are just a few of the case studies in the book that make for intriguing observations.
These are some of the principles of success you can find over and over again throughout the book and that you can apply in your own quest for success in personal development and your life:
1. The 10,000 Hour Rule: One common theme among most massively successful people is that they practice to get better right around 10,000 hours which averages out to be about 10 years at 3-4 hours a day. This would seem to be common sense. You say to yourself “Oh well I’ll just start the clock and get to it!” and you should, but the reality of the matter is that most people don’t, won’t, or can’t practice that much at anything and fall short of their 10,000 hours to mastery. In a study of musicians in the book, Gladwell takes note of how the musicians that end up being just very good, or average, or music teachers, just have about half the time of the world-class orchestra performers. Most people grow sick of doing something repetitively, tell themselves they are burned out and go back to the same routine. Think about how you can keep yourself going, get your practice time in, and move closer to 10,000 hours of practice to gain mastery in your chosen field.
2. Coming along at the right time This one is beyond any individual’s control but there are some things that can be taken from it. Gladwell mentions how being born at a certain point of the year or in a period of years can be pivotal to one’s success. The key example of this being how the majority of elite hockey players typically have birth dates during the first quarter of the year. The reasoning behind this is that hockey season begins at the start of each year and the children with a year of physical maturity over their peers will be perceived as bigger, stronger, & better. This leads to being picked for the best teams which leads to more practice, better coaching, more experience, & ultimately success. Another example is one of a Jewish law firm that specialized in handling corporate takeovers for clients at a time when they were unpopular and irregular. 20 years later when corporate takeovers were the norm, this group had a head start of leaps and bounds over their competition and has continued to grow exponentially. There is nothing you can do about when you were born, but what you can take away from this one is to take note of those who are successful in your field. Has the time they started had anything to do with their success? Observe and take away what you can about the things that make others successful and model those behaviors. Understanding why somebody has such a great deal of success, whether it be doing it at the right time or having a huge headstart can give you a better idea of how to emulate and apply those lessons to your own routine.
3. Being VERY Lucky The Beatles got the chance to go to Germany to perform for 8 hours a day, 7 days a week because of a lucky meeting with a club promoter. Bill Gates had the immense fortune of being able to have wealthy parents that got him access to a computer at a time when they were rare, AND continued to have lucky break after lucky break when it came to having continued access to perfect his coding skills. Lucky breaks are important, but in this day and age many people are at a point when Rule #1 can help them create their own but so few actually choose to do so. As golfing great Gary Player once said, “The harder I work, the luckier I get”. Be proactive and create your own luck.
How successful you want to be in your personal development endeavors is inevitably tied back to these points as well. The 10,000 hour rule is for the most part what makes successful people. This is applicable to anything worth pursuing in life. If you want to be in better shape, make more money, or have more friends or dates, you have to put in the time to getting these things. You don’t necessarily have to put in 10,000 hours but the more time you can spend, the better. Just conciously put forth more time and practice into those areas in your life where you want more. As Malcolm says in the video above, examples of failures really just boil down to those people who didn’t get their 10,000 hours in! Hard work and perseverance will almost always determine your success. Keep that in mind whenever you think of giving up!
To your continued success,
Clark
