I am responsible for my own success.

I am responsible for my own success.

I have the capability to think in new ways.

I have the capability to think in new ways.
I act on the knowledge I have.

What is rat race?

Accordingly to Wikipedia, rat race is a term used for an endless, self-defeating or pointless pursuit. It is just like a rat trying to escape whilst running around a maze or in a wheel.

In an analogy to the modern city, many rats in a single maze run around making a lot of noise bumping into each other, but ultimately achieve nothing (meaningful) either collectively or individually.

Rat race is a term often used to describe work or excessive work in particular. If one works, one is in the rat race. This terminology contains implications that many people see work as a seemingly endless pursuit with little reward or purpose.

The increased image of work as a "rat race" in modern world has led many to question their own attitudes towards work and seek a more harmonious Work-life balance. Many believe that long work hours, unpaid overtime, stressful jobs, time spent commuting, less time for traditional family life, has led to a generally unhappier workforce to enjoy the benefits of increased economic prosperity and a higher standard of living.

Are you stuck in the rat race?

If you work minimum 8 hours a day and trade your time for paycheck in order to pay bills, there is a high possibility that you are caught in rat race.

Escape from rat race? Why?

Don’t get me wrong that rat race is something very bad that you must escape from it. It is your choice whether you are happy to stay in the rat race or not. The only challenge that I see in rat race is that even if you win the race, you are still a rat. No matter what you do in the rat race, success is uncertain. However, if you do nothing about it, worry about your retirement is on the way.

Accordingly to surveys performed in US, it showed that if we take any group of 100 people at the beginning of their working career and follow them for 40 years until they reach retirement age, according to the Social Security Administration:



- Only 1 will be wealthy

- 4 will be financially secure

- 5 will continue working because they have to for a living

- 36 will be dead

- 54 will be dead broke and dependent on the Social Security checks, relatives, friends and even charity for a minimum standard of living.

These, of course, are US statistics. In the rest of the world, especially the developing world, the scenario might be far worse.

In short, there is only 5% of the population have enough to retire by age 65. There will be a high possibility of 95% that we will be either dead or dead broke by 65 years old. Isn’t that scary?

How do the rich escape from rat race?

The rich who is financially successful do not trade their time for money. Conversely, the rich leverage on other people money and time to make money.
Instead of working hard for money, the rich ensure money working hard for them through investment.

Property investors leverage on other people money by borrowing from banks to purchase properties or assets. They rent out the properties and have the tenants pay off the loans. Other than getting the tenants to pay off their assets, the property investors make even more money when their assets appreciate in value. Property investors leverage on other people money to make money.

Business owners like Bill Gates leverage on other people time by hiring employees to work for them. Investors, who invest in stock market, leverage on business owners and employees time to make money for them through capital gain from stocks.

Can an average ordinary person escape from rat race?

Absolutely Yes!

No doubt it is difficult to leave our comfort zone and risking the secure regular paychecks to pay off our bills. We need to take the first step and action to start somewhere. We need to change our mentality and reprogram our minds to mirror the millionaire minds.

At the same time, we have to start financial planning and saving to cumulate capital. Acquire the skills to generate passive income. Learn how to invest in assets like properties, stock market, etc or own and run businesses.

As our assets growing which in return generating more money, more money will increase our capability to increase the number or size of assets. The same “money working hard” cycle repeats by itself until such time that we no longer need to trade our time for money where we can live, work, play and give freely.

Congratulations! That’s the time that we are out of rat race and achieve financial freedom!

I am grateful for the things that come into my life

I am grateful for the things that come into my life.

"Whatever your mind can conceive and believe it can achieve." ~ Napoleon Hill

Think and Grow Rich, written by Napoleon Hill, is a motivational book and a collection of principles for the attainment of wealth and financial freedom.

When Napoleon Hill was a journalist for Success magazine, he was sent to interview the richest man in America, steel magnate, Andrew Carnegie. Carnegie offered to give Napoleon “the greater part of his fortune”, which turned out not to be money but his accumulated wisdom on how anyone could become wealthy.

Napoleon who was a poor journalist, armed with just an introductory letter from Carnegie, set out to interview over five hundred successful people including Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell, Henry Ford, Elmer Gates, Charles M. Schwab, Theodore Roosevelt, William Wrigley Jr, John Wanamaker, WIlliam Jennings Bryan, George Eastman, Woodrow Wilson, William H. Taft, John D. Rockefeller, F. W. Woolworth, Jennings Randolph, etc, to find a success formula that could be used by the average person.

Napoleon then revealed this priceless wisdom of his research in the form of the thirteen steps to success in Think and Grow Rich. This book was essentially a condensed version of this larger work and a sum total of the numerous interviews and research by Napoleon about the rich people in the world.

Napoleon talked to these successful people at length and tried to devise out their paths to success. Napoleon also dealt with many more factors in his book about why some people attain success while some others do not. Andrew Carnegie had an obsession for being successful and wealthy. He wanted more and more people to achieve this level of success and money too.

Think and Grow Rich is the master book of all other wealth-creation or self-development books. It took twenty long years for Napoleon to collect and assimilate all the information in this book. The main and underlying message in the book is that you can achieve whatever you want in life if you have sufficient desire to achieve it.

Napoleon Hill drafts out the various success principles outlined in the success stories of the rich and successful. He divulges all the secrets of these individuals while on their rise to the top. Most of the top achievers of today are thankful to Napoleon Hill for helping them draft and chart their way to success and wealth.

Think and Grow Rich is a book written almost seventy to eighty years back. Therefore, the language is a bit formal and repetitive. I highly recommend this book despite these minor drawbacks. Rather, these do not amount to drawbacks, as the book is perfect for the written period. Even today, Think and Grow Rich is a very useful book.

Here are some interesting observations by Napoleon Hill, the greatest gurus on achieving success:

"Before us lie two paths -- honesty and dishonesty.

The shortsighted embark on the dishonest path; the wise on the honest.

For the wise know the truth; in helping others we help ourselves; and in hurting others we hurt ourselves.

Character overshadows money, and trust rises above fame. Honesty is still the best policy.”


"Understand this law and you will then know, beyond room for the slightest doubt, that you are constantly punishing yourself for every wrong you commit and rewarding yourself for every act of constructive conduct in which you indulge."


"Cherish your visions and your dreams as they are the children of your soul, the blueprints of your ultimate achievements."


"Effort only fully releases its reward after a person refuses to quit."


"Every adversity, every failure, every heartache carries with it the seed on an equal or greater benefit."


"Hold a picture of yourself long and steadily enough in your mind's eye, and you will be drawn toward it."


"If you do not conquer self, you will be conquered by self."


"One must marry one's feelings to one's beliefs and ideas. That is probably the only way to achieve a measure of harmony in one's life."


"The ladder of success is never crowded at the top."


"The majority of men meet with failure because of their lack of persistence in creating new plans to take the place of those which fail."


"Until you have learned to be tolerant with those who do not always agree with you; until you have cultivated the habit of saying some kind word of those whom you do not admire; until you have formed the habit of looking for the good instead of the bad there is in others, you will be neither successful nor happy."


"War grows out of the desire of the individual to gain advantage at the expense of his fellow man."


"When defeat comes, accept it as a signal that your plans are not sound, rebuild those plans, and set sail once more toward your coveted goal."


"You must get involved to have an impact. No one is impressed with the won-lost record of the referee."


"I have proved, times too numerous to enumerate, to my own satisfaction at least, that every human brain is both a broadcasting and a receiving station for vibrations of thought frequency."


"If this theory should turn out to be a fact, and methods of reasonable control should be established, imagine the part it would play in the gathering, classifying and organising of knowledge. The possibility, much less the probability, of such a reality, staggers the mind of man!"


"The sixth sense is that portion of the subconscious mind which has been referred to as the creative imagination. It has also been referred to as the 'receiving set' through which ideas, plans and thoughts flash into the mind. The flashes are sometimes called hunches or inspirations."


"The sixth sense defies description! It cannot be described to a person who has not mastered the other principles of this philosophy, because such a person has no knowledge and no experience with which the sixth sense may be compared. Understanding the sixth sense comes only by meditation through mind development from within."


"After you have mastered the principles described in this book, you will be prepared to accept as truth a statement which may, otherwise, be incredible to you, namely:

"Through the aid of the sixth sense, you will be warned of impending dangers in time to avoid them and notified of opportunities in time to embrace them."

"There comes to your aid and to do your bidding, with the development of the sixth sense, a 'guardian angel' who will open to you at all times the door to the temple of wisdom.""

When you know what you want, and you want it badly enough, you’ll find a way to get it.

When you know what you want, and you want it badly enough, you’ll find a way to get it.

You Will Only Go As Far As You Think You Can Go!

You Will Only Go As Far As You Think You Can Go!

Michelangelo and the Flaw Stone

We admire perfection and it is always inspirational to see everything is perfect in life.

Often quick to reject thing which has flaw, we don’t realize that, in working around the flaws, some of the world’s most perfect masterpieces were created.

A massive, solid piece of Carrara marble lying unused in a field for 40 years.

The marble had been abandoned and forgotten.

A large gash scarred its side.

Today, that same piece of marble is visited by millions of people all over the world.

The abandoned and scarred stone was transformed into one of the world’s greatest masterpieces.

In 1501, Michelangelo Buonarroti won a commission from the Florentine elders to work on the flawed block of marble.

Other sculptors assumed the block would break under the strain of the huge gouge in its side.

Yet Michelangelo was able to see behind the ruined surface something that no one else could see.

With chisel and mallet, he worked around the flaw.

Weeks, months and years passed, as the master hammered and sculpted the scarred stone.

Finally, there emerged from under his skillful hands the figure of a man which was said to be so perfect that it lacked only life itself.

After 4 years of painstaking carving, Michelangelo was able to release the beautiful image of “David” from flawed marble.

In doing so, the transformed the block rejected by others into the most striking sculpture in Florence.

David’s eyes are watchful…the veins in his hands and arms reveal his strength…a stone rests in his right hand, his body, seems a reservoir of energy, standing poised for action.

When asked how he accomplished such an incredible transformation, Michelangelo said that David was already in the piece of marble…he merely removed everything that wasn’t David, including the flaw.

In the same way that Michelangelo saw David in a block of stone, then, chiseled away the flaw and the excess until David appeared, envision yourself, your life as you wish it to that image.

In doing so, you will discover that inside every person, even the scarred ones, there is a masterpiece waiting to be brought to life.

By SkyQuestCom.com

Entrepreneurs are simply those who understand that there is little difference between obstacle and opportunity and are able to...

"Entrepreneurs are simply those who understand that there is little difference between obstacle and opportunity and are able to turn both to their advantage."

~ Niccolo Machiavelli

Learn to help people with more than just their jobs; help them with their lives.

Learn to help people

with more than

just their jobs;

help them with their lives.

Discover The Fortune That Lies Hidden Everywhere

A few tips discover from a network marketing book by Robert Kiyosaki, The Business School For People Who Like Helping People.

Robert Kiyosaki is the author of international bestselling book, Rich Dad Poor Dad. Robert is famous for his sayings that “we go to school to learn to work hard for money. I write books and create products that teach people how to have money work hard for them…so they can enjoy the luxuries of this great world we live in.”

In this book, The Business School For People Who Like Helping People – The 8 Hidden Values of A Network Marketing Business, Other Than Making Money, Robert emphasize again that the overall population can be divided into four major groups.

The first two groups can further be categorized as “Work” or individuals who income potential is finite. They are also called active income group because they have to exchange time for money. If they stop working, they stop earning money.

Who are the active income earners or “Work” group?

1. Those who are Employed or employees who work for a system (a business, a corporation, a government,…etc) or stuck in the rat race treadmills because they have to exchange their time for paychecks. There is not really a lot of favorable advantage for these groups of people from wealth accumulation and financial freedom perspective.

2. Self-Employed – self employed people (e.g. lawyers, doctors, ...etc.) themselves are a system. If they stop, there is no system left to work on its own. They, like the employed, must work and exchange their time for money, if not, they will not be paid or earn any money. There is also not a lot of favorable setup for the 2nd group self-employed people from wealth accumulation and financial liberty perspective, although they do have some added benefit of generating greater financial growth than employees.

The next two groups are categorized as “Network” where we usually find the rich and wealthy. More importantly, they are the ones who recognized the importance of operating as a team and their income potential is infinite. They are called passive income earners because these groups of people do not have to exchange time for money. In other words, they have both financial and time freedom. According to research, they are also the top 5% population who own 95% of the wealth in this planet earth. This network category is where all of us should eventually move to…

Who are the “Networkers”?

3. Business owners such as Bill Gates, Carlos Slim Helu, are those who own a system but do not work in the system. A business owner set up businesses in such a way that it is a system that can be run by anybody (just like a McDonald's franchise). They then hire workers to plug into the system, work for them, and bring them money.

4. Investors (e.g.Warren Buffett, the richest man in the world) are those who invest in a system (corporation, securities, stocks, foreign currency, commodities,…etc) but do not need to work in the system. An investor has investments in systems that work for them and make them big money.

Do you see the key difference between these two categories, the Work and the Network? The people in the first Work category have to exchange time for money or stuck in the rat race wheel. If they do not give up their time, they will not get the paychecks.

The people in the second Network category can choose to work or not to after the rat race. They may initially spend time setting up the system, but once it is up and running, they no longer have to exchange their time for money. They take back control of their time and this enables them to live life as they wish. The system works for them and brings them money even while they are sleeping!

How great is that ya?

So, the next question is, how can we move quickly from the active to the passive income group?

Well, there are several ways, but the most affordable, yet most overlooked, is network marketing.

A network marketing system that leverage on people might be one of the solution to escape rat race. Once the network is established, it allows us to have a much stable and controllable life and frees up most of our time so that we can do other things that we enjoy or even start another systems or businesses (because we have all the free time to do so)!

T. Harv Eker, multi-millionaire and author of the best-selling, Secrets of the Millionaire Mind, says this about network marketing in his book:
"...network marketing can be a dynamite vehicle for wealth. But, and this is a big “but”, don't think for a minute that you are going to get a free ride. Network marketing will only work if you do. It will take training, time and energy to succeed. But if you do, incomes in the range of $20,000 to $50,000 per month - that's right, per month - are not uncommon."

Have a look at what Robert Kiyosaki has to say about network marketing. He says it is a great asset-producing vehicle, one that allows you to create assets that create more assets that create more assets that create more assets....

In other words, we recruit representatives (assets that add money to our pocket), who in turn recruit their own reps (more assets that add money to our pocket), who in turn recruit their own reps (more assets that add money to our pocket)...

So what makes network marketing so good when done in the right industry and with the right company?

Well, other businesses grow linearly while network marketing grows exponentially (rapidly becoming greater in size)!

Do you still need another reason?

You don’t get paid for the hour. You get paid for the value you bring to an hour.

You don’t get paid

for the hour.

You get paid for the value you bring to an hour.

Penang Food Paradise

By LonelyPlanet

Inspire Someone's Dream!

A caring mum would like to stimulate inspiration of her little son’s dream on piano.

She brought her son to attend a concert by the great Paderewski.

Feeling bored waiting at his seat, the little boy left and wandered away.

Seeing a door marked “No Admittance”, he promptly entered.

He found himself on a stage with a grand piano in the center.

His attention was drawn to the beautiful grand piano with its glistering white ivory keys.

Suddenly the curtains parted and a sportlight lit on the piano.

Sitting on the piano stool and reaching for the ivory keys, the little boy started playing “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star”

The Audience’s amusement turned to curiosity when the world famous pianist entered the stage.

He quickly walked to the piano and whispered in the boy’s ear:

“Don’t quit.”

“Keep playing.”

“You are not alone.”

Paderewski sat down beside the little boy and put his arm around the boy.

The great pianist began playing a counter medley as he whispered more words of encouragement to the little boy.

The audience was so fascinated that they couldn’t recall what else the great master played.

It only takes just a few moments to inspire someone’s dream – especially someone who looks up to you for encouragement.

The next time you see someone reaching for their dreams, come alongside with them and whisper in their ears:

“Don’t quit.”

“Keep playing.”

“You are not alone.”

By SkyQuestCom.com

Without a sense of urgency, desire loses its value.

Without a sense of urgency,

desire loses its value.

How People Made A Fortune With “Fool Idea” II

3. Setup Own Business

The other avenue to financial freedom is starting own business with an idea and be an entrepreneur.

Why?

“Money is just an idea!”

The richest self-made people in the world are successful entrepreneurs who turn ideas into money such as the founders of Microsoft, Walmart, Yahoo, Google, and many more.

Accordingly to Investopedia entrepreneurs are the people who have the skills and initiatives necessary to take good new ideas to market and make the right decisions to turn the ideas profitable. The reward for the risks taken is the potential economic profits that the entrepreneurs could earn.

So, if we have the creativities and determination to turn ideas into money, we can start to run our businesses. Most of the multimillion dollars business is started small by a single person or its founders who subsequently acquiring and leveraging the right resources, talents and leadership skill to expand the business idea nationally or globally.

It is not what happens to us, it is what we choose to do about what happens that makes the difference in how our lives turn out...

It is not what happens

to us, it is what we

choose to do about

what happens that

makes the difference in

how our lives turn out.

How People Made A Fortune With “Fool Idea”

After exploring the mindset required to achieve financial freedom, are you eager to achieve financial freedom now but do not know how?

Or you have an idea but do not know whether the idea can achieve financial success?

Whatever ideas we have, the critical factor is “leverage”, simply means “the ability to generate more and more income with less and less works”. If the strategy is to get paid for our time, we are not leveraging.

For example, if we are in the business of beauty products and get an order amounting to 10,000 bottles of facial mask, we just need to call the supplier and order 10,000 bottles of facial mask. Then, we can happily count our profit to the bank because we are leverage on the supplier’s capital and time to make money.

On the other hand, if we are a home based facial therapist, we are so popular to have 10,000 customers lining up waiting for facial appointments. Most likely we have to disappoint majority of the customers and especially the last on the queue that she has to wait till the Monday at 12 noon, 3 years from now!

In this case, we are not leveraging because we are trading our limited 24 hours a day for money. There is just a limited of 24 hours max that we can serve the customers each day. What about hire more people to serve all the customers? In this case, we are leveraging on other people time to make money. People who don’t know how to leverage will work harder for those who leveraged.

Today, more and more leveraged tools are being created such as computers, internet, wireless and many more to help us generate more with less. If we want to keep up with the rich and be rich, we need to understand the power of leverage and use the leveraged tools that the rich are using. The average use fewer leveraged tools than the rich. People who do not learn to use leveraged tools like computers and internet will fall behind financially or work harder and harder just to keep up.

Let’s explore some of the latest leveraged tools and ideas to attain financial freedom…

1. Make Money Online

One of the latest tools to achieve financial freedom is leveraged on internet whereby we can practically work any time and any where.

Why internet?

Internet spending is growing significantly year over year. More and more people are buying or spending online. Currently, there are over 1 billion users all over the world and we can practically sell to every internet users without geographical restriction to a country or region. In 2006, there was a total of US$170 billion spending by the internet users and it is reported by Forrester Research recently that this number will grow to US$229 billion by year 2008.

How to leverage on internet marketing as a way to financial freedom? The most common way is generating huge traffic to market and sell our websites. To drive a huge volume of traffic to our websites, we need to have the right skills making the content interesting and running some advertisement campaigns. In return, we can make money by selling services and/or products (digital or hard goods) to the visitors. We can earn money by getting people to advertise in our websites for instance through Google Adsense. On top of that we can redirect the traffic to other’s people websites and earn referral fees and lots more other way through Ebay, Amazon.com, etc…

For someone who likes to write, we can even make money by creating blog with interesting and niche contents. The most profitable blog use a mix of affiliate marketing and Adsense type advertising to make money.

No doubt internet business needs more time and effort at the initial stage but which business does not have the same requirement? Once it is up and running, we just need a minimum amount of time to monitor and maintain this business. So, practically, it is a great passive income tool to make money while we are sleeping or on vacation.

2. Network Marketing

The rich look for building and leveraging on networks.

The average look for works.

At the same time, the rich believe in “Your networth is your network”.

What is so great about network then?

Network marketing is also known as multilevel marketing (“MLM”) which is a business model that combines direct sales with franchising. MLM functions by recruiting people to sell products through word-of-mouth and offers additional bonus or commissions based on the sales of people they recruited into their organization who are known as downline. A downline includes direct recruits, recruit’s recruit, and so on.

The beauty of MLM is leveraging on people and the power of networking to turn the organization into a million dollar MLM business. The business leverages on word-of-mouth advertising which is the easiest and cheapest way to generate sales through personal sharing of experience and recommendation.

The start up cost is usually low and we will be given an established business system, services and/or products to sell directly to end users. MLM is a flexible business model where training will be provided and we can choose when, where and who to work with.

Despite the potential of earning significant passive income by leveraging on network marketing, people are skeptical because MLM does not have a good image. After hearing a lot about MLM scams, people are doubtful because it is hard for those who don’t understand the differences to differentiate a legitimate MLM business against the pyramid or Ponzi scheme, which is illegal in most countries.

The key difference between a legitimate MLM vs pyramid or Ponzi scheme is the latter can make money solely from recruiting people and receive “sign up fees” WITHOUT delivering any product or service to new recruits. If there are greater incentives on recruiting people and no focus of selling the products, or if downline are required to buy more products than they can sell, it is likely an illegal pyramid or Ponzi scheme.

Will explore more in the next post...

Part of success is preparation on purpose

Part of success is preparation on purpose.

"You can have all the knowledge and skills in the world, but if your "blueprint" isn't set for success, you're financially doomed." ~ T Harv Eker

In the book, Secrets of the Millionaire Mind, T Harv Eker reveals 17 specific ways that RICH people think and act differently from POOR and MIDDLE-CLASS people. The book is a brilliant yet quick read.

Harv will share with you how he can predict your financial future by identifying what he calls your "inner blueprint" for money and success. Right now you're probably trying to figure out whether your own blueprint is set for wealth, moderate success or poverty. The answer is simple! Look at your results in the real world: your income, assets and net worth. Your results reflect your inner blueprint.

You can't build a mansion from a bungalow blueprint. In fact, the only way to become the architect of your new financial destiny is by revising your own internal blueprint and setting it for automatic success.

I am lucky to be given the access to a recording of a Teleseminar he hosted where he describes his foolproof methods for financial success. I now finally have the tools to be successful in ALL aspects of my life, especially in the financial arena!

I'm sharing this information because the seminar really worked for me and I'd like to see you benefit too...

You can learn from Harv on how to master the "inner game" of wealth in order to create outward success.

Harv seems to have a personal mission to help people realize their full potential by applying the principles he struggled to learn the hard way. These principles got him from debt to millionaire in only 2.5 years, so I figure if he can do it, so can I. If you can grasp even a few of the principles of success he outlines, you, too, can achieve financial freedom.

One of the things I learned from the seminar was that the most powerful truths are simple and indestructible; you can use them to create a foundation upon which to build your own "rich life," no matter how much or how little success you have experienced up until now. And a "rich life" is about more than just money...

You can transform your life from the inside out...

Find out how to develop your Millionaire Mind now!

During the Millionaire Mind Teleseminar, Harv will:
• Reveal the root causes of your money problems
• Demystify the destinies of the rich and poor
• Explain how (and why!) some people are programmed to fail
• Show you how to generate amazing results
• Help you expose your unconscious conditioning
• Spell out how you can reach your full financial potential

As if that isn't enough, at the end of the call you will learn how you can receive a bonus worth US$2,590!

Access the streaming audio Now!

The rich invest their money and spend what's left; the average spend their money and invest what's left.

The rich invest their money

and spend what’s left;

the average spend their money

and invest what’s left.

Who The Hell Is T Harv Eker?

T. Harv Eker grew up in North America. His parents were European immigrants who arrived at Canada with only $30. Even though T. Harv Eker grew up in Toronto, he spent most of his adult years in the United States.

Money was scarce throughout Eker’s childhood, so at thirteen, he began his work career. As a teen he delivered newspapers, scooped ice cream, sold novelties at fairs, and suntan lotions at the beach. After a year at York University, he decided to take time off to pursue his dream of becoming a millionaire.

During T. Harv Eker’s early adult years, he lived in five different cities, including Lake Tahoe and Ft. Lauderdale. He had a variety of jobs and started more than a dozen of different businesses, however, regardless of what he did, or how hard he worked, he just couldn't achieve success. He kept wondering when he was going to “make it”.

He said that “I had heard of this thing called profit. I just never saw any of it!”

In desperation, T. Harv Eker began to examine his deepest thoughts about himself. Even though he had professed a desire to become rich, he recognized that in reality his fear of failure was greater.

Was Eker destined to be a struggler?

The third time he moved back in with his parents, one of his father’s friends – who happened to be wealthy – gave Eker some advice.

He too had been a “disaster” until he learned a vital truth: Rich people think differently to the average people. Copy the way the rich think and you will be ready to become rich yourself.

T. Harv Eker studied the psychology of wealth creation and success, and learned mental techniques and strategies to recondition his mind to think in a rich people way. Eker learned that rich people do not “hope for the best”; they do not get sidetracked by “better” opportunities; they play to win and do not give up in tough times.

So, when T Harv Eker opened one of the first retail fitness stores in North America with $2,000 borrowing on his credit card, he swore to himself that he would not quit until he left the business as a millionaire. He grew the business to ten stores in only two and a half years. He then sold part of the company to a Fortune 500 corporation.

With the sale, Eker reached his dream. He was finally a millionaire; however, in less than two years, the money was gone. Through a combination of poor investments and unchecked spending, Eker was back at his original net worth … again.

It was at that point that Eker began developing his theories about people's mental and emotional relationship to money. He realized that his “inner-money thermostat” was set for a specific amount of financial success, and that everyone else had a financial set point too. His most profound discovery was that this money blueprint could be changed.

Using the 17 wealth files, principles and practices found in Secrets of the Millionaire Mind, Eker reset his own blueprint to not only create success, but to keep it and grow it, and become a multi-millionaire.

Secrets of the Millionaire Mind, T Harv Eker’s first published book, which went to #1 on the New York Times’, USA Today’s, and Wall Street Journal’s bestseller lists the first month of publication.

During his years of struggle, T. Harv Eker vowed that should he ever get rich, he would help others do the same. He has kept his promise. Today, he is the president of Peak Potentials Training, one of the largest and fastest-growing seminar companies in the world. He has already touched the lives of over 500,000 people, helping them move closer to their goal of true financial freedom.

The few who do are the envy of the many who only watch

The few who do

are the envy

of the many

who only watch.

If you share a good idea long enough, it will eventually fall on good people

If you share a good idea long enough,

it will eventually fall on good people.

How Does The Millionaire Mind Work?

Our minds work very similar to computer hardware. Before a computer is able to perform a series of arithmetic or logical operations, it must first be programmed and installed with software files. The ability and usefulness of the highly sophisticated hardware can be severely compromised by the quality of software.

Similarly, whether we have an average or millionaire minds are highly dependent on the files that are installed in our minds. Therefore, it is important for us to ensure that our minds are installed with the wealth files. Only then, we can differentiate whether we are thinking like the average and consciously reprogrammed our minds to think like the rich.

Remember, our minds are controlled by ourselves. We can choose to think in whatever ways we like as long as we are happy.

Are you ready to transform into millionaire mind now?

The guru in this area is T Harv Eker and you can find out more from his book and teleseminar on Secrets of the Millionaire Mind.

Personally, after viewing T. Harv Eker's video seminar, I am pleasantly surprised to discover how my mind used to be installed with the very old outdated traditional file taught by our teachers that we have to work hard to be rich. I used to think that, base on individual’s capacity, there is always a limited amount of money we can earn. The more money that we are after, the more time we need to trade off with money. The more time we are trading off with money, the lesser time we will have for ourselves. The lesser time left for ourselves, the lesser time we can spend with our love one which will lead to unhappiness either with ourselves or the love one. So, to stay happy, I am not willing to trade most of my time with a lot of money.


I was very wrong in the past! Extremely wrong!

This book is very helpful to recondition my thinking tremendously. It has changed the ways I see things very differently in life especially removing all the excuses that I used to create for myself. It helps me to refocus on executing my plan to achieve my financial freedom goal.

I sincerely hope that the highlights from Secrets of the Millionaire Mind below are useful to change yours too…

Rich people think big.
Average people think small.


Rich people think “both”.
Average people think “either/or”.


Rich people associate with positive and successful people.
Average people associate with negative and unsuccessful people.


Rich people admire other rich and successful people.
Average people resent rich and successful people.


Rich people constantly learn and grow.
Average people think they already know.


Rich people are committed to being rich.
Average people want to be rich.


Rich people act in spite of fear.
Average people let fear stop them.


Rich people focus on opportunities.
Average people focus on obstacles.


Rich people focus on their net worth.
Average people focus on their working income.


Rich people are bigger than their problems.
Average people are smaller than their problems.


Rich people believe “I create my life”.
Average people believe “Life happens to me”.


Rich people play the money game to win.
Average people play the money game to not lose.


Rich people manage their money well.
Average people mismanage their money well.


Rich people have their money work for them.
Average people work hard for their money.


Rich people choose to get paid based on results.
Average people choose to get paid based on time.


Rich people are excellent receivers.
Average people are poor receivers.


Rich people are willing to promote themselves and their value.
Average people think negatively about selling and promotion.

If you are not willing to risk the unusual, you will have to settle for the ordinary

If you are not willing to risk the unusual,

you will have to settle for the ordinary.

Champion Never Quit

If you would like to learn and look for inspiration on Persistence and Perseverance, one of the greatest example is Abraham Lincoln, someone who never quit.

"Before success in any man's life he is sure to meet with much temporary defeat and, perhaps, some failure. When defeat overtakes a man, the easiest and most logical thing to do is to quit. That is exactly what the majority of men do."
~ Napoleon Hill

Due to Abraham Lincoln’s never quit spirit, he became the greatest president in the history of United States…

Abraham Lincoln came from a very poor family.

In 1816, Abraham Lincoln and family were forced out of home.

He had to work extremely hard to support the family.

Thereafter, he failed his business twice and went bankrupt.

From 1832 to 1858, in a period of 26 years, he was defeated 9 times for legislature, Senate of United States and Congress.

Abraham Lincoln could have quit many times after trying for such a long period of time but he didn’t.

Finally, in 1860, he was elected the President of United States.

Abraham Lincoln was a champion because he never gave up.

A Champion is not one who never fails but one never quit…


“The path was worn and slippery,

my foot slipped from under me,

knocking the other out of the way,

but I recovered and said to myself:

It is a slip and not a fall” ~ Abraham Lincoln

by http://www.skyquestcom.com/success-resources

Millionaire Mindset to Achieve Financial Freedom

Today, when we talk about millionaire mind, we will think about Warren Buffett, Carlos Slim Helu, Bill Gates, Ingvar Kamprad, Lakshmi Mittal, etc. We admire them because they are the richest man in the world. This will lead to the discussion on why some become millionaires or billionaires and majority doesn’t.

The most common view is that the millionaires are the luckiest people on planet earth. They are just fortunate to born in rich families and inherit millions or billions of dollars. They are lucky enough to have met the right people at the right time and be given the opportunities, networks and secrets to achieve financial freedom. Some say that most of the rich are very smart, highly educated, born with talents or master certain unique skills.

These opinions by the average people misled and confused us. Consequently, we believe that we are not as lucky or as smart as the rich and therefore, we are the average. We got to work hard for paycheck.

“Too many people are satisfied with being Average.

Too many people think like everybody else.” ~ Dr Denis Waitley

We accept to be the average and believe that we are not as lucky and will never know or given the opportunities to know the secrets of millionaire mind.

In addition, most of the schools or even the best business schools are teaching us to study hard and get a high pay job in order to enjoy a better life. There is no lesson on developing millionaire mind or achieving financial freedom. The schools focus mostly on theories and working harder for money instead of having money working harder for us by being successful entrepreneurs or investors.

However, we can not blame our teachers because they were taught the same things by their teachers or lecturers. That’s why they are stuck in the same rat race and working as hard as everyone else.

Due to our teachers hardly know how to earn a lot of money, we have never expose to how to be rich at school. We shy away from finding ways to be millionaires or attain financial freedom but working harder and longer hour to get paychecks. That’s all what we were taught at schools.

Have you ever thought that anybody can be a millionaire. Many millionaires from poor family background or with no inheritance have proven that anyone can be rich. So, what are the secrets of millionaire mind then?

The first secret of millionaire mind is that the rich have positive self-esteem and confidence. Don’t underestimate the thought power. Positive self-image is critical to make us positive people. We become what we think. So, we have to think rich to be rich.

The rich don’t allow or accept any negative thoughts like:

“I can never be rich to achieve financial freedom unless I win a lottery”

“I never had a chance to study at the best business school. If I had, I would be millionaire now”

“I don’t have enough capital to invest and earn big bucks like the rich”

“If I were to be born in a rich family, I will be financially very successful now”

“I’m happy with what I have and I don’t need a million dollars now”

Sound familiar?

These are the examples of negative thoughts or excuses which will prevent us from making changes.

The root of success is determined by the way we think and believe. It is critical to have positive thinking and millionaire mind to attain financial freedom. Why?

Just imagine that our mind is like a garden.

If we plant good seeds in the gardens, we produce wonderful gardens. Conversely, if we don't plant good seeds, something else like weeds will grow automatically and wildly turning the gardens into bushes.

When we don’t have the right and positive thinking, our minds will be influenced by negativity easily and automatically especially by newspapers which report mostly negative news everyday like accidents, murders, disasters, etc. Hence, it is either we have the positive or negative thinking. There is no neutral or in between.

The second secret is that all millionaires take charge and responsible for their life no matter what happens. The rich set their goal with achievable action plan to make it happens. They act like NIKE: Just Do It! Couple with positive self-image which plays an important role will keep them focusing on solution and action by applying new strategies that they learn.

The third secret of the millionaire mind is the famous “I Can Do It” behavior. Having an “I Can Do It” attitude means that we stay positive to attain our goals no matter what happens. We don’t allow any excuses to stop us from pursuing our dreams. If we think we can, we can!

The average will always have a little “I Can’t” behind their mind. If the average truly believes that they are not as intelligent or as capable as the rich and therefore, they don’t deserve to be rich, they will never attain financial freedom. The “I Can’t” attitude will produce tons of excuses not to go after their dreams.

The forth secret is focusing on the ultimate destiny than problems. The main difference between the positive and negative person is that the positive person is a go-getter and doesn’t take challenges as the stoppers. This is possible when positive thought rules. Positive person will focus on how to move forward or ways to arrive at the destination. Whenever there is a road block, positive person will constantly looking for solutions and action plan to clear it. Persistence and perseverance go hand in hand to create the desire success and destiny.

In short, the way we think, whether positively or negatively, consciously or subconsciously, will determine our result because:

Thought leads to action.

Action leads to habit.

Habit leads to character.

Character leads to destiny.

Having the right thought process will produce strong feeling to succeed which will lead to action. Repeated action leads to good habit. Good habits lead to positive character. Positive character and attitude lead to phenomenal result and destiny.

Begin to take action and make our dreams become real.

Intelligence Without Ambition Is A Bird Without Wings

"Intelligence without ambition

is a bird without wings."
~ Salvador Dalí

Financial Freedom? What is that?

The definition of financial freedom can be very different from one person to another. Some may think that as long as we are debt free, we are financially free. Others believe that having the luxury to spend money in a worry-free way is financially free.

In accordance to Wikipedia, financial freedom is defined as a well-planned lifestyle where one no longer is required to work for income to cover their expenses. Contrary to popular belief, it does not require being free of debt, as a debt payment is just another expense.

Typically, "Financial Freedom" can be attained in one of two ways (or a combination of the two):

1. Enough passive investment income to cover one's expenses.

2. A large enough "nest egg" that can be liquidated over time to cover one's expenses.

Simply said, financial freedom is one point in life when you do not work for money anymore.

A passive income stream is one where money is received usually on a regular basis, without continuing effort. This does not mean no effort at all; most passive income streams require great effort to start with. For example, rental income from property, royalty income from patent rights or writing a book, bonus income from network marketing or set up internet businesses by selling digital products like ebooks, softwares, etc whereby you can still generate income while you are sleeping.

I personally believe that financial freedom is having adequate money to survive without working while still maintaining my preferred life style. It eliminates all the unnecessary stress from work and enables us to stay healthier. It provides a comfortable life at present and in future whereby we can have worry-free early retirement. Financial freedom practically enables us to do absolutely anything we want and we have total control of what, where, when and how with minimal restriction.


Only the rich deserve to have financial freedom?

Of course, Not!

Everybody deserves financial freedom. Yes, everybody includes you, your family, relatives, friends, neighbors, etc.

If we have the mindset that “achieving financial freedom is something very hard and impossible for us”, “financial freedom is just a beautiful dream”, “money is the root of evils”, “I don’t have capital to start off like the rich”…etc, these are all excuses that we have created for ourselves.

“Achieving financial success is something very hard and impossible?”

Nothing is harder than when we realize that we don’t have enough money to retire by 65 years old.

“Financial freedom is a just beautiful dream?”

If we are going to dream any way, why not dream big since dreaming is free whether big or small.

“Money is the root of evils?”

Think about it again… Lack of or no money is the root of all evils.

“I don’t have capital to start off like the rich?”

We have to take immediate action to start small and make a difference. If not, we will be stuck with no capital forever.

The list of excuses that prevent us from financial freedom can go on and on…These are mind block that stopping us from making any move to improve our life.

To be rich or millionaires, the first thing that we need to do is not learning the best strategies on how to make or invest money but having the right mindset. Acquiring knowledge and skills about running business, marketing, investment, etc are great “tools” to be rich. We will eventually lose the tools if we do not have the right mindset which is acting like a “toolbox” to keep the tools.

If we want to get rich, we must think like the rich.

If we want to be millionaires, we must develop the millionaire mindsets.

What is the different between the average and millionaire mind then?

Stay tune for more on this...

It Is A Scam! Don't Fall Into The Trap: DAYZERS MALAYSIA AWARD

Dear Friends,

I receive the similar emails twice within the same day and would like to post it here to alert all my friends and readers to be aware of this scam!

Obviously, this is a scam with a couple of abnormality noted, for example, the address does not look like a typical Malaysia's address esp without post code. Those name of the contact person or coordinator is just not an ordinary name for Malaysian. Also, we do not write Two Million Five Hundred as 2.500.000 in Malaysia. We use comma instead of a dot e.g. 2,500,000. By the way, Two Million Five Hundred should be 2,000,500 and not 2.500.000...

Similar alert was noted at http://www.lindqvist.com/en/asia-online-international-lottery too...

from Wilma C melville <melville@embarqmail.com> to

date Fri, Sep 19, 2008 at 9:12 PM

subject DAYZERS MALAYSIA AWARD

mailed-by embarqmail.com

DAYZERS MALAYSIA AWARD
KUALA LUMPUR 5, 2514 JA, THE HAGUE , MALAYSIA .

Dear Beneficiary,

These are your winning informationâ??s:

TICKET NUMBER : DZNL 492 - 714 - 027 / 2008
LUCKY NUMBER : 09, 22, 36, 61, 63, 79, 84
REFERENCE NUMBER: NUWL/DZNL/48326MST
BATCH NUMBER : DTOW 1396 62U7A

We are pleased to inform you that your e-mail address has won the
Dayzers loterij Malaysia (2.500.000) Two Million Five hundred Dollars program held on 22th of August 2008 and that was released today 09/09/2008, you are to
contact Mr Jeong Hassan Collins
Tel: +60173960135
Fax: +60321784711
EMAIL: collinsjeon@yahoo.com.hk

Sincerely Yours,
Mrs. Malam van Houd
The Lottery Coordinator.

N.B: All claims are nullified after 15 working days from today.
Congratulations once again from all our staff and thank you for being part
of our promotions program.
Here is my reply along with number

A typical way of a success story of rat racers supposed to go...

This is a typical way of a success story of rat racers supposed to go...

A youngster, Samuel Lucky, gets out of school, finds a good job and slowly works his way up the corporate ladder. In the process, he finds Lois, the girl of his dreams and they get married to start a family.

As time goes by the Luckys improve their life while continuing his rat race. That is, at first they drove a second hand car but after a while they graduate to a new Japanese car. Children come along and they sell their first house and buy a newer and larger one out in the suburbs of a nicer section than they could at first afford.

Most of the neighbors drive luxury cars and Mrs. Lucky complains that she isn't dressed as well as her friends. So Sam Lucky brings home work from the office in the evenings and working late into the night, and Lois gets a job as secretary to start her journey in the rat race. The children are left at a nursery school during working hours.

Sam continues to bring work home and three times a week he goes to night school where he takes some pretty stiff courses to increase his worth to the firm and be a much more competitive rat racer. After awhile he gets another promotion and merit increment. They can afford luxury car and desired items even though Mrs. Lucky has to continue running on the treadmill in order to afford those luxury items.

Time goes by and there are more promotions and the Luckys are able to move to an even better neighborhood. Lois, of course, can finally quit her job and escape from the rat race.

Later, they hire a cook and a chauffeur to improve their life. However, in order to achieve these, Mr. Lucky continues to bring home work at night. His only recreation these days is playing golf which is invariably done with company customers so that Sam can work on sales at the same time he plays. Mrs. Lucky entertains quite a bit these days—mostly the wives of executives of company customers.

By now Sam Lucky has an ulcer and Lois is going to see her psychiatrist every week. The children are off in finishing and prep schools.

At the age of 65 Mr. Lucky, who is a vice president in the company now, decides to retire. They do and buy a place in Miami Beach, taking the maids, the cook and the chauffeur along with them.

Next year, at the age of 66, Sam drops dead of heart failure. He hadn't been having a very good time anyway. After 45 years of continual work he would have forgotten how to have a good time.

Is this the way a success story supposed to go…?

Even though this might be the life that a lot of people dream of, Mr and Mrs Lucky do not appear to live a full life. Mr Lucky end up retired at 65 and barely enjoy life.

Furthermore, we didn’t even deal with the fact that the life of Sam had a fine chance of becoming an alcoholic along the way in view of the pressures upon him. Or that Mrs. Lucky, in spite of her psychiatric visits, had a strong chance of winding up in a mental institute under the tensions of her frustrated life.

While Mr and Mrs Lucky are busy with their life and hardly able to spend time with their kids, the kids might be out on the streets and probably taking their master's degree in juvenile delinquency.

We haven't dealt, either, with the probability that after the age of 30 or so, while busy chasing what they want in the rat race, there was no longer any real love between Sam and Lois.

Never in the history of any nation has there been such a large percentage of a people in mental institutions. Never has there been such a degree of juvenile delinquency. Never have there been so many divorces. Never has there been such insecurity in the hearts of a people, and the suicide rate is climbing sky high.

Calling all rat racers! It’s time to wake up from your dream of success this way because this is not a dream but nightmare.

It’s a nightmare to wake up in the morning and go down to a hurried breakfast and then to work. At work he spends eight hours or so, with a short lunch period during which he again bolts his food so as to get back to the job again on time. In the evening he comes home to a dinner, hurriedly prepared by a wife who either works or whose time is so taken up with the children and household duties that she too is exhausted at day's end.

After dinner he sits for an hour or two watching television or perhaps going to the local bar or movie. In the morning, the same routine goes on again. By week's end there is a day and a half or two days for relaxation, so that work can be resumed at top efficiency on Monday. For two or three weeks each year the family can pile into the car and dash off on a hurried tour of some national park, or an attempt at rest in some mountain or beach resort. Then back to the grind again. Year in, year out, and the best that can be hoped for is occasional increment in pay—and that a depression or lay off will not come to steal one's livelihood.

The greatest men that the world has ever produced did not, could not, live such a life. No great scientific discovery, no great work of art, no great book, ever came from a man or woman who remained in such a rut.

The great inventions, the great scientific discoveries of our world have been made by men who were able to pursue their driving interests in freedom and escape from meaningless rat race treadmill.

Man makes his great discoveries; he leads a good and full life; he enjoys and gives enjoyment; only when he has leisure and the opportunity to develop himself.

No man can enjoy the potentials nature has awarded him without freedom from the pressure of modern existence. He must escape, he must free himself from the rut in which most are sunk, he must get off the treadmill.

The best manner in which a man or woman can serve the society to which they belong is to be happy and at peace with themselves. You cannot make others happy unless you yourself have achieved happiness and financial freedom. The persons who are best suited to making this a better world are those who have achieved financial freedom, serenity and peace of mind.

Inspiring Journey To Financial Freedom

Thanks for visiting this blog, a life transformation blog.

This blog is right for you, if:

You feel that work-life balance is missing in your life.

You are currently struggling at work.

Fed up with your bosses, colleagues, office politic, etc.

Tired of running in the rat race with no direction in life.

Looking for “the secret” to financial independence.

Or, you are confused with what does it means by financially free?

Personally, my definition of financial freedom does not mean debt free but generating adequate passive income to maintain my desired lifestyle.

At time, financial independence is misunderstood as being rich.

While we know that the rich have millions of dollars in their net worth, they might over commit millions of expenditures which could also mean that they are not as financially success as they seem.

Therefore, financial freedom is a concept attuned to our lifestyle and the money that we need to maintain our desired lifestyle. In this perspective, to be financially free is not as hard to achieve as I first imagined.

To me, financial freedom is also time freedom. I am tired of the meaningless life running around the rat maze without time freedom.

A financially independent person will see that money is time. Once we are able to develop a sense of time freedom, then, we are in a positive direction to acquire financial independence.

Financial independence allows us to take time on our desired activities without trading our valuable time for money.

How to achieve financial freedom?

If you want to be financially free, it requires:

1. The right YOU
2. The right Knowledge
3. The right Tools/Vehicles at the right Time

The right YOU relate to the inner you, your mindset, your attitude and habits. According to T. Harv Eker, to obtain our desired outer results, we must first master the inner game of wealth. It is interesting to note that unless a person’s whole mind changed toward the acceptance of wealth and being a creator of wealth internally, we would get nowhere.

Not until we mastered both the “inner game” and the “outer game” of wealth, would our lives be transformed.

The “outer game” here is referring to the right KNOWLEDGE such as business knowledge, sales and marketing skill, information and money management, investment strategies, etc.

The right VEHICLE at the right time can be running a business, for examples, online business that sells digital products, network marketing, coins machines operated business, etc that generating multiple streams of passive incomes. In these instances, a business is not a job. It is a vehicle to wealth.

Then, probably, you will ask:
“How can I have the right Mindset, right Knowledge and running the right Vehicle at the right Time?”

Learn!

“Any Master Was Once A Disaster!”

Invest in ourselves and learn the right Mindset, acquire the right Knowledge and skills to operate the right Vehicle now!

With the latest technology and internet, our world is flatter now. Technology creates a “level playing field” in which previously marginalized people and countries can play a competitive role in the world economy. It has increased the risk of losing our traditionally “secured” jobs to others if we failed to maintain our competitiveness and equip ourselves with the right education and skills.

On the other hand, with the internet, we can now invest in our education and learn from the best any time any where. Other than the traditional offline resources such as books, attending seminars and courses (some might not be readily accessible to us due to the distance), we can also gain the right knowledge from internet, websites, blogs, ebooks, online seminars, audio, video, etc.

After wasted some time wondering around, I realize that it is either we learn from the best, or die like the rest (in the rat maze)!

Learning from the masters or gurus (who have been there, done that) is the short cut to success and the highest form of leverage. It saves us a fortune in time and money by leveraging on other’s people knowledge and learning.

Trust me. The best investment in our life is still US! (not United States!)

What we invest in self education will stay with us.

What we learn will stay with us.

What we deposit in our “minds” will stay with us.

Our knowledge will stay with us.

We can never know less.

At the same time, the investment in personal development will pay off quickly because we make decision everyday. Equip ourselves with the right mindset, knowledge and skills will help us to make the right decision which will affect our end result.

If you think investment in self education is expensive, try ignorance!

The World Is Flat And More Competitive. What's next?

The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century is a national bestseller book by Thomas Friedman. The title is a metaphor for viewing the world as flat in terms of commerce and competition where all competitors have an equal opportunity to compete and win.

In view of the globalization, people careers are in danger and sad to say that they still do now know it. Nobody is aware of this new inevitable trend that will negatively impact their career and their ability to protect and secure their financial future.

The world has changed. Everything has changed. Economy has changed to highly competitive environment globally. Technology has changed from time to time to improve and increase efficiency. Society has changed to much more fragmented and self centered. The workplace has changed in term of more information is required to process rapidly that an average worker might not be able to handle. This has resulted a much more demanding and pressurizing working environment.

Hence, calling all the rat racers! Time to take action planning out of rat race before your jobs are impacted. Even though you win the race, you are still a rat running around the highly competitive flat world.

In addition, with easy access to Internet and telephone connections has become a level playing field. This has added intense pressure to people at high cost locations whereby a job can now be done anywhere in the world, just as long as the person is qualified and connected.

Friedman tells us that 'There are 245,000 Indians answering phones from all over the world or dialing out to solicit people for credit cards or cellphone bargains or overdue bills.' These would constitute low-wage and low-prestige jobs in America, 'but when shifted to India they become high-way, high-prestige jobs'.

The world we live in is completely different from what it was 20 years ago. Changes are now taking place at a faster rate than ever before. Distances have shrunk, accessibility has increased, new territories have been discovered and jobs have been broken down into processes and anything that can be digitally transferred and worked on by the person who is the most efficient, fastest and cheapest without the constraint of boundary.

So, what is going on and threatening the security of our jobs?

What are the forces forcing us to leave the rat race?

The "story" of The World Is Flat begins with the 3 different phases of globalization from the days of Christopher Columbus to our present day which can be summarized as below:

Globalization 1.0
Start: 1492 (Columbus Discovered America)
End: 1800
Player: Country



Globalization 2.0
Start: 1800
Interrupted by:
- World War I (1914-1918)
- Great Depression (1929)
- World War II (1940-1945)
End: 2000

First Half of Globalization 2.0:
- Falling of Transportation Cost
- Steam Engine
- Rail Road

Second Half of Globalization 2.0:
- Falling of Telecommunication Cost
- Telegraph
- Telephone
- Personal Computer
- Fiber Optics
- World Wide Web

Player: Multinational Company



Globalization 3.0
Start: 2000
Player: Individual


The 3 eras of globalization started from Columbus's first journey in 1492 to around 1800 (Globalization 1.0), when the discoveries of new lands shrunk the world from large to medium; from 1800 to 2000 (Globalization 2.0), the era of industrialisation to the hegemony of the multinational which made the world small; and Globalization 3.0, the new, flat, tiny world where 'the creation of a global fibre-optic network has made us all next-door neighbours'.

The Globalization 1.0 dealt with countries, Globalization 2.0 with companies and Globalization 3.0, the last between individuals. It is the personalization and simplification of the Internet and telecommunication industries that has made the individual into a powerful entity regardless of the background whether he or she is back by any company or country.

The World Is Flattened #1: Fall of Berlin Wall (Nov 1989)
The collapse of the Berlin Wall broke through the symbolism of those promoting authoritarian rule with centrally planned economies such as the Soviet Union and led the way towards building democratic, consensual and free-market governments. The event not only signifying the victory of capitalism and end of the Cold War era, it allowed people from other side of the wall to join the economic mainstream and “allowed us to think about the world differently - to see it as a seamless whole” and ” think about the world as a single market, a single ecosystem, and a single community.”

The World Is Flattened #2: Netscape (1995)
The invention of Netscape Internet browser has dramatically increased the universal sharing of information. Prior to the invention of Netscape browser, only geeks and software engineers were able to navigate through the complicated procedures of the Internet. Netscape browser made the Internet user friendly and accessible to the common user from 5 year olds to 85 year olds to communicate from anywhere using any type of system.

The World Is Flattened #3: Workflow Software
The development of Free workflow software such as Outlook, Ebay, Paypal, allowed people from around the world to collaborate and connect together on projects and conduct commerce from remote locations using a shared medium. By connecting applications to applications, we could now manipulate digitized content and send it to someone across the world through the Internet. Work Flow software enabled us to utilize the best talent available regardless of physical location.

Friedman believes these first three forces have become a “crude foundation of a whole new global platform for collaboration.”

The World Is Flattened #4: Open Sourcing
Open Sourcing was a global movement where there was free access to software, web hosting, blogs, encyclopedias and numerous other tools. This enabled software engineers, students, professors or anyone else to contribute to the innovative and creative growth of Internet applications. Open sourcing has forged a culture of information-sharing that has dramatically reduced costs. Friedman considers the phenomenon "the most disruptive force of all."

The World Is Flattened #5: Outsourcing
Outsourcing started during Y2K crisis, when Indian software professionals were required to do an intensive code review that no one else had the manpower to conduct. Since then, outsourcing of off-site services such as call centers support, has branched out into countless forms of business and attracted a lot of press.
Friedman argues that outsourcing has allowed companies to split service and manufacturing activities into components, with each component performed in most efficient and cost-effective way.

The World Is Flattened #6: Offshoring
When China joined the World Trade Organization in December 2001, foreign companies were assured that standard business practices would be followed under international law. This worked to flatten the world as it attracted relocation of factories to China. Hence, offshoring is the manufacturing's version of outsourcing whereby the Chinese manufacturing sector has forced other developing countries to try to keep up with their low cost solutions, resulting in better quality and cheaper products being produced worldwide.

The World Is Flattened #7: Supply chaining
Supply chaining means using the new Information Technology tools to track purchases, reduce inventories, and streamline distribution of goods. Friedman uses Wal-Mart as the best example of a company using technology to streamline item sales, distribution and shipping. Wal-Mart has proved that it no longer matters where you are located in this flat world. Only how well you do your business and deliver your company goals which are much more important.

The World Is Flattened #8: Insourcing
Insourcing means the importation of one company’s workers into another in order to perform specialized tasks more efficiently. Insourcing is a new form of creating value horizontally, which has been made possible by a flat world. Smaller companies are able to compete with the larger ones in a flat world by taking care of processes that are closely related to their core competency.
Friedman uses UPS as a prime example for insourcing, in which the company's employees perform services--beyond shipping--for another company. For example, UPS repairs Toshiba computers on behalf of Toshiba. The work is done at the UPS hub by UPS employees.

The World Is Flattened #9: In-forming
Access to information is the greatest equalizer in a flat world. Anyone with an Internet connection has the ability to find information on the web now. Internet search engines like Google, Yahoo! and MSN Search can provide almost any information to anybody anywhere in the world. "Never before in the history of the planet have so many people-on their own-had the ability to find so much information about so many things and about so many other people", writes Friedman.

The World Is Flattened #10: "The Steroids"
Personal digital handheld devices and wireless communication such as mobile phones, ipods, Personal Digital Assistants (PDA), instant messaging, wifi systems and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) are connecting people with other people, with companies and flattening the world with greater speed than ever before.


The Triple Convergence

In addition to the 10 flatteners, Friedman adds another 3 components, "the triple convergence," that acted on the flatteners to create a new and flatter global playing field.


The World Is Flat Convergence #1: Converged Flatteners
Up until the year 2003, the 10 flatteners were semi-independent from one another. However, around the year 2003, all the flatteners converged with one another. This convergence could be compared to complementary goods (e.g. paper and pencil), in that each flattener enhanced the other flatteners; the more one flattener developed, the more leveled the global playing field became.

The World Is Flat Convergence #2: New Business Platform
After the emergence of the 10 flatteners, a new business model was required to succeed. Instead of collaborating vertically (the top-down method of collaboration, where innovation comes from the top), businesses needed to begin collaborating horizontally. Horizontalization means companies and people collaborate with other departments or companies to add value creation or innovation. Friedman's Convergence 2 occurs when horizontalization and the 10 flatteners begin to reinforce each other.

The World Is Flat Convergence #3: Emerging Regions
After the fall of the Berlin Wall, countries that had followed the Soviet economic model—including India, China, Russia, and the nations of Eastern Europe, Latin America, and Central Asia—began to open up their economies to the world. When these new players converged with the rest of the globalized marketplace, they added new brain power to the whole playing field and enhanced horizontal collaboration across the globe. In turn, Convergence 3 is the most important force shaping politics and economics in the early 21st century.

Last but not least, wealth and power will increasingly accrue to those countries, companies, individuals and groups who get three basic things right:
1. The infrastructure to connect to this flat world platform;
2. The education to get more of their people innovating on,
working off of, and tapping into this platform; and
3. The governance to get the best out of this platform and cushion its worst side effect.

In the nutshell, technological advancement is creating a "level playing field" in which previously marginalized people and countries can play a competitive role in the world economy. Hence, we need to continue to learn and improve ourselves to stay ahead and be competitive in this flat world. Personal development and self improvement are key to success.

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