Advice to My Son

589. What You Are Today

2012-06-14T14:33:00.001+01:00

You are today, the sum total of all the choices and decisions you made in the past. You have no-one to thank or to blame but yourself. It is good to remember this when taking new decisions.

588. When the Going Gets Tough

2012-06-14T14:29:00.002+01:00

When the going gets tough, the only alternative to disaster is to get up and fight back.

587. Walk Faster

2012-06-14T14:26:00.001+01:00

Observe your normal walking pace and increase it by 25%.

586. A Wolf

2012-06-14T14:23:00.000+01:00

Learn to be a Wolf. Know that you will often have to create your own opportunities. You can get on in the world either by your own industry alone or in combination with the weaknesses of others.

585. Winners

2012-06-14T14:16:00.000+01:00

If you want to be a winner, keep the company of winners and avoid that of losers. After all, we winners are outnumbered 10:1 at least.

584. "Common Sense"

2012-06-14T13:55:00.000+01:00

Cultivate what is known as your Common Sense. It is not common at all. It is the least practiced virtue in the world. Common sense is not always good and good sense is not always common.

583. Philosophy and Wisdom

2012-06-14T13:50:00.000+01:00

Remember Why you are studying Philosophy. Philosophy is defined as the Love of Wisdom. You are studying to be Wise. Make sure that every day you grow a little wiser. To do this is to ensure that your life is not wasted. A wise man will always be bigger than his problems. To a wise man, problems are simply situations that require his attention. Because of who you are as a man, by definition you are far greater than any situation. Keep learning and growing so that you will always be greater than any problem.

Do not set out to cause yourself problems; always try to circumvent them where you can. Problems are inevitable. There will always be problems. Learn to be bigger than the problems.

It can be very useful to re-frame (re-name) the word "Problem" as "Challenge" or "Situation Requiring My Attention" (SRMA) . This re-framing puts a distance between you and the event and gives you a better perspective on it. This also robs the word of its power to obstruct you. So long as you see something as a problem, then you have to wrestle with it. When you call it a challenge then you simply rise to meet and defeat it. A thing called a problem keeps you stuck, called a challenge, the same thing makes you take action. Seek the company of problem solvers and learn their techniques.

582. Leadership

2012-06-14T13:16:00.001+01:00

Be a leader, not a follower. Leaders earn much more than followers. Establish yourself ; Promote yourself.

581. Put Downs.

2012-05-09T13:31:00.002+01:00

Make it a general rule with yourself not to criticise anybody, even silently in your mind. If there is something wrong, you should first seek clarification of the situation, then after due consideration, put forward what you see as an improvement. Remember that you may not be in full possession of all the facts concerning someone you may be tempted to criticise.

Never engage in put-down behaviour, for how can you learn from or be inspired by someone you despise or in some way do not respect?

580. Showing the Mind Who's Boss

2012-05-03T13:05:00.001+01:00

Whenever your inner voices try to stop you from doing something supportive or helpful by saing things like I can't, I don't want to, I'm not in the mood, That's too much trouble, etc., then go ahead and do it anyway, just to show the mind who the boss really is !

In any situation, look at what is in front of you, identify the need and do what is needed to meet the need.

579. Adding Value

2012-05-03T12:57:00.004+01:00

One of the main purposes for our lives is to add value to the people of this generation and of the generations to follow. Always try to leave a situation, person, place or thing in a better condition than you found it.

578. Commitment

2012-05-03T11:33:00.000+01:00

On any project that you start, your trying means very little. You must be unreservedly committed. You must put everything into it, then you simply cannot fail.

577. Poor Me !

2012-05-03T11:25:00.000+01:00

There is no such thing as a really rich or really happy VICTIM. Banish the notion "Poor Me" forever.

576. Mental Housekeeping

2012-05-03T11:19:00.001+01:00

Once a month, set aside a quiet day to do your mental house cleaning. No thought lives in your mind rent-free. Every negative, disempowering and fearful thought will cost you time, money, energy, peace of mind, health and well-being.

Use your day to sit still, balanced and upright, as in meditation. Observe each thought as it comes into your mind, noting if it is negative. For each negative, disempowering, down-dragging thought, say loudly and clearly, "Neti, Neti, Not This, Not This." Then Let it go. Then, from your pile of affirmation cards, pick a thought to replace it. Choose the word or words that express this thought simply and let it sound in your mind like a mantra. After about 50 repetitions, let the mind fall still and reflect on the thought for 2 minutes.

Whenever you encounter rough times in the month(s) that follow you can recall this affirmation at will and let it operate in your mind.

386. Meditation the 3 S's and Genius

2012-05-03T10:14:00.001+01:00

Three things are necessary in order to meditate properly. These are the 3 S's of meditation :

Stillness
Silence
Solitude.

"When you become quiet, it just dawns on you." -Thomas Eddison.

Noise kills genius.
Stillness is strength.
Genius never hurries.

"If you have a conented mind, you have enough to enjoy life." -Plautus.

82. Master Your Finances

2012-05-03T10:10:00.001+01:00

Know for certain that you deserve financial wellbeing throughout your life. You deserve an early, long and wealthy retirement. Retirement is a function of income not of age. Specifically it is a function of Passive income - income derived from investments etc., not from your labour. When your Passive Income is greater than your current expenditure, then you can afford to retire. To master this concept play as many games of Monopoly, Cashflow 101 and Cashflow 102 as you possibly can. Engage your mastermind group in this activity regularly. Read all the books by Robert Kiyosaki and visit his Rich Dad Website and subscribe to his blog etc.

575. Act Wisely

2012-01-16T17:29:00.000+00:00

Act wisely, do all your due dilligence, take your time and deliberate. Once you have made up your mind and settled on a plan act swiftly and firmly. Stay on plan and see it through. Remember if you are investing that you are playing against the professionals. The big guys out there are doing this for a living. They know that their job is to snatch money out of your hands once you get close enough.

They have the techniques, the system and the power. Therefore, make sure that you know exactly what you are doing and why.

574. The Bridge Called Action

2012-01-16T17:16:00.000+00:00

Action is the bridge between the inner world and the outer world. To get out of your head and into the real world, you have to take action. Your fine thoughts will remain thoughts until you do. In order to cause your thoughts to manifest you have to take the first step which is to write them down.

573. When You Don't Know

2012-01-16T17:03:00.000+00:00

Whenever you don't know something, simply say "I don't know." This is much better than trying to cloak the fact (that you don't know) with ambiguous words, generalities and vague undefinable terms. Do not set up smoke screens. If you know, say so; if you don't, admit it immediately. The reply "I don't know." is much more tolerable and acceptable than the attempts to maintain your false position as an authority on the subject. Candid honesty is more beautiful than deceitful duplicity.

It is very flattering to the ego to have your opinion sought and to be consulted on all manner of subjects and it is very gratifying to be able to give wise and correct answers and become known as a wise man but you must never allow this to seduce you into pretending to know those things that you do not. This is one of the great dangers of the study of Philosophy and a trap for the mind which you should avoid. Like every situation, if you look you will find an upside. In the case where you are asked something you can't answer, you should see this as an opportunity to learn. Go and find out the answers to these questions.

572. Maturity and Success

2012-01-16T10:01:00.000+00:00

If you are to suceed at anything you need to "Get out of B.E.D. and pick up your O.A.R." These are acronyms that help you to remember what to do.

First, get out of BED.

B is for Blame
E is for Excuses
D is for Denial.

Then take up your OAR.

O is for Ownership
A is for Accountability
R is for Responsibilty

All that this means is you should stop blaming others, making excuses and denying there is a problem, otherwise known as bellyaching and start realising that no-one else is going to do it if you dont, take responsibility and hold yourself liable for the consequences. i.e. become mature about it.

571. Employment

2012-01-16T09:27:00.000+00:00

"Don't wait for a job to come knocking at your door - go out and find it for yourself" - Lawrence Godfrey

570. Intellectual Property

2012-01-16T08:36:00.001+00:00

"If you don't own the master or the copyright, you're not in the music business." - Quincy Jones.

It is the intellectual property that provides your residual income. If you hold copyright, patents or a percentage clause in a contract, then you will earn royalties on work you have done. Never sign a contract to perform unless there are points in it. i.e. an agreement to pay you a percentage of the gross income the book, play, film or song produces.

The beauty of this type of arrangrment is that you do the work once but continue to get paid over and over again. This is called automatic income because you receive it automatically whether or not you work.

In some juristictions (Ireland, for example), royalties are exempt from income tax.

You may want to know why residual income is important. The answer is that it forms the basis of your pension fund, i.e. what you have to live on once you stop working.

569. Borrowing from the Lawyers

2012-01-02T00:36:00.001+00:00

The word GRAVIMEN means that part of a legal argument that carries the most weight. In the statement : "The red dog bit John on the arm.", the gravimen is not whether the dog was red or black or whether John was bitten on the arm or the leg, but that the dog bit him.

When trying to decide on something, don't allow yourself to be distracted by side issues. Don't buy the car just because it's red. Don't ask the girl to marry you just because she's pretty. Buy the car because it works well. Marry the girl because she will be a good wife.

568. Belief and Faith

2012-01-02T00:17:00.002+00:00

The difference between Belief and Faith is that you may believe a thing (whether or not it is true) one day and change that belief the next without there being any practical change in consequences, while, if your faith in something changes, then your whole way of living will change. For example, if you lose your faith in the theory of flight, you would never again board an aircraft. If you simply cease to believe in the theory as a mere intellectual exercise or position, it need not stop you from flying as your mind will tell you that while the theory is incorrect, something else is allowing 'planes to fly - you can see them. In other words, Faith is much stronger than Belief. Beliefs are mere opinions whereas Faith relys in part on proof and is and is the foundation of how we live our lives. It is wiser to base your life on solid faiths in real things than on fey and futile beliefs.

567. The Search for Truth and Truths

2012-01-01T23:41:00.002+00:00

"The increase in known truths stimulates the investigation, establishment and growth of the arts, not their diminution and destruction." - Gallileo Gallilei.

You should hold a greater fondness for Truth than for your own opinions.