Thoughts for Barter

Michael Jackson Not Dead, Just Moved Far, Far Away.

the Hungry Dork Lord — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 02:13:52 +0000

Why is everyone saying Michael Jackson died? I’ve head him on the radio all day yesterday. I saw him on facebook and youtube all day yesterday too. He’s on Pandora right now. He also often performs at clubs that I go to.

I don’t get it. I see him perform with Destiny’s Child in their Bootylicious music video and he often performs in Ne-Yo music videos. I see him perform PYT with the JabbaWockeez and I see him perform Thriller with Kaba Modern. He can be spotted performing with Usher and Chris Brown too. His sister, Janet, performs with him often also.

He makes small appearance sometimes when my friends dance or try to dance. The moonwalk is legendary and Michael always shows up to encourage me, my friends, our future kids and all of their friends to be just a bit smoother.

The feeling of loss isn’t any less just because he moved far, far, far away. But I associate death with mourning and people around the world have been celebrating all that he has done and all that he continues to do. We do not celebrate death. We celebrate life. Thus I can only conclude that Michael Jackson is very much alive.

Michael has done more in half of his lifetime than I can even imagine to accomplish in all of my life. Thus, he will continue to live many lifetimes after I have gone my way.

The possibility of shaking your hand has grown infinitesimally more difficult but I will never forget what you have given me. Thank You Michael and Bon Voyage.

Library to Success

the Hungry Dork Lord — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 09:11:00 +0000

As a follow up to my last post, I really don’t know what the CEOs of Fortune 500 companies read. The only way to really know what each of them reads is to go visit their homes and look into their, and this is the key folks, library (so says Ron White in a Success Magazine audio clip). It’s not the act of reading that is important (from what I understand of Steven Levitt’s Freakonomics), it’s the importance placed on it. You can get someone to carry a book and you may even be able to get them to read it (schools have been doing this for ages) but you cannot get someone to seek out the knowledge if they don’t want to. Now, if someone has a library of books that they read (not just a library for looks) than it’s a pretty safe assumption that they value learning.
I can only assume that the books these CEOs are reading are directly related to their field and to what they want. I’m sure Steve Jobs and Bill Gates read a lot of tech and business books. I’m sure Trump and Buffett read a lot of investment and business books. There is no easy answer to success, however, I’m sure if you read about their lives you’ll discover what books have influenced their lives.

However, if you’re still looking for books to read than here’s a list of 25 books recommended by the April/May 2008 issue of Success Magazine and many, many, many others:

- Think & Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill (the guy really thought unusually, and I guess that’s why he gained an unusual amount of wealth)
- How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie (you need to read this and stop being such an @$$)
- The Richest Man in Babylon by George S. Clason (a very easy to read book that is “the most inspiring book on wealth ever written!” how can you not want to read it?)
- The 9 Steps to Financial Freedom by Suze Orman (good book, though I don’t agree with it all)
- The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (’cuz what you got is a result of who you are)
- Who Moved My Cheese by Dr. Spencer Johnson (’cuz change happens, don’t get stuck when it does)
- The Power of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale
- The Magic of Thinking Big by David J. Schwartz
- The Way of the Peaceful Warrior: A Book That Changes Lives by Dan Millman (does watching the movie count)
- See You at the Top by Zig Ziglar
- Acres of Diamonds by Russell H. Conwell
- Maximum Achievement by Brian Tracy
- As a Man Thinketh by James Allen
- The Laws of Success by Napoleon Hill
- The Seasons of Life by Jim Rohn & Ronald Reynolds
- The One Minute Manager by Kenneth Blanchard
- The Automatic Millionaire by David Bach
- The Greatest Salesman in the World by Og Mandino
- The Sales Bible by Jeffrey Gitomer
- Chicken Soup for the Soul series by Jack Canfield & Mark Victor Hansen, with other contributors
- Success Through a Positive Mental Attitude by Napoleon Hill and W. Clement Stone
- Developing the Leader Within You by John C. Maxwell
- Good to Great: Why some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don’t by Jim Collins
- Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki (changed the way I think about work and my career)
- Awaken the Giant Within by Anthony Robbins

Whew, it’s tiring just reading the titles, but if you intend to keep up with multi-million dollar CEOs it should take you only 5 to 6 months to finish them all. What? Already read them all? Wow, aren’t you quite the over achiever. Lucky for you Success Magazine also suggested 4 others in their article:

- The Slight Edge by Jeff Olson
- The Secret by Rhonda Byrne (the mind is a very powerful thing)
- Become a Better You by Joel Osteen
- Why Not You?: 28 Days to Authentic Confidence by Valorie Burton

And a little more scouring of the pages provided a few more books:

- Unlimited Power by Anthony Robbins
- The Courage to Be Rich by Suze Orman

Still not satisfied? Here’s what my paltry library adds:

- Leading an Inspired Life by Jim Rohn
- The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership (if you’re gonna be in charge of anything, better learn how to do it well)
- The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell (not as easy as he makes it sound)
- The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader (believe me, you ain’t got them)
- The 5 People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom
- Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom (face it, we’ll all die. but only some of us will every make an impact)
- The Game by Neil Strauss (I’m a male psychology student, I couldn’t resist)
- Dragonlance Chronicles & other related books (I like stories about dragons and elves. What? Everyone has to relax)
- Equity Happens by Robert Helms & Russell Gray
- How to Invest in Gold & Silver by Mike Maloney
- Cashflow Quadrants by Robert Kiyosaki
- Why We Want You to Be Rich by Robert Kiyosaki and Donald Trump
- The Zahir by Paulo Coelho
- The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

Well, that’s it. Anyone else got books they wanna share?

Stepping into CEO shoes

the Hungry Dork Lord — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 09:05:45 +0000

One of the differences, not the only difference, but one of the differences between us and CEOs of fortune 500 companies are the number of books we read.
CEOs of fortune 500 companies read an average of 4 to 5 books a month! I read maybe 4 to 5 books a year! The average American reads 1 book a year and 60% of the average American only get to the first chapter!
I may be above average when it comes to reading but I only read a measly 8% of the amount that the average fortune 500 CEO reads.
And does anyone know what the opportunity cost of our lack of reading is?
The average CEO earns 536 times the salary of their average employee! In other words, it will take a year and a half to earn what the average CEO makes in a day!
Now this isn’t the only reason for the enormous salary difference, but if we can’t keep up with a CEOs desire to read and learn how will we be able to keep up with the other aspects that could possibly get us paid 536 times what we get paid now?
I need to learn to read faster and find more time to read more.

To Dream, Not to Dream

the Hungry Dork Lord — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 18:24:22 +0000

I’ve been remembering a lot of my dreams lately. Most of the time they are uneventful and are forgotten by the time I’m out of bed. However, there has been one dream that connects with my most current life situation.
I’m sitting at a table with a small group of people. It looks like a midevial board meeting. A decision has been made to search for someone who is running. I have no idea who this person is, why they are running, or the importance of finding this person.
The search party goes out but I’m to remain behind for now. I can’t remember if it was my choice to stay behind or if it was decided by the group for me to stay behind.
In any case I go get a hair cut. I remember being concerned that I didn’t really want a proper hair cut right now because I have been growing my hair out. I get my hair cleaned up but not cut short as I would normally cut it.
After my hair cut I call my bro who apparently is a part of the search party. He informs me that they have not found the person yet and that I should meet up with them at a specified location.
I head to what looks like a BART station. I tap the monitor that brings up locations on an interactive screen. I flip through the locations like I would in a video game. Just before I head out I wake up.

I’ve read that dreams are suppose to help us deal with our current life stressors and are best analyzed by ourselves. I don’t bother with my dreams too often but sometimes I feel particular dreams are worth pondering over. So, here I go:
I’m looking for something and I’m not sure what it is yet. I often get advice from family and friends as to what I should be doing. They are like my own personal board members. However, they can only advise me on what they think I want and not neccessarily on what I want. I guess this is why I stay behind. No use chasing after things I’m not sure really benefits me. But I am about to move to Vietnam. My brother is already there and some of my family feels that moving to Vietnam will help me towards my goal. Maybe it will but I won’t know until I get there. I do know that staying where I am and worrying about my hair is not going to get me towards my goal. Well, not the important goal anyway. There is a purpose to ensuring my hair isn’t cut short too soon but I should not let that get in the way of chasing my dream.
I suppose that is what the dream is really about. The pursuit of a dream. Some of my friends and even family may think I’m foolish, but if I do not live in pursuit of my dreams I’d have to settle for a life of staring at a wall. I know there are people who can help me achieve it but I do not know who or where they are. As it turns out, the next place I’ll be looking is in Vietnam.

I Believe I

the Hungry Dork Lord — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 08:15:17 +0000

There’s a song off the Blade 2(?) soundtrack, performed by Mos Def, called I Against I. Bottom line, we get in our own way. For what ever reason, we sometimes sabotage our own chances at success and reaching our goals.
Sometimes it’s for better, sometimes it’s for worse. Regardless, it sucks to continually second guess oneself. I would much rather believe in myself and approach live with my head up even if it means being wrong, feeling stupid, being embarrassed, or feeling awkward. Funny thing though; having confidence kinda scratches feeling stupid, embarrassed and awkward out of the picture.
I’m much rather be confident and wrong than stupid, embarrassed, or awkward, and right.
Nobody has a 100% success rate, but everyone can have an I Believe I mentality.