May 29, 2009

The Miracle of Compunding

The greatest minds in the world have marveled over the simple and yet extraordinary concept the power of compounding. Einstein called it “the greatest mathematical discovery of all times” and the “eight wonder of the world”. There is a good reason for such an importance to something so simple. See many fortunes have been built on this simple concept.

For example, Ben Franklin used the power of compound interest. Back in 1783, when he was 77, he added a new section to his will. He set up a codicil that was to last 200 years after his death. Ben allotted $5,000 Boston and Philadelphia each. The money was to provide loans to the needy young people. The borrowers were to pay back these loans at 5% interest over a 10 year periods.

Ben’s $5,000 investment over a period of 200 years grew to well over $20 million dollars and that is after each city took out half-a-million dollars for public works.

Given enough time, even little sums of money, invested wisely, can turn into sizable sums. The earlier you start in the process, the more benefit you derive from the snowball effect of compounding since not only do you achieve growth on your original investment but also on all of the growth it has achieved in earlier years.

Here are four tips to help you maximize the power of compound interest:

1. Start as soon as possible. The best friend of compounding is time. Getting rich is easier and less painful the earlier you start.
2. A little bit goes a long way. If you do not think that you have enough to invest, think about this if you invest $50 a month for a period of 20 years into a mutual fund earning an average of 10% annually, you will accumulate $528,000.
3. Be patient. Good things come to those who wait. You must be patient for compounding to work its power.
4. Don’t spend your earnings. Compounding works if you do not spend your earnings as you receive them, but reinvest all of those returns back into your account.

The effects of compounding are difficult to achieve in the short-term. The final lesson about the miracle of compounding is that time matters, so do not delay in starting your own investment plan.

May 23, 2009

Tips to Help You Remember to Get Things Done

Tips to Help You Remember and Stay Organized

Staying organized is a critical aspect of our lives. One of the challenges many encountered is how to remember the tasks we have set ourselves to accomplish today. All effective planning system must have a reminder system. If you don’t develop a system of reminders you won’t accomplish your goals and the results are frustration, lower self-esteem, and the problems continue to pile up and getting bigger.

Here I share with you 10 simple steps to help you remember your tasks:

1. Belive in Yourself. This is the most important of all of the steps. If you keep saying you have a bad memory, you will probably continue to have a bad memory. It is important to have a motivated, I CAN remember attitude.
2. Write down your tasks. Due to the overflow of information we have in todays society it becomes difficult to keep it all in your memory bank. Write down appointments, ideas, tasks. Todays technology allow us to accomplish this task in our handheld organizers. If you do not have one, carry a notepad where you can write down the ideas until they can be transferred to your daily planner of choice.
3. Keep one place to collect your information. Once you have developed the knack of writing everything down, your next step will be to keep your writing all in one place. You will remember better this way. Otherwise, you are going to spend valuable time searching for your notes. The use of daily planners (digital or paper) helps you keep your information in one place and accessible when you need it.
4. Exercise. A keen memory is a well-nourished mind. Eat healthy; get plenty of rest and lots of good exercise. A slugish mind is bound to fail. These will all see you through to having a good memory, staying focused and being alert.
5. Record your every thought. You might find yourself driving when a good idea about organizing comes to you or you might recall something that you really need to write down. No need to pull over and start writing, record instead! Pull off to the side of the road and use a small hand held tape recorder. This is a wonderful tool to carry around with you, to record your thoughts, or your parking space number, or even a memorable telephone number you see on a billboard as you drive by. Use your handy recorder to be your second eyes and ears. Todays recorders are non-invasive and easy to carry.
6. Call ahead. When you are at the office and you want to do something when you arrive back home, call ahead to your answering machine and leave yourself a message. As soon as you get home you can listen to your message and remember exactly what you wanted to do.
7. Handy email reminders. There are many good and free e-mail reminder services available. You can type in what you want to remember, such as a welcome party, anniversary or special event, and you will receive an e-mail reminder when the date is approaching. This is a terrific way to jog your memory by Internet.
8. Use sticky notes. Those wonderful, little sticky notes are the next best thing to sliced bread! They are amazing as memory helpers. Want to remember something prior to leaving your home? Just mark it down on a Post-It Note and stick it to the inside of your door. The bright, neon colors will be great to catch your eye as you are leaving. You will not likely miss it! Need to make an urgent call first thing in the morning? Leave a Post-It Note on your telephone.
9. Use timers and alarms. Take advantage of alarm clocks and timers throughout your day. Have to take the clothes out of the dryer by 12 noon? Set your alarm clock to remind you. Want to leave for the ladies luncheon by 7 p.m.? Set your timer to beep a few minutes before it is time to start to get ready. This is simple to do with our phones.
10. Visual memory joggers. Visual reminders will help you remember and stay focused. Use visual reminders for remembering your goals. If your goal is to take a trip to a Ireland in a few years, keep a magazine photograph of Ireland right on your desk. If your goal is to lose 30 lbs. in six months, find a picture or ornament that will help remind you of this goal each day.

With the use of hand-held, computers, daily planner and alarms you can get things sorted and organized in a more efficient and faster way. Disasters like forgetting a wedding anniversary, buying birthday gifts, appointments to meet with the guy that is going to make you money, etc might not happen again.

May 18, 2009

As the thought, so the mind.

In order to fulfill your set goals and your dreams, it is necessary to practice thought patterns geared toward wealth building and success. The habitual inclination of our thought patterns is ultimately the deciding factor, which determines our abilities, talents and our personal characteristics. Based on this critical and vital piece of knowledge, one assumes that those lucky few have been born with the special talent you lack and fervently desire to have.

To a large extent this is true, but it has to be said that no one is born a millionaire. The valuable information lies in the art of cultivating the pattern that brings success. We are what we think we are. Like Napoleon Hill would say, “Your Thoughts create the environment”.

Thoughts constitute the mind, and mind constitutes the content of our being. As the thought, so the mind and as the mind, so the man. Thought is another name for fate. We are what we are because of what has gone into our mind.

• Thoughts develop personality
• Thoughts promote health
• Thoughts influence the body
• Thoughts can change and shape the future (destiny)
• Thoughts bring forth creation
• Thoughts influence the physiology and psychology of people
• Thoughts can bring success
• Thoughts can even heal the body

You can accomplish anything through the power of thought. Visualization uses your imagination to allow yourself to ‘picture’ your success or achieving your earnest goal. Your mental thoughts or vibrations are incredibly powerful, because the mind has a tangible connection with your thoughts and your actions. Your thoughts are subtle energies and have a strong connection to our consciousness.

What we will be will depend on what continues to go into our mind. Our destiny is shaped by our character; our character is shaped by our habits; our habits are shaped by our actions. But what shape our actions are our thoughts. If we shape our thoughts, we will shape our destiny. Your thoughts create your reality.

May 15, 2009

How to choose the right goals to focus on

Today I want to address an question that many times we are asked, How to choose the right goals to focus on? Sometimes setting goals alone is not the only problem that you must face. Sometimes, choosing the right goals to begin with is harder. Basically, you can choose to work any goal that you feel is necessary for your health, stability and happiness.

Goal setting is nothing more than a formal process for personal planning. Goal setting is not intended to limit your ability to think and/or accomplish your day-to-day tasks. By setting goals on a routine basis you decide what you want to achieve, and then move in a step-by-step manner towards the achievement of these goals. The process of setting goals and targets allows you to choose where you want to go in life. By knowing exactly what you want to achieve, you know what you have to concentrate on to do it. You also know what nothing more than a distraction is.

Goal setting is a standard technique used by professional athletes, successful business people and high achievers in all fields. It gives you long term vision and provides you with short term motivation. It helps to focus your attention and knowledge which helps you to organize your resources. By setting sharp and clearly defined goals, you can measure and take pride in the achievement of those goals. You can see forward progress in what might previously have seemed a long pointless effort.

By setting goals, you will also raise your self confidence, as you recognize your accomplishments and ability to meet the goals that you have set. The process of achieving goals and seeing this achievement gives you confidence that you will be able to achieve higher and more difficult goals later on. Goals are set on a number of different levels. In the first place, you decide what you want to do with your life and what large scale goals you want to achieve. Second, you break these down into the smaller aims that you must hit so that you reach your overall lifetime goals. Finally, once you have your plan, you start working towards achieving it.

May 10, 2009

Formula to Success

What you think and how you then act is the deciding factor that will help you discover the goal of success. These two attributes are important together with a set of consistent principles, which you follow through. Thoughts based on reason are a powerful catalyst to start any reaction, and once you set off, you will soon realize that courage is the simple virtue needed for a human being to traverse the rocky road.

Obstacles are natural, and they are a means to the source of acquiring wealth, as I am sure you will agree. Persistence, patience and perseverance will have to be practiced religiously to reach the goal and to overcome the obstacles.

Do not procrastinate, do not pretend that you know it all and finally do not prolong your ‘venture(s)’. Be prepared to fight the stumbling blocks that may confront you, but pursue your goal and allow your potential willpower to predominate.

In any situation in life, it is unequivocally important to remain level headed, despite all the ‘ups and the downs’ that we are likely to face. Remember life is dualistic by nature – the obverse and the reverse sides of the same coin to put it simply. I am compelled to add that though we know that the past is the cause and the present is the effect, it is self evident that with time the present itself becomes the cause with reference to the future.

The following guidelines will help you pave a wonderful path to your ultimate success.

The steps are very simple to implement in your daily life.

1. Do what you love and what you are good at.

2. Be prepared to learn and to be positive (motivation and enthusiasm).

3. Be an innovative individual.

4. Be prepared to invest not just money but your time, effort and resources, too.

I mentioned money – this does not mean that you have to invest a large sum to become wealthy.

5. You must be disciplined in having set goals and targets. Remember that persistence is the key to success.

6. You must be prepared to manage your time effectively.

7. As you evolve, learn to give back what you amass to the society. I call this philanthropy.

You must have a solid vision – one in which you ‘see’ yourself having attained success. Great people of the past and present see to it that they reach this coveted position, by employing these basic steps. Napoleon Hill once said “Whatever your mind can conceive and believe it can achieve”.

Life is the greatest teacher, thus you must be willing to accept challenges all the time (using the power of discrimination) and thus as a result you must learn via its eternal principles the magnificent doctrine it has revealed with the passing of time. This means that you must act when the time is right. Action is incredibly important and highlights success – the two are synonymous to be quite honest. To succeed action is needed but the essential ingredient is how serious you are. Being too serious can ruin your business venture, so the point is to have FUN.

Any discipline will require organization and orderliness. You must be prepared to listen to your inner voice as much as you possibly can. This means that rather than being too dependent on your family, friends and so on (not that this is bad) begin to have faith in your own capabilities. Stand-alone and strive to learn and succeed. Often, failures may just result from instances where we have stopped exercising our own views, or we have become too dependent on others’.

Success is not some secret that you have to search for or unearth in order to reach your destination; it is rather the understanding or the recognition factor that you develop with respect to what you really want in life. Intuition, courage, skills, knowledge, challenges and opportunities are some of the concepts that determine the traits of people who enjoy wealth. Any task performed with the right spirit will give you victory. Mental attitude is what will give you success, but negative attitude, laziness and working unwillingly will result in failure. No one is ever defeated until defeat has been accepted as a reality.

To begin a new venture, it vitally important that you realize the following, which I have to say is crucial. You have to appreciate the fact that to start a business you need to acquaint yourself with the term cash flow. Investment in the form of a capital is a requirement, but more importantly it is the concept of viability of the business venture that matters most.