I really like this post by Steve Pavlina that I wanted to share it here with you. Enjoy!

One of the most potent lessons I’ve ever learned (and would love to impart to you) is just how powerful a seemingly simple perspective shift can be.

Dr. Wayne Dyer says, “When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.” I hope you realize just how profound that statement is. But just in case you don’t, let me share a personal story about it.

During my first 5 years in business (1994-1998), I lost money every year, turning my $20K life savings into $150K of debt. That’s a net loss of $170K, or $34K per year on average. In 1999 I finally went bankrupt when my credit ran out.

Every year since then, my business made a decent profit.

So I suffered a negative cashflow each year from 1994-1998, and then from 1999 – present (12 years in a row and counting), I enjoyed a positive cashflow each year.

What the heck happened in 1999? What was responsible for this major change in results?

Learning How NOT to Make Money

I can actually pinpoint the exact moment when I felt the shift. I underwent a radical change in my perspective. I turned the way I thought about business upside down. My attitude and my motivation changed.

Obviously there were some catalyzing experiences that led to this epiphany such as getting kicked out of my apartment and going bankrupt, but when the conditions were right for it, the actual mental and emotional shifts happened fast — in a matter of minutes. It was like flipping a switch, partly in my mind… but mostly in my heart.

Here are the main before-and-after differences:

During my first 5 years in business, I focused on making my business successful. I pursued deals, money, and projects as if they were things to be acquired. I wanted to create hit products that sold well (computer games at the time). My motivation had a lot to do with proving myself, with making my mark on my particular field. I visualized my games getting glowing reviews, and I imagined seeing them selling in software stores. Money was a big concern. I always went for the deal that I expected would put the most money in my pocket and lead to the greatest success.

During my last 12 years in business, I focused on having fun, enjoying life,and creatively expressing myself. I stopped worrying about whether or not I was ever going to be successful. The bankruptcy supplied plenty of proof that I’d already failed dismally, so I didn’t see any point in continuing to pursue the same priorities that led me there. I was using a cardboard box as a piece of furniture, a symbol of just how much financial success I’d been able to achieve. Since I’d been soundly thrashed while playing the success game, I decided to change the rules and try my hand at the “let’s just play for fun” game.

A Tale of Two Mindsets

My initial motivation for starting my computer games business was to make more money. For several months before that, I worked as a contract game programmer on the side while going to college. I completed a 4-pack of Windows games, doing all of the programming and much of the design work for a local games company. When the games got published, I received about $1 in programmer’s royalties for every $7 the company received. Other people at the company contributed artwork, music, and some design work, and of course they closed a deal with a publisher too. But these were fairly basic games from a resource standpoint, and it was clear to me that I was doing well over 50% of the actual production work, probably 70-80% in terms of sheer hours invested. I even wrote the help files and instruction manuals.

I recognized that with a bit more effort, and with the help of the right people, such as an artist and a musician, I could essentially do what this company was doing, and I’d get to keep a lot more of the profits. Finding talented people to work with wasn’t too difficult, so soon I was off and running.

I had the technical and design skills to create more games at least as good as those I created for the local game company, but after years of trying, I was never actually able to make a profit.

While running the business for the first 5 years, I was constantly looking for ways to make money. If I smelled potential dollar signs, I’d chase after them. I ran after a lot of elusive deals that fizzled, fell apart, or collapsed, even after some advances were received.

I worked hard, hard, hard, sometimes even sleeping at the office. But I could never get the money coming in with any consistency. Ironically the harder I tried to make money, the faster I lost money. Instead of the Midas touch, I somehow mastered the Medusa touch.

Looking back, I didn’t do that initial contract programming work for the money. I did it for the love of game programming. I was in college at the time, and a friend pointed out a flier about a game programming position. He suggested I take a look at it because he knew I was into computer games, and we were both computer science majors close to graduating. It seemed like a wonderful opportunity to me.

I went for an interview with the company. I felt confident about getting the job, and I really didn’t care how much they paid me. I just wanted to work on games. So when they asked me how much I wanted to be paid, I said “$10 an hour,” which was a ridiculously lowball amount. Game programming may not pay as much as some other types of programming, but it certainly pays more than $20K per year, even for a starting programmer who’s still in school.

That company hired me on the spot, and I must say they got a great deal. I hit the ground running and threw myself into the first project they assigned me. They were stunned that I had a prototype up and running after only 9 days, and they actually pulled me off that project and assigned me something more ambitious.

One time my project manager asked me how many hours a week I was putting in. This was during the summer when I wasn’t attending classes. I told him about 40 hours, which would have seemed reasonable because I worked at their offices Mon-Fri during normal business hours. But I actually lied. In truth I continued working on their game projects at home on evenings and weekends. Realistically I was probably putting in 60-80 hours most weeks. And those hours were dedicated to solid coding work, not to email or any other distractions. I said that I worked 40 hours a week because I didn’t want to make the other programmers in the company seem less dedicated. I was on good terms with them — and I wanted to keep it that way.

I wasn’t working hard and fast for low pay to impress anyone. I did it for the sheer love of the work. I was enthralled by the technical challenges of each game. There was nothing else I wanted to be doing. I probably would have done that work for free.

Within a month or two, I think the management of the company could no longer stomach seeing me do such high quality work for so little, so they voluntarily doubled my pay. I didn’t request it, but I received it with gratitude. $20 per hour is a lot for a college student.

By the time the royalties were added in (after the game hit store shelves the following year), I probably ended up making about $50 per hour for programming those games, even though I only asked for $10 per hour. Plus it was really cool to walk into software stores and see something I created on the shelves.

That’s rather beautiful, isn’t it? I certainly thought so. It’s a classic example of sowing first, then reaping.

And then over the next 5 years, I proceeded to take this beautiful model and completely screw it up.

I underwent a perspective shift that seemed intelligent at the time. The potential for greater success hit me, and I began seeing dollar signs. That local games business immediately offered me another project to work on, and I turned them down so I could start my own game development business. I did that specifically because I wanted to make more money.

It seemed like a good idea at the time. I was simply expressing the American entrepreneurial spirit, right?

Getting My Ass Kicked by Kolrami

After 5 years of total failure, I finally had to admit that my great plan wasn’t working. Going bankrupt was a hint and a half that something went awry. The more I chased after money, the faster it ran away from me, as if screaming, “The horror! The horror!”

So in 1999 I finally gave up. I didn’t enjoy living this way. It wasn’t producing the results I wanted, so for that reason alone I could justify declaring “game over.” But beyond that, those 5 years were very frustrating. I did my best to be positive and optimistic, but seeing some great projects canceled after years of work were serious disappointments.

In my moment of epiphany, I realized that my decision to pursue money was when everything started going kittywompus. Becoming more financially ambitious simply did not work.

In the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “Peak Performance,” the master strategist Kolrami competes with the android character Data in a game of Strategema. The crew expects Data to win, just as you’d expect a modern chess-playing computer to kick your ass at chess. They confidently advise Data to take the shortest path to victory in order to put a dent in Kolrami’s smugness. However, Kolrami soundly defeats Data without breaking a sweat. Data is stunned by the loss and assumes he must have some kind of programming defect, going so far as to remove himself from active duty until he can figure out what’s wrong with him.

Later in that episode, Captain Picard informs Data that it’s possible to make no mistakes and still lose. This leads Data to challenge his assumptions about the game. He accepts Kolrami’s offer of a rematch, and this time he plays Kolrami to an endless stalemate, leading Kolrami to eventually surrender in disgust. The crew celebrates Data’s victory and asks how he did it.

Data confesses that he couldn’t defeat Kolrami by playing to win because that’s what Kolrami expected him to do. Every advantage-maximizing move that Data attempted was blocked by a superior counter-move from Kolrami. So in the rematch, Data used a different strategy. He bypassed obvious avenues of advancement and played for a draw instead of trying to win. This visibly frustrated Kolrami and allowed Data to theoretically play the game indefinitely, rendering defeat impossible.

This episode may contradict game theory and minimax algorithms, assuming that Data could search ahead more moves than Kolrami could, but setting aside that issue, I found tremendous value in this lesson. It seemed like the perfect analogy for my own situation. I felt like I’d made no serious mistakes, but I still lost. When I reviewed my previous moves, they still seemed reasonable even though they led to failure, and pondering whether I might have a defective brain proved as unhelpful to me as it did to Data.

During my first 5 years in business, I played to improve my financial score. I saw each business negotiation partly as a competition. If I got more money out of a deal, it meant that the other party got less. The more I succeeded in setting things up to maximize my financial score, the more I had to diminish the scores of others. In order to maximally win, someone else had to lose, at least a little bit. The harder I tried to win, the more friction I created that would ultimately cause me to lose.

Maybe some people are good at playing this kind of game. I wasn’t. Someone always had more resources, more time, or more expensive lawyers. The more I pressed for gains, the more I felt an opposing force pushing back against me. This led to many problems such as delays and cancelations. I could blame others for it, but the truth is that I was responsible for creating that reality.

When Internet marketers treat you as a dollar sign, can you sense it? Can you feel that tugging sensation — the sense that their main motivation is to get something from you? How does this ultimately affect your relationship with them?

Bypassing Obvious Avenues of Advancement

In 1999 I decided to stop trying to make money. I stopped trying to achieve success. I had 5 years of failure to convince me that it was time to change my approach. The bankruptcy was like a bonk on the head that told me I’d better not live the next 5 years like I lived the last 5. I had no more credit and no more cash to burn, so I had to make immediate changes. I had little choice but to try a different path.

When I tried to succeed, Kolrami always showed up to kick my ass. I could never defeat him no matter how hard I tried. The harder I tried, the more vigorously he thrashed me.

So I surrendered to his superior skills. I stopped trying to win. I accepted the irony that trying to get a higher financial score actually doomed me to a negative score. The opposing force was always greater than anything I could overcome.

I decided to apply Data’s lesson to my business. Instead of trying to win, I began to play for a draw. I bypassed what seemed like obvious avenues for financial advancement, recognizing that it was exactly what Kolrami expected me to do. If I made those self-maximizing moves, he would simply knock me back, and I’d be worse off than when I started. Again, I had 5 years of experience to drill this lesson into me.

In practice what this meant was that I stopped trying to maximize revenue or profits. In each business transaction, I opted to give more than I received in return. I always sought to leave extra value on the table.

For example, in mid-1999 I priced my next game release at only $9.95, even though I believed a competitive price would have been $19.95. I began writing articles for free. I committed hundreds of hours to unpaid volunteer work. I hosted free discussion forums on my website to help other game developers succeed. I spoke at conferences and hosted roundtables for free. I made it impossible for Kolrami to counter my moves because my moves weren’t competitive.

Last year I uncopyrighted all of my articles and podcasts and donated all of them to the public domain. I also committed to placing my new articles directly into the public domain (including this one). I encouraged people to republish, translate, and/or sell my work for their own financial gain if they wanted to.

I deliberately and intentionally earn less revenue and less profit than I feel I’m capable of earning. When it comes to income generation, I hold back when it seems like the logical move would be to advance. While Kolrami expects me to play to win, I’m actually playing for a draw.

Playing for a Draw

When I played to win, I lost for 5 years in a row. I never actually won. Even when it seemed like I nailed a winning move, it always turned out to be a mistake that led to my being checkmated several moves later.

When I played for a draw, I was able to make money for 12 years in a row. And I didn’t have to work nearly as hard to make that happen.

When you play to win in a competitive game, you’re playing for someone else to lose. If you want to maximize revenue or profits, you need to maximize the amount of money your customers or clients pay you. The more money you make, the less money they get to keep. You can only go so far down this path before you start meeting serious resistance. And the more tactics and techniques you use to try to combat that resistance, the stronger the resistance becomes.

How many businesses have had to learn this lesson the hard way? The more they try to extract the maximum amount of money from you, the more you feel driven to resist them, such as by resorting to piracy to cut them out entirely.

Which businesses do you dislike most? Do you feel those businesses are playing to win at your expense? How does that affect your ongoing relationship with them?

What are your favorite businesses? Why are they your favorites?

One of my favorite businesses is Google. I like them because I feel they give me a lot more value than they ask in return. They provide me with a free search engine, free email, free calendar, etc. I benefit from their engineering expertise every day, and I’m grateful for it. I’ve paid them back in some ways over the years, such as by generating hundreds of thousands of dollars of business for them when I had Adsense on my blog… and probably millions if you include all the referrals I must have sent their way, such as other bloggers who signed up for Adsense after learning about my results with it.

Facebook, on the other hand, left me feeling used and abused after two years as an active user of their service. So I shut down my personal page and my fan page and wrote multiple articles about why I had to abandon them and take my social networking to greener pastures. Ironically, one of those articles racked up 2000+ Facebook likes.

Of course these evaluations are being continually refreshed. Google might screw up, and I may have to bid Larry and Sergey adieu. Facebook might correct its problems, and I’ll have to refriend Zuck. But for now, my perception is that Google is still playing with me, while Facebook still wants to play at me.

Becoming an Enigma

What does it mean to win? What does it mean to succeed? Does it even make sense to pursue these ideals?

I learned the hard way that it’s actually easier to enjoy an abundant and fulfilling lifestyle by playing for a draw instead of playing to win or succeed.

When you play for a draw, you change the way others relate to you. They may not understand this consciously, but they’ll behave differently towards you nonetheless.

Some of your decisions may confuse people at first, especially if they’re used to dealing with businesses that play to win, but generally people seem to respond positively. A business that plays for a draw is a breath of fresh air.

When you leave extra value on the table without trying to extract it, that value rolls over into goodwill, which is the lifeblood of a sustainable business.

For example, by giving away so much free content, my business receives a massive number of referrals. New referrals happen every single day — passively and with zero marketing costs.

I’ve done okay financially too. Not counting income from my workshops or my book, my blog alone has generated well over $1 million in revenue since I started, mostly from joint-venture promotions and affiliate programs. That’s plenty for me to sustain a positive cashflow and to enjoy an abundant lifestyle.

What about the economy? I live in Nevada, which has the highest unemployment rate of any U.S. state, according to the U.S. Dept of Labor. Lots of people here are looking for ways to make money, and they’re getting thrashed by Kolrami. They’re trying to beat a game that they can’t win. The odds are better in the casinos.

The irony, however, is that I perceive my actual income as much lower than it could be if I put more effort into it. There are lots of ways I could potentially earn more money, and some are dirt simple. For instance, for about an hour’s work, I could immediately start earning at least an extra $10K per month in passive income just by putting up Google Adsense ads, which I used to have on the site for several years. See this post if you want to know why I dropped Adsense. I deliberately choose not to earn this money.

Now you might be wondering, What kind of idiot would pass up an easy $10K/month in passive income? The kind of idiot who’s had his ass kicked by Kolrami way too many times. 

You see… I don’t run my business to optimize revenue or profits. When I tried to do that, my real-world results were the exact opposite of what I wanted. So these days I deliberately make business decisions that leave significant value on the table, untapped and unextracted. Kolrami cannot make sense of these moves, and therefore he cannot counter them. Consequently, any potential competition with him remains in a state of perpetual stalemate. He cannot defeat me, and theoretically I can keep playing indefinitely.

Instead of seeing me as a competitor, my peers in this field tend to regard me as a bit of an enigma. Many of them became very curious when I did the whole copyright giveaway thing last year. From their perspective it seemed like a very risky thing to do, perhaps even foolhardy. Some regard it as very brave, while others simply don’t know what to make of it. Most aren’t willing to go down a similar path, preferring to keep all their work copyrighted so they can control it. They know that I’m an intelligent and strategic thinker, but since this action doesn’t really make logical sense from the standpoint of maximizing revenue, they don’t perceive me as any sort of competitive threat, so by default I’m treated as a non-threatening ally. And the truth is that I’m not a competitive threat of any sort because I’m not playing this game to win. I’m still playing for a stalemate with Kolrami, and I plan to continue doing so indefinitely.

Making money is very easy now. I don’t consider myself uber-rich, but I’ve achieved what I consider to be functional abundance. All my bills are paid, and I have sufficient income to enjoy the lifestyle I desire. I can work when I want and take time off when I want. And I feel I can keep this going indefinitely.

Even though I’ve made plenty of money from this business, I always have the sense that I could be earning many times more than what I’m actually earning. But I deliberately avoid that level of success, not because I’m resistant to success but because I recognize that the pursuit of such success is a trap.

It was a major lesson for me to learn that I can actually make more money by trying to make less money. I can achieve more success by trying to succeed less. This is what has actually worked for me in the real world.

The path of abundance isn’t the path that maximizes velocity. It’s the path that minimizes friction. If you try to maximize velocity, you end up maximizing friction too, thereby causing massive amounts of heat. Ultimately, you burn up.

If you race to every destination by driving as fast as your car will allow, is that the optimal approach? Or is it better to intentionally hold back a bit, driving at speeds well below your car’s maximum potential?

Success = Sustainability

Instead of seeing success as some kind of accomplishment, victory, or conquest, I think it’s wiser and more effective to define success as sustainability.

This isn’t just about how we run our lives or businesses. It’s about how we relate to each other and to our planet as a whole.

Is the most successful energy company the one that extracts and sells the earth’s resources as quickly as possible? Is a successful relationship one in which you extract maximum value from your partner, leaving them drained at the end of each day?

I like Stephen Covey’s analogy of the goose and the golden eggs. If you try to maximize all-out production by extracting as many golden eggs as possible, you eventually kill the golden goose, thereby causing your production capacity to crash. For long-term sustainability, you must nurture the golden goose. Getting greedy with the eggs will cause Kolrami to swoop in and turn your goose into foie gras.

The game of business isn’t winnable. No matter how hard you play to win, you’ll always lose in the end. Even if you become an extremely cunning player, laying waste to all who oppose you, eventually you’ll die, and your deathbed score resets to zero. Kolrami always gets the last move.

But if you largely ignore the score and play for a draw instead of trying to win, Kolrami cannot defeat you. You can play the game for as long as you like.

When you seek sustainability, the games of money and business are transformed. Instead of competing for survival and success, you can relax and enjoy yourself. Playing for fun is a whole different ride.

When you play for fun instead of trying to win, most people will relate to you in the same manner. Some players may initially assume a competitive posture with you, but once they realize you’re playing for fun instead of trying to win, they’ll quickly lower their shields, and they’ll begin to play the game with you at your level — for fun. Even highly competitive players naturally sense there’s no honor in thrashing an opponent who isn’t trying to beat them. No real victory can be achieved against a player who stands no chance of winning. Players that try to overwhelm defenseless opponents simply make themselves look ridiculous.

I’m not saying that you’ll never encounter a stubborn victory-minded person who seeks to trounce you anyway, but it’s a lot rarer when you decline to resist them. Competitive people tend to expend more energy on those who resist them. If you offer no resistance, they’re more likely to consider you a potential ally.

When I tried to win in business, I experienced frustration and failure. When I played for a draw, I had fun and enjoyed sustainable success.

If you’re still trying to win, maybe it’s time to give it up. Kolrami is just too good. You cannot hope to beat him. He’ll take all your best moves and turn them against you, causing you to end up worse off than when you started.

As for defeating Kolrami, in the strictest sense, I did not win.

I busted him up. 

Thanks for the inspiration, Gene. You are still loved. <3

I just bought a new mobile phone for myself. No, this is not a reward but my old phone is not working well. The problem is the other party can’t hear me at all or the line is noisy.

If not due to the problems, I would have not bought this new one. Come to think about it, I only buy handphones when I have no choice (in this case they are not working.)

It took me a while to decide to go for a new one instead of getting it fixed. I always think thoroughly before I buy anything. If I don’t have a compelling reason to buy, I’ll not buy.

I’d like to keep things very simple. I am not where I want to be yet but I am still learning to be a minimalist.

Back to my story.

I did not buy the phone the moment I saw it. I don’t need a fancy phone but one that serves basic functions of a mobile.

I surveyed 7 shops to get the best price. It seems a lot of work. But let me tell you this. I save a whopping of $90 for exactly the same phone.

I bought a Nokia 7230 on September 26. My old phone is a 3-year old Nokia which I can’t remember the model.

It is not that I can’t afford the phone but why should you pay more if you can get it for less?

As Benjamin Franklin said, “A penny saved is a penny earned.”

You should make getting the best price as your shopping motto. I am not the only one who is a “proponent” of this concept.

Many millionaires concur with me. One of them is Marc Fisher. He says this in his light reading book called The Lazy Millionaire. He even dedicates a whole chapter on this topic.

He is even more creative than I am. He saved $2800 when he was buying a BMW for his father. $2800 is the monthly salary for many people.

Marc could afford the normal price but getting the lowest price thrills him. He says in the book:

Money you did NOT spend yet is power, freedom in your hand.

Use what you have saved to invest in assets that generate income.

This being said, I am not asking you to become a cheapo or penny pincher. Getting the lowest price and being a penny pincher are two different things altogether. You can still enjoy life while paying for less.

One of the best investments you can make is knowledge. By picking up some books you can change your life like never before. Therefore making reading as part of your habit is very important.

I’d like to share with you here some of the books that have played a role in shaping my thinking and ultimately have changed my life forever.

1. How to win friends and influence people. (or direct link) By Dale Carnegie. In fact, get your hand on as many books as possible by Dale, they are gems.
2. The 4-hour work week. (or direct link) By Timothy Ferriss.
3. Rich dad poor dad. (or direct link) By Robert Kiyosaki. The best from Robert. However I notice subsequent books by the same author have deteriorated in quality over the years.
4. The secret of selling anything. By Harry Browne. Despite the low price, it’s the best book I have ever read about selling.
5. The power of focus. (or direct link) By Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, and Les Hewitt.
6. Now, discover your strengths. (or direct link) By Marcus Buckingham and Donald O. Clifton.
7. A technique for producing ideas. (or direct link) By James Webb Young.
8. Secrets of power persuasion for salespeople. (or direct link) By Roger Dawson. Not only for salespeople but for everyone who needs to get something for something. Powerful techniques are found in this book.

The list by no means ends here. Feel free to explore other books while you read the titles above. Who knows you might discover other powerful books as well.

Happy reading!

It’s very obvious. There’s a common trend emerging.

From my experience in coaching and talking to others, I can see very clearly why people fail online. To sum it up, there are not more than three core reasons.

You take charge of everything within your control and make sure that you are on track to achieving your goals. You know that you have to give yourself enough time to try out something and you don’t give up prematurely. If you have found something that works for you, duplicate what you have done and double your success.

2) Action. Many people dream of being their own boss and just that… they dream. They don’t take concrete action to make their dream come true. They fail to follow through a plan that brings them from where they are now to where they want to be. They give themselves excuses that are longer than shopping list – for not doing anything. They wait for the “best” time to create a website, develop a product, or write a marketing campaign. However, it seems that the day never comes. They say they don’t have time for their business because they have a job to do, a wife to take care of, children to play with, and a dog to feed.

They fail to realize that achieving a dream requires action. Only actions bring results. Find and allocate a time slot everyday to work on your online business. Move toward to your goal of being your own boss by taking action, right now right here. This is a phrase I like: When something gets done, even if it’s not successful, is more valuable than something that is not done.

3) Focus. This is very common in Internet business. One day you follow this fail-proof strategy by Guru A. The next day, you dump what guru A teaches and listen to Guru B with his latest discovery. One good thing about the Internet is its flexibility. It’s not as rigid as brick and mortar business. With online business, you can switch business model as often as you like. You can start a new website in just a few minutes. But there’s a flip side to it. Flexibility is a double-edged sword. If you don’t use it to your advantage, you’ll find yourself end up with too many websites that don’t generate income.

If you want to succeed online, pick one model or better still choose one profitable market and reach out to them in many different ways. Stick to it until you succeed. Create add-on products to sell to the same market until you dominate the market. Don’t swing from one model to another without really trying. If you do this, be prepared to face more failure. Focus on one thing until you make it. Stop blindly following the latest product launches because they do more harm than good to you. They distract you from your original plan.

As you read this, did you realize that I do not include “how-to” as one of the reasons of failure? Because technical knowledge is aplenty and it has nothing to do with why people can’t make it. If you need help in choosing a market or any other topic, just do a search in Google and you are good to go. Or go to an Internet marketing forum and post your question. I believe many are willing to help you there. Better still, in order to save time, you can grab a copy of the book from Clickbank Marketplace if your budget allows and that’s all you need.

But all the information you have will not do you any good if you don’t put it to use. Why? See Reason #2 above. Everything that prevents you from succeeding online can be boiled down to three main core reasons. If you can overcome these hurdles, the odds are in your favor.

No doubt, The Secret – book and DVD – has recently created a big buzz online and off.

(If you don’t know what I am talking about, you’d probably live in the cave for too long. Just kidding.)

I call it piggyback marketing. Rhonda is smart. Product aside, it’s a true marketing genius in action. The result speaks for itself.

But whether or not what the author says works, is another story. I personally don’t think that it is as simple as putting your thoughts to the universe to get what you want.

Here are the 6 reasons why The Secret doesn’t work:

1) If what you put out to the universe is not aligned with your higher purpose/destiny, no matter how hard you try, it won’t manifest in your life.

2) It works only for people who are willing to take action — persistently. It’s not for dreamers.

3) If what you focus on is not part of your talent or strength, it’s not going to work for you well. The result: It’s a mismatch of goal and talent.

4) If timing is not right for what you want to attract into your life. It will never come, regardless of how hard you work. Trust me!

5) It will not work if you work with the wrong people. No man is an island and if your partners, workers, suppliers and customers are not the right ones, you’ll doom to fail.

6) If you’re in the wrong vocation/industry, it will not work.

I don’t know why but there are NOT many people talking why Law of Attraction will not work for every situation and everybody – including those who practice it!

It sounds pessimistic but it’s true.

Let me give you one example. A real example that is enough to illustrate my point. It’s about our home grown squash queen, Nicol David. Here’s the snapshot:

Her Australian coach, Liz Irving, believes that it is Nicol’s destiny to dominate world squash (See my Points #1 and #6 above).

This is what I like about what she said about Nicol:

• “Nicol does not rely on her speed for her strength. It’s just a back-up. A lot of people are trying to improve their speed because of Nicol,” Irving said.

• But you can’t because it’s natural for her (See my Point #3 above). It’s not natural for many of the other girls. Natalie and Rachael have always been quick, that is really not going to change either. They are not going to get any quicker.

• It’s natural, it’s either you have speed or you don’t. If you have speed, you can work on it and be strong at it.

• There are a lot of big strong girls on the circuit. But they are not going to be as quick as Nicol because they are not in that build.

Now, let me ask you one question. Do you think ANYONE (I mean just anyone) can use Law of Attraction to beat Nicol David and become world champion?

You bet. Not even her closest opponents (Natalie and Rachael) could achieve this! Let alone “normal” people like you and me.

It’s the same scenario for Tiger Woods. If you’re not cut out to be a golf pro, no amount of visualization can help you achieve this.

You see my point? Good.

Law of Attraction does not work – if you fail my 6-point test.

But what can you do NOW? Know yourself well and do what makes you tick. Focus on your talents and strengths. You’ll become unbeatable. In short, know your path and do your best to follow the path.

One last thing. Here’s an interesting story about Emily Yoffe. She followed the secret in The Secret for two months to see how it worked for her.

When I first watched American Inventor, I thought to myself, “Yet another reality TV…” I was not impressed.

I was glued to the show, one of the few that can have that impact on me.

(I have to confess that I am not a TV addict though)

But if you haven’t watched the show, this is what it’s all about:

The “inventors” need to do a presentation on their invention in front of the judges (4 of them from different backgrounds). At the end of the presentation, the judges will either say “Yes” or “No” to the invention.

They compete with each other to proceed to the next stage.

Of course, as you may have guessed, more “No’s” than “Yeses.”

Some inventions are damn funny and creative. Imagine one fellow invented a mobile toilet. It looks exactly like a raincoat and you can bring it along and do your business wherever you go. Yuchs!

And the prize money is one million dollars.

But I digress…back to the point I wanted to share with you.

The thing that attracted me was the spirit shown by the participants.

Each and every one of them is VERY convinced that they have the invention of the year.

They sacrificed many things in order to create the invention and participate in the show.

Most of them sacrificed more than one thing for their dream.

It’s always a touching moment for me when the judges asked them what inspired them to invent and what sacrifices they have made to come to this far.

You name it: money (most of them broke), time (most of the spent years to perfect the invention), family, marriage and one of them even sacrificed his kidney!

Throughout the years, I’ve met people who told me they wanted to be successful. But when they need to really get their hands dirty, they either give up (stay status quo) or give excuses.

Out of a sudden, everything seems to be more than their dream. They use thousands of excuses to convince themselves that they can’t do it.

Of course, it’s not easy to get out of our comfort zone unless you have an undying desire. Just like what the American Inventor participants have.

What about you?

Ask yourself this, “What have I done to achieve my dream? Have I done enough?”

Have fun,

Abel Cheng

P.S.: This is one of the top 30 inventions from American Inventor currently on sale.

From tender age, we were exposed to myths about money and myths of being rich. Be it from our parents, brothers, sisters, relatives, or friends. The myths that we have determine our financial well being in our adult lives.

We can’t blame our parents for the myths in us. They already gave us the best they could. And don’t forget that times change. Things were true then may not be true today.

If you want to move ahead financially, you have to be aware of the myths that you have about wealth and money. And do not let the myths stop you from living a wealthy life.

Money Myth 1: Work hard and you’ll be rich.
Many of us think that by having a job with a big company would ensure that we’re on the path to financial freedom. With so many layoff announcements, we might be out of job anytime. I’m not saying that you’d be one of them but the fact is there is no job that is guaranteed.

Recently, my friend was laid off in less than a month in his new job. Having a job is merely helping you to cope with daily expenses, providing you shelter, food and clothing. Do not be misled that a job or your employer will turn you into a rich and wealthy person. No one cares more than you about your wealth.

Money Myth 2: Saving is good.
When I was small, I was told by my mother that I must learn to save. I thank my mother for inculcating the habit of saving in me. The habit of saving helps me to develop discipline. Many people think that when they save enough, one fine day they’ll be rich.

But is saving alone enough to make you wealthy?

I came to realize that if I only depend on my savings to get rich, I’d have to wait for a long time. That’s the problem with savings, it takes a long time for you to get rich. Saving alone is not enough. You have to learn to invest your money in other investment vehicles to grow your money faster.

Money Myth 3: Debt is evil.
The other common myth about money is debt is bad. Did your parents ever tell you that borrowing was bad? Mine did. Not all debt is bad, actually. It depends on how you spend your loans that you’re getting. If you take a credit card loan to buy a flat plasma TV, it’s a bad debt. On the other hand, if you take loans to start a business or invest in real estate, the debt is good.

If debt is bad, can you imagine what would happen to companies if they are not allowed to take loans from the banks? As a general rule, if you use debts to buy things that increase in value over time, they are good debts. You must know whether the debt you’re taking is good or bad.

Money Myth 4: You need money to make money.
When I ask my friends what’s stopping them from starting their own business, the common answer is “I don’t have money. And it takes money to make money.” I do agree that it takes money to make money. But does it really to be your own money?

Everybody has limited resources when it comes to achieving our financial goals. I do not expect you to have everything when you plan to build your own business. You might need financial backing, manpower, expertise, or a coach to guide you. If you lack resources in any areas, find the resources. Someone else will definitely have it. It does take money to make money, but you can use OPM – other people’s money.

Money Myth 5: Investing is risky.
Many think that investing is risky because they lack education in investing. Investing itself is not risky if you know how to control the risks. Most of us invest based on a tip from a friend or broker without doing our own research. When you lose money, you say that investing is risky. And you tell yourself that you’ll never invest again. To be frank, everything we do has a risk in it. Learn to manage risks by educating yourself. You can educate yourself by attending seminars, reading books, or even from the Internet.

Money Myth 6: Wealth reflects in material possessions.
Material possessions reflect your level of wealth. This is a misleading measurement. Someone who is driving a Porsche might not be rich and he might highly in debt.

Wealth does not reflect in material possessions. Wealth is a state of mind. Wealth is how fast you can become rich if you’re stripped of everything. As Henry Ford once said after he was asked what he would do if he lost all his fortunes, “I’ll become a millionaire again within five years.”

We possess one or more of the above myths, consciously or unconsciously. But what is more important is to be aware of the myths and replace the myths with facts. By doing this will tremendously improve your financial well being.