Which Money Cycle Are You In?

Even without winning the lottery, your chances of becoming a millionaire are a lot better than you think. In fact, if you have the desire and conviction to be wealthy, you have a better chance of generating and, more important, sustaining wealth than someone who has won the lottery.

You can take all the mystery out of wealth building. Anyone can take a prescriptive, step-by-step approach to eliminate financial hardship and build wealth of a million dollars or more. And I don’t mean just net worth; I mean cash flow- cold, hard cash in your pocket.

Wealthy people get to where they are not by chance, but by taking specific, tangible action. There is a very clear difference between the flow of money for most people, and the flow of money for someone who is wealthy. It looks something like this:

In the Least Cycle (because most people do it, but they end up with the least), wealth can never be created because all the money which comes in (through income), goes right back out to pay expenses- housing, food, credit card debt, consumer goods, etc. Even your home is a liability because it takes money out of your pocket every month, instead of putting money into your pocket. Compare it to the Cycle of the Wealthy:

In the Cycle of the Wealthy, a portion of the money which comes in (through income, which is usually a job when the process is started) goes to investing in assets (a definition of an asset is something that provides cash flow or capital). Those assets in turn produce more income, which goes back into building more assets, and thus creating more wealth.

Besides that, they structure their life to run like a business. They create entities (Corporations or LLCs) that they run all ‘business’ related expenses through before paying taxes, so it reduces their tax liability.

Creating wealth is as simple as deciding what Cycle you want to live in. If you live in the Least Cycle, you will never create wealth. If you live in the Cycle of the Wealthy, wealth is guaranteed.

That is why some people can make a lot of money, even a million a year, and still be broke. If they live in the Least Cycle, they are not wealthy. They’re still living paycheck to paycheck, albeit a very large paycheck, but they are not creating wealth.

The goal is to increase your income so that you can buy assets that will create more income, until this becomes a passive process and you create freedom to live as you want.

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The 7 Laws of Attraction

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The 7 Laws of Attraction explained by Bob Proctor, presenter on The Secret

1. The Law of Perpetual Transmutation

2. The Law of Relativity

3. The Law of Vibration

4. The Law of Polarity

5. The Law of Rhythm

6. The Law of Cause and Effect

7. The Law of Gender

Bob explains these laws in an interview with Vic Johnson. Listen to this interview for free-click here.

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Free Get Out of Debt Teleseminar

The Pursuit of Happiness

The philosopher Aristotle concluded, in his Nicomachaen Ethics, “The ultimate end or purpose of all human life is the achievement of personal happiness.”

Becoming financially independent as the result of developing million-dollar habits is a great goal in itself, but it is not the most important thing. It is the person you must become, in terms of courage, character, thoughtfulness, and persistence, that is most important. As the result of becoming financially successful over a long period of time, you will feel truly happy and satisfied with yourself, and with every other part of your life.

This is the most worthwhile goal of all.

Attend a FREE Get Out of Debt Teleseminar by Brian Tracy- bestselling author of Million Dollar Habits and Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life

The AMAZING Brain

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We have been born with a magnificent gift. It was something that was given to us free, and because it was free, we usually take it for granted (something we tend to do with things that are ‘free’ but priceless- families, health, mind, body, soul).

Our brains can help us to accomplish anything we desire. It’s capacity is unmeasurable and incomprehensible. Few of us really know how it works, but even if we’re not aware of how, it’s important to know that we can program our brains to produce the results that we really want in our lives.

Up to now, your brain has been operating on autopilot. It was conditioned- by circumstances, parents, teachers, experiences, etc.- to react in certain ways according to the stimuli. One example, is avoiding a hot stove because we know it will burn us.

But our brains also tell us how to act when our child is disrespectful, when someone cuts us off in traffic, or when someone shows us kindness. Each of this situations may cause us to feel good or feel bad, according to how our brain says we should feel. And our brain says we should feel a certain way because it has been unconsciously trained to react that way.

Now it’s time to consciously train our minds, to react in the ways that empower us and improve our lives, relationships, health and wealth. Our brains eagerly await our commands, and will carry out anything that we ask of it.

The Best Computer

As far as intricacy and power, the brain is more powerful than any modern computer that man has created. The brain can process up to 30 billion bits of information per second, and has equal to 6,000 miles of wiring capability.

There are also 28 billion neurons (the nerve cells that conduct impulses to our sense organs). Each neuron is like a self-contained computer that can process one million bits of information per second. Neurons act independently, but also can communicate with other neurons through 100,000 miles of nerve fibers.

Even the fastest computer can only make connections one at a time, but one bit of information in a neuron can spread to hundreds of thousands of others in less than 20 milliseconds!

A neuron actually takes longer to send a signal than a computer, but it can achieve the feat faster because, compared to a computer that does it step by step, the billions of neurons can all work together simultaneously.

So, if our brains are so powerful, why do we have so many problems in our lives? Why can’t we feel happy consistently? Why can’t we change our behavior, or overcome depression and frustration?

The answer is, WE CAN! We have the power already to do this. We have the most powerful computer available to our disposal- but no one gave us an owners manual. We attempt to think our way to change, when in reality our responses are rooted in our nervous systems. It’s called neuro-associations.

Our brain links either pain or pleasure to everything that occurs to us. Whatever causes pain, the brain wants to avoid. Whatever causes pleasure, we’re continually drawn to.

Unfortunately, without conscious ‘training’, the brain will link up pleasure to thinks that are not good for us- like overeating, over-spending, smoking- and link pain to any action that we might take to change those harmful habits. After all, we don’t like change, it’s painful. We enjoy eating our cookies and going on shopping sprees, why stop?

Anthony Robbins in Awaken the Giant Within, tells us the solution to creating lasting change is to:

1. Decide What You Really Want- do you really want those cookies, even if it means being fat? Or is what you really want is to be healthy and fit?

2. Associate Massive Pain to Not Changing Now and Massive Pleasure to the Experience of Changing Now!- This requires some imagination and some serious reflection. Imagine where you will be in 10 years if you do not change. Is that a painful thought? Good. Increase it’s intensity. Then think about how you will feel if you do change now? Do you feel good about yourself? Is your personal integrity in place? Intensify that feeling.

3. Interrupt the Limiting Pattern- If we keep doing the same things, we’ll keep getting the same results. When you start ‘reacting’ in your usual way, do something crazy to interrupt it. Jump up and scream “Hallelujah!” Start singing or doing jumping jacks. Do anything to get your focus off repeating that pattern, the important thing is to do it right when the ‘temptation’ is happening.

4. Create a New, Empowering Alternative-Once you break the pattern, you’ go back to it if you don’t find something to replace it by getting the feelings that your desiring- the ones you used to receive from your negative habit. Maybe it’s reading a book, going for a walk, watching a movie. Whatever you enjoy doing, that is healthy and empowering, use it to replace your old disempowering habit.

5. Condition the New Pattern Until It’s Consistent- You created the old habits by unconscious conditioning. It’s time to replace them with healthy habits by conscious conditioning. You can do this by using your replacement activity or habit, giving yourself special rewards for breaking patterns, and through visualization. The brain can’t tell the difference between something that is imagined and what you actually experienced. So use it to ‘recreate’ your life.

To receive in detail information about these processes, order Anthony Robbins Awaken the Giant Within

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The Excitement Factor

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My husband and I have recently returned from living abroad in Costa Rica for the past year. We’ve been members of mainstream society now for about four weeks, complete with apartment and a full-time job (for my husband).

We’ve gotten into a routine. My husband works, I clean the house, do the laundry, play with the kids, he comes home, we go to bed, and then hit REPEAT the next morning. Groundhog Day.

Now we do try to do find meaning and purpose in what we’re doing- we read and teach the kids, we read inspiring books, we write, we work on our business.

But the biggest noticeable difference between living here and living abroad? Excitement. Tim Ferris says in his book The Four Hour Work Week, “The opposite of happiness is not sadness. It’s boredom. A synonym for happiness should be excitement.”

Before we moved to Costa Rica, I never noticed this aspect was missing from my life. I was too busy- fixing meals, caring for the kids, cleaning up the perpetual messes, running errands, more meals, more clean up, only to get up the next day and do it again- an unending treadmill of sameness.

Of course I didn’t know this then. But having gone abroad and come back, excitement is the most noticeable thing missing. In Costa Rica, you woke up each day excited for the newness of it all. Everything was different, from the stunning sunrises to the lush green scenery, the food (and the maid who prepared it), the neighbors milking their cows, the “pulperias” and Hypermas and iguanas, monkeys, waterfalls, beaches, volcanoes and the breathtaking year-round blooming flowers.

Every weekend you would actually do something. You would get together with your friends and say “Let’s go see a waterfall,” or “Let’s go hike the volcano,” “Let’s go to the beach, the nature reserve, the zoo, Africa Mia” even “How about a BBQ” (oh, did I mention the weather was always perfect?) Life was exciting and fun! Your senses were stimulated and it caused reflection on life.

Don’t get me wrong, there was ’sameness’ in Costa Rica. You still lived- ate, worked, slept, got up and did it again. But even in the ’sameness’ there was some excitement, because, heck, you were doing it in Costa Rica.

Now my purpose in writing is not to offend, only to supply another view point and hopefully provoke thought. Why is it that Utah has the highest ratio of depression per capita, as well as drug abuse, even among mothers with children at home? (But it’s not just Utah- many people suffer from ‘boredom’- even Costa Ricans in Costa Rica).

Could it be a lack of excitement? Could it be the never-ending treadmill of sameness, day after same day, week after same week, year after long-drawn-out year? It may play a part. I can only speak for myself, but if I don’t get some excitement soon, I might just go crazy!

That doesn’t mean that life here sucks and we just all need to move to Costa Rica to find excitement and fulfillment in life. Excitement really comes from within- it is an attitude that can be developed by looking for the beauty, awe and splendor all around us. Fun can be found right here (or wherever we are), the question is, Do we find it?

When was the last time you felt really alive, that you were so filled with the thrill and adventure of life that you threw your arms up into the air and your head back and just took it all in?

If it was recently, kudos to you. You’re better than the majority. I know for me it’s been awhile. For me, that’s what’s missing- The Excitement Factor.

It’s time to get it back.

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Tim Ferris’ Recommend Reading

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Mini-Retirements & Filling the Void

To start at the beginning of this Book Review, click here.

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Whoever sold us on the idea of working for the long haul (30-40 years or more) before we could travel and enjoy life was full of it!

And whoever told us that a life of travel and luxury is available only to the superrich is also wrong.

Say goodbye to vacations and hello to mini-retirements.

“If you’re accustomed to working 50 weeks per year, the tendency, will be to go nuts and see 10 countries in 14 days and end up a wreck.”

The alternative is the mini-retirement; relocating to one place for one to six months. It gives you the opportunity to relax, reexamine and experience life, at a speed that lets it change us.

The mini-retirement is defined as a recurring event- a lifestyle. It provides the opportunity for us to slow-down, to observe yourself and the world around you, and to create new habits of living.

Ferris then gives us details on how living abroad can actually be less than what we may currently be paying for living stateside, and helps us to overcome some of our ‘fear factors’ (or excuses) for not traveling.

Some of these include:

I have children- I have a house- What about health insurance?- Isn’t it dangerous?- What if I get kidnapped?- I’m a woman, I can’t travel alone-

For every excuse there is a person who has traveled abroad with the same situation as yours, but chose instead to do it anyway.

Take for example the single mother of five who took her children on a five-month world tour (her story is in the book), or the husband and wife who sailed around the world for 15 months with their three boys (also in the book).

What excuses do we have? It’s been said that excuses are like armpits- everyone has them, and they all stink.

We just need to cut the crap and take the leap. It will be well worth it.

Ferris lists countless resources on reducing life clutter (i.e. all your stuff), how to plan your trip, and steps to take before departure day. Very helpful.

Filling the Void- adding Life after Subtracting Work

“Man is so made that he can only find relaxation from one kind of labor by taking up another.” – Anatole France

“The retired and ultrarich are often unfulfilled and neurotic for the same reason: too much idle time. But wait a second…Isn’t more time what we’re after? No, not at all. Decreasing income-driven work isn’t the end goal. Living more- and becoming more- is.”

Sometimes once we reach the point of having our dreams realized- having it all- we might actually get bored. How can this be? Besides having extra time, retirees and the superrich also suffer from social isolation.

With most people you know still in the 9-5, you have to find new things to do with yourself. But don’t worry, “the greatest rewards are yet to come.”

With time to do whatever you want, after the initial kid-in-a-candy shop syndrome, questions like “What does it all mean?” seem to take on more importance. You ask yourself, “What should I do with my life?”

You’ll have moments of doubt, and begin to question your ’step off the treadmill.”

But most of these doubts come from using the old comparisons that more is better and money equals success. With your new NR lifestyle, you’ll have to begin looking for a new focus, and asking the ‘big’ questions.

“What is the meaning of life?” “What is the point of it all?” Ferris challenges us to consider ‘big’ things, but to stay focused on what falls into our sphere of influence, somewhere where we can take action and actually make a difference.

Summary

“I believe that life exists to be enjoyed and that the most important thing is to feel good about yourself…for me that is to love, to be loved, and never stop learning.”

Tim Ferris gives a fresh look at our world and how we live in it. He challenges mainstream thinking and provides more than philosophy, but step-by-step actions that will produce measurable results.

Mr. Ferris’ book has the ability to make massive changes in your life, moving you from a state of existing to truly living.

Buy his book today!

See Tim Ferris’ Recommended Reading List.

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Step IV- L is for Liberation

To start at the beginning of this Book Review, click here.

Disappearing Act- How to Escape the Office

“Being bound to one place will be the new defining feature of the middle class. The New Rich are defined by a more elusive power than simple cash- unrestricted mobility. This jet-setting is not limited to start-up owners or freelancers. Employees can pull it off too…and more and more companies want them to pull it off.”

Ferris says this can be done in five steps:

1. Increase Investment-Become more valuable to the company, get additional training, and become an asset to the business.

2. Prove Increased Output Offsite- Take a day off, or a sick day, or even a weekend, and use it to work from home. Double your work output, communicate with the office via email, keep records of what you accomplished.

3. Prepare the Quantifiable Business Benefit- create a report of how much more you accomplished from home, with explanations of why (fewer interruptions, removal of commute, etc.), and point out the benefits for the company of your increased productivity.

4. Propose a Revocable Trial Period- Start with a one-day-per-week trial period for two weeks. Prepare for this meeting, but don’t make it a Powerpoint, or it will look too serious. Ferris gives a sample script in his book to use with your boss.

5. Expand Remote Time-Ensure that your days outside the office are most productive. Prepare a comparison chart to show the results to your boss, then suggest to move it up to four days per week for a two week trial. Once you prove your productivity again, your ready to take the next step of full remote agreement.

“Employees usually get stuck on Liberation, because they fear taking control. Resolve to grab the reins-the rest of your life depends on it.”

Beyond Repair- Killing your Job

“Some jobs are simply beyond repair…’job’ can refer to both a company if you run one, or a normal job.” Sometimes quitting (or getting fired) is the best thing that can happen. You need to decide if your job is what you really want to do for the rest of your life.

You may be afraid, or feel that you’ve invested too much time and effort, but if it’s really not what you want, then you’re wasting away your life, dieing a slow spiritual death, tolerating mediocrity.

Pulling off the Band-Aid: It’s Less Painful than You Think

There are several phobias about quitting:

Quitting is permanent- Not true. You can always get a new job, or start another company. Change of direction is always reversible.

I won’t be able to pay the bills- Your first objective will be to have a source of cash flow before quitting- solving that problem. You can also cut back on expenses, use savings if needed, there are always options.

I will ruin my resume- do something interesting and you’ll actually add to it’s appeal.

There is always a way. If you want to live your dreams, then you must take a different course than what you’ve been doing. Overcome the fear and take the next step!

Mini-Retirements & Filling the Void

Step III- A is for Automation

To start at the beginning of this Book Review, click here.

Outsourcing Life

“A man is rich in proportion to the number of things he can afford to let alone.” -Henry David Thoreau

Ferris shares the story of AJ Jacobs from Esquire magazine and his “Outsourced Life.” Outsourcing is the wave of the future, for business and personal use.

Ferris then gives us a glimpse into his outsourced life, waking up in Buenos Aires, checking his email (because it’s Monday), receiving updates from all his assistances on the status of his businesses, the bills that have been paid, and the research information he wanted about Kendo schools in Japan and top salsa teachers in Cuba. Ahhh, the world of automation.

A remote personal assistant is not just for entrepreneurs. Ferris describes in detail how employees can use them to outsource their own work, thus making them more effective and more mobile. (He goes into great detail on why and how to do this, and how to get your boss to agree to it.)

The goal is to free your time to focus on bigger and better things.

Delegation Dangers

The purpose of delegation is to further reduce your work load, not to be used as an excuse to add the unimportant. Eliminate before you delegate. There is no point in paying someone to do what shouldn’t be done in the first place.

- Each delegated task must be both time-consuming and well-defined.

-On a lighter note, have some fun with it!

There is a world of possibilities available to you with outsourcing. Nearly anything can be done from writing business plans to sending flowers to your spouse, by a remote assistant.

Ferris explores all the options, going local or remote, costs, and using a solo assistant or a team. He also examines precautions to take to protect yourself from misuse of personal and financial information.

So how do you get started into the world of outsourcing?

Get an assistant-even if you don’t need one. Develop the comfort of managing and giving direction.

Start small, but think big. Continually ask yourself, “Could a VA do this?” What things have been sitting on your to-do list for awhile?

Identify the top five time-consuming nonwork tasks and five personal tasks you could assign for sheer fun.

Income Autopilot

The next three chapters of Ferris’ book deals with creating income on autopilot by making what he calls a ‘muse,’ or a cash machine. A business that produces income to provide for your lifestyle and for following your passion.

He gives extensive information on market selection, product brainstorming, micro-testing, then rollout and automation. He takes your company from start-up, to being CEO, to removing yourself and putting your entire business on autopilot.

If you are interested in the full details of this process, I suggest that you buy his book. You will also have access to all his resources on his website- contact information for everything you will need. The information he provides is too extensive to cover here.

Disappearing Act- How to Escape the Office

“Being bound to one place will be the new defining feature of the middle class. The New Rich are defined by a more elusive power than simple cash- unrestricted mobility. This jet-setting is not limited to start-up owners or freelancers. Employees can pull it off too…and more and more companies want them to pull it off.”

Ferris says this can be done in five steps:

1. Increase Investment-Become more valuable to the company, get additional training, and become an asset to the business.

2. Prove Increased Output Offsite- Take a day off, or a sick day, or even a weekend, and use it to work from home. Double your work output, communicate with the office via email, keep records of what you accomplished.

3. Prepare the Quantifiable Business Benefit- create a report of how much more you accomplished from home, with explanations of why (fewer interruptions, removal of commute, etc.), and point out the benefits for the company of your increased productivity.

4. Propose a Revocable Trial Period- Start with a one-day-per-week trial period for two weeks. Prepare for this meeting, but don’t make it a Powerpoint, or it will look too serious. Ferris gives a sample script in his book to use with your boss.

5. Expand Remote Time-Ensure that your days outside the office are most productive. Prepare a comparison chart to show the results to your boss, then suggest to move it up to four days per week for a two week trial. Once you prove your productivity again, your ready to take the next step of full remote agreement.

“Employees usually get stuck on Liberation, because they fear taking control. Resolve to grab the reins-the rest of your life depends on it.”

Step IV- L for Liberation