This book is the work or the author’s experience and opinion. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or to actual events or locales is entirely coincidental.
SELF HELP BOOK – CREATE THE LIFE OF YOUR DREAMS
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Copyright © 2011 – Oli Hille. All rights are reserved, including the right to reproduce this book, or portions thereof, in any form. You may not distribute this book in any way. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage retrieval system, in any form or by and means, whether electronic or mechanical without the express written permission of the author. The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials.
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Published by: Empire Publishers (a division of Empire Trust).
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About the Author
Oli Hille is the Amazon #1 Bestselling author of the book “Creating the Perfect Lifestyle”.
The book reached #1 in three separate Amazon categories.
Oli is a happily married father of three beautiful children, who makes Life and Lifestyle a priority. He teaches (and uses) the key Social Media skills outlined in this book to help people achieve a wonderful life for themselves and the people around them.
Contents
Part 1 - Who is Oli Hille?
Part 2 - Why am I Sharing my Lifestyle Secrets?
Part 3 - Obstacles to Achieving your Dreams
Part 4 - Why Celebrities Listen to What I Say
Part 5 - More Money
Part 6 - More Time
Part 7 - Passive Income
Part 8 - Goals
Part 9 - Gifts and Abilities
Part 10 - Peers and Peer Groups
Part 11 - Finding Your Soul Mate
Part 12 - Understanding Real Assets
Part 13 - Want More Money? Cut Your Expenses!
Part 14 - Continual Self Improvement
Part 15 - Using the Internet for Income, Influence and Impact
Part 16 - Using Social Media for Income, Influence and Impact
Part 17 - Disconnect Your TV
Part 18 - You Only Have One Chance to be You
Part 19 - Live to Serve
Part 20 - Act The Future You
Part 21 - Overcoming Fear
Part 22 - Live Stress Free
Part 23 - The Great Thing About Failure
Part 24 - Determination Diligence and Perseverance
Part 25 - Limiting Beliefs
Part 26 - Words and Self Talk
Part 27 - Create Your Day
Part 28 - True Balance
Part 29 - You have to have a “Purpose” and a “Why”
Part 30 - Exercise and Diet
Part 31 - Saying “No”
Part 32 - Age is No Barrier!
Part 33 - Just Three
Part 34 - Three Tips on Making Money
Part 35 - Three Tips for a Better Lifestyle
Part 36 - Retirement
Part 37 - Before You Die Read This
Part 38 - More Money. More Time. More Fun. Less Work.
Part 39 - The Main Event
Who is Oli Hille?
You’ve probably never heard of me, but that is good. Why? Because I am just a regular guy. I am just like you except I decided to find out how to plan and achieve the dream - a great life and a wonderful Lifestyle.
But it wasn’t always this way…
In my late twenties I was working hard at my day job, plus doing private work outside my job. I was also building up a real estate portfolio so I was busy all week long. To fit everything in I had to get by on six hours sleep a night. After a year of this I felt my stress levels rising. I got so stressed that sometimes when I went to bed at night I honestly wondered whether I would wake up in the morning, or die in my sleep. I got sick often and enjoyed life less and less. I remember one day I got a letter from my mother. I was too stressed to even read it, and I love my mom – how twisted is that!
I finally went to the doctor who asked me about my life. After listening for a while he told me I had to make radical changes or I would get really sick. This was a massive wake up call for me. One morning soon after I had a revelation:
Life is not about working your butt off for someone else, getting stressed, getting anxious, and squeezing what you really want to do into the time you have left at the end of the day. No! Life is actually about LIFESTYLE.
I've navigated through the tough years, and learned the lessons. I've also studied people who have been ultra-successful in life. I have interviewed people who have achieved extraordinary success. I have researched the lives of people who enjoy life to the full, and I have found universal principles. I used my degree in Psychology to research and understand what makes people happy and successful and balanced.
In the last few years I have successfully set goals, made plans and achieved a fantastic Lifestyle. One thing I am sure of - you can achieve the Lifestyle of your dreams.
For the last few years I have worked around 20 hours a week (excluding writing). I love the work I do and I look forward to going to my office. My family’s needs come first and my work fits around them.
I earn money in five ways that perfectly suit my Lifestyle:
Trading the financial markets;
Writing;
Semi-passive rental income from real estate;
Semi-passive income from internet based businesses;
Passive income from investments.
Because of the way I work, I have a lot of time in my “business week”. I use this time to do a lot of things I enjoy:
Taking additional time for my family.
Exercise.
Spiritual endeavours.
Catching up with friends.
Meeting new people.
Writing.
Reading.
Exploring new business opportunities.
I also spend time every week doing work for two charities, one international and one local. Each week I teach Bible in Schools for an hour and a half at a local school. I also regularly mentor people.
I take time out of my “business week” for my family. In the last five years I have missed only two of my children’s sporting or cultural events (out of dozens). Both times I was overseas. Also I take days off to take my kids fishing and mornings off to be “Dad helper” with my kids school activities. I go to school assemblies to video my kids if they are performing or getting a prize.
From 1999 to 2009 I took nine weeks vacation with my family every year. In 2005 and again in 2009 I took two full months off for family vacations in Europe.
I estimate I would feel stress perhaps three or four days in a year.
There are very few things in my life I don’t look forward to. Each new day brings interest, fun, fulfillment, challenge and enjoyment.
I’m not interested in making lots of money as such (except I have big goals in relation to the amount I want to give away). What I am really interested in is creating a Lifestyle that gives me the time and energy to give to the most important things in my life.
The whole point of this book is to show you how YOU can achieve the Lifestyle of your dreams.
I am just a regular guy and I have done it – and so will you!
Why am I Sharing my Lifestyle Secrets?
You might ask why I am sharing my Lifestyle secrets. Why would I release my findings and the results of my research and my interviews with successful people? The answer is simple. These are secrets you do not keep! Lifestyle tips, advice and strategies are to be shared with anyone and everyone.
The bottom line is that just like you, I want to make the world a better place. I also want to help you make your life outstanding! I wish I could have had the knowledge about creating Lifestyle, before I went through all of the challenges I had to go through.
A few years ago I decided to write a book revealing all I have learned about creating a wonderful Lifestyle. No-one else needs to go through what I went through and make all the same mistakes I made. I can teach you how to quickly and effectively build a terrific Lifestyle.
Also, I get really frustrated and upset because:
I see too many people who are working, working, working just to make ends meet.
I see people who long ago had big dreams and aspirations but now they only aspire to pay the mortgage and get by.
I meet people who have great skills and abilities that could be used to really make a difference in the world, but they are using their skills to make someone else wealthy.
I talk to people who would love to have more time to volunteer and serve their community but who are so busy working 50 or 60 hours a week that they arrive home exhausted and stressed and unable to give back to anyone.
I know people who have a call on their lives to make a real difference in the world but who are not satisfied because they are not living their true calling.
I see parents who would love to spend tons of quality time with their kids, but they both have to work to pay the bills.
I know people who have wonderful creative skills and who should be writing a novel, painting, acting, thinking, making, creating… but they are held back by limiting beliefs or mental barriers or their peers or their upbringing.
We all know people who are in the wrong job or the wrong occupation but because of a fear of the unknown, stay where they are, unhappy and not fulfilled.
We all read about people who get depressed and anxious even though they have far more wealth and opportunity than 98% of the people on earth.
I see people (just like I used to be) working for someone else when they should be using their ideas and skills working for themselves.
I meet people who don’t know how to achieve their Lifestyle dreams.
Something is terribly wrong with these pictures!
So yes, I want to make the world a better place. And yes I want to make YOUR world a better place.
Tip #1 Get Frustrated
Give yourself permission to get frustrated. Get frustrated with your own situation, with where your friends and loved ones are at, with what is going on in the world.
Tip #2 Get Motivated
Get motivated to change. Find the leverage you need to make changes in your life.
Tip #3 Get to Work
While you are frustrated and annoyed and you have the leverage, make decisions now. Decisions that will have positive benefits to you and those around you for years and perhaps decades, and possibly even generations.
Obstacles to Achieving your Dreams
For some reason part of the human condition is to face hurdles and obstacles. What stops us is that we often give up in the face of life’s challenges.
A successful life always involves coming across obstacles and working out how to overcome them.
Some of the most common obstacles to achieving our dreams and wonderful Lifestyles are:
Just not knowing how or where to start;
Chasing money instead of your passions;
Not going after what you most love doing;
Forgetting your calling;
Allowing your dreams to get buried by the busyness of life;
Settling for second best;
Just following the crowd, and reacting to life;
Wasting your most precious resource – time;
Not knowing how to plan and set goals to achieve your dreams;
Expecting life to be easy and therefore giving up when you meet a challenge;
Lacking the energy to keep smashing through obstacles;
Making the wrong decisions and piling up self-made obstacles in front of you;
Letting your fears or limiting beliefs or mental barriers determine your outcomes.
There are dozens of ways in which the challenges of life try to stop us living in excitement, freedom, abundance and joy. This book is all about showing you how and where to start.
How to:
Identify and develop your gifts and abilities;
Find and thrive in what you love doing;
Hold on to your calling;
Stay focused on achieving your dreams;
Ensure you never settle for second best;
Be proactive and take control of your life;
Preserve and nurture your most precious resource – time;
Plan and set goals and achieve your Perfect Lifestyle;
Meet and beat the challenges of life;
Find and grow the energy you need;
Make the right decisions to make your journey easier;
Eradicate fears, limiting beliefs and mental barriers that are holding you back.
There are no insurmountable obstacles to you achieving your dreams and your aspirations. There are hundreds of examples of people who had bigger challenges than you and I, but who achieved in wonderful ways and lived incredible lives.
Tip #1 Look Up
Take your eyes off the obstacles and instead look up and ahead. Visualize the Lifestyle of your dreams and get energy, enthusiasm and motivation from where you are heading, not from what is going on right now.
Tip #2 Bite Sized
There is an old Indian proverb: “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.”
Take each obstacle and deal with it in single bite-sized piece at a time. In time it is you who will prevail.
Tip #3 Look Back
Sometimes it is very beneficial to look back and see how far you have come. Celebrate where you are now compared to where you were five years ago. Look back at previous obstacles you have conquered. Remember your past victories and allow them to give you power to smash through the next obstacle.
Why Celebrities Listen to What I Say
I am just a regular guy. I am just like you except I decided to find out how to plan and achieve the dream - a great life and a wonderful Lifestyle. I talk to a lot of people about life and about Lifestyle.
The media ran a story on my Lifestyle in 2008 and the story was syndicated country-wide. I got totally overwhelmed by emails and phone calls and letters. I even had a celebrity fly out to spend an hour with me to find out how I achieved my Lifestyle. I guess I was sort of amazed how many people want exactly what I wanted:
More Time
More Money
More Fun
Less Work
More Freedom
More Abundance
More Joy
Zero Stress
Better Relationships
More Love
More Connection
More Intimacy
Less Uncertainty
More Passion
More Energy
More Creativity
There is nothing special about me. Everyone wants the same things I always wanted. But the difference is that I made a specific decision. I decided to plan out, set goals and achieve (within five years) the Lifestyle I had always wanted. And yes I achieved a wonderful Lifestyle, and I am grateful every day for the life I have now. But of course the Perfect Lifestyle is a journey and not a destination, and so I am continually learning and working to improve my life. Remember, if you are not growing, you are dying. This is a universal law.
You know it turns out that even celebrities want exactly the same thing. I talked to one of the most famous musicians in the world and they said the same thing. I have interviewed top international sports people and they have the same needs. I interviewed a bestselling author and you guessed it, the same needs.
Last year I spent 45 minutes one on one with a billionaire. At the start of our meeting I gave him a book. We got talking about books and I told him I read on average a book a week. He asked me how I could possibly have time to read a book a week. I turned to him and said “Sir, with the greatest respect how is it that you, in your position do not have the time to read a book a week?” He didn’t need more money but he definitely needed more time.
Every celebrity, every successful person, everyone at the top of their game needs the same things you and I need - balance, freedom, energy, the right psychology and an abundant life.
I have interviewed a number of celebrities and I have read the accounts of dozens more. I have incorporated their wisdom into my book.
More Money
Most people associate their time with their ability to make money i.e. “If I work harder I will make more”. We have to stop thinking like that and start to recognize that the best way to maximize making money but minimize time spent is to:
Plan everything out at the start.
Spend some time at the beginning.
Make money for a long period thereafter without putting in any (or very little) time.
Let’s take three simple examples:
1. You decide to buy a rental property. All of the hard work is done at the beginning. You spend some weeks finding the best property, you negotiate, you do the legal stuff, perhaps you do some renovations, find great tenants, draw up the contracts, and then the bulk of the work is done. You then collect the rent.
2. You decide to set up a website with great content for mountain bikers. You do the research on websites, you find great content, you pay someone to build the site for you, you find some advertisers or use Google Ads, and the hard work is done. You then collect the advertising revenue.
3. You act as a connector between two parties who have separate needs. For example you know a paint company that has a large list of old mail contacts they do nothing with. You also know a home insulation company that really wants to increase their marketing in the area. You negotiate separately with each party for the contact list to go to the insulation company. You sign a 20 year agreement that for every sale the insulation company makes, you receive 10% of the profit. The paint company receives 25%, and the installation company gets 65%. It might take you a couple of months to put the deal together but you have just secured a 20 year passive income stream.
Take a moment to stop and think about how you have been socialized to believe that your income is dependent on the time you expend. Then specifically reject that model and start brainstorming ways you can turn your passions into:
Making a Plan;
Doing some hard work at the beginning;
Setting up an income stream that requires little or no oversight.
More Time
Everything you own now will either be rust or dust or be owned by someone else in 100 years time.
Think about that! Therefore you don’t actually “own” anything; in effect you are leasing it. The one thing you do actually “own” is your time. Time is the most precious commodity you have. Unfortunately it is a diminishing resource so you must use it wisely.
How you spend your day is your business. But you don’t want to get to the end of your life and look back on thousands of wasted hours.
The worst ways you can waste time in your day:
Not planning it.
By letting other people waste your day.
By poor use of “Stress Relief” or “Leisure Time”.
Watching more than a couple of hours of TV a week.
Sleeping more than you need to.
Tip #1 Plan Every Day
Start every day with a blank piece of paper and write the day of the week at the top. First write every appointment you have for the day. Second write down what you plan to achieve for the day, in order of priority. This simple exercise will add a huge amount of time to your day.
Tip #2 Think Ahead
If you know you might have to wait for a bus or an appointment, take a good book with you. If you know you will have an hour in town between appointments make a list of the people you need to buy birthday or Christmas presents for.
Tip #3 Sunday Night
Just before you go to sleep on Sunday night, write out a brief Monday to Friday plan and list everything you hope to achieve for the week. Imagine yourself successfully achieving everything you have on your list. This has the effect of programming your mind to expect your goals to be achieved. Also, research shows that what you think about just before you go to sleep is reviewed and analyzed multiple times while you are asleep. You are likely to wake up with clarity and direction for your week, and possibly solutions to any challenges you have foreseen.
Passive Income
You could say the Holy Grail of maximizing the ratio of income earned to time expended is passive income. In its simplest form passive income is when money comes in regardless of whether you are asleep, on vacation, or in a coma. Its close cousin is semi-passive income which is when money comes in all on its own but you have to do a little bit of work now and then to keep it coming.
Some examples of purely passive income are:
Interest on bank deposits or similar;
Dividends on equities (stocks);
Royalties on published books or music or software;
Income from a website that automatically sells an electronic product or service.
Some examples of semi-passive income are:
Rent from property;
An investment in a business where you are a silent (not involved) partner;
Almost fully automated businesses, especially web based;
Connecting two parties with separate needs and taking an ongoing cut of the profits for a multi-year period.
Earnings from internet advertisements.
From a Lifestyle point of view, you should be aiming to derive as much passive and semi-passive income as possible, for the simple reason that it preserves your most valuable asset – your time.
Tip #1 Passive Passion
You already have areas of your life you are passionate about. These are interests where time seems to stand still while you are doing them. You can’t wait to find the time to do it. These interests are exactly what you should be thinking about turning into passive or semi-passive income streams.
Tip #2 Passive Investments
There will be times in your life where you have a chunk of cash that you can invest. Do not rush in to investing that money in something that will suck time out of your life. Some people in that situation decide to buy or start a part time business. Unless you are actually ready to give up a lot of your time you are better to find a passive investment. This is one that pays you money where you spend zero or very little time managing it.
Tip #3 Real Estate
One of the best semi-passive investments is real estate. If you have never looked into real estate as an investment, start reading and researching. Always look for a property that has these features:
In a city that is growing, and where employment is growing.
Produces a positive cashflow from day one.
Is attractive to tenants and is in a highly desirable area of town.
Will be easy to manage.
Will be easy to sell when you want to make a change.
Remember you do the vast bulk of the work before you buy. I recommend really understanding the market and location. I strongly suggest viewing 100 properties, putting offers in on three and buying one!
Goals
Every successful person, successful business and successful sports team sets goals. You cannot achieve your Perfect Lifestyle unless you set goals and put strategies in place to achieve those goals.
Each goal must have three attributes
It must be achievable.
It cannot be too easy to achieve.
It must be measurable.
The following statement for example is not a goal:
To earn a higher income.
Whereas the following statement is a goal:
To increase my income by 30% by the end of next year.
First, it is achievable, second it will require you to make some changes in order to achieve it and third, on 31 December next year you will know exactly whether you achieved your goal or not.
It is important to remember that dreams are not goals. Your dream might be to climb to the top of the seven highest mountains in the world. You can day-dream about it and talk about and read about it until you are too old to actually do it. But, if you make a goal that you are going to climb these peaks within three years, then suddenly you have to start planning and saving and preparing. If you put this goal on your wall, make it a priority, and tell your friends and family, you will achieve your goal.
There is a perfect time to set your goals – right now!
I suggest you stop reading, get a pen and complete the following.
Tip #1 Pick Three
Pick the three areas of your life where you need the most improvement. This is because it is those areas that are holding you back the most. Once you achieve your goals in those three areas you will literally feel like heavy weights have fallen off your shoulders and you will jump up and achieve in all of the other areas of your life.
Tip #2 Make a Commitment
Commit to yourself that you will definitely and absolutely achieve these goals. There are only three of them, and achieving them will massively change your life for good. Set your mind, be clear and decisive.
Tip #3 Accountability
Email THREE people you love and respect and set out your three goals and the “achieve by” date. Tell these people that you will achieve those goals, and you are happy to be accountable to them. Once you are committed and accountable, nothing can stop you!
Stop reading and do it RIGHT NOW! This could literally change your life in ten minutes.
Gifts and Abilities
In life you have two or three things you are really good at. I am going to refer to these as your gifts and abilities.
It is possible, perhaps even probable that you have not completely discovered or developed these gifts and abilities. In my life for example I find myself slowly gravitating towards what I am best at. Some people know very early in life what their real gifts are but for many of us it takes time.
Remember when you were in school? Your favorite subject was always the one you were best at. It came naturally and it always felt good to succeed easily. You looked forward to that class and you were happy whilst doing it. I expect you could quickly pick from this list the subjects you most enjoyed:
English
Mathematics
Science
Geography
History
Art
Sport
Music
Of course these are just school subjects, and this list represents only a tiny fraction of the potential interests and possibilities in life.
However, the principle is the same. You are best at the activities you enjoy. Doing them brings more feelings of achievement, happiness and excitement.
This is one of the best ways to find your true gifts and abilities.
Tip #1 Gravitate
Continually gravitate towards the things that interest and excite you. If you are dissatisfied with your life or your career it is because you have fallen into or accepted a way of life or a job that is not aligned to your gifts and abilities. If that is you, make a change NOW. If you don’t, you will sit in your rocking chair at 85, looking back in regret. You can only find true happiness and an abundant life when you are in the place that is aligned to your gifts and abilities.
Tip #2 Meditate
The word meditation simply means “continued or extended thought; reflection; contemplation”. Set aside half an hour and quietly focus and think about what you would really love to do with your time and with your life. What do you daydream about? Write down what would truly bring you the most joy and satisfaction. Those things will be close to or will actually be your gifts or abilities.
Tip #3 Investigate
Take this exercise a step further by buying a book or two on finding your true gift. Attend a seminar that will help you to find your true calling. Complete psychological profiles on the Internet that show you what your strengths and weaknesses are. Ask people who you respect, They may have seen a gift which you are yet to discover.
Peers and Peer Groups
You are the average of the five people you spend most of your time with.
It is absolutely essential to surround yourself with people who have the highest possible levels of integrity, energy, excellence, ability, joy, Godliness and so on. Look around! Who do you spend most of your time with? Workmates, friends, clients? Honestly evaluate whether your peers are taking you up, taking you down or keeping you where you are. If they are not taking you to higher levels, you must make a change.
Always surround yourself with positive people who are going places and living their dreams. Seriously consider taking a job that pays less but allows you to get close to people you really admire. Join a group that is full of the kinds of people who will challenge you to live life to the full. Find a mentor who has achieved what you want to achieve.
Life is too short to allow your peers to hold you back.
And remember, you are someone else’s peer too. Make sure you are encouraging and challenging those around you to higher and greater achievements.
Tip #1 Identify One or Two Key Areas
You do not want to reinvent your whole peer group in one attempt. Pick one or two of the key areas in which you need to learn and grow and be challenged. If you have one area of your life you are completely passionate about but you have no mentor or peer, choose that area. For example, you might want to be a great guitar player, or an excellent runner.
Tip #2 Identify Three or Four People
Find three or four people in that area who you can learn from and get inspiration from.
Tip #3 Model Them
Find out as much as you can about those people. Google them, visit them if you know them, find out what other people have said about them. See if there are articles or documentaries on them. Read books they have written. Attend their seminars.
Finding Your Soul Mate
Finding the right person to share your life with is probably the most important decision you will ever make.
Here are the key factors in giving yourself the best chance of finding and staying with a Soul Mate and life partner:
1. Understand Yourself
You cannot hope to find the right person if you don’t know who you are and where you are heading. Invest time in finding out what really makes you excited and holds your attention. Work out what you believe and why. Until you get to that point, don’t dream of making a life-long commitment to someone else!
2. Understand Your Partner
It is so easy in the beginning to see all the similarities you share. Someone likes you and you like them. Their voice sounds like beautiful music and their smile lights up the room. You daydream about them all day long and you start writing poetry! But STOP! That isn’t enough to base a lifetime commitment on. You need to really and truly get to know and understand that person. Anyone can pretend to be anything they want to be for a few months and both parties are always on their best behavior for the first few months.
3. Influences
Everyone is the average of the five people they spend the most time with. Who are their closest friends? Who are their role-models? Who are their heroes or heroines? That is what they are really like and what they are gravitating towards.
If you have not already found your soul mate here are some powerful practical tips to enable you to find the right person:
Tip #1 Write a List of Wants
Get a new exercise book and write down all of the wants and must-haves of the person you are looking for. Be as specific as possible. Give as much detail as possible. Imagine your perfect match and write down everything about them.
Tip #2 Write a list of Must Nots
Then write a list of all of the things your soul mate must not be. All of the habits, attributes, and attitudes you don’t want them to have. Once again give details and be specific. If you can’t stand people who answer their mobile phone during dinner, write it down!
Tip #3 Most Important
Once you have completed points one and two, in a separate part of the exercise book write down a detailed answer to the following question:
What do I have to do and be in order to attract that person into my life?
Let’s be honest for a minute. If you have just described a near perfect human being with a sparkling personality and every wonderful gift, are they going to be interested in you? If you settle for mediocrity, don’t care much about your appearance, have a host of bad habits are you going to attract your dream soul mate?
The most important part of this exercise is to ensure you are worthy of the soul mate of your dreams. If you are not there yet, it is time for you to go to work on “YOU”.
Understanding Real Assets
I was trained as a Chartered Accountant (CPA) and I still hold that qualification. I also have a first class honors degree in Accountancy. So you could say I was well qualified to give advice on accounting.
However, what you are taught in:
School accounting classes;
Small business classes;
University accounting classes;
On the job accounting and book keeping;
is almost exactly the opposite of what you and I need to know about our own personal finances.
For you and I accounting for our own personal finances is simple:
A real asset is anything that:
Puts money into your bank account; or
Increases in value; or
Is cash; or
A cash equivalent.
A liability is anything that takes money out of your bank account.
Sounds simple doesn’t it? So you shouldn’t be surprised when I tell you:
Your car is a liability.
Your home is a liability.
Your boat is a liability.
Your holiday house is a liability.
Your TV is a liability.
Your pool is a liability.
Your mobile phone is a liability.
Your pet is a liability.
Your household furniture and furnishings are a liability.
Your hobbies are a liability.
Your vacations are a liability.
All of these cost you money. They all take money out of your bank account. Even if some of them don’t do it every week (e.g. your furniture), they all need to be replaced, so over time they cost you money.
It is vitally important we realize these are real liabilities that are causing huge amounts of money to disappear from our lives. You might rightly argue that some of these are necessary for living and I agree with you. But almost everyone in the industrialized world falls into the trap of buying bigger and more expensive than they need. And then of course acquiring all of the other paraphernalia we don’t actually need. You only get to spend money once!
Tip #1 Your Assets
Write out on a piece of paper or a spreadsheet all of the Real Assets you own. You might be surprised to realize you have none or very few. But that is a great realization and a good place to start.
Tip #2 Your Liabilities
Calculate how much your Real Liabilities are costing you every week, every month, every year. You are likely to be shocked how much money is pouring out of your bank account to pay for all of your liabilities.
Tip #3 Make a Change
Make a radical change now so that you store up wealth for your future. Change your expenditure from funding liabilities to buying real assets that will continue to gain in value over the years. This change could literally lift your level of future wealth by hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Want More Money? Cut Your Expenses!
It is a simple financial principle that to have more money you can do one of two things:
Increase your income; or
Reduce your expenses.
Usually in business and your personal life the easiest is to reduce your expenses.
If you want to have more money for investing, or reducing debt, or giving away, you must look at your monthly spending and see what expenses you can cut out. If you haven’t done this for a long time a good rule of thumb is a 20% reduction in expenses.
Tip #1 Installment (Hire Purchase) Purchases
Do not incur any new installment purchases. These have high interest rates, usually a set up fee, and encourage you to spend beyond your means. If you cannot afford it, you cannot buy it – simple.
Tip #2 Mortgage Interest Rates
Do some research on your mortgage interest rate. Many people simply get a mortgage and then forget about it. Are you able to refinance at a lower rate? Do you have the option to take a lower fixed rate? Could you change banks to get a lower rate?
Tip #3 Credit Cards
Pay off any credit cards immediately. The interest rates on these are far higher than either your home loan rate or on a personal loan from your bank. You are better off taking a new loan from your bank at a much lower rate and paying credit card debt off immediately. Of course you then have to be disciplined not to ever spend more than you have, so that you can pay your credit card bill in full every month. If this is likely to be a problem, request that your credit card provider reduce your limit. Or simply cut up your credit cards.
Continual Self Improvement
Continual self improvement is what life is all about. If you are not growing, you are dying. This is a universal principle that applies to every living organism. It is the reason many driven successful people still feel dissatisfied. You cannot stop and bask in your past achievements, you always have to grow.
We have never “made it” or achieved all of our goals. We must always strive to be better human beings – achieving more at a higher level, and contributing more to make the world a better place. One of the best ways to continually improve yourself is to surround yourself with people who have already achieved what you want to achieve. Of course you can’t always have direct access to these people, but you can usually access their story, their books, and often their course material.
Tip #1 Role Models
Find seminars and CDs by successful people in areas you are passionate about. You will never regret the time you spend on them. You will generally find you become more focussed and more enthusiastic about the things you are aiming for.
Tip #2 Read Hugely and Wisely
Read as much as you can. Read positive uplifting biographies, autobiographies and self help books. Reading these kinds of books gives you motivation and enthusiasm for your project or ideas.
Tip #3 Eliminate the Negative
Think about the areas of your life that bring you down or are a negative influence. What do you allow into your life that takes energy and enthusiasm away from you? Pick the three worst culprits and remove them from your life.
Internet 101 - For Income, Influence and Impact
Although the Internet has been with us for a number of years, most people do not utilize anywhere near the available opportunities on the Internet to help create the Perfect Lifestyle.
I have been earning my living in, on and around the Internet since 1999. I have spent thousands of hours and tens of thousands of dollars on programs, books, advertising, websites, tools, and applications.
I have written a practical step-by-step book:
Internet 101 - For Income, Influence, and Impact.
In the book I have distilled the knowledge and experience I have gained, specifically in relation to earning money on the Internet. I wish I had a book like this when I was starting out.
You can purchase the book for just $4.97 here:
Social Media - For Income, Influence and Impact
I used to just use the Social Media sites for social reasons. That is before I found out just how powerful these sites are for gaining influence and increasing your profile, and reaching tens of thousands and in some cases millions of people.
For example, here are the profiles I set up specifically for my book “Creating the Perfect Lifestyle”:
www.Facebook.com/LifestyleBook
www.Twitter.com/Lifestyle_Book
www.linkedin.com/in/lifestylebook
www.Digg.com/users/LifestyleBook
Please connect with me at one or all of these pages!
I have an embarrassing example that shows just how powerful Social Media can be:
In late 2009 I set up a Facebook Fan Page for one of my clients who trades currencies and commodities for a living. I did it quickly in about ten minutes. Then I completely (I mean totally) forgot about it. In March 2010 my client got an email from Facebook to say that the page had 915 Fans! 915! Neither he nor I had not once gone to that page since I set it up. He hadn’t asked anyone to be a fan. He hadn’t told any of his Facebook friends about it. He hadn’t made a post on the site – nothing. Yet my client can now connect to 915 people on Facebook who are very interested in what he is doing, in fact so interested they became a fan of the page. Imagine if my client had advertised it or even put content on it once a week!
I have written a practical step-by-step book:
Social Media - For Income, Influence, and Impact.
The book includes what I have learned in the hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars I have spent researching, buying products and courses, reading books and using Social Media for business and professional purposes.
You can purchase the book for just $4.97 here:
Here is an example of interactive Social Media in action:
Tell Your Followers About this book.
Click below to Re-tweet via Twitter:
Click below to “Like” this on Facebook:
(NB You will need to click on the “Like” button at the top of the page.)
Disconnect Your TV
One of the biggest time-wasters and therefore one of the biggest reasons why people don’t spend time on setting goals and achieving them is television.
Ask yourself these questions:
How many hours a week do I spend just channel-flicking?
How many hours of TV advertising do I see in a week (around 15 minutes per hour)?
How many times do I go to bed later than I would like to because I kept watching TV?
How many TV programs do I watch just because they happen to be on, not because I planned to watch them?
In all the TV I watched last week, how did it meet any of my Lifestyle goals?
TV used to be cutting-edge technology, but that was 20 years ago. It is now an inefficient way to get entertainment and news.
Let’s take news for example. I used to feel that I needed to watch the TV news most days. But let’s look at it. You watch an hour of news, which is 15 minutes of advertisements and realistically you are only interested in maybe one third of the news items. The rest you just have to sit through. What you have to sit through is often so distressing and depressing (generally crime and violence and death) that you often feel violated or depressed yourself. It is far more efficient to read selected news items on the Internet or in a newspaper. Don’t just take my word for it, try it for a week. Force yourself to watch no news on TV for a week – you won’t miss it!
Tip #1 TV News
Never watch TV news again. You just saved yourself around 365 hours a year. By the way that is more than 15 full days.
Tip #2 Budget
We are happy to budget our money, but our time is far more valuable than our money. Budget the time you will allow yourself every week for watching TV. Do not exceed your budget.
Tip #3 Disconnect Your TV
Completely disconnect your TV and ensure that you cannot re-connect it. Let say you watch and average of 20 hours of TV a week (according to AC Neilson the average American watches 28 hours a week). You just earned yourself 1,040 extra hours a year. That is 43 full days a year. How good could you become at something important to you if you spent 43 full days a year at it? Think about applying yourself as a:
Writer, Musician, Sportsperson, Actor, Craftsperson, Painter…
If you live until you are 85 and you watch 20 hours of TV a week, do you know how long you have spent watching TV? Over ten full years!
You Only Have One Chance to be You
Isn’t it amazing that with six billion people on the planet, no-one has the same fingerprints as you. No-one has the same brain-print either. You also have a completely unique character. I have a strong personal belief that God has given every person on earth a unique portion of His character. This means there is something in God’s grand design that only you can complete the way it was supposed to be. My theory makes sense if you believe we are all created in God’s image.
Regardless of your personal theology it is certain there is only one unique “YOU” in the world. By definition this means you can make the world a little brighter, a little more joyful and a little more like heaven on earth, in a way that no-one else on earth can!
Therefore you must be true to your inner core. You must live the real essence of who you are. You cannot and must not conform to the patterns and norms of the society you were socialized into, if they conflict with or constrain the real you.
We all know too many people who conform to what their parents want, or what their peers suggest or what society considers normal. But as we all know, the great strides in human achievement whether in art, science, architecture, technology or exploration, all required breaking out of the normal ways of behaving.
Tip #1 Write it Down
Write down the ways in which you have allowed your upbringing, your socialization or your peers to cause you to stop living the real you. Make a decision today to reject any path other than the one you know in your heart is right for you.
Tip #2 Pick One
Pick the one main area of your life where you have not been true to yourself. This might be something you have done, for example taken a job that is not you. Or it could be something you have not done, for example not following a direction you knew you should. Once you have identified the one main area, make a step towards change in that area today.
Tip #3 Caution!
Just because you are successful does not mean you are living the real you and doing what you were specifically designed for. Success is not necessarily a good indicator that you are living to your potential. Let’s say your specific design or calling is to organize food and shelter for the poor and needy in developing countries. You have the perseverance, tenacity, and organizational ability to do the job you were called to. But instead you shut out your call and settle for a job in a Western country where you can fully utilize all of those skills and you are well paid for them. You might be tremendously successful and rise to the top in your field. But you will be dissatisfied because you are not living your true calling, you are not being the true you.
Live to Serve
Learning to serve others is difficult for most of us, perhaps especially men. We are often taught to be independent, to go out and get what we want for ourselves.
But serving others seems to be a law of nature that confers huge benefits on the person doing the serving!
Consider our modern free enterprise system. The individuals and companies that serve the most people with goods and services which have the best mix of affordability, quality and delivery are the most successful. You can apply this principle to any free-enterprise organization on earth.
What do these successful companies have in common?
Amazon
Google
Fed Ex
Apple
Wal Mart
They are among the best at providing affordability and quality and delivering it to their customers.
Why is it that nurses and fire-fighters are the most respected occupations? Because they serve others.
It is so easy to get caught up in our busy and sometimes selfish bubble and we forget to serve others. Paradoxically this is actually much less likely to get us where we really want to be i.e. in balance, in peace, and experiencing joy and fulfilment.
There are studied and verified benefits of volunteering. The US government organization Americorps found that volunteers live longer, have lower rates of depression and lower incidence of heart disease.
Research also shows that young people who are volunteers are more likely to go on to have higher paying and higher status jobs.
Tip #1 Go With Your Strengths
I volunteer with three organizations for many hours a week, but I volunteer in my areas of strength. For example, I don’t volunteer to do flower arrangements. I’d be terrible. Besides it is more fun to volunteer to do things you are good at.
Tip #2 Start Small
Don’t wade in and volunteer 25 hours a week with an organization you know nothing about. Start with an organization you already know and start with a few hours a month.
Tip #3 Include Your Employer
Most employers are enthusiastic about employees who volunteer. They know there are benefits for everyone concerned. It is also good publicity for the employer. Most employers will allow staff to volunteer a few hours a month during work hours. Just ask!
Act The Future You
This is a very simple but very powerful tool to help you get where you want to go. Simply start acting now the way you will act when you get there.
Decide who and what you want to be in five years and start modeling the behavior of people in that position now. Dress that way, talk that way, think that way, act that way – right now. Read the same books, attend the same conferences, join the same online forums etc.
This will have three powerful impacts:
First, your personal psychology will start to become what you want to become. Your mind will build the required bridges and links, and you will start noticing relevant situations and important facts that will build upon each other and lead you closer to your destination.
Second, the law of attraction will start to manifest itself by bringing the right people and information and opportunities to you.
Third, people will start noticing that you have the attitude and characteristics of the person you plan to be. This will make them treat you like the person you want to be, which will in turn build upon itself as a virtuous circle.
Tip #1 Your Appearance
While there are many behaviors you can model, one of the most powerful is your appearance. After all you immediately create a first impression with your appearance. In fact you make an impression on yourself with your appearance. Whenever you look in the mirror you see you. Make sure it is the future you that you are looking at. Your haircut, your clothing, your shoes, your personal grooming, your watch, your shoes – all have a huge impact.
Tip #2 Start Modeling
Make a list of the characteristics of the Future You. Start modeling as many of these characteristics as you can.
Tip #3 Start Reading
Order a book today written by someone you want to model your future achievements on. Make notes on the steps they took and the decisions they made.
Overcoming Fear
Everyone has aspirations and dreams they want to achieve but many people don’t follow through because of fear. There are three main fears that stop people from achieving the Lifestyles they want:
1. Fear of Rejection
Take the classic example of the guy who meets a beautiful girl. He really wants to ask her out but the fear of rejection is too strong and he misses out. Another example is writers who write stories or books but they never submit them for publication for fear of rejection.
2. Fear of Failure
Some people have such a fear of failure they won’t even start something or initiate a venture in case it fails. There are thousands of people with fantastic ideas for starting a business, but who never take the first step because of the fear of failure. Similarly, there are thousands of people who know they need a radical Lifestyle change but they fear the change will lead to failure.
3. Fear of the Unknown
There are numerous people who are working in jobs or careers they don’t like but they won’t make a change because of a fear of the unknown.
In order to create your Perfect Lifestyle you need to overcome these types of fears. Here is how you overcome your fears and make your world the way you want it:
Tip #1 Consequences
Concentrate on what your life will be like if you don’t change, and emphasise how bad it will be! For example: “If I don’t change I will be stuck in this dead end job until they make me redundant and then I’ll be unemployable and I’ll be broke and I’ll also die lonely because I haven’t got the guts to date the person I like!”
The more you focus on the negatives of not changing, the more you will be motivated to change. One of the tools I use is I imagine myself as an 85 year old sitting in a rocking chair looking back over my life. What do I want to be looking back on?
Tip #2 Identify Areas for Change
Specifically identify areas of your life you are not happy with and need change. Write them down.
Tip #3 Be Decisive
Don’t prolong the pain! Make a decision right now i.e. today! Planning your next five years starts right now. Write that resignation letter now, phone the person you want to date right now! Whatever it is, start the process now. If you are still having trouble making a decision go back to Tip #1 and tell yourself over and over how much worse your life is going to be if you stay in your rut.
Live Stress Free
Until the middle of the 20th century the concept of stress was solely the realm of physical stress e.g. stress on a piece of steel, stress on a concrete foundation etc. Now of course we have a publishing empire devoted to human psychological stress, and it is now a job-related sickness and even a medical condition.
But if you boil down all of the research and the plethora of books, stress is essentially:
Doing something you don’t like, under pressure.
Think about it:
Sitting in a traffic jam when you are hot and bothered and in a hurry.
Working on a boring report for your boss until 3am.
Trying to find a way to get the 22 items on your “must do” list done by 5pm.
Interpersonal conflicts with close family and friends.
Of course not everything you do in a day is unpleasant. But stress is often caused by trying to fit into our day all of the activities we are really excited about, on top of those activities we have to do but are not excited about. This causes the pressure that leads to stress.
It is critical to remember it is not the volume of work that causes stress. If you are involved all day in an activity you love and are passionate about; even when you have to concentrate for hours, even if you do a 20 hour day, even if there are deadlines to meet, if you really love it you don’t get stressed. Instead you get energized. Energy comes from inside and you are likely to go into a peak state, not the opposite.
Tip #1 One Good Thing
There is only one really good thing about stress. It is a warning sign. In fact often it is the sign you need to change what you are doing or how you are doing it. Whenever you experience stress search for the root cause. Remove that rather than trying to put an elastoplast over the symptoms.
Tip #2 Pre-Plan Your Day
If you invest just a few minutes the night before or first thing in the morning planning your day and writing down what you really need to achieve, you can drastically reduce your levels of stress.
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