What to Think About If You Want to Succeed
By Michael Masterson
If you want to be truly successful, you can't spread your energy and intelligence too thin. You must devote your time and attention to a limited number of things. You must strive -- as best you can -- to live in the real world. Studies show that happy people live in the here and now. They pay attention to the people around them rather than the people they read about or see on television. They deal with problems that confront them directly rather than those that exist -- if they exist at all -- somewhere else. Successful people, as we've seen from countless examples, achieve the things they achieve by solving specific real problems and creating real products. When challenged by something highly unlikely or far in the future, they tend to reply, "Why don't we handle that if and when it happens?" Take a survey of your thinking. How much of it is devoted to events and situations (1) of which you have no personal knowledge or (2) over which you have no control? Compare that to the time you spend solving real problems and dealing with real people. Make sure the balance is heavily on the side of reality. -----------------------------------------------------Highly Recommended ----------------------------------------------------- Why Julie Gladly Left Her Six-Figure Job With the help of Brian Edmondson, real estate expert Julie Broad quit her job and started an online business. "As a result of Brian's guidance, I earned $500 my first month, $2,000 my second month, and $5,000 my third month," says Julie. "I'm confident I will earn $10,000 or more every month from now on." Now, Brian will walk YOU though every aspect of getting an Internet business up and running.
"My interest is in the future because I am going to spend the rest of my life there." Charles Kettering Throughout most of history, people have been accustomed to gradual progress. Sometimes change was faster, and sometimes it was slower. But it always seemed to move in a straight line. This made the future fairly predictable.
Today, however, the rate of change is not only faster than ever, it is spasmodic. It is taking place in a variety of areas and affecting us in unexpected ways. Changes in information processing are happening separately from changes in medicine, changes in transportation, changes in education, changes in politics, and changes in global competition. Changes in family relationships are happening separately from the rise and fall of new industries. If anything, the rate of this desultory change is increasing. As a result, most of us are already suffering from what sociologist Alvin Toffler called "Future Shock."
You can't do much about what's happening. But you can -- and should -- think seriously about what all this change means in terms of your financial security. To position yourself for an uncertain future, you must do something to ensure that you'll be able to keep earning money... no matter what. One of the greatest mistakes you can make -- the one with the worst long-term consequences -- is to think only about the present and give very little thought to your ability to make a good living in the years ahead.
In our grandfathers' time, most people stayed with the same company for their entire working lives. For our parents, it was common to change jobs three or four times.
Today, a person entering the workforce can expect to have five careers between the ages of 21 and 65, and 14 full-time jobs lasting two years or more. According to Fortune magazine, 40 percent of American employees in the 21st century will be "contingency" workers. This means that they will never work permanently for any company. They will continue to move from job to job, earning less money than full-time employees and accruing few, if any, benefits.
Imagine what your job will look like five years from now. Since knowledge in your field is probably doubling every five years, 20 percent of what you know is becoming outdated each year. In five years, you will be doing a completely different job requiring completely different skills. Ask yourself, "Which of my skills are becoming dated? What am I doing today that is different than what I was doing one year ago and two years ago? What am I likely to be doing five years from now? What knowledge will I need, and how will I acquire it?" In other words, what is your plan for your financial future? It costs a company approximately double your salary to employ you -- in terms of their investment in space, benefits, and other resources. And of course, they have to make a profit on top of that. Therefore, what you contribute to your company's bottom line must be considerably greater than the amount you are receiving... or you will find yourself unemployed. The market pays excellent rewards only for excellent performance. It pays average rewards for average performance, and it pays below average rewards for below average performance. To earn more, you must learn more. Not only that, what you already know -- your accumulated knowledge and experience -- is becoming obsolete bit by bit, day by day. As I said, knowledge in your field is probably doubling every five years. That means your knowledge must double every five years just for you to stay even.
The solution is continuous self-development. You must continually add to your knowledge and to your ability to apply that knowledge. Those are your most valuable assets... And only by building on those assets do you keep them from deteriorating. As Pat Riley wrote in his book The Winner Within, "If you are not committed to getting better at what you are doing, you are bound to get worse."
By engaging in continuous self-improvement, you put yourself behind the wheel of your own life. By dedicating yourself to learning more, you are automatically preparing yourself to earn more. You position yourself for tomorrow by developing the knowledge and skills you need to be a valuable and productive part of the economy, no matter which direction it goes in. [Ed. Note: We are now surrounded by more wealth than at any time in our history. The real question is: How do YOU get in on this abundance? Brian Tracy's The 21 Absolutely Unbreakable Laws of Money can show you! Become a money magnet and immediately increase your income. Get the wealth-building secrets you need to make your financial future an outstanding one. Get your copy today.] -----------------------------------------------------Highly Recommended ----------------------------------------------------- No MBA (or Even College Degree) Required - If you've never owned or managed a business, don't worry. It doesn't matter. We have a "playbook" that you can follow, step by step, to create your own Internet-based business. Plus, we have figured out a way for you to earn while you learn.
Time Almost Ran Out for This Watch Company By Andrew Gordon
Senior Investment Director, Investor's Daily Edge
Once upon a time, watches were made only by skilled craftsmen in technologically advanced countries, such as the U.S., Germany, and Switzerland. And they lasted forever. Then Asia began making watches. They were less accurate and less durable, but had more features (because it was so cheap to include them). And they came in all sizes and shapes. Almost overnight, companies that made moderately priced to expensive watches lost huge market share. Some didn't survive. Good ol' Timex almost washed out. But Timex managed to get through the 1970s and 80s, and came back strongly. It now manufactures watches in the Far East in addition to Switzerland, and makes brands (Guess, Nautica, Ecko, Opex, and Versace) in a wide range of prices. We'll be keeping an eye on companies like Timex -- the survivors. I expect some of the very best of them will be making it into our Sound Profits portfolios, debuting in December. -----------------------------------------------------Highly Recommended -----------------------------------------------------
The Closest You'll Get to Effortless Weight Loss Suppose you could drop all of your unwanted fat --10, 20, even 30 or more pounds --without going to the gym or forcing yourself to live on rice cakes and tofu burgers? A new clinical study published in the medical journal Lipids in Health and Disease says it's now possible. The participants in this study lost an average of 28 pounds and six inches off their bellies. And they didn't change their diet or exercise habits one bit. What they tested just may be the most successful weight-loss compound ever! Click here to find out how you can join the "newly slim and trim" crowd...
Body language experts say you can get a good idea of what a person thinks of you by the way he positions his heart and feet when he is with you. Someone who likes you will tend to position his heart (his chest) toward your chest. As for the feet, where they point indicates where the person connected to them wants to be. If they are pointed in your direction, you are commanding considerable attention. If they are pointed out the door -- well, you get the picture. And if the body is pointed toward you but the feet are pointed away, that indicates (not surprisingly) mixed feelings.
Latest News -
Do you set New Year's resolutions? Lots of people don't believe in them. But we do. We set yearly goals. And we don't forget about them, the way most people do. We have a system that ensures our success. Bob Cox, an expert in goal setting, has combined the best of Michael Masterson's techniques with those he developed when coaching top executives and business owners, including four billionaires. We're launching the 2010 edition of his Total Success Achievement program in a few short weeks. Keep an eye on your inbox...
"Increasingly ignorant." Thanks to Don Hauptman for his article on bloopers in the Nov. 13 issue. It made me smile. It also made me think of another type of blooper. It seems that people are becoming increasingly ignorant of the correct usage of apostrophes. Just two examples that I've seen on signs posted in my city: - From an ad for a bridge climb: "Kid's driving you crazy?" (Which kid, in particular, might that be?)
- From an ad for real estate: "Wan't street frontage?" (What could "wan't" possibly be short for?)
Ian Wiley Brisbane, Australia -----------------------------------------------------Highly Recommended ----------------------------------------------------- Body Language Is One Thing - But what do you say to command attention? How do you behave to take control of any situation? Michael Masterson knows. And he tells you in his book, Power and Persuasion.
Today's Words That Work: Desultory Desultory (DES-ul-taw-ree) -- from the Latin for "to leap" -- means lacking in consistency, regularity, or logical connection. Example (as used by Brian Tracy today): "If anything, the rate of this desultory change is increasing. As a result, most of us are already suffering from what sociologist Alvin Toffler called 'Future Shock.'"
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