Learning Stuff About ‘Wealth & Success’ Category


Outliers, The Story of Success -Stuff I learnt

I recently read the book Outliers, The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell. This is the same author who wrote The Tipping Point. I thoroughly enjoyed reading Outliers. There are a number of intriguing points made. This will probably be a series of posts where I will try to relay some of what I learnt from reading this book.

The point of the book seems to be that success is not just dependent on our own efforts. There are factors beyond our control that significantly affects whether we are successful. The idea that if one just works hard, applies oneself, one will eventually be successful is shown to be flawed. Gladwell shows that details like which month you were born in, your birth year, your ethnicity and other factors beyond our own doing, can make a decidedly difference to how well we do in life.

The month you were born can make a difference when it comes to activities that have a static cut off date, and which require one to be of a certain age by the cut off. For example, some sporting activities might require one to be a certain age by January 1, to qualify for a particular playing level or class in the sport. Let us say the particular age to be by the first of January is 6 years. Someone born in December might just make the age of qualification, while another born in January of the same year as the former, would not only qualify but would probably have an advantage over the one born in December, in that he would be almost a year older. This may mean he is more physically mature which can give an advantage in some sports. The implication is that those born toward the start of the year will have an advantage over the others in being successful in the particular sport.

In the example above, What happens then is that this initial advantage leads to greater advantages as the years go by. This will happen in certain sports because of how the progression happens. A child who starts out with the advantage of
being older and more mature is likely to do better, and therefore placed in the better team, which usually has the better coach(es). As the child gets to the next class level in the sport, he will now be in a better position to be selected for the best team than the other children who happened to be born months after him. So again, he gets the better coach(es) which widens the skill gap between him and the others who did not make the ‘A’ team. So although as one gets older, the difference in maturity between one born in the start of the year and one born towards the end, will become less significant, the better coaching due to the initial advantage would have led to a widening skill gap as the years go by. Gladwell used Hockey to illustrate this point. He shows tables of statistics which do tend to support this analysis. The best players tend to be born between January and March.

In the next entry to this series, I will highlight another factor outside our control that plays a part in whether we will be successful.

Laws of Lifetime Growth -Always Make Your Learning Greater Than Your Experience

This is Sullivan’s law #2. This essentially means learning from experiences. It is possible to have many experiences yet learn very little. If we do not consciously think about what worked and what didn’t in the given situation or event, then we run a very big risk of losing out on the great opportunity for growth, and of course quite likely repeating the same mistakes multiple times.

Sometimes we have experiences that are embarrassing, or leave us with a very bad taste. You know those experiences where you would rather forget they happened, and wish everyone else would too. But while they might be painful in a certain kind of way to even think about, it is far more profitable to constructively analyse the particular experience, and extract lessons that can help you avoid making the same mistake, and/or effect a more satisfying outcome when

similar situations arise. When you consider what worked, you can build on that to improve your effectiveness. And when you consider what did not work, you can avoid repeating that.

I recently gave a presentation where for the most part I thought I did okay. But when it was over, I realised I forgot to mention a few important things I had in my notes. I also realised that I did not end in the way that I really wanted to. When I think about these mistakes, it is somewhat painful, and I wonder if my ineffective ending was very noticeable. But if I were to simply just try to blot it out of my mind, I would be missing out on an opportunity to be more effective. When I think about why I made these mistakes, I can try to put measures in place next time to help prevent them from recurring. When I focus on the parts that were particularly well received, I can consider what it was about them that made them so effective, and try to repeat this, and even do it better the next time, which will produce greater success in the future. And that reminds us of law #1, Always make your future bigger than your past.

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Laws of Lifetime Growth -Always make your future bigger than your past

A few years ago I bought and read the book, The Laws of Lifetime Growth, by Dan Sullivan. As the title would suggest, it is about personal growth.  The book advocates 10 laws. In this brief post, which will the first of a series, I will highlight the first one.

Always Make Your Future Bigger Than Your Past

This essentially means that we need to make some improvement in something that is currently true. While we are alive and conscious, we have the choice of growing. It only requires improvement of some kind in what exists now. This could be learning something new, teaching something, contributing to the success of another, exercising more patience etc.

A good question to ask yourself is: “What needs to be done over the space of a year, for me to be content with the progress made over that time”?

When you answer that question, you can start setting some goals that will ensure you achieve contentment with your progress over the next year. Moreover, if you seek to make your future bigger than your past, then these goals will further your personal growth and enrich your life, leading to true wealth.

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The Richest Man in Babylon

I recently read the book The Richest Man in Babylon. I had seen it around and heard of it before, but just never bothered to make an effort to acquire it. Oh how I wish I had read it years ago!

The little book is truly a very inspiring piece of work. It is essentially a compilation of stories, which are all somewhat related, set in the ancient city of Babylon, that all contain lessons of the principles that are foundational to wealth building. In each story, a character who has managed to acquire vast amounts of wealth is found in a position to impart these principles to the common man who would love to have the secrets to riches.

Here are some of the principles taught in the book. I post these not for the sake of trying to make reading the book redundant, as what I place here is no substitute for the book. But this is to help reinforce in my mind these important points while imparting some of the lessons to you.

Probably the most fundamental point stressed throughout the book, is to set aside at least one tenth of your income just for savings. This should not be touched for living expenses or luxury spending. Rather, this should be saved and eventually used to make investments. We must find a way to live only on 90% of our income. The 10% allocated for savings must not be compromised.

As stated above, the savings you accumulate should eventually be used to make investments. But be very cautious with the money and where it is being placed. Seek advice from those who have the specialised knowledge to guide you in your decisions. I could have saved a lot of money had I followed this.

While we’re on the path to achieving wealth it makes sense to hone our skills which we use to attain an income. Becoming better generally means more opportunity to increase our income, which would accelerate our progress, as we would be able to save more and therefore invest more.

We should be willing to work hard and do a good job. Again this will open up opportunities, as we become respected. It also contributes to our personal growth, making us better people, which will serve to empower us on the path to true wealth.

Do not procrastinate in doing what is good for you. Sometimes we get the chance to make very good investments, but because we delay in making a decision, the opportunity passes us by. Be cautious, yet be bold!

Finally (for now), debt must be seen as an enemy to be conquered. It must not rule us. So avoid debt, and when in it, taken firm measures to get out of it.

What I summed up above, is not the totality of lessons and principles taught in the book. But they are key to building lasting wealth.

Multiple Income Streams

If you have read the article, So You Want to be a Millionaire? you would have seen how becoming a millionaire can be achieved in relatively simple fashion. The drawback is that it could take 20 to 30 years. In this article, we want to start focusing on reducing this timeframe. Read the rest of Multiple Income Streams »

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Give Back To The Community

Give back to the community

Now that your mind is set on the millionaire path and you have a plan in place, allocate some portion of your funds for a charitable cause. Demonstrate confidence in your fortune to come Read the rest of Give Back To The Community »

Eliminate Credit Card And Other Bad Debt

Eliminate Bad Debts

There are some debts that are terrible, and some that actually result in profit. Read the rest of Eliminate Credit Card And Other Bad Debt »

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Buy A Home?

Buy a Home?

The heading is phrased as a question rather than an advice statement, because there is a debate about whether this is really a good idea. It is pretty much agreed that owning a home is a good thing, but the question is, at what point is it best to do this Read the rest of Buy A Home? »

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Build A Reserve Fund

Build a reserve

Now that you are saving, you need to have some targets. Maybe you want to buy a car, and/or a house. You need to plan for these things. How much do you want to pay upfront, and how much are you willing to borrow? Read the rest of Build A Reserve Fund »

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Automate The Millionaire Plan

Automate

One of the regular problems with a good plan, is getting it implemented. It is good to put away a portion of your income to a retirement fund. It is good to save. But human nature being as it is, causes the plan to abort, if not before it even gets started, then probably in the very early stages. Most people just don’t have the discipline required to carry out something positive on a regular basis, for extended periods.

The good news is Read the rest of Automate The Millionaire Plan »

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Pay Yourself First!

If you’ve read any of Robert Kiyosaki’s books, or other books on acquiring wealth, you’ve probably heard this phrase before. There’s one guy, who when first encountered it, used to wonder how practical this was. That’s because he did not understand the meaning. He would reason that if he paid himself first, then tried to take care of the bills, then there might not be enough. Or, he would have to pay himself only what he knows he would have remaining after all expenses got taken care of, and in which case, it wouldn’t matter whether he paid himself, or the bills first. Read the rest of Pay Yourself First! »

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Save And Become A Millionaire

Save

That sounds simple, and probably too simplistic for some. But do not overlook it! Consider how much saving $100 a month will impact your monetary value in 20 to 30 years time. Read the rest of Save And Become A Millionaire »

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So You Want To Be A Millionaire? – Introduction

For many people, the idea of becoming a millionaire, triggers thoughts of all sorts of get rich quick schemes and scams, or maybe winning the lottery.

Naturally, one would rather be rich sooner than later. But how would you feel if you spent your time pursuing these quick fixes, only to reach retirement age with little or nothing to show for it? Read the rest of So You Want To Be A Millionaire? – Introduction »

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What Is True Wealth?

The term wealth indicates great value. But how should this be measured? Is financial worth the only measure? Is it even the most important? To answer these questions, let us consider the following cases. Read the rest of What Is True Wealth? »

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