Thoughts & Opinions

Apologies for the long absence! I was reading Eckhart Tolle’s “The Power of Now”. It is not an easy book to get through, especially if you want to understand and digest it. I am now in the midst of writing its summary. Not an easy task!

I am currently reading two books (Think and Grow Rich & Imagine) - switching from either of them to the other from time to time. It is interesting to do that because they actually complement each other. Both talk about the mind, but about completely different things. These two books complement all the other books I have read about psychology and memories too!

Think and Grow Rich talks about harnessing the power of the mind to get rich, while Imagine talks about creativity (did you know that there are two forms of creativity, and that both are needed?).

It is a very exciting time for me, so much learning and growing. I hope that I will be able to share all that I have learnt with all of you dear readers :) 

Choose - whether to let fear hold you back or push you forward.

Know - you already have what it takes to succeed. You just need to find it within you.

Believe - whatever happens, it is for the best. Your experiences have made you who you are today. 

How did this ever turn into a 9-part blog post *goggle-eyed*

After Part 2, there were only supposed to be five posts talking about each of the five lubricants essential for success. If you do the maths, it ends at Part 7. I guess there is just too much for me to share.

Humility - we can never know everything. Hence, we should always keep an open mind. The best in the world leverage on other people’s knowledge, time and money.

However, no need to worry about forgetting humility. When we are arrogant, failure steps in to remind us to be humble. Failure is what you make of it, whether you choose to learn from it or stay defeated. Every failure carries with it the seed of an equivalent benefit. There are no limitations to mental capacity except those we set up in our minds. Isn’t that great? It means we can grow endlessly!

Success is not something physical, it is a state of mind. Geniuses are born, yes, of hardship, deprivation and trial. Failure releases the mind for a new start. Shortcuts to success? There is only one - be humble, learn from others and constantly work on yourself. And most importantly, don’t forget to have fun on the journey of learning  =D

Creativity - the creation of something new.

It requires imagination, which can be split into two categories - creative imagination and synthetic imagination. Creative imagination is the creation of something completely new and unseen before in this world e.g. the phonograph. Synthetic imagination is combining ideas into new arrangements, such as cars, mobile phones.

Unless you are an inventor, you might be thinking - so how can creativity help me? My answer? Everything. From meeting new people, to getting things done in a more efficient way and even to making & saving money. Life definitely is much more fun and interesting when you’re creative!

So how does one be creative? It doesn’t happen overnight, unfortunately. It takes a lot of work - asking questions, learning to conquer one’s fears, being/forcing yourself to be curious and various forms of self-expression such as speaking, writing, singing. Examine other people’s works, draw inspirations not just from your own field but other fields as well - if you are into writing, look at songs and paintings, amongst others.

Then there is harnessing the power of the subconscious mind too. As the various pieces of research referred to by Richard Wiseman in his book 59 Seconds, the subconscious is much more creative, but it is often drowned out by our conscious mind. In order to overcome that, we have to distract our conscious mind by doing other things such as puzzles, before coming back to the problem.

There are many, many ways to be creative and huge benefits in thinking out of the box. Have fun learning and exploring!

Lubricant No. 4, as mentioned in Part 2, is actually a combination of two interrelated items - unique selling points and creativity. I could go on forever about creativity, so let’s explore that in another post instead, haha.

Unique selling points
Simply put, it is a summary (short!!) of what you do and how you do it better than/different from the rest. I prefer to put it in a different way - how may you best serve* your customers?

For me, the way I would like to be served the best is through most value for money. As for customers, this is where you define your target market. What sort of customers are you looking for? People looking for a bargain? Someone who wants a pleasant and hassle-free experience, who does not mind paying extra for that? Understand your customers needs and wants.

It would be best if it has an emotional hook - e.g. Mastercard “There are some things money can’t buy. For everything else, there’s MasterCard”. This is the ONE ad that sticks in my head today even after more than ten years, not Coke or anything else. That is how powerful an emotional hook can be.

In a personal development context - where do you want to go, and what is the best way to achieve it? How can you stay motivated? *tongue-in-cheek: how can you sell your future to the present you?*

*For best practice re service, I highly recommend Ron Kaufman! He also has lots of very good articles and a FREE newsletter you can find here. I read them regularly. They are informative and provide excellent value =)

For more on USPs,  you can have a look here, here, here and here.

A group of like-minded/supportive people

While it is true that what we focus on expands and that we can create our own world, our environment affects us as well. It’s a two-way relationship. One of the best ways to have a supportive environment is to have a Mastermind group. This concept was brought up by Napoleon Hill, who was in turn inspired by Andrew Carnegie.

Napoleon Hill describes a Mastermind group as “an alliance of two or more minds, working together in the spirit of perfect harmony, for the attainment of a definite purpose”. A Mastermind group can be a group of people who get together and talk about their challenges, be it business or personal. Alternatively, you can focus on a topic and discuss it as well e.g. on investments.

There are three main factors that keep a Mastermind group going:
Leadership, 
Agenda; and 
Showing up.

The leader is the one who makes sure everyone turns up and stick to the agenda. It would be good for the leadership role to be passed on every few months, so that everyone gets a feel of responsibility.

Agenda - well, this one speaks for itself. Without a common purpose, the group will quickly fall apart. Group members should motivate each other from time to time and keep the energy in the group high!

Showing up - need I say more? Perhaps start with physical meetings, then move on to Skype and then eventually online forums or Facebook groups. It depends on each individual group.

As for me, I also have a group on Whatsapp, who message each other positive messages almost on a daily basis. It sounds corny, but the energy boost and positivity that we get from reading those messages are fantastic. Best of all, it’s free! Would you rather be rich, happy, and corny or poor, sad and ‘cool’?