As I have stated in my year 2010 posting that I have a personal reading goal of at least 15 books per year, this year is quite similar as I have managed to read more than the amount that I have set. However, I did not read very intensively in year 2011 compared to year 2010 as I have set priorities in other areas like taking up real estate courses and creating my new housing in Singapore site.

Personally, I start to love the library and the books as they provide a lot of useful information for me to enjoy. Recently, I watched a youtube video by Darren Hardy which my colleagues shared with me that made me ponder about how to make use of the knowledge that I have gained from the books I have read. I think I might have to start learning about taking notes like a student and implement the useful information that I have found in the books into my personal life.

Anyway, the following is the list of books that I have read in the year 2011:

As you can see, I have started picking up a lot on real estate books and a few books on selling. Personally, I feel that things are getting more interesting as I am planning to venture full-time into real estate in a few months time. There are a lot of people that I met tell me to stay put at my job as the economy is getting worst but I really see it as a challenge for myself to learn more through it. I know those people who gave their advice to stay put is fearful about the upcoming financial crisis and hope that I can bear through it without any problems but I feel that in life, we must always challenge ourselves in order to excel and achieve what we want. I do have a belief that we should never give in so easily to life challenges or you will not have really live a meaningful life. I do hope more people can support my point of view and wish me all the best along my journey to success.

Have you ever been inspired by someone or someone’s product? Personally, I have been inspired by Steve Jobs’s famous quotes,  speeches and even his apple products that he had introduced when he was still around. This post is a tribute towards the recent death of Steve Jobs (February 24, 1955 – October 5, 2011). Thanks Steve for travelling the extra mile to make a difference in people lives by creating great product and saying inspirational words for anyone who is on the journey to success.

The following is the list of Steve Jobs famous quotes that have inspired me and I hope you will be inspired by them too:

1. ”You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.”

2. “To turn really interesting ideas and fledgling technologies into a company that can continue to innovate for years, it requires a lot of disciplines.”

3. “I want to put a ding in the universe.”

4. ”Do you want to spend the rest of your life selling sugared water or do you want a chance to change the world?”

5. “People think focus means saying yes to the thing you’ve got to focus on. But that’s not what it means at all. It means saying no to the hundred other good ideas that there are. You have to pick carefully.”

6. “Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.”

7. ‎”Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t matter to me … Going to bed at night saying we’ve done something wonderful … that’s what matters to me.”

8. ”Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.”

9. “Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren’t used to an environment where excellence is expected.”

10. “I’m the only person I know that’s lost a quarter of a billion dollars in one year…. It’s very character-building.”

11. “If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on.”

12. “When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: “If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you’ll most certainly be right.” It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?” And whenever the answer has been “No” for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.”

13. “We don’t get a chance to do that many things, and every one should be really excellent. Because this is our life. Life is brief, and then you die, you know? And we’ve all chosen to do this with our lives. So it better be damn good. It better be worth it.”

14. “Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose.”

15. “No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention in Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.”

16. Stay hungry… stay foolish.”

17. ”You can’t just ask customers what they want and then try to give that to them. By the time you get it built, they’ll want something new.”

18. ”That’s been one of my mantras – focus and simplicity. Simple can be harder than complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it’s worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains.”

19. ”I’m convinced that about half of what separates the successful entrepreneurs from the non-successful ones is pure perseverance.”

Do give a comment if you really do appreciate what Steve Jobs had done for you or have changed your mindset of the world. Cheers

Recently, I have found this video on youtube that I feel that I should share it with anyone who is reading my blog. Personally, I learn quite a lot through Jim Rohn’s audio books and videos and I feel that we should really learn from him about the lessons of life.

Words from the video:

There are a half dozen things…
…that make 80% of the difference

The difference between triumphant success or bitter failure…

…lies in the degree of our commitment

..to seek out, study, and apply those half-dozen things.

Learn to be happy.

Happiness is activity with purpose

It’s love in practice

It’s both a grasp of the obvious and the mysterious.

Discipline yourself

Discipline is the most critical ingredient for success.

It’s the master key that unlocks the door to wealth and happiness…

…the glue that binds inspiration to achievement…

…the bridge between thought and accomplishment.

We must all suffer from one of two pains:
the pain of discipline
or the pain of regret

The difference is discipline weighs ounces
while regret weighs tons

Embrace change.
Unless you change how you are, you’ll always have what you’ve got.
You can change all things for the better
when you change yourself for the better.

You cannot change your destination overnight,
but you can change your direction.

Live well.

Don’t just learn how to earn.
Learn how to live.
The good life is not an amount.
It’s an attitude,
an act,
an idea,
a discovery.

Remember always…
Life is worthwhile
if you TRY.
Try to make progress.
Try your best.

Life is worthwhile
if you GIVE.
Giving starts the receiving process.

Life is worthwhile if you PLAN.
Design your own life
or someone else will.
Let others lead small lives,
but not YOU.
Let others argue over small things,
but not YOU.
Let others cry over small hurts,
but not YOU.
Let others leave their futures
in other peoples’ hands.
but not YOU.

Year 2010 is a great year for me as I started the habit of reading more massively after watching Jim Rohn’s seminar as he asked a question in his seminar about if you are going to change your life, how many books have you read in the past 90 days. This question has pushed me to start thinking about my future and the lifestyle I want to achieve. If I really want to see the change in my life, I really have to expose myself to a greater and broader mindset thinking and the place to go is to read those books that people had wrote about the things I want to achieve in life. We all have to start seeing through the author’s viewpoint about the world and exposed ourselves to their ideas in order to really open our eyes to a bigger picture. Year 2010 is the start of year that I started reading books massively and if I will to compare the books I have read in year 2010 with other previous years, I can say that I have read a lot as usually I don’t read so many books in a year. Anyway, one of my goals in year 2010 is to read at least 15 books but I have exceed that goal without even adding the amount of audio books I listen to and the ebooks that I have read.

Here’s the list of books I have read in the year of 2010

I do not know whether I will read more books or not this year 2011 as I am into listening to podcast recently but I will still continue to read along the way. I will update when I learn something great on my journey to success and share it with all my readers but I can say year 2011 seems to be getting more interesting for me. Let’s see how it goes and when the time is right I will update on my blog too. Hope you have a great year too this year.

Affiloblueprint Members Meetup at Singapore Merlion
(Clayton Terao is beside me on my left)

Do you know that Clayton Terao is in Singapore? You may be wondering who Clayton Terao is and whether is he a superstar that you may not have heard of. Haha. Hope I have caught your attention so far towards reading this post as I am going to reveal to you the answer of who this secret person is.

Clayton Terao is the owner of this blog called JourneyOfMyOwn.com and you can actually find out more about Clayton Terao at his site. Clayton is not a superstar or a celebrity that you have seen on TV (maybe someday he will if he wants to..) but someone who has inspired me and became a friend of mine from Seattle. It is my first time experience to meet up a friend from another country in Singapore and it is a very amazing experience because I have been reading his blog for close to a year and I had started what he has doing in March 2010.

Clayton has been traveling around in South-East Asia for the past 2 months using the money he has made online after implementing the course called Affiloblueprint. He was previously unemployed due to his high qualification but he did not give up and made a difference by living a travel lifestyle through the income he had made online. Personally, I have learned a lot through his blog and I can say that when he mentioned that he will be coming to Singapore, I was pretty excited like going to meet my idol as he has achieved what I want to achieve so far. Anyway, after meeting up with him, I realized that he was just like me “Another person from Planet Earth” which means that what he has achieved so far, I can do it too. This has struck me hard as what he had done for his internet marketing effort are all his hard work and persistence that really pays off itself. After meeting up with Clayton, I am inspired that I can do it too and he is a really fun and interesting guy to meet up with.

Anyway, for those who are reading this may be wondering why do I made my title of the post to be “Clayton Terao Is In Singapore”. Firstly, it is to catch attention and next is to give Search Engine Optimization (SEO) a try to see whether few days down the road whether this keyword “Clayton Terao” will appear on first page of Google or not. haha. You will never know as maybe one day this name will be a hot keyword where people will key in Google to look for when the word of mouth spreads when clayton become a super affiliate like the uncle who caught a lot of prawns (our joke at Singapore Prawn Fishing area).

Our Prawn Fishing Session

Do check out on the course that Clayton has been implementing if you want to live the internet lifestyle of travelling around the world just like him. Anyway, be prepared to work hard to make it happen.

Cheers
Javier

P.S. Clayton, if you are reading this, thanks for the inspiration and the sharing you have with us.

I do not know whether you have seems this inspiring commencement speech by Steve Jobs before on youtube but I feel this is actually an inspiring words of wisdom by him. If you do not know who is Steve Jobs, make sure you go google it and find out how great this guy is.

Cheers
Javier

Image courtesy of gingerpig2000

Do you have tasks on hand that you are reluctant to do or it took a lot of your time before it is completed? Recently, I have been listening to an audio book called The Power of Less by Leo Babauta which teaches how to use the method of focusing on one goal to be more effective in achieving our goals.

One of the techniques called breaking down your task into simplest form which I have tried personally is quite useful for me. I have been trying to complete a task that I have been dragging for quite some time to finish in order to achieve my 1 year goal of creating a 4 figure online monthly income this year. Sometimes, although you know the importance of the tasks, you will still feel intimidated or relunctant to complete the tasks due to a cut in motivation when the task process takes a long time and lots of things to do in order to complete. However, after listening to the audio book, I have realized the real problem is the motivation and momentum of completing the task in order to achieve the goal. What is suggested by the author of The Power of Less is to try to figure out what is needed in order for us to achieve our goal or complete our task by listing them down one by one. After that, we have to start choosing the simplest thing on the list to do to get ourselves more motivated to do more as we have the tendency to continue our task once we start to build the momentum from the first step we took.

I have realized personally that once we start something small, we start to slowly build a habit once we consistently repeat the process. From my personal experience, few months ago, I have started the habit of buying fruits from my workplace to eat during lunch time and slowly I start to bring my own fruits to work which then formed my habit of eating fruits during my lunch time hours. Personally, I feel that this method of starting small and consistent do help me to build a healthy diet and I can feel my body is in a better condition compared to a few years ago.

I do recommend you to check out The Power of Less by Leo Babauta if you want to build a good habit to avoid procrastination. Personally, I think I have to spend some time replanning my whole mastermind of health habits, exercise schedule and wealth creation to see how I can relate and implement the steps provided in the program of The Power of Less to cut down on the clutter and use the power of focus to achieve my goals and dreams.

Cheers
Javier

Recently, I have managed to find Tony Robbins Biography through a blog post on another blogger’s blog called From Bottom Up and it leads me to find the video of Tony Robbins Biography on youtube. Therefore, I decided to share this great mentor in life, Tony Robbins Biography with you on this blog post.

Hope you have learned something great from Tony Robbins through this video sharing that I found on youtube.

Cheers
Javier

Recently, I went to catch this movie called “Invictus” after seeing Tony Robbins’s tweets on twitter recommending it to his followers. This invictus movie is really inspiring and there is a lot of great stuff to be learnt about our beliefs and thinking. If you have not watched it yet, I do recommend you go check it out as it will inspire you to do great things too.

Invictus Synopsis

The film tells the inspiring true story of how Nelson Mandela joined forces with the captain of South Africa’s rugby team to help unite their country. Newly elected President Mandela knows his nation remains racially and economically divided in the wake of apartheid. Believing he can bring his people together through the universal language of sport, Mandela rallies South Africa’s rugby team as they make their historic run to the 1995 Rugby World Cup Championship match.

Before I end this post, I will like to share with you the Invictus Poem that is talked about in the Invictus movie.

Invictus poem written by William Ernest Henley

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll.
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

Cheers

Javier

Image courtesy of AndrewFreeman

Are you a book lover? All of us should know that reading books is one of the sources where we can grab a lot of knowledge. However, research have shown that most people tend to read lesser books after they have completed their school. If you are one of those people listed in the research and you are searching your journey to success too, make sure that you start your reading habits again. Previously, I have shared a few videos by Jim Rohn and through his seminar, he had shared with us that in order to strive our success, we must constantly plant the seeds by reading books and learn to apply them into our life. Do you know that while Tony Robbins was 19 years old, he had already read more than 1000 over books and his reading habits of a huge amount of books every month was stunning. While attending his seminar, I was quite curious about how did he manage to achieve that amount of books in a short period of time and become who he was today. After observing some successful people and through reading books, I realized that those people who achieved success in their lives are all having a common factor.

Do you know that we can actually grab a lot of knowledge through reading books but in the process of grabbing more knowledge, we will need to spend time learning the material shared in the books. Based on each individual reading speed, some people can achieve reading more books within a month while some can only read 1.  Through one of the books on speed reading by Tony Buzan, I have learnt that speed reading can be trained and the reason why most people tend to lose focus while reading is because they tend to read back the words they read before.

The normal reading speed of most people is 400 plus per minute and currently I still lie within the normal reading speed range as previously before reading Tony Buzan’s speed reading book, my reading speed was worst than normal reading speed. However, after realizing the importance of speed reading, I start to practise the techniques shown in the book and I tend to read books faster than before. Most people will think that reading faster will cause them to be unable to grab the concept of the book and they tend to read slowly in order to understand the book that they are reading. However, after reading the speed reading book by Tony Buzan, I found out that they had actually conducted a research in that speed reading field and the research showed that reading fast actually do not prevent people from grabbing the main concept of the book that he or she is reading. Research had also shown that all presidents in United States have to go through a speed reading course before getting into the president position. The reason why speed reading is so important is because there are so many things that a president need to know and understand so they have to read fast and act so that things can move fast.

I will stop here and let you think through whether it is important to read fast or not. However, before you conclude with an answer, make sure you have researched more about the topic of speed reading. Currently,I’m still searching for a speed reading software that can help to improve my reading speed to a next level and if you do have any great recommendation, please put a comment and let me know about it. For the time being, I will stick with the method taught by Tony Buzan and increase my word per minute reading speed one step at a time.

Cheers

Javier