It has been awhile since I updated this blog. I also have not been reading voraciously as before. I have been busy at work that when I have the free time, all I wanna do is chill out :) But I have not abandoned books altogether. I'm currently following A New Earth discussion on Oprah.com.
I have not read the book. I can't bring myself to buy another book until I have finished reading all my unread books. I probably have about 10 unread books, either bought or borrowed. Sigh!
This first such discussion online is really cool. You can watch the web cast anytime, download the video or the transcript to watch or read at your own time. I'm at Chapter 2 now. I probably learn more this way than reading the book on my own. It is about finding peace within ourselves by being present, truly experiencing nature (which include ourselves: when we breathe, wash hands, etc.) and immersing ourselves in its vibration... in its power, and breaking free from our ego of associating self to forms/things. Quite an interesting idea. So have a look at it yourself here.
My notes from Chapter 1:
There's a mixed review on the book. My take is to use whatever is useful to us and we'll forget what's not useful in no time at all. So why bother picking up on every detail of what the author wrote. Sometimes people do need to slow down and experience the stillness of the moment before joining the rat race again. So whenever you need that moment of stillness, practice the simple techniques to bring yourself to experience the present moment.
I have been involved with knowledge management technology that draws its underlying concept on mind map for many years. However, only recently I got interested with mind mapping the original way after attending a training. I'm good at writing notes... or so I thought. They are full with sentences and lists. Even after trying mind map, sometimes I tend to put a phrase on my mind map branches. It took a lot of practice to change that habit. I still have to tell myself to use keywords only. Below is my summary of Chapter 10: The Guiding Principles from The Mind Map® Book and Division Four: Synthesis of the same book using mind map.
Chapter 10: The Guiding Principles from The Mind Map® Book
Division Four: Synthesis from The Mind Map® Book
I find mind mapping to be therapeutic. It focuses the mind especially if I want a beautiful mind map, and I do love drawing. It makes revision easy. I have read many books in the past but I can't remember most of the contents. I'm going to go through my old books and start mind mapping :) I can't vouch for its effectiveness during examination though because I mind map for personal revision purpose and not to study for exams.
Most people spend the majority of their time doing work and work-related activities, and yet, not many enjoyed that part of their life. Some endured their working days by focusing on the upcoming weekend and public holidays. I have the opportunity to conduct a series of training to 120 staff recently. 85% said they wanted to retire as early as they can because it is so stressful at work. Wow!!! Everytime each one of them said 'retire', I was astounded to know how so many people can live through their life like that. And they're not even looking for another job!
As for me, I do enjoy my work but I love weekend and public holidays too :)
This book tells a story of Mary Jane, a widowed working mother of two who was sent to manage a department described as "toxic energy dump" by all the other departments in the organization. She was asked to turn the department around without much support from the top management. While walking during one of her lunch time to clear her mind, she stopped at a fish market. The lively fish market attracted the attention of so many people. With the help of a helpful fishmonger who gave four easy but valuable lessons, she roped in all her staff to change the place where they spent most of their life to a much better place.
The lessons are:
If the fish market can do it, why can't your organization? There are no "How To" section in the book but Mary Jane's way of getting everyone in the department to buy the idea of change (won't work without this!) and contribute to the change is imitable. Why not? Everyone is involved and have a finger in the pie.
Here's a video of the real Seattle's Pike Place Market where the author draws his inspiration for the book.
Here are 3 powerful questions you can ask yourself in anything that you want to accomplish in life.
1. Why must I become a [...] 2. How do I become a [...] 3. What if I am a [...]
For example, why must I become a good salesperson? or a good staff? or a successful entrepreneur? How do I become a good salesperson? or a good staff? or a successful entrepreneur? What if I am a good salesperson? or a good staff? or a successful entrepreneur? The questions must be asked and answered in the exact order.
If you already know why you are going to become or do something, you will find the 'how' to do it. And the last question should be answered by describing what you'll be experiencing when you have achieved what you want, using all your senses. For example, if you want to be rich, you will see your big bungalow with nice gardens, the cascading mini waterfall looks inviting and energizing... as you enter through the main door, the smell of aromatherapy and relaxing ambiance soothes away your tiredness and stress of the day. You get the idea I hope :) This last question strengthens your resolve to carry out your action plan to achieve your goals.
Why We Want You to be Rich: Two Men - One Message, written by two powerful men in their own right, talked about Question 1. The most powerful question without which, you will not have to answer Question 2 and 3. So why SHOULD you become rich? You probably know the answer already but to hear them from 'somebody' would probably give a better impact on you.
The big idea of the book is about the shrinking middle class and the rich gets richer while the poor gets poorer. Financial education is the key to overcome this problem. Some points about why you SHOULD become rich are worth mentioning because they are relevant everywhere:-
* Baby boomers without money - can you survive with just EPF after retirement? Some thought they can retire rich and spend $5,000 per month when they don't have even have $100,000 in their account yet. at $5,000 per month, they'll only be wealthy for 20 months and that is less than 2 years.
* Entitlement mentality - the notion that government should subsidy this and that; some youth has this idea that parents or older siblings should give them car and money and they don't have to work; it's everywhere.
* Higher oil prices - it is not going to come down and a lot of industries and livelihood will be affected.
Some lessons I want to remember below.
* Three kinds of investors 1. People who do not invest at all 2. People who invest not to lose 3. People who invest to win
90/10 rule of money: 10 percent of players win 90 percent of the money.
* Choose your battlefield. Which quadrant you want to be in. Recall Kiyosaki's Cashflow Quadrant :- Employee, Self-employed / Small business owner / Specialist, Big Business Owner, Investor.
* FOCUS = Follow One Course Until Successful
* 2 things you invest in:- 1. Passive Investor: invests no time, invests no money - no financial education 2. Active investor: invests time, invests money - lots of financial education
* Rich is measured in money; wealth is measured in time. For example, you are rich if you have $1 million in your account but if you spent $100,000 per month, your wealth is only for 10 months.
* THOUGHTS -----> ACTIONs -----> RESULTS
* Powerful Environments 1. Is your home and family life an environment that develops your financial genius? 2. Is your workplace an environment that encourages the development of your financial genius? 3. Do you have any idea where your genius might be? 4. Are you working with people who want you to develop your genius? If you found your environment, would you be willing to work hard to develop your genius?
I'm quite disappointed Trump's part of the book is more like an addition or commentary to whatever Kiyosaki had written instead of two equal part. However, the book did have some useful lessons to those who wants to be rich, even to those who just wants to improve their financial situation. It can motivate you and put you back on track of achieving your monetary goals. The book can also become like a revision to those who have bought Kiyosaki's previous books. Of course you can just re-read his previous books and become equally motivated but I'm not going to recommend whether you should or shouldn't buy. 5 people can read the same book and have 5 different opinions.
The video of the two men talking about the reason they wrote a book together.
I have read this book aeons ago. Recently I stumbled upon the summary I created immediately after reading the book. I remembered when I was reading it, the feeling was like reading a bedtime story but with many powerful lessons in it. I got so excited to create a summary so I can share it with as many people as I can... to those who have read the book and also those who have not... you might want to read more of it after going through my summary.
There are many individuals who felt like the moment they join an organization, that's where they will retire. I feel lucky I never have such notion. I'll be loyal to an organization as long as there's opportunity to learn and grow. If there's none worth staying for, I owe it to myself to find one that satisfies my learning desire and move on. I can also create my own organization but not so soon :)
Of course the cheese meant in the book might refer to a different position or different department instead of a different organization. It depends on how you want to interpret it and what's best for you.
There is an updated version of this book available in bookstores everywhere but I bought the earlier version for a real bargain :)
The book laid down 34 themes of strengths (read the summary of the themes here).
To discover your strengths, you can take the online test at Clifton StrengthsFinder but you need a code which you can get from purchasing any books from Gallups publication to register before you can proceed. You can take the test only once. I wish I had been more focused when I did it. I was watching TV and did not turn off the timer function at the site, some questions were automatically skipped if I did not answer within 20 seconds and I can't go back to change the answer even after I noticed I accidentally tick the wrong box.
My strengths are Learner, Deliberative, Individualization, Input and Adaptability. I thought I have a different set of strengths. Could my lack of focus which resulted in a few unanswered and wrongly ticked answers produce these result? I can never know without taking the test again. However, I thought I should use the strengths I have or said to have to its optimum level. With this blog, I'm using my Learner and Input strengths by documenting reviews, summaries, lessons learnt and anything that I've read and learnt :)
, written by two powerful men in their own right, talked about Question 1. The most powerful question without which, you will not have to answer Question 2 and 3. So why SHOULD you become rich? You probably know the answer already but to hear them from 'somebody' would probably give a better impact on you.
