PART II
Chapter 6
The secret recipe for:
A. Working smart
B. Thinking smart
C. Investing smart
This chapter is a blueprint of the rich and how they act. When it comes to the subject of riches, a lot of issues arise. Some people believe that millionaires are mostly shifty men and made their wealth from the “dark ways”. Well, everyone is entitled to his or her own opinion. How many times have you heard people saying that there’s never enough money for everybody to get rich or that wealth is filthy, or that rich people are criminals and that you have to work hard to make your money? Many people say the rich get richer and the poor get poorer - money is harder to find than stones. As a matter of fact, my dad used to put it to me as a question like this “Do you think money is like stones?”
Before I would go to school, I would show my dad my school bills and the amount of pocket money I would need for the semester a day before my departure. I thought there was always money available for me. Instead of my dad showing me how to make money, he would say: “Money is not stones? I’m not the national bank”. But he did pay my bills.
Do you want to be rich? If your answer is NO, then this book is not for you, especially this part of it. Getting rich is not bad either– it is not sinful unless you resort to other means– which goes against the societal or moral values, for example, if you’re getting rich and hurts others, and you are aware of that.
South African statesman Nelson Mandela was right when he said “If you are poor, you are not likely to livelong” Do you agree? Give it a second thought. The poor always die prematurely, due to the fact that they can’t afford medication to treat their ailments. Money could even save you your life in certain cases. I am not an advocate of money for its own sake but I want you to know that it is important for you and your family. Are you still in doubt? If you are ever broke, just see how many people will call or visit you. Of course money is not everything but it is dear and is important where it is needed.
Let’s take a look at this poem about money.
“Money is power: so said one.
Money is a cushion: so said another
Money is the root of evil: so said still another
Money means freedom: so runs an old saying.
And money is all of these- and more.
Money pays for whatever you– want,
If you have the money.
Money buys food, clothes, houses, land,
Guns, jewels, men, women,
Time to be lazy and listen to music.
Money buys everything except
Love, personality, freedom,
Immortality, silence, peace” – Carl Sandburg
Yes the holy books say that money is the root of evil. It doesn’t mean you should not get rich. It is how you use how you get rich and how you use the money that matters. Even for the scriptures to be printed, money is required– the printers need to feed their kids too. So get rich and use the money for a good cause– it may even be something that will change the world, and make peoples’ lives far better. The only thing you can for the poor is not to be poor yourself. You can’t change lives if you are in the same boat as they are. Unless you take a different approach to life, things will always be as they used to be.
Whatever your opinion, these are the facts. Love it or hate it - at the end of the day you will need money to live. There is no formula for making wealth– there never has been. If you have been looking for a secret formula for creating wealth, let me tell you that there isn’t one and there will never be one. It doesn’t exist and there is often no guarantee whatsoever for success. Stuart Wilde puts it this way: “The key to success is to raise your own energy; when you do, people will naturally be attracted to you. And when they show up, bill’ em!”.
The most successful people you see today are never experts at the beginning - they take the challenge to be experts in their field and this ends up attracting large audiences to them. How do you feel when someone uses a job title on you that know you don’t deserve to be called at that time? Just accept it as it comes and then it becomes a reality. Jump into the river and then learn how to swim.
A renowned American educator Marva Collins has this to say, "Success doesn't come to you; you go to it". What makes people certain people highly successful and others not so?
Well, studies have shown that all millionaires across the globe have some common habits that make them successful! This is very important! Keep in mind that no one is born with a thousand dollar bill sticking to her or his forehead nor, neatly wrapped in his or her hand. Millionaires are made not born. Of course you will say people born to rich families are obvious millionaires. That’s not always the case. There are a great number of people who became millionaires that came from poor families grew up in very difficult circumstances but made it anyway. So you can do it too.
Rich people have cultivated the following traits, rather painstakingly. If you want to join the club, then develop these traits too and you will be one of them soon enough!
A. Working smart
I’m not pretending to having been born a millionaire but I have had the privilege of growing up around a few of them. I’m on the right path, however– because I know it! Let’s have a look at their daily routines, so that we can apply these principles and see if we can’t get the same result. Hopefully we can apply them to our own affairs in our lives and get closer to adding more zeros to our income let’s try to reach six figures and more.
Take a few minutes to think about your daily routine. It determines your future. Habits are very important. Permanently exercise, read new things daily, and research and plan daily. Be kind to others daily. Smile at someone daily. Hope daily.
Researchers believe that it takes 10,000 hours to master any complex skill. Are your hours spent really the measuring rod of your progress? To be a millionaire you don’t have to be workaholic rather you have to be fast and smart in your dealings. To accelerate your working smart one of the key elements is that you should like what you are doing. If you like don’t like what you are doing, adding an additional 10 hours to a 24 hour day won’t change anything. Working smart is not about how long a task takes, nor is it about how hard you work. It is also not about where you work. The key factor here is how well you work, how you work. This takes us to what we do in our daily routine.
Personal daily time-nology
What do you consider as the most valuable assets in our lives? Is it your car? Or your newly bought flat or the amount sitting in your bank account? What could that be? It is your time– because you can’t get it back. You may be poor NOW, but can turn all that around, simply by adjusting the way you use your daily time. Let’s take a look at how we use our daily time on average.
Hours for sleep each night: 8 out of 24 =16 Hours for breakfast: 1 out of 16=15
Hours spent at work: 8– out of 15 =7 Hours to work and back home: 2– out of 7=5
Hours for dinner: 1– out of 5 =4
Hours spent with family: 1– out of 4=3 Now add up the totals: 3 surplus hours
Whether you will be a successful business owner or not depends on what you do with your daily 24 hours – that’s 1400 minutes and 86400 seconds available to you free of charge. Every hour, minute or second has monetary value and each minute or second you waste each day puts you further away from the prize– which is lost forever because we waste our time.
What kind of people do you meet? How much time do you allot for every meeting? What do you gain from each meeting? Do you waste time meeting time wasters? If you spend 15 to 30 minutes on the phone with people listening to them complain about their problems, what do you earn from that? They will feel good that you are a caring listener and were able to share some of the problems by just listening to them, that’s true. But this comes at the expense of your precious time. You get nothing from that except being a good sympathizer and a good listener.
I am not saying you should not listen to people’s problems but what I am saying is that you should make all your time count. When it is time for business, it should be business as such. At least 80% to 90% of your time should be monetised.
As you can see from the above we both have on average 3 unused hours to play with, per day. While some people work day and night to be successful, others spend virtually a quarter of that time and achieve better results. What is the secret? Why are some people working smarter than other people? Why are some people succeeding in their endeavors while others are not? This takes us further to the secrets of how millionaires use their daily time.
1. Get up before everyone else
“Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise". Benjamin Franklin.
Hell has to break loose for some people to get up early while others are still snoring. Many great things happen while others are yet sleeping. Most millionaires are up at four or five working away while everyone else is still on bed. Most Rich people don’t sleep 8 hours a day, never mind get twelve hours of continuous sleep. They sleep less then you think they do. Let me refresh your mind a bit. Do you remember that 1995 romantic comedy film, ‘You Were Sleeping?’
“..Peter once asked me when I fell in love with Jack. And I told him’, "It was while you were sleeping.”
Most great athletes, will testify that the secret to their success is cultivating the habit of getting up while their competitor is yet sleeping. The world’s greatest boxer Muhammad Ali would prefer to jog while it was still dark before starting his daily training. The former US presidents George HW Bush and George W Bush were noted for getting up at 4.a.m.to go running, and then getting to their office by 6 a.m. and staying up until 2 a.m. Former US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice woke up every day at 4:30 a.m. in order to get to the gym before work. Virgin America CEO David Cush woke up at 4:15a.m, sent emails, called business associates on the East Coast, and that's before listening to Dallas sports radio, reading the paper and hitting the bike at the gym. Saban Capital CEO Haim Saban, the Head of the Saban Capital Group, Egyptian born Israeli-American billionaire has his first cup of coffee at 6:02 a.m. and starts working at that point. He works for an hour before exercising for 75 minutes to really start his day, according to Yahoo Finance. Former PepsiCo CEO Steve Reinemund woke up at 5:30, already reading the newspapers. He would go through The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times and The Dallas Morning News before heading to work. And the list goes on.
As you can see, millionaires don’t ‘sleep in’. Some get up before others but the bottom line is they all get up early. You can also train yourself to wake up early. You don’t need to follow their exact schedules. If you can’t wake up at 3a.m., try 4a.m. if you can’t cope with waking up at 4 a.m. then try 5 or at most 6a.m. Start small but gradually try and get moving as early as you can if won’t be harmful to your health.
If you want to have both the energy and the time to fit in everything that needs to be done into a rich person’s day you need to start getting up earlier and the time to start making that change is now!
2. Exercise daily
Most of the rich people I know about exercise on a daily basis. A famous latin saying “Menssana incorporesano” – A sound mind in a healthy body rings true. Is at our finger tips. The rich know that body capability, mind-body connection, and it plays a major role in what they can accomplish in the daily lives and businesses. For this course they spend valuable time in the gym to keep fit all the time. Others do yoga. They are not stupid.
As we read earlier almost all millionaires and top executives of global companies spend some of their time often in a gym before their day’s work begins. Avon Products CEO Andrea Jung wakes up at 5 a.m. in the morning and goes to the gym before getting to her desk at 8 a.m., says Forbes. Former Goldman Sachs and MF Global CEO Jon Corzine would be in the office by 6 a.m., even after taking a five mile run in the morning. Yet he was still the last person to leave in the evenings.
The more energy you expend exercising the more energy you create. People who are fit and healthy get sick less and they can work longer hours with better concentration. No matter how busy a millionaire is, he still makes time for exercise.
After the exercise they spend some time to meditate on their to do list–what should be done and how it should be done in the least possible time.
3. Plan your day well
“I have retired, but if there's anything that would kill me it is to wake up in the morning not knowing what to do”. Nelson Mandela
A minute spent in planning a task will save you 10minutes in executing it. Your day is usually going to be the same as you planned it out. If you planned it well you will achieve good results, but if it is poorly planned, you will get less than satisfactory results. It is like “garbage in garbage out”- the language that computers understand the most. Whatever data you input, you will definitely get its result. If you sow a weed don’t expect to pluck a rose.
Millionaires plan their day before going to bed. Perhaps you might have come across life changing advice given to the owner and president of a business empire. It goes as follows:
Case study
Charles Schwab, President of Bethlehem Steel, paid Ivy Lee a woeful $25,000 for these time management techniques benefits over 100 years ago. I suppose it’s worth learning even today. Charles Schwab, wanted to increase his own efficiency, and that of the management team at the steel company. Ivy Lee, a well-known efficiency expert of the time, approached Mr. Schwab, and made a proposition that Charles Schwab could not refuse:
Ivy Lee: “I can increase your people’s efficiency– and your sales– if you will allow me to spend fifteen minutes with each of your executives.”
Charles Schwab: “How much will it costme?”
Ivy Lee: “Nothing, unless it works. After three months, you can send me a check for whatever you feel it’s worth to you.”
Charles Schwab: “It’s a deal.”
The following day, Ivy Lee met with Charles Schwab’s management executives, spending only ten minutes with each in order to tell them:
Ivy Lee: “I want you to promise me that for the next ninety days, before leaving your office at the end of the day, you will make a list of the six most important things you have to do the next day and number them in their order of importance.” Astonished Executives: “That it?” Ivy Lee:
“That’s it. Scratch off each item after finishing it, and go on to the next one on your list. If something doesn’t get done, put it on the following day’s list.” “Each Bethlehem executive consented to follow Lee’s instructions. Three months later, Schwab studied the results and was so pleased that he sent Lee a check for $25,000.
I hope now you have understood how important it is to plan your day. Unfortunately some people can’t even plan their own vacations, weddings, or birthday parties! I’m not joking! Now let us emulate before you go to bed daily - try to write down at least 5 tasks you will be pursuing the following day. Write it where you could easily reach out to it. It could be in your daily jotter, or on a piece of paper, nowadays iPad tablet or on your phone. What is important is that you should have something to refer to as the day moves along. During the day cross out that which you have accomplished and shift your attention fully on the remaining tasks on the list.
4. Learn to Prioritize
You may have a list of to do tasks but the order and manner in which you execute them is very crucial. Think about the most optimal order in which you can accomplish your daily tasks. Don’t try to do several tasks at the same time. Remember it if not how fast you did it but how well it is done. Be efficient with time! Prioritizing your daily tasks is what the rich do. Most people can plan their daily errands but don’t know how to prioritize them in order of the most pressing and less pressing tasks. On your to do list try to put your tasks in the order of importance. You could use numbers or ABCs. Better still, you could use the bullets provided you know the first task must be achieved following a certain other. You could divide your tasks into three sections; A, B and C. The items placed in the A section are those needed to be done that day. The items placed in the B section need completion within the week. The C section items are those things that need to be done within the month. You own method is the best - try it today! Go through the list during your quiet time, early in the morning. Figure out how you are going to accomplish the tasks within a reasonable time frame.
5. Delegate
Rich people know that a good leader is not the one who does everything from planning to payroll. Rather the one who can mobilize forces (people) to do what he wants to be done without wasting time or under-performing. To work smart he delegates responsibilities that are not beyond the scope of his employees while he focuses on the important tasks himself. This division of tasks makes work fun and efficient. If you want to work smart learn the millionaire’s way of working. “Don’t be a Jack of all trades”
6. A chunk of time to reflect
To work smart you need to set aside some chunks of time to reflect on your achievements and reward yourself for that. Be rich in personal motivation. No one can motivate you better than yourself. During your daily activities take a few minutes after each activity to determine, think through whether your desired result was achieved. If not, what was missing? How do you put what's missing in your next call or activity? I advise you to find a quite place where there are no outside distractions like emails or phone calls. Meditate on your goals, achievements and failures– just for a few quality minutes. Write down what should follow. At the end of the day sit down and write down your progress for the day.
7. Be curious
They say curiosity kills the cat, but it is the key to business success. Go to the no go zone. Millionaires are curious to know why this is so and the other is not so. In finding the answers, they find opportunities. Just like any other thing in life, it can lead to trouble, but more often it can lead to new ideas and new adventures. To be smart in thinking and acting like a millionaire, you need to be curious all the time. Peopledon’t have to ever stop learning, and moving forward and those who are curious leap frog ahead.
B. Thinking smart
Everyone wants to be a smart thinker but just a few of them actually are. It is not magic. To think smarter than your fellows you will have to learn the three ingredients of thinking smart, which we will be looking at in the following pages. They are:
– Thinking Big
– Dreaming Big
– Acting Big
Thinking Big
What you think inside of you manifests itself out in the open. If you think that you are a millionaire even though you are not one now, your subconscious has already accepted that you are one as a fact. If you think that wealth is out of your reach the probability that you won’t get rich is higher. A person who believes or doubts he or she will become a millionaire will not. When you’ve mastered this special mindset, you will see opportunities where you walked pass them and never seen them before. Henceforth you will realise your potential and discover your path to wealth making. People who have this millionaire mindset see themselves as millionaires– even if they haven’t yet achieved it. This is very important.
Your subconscious mind is a tremendously powerful machine, more so that your conscious mind. People who have this Millionaire Mindset see themselves as rich and successful. They constantly reinforce this picture in their mind. All you need to have is a Millionaire Mindset. Do you know that our subconscious mind has an unlimited capacity?
Dreaming Big
Do not fear to dream big, because that is what differentiates a millionaire from the dreamers and ordinary people. Always be prepared to do things in a grand way - go to the forefront and be in the thick of the action if you really want to succeed. Go for the big ticket items, see things differently, be creative, and make a difference instead of making a living.
A boxer cannot win a fight if he did not first beat his opponent in his mind before stepping into the ring. Likewise, you can’t be big if you dream small. If you want to become big, you must dream big. That is the smart way of thing. Your vision of the future should be much grander than anything you’ve imagined.
Envision something much bigger in the future than just a mere dream. It should be something that will affect and help those around you as well. Most importantly, you should believe that you’ll be able to have it someday. Dreaming big means that you don't put off solving problems. The fact that you are dreaming big wouldn’t scare problems away but at least it gives you the urge to meet them head on. If something is bothering you, take action to fix it. Next, draw a balance sheet of your life and heavily examine it from top to bottom. List all the strengths and weaknesses of different approaches. Then list the things you can use from your strengths. Finally, start working to eliminating your weaknesses.
Acting big
There is nothing better than acting after dreaming otherwise you will just be a dreamer. The three are dependent on one another. Let’s emulate the power of acting that Microsoft used during their starting days. I believe it will not only motivate you but also incite you to take action instead merely planning.
Case study
Even though I’m an author of TV show ideas I don’t watch TV often but once in a blue moon I might, mostly about interviews of great entrepreneurs either in print or circuit television. Larry King once interviewed Bill Gates .He asked him, “What is the secret of your success?”
Bill answered, “We were at the right place at the right time” But Larry did not seem satisfied with the answer and kindly pointed out to him that “it is not true, lots of people were at the right place at the right time. But come on, you are Microsoft, you are the biggest on the planet at this stuff. What is it that you did?” It was a very tough question. But the good news was that Bill had the answer. Every successful business owner has the answer to how he is successful while others with the same idea don’t.
At this stage Bill Gate started coming out of his shell. He said “Well I guess we had a vision for the future for the home computer, for the desk top PC”. Three things named simultaneously: Vision, home computer and the desk top PC.
Larry King still wasn’t impressed enough with Bill Gates’ answer, so he interrupted him “Yes you had a vision but yours was smaller than most of the competition. So come on, Mr. Gates, please tell us really what it was that made a difference?!” If it were you what would you have said? Keep it to yourself for now. Bill Gates was thought for a moment - he wanted to give the right answer this time, so he said “Well I think it must have been due to the quality of our product”.
Larry King was very determined to get to the bottom of it. So he pressed Bill Gates, saying “It certainly wasn’t just that. Come on Mr. Gates!” Now Bill was getting nervous and uncomfortable in his seat. Larry kept pushing “What is it that really made the difference? Why is Microsoft number one? Why are you the biggest on the planet so far? Why do 90% of PCs run on Microsoft”? With a feeling of great certainty Bill Gates looked Larry King in the eye and said. “We are the ones who took massiveaction!” Larry King, looking satisfied, said “Can you give me an example of that?”
Bill Gates went on to share a story about how Microsoft wanted to work with IBM. They wanted to provide operating systems for them. One day they had a phone call to come in to IBM and show them what they had to offer. In the next four hours (which included a 2 hour flight) they were there. Action! Action!! Action!!! Do it now! Tomorrow is another person’s day. If you get a chance today, grab it and make good use of it.
C. Investing smart
As I said earlier you don’t need to have to wait until you’re your bank account is fat before you invest. Every penny is very important. Invest what you have in a promising project that will yield returns. Think about investing, think about returns. It is not enough to invest. You must invest in the right place, the right time and be the right person as well. Don’t gamble stupidly because it will pay you back the same way a casino pays you– almost never.
Stop spending, invest every penny
Millionaires cultivate the habit of investing every penny they earn rather spending it. Once you make profits, you can plough them back into your business for expansion programs or you can diversify them into other investments to ensure that the money will continues to multiply at a desired rate. You should save at least 10% of your income.
It’s common to see people coming from poverty amassing money but they spend it much too soon. They will open they wallet for everyone to see that they have the dough. Are you like that? Have you changed your wardrobe from the $20 shirt to the $200 shirt recently? Or maybe you think people will not revere you enough with the $200shirt so you went out and bought a $2000 shirt? Are you trying to impress people? Or you are looking for recognition? My dear friend, let people strive to impress you rather than you fighting to make on mark with them.
The most successful business owners started investing with little. Invest the little you have. The most important thing is to invest it in a promising project that will yield returns. You cannot follow the traditional financial advice of investing for the long term, if you little time before you retire. You best shot is to develop a financially valued skill that will help you earn more and save more. When you earn more, you can invest more of your money and get wealthy faster.
According to a recent survey by the bureau of labour in the United States, the top 10 highest earning jobs earn on average over a $ 100,000 or more. The survey listed physicians and CEOs of corporations as the highest earners. The survey ranked incomes for mostly professional jobs. Learn how to manage money by investing. Set aside part of your income for investment purpose. Do away with excessive spending by investing for better returns tomorrow. Our tomorrow is built today. If you want your tomorrow to be better, the determining factor is what you do today.
Be Frugal!
One of the richest men that ever lived, Andrew Carnegie adopted what his mother taught him. She told him “look after the pennies, and the pounds will take care of themselves”. In other words the rich focus on the basic strategic issues but the minor problems tend to take care of themselves. Intelligent, wealthy people are always the last to buy trendy items. You can even find the wealthy buying second hand items, even if they can save a few pennies. The book entitled “The Millionaire Next Door” by Thomas J. Stanley, Ph. D, William D. Danko, is a great source of advice in this regard.
Wealthy people make sure they make a fortune before considering how to spend it. It is the middle class that rush to buy the new Rolex. Putting off buying trinkets until you have enough cash to put away is the smart way to go. Do this and your business is rolling strong! Millionaires are oh-so-frugal and astute about spending their money. I personally admire Warren Buffet’s way of dealing with every c