Success In Life!

“We must look for the opportunity in every difficulty instead of being paralyzed at the thought of the difficulty in every opportunity.”
– Walter E. Cole, Korean War Hero

The above is also depicted in the Chinese characters for crisis. One of the words means opportunity - An opportunity in a crisis.

I remembered vividly when I spoke to my sister about doing a business together. She pointed out the times are bad and the economy is going downhill and people cannot afford to pay for goods and services. I think this is a very natural line of thoughts and most people tend to focus on the negative side of things.

Leaders who seize the opportunity and see beyond the crisis are able to achieve much more than the majority of the people.

Action Plan:
1) Have a goal
2) Focus on what you are doing
3) Stay firm and not be affected by what people say
4) Work at it

Are you a Great Conversationalist? Most people are not. Many choose to work with machines rather than talk to people. Are you one of them?

Honestly speaking, I was before. Now, I am still not a great conversationalist. I still have apprehension when speaking to others.

Well, I hope the following 3 skills can help improve your conversation a lot more. These are skills that Brian Tracy taught. Give them a try!

Skill No. 1 Pause Before Replying
One key to becoming a great conversationalist is to pause before replying. A short pause, of three to five seconds, is a very classy thing to do in a conversation. When you pause, you accomplish three goals simultaneously.

The Benefits of Pausing
a) First, you avoid running the risk of interrupting if the other person is just catching his or her breath before continuing.

b) Second, you show the other person that you are giving careful consideration to his or her words by not jumping in with your own comments at the earliest opportunity.

c) The third benefit of pausing is that you will actually hear the other person better. His or her words will soak into a deeper level of your mind and you will understand what he or she is saying with greater clarity. By pausing, you mark yourself as a brilliant conversationalist.

Skill No. 2 - Ask Questions
Another way to become a great conversationalist is to question for clarification. Never assume that you understand what the person is saying or trying to say. Instead, ask, “How do you mean, exactly?”

This is the most powerful question for controlling a conversation. It is almost impossible not to answer. When you ask, “How do you mean?” the other person cannot stop himself or herself from answering more extensively. You can then follow up with other open-ended questions and keep the conversation rolling along.

Skill No. 3 - Paraphrase the Speaker’s Words
The third way to become a great conversationalist is to paraphrase the speaker’s words in your own words. After you’ve nodded and smiled, you can then say, “Let me see if I’ve got this right. What you’re saying is . . .”

Demonstrate Attentiveness
By paraphrasing the speaker’s words, you demonstrate in no uncertain terms that you are genuinely paying attention and making every effort to understand his or her thoughts or feelings. And the wonderful thing is, when you practice effective listening, other people will begin to find you fascinating. They will want to be around you. They will feel relaxed and happy in your presence.

Listening Builds Trust
The reason why listening is such a powerful tool in developing the art and skill of conversation is because listening builds trust. The more you listen to another person, the more he or she trusts you and believes in you.

Listening also builds self-esteem. When you listen attentively to another person, his or her self-esteem will naturally increase.

Listening Develops Discipline
Finally, listening builds self-discipline in the listener. Because your mind can process words at 500-600 words per minute, and we can only talk at about 150 words per minute, it takes a real effort to keep your attention focused on another person’s words. If you do not practice self-discipline in conversation, your mind will wander in a hundred different directions. The more you work at paying close attention to what the other person is saying, the more self-disciplined you will become. In other words, by learning to listen well, you actually develop your own character and your own personality.

Action Exercises
Here are two things you can do immediately to put these ideas into action.

First, make a habit of pausing before replying in any conversation or discussion. You will be amazed at how powerful this technique really is.

Second, continually ask, “How do you mean?” in response to anything that is not perfectly clear. This gives you even more time to listen well.

If you want to learn from the best and at your own time and own pace, here is what Brian Tracy has to recommend.  Click here to view the video.

To Your Financial Freedom,
Peck Ling

Recently, I had an opportunity to join some friends  for a team building game.

During the briefing at the start of the game, the facilitator spent some time describing the game.   I thought it was a pretty straightforward game and did not pay much attention to it.   I noticed that the game facilitator did stress on certain things but I just let them pass. 

It was a hostage rescue game and the objective was to bring the hostage safely back to the facilitator.

The area was criss-crossed with  €œelectric wires € and certain areas required bridges to be built to cross them.

Team members have to assist a “blind” member to search for the hostage.   The position of the hostage could be changed during the game and the rest of the members are to guide the “blind” to reach the hostage and to guard the “bridges” so that they were not  stolen.

Our group discussed and came up with a very good strategy which would work very well up to the point when the “blind” had to venture on his own to save the hostage.

As you can predict, time was lost while trying to shout the instructions against the loud blast of the background music.   The result is we lost  the first round and had to compete in the second round.   This gave us another chance and  we managed to shorten the time considerably during the second round.   We were elated!

However, during the debrief, the facilitator revealed many ways we could have used to achieve our goal quickly.   He emphasized that the objective of the game is to save and bring the hostage to him.   This is a really big hint and we conveniently forgot this.

Well, I will not spoil the game for you by revealing everything.   What I have learnt is that we should know our objective clearly and hence know what to focus on and work on it.   Don’t just follow the instructions.   Be creative and think out of the box. 

In real life,  very often, we just stick to the rules and most often than not, do things that others do  so as  to be on the safe side.   We also make ourselves busy by doing a lot of non-impactful stuff that takes up a lot of our time and resources. In addition, we tend to work and think within the box and not out of the box.   What could be done is to get ourselves out of the picture and look at the problem from a third party’s viewpoint and to leverage on technology.

Brian Tracy said that our mind is our most precious asset. We must be continually working to increase the quality of our thinking. These two years have been a great learning time for me.   I attend courses, seminars and listen to audios and watch videos.

Travelling time is the best learning time

Whenever possible, I will listen to audio recordings or read books while travelling in the train or bus. 

Attend Seminars

I attended seminars, workshops and previews for personal and professional development to learn ideas, techniques and methods that can save me hours, days, even months of hard work and research on my own.

Learn More, Earn More

I do not believe that money drops from the sky. Even if you strike lottery, you must first place a bet.   Some hardwork and sacrifice are needed to prepare oneself for success.   Remember continuous learning is the minimum requirement for success in any field.   And you should choose your gurus wisely.

What’s  Next

Without further ado, purchase an audio program that can help you.   Check out my recommendation here.

Begin listening to it immediately.   When you are driving, instead of  listening to music in your car, resolve to turn  driving time into learning time.

Next, seek out seminars and training programs given by experts in your field.   Click here for an alternative if you have not much time or resources.   Take careful notes, and apply the best ideas that you learn immediately.

To Your Success,

Peck Ling

Check out the movie below to find out more about a Earn While You Learn Program.

About two years ago, I decided to quit my job as I could not take it any longer in view of the circumstances I was in.

At that time, looking for business opportunities was at the top of my mind since leaving a full-time well-paid job was a great leap of faith into the unknown.  Ill-equipped with entrepreneurial or business skills, the only way was to seek recommendations from friends and to extend my antenna to receive such information.

Look For Opportunities

I really have no idea on how to look for a new product or service.  I am an absolute greenhorn, yet I believe that I can achieve my goals by at least taking action to try. Subconsciously, I began to look in areas where I thought was comfortable in and where there was a mentor to help me. Since I worked in the IT industry as an application project manager, I was attracted to opportunities related to IT.

I did not wish to invest a large amount of money and run the risk of losing it.  Being totally not business-inclined, I prefer to take less risk, get a ready product and let others worry about development, staffing, etc.  Basically, a low cost investment with low risk and minimal headaches would suit the bill.

It so happened that one of my colleagues suddenly tendered her resignation and suggested going into an internet home-based business.  Considering my circumstances, working from home and having a global business while staying home, naturally excited me.

I jumped onto the bandwagon and started to learn as much as I could.  My colleague and I would spend almost every other night and weekends at our mentor’s office to learn more about the business and the opportunity it offers. My mentor was the top earner in the company.

In summary, unknowingly I did the following when I look for business opportunities:

1) Look into myself and find out where my talents, interest, expertise, education, abilities, knowledge, background, etc.  Match these with the business opportunity.

2) Check out the company. The quality of the staff and how much support we get.

3) Check out the product.  Is it content rich and worth paying for?  Does it have a niche market?  How long was the product in the market?  Look for something that’s affordable and has improved over the past years and not something new.

According to Brian Tracy, improving an existing successful product or service is the fastest and surest way to build a successful business. An idea only needs to be ten percent new and better to capture substantial market share. Brand new products or services are very risky.

4) Check out the compensation plan.  Does the compensation commensurate with the efforts we put in and is it a viable plan?  Many people look for easy money, gimmicks or useless knickknacks. Don’t look for get-rich-quick schemes or rewards without working, because there aren’t any.

More people have wasted more time and more life and more money trying to find quick ways to make easy money than you can possibly imagine. So, before you could start making real money in a business, be prepared to work hard.

I have been in this internet education business for almost 2 years now. I would like to admit shamefully, that I have never learnt so much all these years as compared to a short span of 2 years on the business. I have met a lot of people and made more friends than I could possibly imagine. I get to know great success gurus, sales gurus, learn sales and business techniques and has the opportunity to meet millionaires!

I got to watch Robert Kiyosaki, author of best selling book, Rich Dad Poor Dad.  He spoke on The Secrets Of Success and how the rich gets richer. I have always felt that our educational system has a great defect and this was addressed by Robert Kiyosaki in his talk as financial literacy was never part of the school syllabus in Singapore.

I have been in the business for almost 2 years and Brian Tracy said, that it will take two years to break even in the average business. However, in the business I am in, it is possible to break even in the first few months.  I am very sure real cash flow would be generated if you are focused, persistent and patient. If you’re impatient, what will happen is you’ll end up setting yourself further back than you can imagine.

I have found mine, have you?

If you are interested to find out more, please check it out here for a preview!  There is nothing to lose.

Hope you will find a good business opportunity that can create wealth for you!
Peck Ling