Six key ways self-defeating behavior can cause failure

Hi everyone,

Most people have a misconception that our rivals are our greatest enemies. In actual fact, we are our own greatest enemy. It is more often that our self-sabotaging behavior prevents us from achieving success. I cannot find any better phrases than that described by Jan Christian Smuts, a prime minister of South Africa, “A man is not defeated by his opponents but by himself.” Therefore, it is more important to learn how to overcome ourselves than overcome our rivals.

In this article, I am going to take you through these 6 key self -sabotaging behaviors that most of time cause failure.

1. EXPECTING FAILURE

If you are expecting failure then sooner or later you will get what you expect. This is because your subconscious mind will transmit to your subconscious mind and commands your conscious mind that you are going to fail. Expecting failure and preparing for failure are two different things. The latter is inclined to accept any outcome after all his hard work and preparation which he believes he has done his best whereas the former does not have any confidence and truly believe that he will not succeed whether he tries or not.

2. PROCRASTINATION

It is one of the major causes of failure. Life means risk. These people do not give themselves any chance, but keep waiting for opportunities even though they will miss these opportunities most of times. They always wait for the right time and that “right” time never comes. As such, if you want to reach your potential, you have to take chances. We must be aware that there are more ways to be successful that do not involve any physical or violent exploitation than the past.

3. LETTING FAILURE DEFEAT THEM

Failure is the root of success. Everybody experiences losses. However, the successful person will not allow himself to be stopped by these failures. Therefore, we must prepare ourselves for failure. What is more important is not failure, but bouncing back from it when it occurs. This is the difference with people who have positive attitude, they will get up and keep on trying.

4. NO SPECIFIC PURPOSE

In life, you can not hope to succeed in anything if you do not have a specific purpose. If you are caught in this scenario, you will then jump from one activity to another with no success. Therefore, it is no surprise that statistics shows more than 90% of people think and act in this manner, and that is the major reason that caused them to fail.

5. LACK OF KNOW HOW

Most of the successful people are either “self educated” or “self made” jndividuals, who know precisely how to make use of applied knowledge coupled with his plan of action to achieve success. Here, we must know how to differentiate between tactics knowledge and applied knowledge. It is equally important to know that knowing is one thing and doing is totally different altogether

6. LACK OF FOCUS

This is a typical mistake by putting their energy and efforts on multiple causes rather than concentrating on one particular cause. Thereafter, they realize that they are not able to accomplish or not succeed any of them. Therefore, they quit.

Be honest and deal with it appropriately. The success will be yours. Try it out and share with us your personal experience. Thank you in advance for your kind participation.

James Oh

About the Author:

James Oh is an accountant by profession and he works as a Financial Controller for more than 10 years with several companies in Singapore and Malaysia. He is a full member of the Singapore Institute of Director and he also obtained a LLB (Law degree) from the University of London in 2003. He is happily married with 3 loving kids.

James blog at http://liftyouup.blogspot.com

How to profit from failure

Hi! everyone,

Failure is a relatively and loosely used term without a precise meaning. Why I say so? This is because in reality, every thing is not stationary at any particular point permanently. Therefore, what we see is at a particular point of time during our journey.

If we are not careful, we may let this powerful negative vocabulary manipulate our mind to believe that we have truly failed and that may lead us to give up.

Therefore, we need to stay in control and conquer failure. In short, how can we profit from failure?

1. Accept the true fact

Doing is the first step towards failure. The truth is that doing does not guarantee success. However not doing anything definitely means no success. How to ensure success? My answer is keep on doing and doing it better the next time. Then the success will be yours. Simple, right?

On the other hand, laziness is the companion of failure. Often, people give up or are lazy to try harder to find a better solution than what was done. It is insane to expect something different when we continue doing something in the same manner. Here, I love to make a comparison between carrying water bucket and building a pipeline. For the former, he is working successfully because he has water daily after his return trip from the well.

Whereas the pipeline builder may appear to be not working, from the planning stage, preparation work till completion of the pipeline from the bystander’s point, who does not have any clue as how the pipeline looks like. The builder can not claim success until water really flows from his pipeline.

2. Prepare to pay for the price

The bigger the success the higher the risk. It is more likely proportionate to the rate of its gravity. Anyone who desire to achieve something significant had to overcome the odds. For successful person, what they really care is the success itself, and not the odds. Always remember that if you don’t succeed, then you should realize that you are running on average speed. So, what is important is that you have to accelerate your speed.

3. Let failure shape you

Failure is the root of success. So, do not feel hurt when you failed. What you should do is to let failure lead you to success. From failure, you will know that this is not the right way. you should eliminate it and try other ways until your plan really works. Here, you can only profit by adjusting or altering your approach until you achieve your destination.

Alternatively, you may stick to the cause and find different products which suit other communities. As society grows more diverse, it is also right to say that the chances of achieving success is even higher.

4. Never quit

Quitting is the easiest way to ensure failure. Otherwise, failure does not mean that you will not succeed. It simply means that you will take longer time to succeed. For further illustration of the above example, so long as you have not seen water flowing out from the pipeline, you have not achieve success despite the fact that you are on the way to claim the success.

5. Have the right perspective

Success is a journey, rather than a destination. So is failure. No one, no matter how successful he is, is exempted from failure. As such, it is a daily process, and not a one time event. In reality, it reflects how you deal with life along the way. True, everyone makes mistakes, but it is too early to conclude that you are a failure until you breathe your last breath. Truth will prevail in time. So long as you are still in the process, there is still time for you to turn events around. To have the right perspective, always remember that it is not the end yet. Do not submit to it and never give up and permanently rest in the house of failure.

Give the tips a serious thought and please share through comments or email me at jamesoh2003@yahoo your experience as how you overcome it. I love to learn from you and look forward to hearing from you.

Thanks for your precious time and wish you success,

James Oh

About the Author:

James Oh is an accountant by profession and he works as a Financial Controller for more than 10 years with several companies in Singapore and Malaysia. He is a full member of the Singapore Institute of Director and he also obtained a LLB (Law degree) from the University of London in 2003. He is happily married with 3 loving kids.

James blog at http://liftyouup.blogspot.com

How to have breakthrough health results

By James Oh

Hi! everyone,

In this article, I am going to discuss how to have breakthrough results. This automatically triggers our minds that we need to make drastic changes to produce it. That is not wrong at all. Why I say so? It is a lengthy process that not only requires a strong and unlimited mindset, but also a winning formula to deliver that remarkable result. Most of the past proven cases illustrate well this precarious point when you have to act against conventional wisdom. A very good illustration is when people at one time believe that the earth is flat. It needed very strong courage and determination to prove otherwise. However, conventional wisdom is equally important for a strong foundation. That foundation cannot be ignored at all.

1. PICTURE THE BREAKTHROUGH RESULTS

To achieve anything, you must be able to visualise your breakthrough results in your mind first. Iit is crucial to begin with a vision and then use the ends to justify your means. For instance, if you want to fly, you must able to see how to fly and let the vision stick in your mind and heart. Then you will make use of the available means to make the end. Throughout the history of new inventions, we learned that the inventors always use means to facilitate their end. No doubt, the end may become clearer and clearer during the processes. In the flying example, the inventor learned that birds need wings to fly. That’s how the aircraft was made. Over the years, they persistently improve with additional features to make the aircraft fly at higher altitude and faster speed.

An interesting point to note is that every creation must begin from our mind first. Similarly, to achieve breakthrough results, you need to know your goal and picture the end in your mind. In this regard, you need mental and spiritual qualities to overcome the physical defects.

2. BUILD UP APPROPRIATE AND EFFECTIVE APPROACH

To achieve the end result, an appropriate and effective approach is needed to carry out our task. Through your observations and testings, you are able to incorporate the changes, approaches, plans and actions so as to give you your desired results. Through elimination of the wrong paths, you will finally find the correct path leading to breakthrough results. Deep understanding of the means, system and approach are still relevant and equally important because you still need all these existing means to achieve breakthrough results. By now, you should able to see clearly how your approach need to be modified for desired results.

3. CREATIVE THINKING

You also need to think creatively to find new solution. Here, you need to think out of the box to deliver that result. You need to use your whole brain – i.e the logical and the creative parts to work out the plan and action to generate breakthrough results. Therefore, creative thinking demands more than imagination that will plough through logic to seek for new means. In short, you need to stretch your mind to the maximum and play within the stipulated boundaries, instead of working within the box, which can only produce small incremental improvement.

Hence, creative thinking is really required to explore new ideas that could likely produce results. Needless to say that you can’t repeat the same thing to produce different results. Innovative or modified solutions should be used. Change is the answer.

4. APPROPRIATE ACTION

Vision alone is not sufficient. You need to put into action, your brillianct vision and integrate them well with the ultimate objective. Decisons and actions may not guarantee such breakthrough result. You need to stay focused on your ultimate goals, review the mistakes, learn from them and adjust the plan and your next act accordingly, until that remarkable result is achieved. You need a skill that will help you manage in a manner that, constantly produce the best possible results. It is crucial to note that adequate and rightful thinking will produce such results. Open mindset will help you review the feedback objectively and adjust your plan when you have thought more deeply or when things become clearer.

5. POWERFUL AND DYNAMIC MINDSET

Our mindset mould us to have a fixed way of looking at things. So, to have breakthrough results, we need a powerful and dynamic mindset , which has unlimited beliefs. Our mindsets can range from a judgment to a strongly held opinion all the way to a bias or a prejudice. It is not suffice for us to learn or adopt a new mindset for the future, but we need to substitute those limiting ones and grow further.

6. RECHARGE YOURSELF

To stay alert and active, you need time to have adequate and proper rest for your body, mind and soul. This is a skill, rather than an act. To reap maximum benefits, we need to acquire and master this skill. Do not confuse it with idling or inaction. A real relaxation will give us a refreshing feeling. To enhance our understanding, you may draw the same analogy with the performance of batteries after being recharged. This is crucial because your goal need to stay afresh in your mind while you are persistently working towards your end.

7. LEVERAGE

You can’t do it alone. You need a system which can empower you to do far more than your own capability. We need to stay connected with others so that we can function as a united force to carry out that specific task. Human beings need connection with others. We especially need people for psychological and emotional support. Other scientific research has accumulated overwhelming evidence that having strong, supportive relationships is good for our mental and physical health.

Trust the above tips are helpful to you to build your path to healthy living. Remember that health, wellness and beauty are integrated issues and not separated as commonly believes.

Wishing you success,

James Oh

About the Author:

James Oh is an accountant by profession and he works as a Financial Controller for more than 10 years with several companies in Singapore and Malaysia. He is a full member of the Singapore Institute of Director and he also obtained a LLB (Law degree) from the University of London in 2003. He is happily married with 3 loving kids.

How to beat stress effectively

Hi! Everyone,

No doubt no one can be totally exempted from stress and anxiety, but what is more important is to know precisely, how to make use of it to bring benefits to us, and not harm. The key to handle it properly become a necessity and not a luxury as today’s information age is changing so rapidly. People not only need to think fast, but have to act fast as well. Stress can creep in and claim lives easily regardless how fit you are physically or how young are.

In this article, I am going to share with you some of the tips, from my personal experience, which I find useful and I hope they will be useful to you. To simplify, I have listed them down in point form, as below :-

1. Sleep and rest sufficiently

Adequate sleep and rest not only assure that our bodies are well rested, but also allow our bodies to replenish energy. It operates just like the battery which perform remarkably well after being recharged. However, if you over stress yourself over a certain period of time, you will discover that you need almost double the normal time to restore yourself back to its initial position. At the end of the day, you tend to lose more than what you have initially gained.

2. Be contented

Being content not only prevents you from indulging into unnecessary negative emotions that will harm you, but also helps you to stay in control at all times. Your inner peace will calm you and guide you wisely because you are able to see things at the wider and right perspective. As such, you will not rush into doing unnecessary things that will drain off your energy.

3. Follow your body rhythm

Setting deadline is good in the sense that it drives you to stay focus on a particular task. However, unrealistic dateline may not only cause you to be moody, but also affects your morale and confidence, if left unchecked.

By contrast, I find that my productivity tend to go much higher if I were to follow my body rhythm. When I am at my peak, I can finish similar task three to four times faster than my normal required time. So, schedule your creative works at your low peak time so as to maximize your outputs.

4. Cultivate a good habit

To avoid unnecessary stress, we need to discipline and live within our means. Needless to say, spending beyond our means/budget can be very stressful especially when you are also hit by other unexpected incidents.

5. Exercise

Appropriate and adequate exercise is a sure way to keep you healthy and relieve you from stress. You are encouraged to do light exercise for about 10 minutes daily when you wake up. If you really cannot, then finding time to walk everyday is also another good substitute, such as taking the stairs instead of the elevator, take your time roaming around when buying groceries.

6. Do List

Write down what you need to do and schedule them accordingly. I find it is very useful as it gives me better control – you are able to see the overall big picture and you know precisely how to act upon them. So, plotting your daily schedule will save you time, money and energy. Try it out and you will be surprised of its result, especially for those who have not try them out before.

7. Laugh it out

Laugh more, folks. Whoever laugh more seem to enjoy life more, and enjoying yourself is an easy way to beat stress. Stress may cause negative emotion such as wanting to kick something. Laughing it out is a sure way to beat stress. Cultivate a joyful heart, greet and smile at people more often. Find humour in life and stay well connected with others. Do not complaint when something goes wrong, but laugh it out. Take your mind off from work and have fun! Do not get upset easily over petty things. In short, a joyful heart is the best medicine.

8. Read the Bible/Pray over it.

Reading the Bible every night before going to bed may help you stay fresh the next morning. Pass all your worries, stress to Him who will lead you to overcome them effortlessly. His wisdom and grace will sustain you and relieve you from all the stress/issues that you are currently facing.

Hi! friends. Now I want to throw the ball to your court and I am sure you have learn from your experience, which you may want to share it with us. Please forward them through comments so that we can sharpen our experience. Thanks and look forward to your kind participation.

James Oh

About the Author:

James Oh is an accountant by profession and he works as a Financial Controller for more than 10 years with several companies in Singapore and Malaysia. He is a full member of the Singapore Institute of Director and he also obtained a LLB (Law degree) from the University of London in 2003. He is happily married with 3 loving kids.

James blog at http://liftyouup.blogspot.com

How to beat procrastination

Hi! everyone,

Procrastination is a silent killer. It works like diabetis which will cause dyfunction of our other organs and ultimately bring death to us. Similarly, procrastination causes inaction but affects us as we indulge deeply in unnecessary causes. Therefore, it is best to understand its characteristics and take appropriate actions so as not to be ingrained with such a habit.

In this article, I have listed some of the tips which I find useful and effective in beating this unhealthy habit.

1.Act now

To overcome it is to do it now. This sounds glaringly obvious, but many people lose sight of this fundamental skill. It’s not because we do not know what we should do; but rather that we have totally forgotten how to response to the situation. Hence, you should know how to get yourself to do it instantly without letting doubts go through your thoughts. Repeat it several times till you get accustom to this habit.

2. Do not multitask.

Please don’t get me wrong and I am not against it. I am great at doing many things at same time and I have to admit that I love multitasking. But we have to be aware of the danger that we may never actually complete any of them. Trying to do several things without paying much attention will lead you to either unfinished or poor quality work. But if you are not caught in such a situation, I congratulate and encourage you to continue.

3. Set a dateline and schedule it accordingly

To stay focus on your goals, you need to set your goals according to your priorities. To ensure that you carry it out accordingly, it is appropriate to schedule it with a dateline. The danger of no datelines is that it may cause you to postpone things indefinitely.

4. Stay focus on your preset goals

I find that most often we keep changing our goals frequently until we have a moving target that caused us confusion which leads to inaction. To beat such a habit, always stay focus on our goal and keep on working on it till you achieve it. In reality, you will get what you expect from it so long as you keep on working on it. Persistence is the key to success.

Here, I have to admit that surrounding events can distract us from our focus point. Therefore, always stay in control and drive yourself forcefully towards your goals. I also do not deny that it is easier said than done. Practise, practise and practise is the way to beat it. There is no other way to overcome it than to put it into practice. No surprise to see success begets success.

Hi folks. Now I want to throw the ball to your court and I am sure you have learn from your experience, which you may want to share it with us. Please forward them through comments so that we can sharpen our experience. Thanks and look forward to your kind participation.

James Oh

About the Author:

James Oh is an accountant by profession and he works as a Financial Controller for more than 10 years with several companies in Singapore and Malaysia. He is a full member of the Singapore Institute of Director and he also obtained a LLB (Law degree) from the University of London in 2003. He is happily married with 3 loving kids.

James blog at http://liftyouup.blogspot.com

Six ways to build wealth

By James Oh

To build wealth, you need to know where to begin  and how to work towards your ultimate goals. As inflationary pressure increases  yearly, you need constant and lasting efforts to review your strategies to sustain it. However, if you opt to grow your wealth speedily, you have to take pro-active strategic plans to explore all possibilities to obtain the highest yields from your investments. You also need to make use of all your resources to generate highest wealth possible. In reality, you not only need to think fast, but also to act fast, to reap the highest returns as the market is getting more and more transparent.

In this article, I have laid down some of the tips which you may find useful as a guide in creating your wealth.

1 Constantly review and evaluate your resources

To build wealth, you must constantly review and evaluate all resources you already have. Make full use of existing resources to enhance your wealth, but at the same time,  enlarge your resources  to create new wealth and expand existing wealth. The double effect growth will accelerate growth much faster than the inflation rate and it will enhance your real wealth. If the rate you generated is equal to the rate of inflation, then, the absolute increase in your wealth is not a true increase in wealth. It is just a trade off against  losses due to increase of inflation rate.

Resources here does not necessarily represent just financial means, but may refer to your talents, skills, experiences, ideas, and network. You may turn all these non financial means into monetary terms. You can not afford to underestimate all these non financial resources especially in today’s Information and knowledge world. For you to reap maximum return, you need to constantly explore all  possibilities to ensure that all these resources give you the highest yields possible. You must also be aware that the higher the yield, the higher the risk.

2 Strategic Plan

After you have an indepth knowledge of your position, you have to work out your best strategies that suit the current market conditions in order to move to the next higher wealth level. You need this plan to navigate yourself towards your ultimate objectives. Without such a plan, you will navigate a ship without direction. However, no matter how good the plan is, it will not guarantee  success. To achieve  success, you need to constantly monitor performance of each resource and make  necessary adjustments due to changes in external factors.  To be effective, such adjustments or alternations need to be taken as soon as possible.

3. Priority lead to Prosperity

You must set creating wealth your priority.  You need to presevere and be persistent in working towards the ultimate objective, no matter what happened to you. For example,  if you need to have  fixed monthly savings, then you must issue your first cheque towards that fund no matter what happened to you. You have to try all possible means to obtain such fixed amount. If not, you have to recoup double the amount the following month and you have to increase the duration  of time to be on track with your original plan.

4.  Persistence and consistence

To ensure its sustainability, you need to work towards your ultimate goals persistently and consistently. As such, you need to stay focus on your goal at all times so that you are not side track by other matters that may cause you stumble. To do so, you need a convinced and convicted heart to carry out your commitment persistently and consistently in accordance to your belief.

5. Have faith in it

Building wealth is just like the ordinary and prudent builder. To have a strong and unshakeable house, you need to build it on strong foundation. Similarly, for wealth builder you need to have a strong faith which will serve as the foundation for you to build your wealth on it. Once you have faith in it, you will stay focus on your goals and concentrate all your energies and efforts in building it. Of course, you may face some barriers, but these barriers are placed to strengthen your faith. Through all the trials and adversities, you will sharpen your skills and use this adversity to lead you to the way of success. It is operating exactly like the ship captain, who need to confront the waves and storms to become skillful. You must be able to see clearly how faith works and directs you to look at thing from the right perspective at all times. In reality, it is always much easier said than done.

6. Stay in control

To build wealth steadily, you must be able to stay in control of yourself. Otherwise, you will be easily tempted by greed or be entrapped by your rivals. Stay in control here mean you must not let your emotions  control you directly or indirectly. You need to know precisely what action to take and its implication to your ultimate objectives. In other words, you need to know what risks you are taking and how much you can afford to lose and how you can cover such losses so that it will not seriously affect your ultimate goal. If not, do not be surprised that you may  follow the foot steps of those billionaires who have committed suicide in the recent global financial crisis. Always bear in mind the wealthier you are, more people will prey on you.

Thanks for your precious time and hope that the above tips are useful to you. Wish you a success,

James Oh

Other articles by James Oh:

>> Priority leads to prosperity

>> How to get faster results

>> How to retire gracefully

>> Steps to overcome major obstacles of staying healthy (Part 2)

About the Author:

James Oh is an accountant by profession and he works as a Financial Controller for more than 10 years with several companies in Singapore and Malaysia. He is a full member of the Singapore Institute of Director and he also obtained a LLB (Law degree) from the University of London in 2003. He is happily married with 3 loving kids.

James blog at http://liftyouup.blogspot.com

Fear and its harm

By James Oh

For those who have read my preceding article, “Steps to Overcome the Major Obstacles of Staying Healthy”, will have some insights as to how to overcome these major obstacles in general. 

Today, I am going to talk about fear and the harms it may cause if you do not handle it well. It is always a misconception that successful men do not have fear.  The only difference is that they know how to turn the fear to desire compared to the not so successful men.

Therefore, we need to constantly check and review our situation to ensure that we are not its captive because its destructive power can not be underestimated.

1. FEAR WEAKENS US

Fear robs us of our inner peace and makes us paralyzed by doubts or frustrations.  If left unchecked, it will eventually cause us to abandon our faith and hope. Without faith and hope, we will lose our direction and destination.

Here, you can see clearly that fear is an emotion that caused us to pay interest in advance on a debt that we never owe. Worst still, fear can be anything – real, imagine or perceived. It may attack you anytime, it can grow and ultimately take control of you.

 

2. FEAR CAUSES PROCRASTINATION

Just imagine if your mind is busy speculating on all sorts of bad things that may happen to you, you will then find your mind to be either pre-occupied or clouded with abundance of negative things. As a result, no positive action will be taken. Inaction will lead you to no success. In short, you will remain status quo which will not only hinder you from moving forward but will also lead you to depression or a prisoner of fear. Here, we have to acknowledge and admit that everything in life has some degree of risks. There is no way to escape from such risks. Risks or challenges in fact add colors to life.

 

3. FEAR WASTES ENERGY

“Fear makes the wolf bigger than he is” is well described by an old German adage. Most of the times, defeats are caused by people who give in to the fear itself. This is because it holds them back by making them think of unnecessary things. As a result they have to waste valuable energy. In short, fear can push you towards the wrong direction by producing nervous energy that makes you unable to perform in a new situation. Alternatively, it can also sap your energy as you try to overcome the paralyzing effect that is holding you back.

 

 4. FEAR BREEDS MORE FEAR

Similar to success, fear breeds more fear. What is worse is fear itself. It is an unknown belief that comprises anything that makes you doubtful or suspicious. It can exaggerate itself until it becomes like a monster that can take control of you and make you captive of fear.  It is something intangible and it lies inside us. It is not necessary real; so long as you comprehend it as danger then it is sufficient to capture yourself. Sometimes, fear can provoke adverse action which is harmful to us, such as taking drugs so as to numb ourselves to the fear.

 

5. PREVENT US FROM REACHING OUR POTENTIAL

Being captive of fear will cause you to be doubtful and makes you fearful to attempt, thus losing the opportunity to win. Without trials and testing, how can you reach your potential?

I hope this article will give you a good grasp of fear so that you will not let fear rule and ruin your lives. In the following article I will try to provide you some tips on how not to let fear bothers you again.So, stay tuned for the forthcoming article. Look forward to seeing you again.
James Oh

 

Other articles by James Oh:

>> Priority leads to prosperity

>> How to get faster results

>> How to retire gracefully

>> Steps to overcome major obstacles of staying healthy (Part 2)

About the Author:

James Oh is an accountant by profession and he works as a Financial Controller for more than 10 years with several companies in Singapore and Malaysia. He is a full member of the Singapore Institute of Director and he also obtained a LLB (Law degree) from the University of London in 2003. He is happily married with 3 loving kids.

James blog at http://liftyouup.blogspot.com

Priority leads to prosperity

By James Oh

One of the keys to success is being meticulous. You need to pay close attention to  details so as to master a particular trade. This profound principle also applies to wealth creation process.

Saving is the main core step in wealth creation. It was highlighted well by Ben Franklin “Beware of little expenses; a small leak will sink a great ship.” We can’t deny that it forms the fundamental pillar in sustaining wealth. As such, no matter how small you begin, it will eventually turn into your financial reserve, which will then be used as a bridge to the next higher level of wealth. This reserve is required to cushion you throughout the waiting period for your harvest. Here, I am not disputing that you may get instant windfall on your investment venture, but the probability is remote.

At the same time, it is not wise for you to live in another extreme scenario whereby you keep on cutting expenses until you do not live life at all. Therefore, you need draw a line where to put a stop.

Alternatively, you may make some alteration to your spending pattern in a such way that can bring more benefits for the extra you spent. For instance, you may reward yourself with a gift/ have a celebration for your new achievement. This is important because it will drive you further to achieve a next higher target in the long run. By doing so, you will also have a more meaningful life. In reality, this sort of benefits may be difficult to quantify with accuracy especially if you want to take into account those intangible benefits that associate with the extra you have spent.  Here, you have to use your gut feeling or experience to gauge this value. No doubts, it is very subjective and arbitrary. But, we have to take it into consideration so as to give us a fair value of it.

However, it may be even more complicated especially if we wanted to book in the value of its indirect benefits such as good feeling which may indirectly enhance your productivity due to the good effect derived from the extra money that you have spent.

Your judgment will only improve through trials and testings. Individual’s wealth management skills are also not exempted from this process. Similarly, saving is a skill where you have to practise until it become part of you, i.e. ingrained as a habit. You will then be able to be in control of yourself and not spend lavishly, without affecting your main financial goals. Despite the fact that you allow some deviation against saving, you are in overall control of keeping  your financial goals intact. This is because  you have  mastered the skill that allows you to control your spending pattern so as not to affect your overall financial structure. No one can challenge you in this aspect because you are the only one who knows your financial destination. This operate exactly like the ship captain who maneuvers his ship when he faces with unexpected storms or other challenges that come along his voyage.

Some use budgeting tools to navigate their spending pattern to keep their finance on track towards their financial destination. I am not against this idea. However, I want to warn you that more than often we will not achieve our  budget no matter how well you prepared it. In reality, there are so many unknown factors which are not possible to predict with accuracy. A good examples is the fluctuation of the foreign exchange rate. Therefore, your experience and skill will come into play in these areas to assist you to make those necessarily adjustment that will not have any adverse impact on your financial destination.

It is clear by now that priorities lead to prosperity. Your financial prosperity will be your most highest priority and you will prepare to do anything to ensure that this priority will stay intact no matter what happens to you.  By focusing on that particular financial prosperity, coupled with other values such as persistence and power of concentration, I  see no reason why you cannot achieve it.

Once you have achieved your financial destination, the more challenging issue is how to sustain it. You must be aware that it is much more easier to achieve your financial destination than sustaining it. To sustain it, you need to stay in control at all times. Bear in mind that the more wealthier you are, the higher risks you are exposed because more swindlers will prey on you than others. You also need to be guarded against your own temptations which more than often make you stumble. What bring you up may bring you down as well. That is the law of nature that has been operating throughout the human history.

James Oh

 

Other articles by James Oh:

>> How to get faster results

>> How to retire gracefully

>> Steps to overcome major obstacles of staying healthy (Part 2)

About the Author:

James Oh is an accountant by profession and he works as a Financial Controller for more than 10 years with several companies in Singapore and Malaysia. He is a full member of the Singapore Institute of Director and he also obtained a LLB (Law degree) from the University of London in 2003. He is happily married with 3 loving kids.

James blog at http://liftyouup.blogspot.com

Six ways to get inspired

By James Oh

Staying inspired is a tough job for most people, if not all. Even entrepreneur may sometimes find it difficult to stay inspired because he may also be caught in the circumstances that are unfavourable. As such, knowing that life is getting tough and the tough get going.  Therefore, he has to continuously find somethings to inspire himself.

Take this blog for an example, no doubts I like to share and exchange my thoughts, experiences, skills and ideas with other. However, it is not easy to put all these in writing, worse still in a precise manner as I wish. Luckily, I know and apply the success formula to stay in this course.

Here, I  share some of the things I do so as to keep myself inspired and in high spirits.

1. HAVE FAITH IN IT

Whatever you do, you must always have faith in it. Otherwise it will lead you no where. I am lucky to say that I have gone through numerous trials till it has ingrained in me that I do not have much difficulty in having faith in whatever I pursue. No doubts, sometimes I may side track  for a while. I somehow manage to bounce back to a level higher than when I began to fall.

2. CONSTANTLY FEEDING OUR MINDS WITH POSITIVE STUFF

I would say that reading great articles, books, bible and magazines are the main contributors to keep me inspired and in high spirits. As a result, I am able to stay focused and not get influence by surrounding negative events.

In this connection, cautious steps must be taken to ensure that positive materials are fed into our minds. Our minds need all these positive and healthy materials to strengthen them just like our muscles need vitamins.

3. CONSTANTLY STAYING WITH POSITIVE MINDED PEOPLE

I hope everyone has a group of either family members or friends he can lean on. It is important to have a good conversation with someone who has the same belief like you as he can really lift your spirits, especially someone you admire.

Thankfully I am blessed with a number of successful people and friends who are sincere about my success and always give me courage to do what I desire.

4. USE YOUR IMAGINATION TO FAN YOUR DESIRE

Similarly, you need more than daydreams and wishful wishes to get the juice flowing. This is important to keep you moving ahead towards your goals. I can’t find any better way than this and I can’t see anyone can help me if I don’t do so.
To me this is the main ingredient of the magic formula which will assist you to overcome whatsoever obstacles you are facing. This is the internal power that lie inside you which is more important that what lies ahead of you.

5. POSITIVE WORDS, ACTION AND APPROACH

Whether you like it or not. the law of nature states that positive words will attract positive thoughts and actions. Similarly, negative words will attract negative thoughts and actions. So, I do not need to elaborate  any further and assume you will know what to do if you want to stay inspired.

6. LISTENING TO INSPIRING MUSICS OR TAPES

This may seem obvious and workable to some of you. So why not let inspiring music or tapes  get your creative juices flowing out? If you have not try it, I encourage you to take this challenge. I have tried them out and am satisfied with the results.

Please feel free to share your experience or thoughts through the comments or email to me at jamesoh2003@yahoo.co.uk. Thank you in advance.

Stay tuned again and look forward to hearing from you,

James Oh

Other articles by James Oh:

>> How to get faster results

>> How to retire gracefully

>> Steps to overcome major obstacles of staying healthy (Part 2)

About the Author:

James Oh is an accountant by profession and he works as a Financial Controller for more than 10 years with several companies in Singapore and Malaysia. He is a full member of the Singapore Institute of Director and he also obtained a LLB (Law degree) from the University of London in 2003. He is happily married with 3 loving kids.

James blog at http://liftyouup.blogspot.com

Working towards a more focused life

By James Oh, Lifestyle Correspondent

Life is short. To live more meaningfully, we need to aim high and achieve more for ourselves and society as a whole. The million dollar question raised here is  how to  achieve this aim.

The answer to the question is definitely not an easy one, but it is not impossible. I believe that most people, if not all, want to achieve that remarkable result for themselves. Below are some of the basic proven guidelines, which I found useful and believe they will benefit you too. Please do feel free to add any other pointers you may have, through the comment column so that everyone may benefit from it.

1. PINPOINT THE PRIMARY GOAL

Here, your goal must be specific, measurable and within certain time frame. Vagueness is the invariable hallmark of the unfocused mind. So, define it precisely and accurately within a specific time frame so as to achieve your goal.

2. CONTINUE TO FAN DESIRE TOWARDS THAT GOAL

You need more than daydreams and wistful wishes. There must be intense, burning desire that drives you to take positive action to work toward your pre-set goals.  To have a lasting effect, you need to develop it yourself by constantly, clearly imagining the benefits that achieving the goal will bring.

3. TAKE APPROPRIATE ACTION

Knowing is one thing but doing is another.  Here, you need to work continuously and take calculated chances, be prepared to make sacrifices and endure setbacks till you achieve your goal. You can’t afford to allow the luxury of laziness or delights of frequent distraction to take over your life. In this respect, you are expected to pay what you get. The higher your goal, the higher the price you have to pay.

4. CONSTANTLY EVALUATE AND MONITOR PROGRESS

We need to be aware that taking action is not sufficient. Constant evaluation and monitoring of progress are required. To ensure that we are working toward our goals, we need to obtain feedback and monitor whether we are heading toward our pre-set goals. Otherwise, adjustment is needed so that there will be no deviation from the goals.

5. SEND RIGHT MESSAGE TO YOUR SUBCONSCIOUS MIND

Always remember that all the fears, worries and failure thoughts are constantly channeled into our subconscious mind, and then nothing constructive is going to be sent back. However, a clear, purposeful goal is steadfastly held in the subconscious mind, the subconscious will accept it and begin to supply the conscious mind with plans, ideas, insights, and the energies necessary to achieve that goal. As such, the right message to your subconscious mind is crucial to drive you working towards your goal.

6. NEVER QUIT

Failure is the root of success. So, keep picking up and returning to the fight long after most people would have given up. Be prepared to accept adversity, bounce back and never give up.

7. HAVE FAITH IN IT

We need to realise that the most powerful force in the world is the idea that has taken root in a human mind and heart. Once you have faith in it, nothing can stop you from achieving it.

8. NEVER BUILD A CASE AGAINST YOURSELF

Always be positive and stop cringing. In whatever circumstance, never allow anyone to build a case against yourself if you want to succeed. It is not easy, but the impact is great.

9. NEVER GIVE EXCUSE OR BLAME OTHERS

To become a focused person, get rid of self limiting thoughts. The people who get on in this world are the people who look for the circumstances they want, and if they can’t find them, create them. Always be accountable to yourselves and never blame others or give excuses. Major causes of failures on earth are due to no accountability and the desire to blame others.

Trust you enjoy reading this article.

James Oh

 

Other articles by James Oh:

>> How to get faster results

>> How to retire gracefully

>> Steps to overcome major obstacles of staying healthy (Part 2)

About the Author:

James Oh is an accountant by profession and he works as a Financial Controller for more than 10 years with several companies in Singapore and Malaysia. He is a full member of the Singapore Institute of Director and he also obtained a LLB (Law degree) from the University of London in 2003. He is happily married with 3 loving kids.

James blog at http://liftyouup.blogspot.com

Next Page »