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Hi Jonny,

I stumbled upon your blog and have to say that I love it! I would love if it if you could share some insight/direction with me . . . I have this sense of being trapped in the rat race and want so much more to life. So far, the closest I’ve gotten is taking the coveted one week vacation per year to see some of the most beautiful places on earth! I want more like one week of work a year and beautiful places the rest of the year! I know that it is possible for me and that there is a way out, but I don’t know where to find the “door” as I have a dream but no plan. I am a therapist (I work with emotionally disturbed teens at a highly stressful and demanding job) and have no idea how I can leave the rat race and still support myself and cover things like medical insurance living abroad. I am not an entrepreneur (that I am aware of thus far lol!) so I’m kind of at a loss. I so admire everything that you are doing but don’t have the business experience you have. I know that you are very busy and living the dream but if you have a moment to share some of your blessings and direction I would be so appreciative. Congratulations on everything you’ve done thus far and to the adventures that await you!

Laurie

So this is an email I got from one of my readers a few months ago and I have finally got round to writing a proper response. I am sure that Laurie’s questions are very much the same as many people reading this blog and wanting more out of life. Therefore I have tried to address the question raised by giving three pieces of advice that I have learn’t over the last few years of living the life that I do.

Obviously this is not a step by step solution to living the dream life as I don’t believe there really is a “dream life” or a step by step way of getting there. To me, there is simply “life” and making the most of it. However, if you are feeling stuck, these three keynotes should help.

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1. You Have To Risk It

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As Laurie puts it, she has a sense of being trapped in the rat race trap and I think we can all relate to that one, I know I certainly can. I spent a few years after the failure of my first business working as a Project Manager in the oil and gas industry, getting paid decently but feeling more and more stuck with every passing day. The thing is, the only way I had to get out of that life and into the one that I live now was to risk giving up the good to go for the great. I was well paid, traveled Europe and was responsible for almost £8 million in business before I was 23. This was an incredible job and if I wanted to rise in the corporate world I was a fool to give it up.

Thats just the thing though, I had a good life but I wanted a great life. I was willing to take the risk to get the great life. It may not have worked out, I might have failed considerably, I could be in a very different situation right now…but thats ok, I know the risk I was taking and I was ready to take on the consequences, whatever happened…good or bad.

I still would have liked to have done better than I have by now, who doesn’t, that is simply human nature, though I am glad I took the risk and wouldn’t change it for the world.

The number one reason that people don’t managed to escape the rat race and live life on their own terms is that they are not willing to take the risk, and even more than that, the are not willing to fail, dust themselves off and start again.

My first company failed after 18 months of hard slog. I made no money, in fact, it cost me money and it took me almost two years to get over it. But I did get over it, learnt from my mistakes and took that experience into building more businesses, better and stronger businesses which now provide the income I need to live the life I do.

There is always going to be a risk and you are going to fail and be disappointed…a lot. If you can handle that risk, failure and disappointment than the world is yours. I promise you.

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2. It’s Not About Removing work, It Is About Blending it

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Laurie mentions that she is looking for one week of work a year and the rest of the time in beautiful places. I have to say to you Laurie, that this is the worst thing you could possibly do. Life is not about removing work, everyone needs work to live a full life. Having meaningful work in your life is part of what brings the most happiness, without it you have no purpose and sunbathing gets very boring, very quickly.

Getting the life you want is not about removing work and working less hours, it is about blending your work with your life and doing something you are passionate about and love, then it does not seem life work.

I work exceptionally hard; on my businesses, on new projects, with helping people out. The difference is that I am free to define my own hours, I can choose not to work if I want to do something else and I enjoy my work so much I look forward to doing it.

Everyone needs to work to live a full and happy life, it is just that the difference between working for a paycheck and working to create value for others and making cash through that, doing something you love is so vastly a better way to live.

I would suggest you don’t look to remove work from your life but simply focus on ways of creating value in other peoples lives doing the things you enjoy. If you can create value for others, you will also create wealth and freedom for yourself.

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3. Experience is only 10% of the battle

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I appreciated Laurie’s comment about my business experience, though in all honesty I am not that experienced at all. I may have more businesses and entrepreneurial and lifestyle design experience that most but I am still playing in the little league at the moment.

What I do have though, is an incredibly ability to fail. I have probably failed more than anyone I know, more often and much greater.

Experience is great and it can help but more than experience you need guts, determination, a willingness to fail, to face the challenges head on and battle through them. That is the only way you are going to find happiness and the life you want; by sweat, effort and in all honestly quite a hefty handful of luck.

If I were given the choice to be lucky or talented I would take lucky every time. There is a chance that you will never succeed, there is a chance that I will never find more success than I have now, there is a chance we all might plateau and never rise again, but there is also a chance that we will make it and I for one jump at the opportunity.

Sometimes life can be a bitch and luck does play a large part in success. However, the harder you work the luckier you become as you will never have the chance at the opportunities if you don’t put yourself in a position to succeed.

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To Sum Up

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I hope this has been somewhat helpful. I know it is not step by step advice, “A do this, do that guide” to success. I don’t do this because i don’t believe in it. Everyones journey is unique and how I have found success will more than likely not work for you, everyone has to find their own path.

At the end of the day just remember, it is about the journey not the end result. Enjoy the journey, enjoy the success and enjoy the failures and you can’t go too far wrong.

Peace all.

If you have any more questions for me then just simply email me at jonny@thelifething.com. I am going to make most of my future posts simple answering peoples questions as I think that this is the best way to add value to your guys. Don’t miss out on the opportunity to get answers.

Also, if you want more personal help and advise then I work one on one with people to help them develop the life they want. Get in contact to find to more.

How To Create The Life You Crave, From A Guy Who Has Done It is a post from: thelifething.com
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This is a guest post from Stephen Mills from theratracetrap.com

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Read Time: Around 5-6 minutes

Stephen Mills is a personal development blogger who shares his thoughts at his blog

“In this world, things are hard, and conflict and pain are commonplace. Fighting for what you want and against what you don’t want is considered normal. Struggle is celebrated in this world – in this difficult world.” – Julia Rogers Hamrick

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What is The Easy Life?

To me the easy life is a life where you primarily do what you want, when you want to do it. You thrive instead of just survive. You live a life of joy, peace, and one relatively free of pain, conflict, struggle, and resistance. It does not necessarily mean a life free of challenge, effort, or intensity. Nor does it mean a life of lounging around doing nothing.

I know people who play soccer during their lunch hour in the broiling Houston summer heat. If I were to do that, it would be hard. To them it is fun and they enjoy it immensely. They do not have to motivate themselves to get through it. If you love mountain climbing, it might be challenging, exhausting, and difficult, but it does not mean you live a “hard” life. You do it because you love it. To me, any repetitive, boring, simple task is hard. Those tasks used to be an enormous struggle for me to complete. They are easier for me now, but they still not what I would call part of an “easy” life.

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The Two Ways of The Easy Life

In my view, there are two complementary ways to live the easy life. One is changing your behavior and the other is changing your thoughts. I think they both are required but you can achieve an easy life with different degrees of each; there is no one solution for everyone. The ideas below contain both ways. It’s important to note that these are high-level summaries and each one requires a deeper dive to figure out how it can work for you. 10 Ways to The Easy Life This is a partial list. I feel like I could go on forever, but these ideas are the first ten I thought of and I think are a great start to living the easy life.

1. Kill your commitments. The vast majority of people I know are seriously over committed. Over the years, I have come to the conclusion that commitment in general is a bad thing.  I know this may go against common wisdom, but if common wisdom was so wise, most people wouldn’t be common.

Commitments invariable become a burden. It never fails that a commitment will end up conflicting with something else you want or need or feel like doing instead. You might just be tired and not feel like it, but since you committed you feel you must. Then it becomes hard. This doesn’t mean you can’t contribute, volunteer, help, give, or whatever else you feel like doing. Just don’t commit in advance. Do it on an ad hoc basis; when you feel like doing it. Refusing to commit is a basic part of a free and easy life. I’ve written much more on this in Freedom From Commitment.

2. Avoid the golden handcuffs. We get used to living at or above our means and buying all kinds of material things.  We do not need these large homes, expensive cars, electronic toys, clothes, or the myriad of other things we get used to living with. Having all these things comes with a cost; it often means handcuffing yourself to a job or a way of earning money that you don’t enjoy. You are not free to decide to quit your job or do something else, because you are enslaved by your possessions. These material possessions will not make your life easy or happy. Do you want to work until you are old at a job you don’t enjoy so you can pay for homes, cars and other possessions? Or would you rather live modestly and sit on the beach reading a book (or whatever else makes you happy)?

3. Decide to pay the price to get out. Getting to easy will sometimes come with a price. You must commit to paying the pricing to getting out of the traps that are causing you pain, discomfort, boredom, or anything else that you don’t want or like. Paying the price to get out is better than staying trapped. The get out price is may be intense, but at least it will be temporary. The price of staying trapped is a chronic slow burning pain. I say rip off the bandage and get on with your new life. If a person or circumstance in your life is causing you unhappiness, you have to let them go. Alternative you can choose to live your difficult life. Don’t blame anyone else; it is you who are choosing to live that way

4. Stop compromising. I know this is a controversial statement, but I really feel strongly about it. It’s also a much nuanced topic that would take a book to fully explore. I wrote one article specifically on this subject and I encourage you to read it if you are interested: Freedom From Compromise and Control. My view of compromise is that it is typically usually a lose-lose situation.

5. Accept that you are choosing your life. You are choosing your life. You don’t have to do anything. This is a hard concept for most people to accept, but unless you take responsibility for your choices and your circumstances you will never get to an easy life. If you think your life is forced upon you, then stop reading and have a long miserable life.

6. Forget what happened in the past. This is captured in a wonderful quote by Guy Finley:
”Stop thinking you can change what happened yesterday by reliving it today.” I would modify that to stop reliving what happened to you five minutes ago. Every minute of stress, upset, anger, disappointment, depression, or any other negative emotion over what has already happened, is another minute thrown into the wastebasket of your life. You can’t change the past, but you can enjoy the present.

7. Don’t give away your happiness. Do you have a boss that makes you mad?  Is there a toxic person in your life who makes you depressed or causes you to seethe with anger and frustration?  Do you stress out over the idiot drivers on the roads?  You are handing your happiness over to them; just giving it away as if it were nothing. Read more here.

8. Stop caring what other people think. From almost the time you are born you are bombarded by others with telling you what you are expected to do, what you should do, what will make you happy, beautiful, successful, and secure. You should do what makes you happy as long as you respect the rights of others. I say to hell with what others think. If you really think about it, it is highly hypocritical and arrogant of others to expect you to do what they want.

9. Stop caring what others do. The day I stopped caring what others did, a gigantic burden was lifted from my shoulders. There may no more single psychological freeing experience than simply letting go of the behavior of others. This does not mean you have to agree with what others do; your values and beliefs will obviously be different than those of other people. What it does mean is that you refuse to let what they do affect you.

10. Stop trying to control others. This is a special case of caring what others do. So to keep it short and simple: The degree you try to control another person, is the degree to which you make yourself a slave to their behavior.

10 Easy Steps For Getting Yourself To The Easy Life is a post from: thelifething.com
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I used to work as a Project Manager for a Swiss engineering company who operated in the oil and gas industry. As you can imagine there was a lot of money flowing around which was only matched by the sheer quantity of emails bouncing back and forth through inboxes. Most days it was like email ping pong around the office with managers, personal, clients. engineers, shop workers, bosses and even the secretary getting involved.

As a project manager we averaged around 100-300 emails a day and were expected to get through them. This routinely added a good few hours to my day and as I was always quite fond of my free time out of the office, this was a problem for me.

Now not everyone will be getting this quantity of email every day but the principles below I used to reduce the amount I actually had to look at by around 90% from 100-300 a day to less than 20 can be applied to anyones inbox.

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1. For Gods sake stop checking your email every 5 minutes

Trust me, nothing in life is that important. Not clients, not problems, not England winning the world cup ( ? ).

No matter how important you think you are there is never a need for people to always have instant access to you.

If you don’t believe me go on holiday for a week and don’t reply to any emails. People work out ways around you if the need is great enough, even personal clients will forgive you.

I try to only check my emails once a day, and I did this even as a project manager so don’t tell me that it is different for you as it is not. Most people have an inflated sense of worth which is why they think they are so important everyone must has access to them. Sorry guys, life does go on without you.

Let your emails batch up and only check them at a certain time for a specific amount of time.

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2. You don’t actually need to read most of the emails you get

Again, look past how important you think you are and think about the amount of emails you actually have to answer. The ones that are directly sent solely to you or are solely for you action mainly. Usually in any business this is very few. In project management it is very, very few though most PM’s will tell you this is not the case.

Get into the habit of only answering emails that are sent directly to you and only you and that will need actioning by you and only you. These are the priority, anything else can wait or can be ignored. Almost all the time there will be no repercussions.

This leads me onto point 3.

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3. Take the time to set up email rules.

I reduced the amount of emails I got in any given day most dramatically by taking an hour to set up some rules. Here they are:

Rule 1: Any email directed to me and only me was highlighted in Red – These are the ones I have to answer and were the only ones that appeared directly in my inbox.

Rule 2: Any email directed to me and another person was highlighted in blue and sent to a “Potential Box” These emails were more often than not answered by the other guy and never came back to me. However if there was a problem I had easy access to the emails.

Rule 3: Any email that I was CC’d on was sent straight to an “Information Folder” and I never looked at them unless someone specifically emailed me on a subject that I would then look up easily using the search. Contrary to popular belief a project manager does not need to know everything about everything that is going on in his project, people are competent if you trust them. A project manager is there to oversee not control and it is the same in other professions.

Rule 4: Write a professional email responder that lets people know how you operate in emails and that if it is incredibly important to send you an email with FYA in the subject line and sent only to you. This has to be tactfully done as many of the rules I set up were not allowed at my company and won’t be at many others. It didn’t stop me from using them because I knew I was more productive that way but I had to be careful that others didn’t know I was using them. People don’t like change in big companies, be sneaky.

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4. Get people talking to each other.

As a project manager you can get caught up in lots of office love triangles ( and not the good ones ) between clients and engineers and internal staff and the shop floor assistance along with the odd intern and these said love triangles are birthed and developed through email. Cut it out quickly.

If everything is coming though you at each interaction there is always a lot of lost in translation problems or at the very best you have you to keep forwarding the emails to the right people and you become a glorified data transferrer. Lots of wasted time.

This problem can be easily removed by setting up policies where people email each other and CC you into the conversations. You will obviously only then look at it if there is a problem but 9 times out of ten things go smoothly. Learn to smile and talk to people.

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5. Send Concise Emails

In todays age of easy and instant communication we have lost the art of being concise and asking for what you want. Back when a letter between businesses would take 2 weeks to turn around it was important to write well so that there was no confusion on what was needed and by when, how and by whom. We have lost that mostly in this age, so you need to get back into the habit.

Don’t just send emails for the sake of it and CC everyone in on it. Know what the aim of the email is and be concise, email the correct person and only others if completely necessary. Include all the detail so it doesn’t come bouncing back within 20 minutes asking you to clarify.

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6. Weed Out Your Trouble Makers

Unfortunately there are always people in business that just love emails and sending them. They seem to think they are doing a better job because of it. They will send them in the early hours of the morning and CC every in on it, or ask stupid questions and reply with one word answers. These are the people that start calling you and sending repeat emails if you don’t get back to them within 20 minutes. They have far too much time on their hands and are a pain in the ass.

Create a special folder for these people and start to slowly phase them out by ignoring them.

Usually they will get more aggressive initially but just keep a record of their pointless emails to use in your defence later on if the issue goes higher. Usually, shown the evidence of their foolishness you will never have a problem.

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To Sum Up

You might think that your job does not allow this type of approach but just remember, I was a Project Manager of a multi billion pound global company and personally had responsibility for many millions of pounds worth of project and clients.

I used these rules and it made my life a hell of a lot easier. I was never fired, reprimanded or brought before the boss. My project, far from collapsing actually ran smoother and I freed up many hours every day.

Do not instantly reject this approach, it WILL save you many, many hours.

Help Me Out

I give all this advice out for free and so if you like what I write and it helped you, please help me out by letting others know. On this site, it has been scientifically proven that by doing so you will become instantly twice as attractive to the opposite sex. Can’t argue with science.

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How I Owned The Hell Out Of My Email And Reduced It By 90 Percent Without Being Fired is a post from: thelifething.com
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The 95% Way or the 5% way – Skoda or Ferrari?

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Why Read (<850 words)

Finance can be a very complicated and disconcerting place, like France…but it doesn’t have to be. Understanding your most basic and important financial equation, your personal cash flow, is very easy using simple cash flow arrows. Knowing the cashflow arrows and knowing that they need to be balanced is easy. Going about balancing them in a different way to 95% of the populations requires more leg work…but the payoff is huge. If you want to learn how to go after the big prize then read on.

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Cash flow Arrows

Financially speaking, there is a vast difference between the amounts of money that people earn. Some make more than others and some make substantially more than others. However, everyone shares the same cash flow balancing act. Everyone has cash coming in, (Green Arrow) and cash flowing out (Red Arrow). Ideally the cash coming in arrow wants to be larger than the cash going out arrow and not the other way round to ensure a level of financial security and freedom from the pay check. All fairly simple stuff so far.

Everyone has the same simple cash flow equation but there are two ways of balancing it. 95% of people balance it one way and only 5% of people balance it another way. You want to be in the 5% category and it is easier than you think.

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The 95% Way - Sell Your Time And Experience

For most people the only way to increase the size of the green arrow is to sell more and more time or gain more and more experience (which also takes time). Selling more time is an obvious way to earn more and increasing your experience means that your time is worth more per hour. This in itself is very obviously a ultimately flawed solution as there is only a finite amount of time and experience that one person can sell and thus there is a finite size to your green arrow. The red arrow on the other hand, your outgoings, is not so finite and can very easily get very large, very quickly.

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The 5% Way - Package Your Time And Experience And Sell It Over And Over And Over Again

How did Bill Gates manage to become the richest person in the world and a multi billionaire? According to the 95% way this just isn’t possible. Bill Gates experience, as great as it is, isn’t worth billions and he has no more hours available to him to sell than any other individual. What Bill Gates did, and what brought him huge wealth, was to package his experience in the form of software and ultimately his company Microsoft. He could now sell this package again and again and again. This is called a scalable model and in theory is infinite within the huge global market.

Only a small amount of people live this way, but in this current world it is the model that everyone should be aiming for. Possibly not at the scale of Microsoft but then it doesn’t have to be.

Repackaging and selling your experience in a product form means that, after the initial investment, you are not having to trade your time for cash.

Most people who make their money this way actually pay for other peoples time to keep it running and the money coming in, giving them freedom from the pay check. The more they sell, the more people they hire and the more money they make but without trading their key resource, their time. Cash generating assets like these make the owner money whether he is awake/asleep/on holidays or catching up on the latest episode of lost.

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Leverage Isn’t Always Good

The trick to owning cash generating assets and having a stress free life is to ensure that they are not leveraged as much as possible.

Leveraged cash generating assets are those obtained by taking out loans and going into debt and are risky when not properly managed and understood. If the cash stops coming in you could be left with huge debts. Ideally your cash generating assets should be non-leveraged so that if they do dry up all that stops is the money coming in and if you have multiple streams of income, this should not present a problem. Non leveraged cash generating assets are not as difficult to set up as some might think and there are some great books out there that go into it in much more detail than I will. A good start is to read the 4 Hour Workweek by Tim Ferris.

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To Sum Up

How you balance your Cashflow arrows will determine how wealthy you will become. No one becomes wealthy over night, it is a long term investment in knowledge and understanding. However you have a choice, follow the herd and do what 95% of people do to balance their arrows or commit to learning to create non leveraged cash generating arrows and become wealthy with the other 5%.

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Help Me Out

I give all this advice out for free and so if you like what I write and it helped you, please help me out by letting others know. On this site, it has been scientifically proven that by doing so you will become instantly twice as attractive to the opposite sex. Can’t argue with science.

How To Get A VIP Pass Into The 5% Category Of The Wealthy is a post from: thelifething.com
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This is a guest post from Jennifer Barry of liverichly.com..

Maybe you’re sitting in your cubicle asking yourself,
“Should I stay or should I go?” Here are 8 ways to know it’s time say goodbye to your boss.

Jonny Note//

Jennifer is a great writer that I have been following for a while now. I recently wrote a guest post on her blog entitled “Discovering The Hidden Gems Of Life” Click here to check it out.

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1. You can’t remember the last time you got a raise

I know times are tough, but businesses still have to
retain their valued workers. Skipping everyone during one bad year may
be understandable, but if it’s been a couple of years, maybe you
aren’t so valued. I know someone who hasn’t seen her pay
increase in over a decade, and I wonder when she’s going to get
the hint.

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2. Your boss tells you to find a new job

While the lack of a raise may be subtle, you have no excuse for staying if your boss suggests you hit the road. Who could be this clueless? I can think of several friends who thought they could “work it out.” Somehow, they are still shocked when they get laid off and don’t have their resume ready (CV for you Brits).

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3. Your pile of work is nearly to the ceiling

I don’t mind pitching in and helping out, but sometimes expectations are ridiculous. If you’ve explained to your boss that you are swamped but you keep getting new assignments, it’s time to find someplace that only expects the work of one human.

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4. Only certain people have to do work

I think we’ve all been through this one. You are working like a dog,but Mary or Bob doesn’t have to do much at all. Maybe they are related to someone in management, an old frat buddy, or “dating” someone important so you don’t dare complain about the favoritism. It’s best to find a new job where you actually get appreciated for doing someone else’s work.

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5. Your co-worker is nuts

That weird guy in shipping can make the day go by faster, but some people are just crazy backstabbers. If the level of drama at your work is somewhere between “Desperate Housewives” and “The Sopranos,” maybe you should find somewhere sane to work.

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6. You are the boss’ favorite whipping boy

Sometimes this goes along with #4, when you get blamed for not doing your co-worker’s job. Other times, your boss just doesn’t like you. Either way, it’s time to find another place to work ASAP.

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7. Dickens would be horrified by your workplace

Sometimes your environment is just bad: dirty, unsafe, crowded, or you have to work retail (just kidding). I’ve had jobs where they demanded unpaid overtime or complained if you had to use the bathroom. Some of my most fond memories involve quitting these jobs.

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8. Your cubicle feels like a prison

Do you dread having to get up every morning? Do the walls on your cubicle feel like they are closing in? Is your job stupid and pointless? Maybe you should try to work for yourself. If you can figure out how to have a business and take a daily swim in Bangkok like Jonny does, that sounds like a sweet deal.

Jennifer Barry writes Liverichly.com, a lifestyle design
blog about pursuing your passions and having amazing experiences even if
you aren’t rich.

If you have a guest post you want to showcase at thelifething.com and are willing to have one on your site in return then send me an email. Please be aware that your blog must have at least 500 subscribers.

Top 8 Signs You Should Leave Your Job is a post from: thelifething.com
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How To Change Your Current Reality By Inflating A Bigger Balloon For A Better Life

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Why Read

Possibly the most important post I have ever written and the most powerful in terms of changing your reality and effecting the rest of your life.

A highly visual and critical lesson in your current reality and the implications it has for the rest of your life. You cannot afford to miss this one.

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Reality And The Future

Your current reality is at the core of who you are and the life you are living right now. What reality you have in the  future will determine who you are and the life you will be living then. Visualizing this need in order to upgrade your reality is difficult and the reason I have developed the concept of Reality Balloons.

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The Reality Balloons

One of these balloons will define your current reality and one will define your future reality. You can be happy in both just as you can be unhappy in both. Whether you are happy in life or not will determine which balloon you want to be in and whether that is indeed the case.

Your reality can be best illustrated visually by a balloon.

Some people have a very small balloons and their current reality is very limited. Others have slightly bigger balloons and live a much larger reality, other still have huge balloons and live a life many of us cannot imagine. Here are the balloons.

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The Birthday Balloon Reality

Most people only ever own a birthday balloon throughout their lifetime.

You know the ones, small size and usually have some simple or ironic birthday message like “Happy 13th Birthday” or “Now That You Are 25 – No More Sheep”.

Some peoples birthday balloons are more inflated than others but all are limited to a very small size, small enough for a child to hold.

People that I would put in this category are those stuck in a 9-5 job – the deflated balloon owners hate their jobs and the highly inflated balloon owners love them but are trapped by them.

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The Fairground Balloon Reality

Some others in life own fairground balloons.

They have a bigger reality and thus live a bigger life than most. There are quite a people who own fairground balloon realties.

People I put in this category are those currently living their dreams, owning a small business, living where they want and having more free time than most. They work hard, they play hard but their reality is still small enough to be held by hand. They mainly work for themselves and have very little effect on the lives of others.

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The Hot Air Ballon Reality

Still others own Hot Air Balloon Realties.

They have a large balloon and a large reality, it cannot be grounded by any individual nor in fact by many people.

The hot air balloon reality has huge amounts of lift and can carry the owner and others up to very high heights.

People I put in this category are large business and charity owners, the builders of organizations and systems that make themselves rich and help a huge amount of others in the process through products, services and job opportunities.

They enjoy the best things in life and they make positive impacts on hundreds of people in their home cities and countries.

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The German Airship Reality

A small number of people in this world have airship realities.

Nothing short of powerful machinery can keep them from becoming airborne and rising to incredibly heights.

The Airships have unrivaled power and lift. They lift hundreds and thousands of people up with them.

I put people like Henry Ford, Edison, Warren Buffet and Richard Brandson into this category.

They live lives that most can not even dream about. They can have and experience anything this world has to offer and in their success they change the lives of millions around the globe through their ideas, businesses and systems.

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Your Future Reality

Where are you currently? Are you a birthday balloon, a fairground variety, or do you own a hot air balloon or just perhaps you almost have an airship.

Your future reality is first determined by what you think. If you cannot imagine ever owning the ballon above where you are now then you will NEVER be able to achieve it. Success first begins in the mind, and then through focus and hard work, is translated into reality.

You can be happy or miserable within any balloon reality so bigger is not always better. Which reality you will be happiest in is decided by you and who you are.

If you are a person who wants to own a hot air ballon reality but you stay with a birthday balloon one all your life, then you will never find peace and contentment.

There is a huge exponential difference between the four balloon realties and one cannot simply keep inflating your current balloon to get to the next size up. A paradigm shift needs to occur.

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Content Verses Context – Expanding Your Reality

A paradigm shift is defined as A radical change in thinking from an accepted point of view to a new one

You cannot simply inflate you current balloon reality to the next size up. If you try to put as much air as is in a fairground balloon into a birthday ballon it will burst.

The same thing goes for a hot air balloon into a fairground and an airship into a hot air balloon, except that in these cases the difference is exponential.

To move to the next air balloon reality you need to pop your old balloon and upgrade to the next one up. Like busting a balloon this will be a shocking experience. When you burst a birthday ballon, you flinch. When you burst a birthday balloon reality, you definitely flinch.

I bursted my birthday ballon the moment I quit my high paying job and realized I was living the wrong reality. I could have spent my life inflating air into this balloon reality and might have got it to inflate to its very peak. Then, around age 35-40 I would overfill it and it would burst. I would be left with nothing because I had too much ambition for the balloon but it took me 20 years to work it out.

I burst my balloon early, even though it was becoming nicely inflated. I had a great job, great pay, lots of travel, girls and great promotion opportunity.

I would have done well, made middle management and then top management. However I would have not been happy.

I was filling a balloon I didn’t want to end up with and so I had to make the tough decision to burst it. It was shocking, it was painful and most people couldn’t understand why the hell I would do that but I understood the reality ballon concept and realize that it had to be done.

The major pain with popping the balloon is that you now upgrade to the fair ground one but it has no air in it, and it is going to take a huge amount of time and effort to inflate to anywhere near my last one was.

This is painful but necessary. I am back to square one but now, I am filling a new balloon from deflated.

My paradigm shift happened and I couldn’t be happier even though the road ahead is going to be long and tough.

I know also that in the future I eventually want to own a hot air balloon or even an airship.

Each time I am going to have to burst the ballon I am in and this time it will be even more shocking and painful.

You also will need to decide what balloon reality you want to be in and make your decisions. If you are happy with a Birthday Balloon Reality then great, many people have been happy and successful with this approach. However if you want to be the owner of a fairground, hot air, or airship balloon then you cannot be wasting your time filling air into a Birthday balloon. No matter how full it gets you will never be happy until it bursts and then you will be left with nothing.

People will have different ballon realities at different times in life. You cannot go from Birthday Balloon straight to Airship without owning each of the two before it. Just make sure you know which reality balloon you are currently holding and if you are happy with it at this point in your life.

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To Sum Up

Be honest with yourself and decide what reality ballon you are in. If you are happy to own this ballon, however well inflated, at the end of your life then great, stick with what you have and fill it to breaking point.

If however you want to own a different ballon, then you will never be happy no matter how much you fill your current one.

If you want to end up with a different ballon reality you have to first burst your current one. It will be painful, you will have to start again and you will have to work even harder but if that is what you want then you will not be happy any other way.

Please re-read this post because it is the most important one I have ever written and if you fully grasp the concept it will revolutionize your life.

Thanks for reading.

The Most Important Post I have Ever Written About Lifestyle Design is a post from: thelifething.com
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. Life is a daring adventure…or nothing – Helen Keller

A Pretty simple, straightforward and most importantly, powerful statement I would say

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What Is Life If Not An Adventure?

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It’s a funny thing life, one day we are here and the next we are gone. Depending on your religious you may believe there is a ultimate point to life or not but in either case, what is the point of life if you are in it just to survive. Just to survive life seems to be rather a wasteful use of time and really rather pointless. If you have the gift of life then why spend 80 years justwandering through it trying to survive. if you have the gift of life it should not be wasted in this way. The gift of life should be used to have the greatest adventure you can, regardless of the fact that there may or may not be something waiting at the end of the tunnel.

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How To Add Adventure To Your Life

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1. Dream

Powerful dreams create powerful people.

A life without dreams is a life lived in the shadows, afraid of what might and could be. A life without dreams is like a hamster in a ball, you have to wonder if the hamster would be better off not existing instead of just exerting effort and going nowhere, just for the sake of doing something.

Your dreams should be the addiction you need for living a life of adventure. Your dreams should be the catalyst that drives you forward and upwards through life’s journey, sucking the very marrow out of it. Your dreams should propel you to greater heights on a daily basis and at the same time be dragging people along with you for the ride. Without dreams, and without powerful dreams, there seems little reason to exist just for the sake of existing. Dreams are thoughts about what could be, the evolution of humanity have been on the  wings of people who dreamed and asked the question “What If?” No one has ever done anything of any consequence without first having had the dream.

Develop your dreams and use them to drive you forward.

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2. Step Out Of Your Comfort Zone

When life gets safe it get boring and you become stagnant like a unkept pond.

When life is not keeping you on edge there is no need to develop, to learn, to improve. When risk is removed so is the adrenaline, the zest for excitement.

Don’t stagnate in life but instead try to COME ALIVE just a little bit more every single hour of every single day. Push yourself into uncomfortable situations so that you can triumph and feel the adrenaline coursing through your system. If it has been a while since you have felt uncomfortable then remove the cotton wool you’re wearing and get out there. Get used to feeling a tinge of excitement and fear in your life, just for the very sake of it, for the simple reason that it makes you FEEL ALIVE.

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3. Be Bold

Don’t shy way from life or from challenges.

Fortune favors the bold so aggressively pursuit it. Be fearless with life and not let obstacles, people, fears, uncertainties, inhibitions or wild boars hold you back from reaching out and grabbing life by the balls and demanding what you want form it. Don’t go timidly into the night a quite sheep but instead roar like a lion and face your fears and come out the other side a better person, shaking and perhaps a bit sweaty, but victorious.

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Don’t Allow Your Life Stand For Nothing

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If you are not doing something daring and adventurous with your life then it is wasted, as no one else is going to step up and do it for you…they are too busy looking after their own life. If the only thing holding you back from living a daring, adventurous life is fear then work out a way of overcoming that fear. If fear is going to be responsible for your life amounting for nothing then fear needs to be enemy number one and you need to work out how to overcome your fear. Here are some tips.

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Tips For Overcoming Fear

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1. See The Big Picture

Most fears are focussed on the here and now, they are based on very short term consequences. If you can lift your eyes to see the bigger picture of your life and lift your thinking above the small things then sometimes this is all it takes for your short term fears to melt away. Seeing in the big picture is like looking at a patterned rug from a distance. Up close it is frayed and dirty in the details but from afar it is a beautiful tapestry. Focus on the tapestry, not the dirt.

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2. Get Angry

Society will rob you of your dreams through the fear it holds over you, whether this is intentional or not. Most people are not out to frighten you but your own fear of people, of needing their approval and the risk of failure will keep you trapped. You are being robbed by fear and society, so get angry at both and then use that anger to break through the fear, don’t let it control the outcome of your life, don’t let it rob you of the one chance you ever get at life.

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3. Take Baby Steps

Like people, fears come in all shapes and sizes and different fears will be perceived as different sizes by different people. The very best way to start developing a habit of overcoming fear is to start small and increase the challenges you set yourself every day, just by a small bit. I have overcome a lot of fears using this approach but currently I am stuck on trying to lie down in the middle of an open street for 1 minute without talking. Although currently in India and I know no one, I still can’t do it. I must over come this fear first so that I can move on to overcoming bigger fears yet. This might be easy for you or it might not, each persons fear is different. I can talk in front of thousands without a problem but can’t lie in a street.

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Life IS a DARING ADVENTURE. You either get involved with it or cower in the sidelines, the choice is yours.

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You Are A Coward. Stop It And Start Living is a post from: thelifething.com
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Eduard from Ideas With A Kick made this comment on one of the guest posts I wrote recently.

“You know, I think a lot of people look at the lifestyle Jonny is living and think: “Lucky bastard!” But this interview points out very well the real ingredients for achieving a great lifestyle, which can be used by anyone: vision, plan, execution. It’s not luck. Pure gold man.”

You can read the interview here, but Eduard has a knack of simplifying concepts down to their core components and so in this post I am going to elaborate on his ingredients for achieving a great lifestyle: Vision, Plan, Execution which I also refer to as The Destination, The Road Map and the Vehicle.

The Vision (The Destination)

If the vision for you life is a 4 x 4 cubical cell and retirement at 75 then fair enough but for most I don’t think this is the case. Life your sights higher.

What is the dream destination for you life? Does it involve palm trees and coconuts or high rise city living and expensive night clubs? Is it a Family Man or High flying Business Woman? Are you working or are you financially independent?

You need to have a goal, a vision, a target; a destination in mind of where you want to go in life and the more vivid you can make this “Picture” of your dream destination the better.

If you have no target, how are you going to know what to aim at? If you have no vision of the destination in mind then why start the journey. A life without a goals is very much like the Pictomin below.

There is movement but there is no focus. One can be extremely busy going absolutely nowhere. The next pictomin shows a focussed life, one with a vision and goals.

With focus you move forward towards your goals and dreams. It will not always be a direct path and you will deviate from time to time but you will always be moving upwards and not backwards.

The Plan ( The Road Map)

If you have an awesome destination in mind then you cannot reply of the SATNAV like everyone else – it will only take you to where everyone else is going. If you have an awesome destination to reach, then you need a custom map.

So you know where you want to be, but how do you get there? Without a map, getting to Point B from Point A is almost impossible. Do you have a map to your vision? If not then you need one.

You need to have a vision of where you want to be and it is by breaking this vision down into both long term and short term goals that gives you a map to your vision – a plan of how to get there with all the checkpoints along the way.

An end destination without a map is useless as is having a map but no end destination.

Having an end destination in mind AND a map to get there is what will make your life successful.

You no doubt have notice that almost all successful people have a strong sense of purpose, a compelling reason for why they act and live a certain way and almost without exception, all successful people have a plan, their roadmap for reaching their highly visual destination.

I cannot help you with your vision but I can help you create the map to help you get there. If you are serious about being an incredibly lucky bastard and living an awesome life then you need to focus on the vision for your life and then read “A Simple System That Will Change Your Life” which will give you a tool for developing the roadmap to achieve your vision. A large portion of thelifething is also dedicated for developing that map to your dreams so you can follow more by coming back here.

The Execution (The Vehicle)

If you are only aiming to get to the next town then an old Skoda will suffice but if you are planning to get to the other side of the world then a clapped out banger will not do – You need a Merc.

So you have a destination in mind and you have a map to get there but how far is the journey. Can you walk it? Will you need a bike? Perhaps it is a great distance from where you are now and you will need a large 7 seater?

Depending on the distance your vision for your life is, from where you are currently, will determine the size and complexity of the vehicle you will need to get you there. Your vehicle is all your tools, systems and processes that help you achieve your vision. Your time management skills, your people skills, your sales skills, communication tools, knowledge and understanding. It is all the things that your need as an individual need to successfully navigate the map you have created to achieve your goals.

The bigger your goal and the further and more grand the destination is from where you are currently the more you need to invest into a better vehicle. You may have the destination and the map, but if it is beyond walking distance then you are going to need a reliable vehicle to get you there. Without it, the journey will be a lot less fun than it could and you will only get half way. Build a solid vehicle to get you there and everything is possible from this strong foundation/

The Journey Of Your Life

So in conclusion, to have the journey of your life you need to have A Strong Visual Destination in mind. You then need to have a carefully detailed map of how to get there from where you are now which is broken down into checkpoints along the way. Finally you need the right Vehicle to aid you on your journey which is made up of all the processes and systems you develop for reaching the checkpoints on your map on the journey towards your dream destination.

Visualize a grand destination – Get a custom map – Drive there in a Merc.

Thelifething Can Help

Thelifething.com can help you with your journey,  it is as much about helping other people on their own journey as it is about developing my own.

It is as much about helping you create your roadmap as it is about creating my own and it is as much about developing your vehicle as it is about developing mine. If we all help each other along the way then we can all reach our dream destinations and enjoy the journey to boot.

How To Have The Journey Of Your Life – Your Destination, Roadmap and Vehicle For Achieving Your Dreams. is a post from: thelifething.com
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Focus on what you are good at and be a success at that. There are far too many things that you are not good at.

I Suck As An Actor

I used to want to become an actor – I think it was mainly for the same reasons many people fancy their chances at it – for the money, the fame, the girls.

Unfortunately my love of it was simply a HEAD want and not a HEART one. I was alright at acting when I was younger, I had a few leading roles in the school play and one in an actually city theatre but I never pursued it after college. I might have wanted all the things that come with being a famous actor but I was not willing to put in the time or take the risk on making a serious go at it.

Just recently while I was in Thailand I had the opportunity to star in a TV commercial for Dog Food and so naturally I went to the audition and against all odds was picked for the role. I loved it, the setting, the people, being the centre of attention – Acting I though, was something I could really do.

Except for one small problem – I was useless. I hate cameras and prefer to be behind the lens then in front of it, I have trouble smiling naturally and I am pretty self conscious and unnaturally when a in front of the lens.

Basically I am an awful actor who would only be hired by a completely blind, death and dumb director and only then because of a moment of bad judgement.

I Suck At Other Things Too

Other things I would like to do but suck at Professionally -

• Lead singer of a rock band
• Extreme Sports World Champion
• Professional Footballer
• Pilot
• Marine Commander
• Marine Biologist Scuba Diver

The things is, there are a lot of things that I suck at but enjoy. I will never make any money out of them like some people do and so they are just hobbies for me. You can get stressed about this predicament or you can focus on what you ARE good at.

Where Do Your Talents Lie?

As an example, my personal talents lie in creativity, people skills and making money or put another way Creative, Emotional and Financial Intelligence.

I love and have made money through entrepreneurship and design and I plan to shelter my earnings by investing in Real Estate. To this end I focus my talents on being good at two things – Building Businesses and Buying Buildings. This is where I will make money and this is what will make me rich – It also has quite a nice ring to it.

I am sure I will make money and find a manner of success and happiness on other ventures of mine – as a freelance designer, journalist and photographer for example. However, these things will always be secondary to my core focus which again is:

Building Businesses and Buying Buildings.

Mind Your Own Business To Be Successful

There are many ways to make money and be a success but there are few that you will excel at. Don’t waste your time pursuing everything just because it has worked for someone else.

Work out what works for you and utilizes your passions and talents and focus on that. Everything else you do is a hobby and should be enjoyed as such – if you find success and additional money through it then great but this should not be the focus. Your hobbies are for your own personal enjoyment and happiness and should be treated as such.

That is why I do not monetise my blog or get involved in affiliation marketing – it is not where my wealth is generated and I do not plan to complete with the super blogs that are out there and I do not understand enough about SEO to give affiliation a real shot. I use my blog to explore my own thoughts, develop new relationships and to give to others. That is its reason for being – it is my hobby.

Find out what your one line plan of action is. Mine is Build Businesses and Buy Buildings. I repeat it to myself everyday and that is powerful in embedding it into my make up. My professional life is dedicated to Building Businesses and Buying Buildings, my hobbies are another thing completely.

Others would call this “Minding Your Own Business” Mined your business and what you are good at and don’t worry about the other persons businesses.

What Is Your Business and what is your one line plan of action?

Unfortunately Sir, I Think Your Acting Career Is Over – Your Plan Of Action To Wealth And Success is a post from: thelifething.com
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SUCCESS IS Just 6 Lessons Away

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SUCCESS Ebook

If you have not downloaded the SUCCESS Ebook by now, you should have (www.downloadsuccess.info) There are awesome bloggers all over the globe writing articles on Success this week . This is my one.

Photo courtesy of Kriss Szkurlatowski.

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Lesson 1: Stop Presuming

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“To Assume Makes An ASS out of U and ME. An annoyingly smarmy phrase made even more so by its strong underlying truth.”

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One of the biggest lessons I have learn’t in the last 6-8 months or so of my new business, one that has brought me the most grief and cost me the most money, is when I have presumed too much and assumed that certain things were obvious. Assuming is dangerous and to do so is also incredibly arrogant as it presumes that everyone operates and thinks as you do, which unfortunately, is simply not the case in real life however perfect you think your way of operating is.

For success you need to become an expert at working with people and a big part of this is an ability to communicate your ideas and wants effectively in a way that doesn’t get lost in translation. This is an art form, one that is constantly in development, and needs to be continually checked, honed and polished. It takes time, commitment and sacrifice but, as my dwindling bank account can testify to, it is worth the investment.

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Keep your communication skills as highly polished as a Hedge Funds welcome lobby and you can happily PRESUME you will be successful.

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Lesson 2: Use Standard Wherever Possible

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Almost 3 grand invested, 6 months in development and a lot of blood, sweat and salty tears and I find out we could have had a similar system for less than 50 quid a month in a matter of days – F@!£ Damn B*@£%$@! Son of a B*£$@.

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This is a lesson I should have learnt 3 years ago when I delayed the launch of my first product because I wanted to get it designed “Just right” That little badass decision cost me almost 3 months and 5 grand and I made exactly the same mistake just recently with the website e-commerce system of another one of my businesses. As it happens, the situation is not quite as black and white as that and the custom system will make my life easier in the long run but for a startup it would have been easier and a lot more beneficial to start with a standard and then develop a custom one when required.

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“When you are trying to reduce overheads – Use Standard. When you are trying to save time – Use Standards. When you are trying to befriend Batman – use….”

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Lesson 3: Learn From Your Mistakes

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Making mistakes is the only way to success – making the same mistakes again and again is just plain dumb.

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As highlighted in lesson two, not learning from my mistakes has cost me substantial amounts  of money and time as well as considerable stress, but really I have no one to blame but myself – although of course I do blame everyone else. I think the ability to learn from a mistake and take steps and actions in order to avoid making the same mistake again is what separates the truly successful people from everyone else.

Have a system for reviewing mistakes and making action plans in order to avoid making them again. If you don’t take the time and effort to access and correct your mistakes it WILL cost you in the long run. I currently am not practicing what I preach but given the amount of money I have lost so far, I definitely will be in the future.

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Fortune favours the bold, and failure follows the smuck that doesn’t learn from his mistakes.

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Lesson 4: Just Do It

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Most people treat ideas like they do journeys, they are waiting for all the traffic lights to lineup green before starting the trip.

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Even though I have just spent a ridiculous amount of money on a pair of Nike brand sports socks they defiantly got it right with the “Just Do It” tagline. Many people, myself included, tend to wait around until everything is “Just right” before taking action and actually doing something. It is one of the biggest reasons people are not successful. From my own experience I have found that if I have an idea and start testing it straight away it develops in wonderful ways and also grows in unexpected ways, other projects I have been developing to get them just right, are still developing.

For example, I have a project called Pictomins which I have been developing for over 2 years and it is still not really going anywhere because I have not got it out into the market to test it. On the other hand I came up with an idea for a SUCCESS Ebook, created a plan overnight and launched it the next day and over the last month it has grown and developed in amazing ways I could not have planned and has had almost 500 downloads in the first 48 hours of launch.

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Success and fortune rarely favours the smart, but the bold.

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Lesson 5: Experts Really Don’t Always Know Best

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It is amazing how many financial advisers and investors are not themselves stinking rich. They talk the talk but still live from pay check to pay check. Stamp on their toes.

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Again, I have lost major money and time in the last few year by presuming that experts on a  subject knew what they were talking about and especially when it related to my unique situation. I blindly followed their advice without putting the ideas through my own filtering system and deciding for myself if it was the right thing to do. Always look to others for advice, especially those that you respect and are more knowledgeable about a topic then you, but remember to take a balanced view from many sources and then run it through your own filtering systems to make your decision.

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Don’t fall into the trap of the blind leading the blind. Open your eyes.

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Lesson 6: Be Flexible

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Successful people are as limber and flexible as a Thai Chi practicing, double jointed gymnast at the peak of their career.

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We are no longer in the Industrial age, we are now in the information age and thus, like a cricketeer who has suddenly found himself in a basketball game, we need to learn to adapt and change the way we do things in order to succeed in this new, rapidly changing environment. Problems are numerous, setbacks are many and the damn world is changing so quickly that what you are doing this year might be out of date next year. This is not a bad thing and successful people will see it as an opportunity to be ready to take the new wave by storm. Learn to enjoy this world we live in currently, fast paced and all, and see yourself as being involved in the fastest and most exciting game in the world. Either that or shy away from the challenge and doggedly try to stick to old ideas of working and ultimately lose.

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Don’t be a stubborn slow moving dog, you adaptable, quick chameleon / cheetah hybrid.

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6 Life Success Lessons To Live An Awesome Life is a post from: thelifething.com
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