The Life and Death of Most of Us.
Most of us will settle for fine Most of us will stream Mp3s instead of asking a friend to play the guitar
Most of us will run on a treadmill at the gym instead of going to the park
Most of us will watch 10 second videos on computer instead of going to play
Most of us will eat something we can throw in the microwave instead of learning to cook
Most of us will aspire to being known, to being famous for just a little while
Most of us will be willing to be embarrassed, to hurt ourselves, if it means being known
Most of us will be more concerned with being known than being remembered by anyone special.
Most of us will decide that it is too soon or too late in life to go after what we really want.
Most of us will never actually sit down and think about what we really want
Most of us will spend more time reading status updates than we spend reading books
Most of us will take pictures of ourselves instead of actually looking at the world around us
Most of us will take the one unique and precious life we've been given and spend it being, just ok
Most of us will make do. And you will meet most of us and when you do ;
Remember this Be the few Be the few
Iain. S. Thomas in I wrote this for you. (2007-2017)
Most of us would rather choose the easy things because we don't have time to do those we are actually passionate about because we don't have the money /resources needed to pursue them.
If you are reading this it must be that you are interested in acquiring both the time and resources to pursue what you are passionate about.
The value of money can be given in exchange for our freedom.
I have compiled a list of my top 5 favorite financial books in the order that I suggest will be beneficial if you read them.
Beginning from one that will help you have a better informed view of wealth. You need to have the right mindset towards the millions you want to acquire and why you want to acquire them.
The second and the third books ;how to make money. I feel like they are a book and a sequal only by different authors and different periods. Wealth in 20th century and wealth in 21st century.
The fourth and the fifth are financial advice on how to make informed decisions when using your acquired millions and give you investing options in details like stock market, real estate, crowd funding etc.
WARNING!! These books are in no way intended to interfere with anyone's religious beliefs and habits, but to instruct on the purpose and desire for money into its monetary equivalent.
These are not novels, but textbooks on individual achievement. They should be read a chapter per night as you underline keywords and learning points and take down shortened notes. You need to analyse the content and put it into practice.
One of the authors suggested that these books should even be incorporated in the school curriculum to teach students about money and wealth while they are still young but I know not of a single curriculum that offers this.
Just like you I discovered them by myself when I started seeking the reality about acquiring wealth.
Let us now jump into the specific books.
The first step to becoming wealthy is developing a wealthy person's mindset. Steve Siebold has sourced and compiled powerful points, I'd say 'Terms and conditions' that you ought to agree with in order to start creating wealth.
The book trains you and equips you with how to think like a rich person. Steve says the secret is not in the mechanics of money but in the level of thinking that generates it.
The book compares a Middle class person's mindset to the wealthy class mindset and nullifies fears and misconceptions about wealth that have been inflicted on the middle class by their sorroundings
After each point there is a question presented to you that demands you answer honestly at a personal level. Then there is an action step that advices you on what to do in order to nullify the misconception you have learnt about money and wealth.
Go ahead and jog your mind, you have nothing to lose but everything to gain.
More than 20 years prior, still a boy,Napoleon Hill was challenged by a great man, also his friend to compile and share with the world the secrets of wealth. These secrets have been put into practical test by thousands of people and they worked.
'Poverty and riches often change places. Poverty may and generally does, voluntarily take the place of riches. When riches take the place of poverty, the change is usually brought about through well conceived and carefully executed plans. Poverty needs no plan. It needs no one to aid it, because it is bold and ruthless. Riches are shy and timid. They have to be attracted.
Many can wish for riches, and most people do, but only a few know that definate plan, plus a burning desire for wealth, are the only dependable means of accumulating wealth. ' Says Napoleon Hill.
He gives 13 fundamental principles with detailed explanations to be followed during execution to accumulate wealth. These are;
1.Desire 2.Faith 3.Auto-Suggestion 4.Specialized knowledge 5.Descision 6.Imagination 7.Organized planning 8.The Mastery of procrastination 9.Persistance 10.Power of the mastermind 11.The mystery of sex transumation 12.The Subconscious mind 13.The Brain. I love the way in the preface they prepare you for what to expect ahead. Do you think it promises too much? You find out while reading he has delivered on the promise.Yes too much information for us readers.
All the books in this list are my favorites but this particular one (please forgive my bias) is my top.
While reading this book I thought to myself, Wow! Tim is the ultimate snitc! Like he is literally giving all the tips to generate wealth.
It was first published in 2007 then updated with more than 100 pages of new content, latest cutting edge technologies, field - tested resources and real world success stories chosen from more than 400 pages of case studies voluntarily submitted by readers.
This book is an experimental playground for those who want better results in less time. It teaches us how to see and create options with the least effort and cost. It happens that you can make more money, a lot more money by doing half of what you are doing now.
He teaches how to have huge financial reserves but recognize that most material wants are justifications for spending time on things that don't really matter. To think big but ensure payday comes every day: Cash flow first, big payday second.
As an employee, you will be able to re-arrange your schedule, negotiate a remote work agreement and achieve 90% of the results in one - tenth of the time. More free time!!
As a business owner, you will learn to eliminate the least profitable customers and projects, outsource all operations entirely and travel the world while working remotely.
Instead of waiting for early retirement - God forbid a lot of people might not live to those days - You can have mini retirements on a regular basis throughout your life.
Tim shows us how to do all these; how to make money with specific reasons and defined dreams to chase, timelines and steps included.
An African girl's journey to financial freedom. Arise the author, financial planner and advisor offers financial advice through the story of Zuri, a young Nigerian woman.
Zuri's life is suddenly on steep financial buggage. It is all her fault she finds out after soul-searching. She has been careless and irresponsible with spending her rather lumpsome salary. She can nolonger afford her rent, car servicing and other basic utilities.
That is where she begins her journey of acceptance of her faults and seeks solutions to her financial problems. She is in a better place towards the end of the book.
The book is written in manageable chapters of story parts and at the end of each chapter there are lessons on what financial mistakes have been made and expert advice on how to to go about solving them. It will help you question yourself on what money mistakes you have been making and decide together with Zuri on what next best step to take.
It teaches how to plan for now and the future, how to have continuous cash flow, how and where to invest. Should you invest in the stock market? real estate? How much do you actually need to start your investments? (pretty little ) and what should you expect from each of these investments? It is all broken down.
It will help us get in control of our money and assets. If you are in debt, there steps to pay it off and continue on the journey of freedom.
If you are looking to gift your spouse, you may consider this book. After gifting them, borrow it while they are asleep and read it too.
Dan Ariely and Jeff Kreisler, two friends came together and decided to dedicate a book to money, for all the wonderful things it does for us, the terrible things it does to us and all the gray matter in between.
They have let us get informed,not just about our potential purchases, but about ourselves, our biases, and our money mistakes. All this information is in well developed chapters.
"In the end, money isn't really the only thing that matters. But it does matter, to all of us, a lot. We spend an extraordinary amount of time thinking about it-and often thinking about it incorrectly.
We could continue to let price setters, sales people and commercial interests take advantage of our psychology and behavior and tendencies and foolishness. We could wait for societal government interests to put programs in place to protect us from our own foolishness.
Or we could become more aware of our limitations, design personal systems to correct ourselves and take control of our financial decisions so that our precious finite and immeasurably valuable lives can grow richer everyday. It is upto us " says Dan and Jeff.
As a person in business looking to make millions in the sales market, this book is to your advantage. You can use the pointed out and researched human psychological facts to improve your advertising and subsequently sales. Because yes you have knowledge over underinformed masses.
I also love the authors' sense of humor. Inserted comments in the read are soo funny. They also use patronizing language that gives feel good - feel sorry for myself emotions. It is definitely an enjoyable as well as educative read.
Bonus Read
Darren Hardy the publisher of Success magazine (where he interviews world top successful persons) gives the methods for his personal success, which we are free to duplicate and a lot of motivation.
The compound effect is that the sum total of every small action we take is what leads to huge changes/results after a certain period of time.
He advices you and me on how to be aware ourselves in order to achieve extraordinary results.
I would say this is a to go book for enyone beginning their journey of change, and also for those in the journey. If you ever need redirection, a fuel of motivation to keep on keeping on, just open a chapter(even randomly )and remind yourself the goal.
You can also try free audible for any two books of your choice Here
Congratulations!!
You have come to the end of this article. Thank you for reading this far. I hope the article has achieved its role in informing you.But the real achievement is in you taking action and becoming successful. Only then will these book recommendations have worked. Don't forget to believe in yourself, pursue your dreams relentlessly. Be the few.
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