So what are these books? There are three of them.

Paul McKenna.

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The first two are written by Paul McKenna who is quite famous here in the UK, as he used to be a hypnotist on television. The two books are “I can make you smarter” and “Change your life in 7 days”.

The first one, “I can make you smarter” is precisely about what the title suggests and speaks of how to improve your intelligence, concentration levels and in general realizing your full mental potential. There is also a chapter on keeping mentally sharp at any age. This is in fact the only part of the three books I have read so far. I believe in being totally honest with readers and not errecting any false facades. Why? For a variety of reasons, in the long run honesty is the best policy and you will eventually get caught out if you tell things which are not true. Secondly you are lying to yourself and to an extent ashamed of yourself thus you are concealing things from others. Thirdly it is just wrong and produces bad karma. There are other reasons too. So I haven’t read any of the three books yet but have read some of McKenna’s chapter on “Staying sharp at any age”, as this relates to things which I have written about myself, when I wrote a blog on staying mentally sharp, click here to read.

The second of McKenna’s two books is “Change your life in 7 days” which also has two CDs. I haven’t even started reading it yet besides looking at the contents and a few pages on the 6th chapter “Day Six: Creating Money”. This book too has a title which clearly indicates what the main subject of the book is about and McKenna goes through the key points of what he regards as the ingredients for success.

Richard Bandler

Richard Bandler, one of the co-creators of NLP.

Richard Bandler is one of the co-creators of NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) and is from the USA. The foreword of the book is by Paul McKenna and its title is “Get the Life You Want; The Secrets to Quick & Lasting Life change.” I have quickly perused through some of the opening pages where Bandler speaks of his experiences in how he helped people to overcome their phobias and other aspects of psychology.It also has a CD which accompanies it.

There are many writers and other figures out there and I have no special affiliation to either of the two above and was merely lent their books by a friend, without me even asking, purely by chance.

It is good to read, but only read that which is useful and which packs lots of information in a concise form. Sometimes certain webpages have more relevant information in them than whole chapters of books and as we know time is precious. Some books are fantastic. Some books have great information alongside the not so great, but at the very least you will become aware of what the writer is saying and utilize what is useful and ignore what isn’t. I will be reading these books whilst I relax in Malaysia in a few weeks time.

- Jahan Choudhry

Money is not wealth.

Money, money, money, the name of a famous Abba song.

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“Money, money, money, in a rich man’s world”, as the famous Abba song goes.

Money is not wealth but merely a means of accessing wealth. Money in of itself has no inherent value and is merely a means to an end, the end being acquiring things, services and so forth. It is often just a piece of paper. Money is also a means of measuring wealth. When someone has a certain amount of money we can say that he has the ability or potential to do X, Y and Z with it. If however someone has a billion dollars but lives the life of a pauper and lives in a shoebox, he has the ability and the potential to buy a huge mansion, but he does not do so. He is “wealthy” in that he has money, he is not wealthy in that he is not using or enjoying things which he could acquire with that money, namely in this case a beautiful house.

A miser holding on to his money very possessively.

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A beautiful house in California.

Money depreciates

As time passes, the value of money goes down and down. What that means is 10 years ago $10 (even though I am British I am using dollars as it is still the world’s international currency) could buy you a certain amount of things. Maybe a hamburger, a bottle of milk and so forth.

10 years later you can’t buy as much as you could before, with that same $10. The $10 now has the same “purchasing power” (things you can buy with it) as $5 had 10 years ago.

In larger terms. If you became a millionaire today and bought what you wished to and then left the remaining cash in the bank, you would over time become poorer. Let us say you left half a million dollars i.e. $500,000 in the bank after spending the first half a million. You would of course gain interest on that money, but still 5 or 10 years later in real terms that $500,000 has the same value that $300,000 does now (depending on inflation).

So do the super-rich tend to leave lots of money in bank accounts. Yes, some do and some don’t. Some do so that they have cash, capital, whatever you want to call it which they can withdraw and use when they want to buy something or invest in something. Others however protect themselves from “money depreciation” by buying valuable things such as houses, expensive cars, jewellery, paintings. All of these things are assets which unlike money go up in value.

Sothebys, where paintings are sold for millions in auctions.

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Money goes down in value, Assets go up.

Also the money which you make from renting a house or flat that you’ve bought, which we call “rental income” is usually far more than money you would get from interest on your bank account. Also if you spent money on buying the house you can sell the house for a higher price later on and make a profit, unlike your bank account money which is static and goes down in value. Your credit rating would also be better as you have a house.

So do not hoarde money excessively as it goes down in value, but invest it where it will grow and make you more money.

So imagine there are two brothers, Peter and Simon. Peter has $1 million and spends half, and saves half of it in the bank and leaves it there.  Simon on the other hand spends half but saves a quarter in the bank and invests the other quarter in property, paintings, and jewellery, and sells them all all of 10 years later.  Then 10 years later Peter would still have $500,000 (plus interest), Simon however would have $250,000 (plus interest) and possibly $375,000 if all the property, paintings and jewellery went up by 50% over 10 years. If however he bought a much coveted masterpiece of art, he could possibly sell it for millions.

Money doesn’t grow on trees, but it does grow if you invest it in assets!

Money doesn't grow on trees, but it can grow with assets and investments. You can "lose money" if you leave it in the bank as the value decreases, thus making you poorer in real terms.

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This is as I said in the beginning very, very simple and basic information for some. It isn’t for others however and hopefully they will find this useful. Having money in the bank for a long long time can make you poorer. Using it to make more money by buying assets will make you richer.

- Jahan Choudhry.

Laughter has many benefits and I wrote about it earlier in this blog, click here to read. I also wrote about the famous Audrey Hepburn and how she spoke of the value she attached to humour and laughter in this blog, click here to read. So from time to time I will be showing pictures of famous figures and personalities engaged in laughter or at least smiling. Partially because it is infectious as you may find out yourself, and also to show that success and laughter are not exclusive. You do not have to be a mean workaholic to be successful!

Becoming successful does not mean being mean, greedy, and work-obsessed. You can be generous, kind and have fun.

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Today it is the turn of another Hollywood legend. He is known for his good looks but I respect him as an actor. One particular moment sticks out in my memory and that is when I was watching the film “Meeting Joe Black” with a friend of mine who is actually from Trinidad, an island in the Carribean

Meet Joe Black, one of Pitt's successes.

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Trinidad, a famous tourist destination in the Carribean. My Trinidadian friend was impressed with Brad Pitt's Carribean accent in "Meet Joe Black".

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I myself personally thought he was very good in Fight club, where he played a completely different character. One which was very intense and to an extent almost wild. Anyway so here will be pictures of Brad Pitt, doing what we should be doing every day, even if we have our own share of problems, and that is smiling and laughing.

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Image source: USAtoday.com 

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Image source: EW.com 

Tony Robbins.

Mac Attram.

The “Yes Group” do admirable things such as helping homeless people and people without food. However they are mainly there to help people realize their business goals and aspirations. I went to one of their meetings in Central London a while ago and thoroughly enjoyed it and can say that it’s a great place to network.

The Yes group, London.

In a talk given by Mac, I heard him speak of the “Bling Bling” effect. Bling Bling as you can imagine refers to flashy jewellery. He mentioned this concept and I will expand on it in my own words. When people start off in their path to creating their own business, or if people have quite a bit of money already and are looking for ways to increase that, they will often come across people who will tell them of the most outstanding projects, offers, businesses, ideas and so on.  These people will sound very convincing, sometimes with incredible detail (not all of it accurate) and most importantly will talk of how much money you can make from this.

Shiny gold.

At times you will go to conferences and seminars and hear several or a whole number of different “outstanding” (seemingly) ideas all packed with intricate detail of “why they will work” that you will feel spoilt for choice and not sure which one to chose.

STOP

Success, and by success here I mean financial success, is not a short-term “Wham, bham, thank you mam!”, overnight process whereby if you sign up to a certain deal you can be making lots of money in a relative short space of time. Success takes time and effort. In addition it takes patience and resilience as inevitably there will be obstacles and setbacks. When you decide after careful research and evaluation to do something. Stick to it. Spend time every day, no matter how small or insignificant it may seem, towards realizing that one goal. Do not be distracted by enticing speech of money you can make here and there. On the other hand do not be totally closed-minded. However in general the focus should be to continue doing what you are already doing, and if by chance an amazing offer does come along, then carry out a thorough due diligence process, and only then go for it.

Due diligence.

Due diligence is a technical term which simply means do your homework, find out carefully about the offer that you have heard about. Find out more about the company, or individual, product, idea, market and so on that you are interested in. Do not do things in haste or with the excitement (deliberately) injected in to you by the people who mentioned the idea to you.

In this day and age with the help of Google it is easier to do a due diligence process by finding out information about the company, person and so forth.

Google helps the due diligence process greatly.

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So what that means is you do not have to be a total Sherlock Holmes to deduce whether someone is completely accurate or not as Google will help you with that.

The world renowned Sherlock Holmes famed for his amazing powers of deduction based on little information.

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If you are already working on one business, only do something else if it does not significantly detract from what you are already doing and also only if you yourself fully understand what it is about and can explain it to a 12 year old. Do not be bamboozled by amazing language, incredible detail and conclude “all these facts, figures, numbers and glossy leaflets or power point presentations” must mean these people know what they are talking about. Some people become so excited, and so convinced by “information” and “facts” above their head which seem so intricate, that it therefore must be true. If you do not understand, don’t go for it. Don’t let false notions that you might be missing out on something amazing, lead you to making a mistake.

Not all that glitters is gold.

- Jahan Choudhry

Rachel Elnaugh.

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Elnaugh at a business event giving advice.

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Elnaugh is a self-made millionaire and entrepreneur who started a business from her bedroom as a young woman in Scotland from a modest social background, and made it a huge success. She rose to national prominence starring in the famous British television series, “Dragon’s Den”, which is where people who don’t have much money but great ideas go and propose their ideas to a group of potential  investors or “dragons”. Elnaugh was one of the dragons. Unfortunately Elnaugh recieved bad publicity as her company went in to administration. She is however now involved in helping people to start up businesses and realize their ambitions.

 

One point which my friend told me she said, and is completely valid irrespective of who said it, is that problems are often the default state in business. In my own words let me elaborate on that. When ever you start something major in life, it will never go smoothly most of the time. When something is ordinary it is usually not hard to achieve and thus you are just a normal person no different from the common mass of people. However when you want to be different, for instance financially very comfortable and able to live the sort of life you want, it requires hard work and persistence, it is these two key qualities which often differentiate achievers from others.

 

When you start a business, you will find nothing runs smoothly. You will have all sorts of problems and difficulties from the most basic e.g. the photocopier has jammed for the 100th time and cannot be fixed until next week meaning you can’t do essential paperwork, to something far bigger such as a recession. Problems, problems, problems……sigh.

 

 

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Problems, problems, problems. However the problem with this is you. Problems are inevitable and are the barrier which separates the successful, the achievers from the rest. Problems should not be expected, they should not be anticipated in fact they should be looked forward to. If you do not have problems in your journey to success it will seem less eventful, more boring and you will appreciate it less. You will grow less as a person. If you have lots of problems, which you overcome and do not make you quit, you will:

 

- Learn more about the world and life in general and grow as a person.

 

- Be able to empathize and put yourself in the shoes of others who have experienced the same, thus making you a far more substantial and well rounded person than others who have not.

 

- Develop confidence in yourself to deal with problems and become mentally stronger.

 

Problems are thus lessons, and they should be seen as part of the adventure. Let us take the example of two motorists. One lives in a picturesque idyllic town where all the roads are perfectly laid out and driving is as easy as turning on the tap. Then there is a formula 1 driver, who is driving in a grand prix. There will be many challenges, difficulties and it won’t be easy. However fundamentally he enjoys the challenge and the adrenaline. Successful people are more like the second type. By that I do not mean they are adrenaline junkies or wild. What I mean is that they enjoy what is challenging rather than resist it or shun it.

 

 

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Nor do I mean that you should deliberately go looking for trouble, or for problems or for danger. If you can achieve something and there are two ways which both work, and one is easier and trouble-free go for that one. What I do mean is that do not expect a smooth ride. Realize there will be a rough ride at times, enjoy the challenges and ultimately enjoy the great rewards that lie at the end.

 

Highly successful and multi-millionaire formula 1 driver, Lewis Hamilton in a glamorous car.

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Millionaire, Hamilton at another event.

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A Hamilton smile after one of his victories, the sweat on his face also indicates the hard work he put in to win.

So there will, as I  have said, always be problems. They are often the default state. However as long as you are going in the right direction and have the right spirit you will utimately prevail and gain success.

 

- Jahan Choudhry

 

 

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Now in the context of my current project on this website which is to produce 34 blogs, each of which must be a minimum of 300 words, original content from me, and useful, planning is very useful. 34 blogs in one month is a lot and it is made far easier by planning. I have failed in my sub-target of writing 9 blogs a week in order to secure that 34 with ease. However my main target of 34 can still be achieved. The reason why I have confidence in that it can be achieved is that I have…..yes you have guessed it, I have “planned”. Now when I say I have planned, I do not mean that I have a “cunning plan” as was oft repeated in the British TV series Blackadder

Rowan Atkinson (left), more famous internationally for his performances as "Mr Bean" in the BBC series, Blackadder II.

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Rowan Atkinson playing the role of the character he is most well-known for "Mr Bean".

I have planned most of my remaining 20 blogs after this blog which is no.14 out of 34. I have a file with a list of all the different topics I want to cover. The whole purpose of this “34 blogs in a month” exercise is to practically demonstrate that I myself practise some of the things which I am encouraging my readers to do. It is also to show people how such things can be achieved.

 

For instance in my list of blogs for this month, the next two articles will be:

 

1. Problems are the default state.

2. The bling bling effect.

 

This is to prove that I have indeed got a list and am not merely claiming to. After these I have 12 more, so those 12 and the 2 above make, of course you guessed it, 14. This is the 14th blog itself and I have 28 blogs planned out of 34, thus I have 6 outstanding, outstanding in the sense that I have not thought of the subjects. However this will not be a problem because I currently have amongst other things three different books given to me by my brother which have interesting points I can share in this blog.

 

All of this goes to show, that “when you plan, you can”.

 

 

So plan. Planning makes everything easier. It relieves stress, makes things clearer for you, and makes things seem more practical and achievable.

 

- Jahan Choudhry.

The picture above is from one of my facebook contacts and I enjoyed reading it and wanted to share it. It contains an important message and it very much struck a chord with me. Those who know me, work with me and interact with me will find that I seem like a very positive person, and quite happy. The question then is have I ever experienced pain and suffering, and the answer to that is just like everyone else on this planet I have. In fact I have experienced things that other people have not. However my experiences have made me stronger and more resilient.

Self-pity

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I had the choice to engage in self-pity and negativity, to dwell in that, and subconsciously want and even expect sympathy from others. Or I had the choice to be pro-active, to not engage in self-pity or being stuck in the past and move on. I chose the latter.

Now there are other people out there who are “turned off” by positive thinking and want to be negative and complain. A lot of that actually stems from laziness, that is not to deny that there are people out there who have suffered immensely and will take a long time to recover. They in fact dislike people who are too positive and there is a degree of jealousy.

Image source. Courtesy of Scott Albrecht.

If you have been following my recent blogs you will know that I have been talking that nothing is achieved without hard work, and that I myself am seeking to demonstrate this by writing 34 posts this month. All of these 34 posts must be original work of mine in my own words, must be 300 words minimum and must provide some sort of value or benefit for the reader, so far this is my 13 post so I will have 21 more posts left until the 29th February which works out at roughly 2 posts a day from now on.

Hard work = no time wasting = no time for feeling sorry for yourself

Now hard work means that you will be busy, you will be preoccupied, that you will be stretching yourself to meet deadlines, targets. When you are doing such a thing time is very precious and must be utilized in the best way as possible. Wasting time is a complete and utter NO NO. You simply do not have time to engage in unnecessary and unproductive things. One unproductive thing is too much thinking or wondering as opposed to DOING. Time waits for no one as the image above says. Successful people do not have time to feel how bad life has been to them and what a horrible place the world is. They are too busy making the world a better place.

So I do not apologize to anyone for being positive, and nor does it come from a lack of experiencing tragedy, because I have.  However I will be positive and so should you, because it will help you, it will give you good health, energy, confidence and ultimately success and by helping you it will empower to help others.

Just because I chose to laugh does not mean my life is easy, just because I have a smile on my face everyday does not mean something is not bothering me, I chose to move on and not dwell on all the negatives in my life. Every new moment gives me the chance to renew anew. I chose to be that.

Cody Mccasland.

The website was http://bokus.com

Bokus.com, a website for Swedish language books.

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The first book that my friend requested was “Män som hatar kvinnor” (Men who hate women).

The book Män som hatar kvinnor, known to many in English in the form of the film "The girl with the dragon tattoo".

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The second was “Flickan som lekte med elden” (“The Girl Who Played with Fire).

"Flickan som lekte med elden" (The Girl Who Played with Fire), also made in to a film.

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The third and final was “Luftslottet som sprängdes” (“(“The Grandiose Fantasy that was Blown up”), translated in to English as “The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets’ Nest” and made in to a fim.

Luftslottet som sprängdes.

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The writer of all of these books, which are part of a trilogy, namely the “Millenium Trilogy” is the Swedish writer and leftist, Stieg Larrson.

Stieg Larsson, whose success was such that in 2008 he was the second best selling author in the world.

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Larsson’s work became seen to be more even more relevant when a fellow Scandinavian shocked the world with a bloody massacre of people in 2011. Larsson had written about the far right in Scandinavia two decades earlier but no one had anticipated this. If Larsson was an idealistic leftist than Anders Breivik was his antithesis, a right wing extremist. Whereas Larsson took to the pen, Breivik took to the gun.

Anders Breivik the right wing extremist from Norway, Sweden's neighbour, who carried out a horrific massacre which shocked the world.

The reason why I am mentioning this in my website is that though globalization has achieved many books, it has not yet made Swedish books be delivered to Malaysia! So my Malaysian friend had to ask me a Londoner to buy them and get them delivered to my house in London, so that I can bring them over to him when I go over there.

However when I went to the website, everything was in Swedish and there was no foreign language option or no way I could use English, so I had to rely on a friend (whom I would like to thank, Hanna) and also on “Google Translator”.

So though the world is becoming a smaller and smaller place, and we are all becoming more and more interconnected there are still limitations. Limitations for a shrewd business minded person means an opportunity, a niche in which they can fill a gap and provide a service or product to those who need it and of course, make money! This whole process involved a Malay, a Swede, and a Londoner all using facebook and hotmail to carry it out.

Swedish giant, Ikea are however in Malaysia! So the Scandinavians do have a commercial presence in the country.

Swedish giant Ikea is in Malaysia even if other Swedes aren't.

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- Jahan Choudhry