"I have dreams, many dreams, Big Dreams! But I no longer dream when I'm awake because life is a nightmare." I wrote this statement in my notebook on 05/10/05. Its been four years now and it is only now that I fully understand why I wrote that on the first page of my Notebook/Diary/Planner then. I bleed Ideas constantly; and these Ideas metamorphose into written thoughts, then plans, which translate into dreams, BIG DREAMS, but they mostly stayed in the notebook, and never came out. It hit me 2 years after I begun using the notebook that there is no point to keep these thoughts and plans in the book, I need to bring them out and evolve them into reality. I have come to realize that merely dreaming is not enough, merely planning is not enough, the only satisfaction to be garnered is through ACTION. The world now does not even allow us to daydream anymore - what with protesters being brutalized in Iran, murderous earthquakes and ethnic violence brewing in China, unravelling Ponzi schemes, Bank failures, discernible Climate Change and the World Economic Recession - it bombards us with sensory overload and requires ever increasing levels of skill and proficiency; it is no longer enough to simply type anymore, you must be able to multi-task as well. I sometimes wonder, when will we get some respite to breathe and day dream again? It seems that every step we take and every where we go Our generation is dogged by serious obstacles; both real and imagined, immediate and delayed.
Unfortunately we tend to look to all the wrong places from which to gain our inspiration - drugs, sex, booze, pointless entertainment, venial and heinous crime, apathy, selfishness etc - for these reasons I dedicate my time to writing this blog; to be part of a system wide change against these cankers for they never end in anything but sorrow and needless pain - that much we all know to be self-evident. I don't know much, I haven't done much nor can I claim any substantial accolades but I will try to use the little opportunities, tools and talents I have at my disposal to be a force of good. I want to be part of the revolution of Change; a change in mindset, attitude and character, a change like Obama preached all the way to the pulpit of the Oval Office. That kind of inspirational change, the positive and motivational kind of change - I am trying my hands at it and I'm encouraging you to do the same because its working wonders for me - otherwise you will not truly succeed; even with my limited scope of experience I can guarantee that unless you Change and become the primary channel for and gateway to your own success you will never become what you want to be, at best you will be a shadow, a hollow version of your true self. I would hope that you can start taking control of your life instead of relying on anybody else to help you for apparently even 'God helps those who help themselves.'
This change echoes in one of my favorite songs, 'Bittersweet Symphony', by The Verve. The lyrics of the song go, "Cos its a bittersweet symphony, that's life, tryna make ends meet, your're a slave to money then you die....You know I can change: I can change, I can change....". I listen to this song whenever I am broke (and that's quite often nowadays, I'm not recession proof yet folks) and sing along heartily to remind myself that I could be dead and rich so I should be glad I'm broke but alive. I was chatting with a friend recently and we were arguing this one point; is money important? I mean at first glance it seems that money is important but in reality its not money that is important but rather what money can Do, Get, or Cause to occur that is important......MONEY is a MEANS to an END not an end in itself.......Its not like we suffer to make several thousand at the end of the month and then sit there and stare at the cash, and store it and watch it day in day out......like some piece of art or as people hoard jewelry. What happens when you have money, you use it, simple. You can use it wisely whereby it brings some benefit or even brings back more money or you can use it stupidly where it brings no benefit but harm and loss.....but you don't hoard it. In case you don't know saving money is using it; money that is saved represents Personal Wealth because it is not expenditure going to another person to enrich them......when you save money in the bank they pay you interest, it may be small but its still profit at the end of the day........so it makes sense for me and for you not to become slaves to something that is not permanent, something so fleeting and transient that it cannot be fully grasped and displayed for ages and aeons like gold, or love.....it is there then its not......in the pocket then its buying food.....in the cash register then its in the bank......from the tellers hands to the vault......no rest for the note is off on some other round trip again.......sometimes I feel sorry for these notes the way we mishandle them. Its even worse for electronic money because its just a value, a number on a computer somewhere and I keep having this weird feeling that some kid is going to write a virus that crashes the banking systems computer grid and erases our credit and debit histories.......its not so impossible you know. And then what next when you make all the money you want and more......you die and leave it all behind - I am trying not to be a slave to money and I hope you can also succeed in doing so.....that is if you want to be free from the 'love of money': the root of all evil.
That is essentially what separates the wealthy from the poor, one is a master and the other a slave to money. Unfortunately most of us (myself included) are slaves to money so I'm trying to change that situation with myself. Its not easy releasing the shackles of slavery to this absolutely essential phenomenon called Money. How do you do that you may ask? Its really simple yet very difficult to do.......LOOSE ALL THE RESPECT YOU HAVE FOR MONEY! Detest money, revile cash, denounce wealth and rather concentrate on the END for which you seek money to attain. It is not money that buys the food you eat.......No no no.......the money represents a certain value......the commensurate value of the WORK that somebody - your parents, family, friend, spouse, YOURSELF - has done to be rewarded that amount. This means that instead of respecting money, respect work; instead of worshiping money worship work; instead or praising wealthy people praise the work they did to gain their wealth; hate money but love work. It seems unintuitive and self-defeating, even impossible but its truly the way to becoming wealthy. It is work, and work only that creates the value which is rewarded with money; the back-breaking hard work of John D. Rockefeller has ensured that generations of his descendants won't have to work as hard, the agonizing work of Lakshmi Mittal ensured that his daughters wedding was the most expensive, and the laborious toil of my own loving parents that initially bank rolls all my business ideas; but it is my own hard work that will ensure that I succeed and create value for myself and others.
I keep wondering why all truly wealthy people give out money freely and I realize that its because they don't respect the money they have but they respect the good it can do. They don't just dream, they live the dream; they don't just plan, they implement; and they work hard, work all the time and work even harder to get to where they are and to stay there. I can tell you this fact I know - most Fortune 500 CEO spend as more time working and traveling than they sleep, and their plush private jets are not for movies and sleep......they are essentially mobile offices where they work around the clock, sleeping an average of 4 hours a day; imagine that, 4 hours of sleep a day though they are all worth several hundreds of millions if not billions. Case in point, Carlos Ghosn, the CEO of both Renault of France and Nissan of Japan has this to say about how he got where he is today, "As you know, I was born in Brazil, I spent some time in schools in Lebanon, and I went back to France for my graduation. But I have been confronted by change all my life. I changed friends, I changed schools. You start to understand that [while] it's unpleasant, it's also enriching. That's what I want to tell you. Going to another country and confronting another culture, I don't feel any anxiety about that. I feel curiosity, I feel interest." (Business Week) This guy doesn't just manage one but two of the biggest companies in the world, he is one of the most respected CEO's of the world not because he earns hundreds of millions of dollars, but because is among the hardest working CEO's and because of that he has a reputation for turning around failing giants and making them profitable. They all work so hard and you would think that after making it and growing old they would retire and enjoy their hard-earned wealth. But you see they never respected the money, only the work and that is why they are so blessed, so I hope that you can begin to see that this represents the only way for you, me or anyone else to 'be all we can be'. Money is nothing but a flatterer of your mind and ego......he makes you loose sight of the reality.....His bigger brother is Work and he doesn't pamper, but he will reward you eventually if you impress him enough, so Love Work and Hate Money; thank God for giving you strength, youth and intelligence.....don't waste it!
Be focused on that which matters,
Dwindle not on that which flatters!
Cheers and May God richly bless you.
Unfortunately we tend to look to all the wrong places from which to gain our inspiration - drugs, sex, booze, pointless entertainment, venial and heinous crime, apathy, selfishness etc - for these reasons I dedicate my time to writing this blog; to be part of a system wide change against these cankers for they never end in anything but sorrow and needless pain - that much we all know to be self-evident. I don't know much, I haven't done much nor can I claim any substantial accolades but I will try to use the little opportunities, tools and talents I have at my disposal to be a force of good. I want to be part of the revolution of Change; a change in mindset, attitude and character, a change like Obama preached all the way to the pulpit of the Oval Office. That kind of inspirational change, the positive and motivational kind of change - I am trying my hands at it and I'm encouraging you to do the same because its working wonders for me - otherwise you will not truly succeed; even with my limited scope of experience I can guarantee that unless you Change and become the primary channel for and gateway to your own success you will never become what you want to be, at best you will be a shadow, a hollow version of your true self. I would hope that you can start taking control of your life instead of relying on anybody else to help you for apparently even 'God helps those who help themselves.'
This change echoes in one of my favorite songs, 'Bittersweet Symphony', by The Verve. The lyrics of the song go, "Cos its a bittersweet symphony, that's life, tryna make ends meet, your're a slave to money then you die....You know I can change: I can change, I can change....". I listen to this song whenever I am broke (and that's quite often nowadays, I'm not recession proof yet folks) and sing along heartily to remind myself that I could be dead and rich so I should be glad I'm broke but alive. I was chatting with a friend recently and we were arguing this one point; is money important? I mean at first glance it seems that money is important but in reality its not money that is important but rather what money can Do, Get, or Cause to occur that is important......MONEY is a MEANS to an END not an end in itself.......Its not like we suffer to make several thousand at the end of the month and then sit there and stare at the cash, and store it and watch it day in day out......like some piece of art or as people hoard jewelry. What happens when you have money, you use it, simple. You can use it wisely whereby it brings some benefit or even brings back more money or you can use it stupidly where it brings no benefit but harm and loss.....but you don't hoard it. In case you don't know saving money is using it; money that is saved represents Personal Wealth because it is not expenditure going to another person to enrich them......when you save money in the bank they pay you interest, it may be small but its still profit at the end of the day........so it makes sense for me and for you not to become slaves to something that is not permanent, something so fleeting and transient that it cannot be fully grasped and displayed for ages and aeons like gold, or love.....it is there then its not......in the pocket then its buying food.....in the cash register then its in the bank......from the tellers hands to the vault......no rest for the note is off on some other round trip again.......sometimes I feel sorry for these notes the way we mishandle them. Its even worse for electronic money because its just a value, a number on a computer somewhere and I keep having this weird feeling that some kid is going to write a virus that crashes the banking systems computer grid and erases our credit and debit histories.......its not so impossible you know. And then what next when you make all the money you want and more......you die and leave it all behind - I am trying not to be a slave to money and I hope you can also succeed in doing so.....that is if you want to be free from the 'love of money': the root of all evil.
That is essentially what separates the wealthy from the poor, one is a master and the other a slave to money. Unfortunately most of us (myself included) are slaves to money so I'm trying to change that situation with myself. Its not easy releasing the shackles of slavery to this absolutely essential phenomenon called Money. How do you do that you may ask? Its really simple yet very difficult to do.......LOOSE ALL THE RESPECT YOU HAVE FOR MONEY! Detest money, revile cash, denounce wealth and rather concentrate on the END for which you seek money to attain. It is not money that buys the food you eat.......No no no.......the money represents a certain value......the commensurate value of the WORK that somebody - your parents, family, friend, spouse, YOURSELF - has done to be rewarded that amount. This means that instead of respecting money, respect work; instead of worshiping money worship work; instead or praising wealthy people praise the work they did to gain their wealth; hate money but love work. It seems unintuitive and self-defeating, even impossible but its truly the way to becoming wealthy. It is work, and work only that creates the value which is rewarded with money; the back-breaking hard work of John D. Rockefeller has ensured that generations of his descendants won't have to work as hard, the agonizing work of Lakshmi Mittal ensured that his daughters wedding was the most expensive, and the laborious toil of my own loving parents that initially bank rolls all my business ideas; but it is my own hard work that will ensure that I succeed and create value for myself and others.
I keep wondering why all truly wealthy people give out money freely and I realize that its because they don't respect the money they have but they respect the good it can do. They don't just dream, they live the dream; they don't just plan, they implement; and they work hard, work all the time and work even harder to get to where they are and to stay there. I can tell you this fact I know - most Fortune 500 CEO spend as more time working and traveling than they sleep, and their plush private jets are not for movies and sleep......they are essentially mobile offices where they work around the clock, sleeping an average of 4 hours a day; imagine that, 4 hours of sleep a day though they are all worth several hundreds of millions if not billions. Case in point, Carlos Ghosn, the CEO of both Renault of France and Nissan of Japan has this to say about how he got where he is today, "As you know, I was born in Brazil, I spent some time in schools in Lebanon, and I went back to France for my graduation. But I have been confronted by change all my life. I changed friends, I changed schools. You start to understand that [while] it's unpleasant, it's also enriching. That's what I want to tell you. Going to another country and confronting another culture, I don't feel any anxiety about that. I feel curiosity, I feel interest." (Business Week) This guy doesn't just manage one but two of the biggest companies in the world, he is one of the most respected CEO's of the world not because he earns hundreds of millions of dollars, but because is among the hardest working CEO's and because of that he has a reputation for turning around failing giants and making them profitable. They all work so hard and you would think that after making it and growing old they would retire and enjoy their hard-earned wealth. But you see they never respected the money, only the work and that is why they are so blessed, so I hope that you can begin to see that this represents the only way for you, me or anyone else to 'be all we can be'. Money is nothing but a flatterer of your mind and ego......he makes you loose sight of the reality.....His bigger brother is Work and he doesn't pamper, but he will reward you eventually if you impress him enough, so Love Work and Hate Money; thank God for giving you strength, youth and intelligence.....don't waste it!
Be focused on that which matters,
Dwindle not on that which flatters!
Cheers and May God richly bless you.
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