365 Days of Prudence

Yes it is the season of the big R. This recession has led more that hundreds of thousands of people to lose their jobs. And those who still have their jobs are struggling. Yet there are those individuals who are thriving in spite of the recent economic downward spiral. How do they do it?

It takes a combination of a whole lot of effort, some sacrifice, calculated risk and restraint to survive tough economic times. But because of our “I want it now!” attitude, we unintentionally put ourselves in a harmful compromising financial situation, situation where the collateral damages are overwhelming. The good news is that it can be averted.

Whether you’re single, married or married with kids, what I will share to you will work. All you need is 365 days of prudence. Before I tell you why, do you remember the saying “don’t count your chicks until they hatch”? This is what we are going to follow. Again, it will take 365 days of prudence seasoned with whole lot of effort, some sacrifice, calculated risk and restraint to survive through tough economic times.

Let’s begin.

Whether you’re single or part of a family, an open communication is significantly important. The goal to succeed must be communicated as to why it is important. Maybe it’s because you don’t want to die of an anxiety attack. Or maybe you simply want to enjoy time alone or with your family without having to worry about your finances. It could be anything. But everything must be communicated openly to everyone involved otherwise, the “flight plan” will be confusing and you will never get to your “destination” or your goal.

Once everything has been communicated that you want to commit yourself being financially sound, you must make the first step. Credit card debts need to be paid off as soon as possible. The interest rates on those bad plastic cards are slowly killing you! High interest rates are like Trans Fat! They slowly take the life out of you!

Credit card debt must be paid ASAP however, they must be paid AFTER you’ve paid yourself first. By the way, why did you incur credit card debts in the first place? Was it because you began spending more than what you were making? That paradigm MUST shift! This is where we must make some sacrifices and apply restraint on our Wants. Take a look at your credit card bills, 80% of them were used for vacation expenses, a flat screen TV, a game console, clothes, dine-outs and other trivial things. For the next 365 days, you will spend on wants if you cannot immediately afford it in CASH!

Like what companies are doing these days, you too must “trim the fat” of your household budget. They have to be as lean as it can be for the next 365 days. Put yourself in recession mode before the economy does. So say you’re taking home pay is $2,000 a month after taxes, the goal is to try to live on $1,500/month! It can be done! Remember, you MUST TRIM THE FAT! See what has to go. If you’re living in too much house and paying too much rent, scale down. Again, find ways and means to “trim the fat.” I keep saying this, it should’ve been the title of article.

In 365 days, you would have set aside $6,000 if you were able to save $500/month from your take home pay of $2,000/month. And because you were able to bring your monthly expense down to $1,500, the $6,000 that you now were able to save has become your four months worth of savings! That doesn’t sound like a lot but guess what, 365 days of prudence has given you the opportunity to make $6,000 to buffer you through tough economic times.

If you’re one of those people that collect a decent tax return from the US government, what should you do with the money that they refund to you? Keep it! Don’t spend it on anything. Again, the more money you have, the better it is for you to be able to find a good investment opportunity if you have job security.

365 days of prudence should move you further away from living paycheck to paycheck. If you’re on a Salary + Commission pay plan, I would strongly recommend that you live of your salary during the first year of being at your current position. What you are going to do with your commission, you may be wondering. You are going to save it! Then add it to your base pay for year two and that will be your constant pay increase. Here is an example:

Say your base pay is $2,500/month. That equals to $30,000/year. And say you make a boat load of money in commission for the year 2009 which amounts to $120,000. When 2010 comes around, your base salary will still be $2,500/month right? The beauty however is that NOW (2010), you are going to be able to give yourself a pay increase of $10,000/month without any fear of being short because you know for a fact that you’ve already made this money the year before (which was 2009).

Again, save some money for a rainy day. Rainy days do come.

That’s a fact!

Be prepared.

Less Talk, Less Mistakes

How about “Talk and have the balls to back it up or else shut up!” the latter being pretty straight forward. Well some people can’t take straight talk. They take it personally. I can’t blame them. I used to feel that way. As a matter of fact, and laugh if you must, I lean more toward having a non confrontational attitude and approach. Until of course it back fired against me.

You see, to be on the safe side, applying the “less talk, less mistake” approach is king, especially if you aren’t comfortable with the topic of discussion. This is where it is best to just listen, stay agnostic and talk less.

However, this approach doesn’t apply when you know your principles are being compromised. You shouldn’t allow your fear of making mistakes hinder you from speaking what is on your mind or in your heart. Remember, if you feel a pang of conviction in you, speak up! Chances are you aren’t making a mistake.

So, in what situations can you apply the “less talk, less mistake” approach? Here are some, to name a few…

Caught in the middle of a husband/wife domestic dispute: This is one big NO! NO! Never should you involve yourself in a husband/wife affair even if you are close to both of them and know that one of them is trying to squeeze information from you. Chances are, you really don’t know the whole situation so shut up!

At your ex’s wedding: Be glad you got invited. Not everyone gets invited to their ex’s wedding. Now when you sit down together with people you don’t know… SHUT UP! Don’t go on a trip to memory lane and solicit sympathy from the people around you. Remember, they attended to share memories with the couple, not you.

On a sales call: The customer has agreed to your proposal and is ready to sign the contract. You let him sign the contract and shut up. Unless he asks you a question, your job should be to move forward with the close.

When you’re wrong: Most of the time, it’s better to admit one’s fault than to talk defensively. Women particularly hate this attitude in men.

On the other hand, there are times when we should trash the whole “less talk, less mistake” approach and allow ourselves to speak straight from the heart. Here are some situations…

At a rally: Hey, you signed up to voice your opinion. Go for it!

In a town hall meeting: If they open the floor to concerns and you have one that really affects a big chunk of you and/or your lifestyle, take to the floor! This isn’t the venue to apply for “martyrdom” or “sainthood”.

At a club: You see a lady or a gentleman you fancy. He/she doesn’t seem to be with company, go ahead and make your smooth and polished move! A simple “Hi” or a sweet smile may do magic. The goal is having a mindset to express yourself when the opportunity arises.

The whole idea here is for you to be able to determine when to keep your mouth shut and when to speak up. Yes you will make mistakes finding that sweet spot and yes practicing this application may take you to rough waters in the beginning. However, when everything comes to fruition, you’ll be amazed as to what you’ve become. People will learn to respect and trust you. They may also come to admire you for your steadfastness and diplomacy.

Remember, making mistakes are okay as long as a lesson is learned from it.

When You Think You Can... YOU CAN!

I once heard someone said that when you think you can, YOU CAN! And when you think you can’t, YOU’RE RIGHT! If you haven’t figured out what that statement meant, I’ll give you 5 more seconds to figure it out.

Time’s up!

Over the past couple of years, I’ve encountered acquaintances and friends who seemed to be carrying the weight of the world on their shoulders, going as far as saying that if they didn't have to carry all those burdens, they would've achieved their dreams. I will not deny that for quite a while in my life, I carried the same world on my shoulder too! Hence, I was always able to empathize with them and condone their state of mind. It always seemed that the problems they would unburden on me were similar to the problems I carried! In situations where friends would come to me to release their frustrations, I would simply listen. I became a temporary relief! I was glad to be of help. However, I realized that what I had to offer was merely a “fix” for me and them! It wasn’t a real solution to the burdens they had because after a day or two, they'd revert back to the state of mind they were in before we sat together.

Now, I’m no councilor so I don’t have the savant and formal degree those people have. However, being a student of the University of Life and of self improvement books, I can say that I’ve become savvier than a 5th grader to figure out how to come up with simple solutions to my own problems.

I’m not going to attempt to turn this article into a book chapter. However, I will commit to leave you with a thought that may get you to your own “A-ha” moment! Let’s begin.

Self-doubt, frustrations, lack of confidence, being too cautious, shyness, etc. are some of the reasons why you aren’t getting what you deserve. Or maybe you are getting what you deserve? Remember what I said in the beginning of this article? If you think you can’t, YOU’RE RIGHT!!! Give yourself a pat on the back for finally getting it!

Think about the previous paragraph thoroughly. You are who you are because of your attitude. And if you disagree with me, which you have every right to, chances are you’re blaming someone else for what has become of you! By the way, blaming other people is an attitude that keeps you in the rut you’re already in.

Tony Robbins said that “emotion comes from motion”. You don’t believe me? Try laughing from ear to ear! I bet you’re going to feel better. However, without the “right” attitude, you’ll throw this valuable thought nugget out the door. Again, it all boils down to your attitude!

Here is your little road map. After reading this blog, examine yourself and ask yourself honestly if you are where you want to be. If you are, how did you get there? Was it by chance, luck or the alignment of the planets or was it because you had the desire, goal and an action plan to get there?

Now if you’re one of those unhappy human beings in this world who is still chasing after his/her dream, ask yourself what is preventing you? Check your attitude! How is your desire level? What Action steps have you taken to kick off your dream? What’s going on?

You see, with a positive or a negative attitude, if you say you can, YOU CAN! And if you say YOU CAN’T? YOU’RE RIGHT!!!

7 Ways to Stay Remembered.

I have encountered different types of people in my life. From those who are full of themselves all the way to those who would rather forget who they are to the more normal “in betweens”. In spite of the kaleidoscope of personalities I have encountered on a day to day event, it is important to know that leaving an impression, a good impression, can go a long, long way.

Why? Because no man is an island! As cliché as it may sound, embrace it and engrave that proverb in your heart. A time will come when you will need some sort of inter-personal interaction in your life be it emotional, relational, financial and even trivial. Who will you turn to? It would be kind of embarrassing to simply “pop” into someone’s life or schedule without any relational foundation, would it? How do we avoid such a thing from happening? Here are 7 ways.

Keep In Touch. In this day and age, there is no excuse for not staying in touch with friends and loved ones. Yes, you may be too busy to meet for coffee. It doesn’t exempt you from not being able to call to say “hello”. Still too busy to give someone a call to make him/her feel important? Text ! Email! Open a facebook, myspace or twitter account. Like I said there is no excuse not to keep in touch.

Remember Special Dates. Nothing melts a person’s heart more than a thoughtful greeting. Send a birthday card or an e-card (if you’re on a budget). Call to congratulate if some good news reaches you about the person. It doesn’t matter if the news is a month old. Call as soon as you get the message.

Call For Nothing. For no apparent reason or better yet, for no reason at all. Simply call people to say “hello”. In this day and age of cell phones, we all have an electronic “rolodex” at our disposal. Write your own code. For instance, label names in your phone address list as 1, 2, 3 and 4. One means you will call that person at least once a year for nothing. Two means you will call that person twice a year or semi-annually for nothing. Three means you will call that person three times a year or every four months. Four means… you should know what it means by now.

Break Bread From Time to Time. If you’re not the type of person who loves to cook, invite a friend out to coffee, lunch, brunch, dinner, breakfast or midnight snack. Catch up. Talk about “stuff”. Update yourself on what the other person is up to. Listen. Listen. Listen. You want to know more about your friend.

Offer a Helping Hand. You’ll never know when your turn will come. Investing in your friends is one of the best investments you can ever make. Yes, just like some blue chips on Wall Street, there will still be friends that will let you down. But don’t let this prevent you from offering a helping hand.

Be the Garbage Man. Yes, I know it can be stressful to hear close friends and acquaintances rant at you about their issues. Handle enough. The bottom line is helping them unload their burden. Be there for them. Most of the time, you’re not required to find a solution. They just want someone to empathize with what they are going through at the moment.

Be Sincere. This is where I warn you that “faking it till you make it” will not work. You really have to sincerely want to care, remember and honor the people you want around you. In other words, you have to take care of them, of the relationship you’ve established with them.

My father wasn’t the richest man that walked the Earth. He wasn’t even the smartest. But he was one of the most sincere human being that walked the Earth. He taught me this when I was growing up. I witnessed its full potential when he died. People from all walks of life up to my country’s Vice-President paid their last respect to somebody who made them feel important because to him, they really were.

We, his children, are still reaping the benefits of his legacy.

Where Is the World's Wealth?

There's a whole lot of water on Earth! Something like 326,000,000,000,000,000,000 gallons (326 million trillion gallons) of the stuff (roughly 1,260,000,000,000,000,000,000 liters) can be found on our planet. This water is in a constant cycle -- it evaporates from the ocean, travels through the air, rains down on the land and then flows back to the ocean. – taken from howstuffworks.com

Now I would assume that if water simply goes into another state e.g. solid to liquid or liquid to gas and vice versa, it never leaves the Earth’s jurisdiction. In other words, it just gets allocated somewhere on the planet but it is still here, right?

What about wealth? I am assuming that, inflation aside, the world’s wealth is similar to what it was years ago, right? Except now, its allocation simply changed. Yesterday’s wealthy is today’s poor. If this is the premise, then yesterday’s poor could be today’s wealthy.

Think about it. As crazy as this may sound, there can never really be a global collapse! There can be a global power shift because he who has wealth… controls! Now the argument can be looked at in many different ways but the fact remains, there is financial wealth on this planet. It’s just a matter of who it belongs to right now.

Your thoughts?

How Would You Like to Be Compared With Someone Else?

I was at a Barnes & Noble bookstore sipping coffee while reading a literary piece when some jewish kid approached me and asked me if I could keep an eye on his back pack while he used the rest room. I obliged and continued reading. Of course, my peripheral vision kept a watchful eye on whoever might want to take a beat up back pack. But I digress.

A couple of minutes later, the guy arrived to thank me. I mentioned that it wasn’t a problem at all. Then he asked me what I was reading. I told him that I was reading some book on how to sell by Jeffrey Gitomer. Of course he asked if I was a sales person. I gave him a revelation. I said “Just like everyone else in this world, so am I!” Intrigued, he sat down across from where I sat and asked me to expound on what I had just said.

I told him that I got paid to be in front of people. I told him that in my line of work, I looked for solutions to problems concerning small to medium size businesses. In other words, I am a consultant… a media consultant. And yes, I encourage clients to buy my solutions. Throwing back the question at him, he said that he helped out in his parents business and had just graduated from collage. He shared that his parents ran a vending machine business. He also mentioned that his parents had been running the business for the last 15 years and it had paid them handsomely! They did live in Beverly Hills.

Casually, I asked him if he was going to take over the business. His facial expression fell and quickly he said NO. When asked why, he simply said that it wasn’t what he really wanted to do. I asked him then what he wanted to do and with that he revealed that he was inclined to pursue anything that dealt with Neuro-Science and History. I asked him what was stopping him. It was his parents. And surprisingly enough, his answer didn’t surprise me but I prodded on. I found out that he has been very discouraged because his parents always compared him to other people.

“Why can’t you be like _____ who is now a doctor?”

“Why can’t you be like _____ who is now running the family business?”

“Why can’t you be _____ who is now an architect?”

I was all ears while he was pouring out all his emotions. Then after listening to everything he had to say, not knowing if he wanted me to react or not, I said something that made both of us reflect.

I told him that he had every right to feel bad about the fact that he was being compared with other people. No child wants to feel “second best” in their parents’ eyes. Let me say that again…

NO CHILD WANTS TO FEEL “SECOND BEST” IN THEIR PARENTS’ EYES!

I hope that was loud enough.
I then went on to tell him what I noticed about the business owners that I’ve come to meet over the years as media consultant. I told him that most of the successful business owners I’ve shook hands with are in the industry their in because it was what they wanted to do! It was their passion that brought about their career which ended up paying them handsomely!

I told him that if he loved science and history, there are many things that he can do. I even challenged him. I told him that I would like to see his “name in lights”, that I would like to watch him on the Science Channel or the Discovery Channel or even on NatGeo one day!

His face lit. I told him I was serious about what I said. He smiled. We talked some more about his passion. He shared some of the things he read on Albert Einstein and Pasquale and the historic time line of significant discoveries in Science. Then he stopped and looked me in the eye and asked…

“How about you… are you doing what you really want to do?”

I looked down and forced a smile. I took a deep breath and excused myself from the conversation.

In my head, I knew he had struck a chord in me. If he only knew who I was and what I had accomplished in my past life. If he only knew.

Take the First Step... ASAP!

Have you ever thought about doing something for the first time knowing it will benefit you and yet you've always given in to procrastination? We've all been guilty of it at one time or another. Why do we still keep doing it? Because we don't want to get out of our comfort zone. Think about it?

We know that every successful endeavor always requires an investment of commitment and action. And that's only the first step. You also have to put in the time! You can't get from point A to the finish line cutting corners. That's a big NO!

For instance, if you want to have lots of money in the bank, wouldn't it be wise to start saving? Put some money aside. Pay yourself first. A friend of mine wanted to know how I was able to pay off my credit card debt. I told him I took the first step in wanting to consciously eliminate my credit card debt. It began with a commitment and an action plan. My wife and I pinpointed which card was charging the highest interest rate. That's where we placed most of our credit card payment budget.

Let me give you an example:

Let's say you have 10,000 dollars in credit card debt. And every month, you have a total budget of 1,500 to pay the minimum amount required on all your cards plus the principle. What I would suggest you do is to find out the card that has the highest interest rate. Pay all the other cards the required minimum amount and nothing more. If that totals to 800 dollars, you have 700 dollars left to put into that card with the highest interest rate! Once you're done with that credit card, don't use it again! Pay down the card with the next highest interest rate.

You have to do the TIME! Which means you have to be patient. It may take a year or a couple of years to accomplish this endeavor but it can be done and will pay off handsomely.
If you want to learn of other ways to get rid of your credit card debt, do some research online. Bankrate.com offers a variety of ways on how to save money, budget your finances and make money. But you know what? You must take the first step... ASAP!

There Should've Been a Better Way to Read That Inauguration Poem

I was glued to my TV to witness history unfolding right before my eyes as my 5 month old baby slept like... a BABY!

Watching ex-presidents, the current one and the soon-to-be president all in one historic location was itself a sight to behold! Icing on the cake were performances by Yo Yo Ma and Co and Aretha Franklin. I was told that Charisse Pempenco was going to be there. My bad! She was at the Inauguration PARTY. Anyway, I was also anticipating poet Elizabeth Alexander, who was being raved at by different bloggers and different publications. I also read that during Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech, she was there, being a year old and on her father's shoulders listening.

When they called her to read her poem, I kinda felt insecure about my ability to appreciate poems. Don't get me wrong. I like poems! As a matter of fact, I liked her "Stravinsky in LA" poem! So imagine my dismay when she got behind the pulpit to read her Inauguration Poem like a GPS asking a driver to "turn right" or "turn left". Where was the passion and emotion in her voice? I wanted to feel it but I wasn't. Half way through her poem, I had to force myself to appreaciate her poem delivery the way I used to force myself to swollow a tablespoon of COD liver oil!

*sigh*

I probably just expected much from her, I suppose.