"Cashflow" is the most important word in the world of money. Cashflow - the flow of cash.
Cashflow can be positive - i.e. you have more cash coming in than going out. This is always a good thing. Negative cashflow is when you have more money going out than coming in. This is a bad thing, it leads to debt and misery. Neutral cashflow - the same amount coming in as going out (also known as red-lining) is also a bad thing. It is stagnation as the value is being eroded by inflation,
Monday, January 31, 2011
353. Expertise, Confidence
If you study any subject for an hour a day, every day, eventually you will become THE world expert on that subject. No-one will know more about it than you. Learn to have this level of confidence in your self. There is a fashion these days to denigrate experts and to dismiss their knowledge. This is the small mind syndrome in action. You must never accept this treatment of your superior knowledge from those who are your inferiors. State loudly and clearly that you are the expert and demand to know what credentials your attackers have that makes them think that they have the right to challenge you. Then set about demolishing their positions entirely.
As an expert, read constantly. Build on your knowledge every day. Use your knowledge to help, instruct, enlighten and inform.
As an expert, read constantly. Build on your knowledge every day. Use your knowledge to help, instruct, enlighten and inform.
352. The Killer Instinct
Only you yourself can know for certain if you have the killer instinct or not. If you have, nurture it. If you haven't then cultivate it. Become determined to give the competition a good strong taste of their own medicine.
350. 4 Assumptions by Which to Live your Life
There are 4 things that will keep you on the straight and narrow if you assume them to be true about your life.
1. Assume your body has already had its heart attack.
2. Assume the half-life of your profession is 2 years.
3. Assume that everyone can overhear everything that you say about them.
4. Assume that you will meet with God every 90 days for a one-to-One.
1. Assume your body has already had its heart attack.
2. Assume the half-life of your profession is 2 years.
3. Assume that everyone can overhear everything that you say about them.
4. Assume that you will meet with God every 90 days for a one-to-One.
349. Strength
Develop strength in your physical, mental, emotional and spiritual being. Every day do a little practice in each of these areas. Never borrow strength. Constantly work to build your own. If you borrow strength you will build a weakness in yourself, in others and in the relationship you have with others.
348. Principles that Govern the Universe
There are Universal Principles or Laws that operate in the Creation whether we like them or not. These are the "things behind the things." These are the causes behind the effects that we see. When we say that they are Universal, we mean that they are everywhere the same. They are true in every location and across every culture. Principles are Timeless and Constant. They never change over time. Some examples are : -
* Fairness
* Kindness
* Respect
* Honesty
* Integrity
* Service
* Contribution
* Trust
While principles are self-evident, you may miss them until they are pointed out to you. Make collecting them one of your life's goals.
* Fairness
* Kindness
* Respect
* Honesty
* Integrity
* Service
* Contribution
* Trust
While principles are self-evident, you may miss them until they are pointed out to you. Make collecting them one of your life's goals.
347. Empowerment and Disempowerment
Any time you allow your emotional life to be a function of the weaknesses of others, you disempower yourself and empower those weaknesses to continue messing up your life. Seize control and wrest the helm back into your own hands. Remember the story of the student who went with his teacher when he was buying a newspaper. The newsvendor was very rude to the teacher and this offended the student who respected his teacher. He asked furiously why his teacher allowed the man to speak to him like that and how he could remain so calm. The teache smiled and replied "He is always like that, so why should I let his behaviour affect my inner peace?"
346. Being the Transition
Learn to become a "transition" person. i.e. become the one who prevents unworthy thoughts, habits, ideas, practices, tendencies, traditions etc. from being passed on to the next generation. To do this, you first need to identify what they are and eliminate them in yourself. The next generation, when it arrives will never have seen them in you and will not carry them forward. Establish fine and worthy traditions of your own to pass on instead.
Saturday, January 29, 2011
345. Charity
Give to charity. Give wisely. Pick charities that are important to you and support them. A part of all you earn is yours to give away to charity. You should allocate your income as follows : -
Income %
€100
Full 100
Tax 30
Debt 30
Expenses 21
Savings 9
Charity 10
Investment 9
When you give to charity you should give 10%. This is one tenth. The meaning of the word "tithe" is to give 10%.
Give to your charities with an open heart. Give gladly. Do not resent your gift. Operating on this basis, be careful about where you choose to give. Everywhere there are people who have plans for your money. It is yours until you give it and only you have the right to plan for its use.
Everywhere there are "charities" that spend more on administration than on the causes they claim to support. You should be clear in your mind that this is nothing more than exploitation of the cause for the benefit of the organisers and is nothing short of fraud. Have nothing to do with these organisations.
Another form of exploitation is the phenomenon of "chuggers". This is a portmanteau word made up of the "ch" in charity and the "uggers" in muggers. It is the practice of mugging people on the street for charity. When you put money in a collection box you have no guarantee that the person holding it will ever return the money to the cause. Avoid them like the plague that they are.
When choosing a charity to support, do not be swayed by emotional appeals. Check out the bona fides of the charity and only give if the money is going to the cause and not the organisation. Demand to see their latest audited accounts before you give and only give if you are satisfied.
Build giving to charity into your budget. That way, at the start of each year you will know how much you intend to give and when you intend to give it and to which charity. Then you have made the decision once and for all and can forget about it until you are preparing your budget for next year. This is basically a mind-clearing sytem. Do not entertain appeals for anything else during the year (but keep the appeals on file for your next budget.) If you wish, you can budget for emergencies like floods, volcanoes etc. and keep money in a fund for that, earning interest.
Income %
€100
Full 100
Tax 30
Debt 30
Expenses 21
Savings 9
Charity 10
Investment 9
When you give to charity you should give 10%. This is one tenth. The meaning of the word "tithe" is to give 10%.
Give to your charities with an open heart. Give gladly. Do not resent your gift. Operating on this basis, be careful about where you choose to give. Everywhere there are people who have plans for your money. It is yours until you give it and only you have the right to plan for its use.
Everywhere there are "charities" that spend more on administration than on the causes they claim to support. You should be clear in your mind that this is nothing more than exploitation of the cause for the benefit of the organisers and is nothing short of fraud. Have nothing to do with these organisations.
Another form of exploitation is the phenomenon of "chuggers". This is a portmanteau word made up of the "ch" in charity and the "uggers" in muggers. It is the practice of mugging people on the street for charity. When you put money in a collection box you have no guarantee that the person holding it will ever return the money to the cause. Avoid them like the plague that they are.
When choosing a charity to support, do not be swayed by emotional appeals. Check out the bona fides of the charity and only give if the money is going to the cause and not the organisation. Demand to see their latest audited accounts before you give and only give if you are satisfied.
Build giving to charity into your budget. That way, at the start of each year you will know how much you intend to give and when you intend to give it and to which charity. Then you have made the decision once and for all and can forget about it until you are preparing your budget for next year. This is basically a mind-clearing sytem. Do not entertain appeals for anything else during the year (but keep the appeals on file for your next budget.) If you wish, you can budget for emergencies like floods, volcanoes etc. and keep money in a fund for that, earning interest.
344. One less excuse
"Don't let the fear of the time it will take to accomplish something stand in the way of your doing it. The time will pass anyway; we might just as well put that passing time to the best possible use." - Earl Nightingale
343. Observation
Sharpen and keep sharp your skills of observation and raise tour level of awareness, your attention. Start playing Kim's Game (Rudyard Kipling and Baden Powell), using a tray full of objects. Look at them for 1 minute then see how many you can remember.
One of the reasons we do this is that the range of what we think and do is limited by what we fail to notice. Because we fail to notice that we fail to notice, there is little we can do to change and grow until we begin to notice how failing to notice shapes our thoughts words and deeds. - R.D.Laing
One of the reasons we do this is that the range of what we think and do is limited by what we fail to notice. Because we fail to notice that we fail to notice, there is little we can do to change and grow until we begin to notice how failing to notice shapes our thoughts words and deeds. - R.D.Laing
342. Steven Covey on Choice
Between stimulus (what's presented to you) and response (your reaction) is a space or gap. In that gap is your freedom to choose. The bigger that space, the greater your range of choices and the greater your potential for happiness. In that space alone you have the ability to grow learn love and further expand the space. It is only in how you use it to expand or contract that you can determine your present and future states.
The direction of our work here is to expand and grow mentally, physically and spiritually. This can be done by meditation and Tai Chi, the study of great literature and scriptures as well as your conscious decision to swim upstream against the social, cultural and genetic currents that seek to drag you down.
The direction of our work here is to expand and grow mentally, physically and spiritually. This can be done by meditation and Tai Chi, the study of great literature and scriptures as well as your conscious decision to swim upstream against the social, cultural and genetic currents that seek to drag you down.
341. To Work with Love
"We can all do small things with great Love." -Mother Teresa of Calcutta
"...And what is it to work with love? It is to weave the cloth with threads from your own heart as if the cloth were to be worn by your beloved..." - Khalil Gibran (The Prophet)
Try to work always with Love in your heart, that way it won't be like work at all.
"...And what is it to work with love? It is to weave the cloth with threads from your own heart as if the cloth were to be worn by your beloved..." - Khalil Gibran (The Prophet)
Try to work always with Love in your heart, that way it won't be like work at all.
340. Wake up the Good Men
Edmund Burke once said : "The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing." In this he was perfectly correct. Everywhere, good men are falling asleep and into laziness. It is your duty to wake them up.
339. Do Not Trust Princes, States, Bureaucrats etc.
Put not your trust in princes, generals, states, bureaucrats, organisations, quangos, lawyers or servants of the state. They will always plead expediency while cheerfully spilling your blood from a safe distance. The same applies to politicians, leaders and rulers of any kind.
338. Points of View
In a room full of saints, a thief will only see pockets to be picked.
Generally speaking, people only ever see things from their own point of view. If your mind embraces the truth and truth permeates your mind, you will begin to see things from the point of view of the Absolute, the Creator.
John Steinbeck in his book, Cannery Row describes how the hero, Doc Ricketts' mind loved true things.
Generally speaking, people only ever see things from their own point of view. If your mind embraces the truth and truth permeates your mind, you will begin to see things from the point of view of the Absolute, the Creator.
John Steinbeck in his book, Cannery Row describes how the hero, Doc Ricketts' mind loved true things.
337. Timing
Timing is everything. In life, in business and in gambles, your timing and execution must be perfect. Sometimes there comes a chance; the fates give you something special. You take that chance and you seize the big pot.
336. Open Discussions
Important matters should be discussed openly. Private agreements can often be misinterpreted by either side.
335. Trust Yourself
Work every day on being trustworthy, then learn to trust only your own self. Be prepared for betrayal, for instant fligh or instant fight.
334. There is No Excuse for Failure
In training and in games, sports etc., "failure" is permitted as it is a necessary part of the learning process, even in the Martial Arts. For the Samurai, however, the first law of survival is that if you are caught unawares, betrayed unawares, or killed unawares, you have failed in your duty to yourself and to your family. For this type of failure, there is no excuse.
333. Sieze Your Opportunities
The mafioso, Joe Bonnano attributed his success to the constant and continual seizing of opportunities as they arose. Because he was a criminal, do not confuse this advice with an instruction to commit crimes. The principle, however is still sound. Seize the opportunities as they arise. Don't do it just once, make a practice of it so that it becomes a habit. Often what happenns is that an opportunity presents itself and you recognise it. Then, because you can't quite see how the fine details can be worked out, you hesitate, lose confidence and let it slip away. Once you are sure, go for it then work out the details later. Just make sure the down side is protected and there is a way to recover any loss.
"When you know exactly what to do, to hesitate is to lose." - The Samurai, Katsumata.
"When you know exactly what to do, to hesitate is to lose." - The Samurai, Katsumata.
332. Keep your own "Ultra" Secret
When you have a source of information on your enemy, do not give the game away. Do not let them know that you know or how you know what you know. Treat all your sources of intelligence the way the British treated Ultra during World War 2. They never acted on a piece of information obtained through Ultra unless that information could have been obtained by less secret means. Don't compromise your sources or your spies.
Saturday, January 22, 2011
331. Keep your Plans Secret
Whatever your plans and intentions be always too wise to even whisper them down a well.
330. Be Nice
Be nice to everybody. Be nice to the people in your business and in other people's businesses - especially the lowliest people for they often feel the most undervalued and will appreciate your goodness to them. They can all be of great help to you. You can learn a lot from them.
329. Handling Cash
When you start to do business with banks, make sure that you do not get into regular habits of lodging money that can be readily identified by criminals. Do not set up patterns that can be observed. Do not go at the same time each day, or the same day each week. Never use the same branch twice in a row. Never carry the cash for lodgment outside your clothing. Do not be obvious. Do not let people know what you are doing.
328. Testing Strength of Character
A good way to test someone's dtrength of character is to offer them something like a sweet or a drink. If they refuse politely, you can keep pressing them. The harder you have to press to get them to accept, the stronger the mind or character. (Keep count.) If they accept immediately or quickly, this means they are easily swayed. It is best to wait a little with someone you have just met before trying this technique on them.
327. Encryption
Develop an encryption system, one time pad for preference to protect your sensitive communications. Use invisible ink routinely and create a list of stock phrases for use in your clear text to alert readers in the know to the presence of hidden messages. As a matter of routine, record your telephone calls and conversations.
326. The Absolute Need for Secrecy
Do not trust the state. The state does not trust you, Machiavelli wrote that it is necessary for the state to deal in lies and half-truths because people are made up of lies and half-truths, even princes.
Never trust any one person 100%. Never reveal the whole truth to any one person or enough parts of the truth to many people for them to put it all together.
There is a fashion for openness and transparency in financial matters. This is perfectly fine. It is right that those who are accountable to you should be open about everything. You do not have to be bound by such quaint notions as these.
Do not reveal financial information to anyone unless it is absolutely necessary and even then make sure you swear them to secrecy. Be wise, keep your own counsel; do not tell everything even then.
Operate always on a need to know basis. Remember that people do not need to know every thing that is happening or going on.
If you give people (especially those working for the state) too much information about yourself and your affairs, it can be used in many ways against you. Your ideas can be stolen. Your customers can be stolen. The knowledge that you give others can be woven into "evidence" and used against you. The truths that you tell can be taken and twisted into a rope of lies to bind you.
When you begin to make your way in the world, lesser men will see your achievements and envy you. They will try to take your wealth away from you and injure your reputation, self esteem, and damage you physically. Do not give them any ammunition to use against you. Only give away as much information as people need to enable them to carry out your wishes.
Keep your systems secret. When you have devised a system for making money or re-investing it once it is made, keep quiet about it. You have no obligation to make things easier for your competition. NEVER disclose your key numbers, gross margins, fixed expenses, key performance indicators, turnover, number of customers etc.
Only the tax man has the legal (not moral) right to any information and you should only give that if absolutely necessary. No-one should EVER know the details of your business systems.
Never allow letters, contracts, contacts, faxes etc. fall into anyone else's hands. SHRED your waste paper.
Remember, the information that drips slowly into your enemy's hands can become dangerous power for them to wield over you.
On the other hand, always be alert for information on the oppoaition. When you are in idle moments, ring them up to find out what they are doing or go and visit them to do some recconaisance work.
When asked an impertinent question, i.e. a question asked out of nosiness, curiosity or as part of a blatant piece of interrogation, resist the temptation to tell them where to go but answer the question with another question e.g. "Why did you ask that?", "What do you mean, profit?", Who wants to know the answer to that?" etc. Don't give anything away and eventually they will get the message and give up.
When faced with this situation, note well who is asking what. Maintain files on these people and log this information in them and cross reference them with the files you keep on your own operations.
Never trust any one person 100%. Never reveal the whole truth to any one person or enough parts of the truth to many people for them to put it all together.
There is a fashion for openness and transparency in financial matters. This is perfectly fine. It is right that those who are accountable to you should be open about everything. You do not have to be bound by such quaint notions as these.
Do not reveal financial information to anyone unless it is absolutely necessary and even then make sure you swear them to secrecy. Be wise, keep your own counsel; do not tell everything even then.
Operate always on a need to know basis. Remember that people do not need to know every thing that is happening or going on.
If you give people (especially those working for the state) too much information about yourself and your affairs, it can be used in many ways against you. Your ideas can be stolen. Your customers can be stolen. The knowledge that you give others can be woven into "evidence" and used against you. The truths that you tell can be taken and twisted into a rope of lies to bind you.
When you begin to make your way in the world, lesser men will see your achievements and envy you. They will try to take your wealth away from you and injure your reputation, self esteem, and damage you physically. Do not give them any ammunition to use against you. Only give away as much information as people need to enable them to carry out your wishes.
Keep your systems secret. When you have devised a system for making money or re-investing it once it is made, keep quiet about it. You have no obligation to make things easier for your competition. NEVER disclose your key numbers, gross margins, fixed expenses, key performance indicators, turnover, number of customers etc.
Only the tax man has the legal (not moral) right to any information and you should only give that if absolutely necessary. No-one should EVER know the details of your business systems.
Never allow letters, contracts, contacts, faxes etc. fall into anyone else's hands. SHRED your waste paper.
Remember, the information that drips slowly into your enemy's hands can become dangerous power for them to wield over you.
On the other hand, always be alert for information on the oppoaition. When you are in idle moments, ring them up to find out what they are doing or go and visit them to do some recconaisance work.
When asked an impertinent question, i.e. a question asked out of nosiness, curiosity or as part of a blatant piece of interrogation, resist the temptation to tell them where to go but answer the question with another question e.g. "Why did you ask that?", "What do you mean, profit?", Who wants to know the answer to that?" etc. Don't give anything away and eventually they will get the message and give up.
When faced with this situation, note well who is asking what. Maintain files on these people and log this information in them and cross reference them with the files you keep on your own operations.
325. Know Thyself
Socrates quoted the Oracle at Delphi as saying "Know Thyself", but Sun Tzu said " If you know your enemy as well as you know yourself, you will be assured of victory in a hundred battles. If you do not know yourself or your enemy, you will be defeated in every battle.
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324. Maintaining the Balance of Financial Power in your favour
Always encourage extravagance and indebtedness in others while observing the virtues of thrift austerity and frugality yourself thus maintaining the balance of power in your favour.
323. Contracts, Leases and Sets of Terms and Conditions
Contracts are a modern way of taking hostages.
Always have in your contracts, reasonable, legally binding and enforcible penalty clauses that work to your advantage. It is a useful idea to collect as many sets of Terms and Conditions, Leases and Contracts as you can.
Always have in your contracts, reasonable, legally binding and enforcible penalty clauses that work to your advantage. It is a useful idea to collect as many sets of Terms and Conditions, Leases and Contracts as you can.
322. Festine Lente (Make Haste Slowly)
The Poem of Harold the Hasty
In Search of gold
This Viking bold
He broke a beehive right in two
The bees they stung him black and blue
Oh Hasty Harold, don't aim your axe
Until you first have checked your facts.
Let's face it you wouldn'nt trust a doctor who prescribed before he diagnosed !
First know the problem, then with patience, you can find the solution.
In Search of gold
This Viking bold
He broke a beehive right in two
The bees they stung him black and blue
Oh Hasty Harold, don't aim your axe
Until you first have checked your facts.
Let's face it you wouldn'nt trust a doctor who prescribed before he diagnosed !
First know the problem, then with patience, you can find the solution.
321.Doing the Right Work
Make sure that for as long as you are working, you are doing the RIGHT work. This is the same as making sure that the ladder you are climbing is up against the right wall. Plam so that it is.
320. Development
Developing your life, relationships, businesses, etc is a never-ending process. It is a game, enquiry and evolution. Enjoy it !
319. End Points and Pausing
In every activity, there are natural stops or end points. Making a model airplane has a natural stop once the glueing has been finished you must stop until it has dried before starting to paint it up. These stops are very good times to fall still and let your mind come to rest in the peace of your own self and settle there for 2 minutes or so. These mini-meditations or pauses as they are called help to stop the build up of Rajas and prevent your mind from spinning out of control. When it is time for the next phase or activity, your mind will be rested clear and calm and your attention will be freely available to focus on the task at hand if you have paused. They help your being to accumulate sattva.
318. Being a Warrior
Warriors see everything as a challenge or an opportunity, ordinary men see things as a belling or a curse. Which view gives you more power ?
317. On Spending Money
"For every Euro you spend, remember this : You will only ever get one chance to spend it. Make sure that you use that one-tine-only chance wisely." -The Motley Fool
315. Detachment
Grow up knowing how not to be affected by the inevitable problems of life. Have a sense of inner peace to sustain you in difficult times. This can be achieved by meditation. Day by day as you meditate, you will strengthen that core of iner strength, serenity and calm. That place is your true self. It knows all, was never born, will never die, is not the effect of any external cause, is self-existent, imperishable, ancient; it lives in all hearts. That place is the one self of all beings. Self-realisation is the path to resting your mind there forever.
315. Being Upbeat
Always try to feel successful and significant regardless of what you do or what befalls you. Be positive about yourself and ablut life.
314. Permanence of Education
The only thing you can give to your children that the government cannot steal from them is their education. -Dr.J.O'Neill
313. Loss
Loss is imaginary. Nothing ever truly disappears in the Universe; things only change form. If the loss of something in the past still wounds you it is because of the meaning you have linked to it in your mind.
312. Learing from Others
It is always better to learn from the mistakes of others than from your own, and by extension, to make mistakes on someone else's time rather than your own.
311. Things that are not Imperfections
"Roughness and ambiguity are not imperfections, they are what make the world turn." -Ludwig Wittgenstein
310. Know Thine Enemy
A wise man knows his enemy. You must know not only who they are but also how they are likely to react to what you do say and write. Avoid nasty bitter twisted mean self-pitying and resentful people. They are miserable and drag your energies down to their own level. They are dangerous because they resent your happiness and seek to bring you down. If you cannot avoid them, make sure that you give their agression a good run for its money and that you emerge victorious ant they are left licking their wounds. Be always on the look out for their attempts to do you down. Many of these will masquerade as your friend. True friends do not act this way. Set tests and traps to find them out.
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309. Living Patiently.
Learn to live with things. Make adjustments and constantly sort things out. Live patiently.Through patient attention everything can be achieved.
308. Realising the Universe
Think of the times you have procrastinated. NOW is the time to realise the Universe. Use your time well to advance your enlightenment and that of those around you. Use it now before it is gone and no longer in your power.
307. Refinement
Concentrate every day on refining your reason and your physical being through meditation, martial arts, yoga, tai chi and the reading of scriptures such as the Bhagavad Gita, Upanishads and the Bible. If necessary rise an hour earlier to achieve this.
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306. Taking Responsibility
Always take responsibility for your own actions. Before acting, consider and know the effects of your thoughts words and actions on yourself, on others and on the world. Always act for the best interest of the gratest number of people. Never act for purely selfish motives, but always ensure that you are included in the benefits.
305. Circumstances
Do not quarrel with your circumstances for this is to rebel against Nature and Nature includes your own Nature. So quarrelling with Nature leads you to self-hatred and ultimately, to your own destruction. If you do not like the circumstances you find yourself in, then study the causes and seek to change them. Then your circumstances will change. Your choices increase with learning. The causes of your circumstances are always within yourself. You must learn to BE the person who can DO the things that allow you to HAVE things the way you want them.
Monday, January 3, 2011
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