382. Prejudice

Never be prejudiced. Never pre-judge a situation based on an idea you have in your mind about it. Such ideas, if left unchallenged can blind you to the actual realities of the situation.

381. Books Literature and Reading

Keep your respect for books alive.

Establish, maintain and extend your library.

380. Reliability and Leadership

Become the one who can be relied upon to point the way forward. This is an important part of your reputation.

379. More Lessons from the Medici

"Waste no time on sorrow for there is no certain tomorrow." - Lorenzo de Medici

"Always try to diffuse a situation before resorting to force." - Cosimo & Piero de Medici

"Do not act impetuously; act stealthily and move your ambassadors around to avoid their building up power bases in any one place." - Lorenzo de Medici

378. Lessons from the Medici

Cosimo de Medici's father advised him to avoid being conspicuous, to exercise subterfuge, to rule without being seen to rule and to seek to rule the tax system.

It is sometimes necessary to ally one's fortunes with powerful but unreliable characters in order to succeed but you must understand also that handling them requires immense diplomatic skill.

Emerge as the richest man in your field, found a dynasty and start a renaissance.

377. How are we to Treat People ?

When dealing with people, learn to treat them as they want to be treated, not the way you do. This means that you must take the time and trouble to find out how they want you to treat them before you take action. This requires stillness and observation (mainly listening).

376. Political Ambition

Beware of political ambition, for this is always at the mercy of the judgment of others

375. Long Life

"It is not that we have a short time to live but that we waste a lot of it. Life is long enough for the highest achievements if it were all well invested. If weare not careful, we make it short." - Seneca

374. Two-facedness

"No man can for any considerable period, wear one face to himself and another to the multitude without finally getting bewildered as to which may be true." - Nathaniel Hawthorne.

373. Truth and Lies

"Lying makes a problem part of the future; truth makes a problem part of the past."- Rick Pitino (Basketball Coach)

372. The Main Thing

The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing (anon.)

371. Would you Rather be Loved or Trusted ?

It might well be pleasanter to be loved but it is a greater compliment to be trusted than to be loved.

370. Advice from the King on Values

"Values are like fingerprints. No two people's are the same but you leave them all over everything you do." - Elvis Presley

369. True Facts

A fact cannot be considered to be true unless the means by which it was obtained can be presented and verified.

368. Original Thought

"The first step to original thought is to develop an obsession with the unthinkable - Norman Mailer

367. Education

Learn to distinguish between the types of education that are available to you. In order to get ahead in life you need education. Over a lifetime, a man can earn many millions more if he has a college degree than he would if he just dropped out of school. Yet if you graduate from college and o not have any financial education, you will soon be poor and even in debt. A high-paying job without the financial education needed to manage the high income will get you into debt deeper and faster than a low-paying job.

366. Daily Focus

Focus each day on increasing and improving your skills in the following areas :

a. Business
b. Investing
c. Money management

365. The Magic of Thinking Big

Always go for he biggest and the best. When constructing a financial plan, for instance, make one for the whole of your life, not just for a year. Indeed you should have a plan for 1, 5, 10, 20, 40 and 50 years hence. Commit yourself to the long term goal of being fnancially free. Set and achieve goals for your income, expenditure, profit and asset acquisition. Think in terms of your whole life and beyond that to your children and grandchildren's lifetimes.

364. And the Word Became Flesh.

All words become flesh. Your words do to. Guard your thoughts and words for they are self-fulfilling. One of the Characteristics of the Godly is Austerity of Speech (and thought). Avoid and shun forever the thoughts and words of poverty, anger, hatred, resentment, jealousy and negative emotions generally. Indeed, have your mind dwell on thoughts of Abundance, Happiness, Love etc. Think about what that might mean.