Book Review – Trump: Think Like a Billionaire – Oct 16, 2012

Writer: Donald J. Trump with Meredith Mclver

            Trump: Think Like a Billionaire covers real estate, which is the core of many businesses, money, the Business of life, slices of the billionaire’s life, and inside The Apprentice; it’s quite comprehensive. It’s also very special, as Donald even includes a 42-page schedule of a typical week of his life. I mean how often you can get to see a schedule of a billionaire, or a celebrity. Overall, I think it’s a very great book. I enjoyed the first three chapters very much. As for the last two chapters, which are Slices of the Billionaire’s Life, and Inside The Apprentice, although they’re quite dry I think, I’ve learnt quite a lot from them. And they’re very inspiring. The other reason I love this book is that Donald is very motivational; I always feel like applying myself when I see him work so hard, and hear him talk about the benefit of fame. Although fame and big money can also be big problem, I do think it’s good to taste them.

            As usual, I like to pick up about three points from the book I read to give them some special attention. If you’ve read my book review of Rich Dad Poor Dad, and Rich Dad’s Guide to Becoming Rich without Cutting up Your Credit Cards, you might have discovered that I concern about what we should learn very much.

Here’re two paragraphs I take from the book.

“I spend hours each day reading the financial media (The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Business Week, Fortune, The New York Times, Financial Times). I also read a lot of books and other magazines; you never know where you next great idea is going to come from. You should be on top of all the news within your industry and, beyond that, all local, national, and global news as well. Ignorance in current affairs can go a long way toward destroying your credibility – and your account.

People always ask what I like to watch on television. Typically, I only watch television that I know will improve my financial IQ. My one indulgence when it comes to television is sports. For news and financial advice, of course, I watch The Apprentice, but I also watch the CNBC business report, Larry King, Bill O’Reilly, the Today show, and Fox cable. Whatever you watch or read, study something every day. It’s essential that you keep your mind open and alert.”

Quite often, I hear people mention that it’s very good to read newspaper. At first I didn’t know why. I was thinking there’s no point to know about the new government policy, or the accidents, and other things. And we only had to mind our own business, and work hard on improving it. It’s until recently I realize that reading news can be very important even for small player (a big player in the future) like me. We need to know the rule of the market, and the market in order to play well in the society, for example, I want to be an English teacher in the future. By reading newspaper recently, I saw that the new national educational blueprint states that only the top 30% students will be employed as a teacher, which is an important message for me.  Other than that, I also learn about the English Essentials Programme provided by the corporate social responsibility of Carlsberg and also the English standard of our country. Knowing this, which is the market, will be of vital importance for me when I’m designing English courses or want to start up my business in English teaching industry. I think that’s just part of it. We can also get some great business ideas, business opportunity, and news of recent seminar by reading papers regularly.

            In the introduction of the book, Donald mentions that it’s not necessary take vacation, “Don’t take vacations. What’s the point? If you’re not enjoying your work, you’re in the wrong job. Even when I’m playing golf, I’m doing business. I never stop, and I’m usually having fun.”  Except from not taking vacation, Donald actually works seven days a week, and he usually sleep about four hours per night. He’s in bed by 1A.m. and up to read the newspapers at 5 A.M. From here, we can see that it takes tremendous effort to stay on the top. It also inspires me of a new reading method, which is to wake up at 5, or 4 to read about 3 hours, before going to school or work to ensure that I do spend about 3 hours a day reading books, newspaper, and listen to financial news each day. Because if I do my studying job at the other time, I might not be able to spend about 3 hours on it, as things might come up.

            Since I’ll have to work for others sooner or later, a good tip of working is very important for me.

“Always pretend that you’re working for yourself. You’ll do a wonderful job in that case. It’s simple, but it works. If you’re finding that you don’t love your job or that you’re not doing a good job, demand a meeting with your boss immediately. If the situation doesn’t improve, fire yourself (and your boss) and do something else”

I still remember one of the problems I faced when I was working in a hotel in 2010, and I could only work there back then, was that I really hated the tremendous paperwork which I thought was not necessary. I was very angry about it. Now I realize that there’s a better way to face that problem. If I have known this tip at that time, and have pretended that I was working for myself, I would’ve asked boss the function of each of the paperwork, and thought about how I could cut down the work. If I’d done that, the job would’ve been more interesting, and I also could’ve learnt something, even though I might now be able to cut down the paperwork at the end. I think this tip will be very useful for me when I start my career.

            At first, I actually decided to pick up three points, but I realize that there’s one more point which is too good that I can’t afford to forget that, so I decided to add one more.

“… if you can’t dream about new products, they will never happen. I also pointed out how important it is to set their own standards. That will ensure that they remain innovators in their field.”

This is one of the things he said in a speech. I think this is the core of the huge success of Apple and many other products. And it’s a very important point for me to keep in mind, when I develop my own product. No matter, it’s a book, or an English course.

Overall, I think this is quite a good book. And I feel so blessed to read this book. I’ve learnt so much from it. And I’ll read it again and again from time to time.

Book Review - Rich Dad’s Guide to Becoming Rich without Cutting up Your Credit Cards – 10 Oct, 2012

Author: Robert T. Kiyosaki

            

            I’ve been mad on Robert’s books, since I read Rich Dad Poor Dad a few days ago. And this book I read today really lives up to my expectation. In this book, Robert discuss the price of becoming rich without being cheap, crooked, or needing to marry a rich person. Like Rich Dad Poor Dad the books are filled with insightful and unconventional thoughts about money.

            

           As usual, I like to pick up a few points which I think are the most important ones to me among the things I learn from the book to review. The first chapter of the book starts with the quote by his rich dad, “Most people want to get rich. They just don’t want to pay the price.” This reminded me of a book I read months ago, Think and Grow Rich written by Napoleon Hill. In the workbook of it, there is column asking us to fill in what we will give/do in return for the money we desire. The idea behind them are the same, which is if you want something, you need to pay for it. Coming across the idea again makes me realize the magnitude of having the mindset of price which is often ignored, for example, I want to be healthier and heal my vocal problems quickly without a surgery, but very often I skip my plan to exercise in the park, or consume too much fried food, or cold drink and think that by changing my habit a bit from time to time, I would eventually reach my goal. Well, I failed to realize that to get what I want I’ve to pay the price which is to change my lifestyle immediately and drastically. In the book the author also mentions a study by one government of tracked people from the ages of 20 to 65. The study found that by the time they’re 65 years old. 1% were wealthy. 4% were well off. 5% were still working because they had to. 54% were living on support from family or the government. 36% were dead. 35% percent of that wealthy 1 % and a large percentage of the well off 4% actually inherited their wealth. It really stunned me. It’s like a wake-up call telling me that Lucus, you need to be prepared to pay more price, to do more than you’re doing now if you really want to achieve your dream of rebuilding your own house for your mother, immigrating to America, and being a successful person by the age of 30.

            

            In Rich Dad Poor Dad, they author suggests us to study accounting, investing, market, and the law to enhance our financial intelligence. In this book, the author says that except from financial education, which teaches us how to have money work for us. We also need to pay attention to the other two kinds of education which are academic education (teach us how to read, write, and do arithmetic), and professional education (teach us the skills to work for money). Japanese famous author, and businessman Naoyuki Honda advocates learning Finance, IT, and English, and Dr. Kenichi Ohmae suggests people studying finance, problem solving skills, and English. My personal view is that except from paying attention to the three kinds of education we still need to invest in English, since English is not the first language of all of us. And it is still the lingua franca, and many good books are written in English. As for problem solving skill, I think it’s a skill you would master automatically when we’re on our way to fight for success. What interests me the most is IT. Well, for sure, it’s really a money-making business. At least many of the world leaders in business are actually from IT industry, like Mark Zuckerberg, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and Larry Page. It has also changed many industries and still changing them, for example, the teaching industry I’ll probably be in. There’re more and more people studying a nonline degree rather going to a university with a campus. Rumor also has it that there’ll not be any campus in the future. Hence I personally think that except from paying attention to the three fundamental types of education Robert mentions in the book, it’s also very important for us to invest in English, and pay attention to the development of IT, and gain more IT knowledge, or it might limit our growth.

            

            In the book, Robert also talks about what his rich dad told him about good debt and bad debt. His rich dad defined good debt as debt that someone else pays for you, and bad debt as debt that you pay for with your own sweat and blood. An example of the usage of the knowledge of good debt is buying a house with a loan, and then renting it to renters after some paint jobs, or renovation. And use the rental to pay for the mortgage, and the left rental will become the passive income. What worth a mention is that very often the house will also appreciate from time to time. Not only will you earn the passive income, you will also earn the appreciated house after years. Personally I think this is another framework which is as important as the framework of assets and liabilities which is mentioned in Rich Dad Poor Dad. I always think of framework as something very important because it can help us make more accurate decision in the shorter time, so it can be very helpful to remember this framework.

            

           Except from this, the book also mentions lots of other important knowledge like, financial statement, the values of mistakes, the importance of change, and etc. I really recommend people who aspire to succeed financially, especially those who want to get rich by studying hard, and getting a good job to read his books. I’m sure they’ll be very helpful for them.

Video Review - The Secret on Oprah – Oct 5, 2012

Guests:

Rhonda Byrne,

Jack Canfield,

Lisa Nichols,

James Arthur Ray,

Dr. Michael Beckwith

            

       Except The Secret, The Magic, and The Power, there’re actually many books talking about the law of attraction on the market. Many of them published before The Secret were very famous, for example, The Power of Your Subconscious Mind written by Joseph Murphy. Quite often there’re author talks about the importance of some thing which I believe are the law of attraction in their books like, Kazuyo Katsuma, Masanori Kanda. They really enhance my faith in it. When I saw Oprah Winfrey talked about the law of attraction in the way showing that she totally believe in it yesterday in Larry King’s show, it stroke me like a beacon of hope. It was like a solid proof telling me that the law of attraction was as true as Newton’s laws of motion. Except that, Jack also mentioned that the law of attraction can actually be proved by quantum physics. It shows that everything is energy. And our thoughts and feelings can control the flow of the energy. The guests of the program also mentioned that our feeling sends a wave into the universe. Anything that’s vibrating in the similar level gets attracted into our life.          

The program gave quite a clear explanation about the law of attraction, I really learnt a lot from them. Among them, there’re three things, which I think are of vital importance.

1.      What you focus on it expands. What you give your attention to gets bigger.

2.    Thoughts, feelings, and your action all have to be working simultaneously in the same direction.

3.    Nothing new can come into our life, unless we’re grateful for what we already have.

What you focus on it expands. What you give your attention to gets bigger

In the program, Ryan, a woman who is in debt was suggested to make a decision to put one hundred, two hundred, or whatever it’s to the debt. Then, forget about debt and focus on how she can create more financial freedom. Jack also pointed out that she couldn’t try to focus on getting out of debt, because in that sense, the key word is still debt, instead she should try to focus on what her life would be like. I realized that I tend to focus on bad things very often, for example, when I’m sick, I tend to think about surgery, or the doctors aren’t going to be able to help me, as they don’t know my circumstances, instead of good things like many doctor says it’s not something serious. When my father’s association decided to give me RM700, I kept thinking about how bad it was like to stay in the banquet with people I don’t know, and forget about how the RM700 can help me. It’s really horrible to realize that it is me who attract those bad things to my life. Really have to direct my thoughts into the right direction. In this program, James always reminds me of something very important, which is that every single thing has a gift hidden in it. In fact, I’ve mentioned this last week in my other post, Tuesday with Morrie, but human is just forgetful, but I’ve just hammered it into my brain. I’ll never forget it again. Lol.

Thoughts, feelings, and your action all have to be working simultaneously in the same direction.

James mentioned that anybody who don’t achieve what they desire or deserve must have missed one of them. We should feel it, act on it, and make action based on where we’re going. It really has a point there. It explain why many of us fail to attraction what we want by the law of attraction, for example, I tried to use the law of attraction to attract chicken chop before, but I failed. Other than that, I also have the habit of visualize my soul mate almost every day, but I’m still single. I think that’s because I failed to fulfill all the three criteria. So except from visualizing it and feel it, I must act on it. I must do as Lisa said from now on. If somebody asks me how I’m doing, I must say, “I’m phenomenal”, or “I’m great”, even when I’m in the midst of crisis, and think that I’m great as I made it through.

Nothing new can come into our life, unless we’re grateful for what you already have.

I think this is the most important one among the three, or Oprah won’t encourage people to write gratitude journal. Rhonda Byrne won’t start The Power with gratitude journal. Lisa mentioned that when we are dealing with weight, family, and friends. If we want to change it, we need to appreciate what’s there, find the thing about it that works, find the thing that infuses us, all everything, by doing this, we create the space for it to get better. What James told the woman who had weight problem in the program is really inspiring. He used the different way to look at thing. James asked her if she’s grateful when her doctor tells her she’s healthy. James suggested her to start every single day, waking up saying thank you for the health she has, saying things like ”I love my legs, because it’s working functionally…”. Start to love her body and grateful for it, for the way it’s at the moment. He asks her to choose to become healthy and whole. Instead of losing weight and saying she wants to get rid of it. He asked her to choose to become healthy and whole. Be grateful and the outcome would be healthy and whole. By continuing focus on her health and whole every single day, and she’s attracting more and more health and wholeness to herself. When your hand it’s fat, you think about the good thing about it, like it is healthy. This is like what I said just now, instead of focusing on the fact that I can’t talk long due to vocal problem. I should focus on at least there’s nothing serious about it. I was given a long vacation to read the books I have been longing to read, to watch this program which will change my life dramatically, and spend time to digest it. This vocal problem also teaches me so much. It teaches me to never overexert my body and loves my body that helps me achieve my dream. By teaching me not to overexert my body, it prevents more serious health issue happening on me. Oprah also mentioned when she was in crisis, she asked crisis, “What’re you here to teach me, so that I can get whatever lesson it’s, and gets out of it, and move on.” This is also a good way to look at crisis positively.

At the end, I would like to end with what Lisa asked the woman with weight problem to say. Let’s say “I choose today to give myself the best life ever” together, if you believe in the law of attraction like me.

Book Review - Rich Dad Poor Dad – Oct 3, 2012

Author: Robert T. Kiyosaki

As everybody knows, Rich Dad Poor Dad is an international blockbuster of personal finance book. The author strikes me with his insightful thoughts on personal finance. In the book, the author talks about the difference between the concept of money of his rich dad, who is little educated (eighth grade), and his poor dad, who is highly educated, for example, the rich dad said,”Learn to manage risk.”, but his poor dad said “When it comes to money, play it safe. Don’t take risks.”; his rich dad paid his bills last, his poor dad paid his bills first; his rich dad said, “How can I afford it?”, but the poor dad said, “I can’t afford it.” “How can I afford it?” put his brain to work, but “I can’t afford it.” stopped his brain. The author believes that one’s thoughts are very important, as they shape a person.

The author or his rich dad really has a knack of teaching. He is able to talk about personal finance in a way that even laymen are able to understand, as the author believes in KISS (Keep it super simple.). The author points out the difference between assets and liabilities, and believes that becoming rich is to gain assets. He defines assets as things that put money in our pocket, and liability as things takes money out of our pocket. According to the book, assets are the following: businesses that do not require our presence, stocks, bonds, income-generating real estate, Note (IOUS), royalties from intellectual property such as music, scripts, and patents, and anything else that has value, produces income or appreciates, and has a ready market.

Robert also believes that our brain is our biggest asset, so he encourages us to invest in our brain by enhancing our financial intelligence, which compose of four things, Accounting; financial literacy, which uses left brain, the ability to read and understand financial statements which allows one to identify the strengths and weaknesses of any businesses (The more money you’re responsible for, the more accuracy is required.), investing; the science of “making money”, strategies, formulas, which requires creativity, understanding market; the science of supply and demand, including technical aspect of the market, the law; tax advantages, and protection from lawsuit, which includes the knowledge to use corporation to protect and enhance assets, which can be used by anyone, but the poor don’t know how.

At the end of the book, the author also provides action list. Overall, it’s a very insightful, understandable, practical, and complete book on personal finance. It’s a book worth reading again and again to fully absorb it.

Book Review – The Alchemist – Oct 1, 2012

Author: Paulo Coelho

At first, I thought it was a fantasy novel. You know. The book name really makes it sound like one; however, after about 20 pages, I realized it’s a didactic novel which makes you contemplate your life while reading it, which is like Tuesday with Morrie. Although it talks a lot about Maktub, and omen which I couldn’t understand, maybe because I have no inkling of Islam or because I was rushing through the pages, or just simply because I have not experienced much, I still benefited a lot from the book from the fables, insightful thoughts and conversation of the characters sprinkled in the entire books. It made me decide to read it again and again as I grow up so that I can interpret it better, although I didn’t find the story entertaining.

          

          The story unfolded as Santiago, a shepherd had a recurring dream of treasure, and started a journey to search for it after being approached by the king of Salem, Melchizedek who asked him to search for the treasure.  During the journey, he came across many people, like a thief stealing his money, a merchant, an Englishman looking for an alchemist, warring tribesmen, Fatima whom he fell in love with, an alchemist, a camel driver of a caravan, and experience many things which made him learn a lot. And at the end, he found the treasure.

          

          As usual, when I review a book like this, I like to pick up a scene that stroke me to think about it.

Here is the conversation between the shepherd, and the king the extracted from the book.

“The old man pointed to a baker standing in his shop window at one corner of the plaza ’When he was a child, that man wanted to travel, too. But he decided first to buy his bakery and put some money aside. When he’s an old man, he’s going to spend a month in Africa. He never realized that people are capable, at any time in their lives, of doing what they dream of.’

‘he should have decided to become a shepherd,’ the boy said.

‘Well, he thought about that,’ the old man said. ‘But bakers are more important people than shepherds. Bakers have homes, while shepherds sleep out in the open. Parents would rather see their children marry bakers than shepherds.’

…

The old man continued, ‘In the long run, what people think about shepherds and bakers becomes more important for them than their own destinies.’”

          It reminded me that when I was in secondary school, I chose sciences. At the end, I realized I would never excel in sciences. I simply didn’t love them. And I had very strong passion for languages. I decided to be a translator then, because people think translation is hard and it’s more prestigious than English teacher. Gradually, I seemed to start to think I wanted to be a translator, and decided to study translation. When I am in university, I realized I want to be a famous English teacher and I know that being an English teacher wouldn’t be any less successful than a translator, and I know I’m gifted to be a teacher. I can be very successful as an English teacher.  Still I tend to say I want to be a translator when people ask me what I want to be in the future. Recently, I realized my passion for writing English novels, but again I tend to avoid saying my penchant for writing when people ask about what I want to do in the future. I tend to care too much about what people think of me, and forget to listen to my heart, and it make me lose myself, and dare not to express myself. This book reminded me to listen to my heart, and express what I think it’s right, rather than to impress others. I’m sure this would make me happier.