The Money-Less Project.

 

“Nice purses usually have empty wallets”

What would you do if I tell you that money is totally not a factor in our level of success and happiness in this lifetime.  What If I tell you right now that you are capable of reaching the same exact level of happiness and satisfaction in your life in comparison to someone who has a mansion, a nice car and a million bucks in their bank account.

 And as a matter of fact, it is even possible to achieve ( double or) more of the satisfaction and happiness in comparison to the gazillionaire that you see in the television showing off his fancy expensive toys and six pack abs to a handful of screaming ladies.

And no, I am not talking about becoming a monk and meditating in the mountains in the pursuit of enlightenment and detaching from so society, although their is plenty of scientific data that supports the effects of meditation…which we will talk about later.

It has been proven through various research that  happiness is partially INTERNAL (genetic) and also eternal & biological (environmental and self determined), which means it can sometimes be very fleeting…  yet we can attain it anytime, anywhere no matter the outside CIRCUMSTANCE.  

I am not close to being an award winning writer nor do I have a scholarly masterpiece under my belt.

 But one thing is true, and that is that writing has been a long passion of mine, especially involving topics of financial freedom, lifestyle design and attaining happiness through simplicity.

 I know that I could never be a best selling writer but I also know that if I just try to pour in the best content and ideas into my writing and some corny jokes to add to it, maybe readers like you would love and appreciate it.

I mean who doesn’t want to read a person’s misfortunes  and some stupid idiotic mistakes to add to that, right. But really, I do have a serious message to tell the world, and having words  showing up in your screen seemed to be the best and easiest platform for me to spread my message to everyone willing to listen.

 

 

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As much as I want this book to motivate you in your pursuit of happiness and satisfaction in life.  This cannot be possible without you taking any action within your own life.

The same action that allowed me to beat any “resistance” and procrastination of not wanting to wake up at 5 am in the morning and going straight to my laptop without much “distraction” and creating all of the content that you are reading here right now.  

If all you use your laptop for is to stalk others on Facebook or the occasional porn, although there are some health benefits to sex and masturbation… then no positive success can be MANIFESTED from this effort.

 As much as I want to take the money out of your pocket to spend to buy this book (kidding), I truly want this book to matter in your life and to everyone else around you.

 And all it simply means is for you to take complete ACTION… action is the process of DOING, which is a result  from of BEING AWARE of your daily HABITS..  

Knowledge is achieved through learning, but still learning is best achieved through doing.  Neurologists have studied the biology of the brain intensively and researched the brains’ neuroplasticity  or the brain’s neurons and synapse which has the ability to adapt and evolve, since it is very placid.

 I have edited and re-edit and then started again from scratch and did more researched for this book, but the majority of this content are mostly gathered from personal experiences and self education.  I have failed in plenty of things in my life, and I cherish each and every single one one these shortcomings.

As a matter of fact I don’t call them failures, instead they are just valuable  lessons learned over time. Writing this book is almost a metaphor of my personal  life and I’m very thankful for you in taking your precious time to be reading this.  

 

 

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First let me tell you something about myself.  I grew up very poor with my grandparents who have basically raised me since I was a little booger.  I was born in a tiny island in the Philippines called Cebu.

 

Its a tiny beautiful Island, and even though you see  plenty of poverty around, you can still see a few malls and first class resorts around this very tiny island which makes it quite interesting.

 

My grandfather said that I was named after a Saint but they said it also became a curse for me, since I was a devil child (their own term) but I think I was just going through my own child developmental stages mixed with some A.D.D.  Well, you can be the judge to that as my favorite pastime was to go crab trapping, which is exactly what it is.

 

Looking for crabs around the island that lived underground and trapping them with some kind of a bamboo contraption.  But here was the devilish part, then I place the live crabs in between the legs of my cousins and uncles while they are asleep.

 

And yes, these crabs have large and sharp snappers (and yes they snap away at anything in front of them…anything).  Oh, those were the fun and memorable times, for me at least… now do you think I’m still a saint?. At least my mama still does : )

 

When I came to America as an immigrant about approximately 10 yrs. ago with my two siblings and my mom being the breadwinner of the family, we all end up residing in a relative’s basement.  Life was poor and life was hard, every penny was saved and there were literally times in which I remember going to sleep very hungry.

 

Fast forward to the present and I am happy to say that we are all successful in our own way with all children having a bachelors college degree.  I am very grateful for experiencing the wrath of poverty first hand because it taught me a valuable lesson about life and the value of “simplicity” and frugality.

 

Until today I never forget my childhood memories because it has look me the ability to adapt easily to harsh changes and has driven me to keep flexing that frugality muscle whenever and wherever I can.

 

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♣ The MoneyLe$$ Project

 

So what is all this?

 

The Moneyless Project is a movement in which I learned to attain a big paradigm shift with the “idea” of attaining Happiness and Fulfilment without putting much emphasis in the value of the Monetary and Consumerist System.

 

Lets face it being broke sucks but of course not having any money at all sucks even more too.  And that is a fact of life, living in a capitalist society such as America in which money is considered “king,” your income often parallels to your place within the society.

 

How annoying was those times in which you are short a quarter for the dryer on the laundromat so you end up looking for change in the backseat of your car for a half hour and looking for pennies that may have fallen off in the ground.

 

I remember in high school  taking this girl out on a date knowing that I only have 13 dollars cash to my name.  So the plan was, for me to tell her that I already ate before I came ( unfortunately) of course.  Now how embarrassing was that. But sometimes it takes a good stroking of our ego, to realize the value of money in our lives.

 

I might be frugal but I don’t really consider myself cheap, since I once bought a $25 underwear that was made out of some silk polyester and some new hi-tech garment.

 

It was made to dry easily  when traveling (when I traveled around Asia and South America) plus it was nice, soft and was very gentle on my precious manhood, so I say it was well worth the return of investment.

 

 

The Shift

 

There has been a huge major shift of human improvement in the last Century. This has brought up a large number of population living  in poverty into the middle class society. A child in Africa right now has access to worldwide information that any American president in the 80’s or early 90’s never had access to.

 

Its a crazy new world yet  as we become more and more civilized and cross greater technological barriers within in our lives, we are never satisfied and strive for more greater and bigger things.

 

Success and happiness is suddenly measured towards material possessions and monetary value (whatever happened to “its the character that counts”).  A Mercedes Benz and a mansion is now a model for success and achievement here in the Western World.

 

This consumerist mentality is what caused the most recent housing crash that brought the entire entire world market down.  And instead of everyone taking fiscal responsibility, the federal government just printed more money to soothe the ailing wound.

 

 

As I am writing this, I reminisce about my times in High School in which there wasn’t really a care about wealth or your status in the world.  Money was not really the issue, because you never had any… so you valued other things such as relationships and experiences .

 

Its quite embarrassing to think about it now, but i vividly remember going to restaurants with my friends and just giving leftover “change” as tips (everyone is broke during High School).  It wasn’t until i had best friend who became a waitress/server that I realized what a big ass-hole I was for being a cheapskate.

 

And believe it or not… I became a big advocate for giving “proper tips” to servers.  Be careful not to get them upset, always remember that they can do whatever” they want with your food and you would never know it until you start making out with the toilet or worse, end up in the emergency room with some digestive problems .

 

 

Now, just try to spend a few hours observing a Middle School child and you will notice how much they are just surrounded by their little egos.  The lack of empathy and emotional intelligence is quite evident on young children everywhere. A big problem or hurdle in a middle school child’s life is trying to fit in their own little world.

 

The level of their human importance and existence lies between whether or not they get to sit with the popular kids or sit alone in the cafeteria. How pathetic is that eh, yet we all went through that stage sometime in our lifetime.  Well, sure we can give those little chaps a break since they don’t really know any better… right.

 

Well, part of human evolution and human development within our minds and the limbic brain is the “ego” which correlates to our “self-worth.”  But even as we go through adulthood and eventually having kids of our own, that ego-driven and ego-centric part of the brain still functions the same way.  Only now, it has been calibrated to a different formula.

 

Instead of the popularity contest in the Middle School Cafeteria, the “monkey brain” believes that money, acquiring things and faster toys (cars) defines our “self worth”  within the “adult” society. Eventually you will realize that grown ups are nothing but adult “children” after all.

 

 

Just take a quick second when browsing online and pay attention to what people put in their social media status such as in facebook.  You can clearly notice that it is all cluttered with indulged self advertising, a proof of human’s thirst and hunger for attention.

 

It is in our human nature to feel majestically fulfilled when people give us praise and comments about our lifestyle.  It makes us feel somewhat special. We get very “concerned” about other peoples’ opinions about us that we are constantly trying to “impress” everyone instead of creating value to the world that has a positive effect on humanity.

 

The painful truth is this “NOBODY CARES ABOUT YOU” because everyone is busy worrying about their OWN image in this world.   It is quite funny how as adults we still have the same trivial perspective about life as a Middle School child.

 

Lets face it, our society is filled with stress, ego and consumerism and with it comes tons of anxiety that we all CREATED on ourselves.  I guess the answer would be to think more like “middle school” kids… with the ability to care less about extravagant details in life… minus the little “ego” and the “whining” of course.  

The population of the Third World Countries has slowly turned into an emerging population and an emerging population to one with a high degree of Wealth that none of these population had ever experienced ever in their lives (ea. China, India, and Brazil).

 

All of these monetary achievement, accomplishment and growth brought with it an increase in spending and consumerism (a lot of buying) and an influx of money being circulated around the world economy (all prior to the housing bust).

 

In some of these third world countries you might be surprised to see someone living in a “shanty” yet has an Iphone in one hand (how awesome is that, eh).  Consumerism does not choose sides my friend. But as money and possessions flowed more easily, we expected everyone to be more happier and become more fulfilled.

 

BUT instead it’s quite the opposite, many are very unhappy, unhealthy and more stressed.  Just try to look around you and you will notice plenty of unsatisfied folks (look at the mirror and you might see one in front of you).

 

“Its not about how much you earn, but about how much you save”

– Unknown.

 

But Why?

 

We can easily blame circumstance and say that highly successful societies tends to be a consumer of things and materials that are more expensive to show their success. But how come even the ones barely paying their bills are also trying to keep up with the Jones’.

 

It’s funny how the more “money” we have the more money we want to spend.  My mom had a very close family friend who was a pediatric physician and has his own practice.  He seems to be a really genuinely nice and wealthy guy, but his lifestyle was just too extravagant.

 

I remember visiting his house which has two opposite grand staircase, a theater in the basement and his own personal gym.  Yes, I am talking about an actual theater in his basement with a gigantic enormous screen and all that projector crap, theater seats and even a popcorn maker outside.

 

Of course this guy is making at least six figures worth of “mula” every year, yet you can sense that something is missing in him.

 

But what people don’t know was that due to his extravagant lifestyle demand, the large amount of money that he earns is still not enough to cover for all his expenses.  A person making thousands and spends hundreds is well off than another who makes millions and spends “millions” As a matter of fact, he is actually in some deep debt (after his property lost tons of value during the recession).

 

Now, plague with various physical ailments himself he was forced to cut his hours from work and eventually went on disability  (imagine that). It is now to the point that they are “struggling” trying to catch up with their very high “expenses” since the “cash flow” has slowed down significantly.  

 

I think that there seems to be something really wrong with this picture.  The biggest lesson from this is that “it’s truly not about how much you make but how much you spent.”  But America and the rest of the western world never really understood this lesson.

 

This is exactly the same “mentality” that caused the recession in our country and will be the same reason for the fallout and the insolvency of the dollar.

 

History has taught us even the greatest Empires can still fall flat on its feet. The celebrated German historian Hans Delbruck explained it by illustrating the reasons why the Roman Republic endured against the onslaught of the physically stronger Germanic tribes, whose metallurgy was similarly impressive.

 

It was was neither the quality of Roman arms nor the Roman stature, it was in of course in part their organisation and logistics. But crucially it was also their determination to commit unto the fray. Hundreds of years later they lost that, and in training those former Germanic enemies, they made them the defenders of the Empire they forged.

 

But those servants became jealous of the fabulous riches their Roman masters partook in, and realising their own skill in fighting with the Roman arms they bore, they soon understood that they could take the Empire which had enslaved and latterly employed them.

 

Hence Alaric’s sack of Rome in 410 a.d. which eventually end the empire and the so-called ‘Dark Ages’ followed, leading the collapse of law in Western European civilization for hundreds of years.

 

But the fall of the Republic started decades earlier, when the the senate became extremely corrupt and political instability came into existence. Consuls and officials would offer positions in office for those who could pay a lump sum of denarii (currency).

 

Furthermore, they accepted bribes in exchange for favours of a wide assortment. Later, a series of very incompetent, rather crazy Emperors were elected and the people suffered as a result. Civil revolts sprung up, lead by rebellious citizens.

 

Rome depended on its empire for funds, (farming practices and mining) it became very poor and had trouble coping economically. Rome had nothing to trade, and couldn’t rebuild itself. In any war you need money to be victorious. Soon enough, other cities within the Empire stopped sending funds to Rome.

 

During certain Imperators regimes, they debased the currency. This meant that a coin didn’t have a default value (listen and learn America). Instead, it was represented by the amount of silver it contained. When Emperor Claudius was in power, coinage wasn’t even made up of 1% actual silver.

 

As a result, severe inflation occurred.  Of course there was no one deciding factor since aside from all the government instability and economic issues.  And to add to all the strain was their Military problem.

 

All this pressure was too much for Rome to handle, it had struggled endlessly with immense problems for hundreds of years until it all finally collapsed.

 

Obviously at this moment of civilization the threat of imperialism is long gone and the free world’s only threat (south korea, iran) are too weak to be considered nothing but a nuisance. Economic and financial collapse is inevitable… and will be the cause of the Western Empire’s destruction.

 

Prior to the creation of the (early stage) monetary system which (evidenced) have shown to began in Babylon, the majority of civilization used the bartering and commodity exchange method.

 

This basically means that people exchanged goods and materials for things or services that had the same face value.  Last decade, every cent of a dollar has value, since the government backed up the dollar with gold.

 

Fast forward to the present time the US government gave itself the ability to print new money (dollars) out of the thin air and calls it a fiat currency.  The fiat currency in the US is so leveraged… that the fed/treasury cannot print any more dollar without instability in the market, hence inflation + China dumping the treasury bonds + hedging of the dollar = eventually crashing of the dollar and sad to say, the end of the empire.

 

Presently it is undoubtedly wonderful for most of us that we live in the times in which we do, but perhaps the price we pay for this in the end would be devastating.

 

Americans have been very “out of touch” of their financial situation.  It reminds me of my days working as an “I.T. go-to-guy” for a hospital in my town, it was a fun gig that just paid enough for my groceries at that time.

 

Anyhow, I became very friendly with the majority of the hospital staff and notice something about consumerism and false advertising within that community that was quite entertaining.

 

It was funny and interesting for me to notice that most of the nurses and mostly the nurses aids would be the ones driving the luxury brand new expensive cars while the doctors would usually drive their Toyota Camrys and Honda Civics.  Not that there is anything wrong with that picture, its a free world after all.

 

But, it showed a new light to me about the never ending “impracticality” and “illogical” consumerist society that we have in this country.  There is no avoiding it, it takes some awareness and being conscious about our actions to realize that each of us plays a role in this movie.

 

The globalization has connected of world markets quicker and closer than ever before in the history of the world. There will be several factors that is included with reverse consumerism, this includes the fact that people here in the west will be more frugal and will be less of a consumer while the people in the emerging countries and the leaders China and India will be consuming more, in which there economy will be increasing in a higher speed.

 

When people starts to feel how addictive it is to be a consumerist society, Third world countries and emerging countries will be starting to consume almost as much as the Western World.

 

There is nothing wrong with consumerism since it is the basic foundation of capitalism and capitalism produces wealth.  Even the third world countries now have a first world consumerism habit and that is quite interesting and frightening at the same time.

 

 

But once consumerism becomes a reason to build debt, then it can become a domino effect towards a debt-ridden society. Consumerism as a result of capitalism is something that can make the economy stronger or wreck havoc on any country.  It is important to be “conscious” of the crowd that you spend the most time with.

 

As a famous quote states, “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.”  The larger circles of people around your life will usually help you find yourself or in the other times they can usually guide you towards the right track.

 

Value plays a bigger role in the life’s purpose and when it’s given and done correctly, you can get back ten folds of the value that you have created.  Everyone is a consumer at some point in their lives, everyone consumes something somehow to a certain extent, and that is just a fact of life.

 

I myself was a big consumer but I knew that I had to be conscious about my consumerism because it started to become a hinder to my growth and success in life.

 

 

A brand new luxury car is a “Luxury,” which is created for “luxurious/wealthy” folks…  not for people making minimum wages or people with middle class income that are just trying to make ends meet.   A good rule of thumb for “luxury” items to see if you can afford it, is to calculate if it’s ” total price” is about 15% of your total net worth.  

 

Soon after that little bit of enlightenment, I found out my own way of determining  and differentiating a person with (actual) money with someone who just wants to “show” they have money.  I realized that a wealthy person has good “money management” skills, hence the practicality of driving a Toyota, while the other guy making “minimum wage,” obviously values their “projected image” to the outside world rather than managing their “actual” money and their assets.

 

And I gotta say that I  have driven a Toyota all my life, and I think it’s the best bang for your buck (I am not endorsed by Toyota by the way, but I wish I was).  Being aware of the consumerist mindset is essential in achieving financial freedom and happiness.

 

 

Happiness

 

Lets talk about happiness for a second.  Happiness is an emotion and a feeling. Each person has their own definition of what makes them happy.  Happiness brings in a sense of satisfaction or sometimes a sense of abundance within a person.

 

Me personally, what makes me happy would totally be different to what makes someone else happy.  For me happiness means simplicity and being more focused on relationships rather than on monetary or materialistic value.  So lets see how we can try to hack happiness. If indeed it is something internal.

 

That means that we can turn this internal machine on, any time regardless of any outside circumstances, trials and tribulations.   I believe its true that on our basic human needs, we just want to be happy. Yet, the ultimate guide to achieving happiness has evaded us throughout our life.

 

When we were young life was easier, right?  I know sometimes it seems that way. But the truth is life still is easy.  It always will be. The only difference is we’re older, and the older we get, the more we complicate things for ourselves.  You see, when we were young we saw the world through simple, hopeful eyes.

 

We knew what we wanted and we had no biases or concealed agendas.  We liked people who smiled. We avoided people who frowned. We ate when we were hungry, drank when we were thirsty, and slept when we were tired.  As we grew older our minds became gradually disillusioned by negative external influences.

 

At some point we began to hesitate and question our instincts.  When a new obstacle or growing pain arose, we stumbled and fell down and all these stress causes havoc to our body and immune system.

 

Eventually we decided we didn’t want to fall again, but rather than solving the problem that caused us to fall, we avoided it all together.

 

Life is not complex.  We are complex. Life is simple,

and the simple thing is the right thing.

– Oscar Wilde

 

 

 

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I remember during my college days in which I barely have enough quarters to pay for laundry yet my overall happiness level and well being was better off than when I landed a job that allowed me to accumulate plenty of stuff.

 

I remember the time in where I had to beg for a quarter just so that I had enough change to pay for drying my clothes. Yet those we’re the times in my life in which I was the most happiest and which I cherish a lot. I remember the fun times that I had being broke.  

 

The times in which you go to a bar or club already drunk or sneak in a mini drink in your pocket because you just can’t afford the drink inside.  The reason why those times are the most fun times is due to the fact that you have great relationships with your friends and not thinking about or concerned about any major bills.

 

The relationships that you had with people during those times are the one of the most fun and memorable big sin your lifetime

 

As we grow older our life becomes worse and more complex and the issue of money becomes more of a problem to the point that we have no more time to invest on relationship and towards people.

 

On the other and the friends at we have starts to have their own children and a married life which means that they themselves also do not have enough time of the day to spend with anyone.

 

And when they’re call and for some reason we can’t fit the appointment in our schedule, we have no choice but to flake out and they too starts to flake.

 

Next thing you know you just see your friends just once a year and there’s almost no communication while everyone becomes more and more distant.

 

 

Have you ever bought something that was quite expensive such as an apple electronic item for example. You notice that you start to become really obsessed with this item and begins to build an attachment to the object.

 

Then all of a sudden it fell or got wet and since you did not buy the extra insurance,  you are not stuck with a useless piece of object. Since you are now attached to this object it was very painful for you to know that this object is now obsolete and there is totally nothing you can do about it.

 

When we are emotionally drained we have a tendency to look for something to make us feel better and therefore we buy and buy more in order to fill that void that we created to ourselves.

 

Growing up poor in a small island has been one of the most important things to happen in my life.  And finding my purpose and passion in life is a lifelong challenge for me. I tried to ask myself a very simple question which is, what  is something that i really love to do.

 

If you have a million dollars in your hand right now and doesn’t need to work for the rest of your life, what is it that you would want to be doing. Surely, lying down all day and getting fat would just be too boring and is just not sustainable.

 

So, a good question would be how do we value things around us in relation to happiness. The western world especially here in the United States, has a sense of value system that we might not have seen in other parts of the world.

 

The sense of the everyday “grind” and “capitalistic” view in life makes us forget to focus on the importance things that is meaningful to us, the “passions” in life.

 

 

According to a study that is done by a nonprofit encore.org. which helps Americans pursue a more meaningful career, as many as 10 million or more people have already transitioned into encore careers that combines purpose, passion and a paycheck.

 

We are now at a point in time in which it is socially acceptable to follow our passions.  Living in line with one’s passion isn’t just about work, “it’s about the freedom of building relationships and defining life within your own terms.”

 

 

Simple Life

 

There will be days when all I want is to be myself.  Act and say what I really want (to a certain extent of course) but, that isn’t always possible in our “judgmental” society. One of the greatest freedoms is simply not caring what everyone else thinks of you.

 

Sometimes you need to step outside, get some air, and remind yourself of who you are and what you want to be.  The best thing you can do is follow your heart. At this point in time, life is too complicated.

 

We all know that life is complicated.  When we stop doing the wrong things and start doing the right things, life is simple.  I am pretty sure that you would like to uncomplicate your life. I bet you would! A simple life has a different meaning and a different value for every person.

 

For me, it means getting rid of some of life’s complexities so you can spend more time with people you love and do more of the things you love.  It means getting rid of the clutter, and eliminating all but the essential, so you are left with only that which gives you value.

 

Letting go is part of moving on to something better.  You will not get what you truly deserve if you’re too attached to the things you’re supposed to let go of.

 

Sometimes you love, and you struggle, and you learn, and you move on.  And that’s OK. You must be willing to let go of the life you planned for so you can enjoy the life that is waiting for you.

 

 

In this capitalistic society, it always comes down to the bottom line, the ROI and how productive a company or an individual can be.  I don’t always agree with this logic since certain elements such as providing value and building relationships are both important factors that eventually leads to success.

 

But, I do agree on the importance of productivity in order to become successful in all areas of your life, be it business or personal.  The important lesson is to focus on being productive, and not just trying to look or “being” busy Don’t just get things done; get the right things done.

 

Results are always more important than the time it takes to achieve them.  Stop and ask yourself if what you’re working on is worth the effort. Is it bringing you in the same direction as your goals?  Don’t get caught up in odd jobs, even those that seem urgent, unless they are also important.

 

When things are hard, and you feel down, take a few deep breaths and look for the silver lining – the small glimmers of hope.  Remind yourself that you can and will grow stronger from these hard times.

 

And remain conscious of your blessings and victories – all the things in your life that are right.  Focus on what you have, not on what you haven’t. Smile every chance you get; not because life has been easy, perfect, or exactly as you had anticipated, but because you choose to be happy and grateful for all the good things you do have, and all the problems you know you don’t have.

 

You must accept the fact that life is not perfect, that people are not perfect, and that you are not perfect.  And that’s okay, because the real world doesn’t reward perfection. It rewards people who get GOOD things done.  And the only way to get GOOD things done is to be imperfect 99% of the time.

 

 

Our passions make our lives stimulating and fun, as well as giving us clues on what success means for us!  What fascinates you in life. These will usually be the things that you will be good at and succeed in doing.

 

Now that you have an idea of things that excite you, you can experiment with them. Creative living is about trying new things out and seeing how they feel to us.

 

For example, I once took a pottery class with a dear friend. I have always admired hand made pottery and loved the idea of doing art with this special friend. But, by the end of class, I had clay all over me and on the ceiling and realized that this was not the art form for me.

 

Make a list of some action steps to test out your excitement ideas—take a class, do an informational interview, read a book, watch videos on YouTube, etc. One of my clients had attend movies all over her excitement list and she ended up going to the New York Film School and now makes documentaries. You have to be willing to try things out and if they do not work, you can then cross them off the list. I can buy lovely pottery whenever I want—I do not have to craft it!

 

 

It is very important for us to not lose sight of the fact that half of the world’s population still lives in less than half a dollar a day.  It means that each nickel and dime is very valuable to these folks.

 

While us here in the western world are lining up for the most recent model iPhone, half of the world are just wishing to get enough food on their table.

 

I heard a pretty funny  but sad joke from a friend that I had during one of my visits in Malaysia when I traveled South-east Asia, and what he told me was that there are only three enemies in his hometown…  and that is breakfast, lunch and dinner. If they get at least a couple out of the three, then it’s a very good satisfying day. Winning.

 

So stop complaining about your LIFE and start DOING.

 

As they say, “You gotta hustle to eat,” to survive in this present World, therefore we need an income. There is no denying that we need income to survive and to feed our family.  So, we go to school get a degree in order to get a “practical” job that we do not really like or enjoy.

 

We work on our 9-5 with a sense of “emptiness” and “hate” towards going to work. And when we get our little paycheck, off we go to buy “something” than can fill our “emptiness” because we think that would make us feel “happy.”  It seems to me that there is always a need and a hunger for wanting “something” anything as long as it is something.

 

I have a friend, who loves his electronic toys.  He seemed to always want and willing to pay for the latest one even though his slightly older gadget still works perfectly.  When I asked him the question WHY… his answer usually involves telling me about the new “updates” of his new gadget.

 

Yet, these updates does not in any way shape or form have any significant effect on his PRESENT life… it’s just something “NEW,” something cool and interesting…   and something he can spend his money on.

 

 

The Ideology of 97% of the World is this:

 

MONEY + STUFF = SUCCESS AND HAPPINESS

 

 

Our needs in order to survive?

 

What is it really that we need in order to be comfortable?

 

 

The “Wealth”

 

Wealth means an abundance of valuable resources or material possessions. But we are stuck with the “IDEOLOGY” that wealth is an abundance of money and material possessions without a broad sense of it’s real value to us.

 

It is outrageous to think that we can just go and spend so much money on the other hand a person somewhere in Africa who might earn less than a dollar a day has to be very careful with their money since they cannot afford to lose any little money they might have.

 

This is a very self-DAMAGING ideology.  Wealth can mean different things to different people.   A person can become financially wealthy, yet be very sickly or physically un-wealthy.  A person can be spiritually and physically healthy yet can be very morally corrupted.

 

What we need is a balance between all levels and qualities of the spectrum.  I grew up being a miserable and depressed child (who isn’t, right). And yes, I did went through a deep depression that thank goodness I was able to snap out of before doing anything stupid or idiotic.  I owe debt to all those lifestyle development blogs out there, they indeed have taught me a lot.

 

 

Plenty of people that have never experienced a deep depression have a hard time understanding or relating to my situation or to others, and that’s understandable.  It can be sometimes be very debilitating without proper help or treatment and most especially if those close to you never really understood your situation.

 

Part of it was having a dysfunctional family.  The love that I did not receive from my parents were given to me by my grandparents but yet it was not at all the same.  I never was medically diagnosed nor did I ever went to a health professional, because in my culture and community, it was almost considered a taboo.

 

It was suppose to be just “something” that you snap out of, a funk in which someone goes through but later on recover as they grow.   And this was a big mistake on my part.

 

I was more concerned towards the perception of “others” towards me, that I refused to acknowledge the problem and therefore endured years of mental suffering.

 

 

Part of being human is the plague of ‘Uncertainty’. But at least our ‘uncertainty’ has a basis of rationality in which self prevailing actions can affect its ‘outcome,’ at least to a (certain) degree.

 

The Animal Kingdom projects the same ideology but not as complex as ‘ours’ and with not much freedom and predictability. Imagine being a ♠wildebeest, out in the sun, just enjoying your lunch and next thing you know, a lion is chasing you, for his own lunch and then boom, you’re grasping your last breath…and then DEATH follows (that’s one HELL of an Uncertainty).

 

Our coping mechanism is our body’s heightened nervous system causing us to escape danger. In our world this is what we call STRESS.  For others in the animal kingdom such coping mechanism as the wildebeest learns to travel in herds and have developed additional sophisticated cooperative behaviors, such as the animals within a particular herd taking turns sleeping while others stand guard against a night attack by invading predators.

 

Of course, we can’t apply this to our human society, but the relationship that we have with our family and friends during times of “perceived threat” and circumstances is our own way of coping through trials and tribulations in life.

 

 

The Herd

 

The “herd” becomes their sense of security from death, literally. For me having clean nice smelling undies is a sense of security from the female species, I’m just kidding of course.   As we grow and learn more life experiences, our value of what security means for us changes.

 

When we are young we value our ego more than anything in the world.  Taking a glimpse of an innocent child’s mind is a great example.

 

They still have a sense of curiosity but  more than anything else they are held hostage by how they want to perceive their image to the world.  And all this goes back to how we cultivate our minds and being aware of our thoughts.

 

 

“Self-control is strength. Right thought is mastery. Calmness is power. “

― James Allen, As a Man Thinketh

 

 

The herd mentality is what causes you and me to conform to society’s definition of ”normal”, the same reason that welcomes greed and gluttony as a definition for success.

 

This is the “unconscious” rationale that scares the average person’s brain to stay in a regular job that they hate, just because it enables them to pay the bills or be “practical” just like everyone else.

 

It is also this mentality that eventually crashed our economy and the cause for the volatility and the uncertainty of the World Market.  The only way to escape the herd mentality is to become aware of the fact that “herd mentality” occurs in our “conventional” world. Once we are conscious of this fact, then we can question status quo beliefs within our society.

 

 

 

 

Security

 

I’m quite sure that at this point in time (unless we are somewhere in the Amazon in which there have still been reports of cannibalism) that it is safe to say that no one can eat us while we cross a dark street corner. 

Our uncertainty in this present time is plague by health problems, job security and financial stability. So what is the answer to all these uncertainty.  The biggest answer would be SECURITY. It is quite important to position ourselves to be secure within our own domain.

A Secure future is quite important and at this point of human history, security would mean mostly monetary security. This means having an emergency fund just in case something happens and if you are a parent with a child or children, a life Insurance would be considered your child or children’s security.

It is important to understand that Security can mean other things to different people.  If you live in Canada, Norway or other socialist country with universal health care then you would not have to worry about the uncertainty of getting ill or having a serious disease and getting bankrupt, instead economic and social issues would be more of a bigger threat on your security.

 

The lack of security causes mental anxiety and unnecessary stress to the body, which leads to disease and mental decay.

 

Being in an out of various jobs in my early life I have also worked as an instructor at an institution for kids with mental disability.  I always had plenty of respect and admiration towards the parents since they played a major role in the care taking and the advocacy of these children.

 

One time, I had a deep conversation with one of the parents in regards with life and money.  And what he told me was the way he sees his financial life as “being a connection between money and what it meant to him.”  I noticed that he was always very calm… both him and his wife, even in such a chaotic circumstance.

 

They see calmness and stillness as an important part of life.   He mentioned that the mind works best when its on calm mode. When we are on a panic mode there is a loss of connectedness between the neurons and the synapses and the thinking process becomes chaotic.

 

There will always be a plague of uncertainty throughout our life no matter how anxious or conscious we get but having a secured amount of money can help leverage your anxiety and worry.

 

Let try putting ourselves in the shoes of these parents having a child that they know that they have to look after for the rest of their lives.  Chronic anxiety is very unhealthy and is the cause of most illness. Having a secured amount of money also allows a person to work less and free up more time for themselves.

 

I truly believe that time is more valuable than money. The ability to free up your own time whenever you want is one of the best things you can ever do. This newly found  free time enables you to be able to spend time with your families friends and act upon your passions.

 

The impact of one’s health from stress is quite remarkable.  The daily grind of going to a job that you hate every single day adds up and really has a huge physical impact on the body.  Not only physically but also mentally and emotionally.

 

 

My Moneyless Journey

 

It would be fair to say that i was always broke, and to add to that I was always unlucky with the ladies, but  my money-less journey began a few years before writing this book. It was when I realized that I had enough of the consumerist system and realized that I needed to make some changes with my life.  

 

It started when I bought myself a kindle ( it’s a really good deal, don’t get me wrong ) but i realized what the hell was I doing with a tablet when i already have both a laptop and a desktop computer.

 

It was when one of my little devilish cousins who is the cutest munchkin by the way, dropped my tablet from the upper floor of the house and smashed it into bits. I was  quite devastated but later on realized that i was not happy nor was i satisfied or feel at all accomplished of what i have achieved on the basis on my materialistic goals in the first place.

 

That “gadget” was not worth  the un-happiness that I had to endure that day.  Stuff in our lives comes and goes, therefore there shouldn’t be any emotional attachment to objects unless it holds much “real” significant value.

 

But most of the people in our society associate security and happiness with having plenty of stuff.  Security can mean plenty of things to anyone, and it usually depends on the circumstance that a person is in. In today’s society, I thought that ”security” for me meant “monetary” security, but I was wrong.

 

It took a long time to realize that money was not the answer for me.  It took me some time to really understand and realize that I was way more happier when I was in my teens with not much security to my name.

 

I realized that relationship with friends and loved ones carried more weight in happiness towards my life than any materialistic or monetary success.  I value more having a secure relationship with my family and friends than having more of the “stuff”.

 

 

————- Money ————–

 

There are a few things that money can buy and some things in life with no monetary value, but for the most part, we do need money in our daily lives. There will always be money issues in our lives especially living in a first world capitalist society like the West. We all know that money is the currency for our daily living and survival.

 

We do need money to clothe and feed our child and family.  The ability of being conscious about your spending habits will be one of the most important things that you can do for your future.  Your money story is a living, breathing aspect of you, almost like a reflection of yourself.

 

So it’s always evolving, growing, maturing and unfolding right along with you.  Take time to honor everything that happened in your financial life and the financials of your family.  Take baby steps and be mindful and make sure that you are creating your own relationship with money.

 

Practicing efficient spending and saving skills is just one piece of the puzzle as you deepen your relationship with money. As you mature, grow with it, and become more conscious and honest and confident with it.  

 

Money can be the source of evil deeds, but it can also help feed a child and lift up a family from poverty.  Therefore there should be a duality in our relationship with our money.

 

It occurred to me one day how really complex and stressful my life has become.  There have been plenty of bills piling up in my living room table and I felt actually trapped by all of this.

 

Before judging my monetary recklessness, I want to be clear that ninety percent of my debt were acquired during my college days.  God bless those Catholic schools and their outrageous tuition fees. So again, I felt trapped which actually is more like suffocation and getting drowned in my own ocean of debt.

 

It feels as if I had become a slave of my own debt making sure everything is paid  off month after month. I have a couple of credit cards from Citibank and Capital one that had about more than  5k each.

 

And a student loan in which I was paying monthly installments on that totalled approximately 13 k.  At that time I had a job in a non profit working with kids with mental and physical disabilities, which didn’t really pay enough.

 

 

“Its way better being broke than being in debt.”

– Anonymous

 

Even though my job did not really paid much at all and barely pays for rent and groceries for me every month, I felt very satisfied with what I was doing, although mom was not really proud of this feat.  

 

It was a very rewarding job since I was able to help families and advocate for their needs and the needs of their children.  There became a really close relationship between me and the families to the point that until now, most of these family member stay in contact with me and still invites me to important family gatherings that they have.

 

I became a part of the family for most of these families even years after working with them and their children.  Although my income was almost close to none. I was still able to save up a good chunk every month. My plan was to first focus on paying of the debt that I accumulated.  Instead of paying the minimum amounts, I doubled and sometimes even tripled the amount.

 

The vicious cycle of paying off my debt  became an obsession and had me by the throat, until I was able to pay off everything in just a little less than three years.  My mindset evolved around the idea that as long as I am healthy and sustainable I would be able to survive a very low lifestyle as long as I tackled my debt first and be debt free.

 

One of the biggest killer that causes the most amount of debt is mortgage payment.  I know that when I mentioned the word mortgage, what automatically comes out of your mind was buying a house.  Well, you can actually get a mortgage to buy anything.

 

A simple definition of mortgage is basically borrowing a large substantial amount of money from a bank or a lender for .  So we can simply say that a mortgage is a loan, borrowing money and paying an interest. Now let’s put things in a very ample perspective.

 

All you need to know is just simple basic math to realize that when you go to a bank to get a loan/mortgage, the interest that you will be paying for the amount will be more than the actual principle or money that is borrowed.

 

Now lets look at a house mortgage or loaning money to buy a house.  At a conservative value of lets say a five percent annual interest, after paying off the loan, the actual amount that you will be paying overtime will be close to triple to the actual money being owed.

 

 

Living

 

Housing is the most important part of living and it is also obviously the most expensive. Housing is what I call a “life change decision” or LCD and it’s not from a liquid crystal display (get it). There have been plenty of debate regarding buying a house or renting.

 

And if you do your research, you will find plenty of financial benefits and downfalls to having your own house.  When I went to visit a relative in upstate New York one time I remember seeing all of these farms.

 

Then I ask one of my cousins if he buys organic food from those farms and he said yes and as a matter of fact he also mentioned about a friend of his living in the farm and working and getting to live in the farm for free at the same time living a healthy lifestyle from the organic fresh food to the daily exercise/chores from the farm.

 

He further explained to me that those farms were actually co op farms which means that everyone within the small community plays a role in investing “money” to the farm, and as a return is able to receive the fresh fruits and vegetables from the farm.

 

So I thought that this is a really cool idea maybe I would be able to live for free rent free and at the same time work on my online projects and so I did that for about six months.

 

After several months I’ve been moved to another city another town and went to look for a place to live and was able to be lucky enough to find a place in which I was able to live in an attic for about $350 and that was a really really good deal that best deal that I can find I was also able to save plenty of money.

 

All of the money I have saved was placed in a Roth IRA account that I set up for myself.  The money compounded each year and will continue to accumulate into a handsome substantial amount that can sustain for me in the future even if I don’t get much money from social security.

 

The present American society have confused accumulating debt with building real assets.  The over leverage of the housing market is what caused the bubble and the eventual downfall of the economy.

 

There was a recent documentary about a reputable news station in the media about the so called “homeless” begging for money in the streets. They did an experiment in which they look up and followed the beggars pattern throughout the day and calculated how much they really make in a day.

 

They later found out that these beggars actually can make double of what working people who are making minimum wage are making. And they are not paying taxes. Can we say that beggars are in themselves pretty good businessmen.

 

I was really intrigued and interested about this to the point that I did my own research and did my own investigation and found plenty of interesting things.  I tried to do some calculation in regards with exactly how much a beggar can make as a living by talking to a man whose main profession was begging for money.

 

Assuming he gets about 50 cents every ten to fifteen minutes, that rounds up to about 5 dollars and hour and if he is persistent enough to do this every other hour then that is about 65 dollars a day or 455 a week or about 1800 a month.

 

That’s not pocket change to any extent of the imagination, even though the guy was begging for money, he was actually the one pimping everyone else.

 

 

We are now living in a time now where our creativity is our best job security skill. There are many more opportunities to explore doing work that feeds our soul and is meaningful. But we have to be smart about it.

 

If you are an artist, you must learn how to run a business in order to be financially viable. If you want to start a business, you need people to help you with the parts of the business that you are either not good at or do not know how to do or prefer not to do. In any career path, there is a requirement of mastery. We must become experts at what we love doing.

 

Do you want to travel all the time or are you a homebody or do you like a mix? Do you thrive on fast-paced workplaces or prefer to work on your own at your own pace? Do you enjoy working for an organization or do you long to run your own show? Do you want a simple life or a celebrity/high profile life?

 

Think very carefully and write down your ingredients for a blissful life and/or make a collage with pictures representing what you really want. For example, I know that staying in New England  (New York, New Jersey, Connecticut) in the chill of winter is not something I enjoy. I hate being cold. So the past few years, I have been spending time in Arizona and California to escape.

 

 

The happiest people in the world are those who challenge themselves to be better than they were yesterday, taking little notice of those around them, while the most frustrated are those that are always trying to catch up to the standards set by someone else.

 

The problem with the second approach is there will always be someone better than you. Someone better looking than you. Someone better at your job than you. Someone better at sports than you. Whatever it is you want to improve, there will always be someone better; you’ll never meet the goal of becoming the best. If you do, someone will be along to displace you shortly.

 

Do what you can with what you have. Do it over and over.  But what you can become is your best. You can take what you already have, and mold it into something better. And you get to be the judge of what “better” really means.  Do what you can with what you have. Do it over and over. As long as you steadily improve, you’ll be the best you possible every single day.

 

 

Minimalism

 

There have been a new age of so called followers of the minimalism movement. Minimalism to me basically means simplicity and adhering to a simple life. The problem that we have is attachment and we are obsessed with our attachment to materialistic things and ideas, and this state of obsession can be very strong and harmful.

 

Instead, this obsession needs to focus on value and things that brings real happiness and meaning to our lives.  Instead of using attachment in a harmful way, one should use this energy into something great and useful.

 

Same thing when you were very obsessed with the girl that you had a crush on in 7th grade. This obsession should be used towards ideas and projects.  In order to achieve a level of success it is very important to be fully emerged into your plans and ideas that can change the world in the future.

 

 

The big problem that I have with attachment is that causes us to depend on something that is outside of ourselves to be happy. Lets face it, we all know that nothing can lasts forever.

 

Our gadgets and electronic toys can break, it can get stolen or misplaced and be lost forever.  Our relationships with people can move on, drift away, change, fall in and out of love, get in an accident, we are indeed mortal beings after all.

 

So simply, our happiness is only temporary if you rely on them for it.  If you want to achieve a stable satisfying type of happiness, we need to find it in ourselves and not in things or other people.

 

Minimalism is not about a hatred or dissatisfaction of things.  It is about having fewer things, so that we can cherish each and every single one of them and their significance towards our lives.

 

We need to appreciate their usefulness, design, versatility and most importantly their value.  A big lesson that I learned from minimalism is getting rid if my clutter or getting rid of unnecessary stuff.

 

Just like any American living in this day of age, I too had my share of unnecessary stuff.  Some holds a significant use while others holds a sentimental value, but most of this stuff are just pure “crap” that is taking up space.

 

Instead of letting this stuff consume up my attention, my time and my life, I chose to either sell it on eBay, donate it to people or just simply get rid of it.

 

 

Success

 

Now that we know how Success and Money is being perceived by society as an ideology that parallels each other (especially in the Western World at least).  Then we can take a step back and rationalize the logic behind this (materialistic) perception. We need to rationalize the importance of money and the fact that we have full control over our money.

 

Within our complex lives we tend to have more complex things, and when these things break down or gets old, then we have to replace it with newer more complex and “more” expensive things.

 

At this moment in time, we correlate success with the amount of things and stuff that one can acquire.  Before the western world became as rich and powerful as it is now, sustainability and agriculture use to be the most important thing in the world.  Being able to feed and having food on the table for your family was the most important thing.

 

But within the last Century, our priorities have changed drastically.  The word success simply means “a positive outcome.” Yet, the media would have us believe many other definitions by showcasing celebrities with fame, wealth, and acclaim.

 

Who can blame them, when indeed we do live in a capitalist society in which the main focus of the everyday grind is to get much of the “Benjamins” as much as possible.

 

There are also a number of female entertainers who shot into fame and fortune using pornography. It is no wonder many people do not feel “successful” and minimize the meaning and importance of their lives. We are going to shift all that!

 

We all know that in order to achieve success in life, we first need to first cultivate success in our heads first.  The first step in dominating the world is to cultivate a strong mindset. This is one of the many things you won’t learn in school.

 

The first valuable belief to instill in yourself is knowing that you truly can achieve anything. There will be a point in our adulthood in which we realize that we hold our future within our own hands.

 

As we grow older and eventually become parents ourselves, we start to realize that all of the past life experiences have been the greatest teacher. What most of our parents told us as kids—that we can be anything we want to be when we grow up is still true; there is no goal that is out of reach, no person you can’t speak to, no place you can’t go, no possession you can’t have, nothing you can’t be.

 

If you really invest your time in understanding your desired end results and do what’s necessary, we truly can achieve anything in this world.

 

 

It is without a doubt a true statement that a person’s character is a shadow and a  result of the way they were raised as a child. I noticed that People coming from a more cultural close knit family usually are more mindful and humble about life.  Living close to poverty enables a person to build more character.

 

Living in the east coast during the time of the super-storm sandy brought resilience in my character that I never had before.  A few houses down the road there was a house in which a huge tree fell on, and got several of the family members sent into the hospital for serious injuries.

 

It was all over the local news in my town.  Soon after this incident, everyone in my street decided to have fundraising in order to help the family. Everybody in my small knit community helped  to make it happen.

 

I realized soon after that how relationships are a very important thing that a person should cherish and is truly sacred. There is always something about the human spirit after experiencing something close to death that gave me a renewed sense of life and a sense of empowerment on my own struggles.

 

 

It is very important to understand that we share the same basic emotional needs such as love, belonging and compassion but at the same time we can also be very vulnerable.  When Mother Nature speaks it can speak loud or it can speak softly.

 

Understand the  One path leads to demoralization but another path leads to strength in character which leads to mental and emotional mastery.  As I spoke to the mother who has both her husband and son in the hospital due to the serious injuries that they sustain from the tree that fell in their house.

 

I see inner strength and a fighter in her eyes, she was an optimist and that is her biggest asset and her key to returning back to a normal life after such a horrific tragedy.

 

Each person’s humility is almost like a muscle, a “humility muscle”.

 

 

“No man is an island.”

 

The human society was able to evolve and flourish due to the help of the community.  In the island where I grew up, we have a word called”bayanihan” which basically means the community helping each other.

 

The word reflected on the fact that the community would usually come together to help out a family move their house.  And yes literally move the house. The men in the community gather together and lift up the house and carry it all the way to the new spot.

 

The ability to connect with people is one of the most important thing you can do for your business or really anything in LIFE.  More importantly, building a connection is NECESSARY when interacting with any Population. Your ability to connect and build rapport will defy the success you have in having a relationship with others no matter the demographic.

 

Building connection is how our early ancestors survived the reality of harsh life, thousands of years ago. During the caveman era, each person depended on their community for the basic needs of survival such as food. Taking down a big mammoth elephant needed the skills of a few people. And that is how a community was built.

 

A community was built through a relationship and a building a connection is the foundation of a relationship.  Relationships opens up the opportunity to venture out on projects and partnerships that can lead to monetary success in the future.

 

 

Emotional Connection is very important because that is the easiest way into tapping into any consumer’s mind which makes it an important factor in achieving success.  Majority of the American population has always been keen to connect more towards their own culture and ethnic background.

 

Majority of the American parents immigrated here in the West later in life, which means that they have experienced poverty at some point in their lives. Being able to connect with others emotionally will; allow you to provide great value to that person.

 

Showing that you care is vital in building a connection with anyone in life.  The mindful population is indeed still a minority here in the United States which means that it is important to build trust and friendship.

 

Any human being tend to open up once they fell comfortable and once they feel trust and rapport, and caring is one of the easiest way to do this.  Asian American, although at a large increasing population, still feels a bit of inferiority in this country.

 

 

Connecting the dots is very important important in the game of life. In life we need to do research about connecting dots. One day I was listening to NPR and heard of a girl called Amanda Hocking and she is someone that sold 1 million copies of her book on Amazon at a very young age.

 

Her story was actually quite interesting. Amanda was living somewhere in the South and makes money as a waitress and enjoys writing short stories in her spare time. And she was interviewed by NPR and she mentioned about being inspired by a man named Mark Hopus from blink 182 who is very very successful and if you think about it Mark Hopus was also again inspired by some other people that he was inspired about.

 

If you could see the main message that I want to confer is that everyone is always going to be inspired by somebody else and if were gonna go back to History and time you would know that even the founding fathers of the Constitution Thomas Jefferson used to read books about Alexander the great and the Roman emperors.

 

So basically we are learning from people who learn from other people  and there’s a connection with all of this and it’s all about learning and getting inspired therefore we need to teach ourselves.  

 

I believe that it is important to teach ourselves to be inspired and we can just not wait for inspiration instead we have seek inspiration and learn to inspire ourselves.

 

This can be done in many different ways, but the best way to achieve this is to do it skillfully.

 

 

Health

 

My health will always be on the top of the list and if it’s not the top of your list, then something is wrong.

 

If you aren’t healthy then it’s a little hard to enjoy life.  Sometimes we are very caught up with the external circumstances that surrounds us that get we almost forget to give gratitude for just being healthy and being in the wealthiest country in the world.

 

As much as I admire Steve Jobs, it’s just such a tragedy to have someone as great and genius as him, to die at such a very young age.  I strongly believed that Health is something that has to be earned and not taken for granted.

 

Although plenty of diseases and illness are due to genetics, ( such as unfortunate people who are genetically predisposed to certain diseases and illnesses).  Our own longevity depends largely based on our diet, lifestyle and exercise.

 

 

In order to be healthy takes effort and action.  But being healthy is also a paradox since if we start eating healthy, eventually we feel good and great.  And this physical health in turn feeds into our emotional and spiritual existence by making us have a more happier outlook on life.

 

This would result in us trying to be even more healthier since our bodies and appetite do not crave any more sugar or other unhealthy products.  During my college years I would have days in which I became severely hypoglycemic and was considered pre-diabetic.

 

It took the loss of my grandmother and a couple of uncles to diabetes that I realized that this disease really is a deadly illness.

 

I promised to myself that I am going to devote my energy towards staying healthy through proper diet and exercise instead of giving up and blaming my predisposition to the disease.  It’s time to kick diabetes in the butt.

 

 

All throughout the media and everywhere we go, we have always been bombarded with so much ads about losing weight or the newest weight loss techniques.

 

There are plenty of pills and other products that is sold to us every single day that promises weight loss and plenty of fun.  So it’s been starting to get a little chilly outside.

 

I am an avid runner and I also appreciate nature walks a lot.  I love going to parks but now it’s quite hard to do that. Everyone knows the importance of exercise.  I have been pondering a lot and realized that the main purpose of exercise is to burn calories brought metabolism within the body system.

 

I always have hated the treadmill and the stationary bike it’s just so boring.  Don’t try to give me that “its fun if your watching tv or playing video games” crap, it’s BORING dude.  Okay, maybe if you have the recent issue of Sports Illustrated Swimsuit, but aside from that B-O-R-I-N-G.

 

So I thought that instead of focusing on exercise why don’t I just try to focus on its literal meaning (extertante la mos’cion) which means exerting motion  (i made the funny word up, lol, internet people are so gullible) . And why not add the fun component to burning the calories by putting play into it.

 

And NO, masturbation does not count, well it does burn some calories but it does more harm to the wrist than the calories burned.  So in short, basically I was looking for play as my exercise. After plenty of experiments I found these five (5)principles to be pretty helpful toward my goal of exercising I meant playing.

 

Principle # 1.  Just keep on moving.

Movement within the body enables a person to achieve a sense of metabolism it helps with the peristalsis within the gastrointestinal systems and it helps with the blood circulation and the boosting of the immune system of the body which enables us to fight diseases and infection.

 

Moving your fingers on the keyboard and scrolling the mouse do not count as MOVEMENT there buddy.  Im talking about full range of motion in the upper and lower extremities.

 

This is a good equation: MOVEMENT + FUN = PLAY.

 

So do something fun, what is your hobby or passion?  Try to incorporate movement towards your hobby. You like to go fishing ? try putting effort using much range of motion as much as possible when “casting your line and reeling your fish” (unless you suck at fishing, then just stick with casting).  And if you like to play sports, then go play your hearts out, nothing much to do there.

 

Principle # 2.  Water is your fuel.

 

Water makes up a big part of our body as a matter of fact I makes up about 80+ percent of our body.  I am an avid drinker (not the alcoholic type). I love my water man, I have been soda -free for years and I love every minute of it.

 

A good way to notice your hydration level is by checking out your piss.  If it’s a little darker in color (yuck), it means, that your fluid/blood volume is highly concentrated. Normal urine can range in color from pale yellow (almost colorless) to deep amber. Dark amber urine is usually very concentrated and means that you should be drinking more water.

 

Keep in mind that foods, medications and even vitamins can change the color of urine temporarily but eliminating the cause brings the color back to normal. Most changes in urine color are harmless and the color will go back to normal within a day or two. Your body needs more water to detoxify the  waste within your body.

 

Since I have a strict food budget, buying bottled water can become a hindrance (if it becomes a habit). So instead, I bought an aluminum water bottle from ebay for about $9. And let me tell why I choose to have an aluminum water bottle. First off of course it can never break, unless the Mighty Thor accidentally smashed it with his hammer.

 

Having an aluminum water bottle enables me to be able to use it in the hot summer without having any chemicals such as Bisphenol A (known as BPA) that can harm harm the body and cause birth defects.

Second, water can get really expensive on the long run..

“If the water we use at home cost what even cheap bottled water costs, our monthly water bills would run $9,000.”

 

Principle # 3.  Driving is for the LAZY

Yes, I am talking about you… you lazy driver you.  I don’t care if your driving a Bugatti or a Mclaren (well unless its the 2012 model, then your cool).  Driving has been the long norm for our society.

 

We are now a society that believes that anywhere we should go we need to take our car and drive to the destination even though its only a few blocks away from us.  Driving has become a fundamental (ideal) necessity, even if there is plenty of option in using public transportation.

Save some Big MULA

 

I am a big follower to the idea that if we move closer to our place of employment and take public transportation or ride a bicycle that we can save so mucho dinero. And of course, help with the pollution in the environment and get your daily dose of exercise at the same time. It’s really a no brainer.

 

Principle # 4.  Sex is the best exercise

Ok, I don’t want to offend anyone out there but let’s face it sex is great and fun IF done with the right person or with of course a HOT person (jk).  But if you are to ask me what is the best exercise ever, I would say that SEX has to be on top of the list.

 

According to Web MD, Thirty minutes of sex burns 85 calories or more. It may not sound like much, but it adds up: 42 half-hour sessions will burn 3,570 calories, more than enough to lose a pound. Doubling up, you could drop that pound in 21 hour-long sessions.

 

Sex is a sport, Of course it is, you sweat and you get your hormones and serotonin and sometimes it can get competitive.  For males this involves a little bit of time, your finger and some precision. On that sometimes it can be a little harder for guys to sacrifice this while they are in the heat o the moment.

 

It also goes down to testosterone levels, the higher your testosterone levels the higher your sexual prowess would be and this is evident within your pheromones.  And trust me the woman can smell and sense this from a mile away.

 

Principle # 5. Rest is your best friend

We all have a cellphone and we all use our cell phone. When the battery is almost out the cellphone usually says low battery . Unfortunately our bodies do not have the low battery mechanism that tell us that there is low battery or that we need to recharge.  This is when you need to rest.

 

There have been plenty of benefits of taking a nap. There has been studies and research that correlates nap with an increase and boost in the mental capacity of individuals. A great way to increase the WBC’s or white blood cells which contains the phagocytes and other immune soldiers in our body is by getting a good rest after a good exercise.

 

 

Eating

 

Yes, diet do not work.   Why? because EATING is suppose to be a lifestyle, therefore it has to be a “long term habit”. A diet is not sustainable and something that not only brings HEALTH but also happiness and wellness.

 

I am a strong advocate for Mediterranean Diet since it seems to be a really well-balanced diet. The Mediterranean diet incorporates the basics of healthy eating and perhaps a glass of red wine.

 

This diets include fruits, vegetables, fish and whole grains, and limit unhealthy fats. While these parts of a healthy diet remain tried-and-true, subtle variations or differences in proportions of certain foods may make a difference in your risk of heart disease.

 

Research has shown that the traditional Mediterranean diet reduces the risk of heart disease. In fact, a recent analysis of more than 1.5 million healthy adults demonstrated that following a Mediterranean diet was associated with a reduced risk of overall and cardiovascular mortality, a reduced incidence of cancer and cancer mortality, and a reduced incidence of Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases.

 

Also, remember that contrary to what we have all been told, our human Ancestors were not always the meat loving caveman that we thought they were, instead most of them were actually Vegetarians, that is why Mediterranean Diet is still the best choice out there.

 

No matter what your diet is, make sure that it is not only healthy but also sustainable for the wallet.  A huge part of the moneyless journey is the ability to be sustainable with the least amount of expense.

 

Living a healthy lifestyle can sometimes be expensive.  One sunny day, a young cousin of mine asked me if i can take him to the park to feed the ducks and I said yes, and when he asked me what to feed those ducks.

 

I thought about  the $2.99 a loaf of  slice bread sitting in my refrigerator.  I eat fairly healthy and i am huge advocate of bringing your own lunch/ sandwich to work (saves you literally hundred every month).

 

But even slice bread can get very expensive nowadays when you add inflation to the price and the tax.  My solution is to buy directly from any Friehofer’s Bread Bakery, which is a bread bakery/factory that is closest to my place.

 

And  instead of paying the 3.99 for a loaf of bread in your grocery store,  I am actually able to pay an awesome price of $1 a loaf or 3 loaves for $3.  The 30 mins. drive to the factory is definitely worth the trip. After adding up years worth of loafs, I realized the large amount that I have saved, by buying the factory price.  Breakfast will always will be the most important meal of the day.

 

A good breakfast must have some protein mixed with some complex carbohydrates mixed within the meal.  While adults need to eat breakfast each day to perform their best, kids need it even more.

 

Their growing bodies and developing brains rely heavily on the regular intake of food. When kids skip breakfast, they can end up going for long periods of time without food and this period of semistarvation can create a lot of physical, intellectual, and behavioral problems for them.

 

 

As I mentioned before, I always believe that health is wealth, therefore anything invested towards the betterment of health is always a good investment.

 

If you regularly skip breakfast in the interest of saving time, calories, or getting a few more minutes of sleep, remember that eating a wholesome, nutritious morning meal will probably save you time in the long run because it will ADD YEARS to your LIFE. .

 

By recharging the brain and body, you’ll be more efficient in just about everything you do. Interestingly, studies show that kids who skip breakfast are tardy and absent from school more often than children who eat breakfast on a regular basis.

 

Preparing a good breakfast can be as quick and easy as splashing some milk over cereal. Time invested in breakfast is much more valuable than the few extra minutes of sleep you might get by bypassing the morning meal.

 

 

Some people skip breakfast in an effort to lose some weight but the practice is more likely to cause weight gain than weight loss.

 

Skipping breakfast is strongly linked to the development of obesity. Studies show that overweight and obese children, adolescents, and adults are less likely to break the fast each morning than their thinner counterparts.

 

According to research, skipping meals, especially breakfast, can actually make weight control more difficult. Breakfast skippers tend to eat more food than usual at the next meal or nibble on high-calorie snacks to stave off hunger.

 

Several studies suggest that people tend to accumulate more body fat when they eat fewer, larger meals than when they eat the same number of calories in smaller, more frequent meals.

 

To teens, especially teenage girls, skipping breakfast may seem like a perfectly logical way to cut down on calories and lose weight. It’s important for moms reakfato educate their kids about the importance of the morning meal and the role it plays in maintaining good health and preventing obesity.

 

 

Now since you now know that I eat plenty of slice bread.  I also tend to choose healthier choices and foods that can last longer in the refrigerator, so I can buy them in bulk.  

 

When buying deli foods,  I would usually purchase chicken rather than ham or turkey since it takes a bit longer to spoil.  And this is really very important since deli meat can become quite costly. Now lets talk about the most important substance that makes up the majority of our bodies.

 

Water makes up a big part of our body as a matter of fact it makes up about 80+ percent of our body.  I am an avid drinker (not the alcoholic type). I love my water man, I have been soda -free for years and I love every minute of it.

 

 

A good way to notice your hydration level is by checking out your piss.  If it’s a little darker in color (yuck), it means, that your fluid/blood volume is highly concentrated. Normal urine can range in color from pale yellow (almost colorless) to deep amber. Dark amber urine is usually very concentrated and means that you should be drinking more water.

 

Keep in mind that foods, medications and even vitamins can change the color of urine temporarily but eliminating the cause brings the color back to normal. Most changes in urine color are harmless and the color will go back to normal within a day or two. Your body needs more water to detoxify the  waste within your body.

 

 

Since I have a strict food budget, buying bottled water can become a hindrance (if it becomes a habit). So instead, I bought an aluminum water bottle from ebay for about $9. And let me tell why I choose to have an aluminum water bottle. First off of course it can never break, unless the Mighty Thor accidentally smashed it with his hammer.

 

Having an aluminum water bottle enables me to be able to use it in the hot summer without having any chemicals such as Bisphenol A (known as BPA) that can harm harm the body and cause birth defects. In regards with protein, eggs is the cheapest best protein in the world. Just make sure to take out the egg yolk.

 

But this goodness also come with a big downside and its the fact that eggs have about 200 mg of cholesterol in each one.  But here’s the good news about 90 percent of that cholesterol is within the yolk. So without the yolk, there is only 12 percent cholesterol in your egg.

 

Coupons is not only a poor man’s best friend but it is everyone’s best friend.  At this time in our economy, who doesn’t want to save a few pennies in their pockets.

 

The funny thing is that after we add up all these pennies that we have saved it can tally up to hundreds of dollars worth of savings straight into your pocket.

 

An individual can save up to 200 dollars a month with couponing while a typical family can save up to he upwards of 400-500 dollars a month.

 

When you think about it, after a year you literally have save thousands and thousands of dollars in a year if you add up everything that you have saved.  Using things like a coupon can also keep someone grounded and make them understand the impact of consumerism.

 

I have read about this family who has a blog and even a show called extreme couponing.  I look at the ROI or the return of investment and you can easily see that although some of these what i call professional couponers do save hundreds a month . The average coupon user only saves a few dollars a month.

 

 

Transportation

 

Americans love to consume and as a result we are hugely in debt. Why do we do excessive things like buying phones, houses, cars, TVs and vacations that we know we cannot afford.

 

We go out and send our children to very expensive schools that cost $50,000 a year while we are only making $40,000 a year.  We are buying big houses and buying cars we cannot afford that we are putting in them.

 

And how is it that we think we need gurus and books to teach us how to stop spending money and pay our bills?  It’s a pretty basic concept. You borrow and you pay back, or you just don’t borrow. Have we become so stupid and become insecure that we cannot even figure out how to pay our bills.

 

 

I rolled down my window and and he spat on my car while sticking out his finger.  And it definitely was not the thumb for sure.

 

This was an incident that happened to me a few months ago during a small traffic altercation with another vehicle, after that incident I really despised driving.  I only drive about 20 minutes away from my job.

 

But, using the local road, it would usually take me about 35-45 minutes due to the busyness and the ongoing traffic. And with the traffic in order to go moneyless, I had to live my life without a car and this brought up plenty of shock to most of my co-workers.

 

 

Everyone had their own opinion about how it’s not going to work.  I realized that selling my car was like killing three birds with one stone.  First, obviously I was able to save plenty of money. Second it took away plenty of stress that comes with commuting and lastly, its free exercise and it just freaking makes a lot of sense.

 

So how did I get to work  you ask?. Well I proceeded to buy a reliable bicycle.  It might not be the best chick magnet out there, but when people know exactly why you have such a simple and stress and cost-effective lifestyle, they will begin to question their own lives.

 

I went to the Walmart website and browse around their collection of mountain bikes, when I found exactly what I wanted I called my local Walmart to check if it’s on stock which it was.  I searched for a helmet that I owned years ago and I was off to cycling. As corny as it may sound, I felt a sense of freedom when I ride my bicycle.

 

The breeze blowing and the pumping of endorphins on each pedal is very exhilarating  and quite relaxing at the same time. I try to go on my own pace and try to enjoy the view.  Overall I was able to get rid of car insurance, the yearly registration fee, gasoline expenses and the maintenance fees that comes with owning a vehicle.

 

If every single person in America rides their bike for just once a week to work, we can really avoid so much carbon footprint in our atmosphere.  Not only that but the obesity rate which is an epidemic in this country could quickly dissipate. The benefits of traveling with a bicycle is totally enormous.  So I suggest for you to go out there and just pedal those bikes.

 

 

Time

 

 

Everyone seems to always needs more time.   Time is a valuable asset that plenty of use just takes for granted.

 

Achieving times is the ultimate freedom for plenty of us.  Todays world is filled with plenty of anxious and very depressed people.  The problem is that people seem to not get a hold and control their time.

 

Time is actually one of the most important factors and variables that can help alleviate anxiety. If you’re really conscious you would notice that best time lapses the complexity and the extent of the anxiety decreases over time.

 

When we are at the moment of the anxious state the new transmitters in the synapses within our brain are working and firing overtime. Our mind is going on a stress and panic state. This in turn causes the mind to become unconscious and to have various state of panic. You need to allow time to settle in on an anxious mind.

 

 

Time is emotion, when we do something that we really love, times goes by so fast. When we are having so much fun, time usually fly by.. but when we are upset at something or when we are emotionally disturbed, then time goes by really slow.

 

Therefore it is really important to be mindful and have the ability to manage our state of emotions.  Lets face it, everyone has free time. It is now possible to achieve and build something that can generate an income with little or no capital to start.  

 

All you need is a little bit of ambition added with some focus and you can truly go far.  Imagine for a second what it would be like if our present Society becomes a society in which money doesn’t matter that much anymore.

 

Imagine you lived in a perfect society where you had enough food, clothing and shelter so you didn’t need to struggle to make a living. You’d have access to education, entertainment and a reasonable amount of goods and services.

 

You’d be comfortable, but not rich in the conventional sense. If all your immediate needs were met and you didn’t have to work many hours.  Well, I believe that it’s going on right now. The access we have to this “free” economy is. But there is a way for us to be able to work less and play more in this new economy.   If we are able to double our productivity then it is possible to work half as much.

 

We should all be in an age of leisure of abundance, yet we continue to work many hours with long commutes, in jobs that most of us don’t particularly like. The problem is that most of us tend to value consumption of goods and services more than extra leisure time.

 

Apparently, bigger houses, newer cars and more possessions are more important to us than the time to do what we truly enjoy.  We believe that buying stuff for our families is better than spending time with them.

 

Creativity

 

Creativity only comes once in a blue moon. It is important to look at creativity as something of a raindrop.  When it pours, It comes in plenty therefore you have to pay attention and write down every single raindrop that come into your noggin.

 

Always right down every raindrop that happens throughout the day, Its a new time and a new world. There’s a huge shift happening, we are on the verge of something big. and we are in the middle of it.

 

A new innovative idea is your key to wealth and success.  The corporate work life doesn’t work any more people have enough of being a zombie within their lives. The digital world has given us a lot of freedom to invent our own digital careers, and it’s awesome.

 

The secret to increasing one’s income can be done through a dualism approach and it includes increasing your income through working more hours or through lowering your expenses. Either one of this strategy would bring more money in your pocket.  But having passive income or extra income on the side is the easiest way to wealth.

 

As Steve Jobs has said, “Rules are made by silly people just like you and me.”

 

 

As we grow up, we eventually realize that there is really no rules.  You can bend the rules of reality and escape all the borders and normalcy that cages each one of us.. We’re mostly limited by fear and traditional “rules” that we think apply to us. Start challenging assumptions.

 

You don’t have to go to college, graduate within four years, take a desk job, stay close to home, get an MBA, climb the corporate ladder, or anything just because it’s what society tells you it’s what you’re supposed to do. Your life is your masterpiece, and you are the painter.  Be free to fly away, the world is your canvas, go and paint your own picture.

 

Our inner compass can usually lead us to new found freedom and enlightenment.   Now is the time to travel. There is no better time to travel than now. There will always be plenty of uncertainty in this world, therefore there is no perfect time to travel than right NOW.

 

And that is exactly what I did, my plan from the beginning was to use high secure currency such as the (dollar) and leverage it over weaker currencies such as (currently) European and in Asian currency. Lets face it, everyone in this world (even Bill Gates) has only 24 hrs. in a day, manage your time well and TRAVEL.

 

Work and stress can impact our lives greatly. I was finally fed up so I decided to sell everything, leave my apartment, and travel. I have never been happier and enjoyed experiences and relationships so thoroughly as I did. I realized that change is inevitable and it cannot be resisted People grow, age, and die. Small towns turn into cities.

 

Cultures, trends, and businesses gain and lose their influence. As rewarding as my job, I knew that I deserved my freedom, and for me, time to TRAVEL equals freedom. It has always been a really awesome experience to meet new people and build new relationships with people all throughout the world.

 

I’ve learned that as I “go with the flow,” accept things as they are, and become comfortable with change rather than resist it, life goes more smoothly for me.

 

The beautiful thing about a traveling lifestyle is that it gives you time to work on your relationship and travel provides additional perspectives to see the problems from a totally different perspective. Traveling for me has brought new problems and stress with it that we wouldn’t have faced otherwise.

 

Have fun with life It’s important to spend time planning for the future and learning from the past and from others. But I also realized that it is also very important to understand that the memories that stand out as the most meaningful to me are those when I traveled and meet new people and engulf in their cultures.

 

 

Negativity

 

Negative thinking will always be a hindrance towards your productivity.  The solution is the power to switch towards a more positive state through the “superbeing” mental and physical  transcendental state.

 

For the novice, it will take more time and a lot of practice.  The “monkey brain,” takes effort to tame and be taught new tricks.  It knows and realizes when it is trained and is subdued, it is in its nature to “resist”.  When this occurs, consciousness is your “leash.” states is now easier after a lot of experience.

 

Feelings and emotions such as love, hatred and fear, these thoughts like clouds co created the infinite reality always trying to identify your canvas of personality.  You have to develop an open relationship with your thoughts. Try to develop a dualistic mind into a non dualistic mind, no right and wrong, good or bad.

 

Try to live in the now, not necessarily disconnecting with the world but just being present in the moment and what ever arises in your present moment is the world that you’ve created, within this physical world. Do not try to fight “HIM” all throughout my life but I have now put a leash around its neck and this “ego” is not going anywhere with no resistance, the ego is now enlightened.

 

Recognition is a big part since this “ego” is very needy, always asking for my attention. I am the master, master of me and it took me all my life to realize this and get rid of all these attachments.  I am not merely talking about a practice, mysticism or trying to be in a transcendental “enlightened” state.

 

But my unified mind has applied the universal laws, quantum mechanics of science, psychosocial behavioral and environment adapted perspective of the lifespan of this holistic group of atoms which is of me.

 

And it has been quite an interesting journey so far, filled with questions, unanswered questions and answers that only lead to further questions.   I am infinite, I am the universe, god and the physical, I am morality and evil in existence.

 

Withheld from thoughts, feelings and attachments, I am only living in the present, with no resistance. This practice has always been a challenge throughout, with many misdirections and paradigm shifts.

 

There are many times where I get caught with the existence of me, materialistic, emotional and sexual fantasies and there goes the years of practice. It is tiring trying to be awakened every moment, every second, every millisecond but it is necessary for this enlightened state’s growth.

 

The river of thoughts sometimes flows like a waterfall drifting everywhere like a rapid wave going in all directions and motions, but when I notice and become conscious of the moment, it can quickly turn into a quite free flowing lake.  Be great be enlightened, be Superhuman.

 

 

Stay resilient in tough times, and you can survived the depths of the deepest Recession.  Resiliency is the name of the game.

 

 

Keep it Low Key

 

It is better to Never speak o upon the accomplishments that you have achieved until asked.  When talking about the accomplishments always try to be modest.

 

Fail… and Fail more

 

The final enemy often waits until you’ve actually begun to get somewhere. You may even be almost done a day’s work by the time you notice his long shadow creeping across your workspace.

 

Self-doubt stalks every creative and will appear at some point during every project. Self doubt usually tends to creep in when you least expect it.  To get you to give up on your projects out of the belief that you’re missing a crucial ingredient, typically talent or inspiration.”

 

This is the one that seems to stop me the most, and typically before I’ve even started in on a project. I was wondering if you had any advice for dealing with this form in particular.

 

So often I find that when I consider starting up a project, my knee-jerk reaction is a feeling of inefficacy. I KNOW on an intellectual level that if I just put in the hours and chip away at the goal I will make it eventually, but I don’t FEEL that certainty and so I always stop short. At any rate, as always thanks for a great read!

 

Getting myself writing used to feel something like trying to start an old lawn mower with a broken spark plug. Sometimes it can just be very painful.

 

Occasionally I’d get it running right away, but most of the time it would take at least a few rips at the cord, and I was always aware that I might not get it to turn over at all that day.  Procrastination is a close friend to resistance which are both enemy to action. Initially they come in disguise, seducing travelers away from the creative path.

 

Often they defeat you without your even knowing it. Once you know their names and their strategies, you begin to see your encounters with them as an everyday part of your job that need cause you little trouble. But be careful.

 

Even if you’ve defeated them a hundred times they will still be capable of tricking you  in fact, my overconfidence allowed the first one to outsmart me yesterday on the piece you’re reading.  Know which you’re dealing with and what to do for each.

 

 

We all know that in order to achieve success in life, we first need to first cultivate success in our heads first.  The first step in dominating the world is to cultivate a strong mindset. This is one of the many things you won’t learn in school. The first valuable belief to instill in yourself is knowing that you truly can achieve anything.

 

There will be a point in our adulthood in which we realize that we hold our future within our own hands. As we grow older and eventually become parents ourselves, we start to realize that all of the past life experiences have been the greatest teacher.

 

What most of our parents told us as kids—that we can be anything we want to be when we grow up is still true; there is no goal that is out of reach, no person you can’t speak to, no place you can’t go, no possession you can’t have, nothing you can’t be. If you really invest your time in understanding your desired end results and do what’s necessary, we truly can achieve anything in this world.

 

 

At this moment in life, multitasking is something that we don’t think twice doing day in and day out.

 

Until recently, researchers started measuring the effects of cell phone distractions under controlled conditions, nobody had any idea how profoundly they can impair a driver, basically it’s like driving drunk.

 

Cell-phone talkers are a half-second slower to hit the brakes in emergencies, slower to return to normal speed after an emergency, and more wild in their “following distance” behind the vehicle in front of them.   More than 50% of the visual cues spotted by attentive drivers are missed by cell-phone talkers. Not surprisingly, they get in more wrecks than anyone except very drunk drivers.

 

That may sound like an extreme example, but by attempting two tasks simultaneously (driving and talking on the phone) these drivers were essentially doing the same thing as an office worker who is simultaneously writing a document, checking and responding to e-mail, fielding phone calls, surfing the web and/or engaging in conversations via social networking sites.

 

Yet multitasking is often spoken of with approval, a skill to be cultivated.

 

Multitaskers are admired for their efficiency and seen as Multitasking, when it comes to paying attention, is a myth. The brain naturally focuses on concepts sequentially, one at a time. At first that might sound confusing; at one level the brain does multitask.

 

“When you are walking, walk. When you are sitting, sit.” ~ The Buddha

“Always do one thing at a time, that of the present moment.” ~ George Gurdjieff

 

 

Why We Don’t need Goals

 

Lets have a quick scenario, its a beautiful day outside, you realized you haven’t jogged in several months hence you decided today was the PERFECT time to go jogging.

 

So, you went online to check the weather in your town… and just to be sure, you stick half of your body out the door to feel the temperature (just in case). Nice weather indeed, so off we go right… nope not yet, your monkey brain tells you. Not until you dress up like a “jogger,” then you can go off, the monkey brain mumbles.

 

So now, looking like a jogger with your shiny sneaks and some sporty pants we’re heading out the door. ”Hey there buddy, not too fast, you know you have to entertain me while you’re running, i can easily get BORED ya know,” squeaks the monkey brain again.

 

So, with our Ipod in our hands we’re now finally ready to head out. ”Hold up for a second there chief,” the monkey brain utters, “what if I get thirsty and dehydrated and pass out on the way, that would be no bueno, so better get me a bottled water.”

 

As we’re filling out our bottled water, out of nowhere the monkey brain starts analyzing and asks, “where are we going anyway, what is the route we’re taking, blah…blah..blah ?”…

 

The monkey brain unexpectedly starts to negotiate with you, “instead of jogging outside, why don’t we just go for a stroll at the mall, we can kill two birds with one stone ya know, you can look for those clothes/gadgets that you always wanted and get some exercise at the same time, YOU’LL HAVE MORE FUN.” This my friend is a typical scenario, in which YOU have been defeated by the monkey brain. Is the monkey brain really to much goal oriented…

 

Nope, although thinking is an active process, the execution of the conscious mind is the key.  I know there have been sayings that if we do not plan, we plan to fail but if all we do is plan..plan and plan then we can turn into  zombies and slave to the monkey brain.

 

The key to execution is ACTION, TIME and ACTIVE PLANNING, make it an active learning process.  Whatever it is that we are doing, be it running outside or starting a business.. always be willing to fail.

 

Failing will be the KEY to success in achieving goals. With all the things and the social media that is readily available within our fingertips, it would be hard to simplify and commit ourselves into one goal.

On true sense, we DO need goals in life, it serves as a purpose in our journey through this life, just don’t be a hostage towards these goals through meticulous planning and let it hinder your growth.

It is very funny how our brain functions in different various situations.   Isn’t it quite funny that ones we are close to a certain goal or a certain achievement we tend to not continue and follow it.

 

Our brain is actually trained to get complacent and be scared of success. Once the opportunity is there, it does not want to continue and purse for more opportunity. Instead of working hard to achieve a specific goal in life.

 

What we need to do instead is look at a certain goal not as a finish line but more of a stepping stone to achieve other goals in your life.  So go out there and DO, FAIL and SUCCEED. That’s what I did.

Congratulations, you have finished reading this entire book, now go out there and take some ACTION.