"What the caterpillar calls The End of The World, the master calls a butterfly." ~Richard Bach
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Tonight is the last night of 2012, supposedly the year the world end, but it didn't. So, with the coming of a new year comes news dreams and new hopes. And these are our dreams and our goals for the upcoming years:
1) To live a joyful and meaningful life.
2) To make a half a million in 3 years (and one million in 5 years).
3) To learn something new and have a little enlightenment everyday.
This blog (and ultimately, this book) will be a record of the lessons we learn, the thoughts we have, the epiphanies we discover throughout the upcoming 5 years while achieving our goals. Then, we have this additional goal:
4) To share these with everyone, so that everyone can follow, or avoid following, our footsteps to success, as defined by goal #1 and goal #2.
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Most, if not all, existing materials on how to be successful / rich / happy suffer from the same problem - Selection Bias. The authors were already successful / rich / happy when they wrote their methods. They claim that these methods are the reason of their success. How about people who used the exact same methods but failed? Maybe it is not what they wrote, but something else that cause them to be successful? Perhaps, they are simply very lucky?
This blog / book will be unique. It will be written by individuals who are NOT successful / rich (though we are very happy) at this point of time - 31/12/2012. We plan to publish this in 3 years later on the 31/12/2015, no matter what is the outcome.
Life is a mystery. No one knows what future will bring. Isn't it what make life interesting? To know what our destiny in 3 years will be, read on!
Happy New Year!
Clover
31/12/2012
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P.S. About the authors as of 31/12/2012 -
Clover - A software engineer turned proprietary trader, whose job switch resulted in sharp drop in monthly income for most part of 2011 and 2012. Why the switch from engineer to a trader?
Whizzy T - A dreamer who quited his job to pursue a greater purpose and freedom in life. The next Bill Gates, Steve Job? Probably.
Clara - A project manager in a well-known network company, whose dream is to become an entrepreneur and/or marry a rich husband. Will her dreams come true?
P.P.S. Maybe they will tell you the answers to these questions somewhere in this blog/book.
Monday, December 31, 2012
Sunday, December 30, 2012
Letting Go
I read a book about Zen:
The key to joy is to let go.
Let go of things that are toxic, that make you un-joyful - be it your thinking, your needs, your expectations, your possessions, your ideas, your striving, your addictions, your burdens etc.
Strip away the unnecessary. Go back to your center, your core.
Be free.
Then you will be joyful.
****************************************************************
That is Eastern Zen teaching. Western psychology explains why it is so hard to let go -
"Loss aversion implies that one who loses $100 will lose more satisfaction than another person will gain satisfaction from a $100 windfall." -Wikipedia
That means a person will illogically assign more value to the things ($100 in the example) they possessed than things they don't.
This is obviously a fallacy and it explains why it is so hard to let go.
Good traders know this and counter this innate bias of theirs everyday.
Maybe we can apply this to life in general too.
Let go.
Sunday, December 23, 2012
Epiphany
Have a sudden epiphany today... actually two, one primary one secondary.
Suddenly I realized what is the missing ingredient (for me) to success... That is the lack of a sense of Abundance. Previously I was very limiting in my thoughts... I kept thinking I am poor, monetary-wise. Hence I am not really a generous person, either to my friends, family, or to myself. Actually there is also nothing wrong with lacking generosity, just that I suddenly realize this limit in thought may become a road block to my goal of becoming rich.
What makes me realize this?
1) My girlfriend who said I am "stingy". Haha! Though I really really don't think I am stingy, she makes me realize that I am not as generous as I should be, and hence, becoming aware of this limiting belief of mine.
2) My best friend ZJ, who introduce me to the "Law of Abundance".
3) My bosses, who gave me a nice ex watch, which makes me realize that one of the habits of rich people are that they are grateful and generous to people who help them.
4) The book "The One Minute Millionaire", which did the finishing touch of hammering this concept of "Abundance" and "Giving" through into brain.
Heh want to thank my gf, my best friend, my bosses, and the book for leading me to this epiphany. If you are reading this, I want you to know that I am really grateful to you. :)
Then the second epiphany: The other key to success is to Create New Conditions. Now I am playing a very interesting iPhone game called Ghost Trick. The protagonist (you), a ghost whose mission is to solve the mystery of why he died, has the power to go back in time to 4 minutes before a death occur and changes things so that the death never happen. This create new conditions which gives him further clues to solve the mystery. What I like most about this game is the intriguing story line and the puzzle portion, which requires the player (the ghost) to think of creative ways to change the outcome of the deaths of various characters he encountered.
Anw, the main theme of the game is to create new conditions, which is also the main message of a book I read recently: "Good Luck - Create Conditions for Success in Life and Business".
So while playing the game, suddenly it dawns on me: creating new conditions is crucial for success!
Actually there is a second part to this epiphany. That is, every new condition has the potential of causing the Butterfly Effect! Sometimes, just the smallest change in condition, perhaps, just a spark of an idea or a change in thinking, can create a major change in your life! Just look at the multi-billion business of I-pod, I-phone and I-pad, it all started from an idea inside Steve Job's head!
Thinking back for the past 2 years... If I never quit my job, I would never have become a trader now! If I never signed up for SDN, I would never have met my beautiful gf!
Now, the year is ending, I am feeling kinda stuck: what is the next step of moving towards my goals (of becoming rich, so that I can be free and provide for my loved ones etc etc)?? Then suddenly it hits me!
When in doubt, CREATE NEW CONDITIONS!
Simple! And that shall be what I should do. A path will open up once the conditions are fulfilled, and Good Luck and Opportunities will follow!
***********************************
I have a feeling that these 2 small epiphanies will be the new conditions that will change my life in a VERY big way. HeeHee.
Suddenly I realized what is the missing ingredient (for me) to success... That is the lack of a sense of Abundance. Previously I was very limiting in my thoughts... I kept thinking I am poor, monetary-wise. Hence I am not really a generous person, either to my friends, family, or to myself. Actually there is also nothing wrong with lacking generosity, just that I suddenly realize this limit in thought may become a road block to my goal of becoming rich.
What makes me realize this?
1) My girlfriend who said I am "stingy". Haha! Though I really really don't think I am stingy, she makes me realize that I am not as generous as I should be, and hence, becoming aware of this limiting belief of mine.
2) My best friend ZJ, who introduce me to the "Law of Abundance".
3) My bosses, who gave me a nice ex watch, which makes me realize that one of the habits of rich people are that they are grateful and generous to people who help them.
4) The book "The One Minute Millionaire", which did the finishing touch of hammering this concept of "Abundance" and "Giving" through into brain.
Heh want to thank my gf, my best friend, my bosses, and the book for leading me to this epiphany. If you are reading this, I want you to know that I am really grateful to you. :)
***********************************
Then the second epiphany: The other key to success is to Create New Conditions. Now I am playing a very interesting iPhone game called Ghost Trick. The protagonist (you), a ghost whose mission is to solve the mystery of why he died, has the power to go back in time to 4 minutes before a death occur and changes things so that the death never happen. This create new conditions which gives him further clues to solve the mystery. What I like most about this game is the intriguing story line and the puzzle portion, which requires the player (the ghost) to think of creative ways to change the outcome of the deaths of various characters he encountered.
Anw, the main theme of the game is to create new conditions, which is also the main message of a book I read recently: "Good Luck - Create Conditions for Success in Life and Business".
So while playing the game, suddenly it dawns on me: creating new conditions is crucial for success!
Actually there is a second part to this epiphany. That is, every new condition has the potential of causing the Butterfly Effect! Sometimes, just the smallest change in condition, perhaps, just a spark of an idea or a change in thinking, can create a major change in your life! Just look at the multi-billion business of I-pod, I-phone and I-pad, it all started from an idea inside Steve Job's head!
Thinking back for the past 2 years... If I never quit my job, I would never have become a trader now! If I never signed up for SDN, I would never have met my beautiful gf!
Now, the year is ending, I am feeling kinda stuck: what is the next step of moving towards my goals (of becoming rich, so that I can be free and provide for my loved ones etc etc)?? Then suddenly it hits me!
When in doubt, CREATE NEW CONDITIONS!
Simple! And that shall be what I should do. A path will open up once the conditions are fulfilled, and Good Luck and Opportunities will follow!
***********************************
I have a feeling that these 2 small epiphanies will be the new conditions that will change my life in a VERY big way. HeeHee.
Good Luck
Good Luck - Create the Conditions for Success in Life and Business
http://lemmyc.hubpages.com/hub/Lemmycs-Book-Review-Good-Luck-Create-the-Conditions-for-Success-in-Life-and-Business
Rules of Good Luck:
1) Luck doesn't last long, because it does not depend on you. Good luck is created by each of us, that’s why it lasts for ever.
2) Many are those who want Good Luck, but few are those who are willing to pursue it
3) If you have no Good Luck now, it might be because you’re under the usual conditions. To have Good Luck, you must create new conditions.
4) Finding new conditions for good luck does not mean looking for your own benefits only. Creating conditions, helping others, makes Good Luck more likely to appear.
5) If you postpone the creation of new conditions, Good Luck never arrives. Creating new conditions is sometimes hard work, but … do it today!
6) Sometimes, even under the seemingly right conditions, Good luck doesn't arrive. Look for the seemingly unnecessary conditions in the small details.
7) To those who only believe in chance, creating conditions seems absurd. Those who create conditions are not worried about chance.
8) Nobody can sell Good Luck. Good Luck cannot be sold. Do not trust those who sell luck.
9) After creating all the conditions, don’t quit. For Good luck to arrive, have faith.
10) Creating Good Luck consists in preparing conditions for opportunity. But opportunity has nothing to do with luck or chance it is always there.
http://lemmyc.hubpages.com/hub/Lemmycs-Book-Review-Good-Luck-Create-the-Conditions-for-Success-in-Life-and-Business
Rules of Good Luck:
1) Luck doesn't last long, because it does not depend on you. Good luck is created by each of us, that’s why it lasts for ever.
2) Many are those who want Good Luck, but few are those who are willing to pursue it
3) If you have no Good Luck now, it might be because you’re under the usual conditions. To have Good Luck, you must create new conditions.
4) Finding new conditions for good luck does not mean looking for your own benefits only. Creating conditions, helping others, makes Good Luck more likely to appear.
5) If you postpone the creation of new conditions, Good Luck never arrives. Creating new conditions is sometimes hard work, but … do it today!
6) Sometimes, even under the seemingly right conditions, Good luck doesn't arrive. Look for the seemingly unnecessary conditions in the small details.
7) To those who only believe in chance, creating conditions seems absurd. Those who create conditions are not worried about chance.
8) Nobody can sell Good Luck. Good Luck cannot be sold. Do not trust those who sell luck.
9) After creating all the conditions, don’t quit. For Good luck to arrive, have faith.
10) Creating Good Luck consists in preparing conditions for opportunity. But opportunity has nothing to do with luck or chance it is always there.
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