30,000 days

Life in the developed world is made up of 30,000 days or 82 years.

It is a very small number if you think about it. At retirement, a 65 year old has 17 years remaining, with around 5 of those years restricted by a severe or profound limitation. Every single day is so important. Life is over in a flash. 

Now is the only time there is. I might wish I was young again or I might wish there was something I did or said, but it is not going to bring the time back. There is only one time. And that time is now. Make it count.

Living On A Prayer

I decided to take this year off because I believe I have an opportunity to make it for myself and make a difference in this world. There exists an opportunity for me to benefit others, not just myself. An opportunity to help the poor and change their lives for the better.

The reality is that if my ventures do not take off, I would probably spend my life living for myself. I would likely accumulate a few investment properties and live off that income. It is selfish, but then again, I don't know if there will come another opportunity.

I have put in a crazy amount of time into the start-up and forgone a lot of the pleasures in life. I have undergone a struggle mentally, physically and emotionally. I have not exercised as much as I would have liked. I have not met up with friends or pursued relationships as much as I would have liked. I have not taken time out to live life as much as I would have liked. I don't know if I am prepared to put myself through this again. [In hindsight, I over-worked myself. I must never do this to myself again even if I am making a difference because my other purpose in life is to enjoy life.]

Right now, I am half-way there. I have put all my time and effort to give myself the best chance of success.

I keep praying to Jesus and I keep believing in faith. I felt Jesus in my heart. I believe that He has a purpose for my life to benefit many people.

Faith comes by hearing the word of God. Without faith, it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. We do not belong to those who turn back and are destroyed, but to those who have faith and are saved.

Faith takes a reality in heaven and makes it exist on earth. I have faith for my future, for prosperity and success, and I claim it. I will start living what God says for me, not just asking God to feed me once a week or listening to the devil who challenges my faith.

I am thankful everyday. Thankful for the good and the bad, for the people around me. Thankful that Jesus is there for me.

Staying Healthy

After a week of being sick with the flu, fever, shivering, head ache, stomach ache, diarrhea, and bleeding, I write this post.

It's been so tough being sick.

Not being able to do anything because you need to rest. Sleeping away the whole day. Operating at a reduced capacity, if any. No brain capacity to think, let alone analyse. Loss of work ethic. Dulling ambition.

That and the physical battle. Not knowing when your body can overcome the illness. How much worse off you are when the battle is won. How emotionally spent you become.

Where nothing else matters. Just overcoming the illness.

Health brings a freedom very few realise, until they no longer have it. It's what's on the inside that counts.

Those Close to Us

I don't interact with almost all of my friends. There are so many people I don't keep in touch with.

Less than 5 people on this planet truly care about me. Less than 5 people on this planet who I truly care for.

There are few true friends and relationships. The ones that you care about on a deeper level.

Everyone else comes and goes. They all pass away.

In the end, we only have ourselves, and if we are lucky, a few people close to us.

I ponder this after watching two acquaintances pass away of cancer in the prime of their life.

My youth has passed me by. Everyone is getting older. We are born. We are married. We have children. We die.

On Making A Difference

I always believed in making a difference.

For myself, business is probably the most effective way to make a continuous and lasting difference unless I can lead entire populations to change or make an impact in another field [1, 2]

The vision of entrepreneurs creates what we take for granted today. It creates everyday products. It creates jobs. It enables us to donate and give back.

Business in general is hard. It is draining. It consumes your life. It wears you out. There is little time off. I think about it all the time.

The reason why I do it is because I see a better future. I am innovating and I have a chance to make a huge impact. I am going big. There is something beautiful in the struggle that is worth fighting for.

Great entrepreneurs are afraid of failing, but they’re even more afraid of failing to try.

Dustin Moskovitz, a co-founder of Facebook put the pursuit of making a difference this way: "Everyone is mission-oriented. They want to do something that will touch everyone on Earth."

While making a difference is all well and good, it is not permanent. People grow, age, and die. Cultures, trends, and businesses gain and lose their influence. Countries form and divide. Relationships begin and end. Emotions rise and fall. Change is inevitable.

The pace of change is accelerating. The average lifespan of a company in the S&P 500 was 61 years in 1958 compared to 18 years in 2012.

One cannot make a difference in the long term (1,000+ years), only a contribution. Despite this, one can still aspire to something and find value in the pursuit of it, knowing that it is ultimately fruitless.

Many people who have achieved their version of success are trying to figure out what to do next. The answer is simple. Enjoy everything that is front of you and pay attention to whatever you are doing in the given moment. So just enjoy life. 

Success with NLP

According to Psychology Today, NLP is the most powerful tool for change that exists today. NLP allows you to manage your feelings and internal thinking.

Be intimate with your body. Emphasis where you feel confident and passionate while picturing the nervous part of body getting smaller and take away the credibility of its voice.

Imagine yourself just achieving a goal and see it and feel it. See yourself in your goal while floating in the river with calm music in the background and feel it. Reinforcing a time where you experienced high energy through clapping. Lift energy level with a shock hand shake. Picture you in a car you want and feeling to find out your values. Decide your life by imagine what you will think and feel as a billionaire.

Accept it as it is, detach from what you don’t want and decide on what you want to be instead. Replace a bad habit by knowing price to pay, commitment, picture desire for habit with words, sounds, smell, feeling inside and replace it with something similar you don't like.

Energy determines everything. Have unstoppable level 10 energy. People read energy more than anything else. High energy creates high performance.

90% of success is in the mindset. 100% of success is how you show up. Have a growth mindset. Not perfection but action. The Secret +do work+time. Self-sabotage is mainly due to low self-esteem. Grow self-esteem by giving to others.

What do I want to devote my life (and next few years) to? Power of vision - see your life 3 months, 1 year, 5 years, 1000 years from now.

Create your dream. A dream is why you create goals. Create a plan otherwise you fall into fear or other people's plan. Accept where you are now. Choose where you see yourself. Journey is more important than the goal. It's about you. Choose to have happiness now. What other people think about you is none of your business. Be an actor in your life, tell yourself a story and who cares if is completely wrong.

1. What do I want (and the state and focus I need)?
2. Why do I want it (the personal benefit to me)?
3. What do I need to do (key drivers to get to where I want)?
4. Who knows how to do my what (build rapport and be the type of person I want to attract)?
5. When will I do it (act immediately and remove limits)?

What you really want comes from the heart. Our beliefs, values, attitude, feeling and thinking determine our action. Attitudes -> actions -> skills -> systems. What you focus on grows and is determined by what you value the most. The four basic needs are food, flight, fight and family. Neurofilters can stop you from reaching your goal - be flexible with language, reframe past unpleasant memories as learnings as memory of past times is state dependent, be neurologically aligned goals with values and beliefs.

Belief, visualise, focus, envisioned success, just do it, never give up, faith, follow the steps and strategy, expect success, excited, tough, persist, committed, determined, failure is ok, go again, ask for help, energy, action, relax, trust, courage, will, confidence.

Belief is the most potent thing. It's the formula for getting anything you want. It determines your success/non-success. Knowing it all loses the transformational ability called faith.

People decide whether they win or lose at the start of the race. If you don't get your goal, get excited. Learn to love want you want so much you can't let it go. How you do one thing is how you approach or do other things. Reward yourself when you achieve a goal. Success is easy not hard, just do the best you can, don’t look for hard ways or be too smart. Most of the effort is involved in the beginning similar to a jet taking off and not much effort required when it is off. Let go of the outcome. It’s about the passion inside you, not the money. Be resourceful. Never give up is the most effective strategy, keep going until you get success.

People who create the biggest wealth solve the major problems and create value for others. Wealth is value multiplied by leverage. Need an investment or business vehicle. Read material. Be resourceful. Collaborate with others by finding someone who believes in you, no one has created enormous wealth on their own. The greatest advocate comes from referrals. Do more of the activity that you earn the most money. Biggest problem in business is running out of money. Most people quit, it's lonely at the top.

Life is simple but we overcomplicate it. Schedule time for the most important things in your calendar first (health days, dates, family time). Time is our true limited resource. The reason why we are here according to someone who came back to life from a near death experience is: to learn to love everything.

Never Say Die

Watching the Australian Open semi finals and grand final taught me self belief.

This month has been a topsy turvy one, one where I had to pivot twice. I felt lost. I didn't have a vision. I was planning, testing, and going back to the drawing board, and I was learning. However, I had no strong belief. Belief was something I had in bursts, but I had lost it in a dead end job. It was something I had in the past that I was trying to relive, but work had slowly grated away at it.

This year I started to listen to the advice around me and trusting myself again. I read about the relentless hard work put in by Snoop Dogg and Kanye West in the studio. I was emboldened by the powerful sermons at church. I saw inspiration. It's clichéd, but if you follow your passion and focus on what you love to do with a burning desire and a no-quit attitude, then success is inevitable.

A study of thousands of successful people found that grit is the one characteristic that is the predictor of success. Grit is the perseverance and passion to achieve long term goals, having the stamina to stick with your future day in and day out and working hard to make that future a reality.

Seeing the top tennis players in action helped me relearn the concept of self belief. Belief in oneself is what separates the winners from the losers. There was never doubt in the eyes in Djokovic and Nadal as they closed out their finals. They believed. They fought. They won.