Contents

Chapter 1: Human or Drone? ........................................................................................................ 1

Chapter 2: How your Life Came to Be ......................................................................................... 9
Chapter 3: Gratifying Work ........................................................................................................ 13
Chapter 4: A Composed Mind .................................................................................................... 40
Chapter 5: An Invigorated Body ................................................................................................. 61
Chapter 6: A Meaningful Existence ............................................................................................ 80
Be Politically Incorrect ............................................................................................................... 95
About me ..................................................................................................................................... 97
Endnotes ...................................................................................................................................... 99



Chapter 1: Human or Drone?


Sanity is not statistical. - George Orwell

For four years at university I looked forward to the day I would join the real world and finally
earn my way by climbing the corporate ladder. And then after I completed my postgraduate
degree I considered myself fortunate to get an apprenticeship with a prestigious assurance firm
called Ernst & Young. I had opportunities that many graduates coveted. Funny then, that after
just a few weeks at work my outlook took a 180 degree turn.

The first realisation was that you dont work for a company, you work for people -- mortals
with shortcomings and moods. Theres always someone that you take orders from and your life
centres around making this person happy. This isnt to single out Ernst & Young, it happens at
whatever company you work for. The name of the company you work at is little more than a
logo on your email signature.

The second thing I noticed was the way employees get pushed to the limit and beyond to meet
often ridiculous targets. Doing your best counts for nothing if you go home and the job is
incomplete. There is no such thing as leaving what you cant finish for tomorrow if you feel
tired; it always has to be done now. You are goaded into working long hours by overused
catchphrases like be a team player and go the extra mile.

They want their people to be creative and self-starting, [yet] theyre burdening them with a
mind-numbing workload that precludes the freshness of mind required for creativity. We cant
think hard and think smart all the time. Thats exactly what causes burnout," remarks cognitive
psychologist Shlomo Breznitz on the situation faced by employees in the workplace.
1


Studying at university I had no idea working would be like this. Was I just weak or spoiled? In
meetings you find employees saying Okay, to demand after demand. Not once did I ever
hear someone say, My plate is full, I cannot do this. Saying such words just once can
eliminate all hope of promotion. No matter how overloaded they are, employees just shut up
and put up. Its apparently what mature adults do.

I changed career paths and went to work as a cost controller at Toyota. On paper it looked like
a second chance: billion dollar company, a three-fold jump in pay, and a pretty senior position
for someone just starting out. But again, the lack of creativity coupled with unreasonable
demands made this little better than my first job.

From my experience, the three lessons I consider most important are:

#1: You cant spend eight hours a day doing something you arent interested in.
#2: Taking orders from other people is not in anybodys destiny. Most just accept it as the only
way.
#3: While stress and handling the pressure are glamourised in our modern society, the levels
we face are damaging. It is a myth that pressure brings out the best in you.

The perils of round-the-clock communication, undefined working hours and ubiquitous social
pressure to succeed were highlighted at the 2011 World Economic Forum. In the future, the
greatest challenge to the global health system will be stress-related diseases, said Heinz
Schuepbach, director of the school of applied psychology at the University of Northwestern
Switzerland. We are never satisfied with what were doing. We have to do things faster,
betterDeadlines have to be met and it doesnt even matter where you do your work
anymore. I used to go home at 5 p.m. and if my job wasnt done, then that was fine. Now you
can work around the clock.
2


I didnt receive any consolation from my parents and friends if I complained. Thats the way it
is, everybody said. Working hard in the right context is actually good, but we work too hard at
the wrong things for the wrong people.

You can look at someone in morning traffic and often you will see an expressionless face with a
tired, lifeless gaze. Everybody is so jaded, weve become a race of drones. Many say that they
will start living again as soon as that deadline is met, examination passed or project
completed. Happiness is always just over the hill. That day never seems to come though and
more days in the year are spent on meeting that one last deadline or giving that one last push
than on living life itself.
Life today has become about working to your limit and beyond for five or more days a week
then squeezing in personal errands and a couple hours of extra sleep on the weekends.

More days in the year are spent meeting that one last deadline than on living life itself

What makes us happy?

As different as our tastes and preferences may be, there are a few elements embedded in all of
our lives that makes each of us a typical modern human. When these fundamentals are right,
you can confidently call your life complete. These aspects are:

Gratifying Work
A Composed Mind
An Invigorated Body
A Meaningful Existence

Gratifying Work

With work consuming most of your energy and time, you should only do something if it causes
your eyes to open wide and brain to light up. Yes, you have that luxury even in a recession
because your options in this day and age are numerous. Careers have exploded beyond the
usual list of choices.

The bedrock underlying what rich people do is, doing what they love and finding a way to get
paid for it, says Steve Siebold, author of How Rich People Think.
3


Previously insignificant or non-existent avenues like mobile application design, cloud
computing and 3D printing today make money for a lot of people. Research company
IBISWorld has listed biotechnology, environmental consulting, recycling facilities and video
games among others as the industries that will offer the most growth and opportunity in the
immediate future. Environmental consulting for instance is projected to grow by 120% by
2019.
4


With the corporate sector becoming ever more stifling and demanding, I recommend that you
start your own venture (initially part time) with the objective of becoming
independent. Mainstays on the Forbes rich list like Larry Ellison and Eike Batista are founders
of companies. Warren Buffett is an investor. The majority of their wealth was made from
capital appreciation, dividends, exercised stock options and profit sharingnot from a
salary. Most family fortunes are created by business, wrote Bill and Will Bonner in their
book Family Fortunes, Not by professions.
5
Professionals work for money, while investors
and businesspeople have assets and employees that earn money for them.

Entrepreneurship and investing are the paths that will allow you to control your time and
financial destiny. You need to free yourself of the notion that they are only for the brave, lucky
and talented. See it as choosing independence, no more, no less.

They are career choices like any other.

A Composed Mind

The sun rises and sets each day, but how many times have you sat to appreciate it? Youre
usually too busy to notice. The typical human mind is a chaotic space where restlessness and
anxiety rule. Thoughts are seldom processed properly -- most people are perpetually distracted
by noise and media. This distorts your perception of the world. Our thoughts jump from place
to place and this prevents us from fully appreciating anything.

A composed mind is one that is still in the face of outer turmoil. It finds happiness and sees
magic in the most basic workings of life. In the right state your mind is able to conjure up ideas
and map a way toward a desired destination. In other words, a composed mind is the answer to
every important question and challenge that will face you.

An Invigorated Body

Theres a large physical dimension to life, theres no getting away from it. This physical
dimension is, in turn, linked to the emotional and spiritual aspects of your life. Emotions,
physicality and spirituality are not mutually exclusive. Your body is more than a vessel of
blood and organs; it is an intuitive, sensory and spiritual instrument that forms part of every
experience you have.

From the food you eat to the sex you have, your body is the first point of contact in every
earthly experience you engage in. Physical pleasures abound and theres nothing wrong with
indulging in them. Your experience can be enhanced or blunted, depending on the state of your
body because this in turn affects your state of mind and your life. It doesnt matter what your
bank balance is, how enlightened you are, or even how loving your family is: if your body is
not healthy and fit you are not fully engaging the human experience.

A Meaningful Existence

Your identity is not as defined as you have been led to believe. I believe that God is an ocean
and every sentient being is a cup of the same ocean -- meaning we are each God in human
form. Everything is interdependent and linked. This planet and in fact the whole universe is
ultimately an extension of yourself. Contemplating such intricacies adds deeper meaning to
your life. These dimensions (people, earth and God) set the context of your life.

The Large Hadron Collider, a giant particle accelerator, has been installed near Geneva to
mimic the conditions subsequent to the Big Bang that created the universe. This gigantic
experiment seeks to unlock the secrets of the universe and answer lifes most fundamental
questions. Spirituality and Science are not contradictory as we now use Science to understand
the meaning of life. Partake in the discovery, join the discussion, and evolve your
consciousness.

Positively Psyched

With be positive and visualise your reality talk so prevalent in contemporary culture, many
force themselves into thinking that theyre happy when their mutterings and body language say
otherwise.

Is this you?

Are you quick to rise out of bed on a Monday morning the way a child wakes up half
an hour early for his Saturday morning cartoons?
On the way to work, do you enjoy the drive instead of anticipating the fires you will
have to put out?
When on vacation, can you take pleasure in watching the sun go down or do you feel
that time is scarce and consequently pack your schedule with activities and sights to
visit?

These indicators are more truthful than any affirmation or visualisation exercise you may use to
coax yourself into being happy. Many are living lives incongruent with who they are. Perhaps
they fear naming what they really desire or have dropped their standards to a more realistic
level.
Physical change rather than just a change in attitude is required too. Happiness is as much a
state of doing as it is a state of mind.

Happiness is as much a state of doing as it is a state of mind

My personal decision was to opt-out of a way of living I didnt believe, and that in turn has
resulted in personal and financial fulfilment that I would never have attained if I just accepted
what people told me about the way it is. Daily persistence now sees me earning my keep
through share investing, being a scrupulous landlord, and creating applications for mobile
devices.

Were living in the sort of time that George Orwell predicted in 1984, a time where deadlines
and targets come before human well-being, and the screws are being tightened more and more
each passing year. Someone has to ask:

Whats the point?

Stress-related illnesses cause depression and premature death.
Family, friends and personal well-being have taken a back seat.
Mankind is rapidly depleting the very earth we depend on.
Our priorities are confused.
We are killing ourselves.

Overhauls happen one day at a time

Ironically trying to make a sudden change will probably fail; instead a new reality needs to
come via consistent choices and commitments made every single day. Change is more than just
a possibility; it is inevitable if you commit to it. I use the word inevitable not to be optimistic,
but because there is truly nothing stopping you other than your own mental constructs about
life. Amidst the chaos, this world has more opportunity and choice than ever before.
One choice at a time, day by day, its time to become human again.

Chapter 2: How your Life Came to Be


The world often feels chaotic, but if you had to speak to most people they would point to the
tough economic climate as the cause of their stress and anxiety. It sounds feasible enough: jobs
are hard to come by, and those that have positions are being worked to the bone. It seems like
lose-lose. However, to call the recession the root cause of your problems is wrong. The
recession is just the straw that broke the camels back. One needs to look at the events and
choices they took that led to the point theyre at today.

To call the recession the root cause of your problems is wrong

The richest one percent of Americans -- the ones who derive their income from investments and
businesses -- were 190 times richer than the average American before the
recession. Immediately after the recession in 2009, they were 225 times richer: an all-time
record according to the Economic Policy Institute.
6
The gap widened. In 1980 a C.E.O. earned
50 times more than the average worker.
7
In 2011, a C.E.O. made 325 times more than the
median employee, as per the Institute for Policy Studies.
8
Times may get tough, but those at
the top still ensure they reward themselves.

People who run and own the companies that others work for enjoy perks like limited liability
and preferential corporate tax rates. Employers and employees play by different rules. Im not
here to argue the fairness of capitalism or lack thereof, Im just pointing out the status
quo. When a recession hits the rich folk cut costs and staff in order to maintain profitability and
their lifestyles. Throughout their working careers, most never take that step of becoming
independent; they remain bound and obligated to some big organisation or the other for their
entire working lives.

To finger the economy as the culprit is to take from the power you have over your happiness.

Formative Years and Education

Each stage of your life -- from the time youre in kindergarten to your work life -- has
effectively encouraged you to make important choices based on what is ultimately, a narrow set
of options. Our behaviour, outlook and decision making process has been taught to us, leaving
most people with little free will even though they may think theyre the ones making the
choices in their lives.

Picking a career, a cornerstone of your life, is treated similarly to choosing your bathroom
finishes out of a catalogue. From a young age you are schooled in what good careers are, like
actuarial science, medicine, engineering, accountancyyou know the list. Critically, you then
unconsciously narrow your choices down based on this Career Catalogue that was put together
for you by parents, teachers and wise uncles.

They -- your parents, teachers, and uncles -- punt the careers with the best mix of stability and
pay to you, usually paying no attention to what your actual strengths and interests are. If your
country has a shortage of civil engineers and the salary is good for instance, then thats what
you should become, no further analysis required. As a child you dont question. The scary
thing is that those decisions you made when you didnt know better (aged sixteen to eighteen)
will perpetuate themselves for the rest of your life if you dont adjust course.

Things like entrepreneurship or investing are boxed as a left field alternative for the person with
talent. Its a calling that is not for everyone. And so most high school students dont
entertain the concept of self-employment.





Joining the Real World

When you join the working world you are placed directly into a system and you need to fit in
fast. There is little place for individual desires; the business world is all about meeting
organisational goals and targets as a team.

One must be assertive, proactive, confident, well spoken, and keen to work under
pressure. There is no place for naturally introverted people or those who dont enjoy pressure
(which in truth is almost everybody). You need a can-do attitude towards everything thrown at
you. And actually this is all little more than propaganda telling you to work past your limit and
produce results while ignoring the personal cost.

In his frank and unusually honest book How to Get Rich, media tycoon Felix Dennis referred to
teamwork as the glue that binds the losers together.
9
His words were not meant to offend or
incite reaction. Dennis is saying that the teamwork analogy so prevalent at companies just
ensures that your individual ambitions are put last in favour of meeting your organisations
goals.

Losing yourself

Notice one thing that was largely absent throughout your younger years: your input. We try to
give a suggestion, formula or recipe to our young for every pivotal choice they need to
make. Your life is a culmination of many small choices: from the courses you picked at school,
to the person you chose to live with, to the finer details like what you chose to do when you had
free time on your hands after work or school. Michael Ondaatje in The English Patient
expresses it beautifully: we are communal histories, communal books, we are not owned or
monogamous in taste or experiences. Unfortunately too many of us allow our experiences to
be owned. For much of your early life experience you are nudged, guided, even manipulated
into picking what others thought was best for you.

If fifty million people say a foolish thing, it is still a foolish thing, goes the old saying. A
certain way of life isnt correct just because many live that way. That terrible quip Thats the
way life is becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy for those who believe it.

Happiness should be simple to attain, something that can be built into your daily stride, but
how, I hear you ask.

Chapter 3: Gratifying Work


What is the most precious resource in your life? Its not money. Its not even people. Its
time. Without time everything else is meaningless. One has to master time. And in the age in
which we currently live, we devote significant amounts of it to working, usually making
someone else richer in the process.

We work for most of our waking lives, so if you are experiencing stress and health related
problems, then perhaps you need to examine the stresses your occupation is placing on your
life. Dr. Paul J. Rosch, Chairman of the Board of the American Institute of Stress, points to
jobs as the leading source of stress for adults. Because so many companies have downsized,
those who remain employed are expected to work longer hours and each day becomes a race
against the clock that only really ends when they reach retirement age. The way we make our
living is a prime suspect for discontent, frustration and burnout.

The way we make our living is a prime suspect for discontent, frustration and burnout

Working for others has become demanding to the point where the breaking point is actually
here -- its not just a sentiment, and its not just because of the recent economic meltdown. The
following ingredients have been brewing for many years, to give the untenable situation we
have today:

Globalization: China and other low cost labour countries like India, Thailand, and Taiwan can
manufacture practically anything cheaper than developed countries. When the Bamboo Curtain
lifted allowing foreign companies to set up their plants in China, most developed countries saw
their manufacturing bases reduced to practically nothing within a decade. Steel production,
automotive and electronics manufacturing -- previous bedrocks of Europe and the United States
of America -- are today highly concentrated in Asian countries.

Workers, engineers and procurement teams the world over are banging their heads against the
wall trying to somehow compete with these Asian countries on cost, when the hard fact is that it
is currently impossible due to their skilled, low wage labour. In addition to this people are now
also competing against robots and computers for jobs. Thanks to the merger of, and advances
in, globalization and the information technology revolution, every boss now has cheaper, easier
access to more above-average software, automation, robotics, cheap labour and cheap genius
than ever before, writes Thomas L. Friedman in a New York Times article called Average is
Over.
10
Globalization and the Internet/telecom/computing revolution together challenge every
town, worker and jobThe credo of the Chief Executive Officer today is: You only hire
someone -- anywhere -- if you absolutely have to, if a smarter machine, robot or computer
program is not available.

Everybody is trying to become globally competitive i.e. relentlessly cut costs. Meanwhile
multinationals continue to move their factories, call centres, I.T. departments and any business
function they can to where labour and skills are cheaper. Even the hallowed all-American
Apple, Inc. has most of its products made at the Foxconn facility in China. Make no mistake,
this migration of jobs is occurring at skilled levels too. Most jobs -- not only those relating to
the assembly line -- are under scrutiny and this places more burden on people to work harder
than ever to justify their positions.

Instant communication, information and email: Not long ago you could only be reached by
landline or post. Typically you would only receive work while you were at the office and
requests came in controlled, manageable lots. Now you can be reached while youre on leave
or after hours on your mobile phone. Work can be done remotely from home with your laptop
and company sponsored internet connection. The effect is that there is no cut-off point as you
work and receive information around the clock. Your mind struggles to keep up with this
relentless flow of information.

In their research paper titled The problem of information overload in business organisations,
Angela Edmunds and Anne Morris of Loughborough University
11
noted:

The machines we have invented to produce, manipulate and disseminate information generate
information much faster than we can process it. It is apparent that an abundance of
information, instead of better enabling a person to do their job, threatens to engulf and
diminish his or her control over the situation. It is now widely recognised that stress can be
experienced from a feeling of lack of control. We can unwittingly allow information technology
to become the driver instead of harnessing it as a tool to enhance our lives.

Lean operations: The J.I.T (Just In Time) production system conceived by the Japanese means
that a company holds the minimum amount of stock and supplies to save on floor space and
other storage costs associated with keeping inventory. Having been involved with the company
that invented this system I can attest that J.I.T. is better from a profitability and efficiency point
of view. However, I can also tell you that because stock levels are so low, youre always
cutting it fine. If one component doesnt reach your factory in time it becomes a headache for
staff to ensure the assembly line doesnt stop. Theres little allowance for anything to go
wrong.

The J.I.T. mindset has now extended well beyond the production line to businesses across all
sectors. Everywhere companies want to cut things as finely as possible: from the number of
staff they hire, to the machinery they buy, to the time they give you to complete a task -- its the
bare minimum and nothing more. Bosses commonly refer to this as running a lean operation.

Shareholder pressure: In 2009, companies had the rug pulled out from under them by the
recession. Just one year later many of these companies posted near record profits again. The
economy didnt recover and these companies did not make any more sales, yet they still
improved on their profitability. This was mainly done through rigorous cost cutting -- mostly
by slashing jobs.

A companys board of directors and even the C.E.O. in many cases are employed by the
shareholder. Year in, and year out, shareholders want more profit so that the value of their
stockholding increases. Each year pressure is passed to employees to work harder, smarter,
fasterall for the same, or marginally higher, salary.

Constant improvement: We are never satisfied. In business its all about cost reduction,
higher revenues, and getting things done faster. (This isnt to say there should not be
innovation and invention, but too many management teams want to chomp away at what has
already been cut to the bone.) At home its about making the most of our limited leisure time
by trying to pack in as much activity as possible. Every day we push the envelope in all aspects
of our lives.

We want to find something to do with every second and every penny. Its about doing more
than before, relentlessly squeezing more output from the same amount of time and
resources. This is more of a culture thats been engendered over time rather than just human
nature. Sure, corporations keep asking more of their employees, but we also keep asking more
of ourselves and this self-imposed culture of never being content is now more harmful than
good.

When she was an Economics lecturer at Harvard University, Juliet B. Schor wrote a topical
book titled The Overworked American. She says that from 1948 to 1990 the productivity of the
U.S. worker has more than doubled. Improvements in efficiency of our methods, machinery
and computing power have enhanced our ability to produce. By 1990, every worker in the U.S.
could have taken off every other year with pay, yet still produce the same output they did as in
1948. Yet you wont find a company that has passed that productivity improvement on to
employees in the form of some extra leave or pay. If productivity increases then more output is
expected of you, but nothing is given to you. This applies to professional skilled jobs as well.

Being employed is not a matter of getting the job done; its about having the maximum
extracted out of you.

The Tipping Point

As Schor noted: According to a recent review of existing findings, Americans are literally
working themselves to death -- as jobs contribute to heart disease, hypertension, gastric
problems, depression, exhaustion, and a variety of other ailments. Her comments may address
Americans, but with standardised practises and most big companies operating globally, her
findings are applicable to most countries. From a human capacity point of view we are not
close to the tipping point; we are standing on it.

Year by year the above five forces relentlessly intensify that much more. It may sound
ridiculous that I dare speak of improvement as bad, but can something really be called
improvement if its at such a high human cost? Entrepreneur, author and blogger Seth Godin
refers to this relentless drive for improved productivity and cost cutting as the race to the
bottom. Working at any company is now about doing more and more with less and less.

Stress management techniques and taking time off on the weekends are quick repairs that arent
fixing the real problem. The way we bend our backs for our employers is straining us
biologically, spiritually, and psychologically. A fulfilling livelihood is one that is in harmony
with all three of these facets.

I want you to take two points out of all this:

#1: The world as a whole has become more demanding than any time in history.
#2: In this new world, possibilities are narrowing and demands increasing for employees.

An Exciting New World Beckons


People refer to it as self-employment, entrepreneurship, investingthese different terms
ultimately all amount to the same thing. It is the principle of not being obligated to a salary and
other people thats at the core of the message here. You can spend your life fighting the
system, or you can become self-powered and create your own system. Individual initiative is
the way forward.

The best way to initiate the journey to independence and wealth is to start a part time business
venture. You need to start creating and disseminating rather than just working and
consuming. So why is a business a good way to start off?




5 Reasons to Start a Venture

#1: Control. You exercise more control over your own business than anything else. Success or
failure mainly depends on how well you execute. You have no control over the stock price of
the shares you buy, for instance.

#2: Skills. Running your own venture will allow you to gain a very broad cross section of
financial skills like marketing, cost control and negotiating. This will stand you in good stead
for whatever else you may later branch off into.

#3: Confidence. When you get that first sale or deal, your confidence is boosted more than any
words of encouragement can. All the while you will be accumulating capital for future
expansion.

#4: Creativity. Nothing allows you to express your ideas and creativity like your own
venture. Its time you gave yourself a creative outlet and the opportunity to call the shots in
your life.

#5: Scalability. Things like real estate require large capital outlay. A business can be started
from your home and expanded as your customers or clients grow. Hence in spite of the
sentiment that business is risky, the risk can be controlled.




Later on you can explore other avenues like the stock market, but as a starting point a business
is the best way to dig in and generate cash.

Changing the Momentum

There were a whole lot of actions and turns you took to get to the point youre at today; and
while you may hate what you currently do, your boat has to be steadily steered toward the
situation you want. Start your venture part time and grow it to eventually supersede your day
job. If youre newly qualified and your parents dont have cash lying around to give you as
capital then this applies to you as well.




The Gratitude J ournal:
What $500 and some before-hour work can achieve

Carla White created an iPhone application called Gratitude Journal during the hours of 5 a.m.
to 7 a.m. before going to her day job. Heres the interesting bit: she had no programming skills
and when she initially tried to learn Cocoa (Apples application programming language) it just
didnt work out.

Carla turned to elance.com, a site that allows you to find programmers for hire on an hourly or
project basis. Here she posted the specifications of Gratitude Journal: an application (app)
that allows one to journal the good events and people in your life, which in turn keeps a focus
on the good aspects of life. She got the idea when she realised her own hardcover gratitude
journal was difficult to carry around. I wanted to take the best parts of a gratitude journal --
the simplicity and ease of use -- and add the convenience of mobility, she explained.

A company called Passionworks responded to Carlas elance.com post. They took on the
Gratitude Journal project -- a very simple app to design for a seasoned programmer -- for a
total cost of $500. In her first month she made $7,000 from the sales on iTunes, Apples online
store which sells apps.

This illustrates two things:

#1: A lack of resources or even specialised skill on your part is no hindrance to starting.
#2: A world of opportunity, skill and technology are now accessible to you. Its a matter of
reaching out for it.

12, 13




You are the Starting Point

Before any practical considerations, first list all the ideas that interest you, then filter out the
most economically and financially feasible of these ideas (elaborated on soon). This means you
must ignore any business idea that doesnt engage you intellectually and creatively -- I dont
care how lucrative it may sound. Make this a non-negotiable parameter from the outset.

Sport and singing may require talent, but passion and determination are enough to make you
good at practically anything else. Your mind learns with alacrity and excels at virtually
anything if its interested enough. Every decision should start with criteria set by you; and only
thereafter do you look at the options that have satisfied your criteria. Having this attitude is the
only way your life becomes your own.

Accommodate yourself first, then the rest of the world.

This seems counter-intuitive and even wishful, but the more you live with this perception and
attitude, the more sense it will make each day. So if youre into mixing music, fashion design,
application programming, automotive customisation or even something as simple as baking,
then shortlist it as a possibility. If your area badly needs a salon but you dont fancy styling
hair for a living, then pass on the idea. If you really think about it, theres a wide array of
things you can do, and while not all fun ideas will translate into viable businesses, guaranteed
you will be able to make at least one of them work. Choose based on what you value internally
and make everything external work around those values. Its the order in which you proceed
thats key: emotion first followed closely by logic.

This seems counter-intuitive and even wishful, but the more you live with this perception and
attitude, the more sense it will make each day.

You dont need a ground-breaking idea. Ideas are overrated; its how you apply something that
will determine whether it will be successful or not. Microsoft did not invent the spread sheet or
operating system, Toyota did not invent the car, Facebook didnt create social networking and
Google wasnt the first search engine, yet they all became billion dollar companies. Most
successful businesses are a perpetuation and refinement of an already established idea. You can
turn a very ordinary sounding, common idea into a financial success if you apply it
correctly. People often have similar ideas; its about who fights hardest to make their ideas
successful.

Low Costs

When it comes to business, a concept or thought that isnt implemented is as good as having
none at all. You need to be able to execute your idea with the resources at your
disposal. Start on a small scale where you arent committed to large overheads like rent and
staff salaries. Run things from home initially and dont hire any staff for the first few
months. Generate momentum first, then you can scale up by moving into a premises, hiring
staff, buying equipment and taking on some debt if necessary. For now you should put
resource intensive ideas on ice and focus on those with lower start-up requirements.

Keep it Nuts and Bolts Practical

In this age of fast technological innovation, people still make money doing the most
rudimentary things. Chobani was founded in 2005 and launched its first product in 2007. Four
years later they had the third largest market share in the U.S. and became a $257 million
business. Their product? Yoghurt.

At the beginning of your journey limit your scope to established ideas -- dont do something
that is completely untested. Generate cash first, then get sophisticated when you have the
wherewithal to absorb the additional risk and capital requirements. Uniqueness and
sophistication can be phased in once you have established a trading rhythm, where cash is
turning over and your brand is growing.

Build a business that is nuts and bolts practical and not complex. Create a simplified product
or service that sells X product to Y customer for Z profit, remarks Scott Gerber, author of
Never get a Real Job.
14
Therefore keep it straightforward initially by ensuring you have a
simple but complete offering: make a standard pretzel that you can sell, then while youre
generating revenue you can work on that special chocolate variant on the side.

Creating Demand


Typically experts will tell you to sell something only if theres a market for it and demand is
sufficient, but market demand is tricky to determine. They also encourage you to find a niche
for yourself; however trying to carve a niche is not just difficult but can inadvertently limit your
appeal to an unduly small segment of customers. All that said, you can actually create demand
for your offering. Demand is created when you provide utility, appropriate pricing and
customer engagement beyond the ordinary.

Utility

Utility can be described as the functionality or satisfaction a customer derives from your
offering. People part with their money for something when it gives them convenience or
enhances their lives.

Providing convenience frees up time and energy for your customers to do other things with
their lives. People use tailors, hire photographers, frequent car washes and consult event
planners to take care of tasks or needs that they dont really want to tend to themselves. Most
dont even cater for any of their birthdays any longer: they hire someone to do it. Time is very
scarce and people have little energy left after work. This is where opportunity lies for someone
starting a business: consumers willingly part with their money for convenience, as the one thing
even more valuable than money is time. You may notice that convenience is largely service
driven.

When your offering enhances it makes a situation better than it was before. A network
connecting people with common interests, using your specialised knowledge to help another
business improve its product quality, or an application that allows one to track their daily
calorie intake and burn are the sorts of things that your customers would find useful and value
adding.

Enhancement usually (but not always) requires more skill and capital than convenience. When
you supply convenience you are freeing people of a burden. When you enhance something you
render lives and situations better as a direct result of what you provide. Both enhancement and
convenience make money though, so dont look at one as the poor cousin of the other.

You need to be practical about the way you start off. Convenience is usually the quicker way to
get going. You may need to take a few interim steps before starting that revolutionary robotics
company you want, because you might not initially have the capital to give things the kick start
it needs. While thats something for you to consider, often there is something enhancing you
can create with what you have in front of you (Carla Whites Gratitude Journal comes to
mind). Ultimately the only important thing is that your planned business falls somewhere on
this convenience-enhancement spectrum.

Pricing

Use competitors to benchmark against and then match or slightly undercut their prices. Value
for money is crucial for any business, especially one thats starting off. As individuality and
uniqueness is built in, you will have more power to dictate your prices. This is why Apple can
charge more for the Mac: because they have differentiated their product, they have made the
packaging slick and the user interface uniquely Apple. Having an Apple product is a sign of
being different -- even though for the most part it shares its componentry with cheaper
computers.

Word of warning: dont undercut by too much. Going in much cheaper than the rest of the
market can backfire. While consumers appreciate value for money, they also want to feel
theyre making a quality purchase, and the price tag they see forms part of this perception. An
extremely low price will make many of them question this quality. Be competitive, but dont
be cheap.

Customer Engagement

Customers and clients need to be delighted, not just served. Do not underestimate how far old
fashioned goodwill can take you. This is your show now, so let the world know you fully stand
by what you do. Viewed this way, a great customer experience should come without you trying
very much. Loving what you do is not just a pleasantry. The dots will connect when you find
it so much easier to sell something you believe in.

People often ignore adverts and marketing ploys, so reputation is more paramount than
ever. We are more likely to ask our friends for recommendations because most of us trust
adverts less. Provided your pricing is in the same ballpark as your competitors, a person that
follows a recommendation from someone they trust is a guaranteed customer.

The Internet and electronic communication amplifies everything. A good reputation will spread
like wildfire, a bad one will see your business reduced to nothing. Each job you do then is not
just for the person youre doing it for; you need to look at it as a potential advert whereby a
satisfied customer will broadcast you to their friends.

Customer engagement can go so much further than mere kindness though. My friend Eran Eyal
entered the saturated t-shirt arena with a business called Springleap.com. Springleap.com
allows any willing party to submit t-shirt designs to them. If Eran and his team pick your
submission to go on their t-shirts, you will receive a royalty for each garment sold with your
design on it. With a basic product Eran and his partner Eric Edelstein built interest, customer
demand and community by engaging people in a way that most clothing retailers do not. They
created demand in a saturated sector with minimal marketing spend.

A balance of utility, pricing and customer engagement is how demand can be created for any
offering. The marketing is built into these facets. Competition exists in almost every avenue,
so dont try too hard to find something unique. True, there are lots of people selling things, but
then again there are also lots of consumers in this virtuous cycle.

The pie is always big enough for the player who can create demand for her offering. From the
day they bought a small yoghurt factory from Kraft Foods (because Kraft were exiting the
yoghurt business), Chobani became a dominant player in what was said to be a saturated
market. Founder Hamdi Ulukaya said, What Chobani does is increase consumption levels and
bring more people to the category. They create demand.

Two Weeks

Gabe Rivera of Techmeme.com once posted on Twitter: You could spend a whole day reading
blog posts and tweets on startup success, and the payoff would be startup success delayed by
one day. Learning and application need to be done in tandem.

Make a pact with yourself to start within two weeks. You heard right: two weeks. Chances are
good youve been fantasizing for years playing around with all sorts of ideas, yet havent taken
a single step toward making any of them happen. Implementation needs to be a defined
exercise with strict timelines, without which your idea is likely to fizzle into nothing.

With this initially being a small start-up there are no major financial commitments being
made. All planning and pondering stops once these two weeks lapse, and the setting up of your
eBay store or baking that first batch of organic snacks, commences in earnest.

Compile a list of all potential ventures for the first week and write down every fanciful idea you
may have: it could be your own apparition or an appealing suggestion from a magazine, wise
uncle or friend list them all. Then for the next week go through each idea you listed and
remove any with capital requirements that are beyond your means.

With the ideas that remain, it can be an open-ended question when asking yourself which one to
go ahead with. Make your final selection based on the business you can most easily create
demand for. This is the test of viability. So if the idea is convenient or enhancing, can be sold
for a competitive price and provides potential to facilitate great customer engagement, then its
all systems go. Decision making needs to be simplified and most importantly remember: the
perfect answer or solution does not exist. It's up to you to vindicate your decision after youve
taken it.

Instead of perusing the Career Catalogue then, your decision making process needs to start with
you and follow this sequence:





That Elusive Secret Sauce

People always think theres some secret sauce they need to uncover before commencing trade,
but in todays age anything you need to know can be found out from the right book, tutorial or
online community. This is why you can start and then find answers when obstacles
arise. Through experience you will also develop your own tricks of the trade.

You dont need to know the whole road ahead. When I decided to retail portable and designer
light fittings I spent three months trying to get everything just right before actually starting. I
mapped out a complete internal control system for the simplest of businesses that was to be run
from home with some stock in my spare bedroom. When I finally commenced trade, all that
groundwork and elaborate planning counted for little and the most intensive learning took place
while I was actively doing business.

When your business expands and grows in complexity, you will have money to hire or consult
people to take care of the things you cannot. You cant anticipate everything and when the
unanticipated happens, it can be dealt with.

You can begin right now.

What you do two years from now can evolve into something very different to what you started
off with, so dont fall into the trap of thinking youre restricted by your initial idea either. Your
vision will clear and ideas start to flow after you act. It is your daily action, rather than just
daily contemplation, that will uncover the path that is yours to travel.

Forget the State of the Economy


The economy, customer demand (whatever that means), or business climate will never be
perfect, yet a typical middle class person looking to start a business or invest has never had as
much free knowledge, opportunity, and channels to support them. Excuses are few for those
who live in a democratic, free enterprise country.

Dynamic is a clichd but appropriate word when describing the commercial
landscape. Industries change and opportunities are cropping up at a faster rate than ever
before. The Information Age saw companies like Yahoo, Google and Oracle rapidly
develop. Robotics, 3D printing and environmental technology are gaining traction as capital
flows into these industries at an unprecedented rate. The past ten years have brought more
change than the previous thirty. Growth and decay both happen faster than ever and that spells
opportunity for you. We are at the point where change is happening at such a fast rate that
nobody can keep up with all the opportunities that appear. Therefore there will always
untapped markets.

Ideas to make money lie in every challenge we face (there are plenty), inconvenience we live
with, as well as in the difference between your vision of an ideal world and the one in which we
currently live.

The Internet and social media continues to democratise influence by the day. The average
person has never had this much voice. The most interesting news, worthy causes and best
products come to the attention of the people as we share it with each other. You can broadcast
yourself on YouTube, sell your goods to someone across the world from you using eBay,
publish yourself with Amazon, and express yourself on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr and the
like. Democratic content aggregators like Reddit can spread news and ideas faster than giant
news networks like CNN. Anybody with the right message or story can be heard: it is no
longer just about who can afford to take out the most front page adverts or prime time
slots. Each one of us is now a broadcaster with an international distribution channel. The
Internet has become a ubiquitous part of our lives, but that doesnt mean you should forget how
powerful it is when properly harnessed.

But, the job market is unlikely to get back to the levels we were used to. When the economic
crisis hit, companies retrenched staff and cut costs. During the next economic upturn they will
not hire as quickly as they retrenched, because these companies will still manage to function
without the staff they cut (lean operations). Furthermore, most of the jobs that have moved
overseas in this time are unlikely to come back to your country, at least not for many decades.

Wealthy venture capitalist Nick Hanauer said that Anyone who's ever run a business knows
that hiring more people is a course of last resort for capitalists. Add to this the increased use
of robots on production lines and systems automation in the office, and its not inconceivable
that employment will no longer be an option for millions. Self-employment may very well find
you before you find it. Apples new data centre in Malden, North Carolina, U.S.A. is 11.5
acres big, yet employs just 50 people. Big companies are no longer the engines of job
creation, said Seth Godin in his memoir, Stop Stealing Dreams, Not the good jobs anyway.

So the complexion of the job market is changing before our eyes, and the reasons run much
deeper than the recession. Like most adversity though, good will come out of this structural
change in the job market as it kick starts an era of self-empowerment. The road to self-
employment has never been this well-lit. It is a time to be pragmatically optimistic.




From $5,000 to $1 billion:
The first woman to join the Forbes billionaire list without help from a husband or
inheritance

Sara Blakelys first job involved wearing Mickey Mouse ears while guiding customers onto a
ride at Disney World, Epcot. She lasted three months before commencing her second job
selling fax machines for an office company called Danka. Door to door sales and cold calls
were the order of the day.

I was the delivery department too, she says of having to carry heavy machines to customers.
It was very high stress with (the bosses) always asking what youre going to bring in next
month.

A problem of her own provided Blakely with a business idea. Pantylines are a real problem
for womenI couldnt figure out what to wear under my clothes. The body shapers were too
thick at the timeSo I cut the feet out of control top pantyhose one night, threw them on under
my white pants and realised that the toning and shaping was perfect and that the hosiery
material is thin enough that I could make shape wear out of it.

Thus the basic idea of footless pantyhose was dreamt up when Blakely was 27. It would be
something comfortable yet flattering to the female form. She remained at Danka working from
9 to 5, while she researched pantyhose design and patents after hours and on weekends. She
knew nothing about patenting, marketing, manufacturing and online commerce. Yet with
$5,000 to her name, Blakely got a prototype designed, found a manufacturer and legally
secured her product. Spanx was born. She worked out of her apartment with no business
premises, staff or even a website initially.

Sara Blakely was a one woman show without financial backing or partners. Manufacturers
turned her down but she didnt relent until one finally agreed to take her product on. (Yes, she
outsourced the manufacturing, she didnt build an entire factory.) From that fateful day that
she cut her pantyhose to the time she had a product ready to sell, two years had passed. I
must have heard the word no a thousand times.

There were days that Id be at Danka all day and the semi trucks would drop boxes of Spanx
outside my apartment, Blakely recalls. Finally convinced that Spanx was destined to become
something substantial, Blakely resigned from Danka after a seven year stint. Less than three
weeks later, she appeared as a guest on Oprah.

15, 16




Hard work


To become financially successful hard work is required, theres no getting away from it. Only
if you have rich parents handing you down an inheritance or win the lottery can hard work be
bypassed. However, there are different types of hard work. Few things are more painful when
hard work is done under the shackles of obligation, but few things are more satisfying when
hard work, passion and autonomy come together.




Working for Others Vs. Working for Yourself

Working for Others

Financial reward is limited to your salary and a few perks.
Your personal life goes on hold e.g. personal errands/calls/emails are very difficult to
tend to.
Your creativity is stifled. Your ideas are drowned by other employees and needs to
undergo approval by others before being implemented.
You have little or no control over your workload. Deadlines are determined for you.

Working for Yourself

Financial reward is derived from the profit you make and is potentially unlimited.
You answer to yourself. You can take care of personal errands without anyones
approval.
You can implement an idea very quickly without anybodys approval. Your creativity
develops and expands quickly.
You have the freedom to choose what work/projects to take on. You also have greater
control over your workload and deadlines.



The Pill you must Take


Uncertainty is the pill you must swallow if you are to taste financial abundance. Make peace
with the fact that you have control over the work alone, never over its fruits. The outcome is a
by-product; therefore all you should focus on is the process and factors within your circle of
influence. Focus on excellence and relinquish desire to control the outcome.

Failure can be interpreted in many ways. Some see it as a sign that they arent good enough
and quit; others call it an opportunity to start over. Whatever your view, it isnt a good feeling
when it happens. Your greatest ally will be the ability to keep working when the clouds of
doubt get so dark that all logic will tell you to quit. This ability will be the main determinant of
your success. Its pretty stark: do this or be enslaved working for other people for the rest of
your life.

Its pretty stark: do this or be enslaved working for other people

Take Ownership Either Way

Ensure you take full responsibility for both failure and success. If things dont work, accept
you did something wrong. Its not about luck or being in the right place at the right time and so
on -- those things are incidental to being prepared. Much is also written about corruption and
the nepotism rife in business, but if you go into anything believing these to be determinants of
success then youre dead in the water. You have to believe the system is fair, that good
execution is rewarded. There are plenty success stories where no luck or corruption were
involved, but such stories dont attract as much attention as the ones where crooks make
money.

What about the Risk?

Leaving the perceived security of a job is often seen as a plunge into the deep sea without a
lifejacket. No plunge is necessary if youre smart and prudent about the way you make your
entry. Conservative people make money too; its just that their stories arent sensational
enough to make headlines.

Statistics and averages almost always point out that most start-up businesses fail. Its true:
venturing out on your own has no guarantees and few statistics will make you feel sure about
what youre doing. The first quarter of 2010 saw a net loss of 96,000 companies with fewer
than one hundred employees in the U.S., according to the Bureau of Labour Statistics.
17
But so
long as you control risk by adopting a scalable model to expansion and youre willing to
constantly evolve, success becomes probable to the point of likelihood. There are no
guarantees in life, but you can influence probability. If averages and statistics about the failures
of others dictate your actions, your life will be nothing more than mundane and average.

You have to trust that you are resourceful enough to start turning over a profit sooner rather
than later. You will not do every wrong thing possible before finding your stride. The mind
learns quickly from mistakes -- its a survival mechanism -- but you have to allow it some slack
to adjust and learn. You will need to adjust your course of action as you go along, its
inevitable, but the important thing is to never stop and to keep the overall vision alive. You
only truly fail when you give up.

Think big, start small, act fast.

Pick Yourself

You have to back yourself to win. The part of Steve Jobs now iconic 2005 Stanford
Commencement-Address that stood out most for me was this excerpt:

"Dont lose faith. Im convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I
did. Youve got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your
lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied
is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you
do. If you havent found it yet, keep looking. Dont settle. As with all matters of the heart,
youll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as
the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Dont settle.

You can make the way you earn your living a seamlessly integrated, fun and financially
rewarding part of your life: this is more than an ideal, its the truth.

Chapter 4: A Composed Mind


Your mind perceives and creates your world at the same time. It can be the greatest source of
wisdom and guidance in your life, or your greatest enemy. If your mind is uneasy, you will
find that the circumstances and situations around you reflect whats inside your head.
Scientist, Doctor of Medicine and stem cell research pioneer Robert Lanzas theory of
biocentrism
18
has seven principles, one of which states:

Our external and internal perceptions are inextricably linked. They are different sides of the
same coin and cannot be divorced from one another.

Your mind doesnt have the mere potential to create situations and circumstances that come to
you: it is doing so whether you acknowledge it or not.

The state your mind is in, is imperative to creating opportunities around you and perceiving the
world in a beneficial way. Perception is important: when you can see life through a clear mind
there is no need to adopt a positive attitude because the truth of life is positive in itself. The
modern mind is a murky, chaotic place, where creativity, intuition, and inspiration are drowned
out by noise usually in the form of music, television and the Web. A murky mind has no
attention span and it misses the link between todays thoughts and tomorrows circumstances.

Your thoughts and actions today, create your life tomorrow. Just remember: Your thoughts do
attract situations and opportunities, but only your action will complete the circle to make it a
life changing event.

The Overwhelmed Mind

We have more on our minds now than ever before. The typical 21
st
century mind is a restless
and distracted place. Time seems scarce; we always seem to be playing catch-up. Whats more
is were forever plugged in. There is so much choice, information and noise that your mind is
perpetually pre-occupied with processing it all. It is never allowed to just contemplate. The
Overwhelmed Mind is so overloaded it becomes incapable of coming up with a single good
idea or insight.

Is this you?

Is there always some song playing in your head that you cant stop?
Do you perpetually live in anticipation of hypothetical situations and permutations such
that your mind is everywhere but the present?
Can you complete a train of thought to a satisfying conclusion or does your mind jump
between different topics without reaching closure on any of them?

These are symptoms of a restless, murky mind.

Causes:

#1: Engaging Pixels

We have added many layers of complexity to our lives in the form of devices.
Information transfer is instant. First there was your personal computer and television. Now
your laptop, tablet and mobile phone ensure theres always a screen for you to gaze at. There is
always a message you just have to respond to, article you need to read or video you must
watch. These tools offer convenience and utility but they can adversely affect your productivity
and state of mind. Seeing someones lunch or images of their overseas holiday on Facebook
may seem social for instance, but if youre doing such things every day it ends up becoming a
timewaster.

Social interaction can be less meaningful when mostly done through cyberspace. Were
engaging pixels, not the real world. The real world is always better, but it is less convenient
and more energy consuming to step out of your house so many would opt for a second hand
experience through the web.

When you passively live life through what you see on screen you engage in social dissociation -
- yep, theres even a term for it now.

Were engaging pixels, not the real world

In his Newsweek article called Tweets. Texts. Email. Posts. Is the Onslaught Making us
Crazy?, Tony Dokoupil wrote: The current incarnation of the Internet -- portable, social,
accelerated, and all-pervasive -- may be making us not just dumber or lonelier but more
depressed and anxious, prone to obsessive-compulsive and attention-deficit disorders, even
outright psychotic. Our digitised minds can scan like those of drug addicts, and normal people
are breaking down in sad and seemingly new ways.
19


Online communication and social media potentially form the seeds for discontent. Social
networks let you know what your friends are buying, where theyre eating, where theyre
holidaying and just the general fabulousness of their lives. Do you feel happier after you log
off your Facebook account, or do you feel strangely discontented? Spending excessive time on
social media sites as a voyeur watching what others are doing retards your progress. There is a
saying:

There is no competition in destiny. Run your race and wish others well.

Many prefer to fill their heads with drivel instead of anything useful. People would rather
know whos dating who or the latest signing made by their favourite sports team instead of
using that time to sharpen their minds and progress their own interests. There are so many
skills one can gain online -- think of all the free video tutorials and informative blogs -- but our
culture tends toward indulgence in the irrelevant.

Meredith Perry invented a device called UBeam: a transmitter that uses ultrasonic waves to
wirelessly charge nearby mobile devices. Heres where it gets interesting: Perry studied
astrobiology in school; she does not possess any formal background in electrical
engineering. Using Google and Wikipedia, yes you read right: Google and Wikipedia, she
taught herself to build a working prototype of UBeam. Today you can learn to program, value
a company or make just about anything if you would type the right words in the Google search
box. Coursera and the Khan Academy offer free courses in mathematics, computer science,
finance, music, film and audio engineering, physics, economics, and chemistry, to name a
few. The age of autodidactic learning is truly in full swing and open to all.

All these electronic devices we have are not at fault per se; its the way we use them, the
information we seek, and not knowing when to switch them off thats the problem. Dokoupil
related the situation to a horse that has sprinted out from underneath its rider, dragging the
person who once held the reins.

#2: Too Many Choices and Desires

When I finished my Honours degree and started working, I was advised that I needed even
more qualifications to stand out from my peers. I undertook to study for a Chartered Institute
of Management Accountants (CIMA) accreditation while working a full time job and running
my business part time. It was too much, I had to streamline, and so after a year I de-registered
from CIMA. Once I de-registered my mind felt unclogged and I was freer to pursue and grow
my business. I also had some time to indulge my hobby of share trading. My progress leapt
forward once my mental capacity was freed.

Of course, we are quick to point out someone who doesnt set goals for every aspect of their
lives as directionless and lacking in ambition. Well this is not asking you to float around
aimlessly; its just that you just cant have goals for every single aspect of your life because the
process of attaining your goal is meant to be a balance between challenge, fun and your
capacity to work for it. Singular focus on one goal is more powerful than scattered attention on
several.

#3: The Myth of Multitasking

Companies love employees that can multitask. People in turn love talking about how busy
they are. Most think its cool to do many things at once: but all multitasking really entails is
jumping from one task to another and completing each one in little bits. For mundane tasks this
is fine, but if you are to produce real life-changing work you inhibit yourself if you dont focus
on one thing for an extended period.

Multitasking does not allow your mind the time and space to complete its train of thought. The
problem when you return to Task A after jumping to Task B is that your mind has lost its focus
when you get back to Task A. You crank your mind up for the task at hand and just as its
firing on all cylinders, you turn the ignition off and start something else.

Its stressful to multitask too due to the constant re-orientation your brain has to undergo when
changing activity. Personal experience has me agreeing wholeheartedly with cognitive
psychologist Shlomo Breznitz when he says, "Multitaskers face the greatest stress threat, as the
constant effort to switch tasks [also] hampers the formation of short-term memory.

At home its not uncommon for people to watch television, read the paper and chat to their
spouse all at once. When you do this you arent enjoying or fully engaging in any single
activity. The quality and intensity of your experience diminishes when you keep shifting your
attention and energy from one thing to another. Call me old fashioned, but we were meant to
do one thing at a time, at work and at home, and to do it well.




The Brain:
How it changes with us

Our brains adapt according to our experiences. The brain does not simply function in a static
environment -- it grows and changes to better process the surroundings and information it is
presented with. In other words, your brain actually changes the way it works according to
what it is exposed to. The Internet and explosion of information has produced some changes in
the modern brain that are frankly detrimental:

The average attention span at present is 5 seconds long. Ten years ago it was 10
minutes. Younger people have shorter attention spans than the elderly, which implies
that the Internet and social media rather than just age have an effect on attention span.
A study done on comprehension found that people who read text only understood far
more than those who read text integrated with video.
At one stage Facebook users were installing 20 million apps a day, most of which are
distractions.
The brain of an internet addict looks similar to the brain of a drug or alcohol
addict. Researchers have found structural abnormalities in grey matter i.e.
shrinkage of ten to twenty percent in the area of the brain that processes speech,
emotion, motor control and memory. This shrinkage did not stop: the more time people
spent online, the more signs of atrophy their brains showed.
Students asked to give up media for 24 hours had the following symptoms: phantom
phone vibrations; reaching for a phone that wasnt there; fidgeting and restlessness.

Observe changes in your own attention span: can you watch a movie at home without anything
but a bowl of popcorn in hand, or do you find yourself fiddling on your mobile phone while the
movie is playing? Also, do you commonly skip a song before it is finished?

19, 20




A Still Mind

The solutions for lifes fundamental questions lay with you. When an idea is needed, a peculiar
challenge arises or an important decision needs to be made, the only place to look is
inside. Sometimes your best friend, wise uncle or even Google cannot help. Sometimes it has
to come from a still place within. The answer will be expressed via a simple but clear feeling
that you can only notice when your internal dialogue is still. This is intuition.

Foresight isnt the only thing that a still mind brings. Your intentions become amplified when
they emanate from a mind at peace. With a clear simple intention on the fertile ground of a still
mind, your thoughts will have immense power behind them.

This power is inherent in you if you would only allow your mind to settle and find its bearings.

What is Intuition?


Intuition is guidance from your unconscious mind. Its also referred to as the sixth sense or
extra-sensory perception. You can use this faculty when faced with a fundamental decision or
conundrum that logical thinking cant give a clear answer for. Maybe you dont know what
course to study at college or you cannot decide what area to live in. Completely logical
reasoning can provide pros and cons for any possibility or solution, but it can also render you
undecided as it leaves you unable to weigh between your options. Intuition tells you to do
something without providing much evidence, but it doesnt leave you under any doubt. And
while your conscious mind struggles to take the future and the unknown into account, your
intuition can.

Intuition does not speak any language, it speaks in feelings. Your unconscious mind silently
controls your autonomous bodily functions like heartbeat and breathing, so it is a primordial,
instinctual part of you.

When your intuition speaks, it is the right path for you to take -- no exceptions.

People often say follow your heart, but most have no idea what their hearts (a.k.a. intuition)
are telling them. The question is: if intuition is a feeling then how do you know whether what
you feel is your intuition speaking to you, or if what you are feeling is merely a reaction like
anger or excitement?

People often say follow your heart, but most have no idea what their hearts are telling
them.

The answer is that its all about your degree of stillness. Intuition comes out of hiding when the
conscious mind recedes. For most of your waking day your feelings are merely reactions to
whats going on outside of you. A waiter infuriating you with bad service or the ecstasy you
feel when seeing your baby are such reactions. These are everyday on-the-spot feelings
emanating from your conscious mind, not intuition. When your mind is perfectly still, with
nothing outside to grab your attention and the conscious mind is doused, then the feeling you
have about something is your intuition.





Once your mind is still, contemplate each possibility or option, one by one. It becomes a matter
of having a better feeling about one option over another. The feeling you experience is a strong
yet detached feeling. There will be no mistaking it for a reactionary feeling or whim. You will
know it is the real thing.

Settling your mind is a personal endeavour that you simply need to commit to for as long as it
takes. Sitting in a quiet room alone for an hour can be enough to still one persons mind, while
someone else may need a week. Intuition is nothing mystical; it is merely a dormant power we
all have that comes out when we are in the right state.

Intuition is incidental to inner stillness.

You cant Control your Mind

How do we rein in the mind? you may ask. You cannot control your mind the way you
control a car or squash racket. Like a river, the mind is a flowing current of thoughts. If you
erect a wall, all that happens is that the current keeps colliding with the wall and there is a
resultant swirl -- the wall doesnt bring the current to a standstill.

A rivers current only settles once it flows into an open and unrestricted space, usually a dam or
ocean. A current settles when no boundaries are imposed, when it is allowed complete
freedom. Its the same with your thoughts and the mind. Freedom, rather than constriction or
any attempt at outright control, is what will tame your mind. Like flowing water your mind can
be diverted or re-directed, but never dominated in the same way you could manipulate a piece
of modelling clay in your hand.

So what is the best way to free and still the mind? It requires a multi-pronged
approach. Mental stillness does not come from working solely on your mental
conditioning. Your physical life has to be simplified. Your mind perceives your physical
reality; and your physical reality is affected by the mind -- its a reflective mirror.

Stilling the Mind

Meditation
Simplify your Desires
Reduce the Noise
Clean, Minimalistic Surroundings

Thirty minutes of silence can be undone by eight hours of chaos in the outside
world. Therefore, creating tranquillity in your everyday life is just as important as meditation.

Meditation


Imagine your mind as a wild stallion in a small enclosure. The stallion is going to jump, kick
and act wild for much of the day simply because of the frustrating boundaries imposed on
him. You can try any number of disciplinary techniques and to force him to comply but your
success will be limited. If you opened the enclosure and let him run free, he would dart out and
run like the wind for a few minutes. Soon enough though he will realise there is no need to run
because nobody is trying to capture him. He will then slow down and peacefully graze. It is
freedom, not confinement or control, that tames the stallion.

You should follow the same principal with meditation. First and foremost, find a quiet
place. Then sit on a comfortable chair and keep your eyes open. Just sit still for five minutes,
wide awake. Let the thoughts flow, dont try to control anything. Simply observe your
thoughts without judgement or opinion. Let your heart rate and breathing drop. Then close
your eyes, continuing to permit the thoughts in your head complete freedom. (Important: do
not lay on a bed because youre very likely to fall asleep.) In the silence, start listening to your
breath: the air entering and exiting your lungs. Place all your attention on the simplicity of your
breathing. Your mind will continue along its train of thought while your attention is on your
breathing. Let the thoughts flow without judgement, fear or fondness.

When you concentrate on your breath, your mind will start to see that its futile to think because
your attention isnt following it. Your mind will finally start to settle. Your chest will feel
lighter and so will your head. All you will hear and think is silence. It will be liberating to say
the least. You are now in a state of meditation or thoughtless awareness.

Meditation is the most fundamental way to still your mind. It is a state of thoughtless
awareness where you arent observing any particular thought or possibility. In meditation you
are simply aware that you are alive. This is meant to be a primordial experience. When you
revert to full consciousness and face the usual hustle and bustle of life, it is easy for your mind
to lose its bearings. Stillness is therefore something that has to be gained then maintained. I
recommend that you meditate at least four times a week for half an hour at a time, or even
daily.

Reduce the Noise


Music, movies and online content are ubiquitous and you need to make a conscious effort to
control your exposure to them.

On the drive to work, see how far you can go without switching the radio on as a sort of
challenge. Make it a point on certain trips to leave it off for the whole route.
Keep assigned times to watch television. Dont just switch it on at the first itching of
restlessness. Kanye West, George Clooney and the English Premier League must only
be allowed into your living room by invitation.
Floating around the Internet following links can become addictive. Its the simple
things: dont compulsively check your email inbox every few minutes and stop logging
on to social networks every hour. Dont comment and argue with readers about every
article or posting. Occasionally go on a digital diet where you stay off all online activity
for two straight days at a time. This is a much simpler, more powerful way to control
your digital consumption. These diets will reveal that life goes on perfectly well
without plugging in to cyberspace and will re-direct your focus to whats important:
your life. You might also find yourself happier.
Sometimes the temptation to play with one of your electronic toys is too great and the
only solution is to just unplug it and put it away. Nothing focuses you like a lack of
options. When something is conveniently at your fingertips you are much more inclined
to do it. Many will retort that its about self-control and moderation, but we are
creatures of habit and convenience. Unplugging something is much easier than trying to
fight the temptation of using it. We are addictive by nature; its just a question of
building an addiction to worthwhile pursuits.

Simplify Desire


We overwhelm ourselves with desire: get a sports car, find a rich husband or model wife, visit a
new country each year... Ensure that your desires are what you want and not a copy of what
your peers want or what someone elses idea of the life is.

Pick one, maybe two things you want to achieve each year. The weight of too many goals ends
up being more prohibitive than motivational.

Simplify your desires:

#1: Prioritise: You may want to reduce your blood pressure and buy a new car in the next year,
but reducing your blood pressure must be the one you prioritise. Pick those that are important,
and take on less important ones (like getting the car) after your top goals have been met. Take
goals one at a time as often two goals can counteract each other. Chances are good your blood
pressure will increase if you take on debt to buy that car, for example. In instances like these
you must prioritise one over the other.

#2: Have a sponsoring goal: Have a few sponsoring goals that drive you rather than many
small ones. A goal that can meet many of your desires if it is achieved is called a sponsoring
goal. If you want to simultaneously furnish your apartment, buy your first new car, and change
your wardrobe for instance, you could replace all those goals with one goal to make a specific
sum of money which will allow you to buy all these things on your wish list.

Theres a double whammy effect when you have too many goals. Firstly it becomes near
impossible to achieve any when you have so many on your plate, because you cant give any
one of them the attention they need to blossom. Secondly your disappointment is compounded
when you see you werent successful at attaining any.

With your energy and time focused on a few things, you can actually work slower and create
beautiful work rather than doing something just to get it done and push it out.

There are also many things you cannot and should not set goals for. Sometimes you need to
give spontaneity some slack and go along for the ride instead of being rigidly attached to many
different goals.

Clean, Minimalistic Surroundings


We have many stereotypes relating to creativity. One is that creativity is restricted to
artistically gifted people. Stereotype number two is that such people typically work in chaotic,
untidy surroundings. Remember, I mentioned that your mind and outside-reality mirror each
other. Your brain is always assessing your surroundings. When your surroundings are
cluttered your brain perceives clutter and starts to think in a cluttered fashion.





As an example: in a war zone your brain would be pre-occupied with survival as mortars
explode and guns fire around you. Theres no way you could have a single constructive
thought in this setting. Your brains thought patterns mirror that of its surroundings -- its a
survival mechanism. Now take a less extreme case: sitting on a bench in a busy shopping
mall. Here people whizz past you and your ears are peppered with a variety of noises. Though
less chaotic than a warzone, your brain still wouldnt be able to conjure up anything half decent
in this setting. Why? Because it is still too busy processing everything going on around
you. Its your instinct.

Now, a cluttered home and workspace is visually and spatially chaotic. Its worse if youre in
an open plan office. You can be riding a decent train of thought and inevitably your name will
be called out by someone across the office or your phone will ring. Stringing together a decent
sequence of thoughts is impossible if you dont eliminate distraction.

Organisation is key to success in anything you do. In my office the only visible items are a
framed painting, my laptop, a desk and a chair. Anything else is in a cupboard, drawer or
another room. I find that my thoughts and ideas flow much more easily when theres less to
distract my attention. You will too.

Living with no Regrets


Bronnie Ware, author of Top Five Regrets of the Dying, has worked in palliative care for
several years.
21
She has spent much time caring for people that were in the last few days of
their lives. Ware was well placed to gather what these people regretted and what they would do
differently. Below are the top five regrets she has listed. Below each regret, I have placed a
countermeasure.




Regrets of the Dying:
What do dying people regret the most?

Regret: I wish I had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.
Countermeasure: Take input from others, but limit this input. Once you feel you want to do
something and your intuition is speaking to you, ignore what other people say and go ahead
with your plans.

Regret: I wish I didnt work so hard.
Countermeasure: Working for yourself gives you control and discretion over your workload.

Regret: I wish I had the courage to express my feelings.
Countermeasure: Of course, you cant raise a flag every time youre unhappy with someone,
but if it occurs more than once you need to be frank and bring it up. If that person cannot see
where youre coming from, terminate the relationship.

Regret: I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.
Countermeasure: Devote two hours a week to visiting or phoning people that matter. Nobody
regrets not watching more television.

Regret: I wish I had let myself be happier.
Countermeasure: Know that the world continues to spin and that people continue to live
whether or not you meet that critical deadline or goal. Stop taking everything so seriously.




Regret is the by-product of wrongfully allocated time. A major cause of wrongfully allocated
time is choosing what to do based on what others say. I know they say a good leader or C.E.O.
takes all feedback into account, but in your life there is no democracy: you are the lawmaker,
judge and jury. Your heart already knows what it wants to do, there is no need for advice when
it comes to direction in your life. A cornerstone of a regret-free life is to make your own
decisions irrespective of outside opinion.

Regret is the by-product of wrongfully allocated time

There is no need to live with regret if you substitute pointless indulgences with fruitful
ones. Choose real interaction over virtual encounters. Work on your business instead of
working overtime for someone elses company. With the foresight to choose wisely and the
courage to see those choices through, life can be everything its cut out to be and more.

Chapter 5: An Invigorated Body


Physicality is a seminal and the most immediate dimension of life. Interaction with this planet
and other living beings initially takes place on a physical level. Your body is the tool you use
to engage and sense this world with all its physical indulgences.

When youre healthy and in shape your body is more attuned to experience and participate in a
range of activities: from going for a hike on Table Mountain to playing three sets of tennis to
having awesome sex. A better body equates to better earthly experiences. None of these
experiences can be enjoyed as much by someone that is unfit and obese. Such a body is one
that is out of tune. The physical condition of your body therefore has a direct effect on the level
of experience you enjoy on earth.

from going for a hike on Table Mountain to playing three sets of tennis to having awesome
sex.

If you have been born with no genetic challenges then there should be nothing special about
being healthy. Its being unhealthy thats abnormal. The idea is to make physical well-being a
simple ordeal that can be seamlessly built into your life. When it comes to physical health there
are three aspects that affect your body: exercise, eating and sleeping. A more obvious sentence
you may never read, yet so many people are unfit, tired and much less attractive than they
should be. Given the way we live now, most have their triumvirate of exercise, sleeping and
eating misaligned.

Exercise


A fit, strong person walks in an assured and confident manner. Their face glows from good
circulation and his or her eyes are alert. Healthy people look more alive, because physically
speaking they really are. A better respiratory system means that more oxygen flows to their
brain creating quicker thinking; greater physical strength and flexibility means they can partake
in more activities like dancing, hiking, and sex as they have the body to derive more from these
activities. A well exercised body stands you in good stead for a longer life with delayed ageing
diseases. If ever there was an anti-aging pill, its exercise.

Working at a desk all day becomes frustrating because in addition to mental application we
were made for physical labour too. Our bodies need to be physically exerted. Even your face
changes when you lose weight and become fitter: it becomes more chiselled, your skin firms,
blood circulation improves and you look younger.

Strength Training

Strength and muscle gain can only be achieved with resistance training. Resistance can come
from weights or your own body mass.

Lift the heaviest weight you can while maintaining the correct form and full range of
movement, using only the muscle you were meant to be training. If youre arching your back
or moving your elbows to finish the last few inches of a bicep curl for instance, then you should
reduce the weight youre lifting.

Strengthen everything in tandem. Balance will be lost if your legs, back and core are ignored in
your training regimen. Everything needs to be strengthened at the same rate or you risk
injuring yourself and doing more damage than good. I was thrilled with my progression to
heavier weights when one day I felt a painful jolt in my lower back when doing shoulder lifts. I
realised my lower back was much weaker than the rest of my body as I wasnt exercising my
back at all.

Women often dont do weights. They just want to be skinny even if it means being weak. But
a thin person can still have a high body fat percentage. Some women think that theyre going to
gain too much muscle and fear looking Amazonian, but to become one of those female body
builders takes much more than just normal weight training. Just remember, nothing burns
calories faster than lean muscle, so having more of it will in fact speed up your weight
loss. Weight exercises also lead to better posture, bone strengthening, and better muscle
tone. For what its worth, many men find an athletic woman more attractive than a thin
one. Skinny is out, strong is in.

Cardiovascular Conditioning

Besides fitness benefits, cardiovascular exercise is the most effective way to lose weight. Good
exercise that walking is, I feel it is not enough. Unless you are recuperating or aged you should
work up a sweat and get that heart pumping. You must push your heart beat to a high rate,
preferably for at least twenty minutes a day. This is the only way your fitness and
cardiovascular functioning will improve. When it comes to cardio, there is very little to match
running. Walking burns calories; but running makes you fit. Bruce Lee referred to it as the
king of exercises.

With anything exercise related, you have to go slightly past the comfort limit for sustained
periods if improvement is to be attained. Becoming fit requires one to go beyond the point
where their lungs burn and the body feels like it must slow down to catch its breath. Regularly
pushing past this threshold will enhance your ability to persist, and this is how fitness builds
your mental resilience.

Flexibility

Manchester United is consistently one of the best Soccer clubs in Europe, and Ryan Giggs is its
most decorated player ever. He has played over 900 games for Manchester and credits yoga as
a reason for his prolonged career. Yoga has definitely helped me, he said, it gives me the
flexibility and strength not only to play the game but to train every day as well. Shaquille
ONeal and Sachin Tendulkar -- prolific athletes with long professional careers like Giggs --
also practice yoga.

Yes, being able to do the splits is quite an achievement and it is something I still try, but
flexibility is about much more than the wow factor associated with contorting
oneself. Stretching strengthens joints, tendons and even the muscles.

Youve heard it all before: only stretch when your body is warm and loose. Take the stretch to
the point where you feel slight discomfort, and hold it there. Feel that burn and slight
discomfort: its good for you. You can become flexible within six months, if you dedicate just
fifteen minutes three times a week to stretching. Of all physical exercise, stretching is the least
taxing on your time.

You cant visibly see the benefits of stretching the way big muscles from weight lifting are
instantly recognisable, and for this reason many people ignore it. Later on in your senior years
though, the dividends from stretching will pay off big time when you dont feel the usual aches
and pains that other older people experience. Freedom of motion is something young people
dont appreciate. Stretching is not just for your older years however: a supple body reduces
injuries and strains that you commonly get from working too much at a desk or even weight
training.

Discipline is Misunderstood

If you see exercise as sacrifice or pain that you have to endure then in the long term it isnt
going to work out for you. It should be incorporated into your life in a natural way: as
something enjoyable rather than laborious. Our sedentary lifestyles are the only thing thats
unnatural in this arrangement. Exercise becomes a healthy addiction once you get a rhythm
going and you feel good after every workout. Your endorphins go up, the heart beats strongly,
oxygen circulates, blood flows and your body relaxes because it has no other option after being
physically exerted. Simply put, its one of the best feelings you can have.

Everyone knows they should exercise and getting over initial lethargy is the problem most
have. People are usually knackered after work and it seems a better option to go home, watch
some television, eat, then go to sleep. When youre mentally tired, you feel physically tired
even if your body was hardly exerted. Your drained mind fools you into thinking that your
body is fatigued too.

Heres the thing: Once the initial choice is made, the hard part is done. When you start jogging
in the mornings for instance, you dont have to think about the fatigue and sweat that comes
from a run. All you need to do is get your cross trainers on and walk onto the road -- dont
think further than that. Once youre on the road you will simply start running. Youre unlikely
to go back into the house now. The toughest choice you had to make was to get your shorts and
shoes on. Breaking your choice down to the essential parts is a trick you can use to coax
yourself into exercising. Making the choice is usually harder than actually doing it. Soon
enough these decisions become habit and then your routine (and physical condition) will start to
change.

Discipline is the cornerstone of success. It is the ability to repeatedly take the right choice over
the convenient one. A disciplined person is one who will choose working out over going to the
bar after work, or learning a new skill instead of slumping in front of the television. In short, a
disciplined person is one who chooses the option that will yield longer term benefits over the
one that will provide instant gratification.

Be self-aware when you are faced with more than one option. This expands to every facet of
your life, not just health and fitness. Measure the benefit each choice will give you and keep
picking the one that will take you places.

Join a Group

I recommend joining a group -- perhaps a martial arts or yoga class -- something where theres
philosophy and some spirituality involved. A group becomes a support structure: an obligation-
free place where you interact with like-minded people who share the common goal of physical
and mental well-being. I crave the distinctive vibe from my Kung Fu class with its great set of
training partners. The problems you have are left outside as soon as you enter those doors and I
suspect you will find this to be the case with many other group activities too. Most martial arts
have a near perfect mix of cardio, resistance and flexibility training to boot.

The body is one of the few things on earth that looks better the harder you work it. All of this
talk about stretching to a point of slight discomfort and pushing your heart rate to the highest
tolerable level may sound sadistic, but this is the only way improvement can be achieved. And
when youre actually doing it, its more pleasure than pain. Its the thought of it that sees most
people psyched out before they even start. The human body is designed to be exerted, so relish
the burn.

Eating


Every cell in your body was built using the nutrients you fed into it. Nourishment at the
cellular level is the root of having a robust, long life.




The Curious Case of Okinawa

103 year old Seiryu Toguchi rises at 6 a.m. each morning in his home in Motobu, Okinawa. He
opens the shutters as a sign to my neighbours that I am still alive. While listening to the
radio he does stretching exercises. Breakfast then ensues: whole-grain rice and miso soup.

For two hours he picks weeds in his field of goya and sweet potato crops. Lunch is served at
12:30: goya stir fry with egg and tofu. After a one hour nap Seiryu will then spend two more
hours in his field. As a night treat he has a sip of wine he makes from aloe, garlic and
turmeric.

Seiryu is typical of elderly Okinawans. They get plenty of physical and mental exercise, and
most tellingly their diets are low in fat and salt, predominantly comprising of fruits and fibre-
rich vegetables. Their diets are rich in antioxidants that protect against cancer, heart disease
and stroke. They eat 60 to 120 grams of soy per day, compared to 30 to 50 grams for the
average Japanese and practically zero for the average American. Unprocessed soy is packed
with flavonoids, which are antioxidants strongly linked to the low rates of cancer.

Just as telling as their diet is how much they eat. Okinawans practice a dietary philosophy
called hara hachi bu -- meaning eight parts out of ten full. This means they eat until they feel
80% full. Their daily calorie intake is 1,800 calories, compared to more than 2,500 that the
average American man consumes. Based on tests with lab animals, scientists will tell you that
the simple act of calorie restriction has a significant effect on lifespan. The Okinawan islands
contain the worlds largest population of centenarians: nearly 600 out of its 1.3 million
inhabitants live past 100.

Senior Okinawans have lower instances of senility e.g. Alzheimers than their elderly
counterparts in the U.S. and Europe. Their diets are high in vitamin E which is said to be good
for the brain, but Okinawans also have a sense of community and purpose that must surely
affect their mental health as well as increase their desire to live.

22




Eat to Win

Eat less, full stop. People eat until theyre stuffed. We are getting too much fat,
carbohydrates, and salt.
Eat less meat. It takes long to digest and putrefies in your stomach if your body is
unable to digest it quickly. This can lead to all sorts of problems including
diverticulosis and stomach cancer. Farmers also pump animals with growth hormones
and antibiotics, so bear that in mind when looking at that well presented piece of steak.
Red meat, even if organic, should be eaten only once a week. White meat is better i.e.
chicken and fish.
Legumes, grains, and fruit and vegetables should form the bulk of your diet. Your body
can consume the nutrients faster from such foods.
For non-meat foods, the more raw it is, the better.
Dont eat any carbohydrates after 3 p.m.
Eat six small meals every few hours as opposed to three large meals per day. You will
notice that personal trainers make their clients eat smaller meals on a more regular
basis. When you go without food for more than three hours, the stress hormone called
cortisol rises. Cortisol signals the body to store fat in the abdominal region. A study by
the New England Journal of Medicine showed that people who ate six small meals as
opposed to three, showed a seventeen percent decline in cortisol levels after two weeks.
Oats is the breakfast of champions: it releases energy quickly and has low calories.
Grill, steam or bake food. Avoid frying.

Generally people dont eat properly because:

#1: They think healthy food is harder to prepare.
#2: They think its more expensive.
#3: They think it tastes dull.

Theres no getting away from the fact that a health wrap doesnt have the richness of cheddar
melted steak, but when you think of the stuff a non-organic steak is injected with, combined
with the health ramifications, you will start to see things differently. Something strange also
happens when you change your diet. Being of Indian origin I had to diversify from curry in the
interests of healthy eating, so I now limit it to one dish a month. I moved over to bland
health food; my taste buds adjusted and I found the taste in what I was eating.

A spicy Thai chicken soup, magma wrap with sweet chilli sauce or a well thought out stir-fry
cooked with a teaspoon of olive oil are far from tasteless. Where before I was only looking for
the spicy taste I would find in curry, my tongue now started relaying other taste sensations to
my brain -- sweet, sour and everything in between. Your palate adjusts and assesses the taste of
anything in relation to whatever else you eat.

Nutritious food is cheaper -- red meat costs more than vegetables and fruit. And your diet
becomes simple with rice, chicken, fish, grilled vegetables, oats, water and fruit making up the
bulk of what you consume. Cheese, French fries and milk shakes are pushed to the
wayside. This is not about eating the bare minimum and starving your body into shape; it's
about eating healthy portions of the right types of food that will efficiently fuel your body
without adverse side effects like fat build up. The results come quickly when you eat right.

The Calorie Equation: Why people dont lose weight

We see them at the gym: the overweight folks who have been coming to gym for years yet they
look no different to when they first started. Why arent they losing weight? Answer: they burn
fewer calories than they consume.

In the same way that you dont need to know how an injector or double wishbone suspension
works to drive a car, when it comes to weight loss Im going to tell you what you need to know
and nothing more.

We see them at the gym: the overweight folks who have been coming to gym for years yet they
look no different to when they first started

According to food research from Stanford University, Dr Dena Bravata says that the
overwhelming body of science continues to show that any diet will succeed if you take in fewer
calories than you burn. Different foods have different calorie counts. A serving of lasagne has
about 500 calories, while an apple has around 53 calories. Your body burns these calories to
function. The more strenuous an activity, the more calories you burn. This means performing
acrobatics burns more calories than playing darts. Critically your body stores the calories you
dont burn in the form of fat.

There is no diet pill or quick fix to lose weight. If there was then personal trainers and gyms
would be out of business. The weight loss equation is simple:

Calories Burned > Calories Consumed

There are two sides to losing weight: minimising calorie intake when you eat and burning as
much as possible. Those perpetually obese people you see at gym are usually ignoring their
calorie intake. The saying, You can eat whatever you want as long as you exercise is
untrue. You have to keep count of your calorie intake like an accountant if you are on a serious
weight loss drive. There are plenty of resources around that will give you the calorie count of
all the foods we eat. Here is the calorie count of some:

Food Calorie Count
Mars Bar 190
Draught Beer (500ml) 182
Small French fries (130 grams) 296
Big Mac burger 492
Smoke Haddock Fillet (100 grams) 98

You can see why the top four items are regarded as bad for your waistline: their calorie count is
high. Now compare it to how much exercise you would need to do to burn it off:

Exercise Calories Burnt
Jogging/sprinting for 20 minutes 250
Walking for 20 minutes 100
Watching television for 20 minutes 40

It would take a forty minute walk or around fifteen minutes of jogging to burn off one Mars
Bar. You need to jog for twenty four minutes to negate the effect of a serving of French
fries. If you have it with a Big Mac burger then you need to run for a full hour to undo the
damage. If you dont follow up your Big Mac with exercise, those excess calories get
converted to fat.

Now consider that a serving of haddock with a hundred grams of broccoli and carrots will give
you 130 calories. You could sit still for an hour and the calories from this meal will be burned
off. The average person consumes between 2,000 to 3,000 calories per day, but thats because
most of us eat the wrong things in excessive quantities. Throw in a low calorie, low
carbohydrate meal every day, lay off unhealthy foods like fried burgers, and you can very easily
bring your daily intake to around 2,000 calories.

The calorie equation means that every day youre climbing a hill. The calories you consume
form the incline of the hill. To climb this hill you need to burn calories through activity and
exercise.





At the top of the hill your calories burned are equal to calories consumed (represented by the
scale). Any more physical activity will require your body to access its energy stores i.e. your
fat to sustain itself. This is when you start to lose weight as the fat gets burned to keep your
body going. If youre overweight you should aim to burn off between 200 and 500 more
calories than you consume each day, if you do this you will notice tangible weight loss within a
month.

It may seem difficult to climb the calorie hill. If the typical person consumes between 2,000 to
3,000 calories per day, and a twenty minute run burns just 250 calories, then that run seems like
a futile exercise. However, youre forgetting that even sitting still watching television burns
calories. Your normal activity for the day excluding exercise already burns about 1,800
calories, depending on certain variables like your size and age. Exercise is little more than
intensified physical activity. Strictly speaking youre active the whole day. All that run or
cycle is meant to do is speed up your calorie burn to help you get over the calorie hill for the
day.

Years ago I had an obese friend who dropped a lot of weight in six months. His appearance
changed beyond recognition. When he told me how he did it at the time I didnt believe him
because it sounded too simple. All he did, he said, was run like crazy on the treadmill every
day and eat a predominantly vegetarian diet with very little starch and bread. He trained at high
intensity for thirty minutes a day. The rest was down to his diet. And thats the timeless creed
of losing weight: burn more calories than you consume.

Sleep


Too often, not getting enough sleep is seen as a badge of honour in our society, remarked Dr.
Charles Samuels of the Canadian Sleep Society. Sleep deprivation is a silent pandemic
becoming more prevalent as we disdainfully treat sleep as an option rather than the critical, holy
function that it is. Some highly successful people boast of only needing a few hours sleep
every night, or not having enough time in their busy lives to sleep properly, Samuels
continued.

Sleep deprivation is a silent pandemic

Many go-getters are proud of getting by on four to six hours of sleep a day. The reality is you
need adequate sleep to function properly, to be able to drive safely and just be healthy. There is
nothing noble about not getting enough sleep, concluded Samuels.

Sleep is natures rule, not mans. It is as unbreakable as the law of gravity. People try all sorts
of tricks to bend this law -- from drinking Red Bull to power napping for fifteen minutes at a
time to breaking their quota of sleep into two sessions. Damage is occurring for every
prolonged period that sleep is missed.

At home people choose to stay awake for a couple of hours extra to watch television or surf the
net. Another major reason people sacrifice sleep is the work round-the-clock mentality society
has adopted. When you work until 2 a.m. you feel a greater sense of accomplishment compared
to working until 5 p.m. like other mortals. You then pat yourself on the back for burning the
candle at both ends. But having slept for only four hours, you cant think properly and the only
things youre good for the next day are mundane tasks. Not one decent idea or piece of work
will be produced from you. Pushing for those extra hours renders you useless for the following
day. 45.8 percent of physicians in a survey published by the Archives of Internal Medicine
report having at least one symptom of burnout, largely thanks to the long shifts that can reach
24 hours.
23


There are rare instances (like during the infancy or growth phase of your business) where you
probably need to work more than eight hours, but normality must be returned to your working
schedule as soon as possible. Eight hours should be the norm and overtime the rare exception.

How many Hours of Sleep?

Firstly, only one to three percent of the population can get by on six hours or less of sleep per
night, and thats purely because of genetics. Therefore the remainder of the population who
think they can function on five to six hours of sleep are in denial. For the rest of the population
(including me), you need to start at seven hours and slowly extend that time if you feel you
need more sleep. Its simple: you should feel alert and vigorous throughout the entire day and
the only time you should feel tired is minutes before bed time. Keep adjusting your sleep
duration until the first time you yawn for the day is synchronised with the moment you cover
yourself with your blanket.

In an interview with the Red Bulletin, billionaire Sir James Dyson unashamedly stated he needs
ten hours of sleep a day. Theres no secret, its just how Im built. It cant be too wrong, said
the inventor of the Dual Cyclone bag-less vacuum cleaner when asked about his sleeping
habit.
24


Physical

When you sleep, damaged tissue is repaired; hair, skin and nails grow -- overall rejuvenation
and replacement occurs on a cellular level. Your immune system also replenishes its white
blood cell count. People who sleep more have better immune functioning.

Mental

Your brain processes and stores the events of the day while you sleep. After a hectic day,
notice how composed you feel after a good sleep. This is because the brain uses sleep to
correlate and collate the events of the day, linking each experience to other past events in your
life to give everything proper perspective.

Spiritual and Esoteric

Sleep is the souls opportunity to explore beyond the confines of the body. During sleep your
soul connects to a deeper level of consciousness that it cannot access when youre fully
awake. Sleep could be seen as a deeper form of meditation, but it isnt a deliberate and
conscious exercise the way meditation is. Where meditation is thoughtless awareness, sleep is
thoughtlessness without awareness. This means that sleep is not a substitute for meditation, as
the two present different levels of consciousness for you to experience.

I suspect this is also why you feel better after a good sleep, as when you awaken your soul
remembers that it is indeed unbounded and infinite, and it is reminded that any daily anxiety or
concern you may have is only temporary.

And now for the harm a lack of sleep brings:

Weight

Hormones quietly go about their business while you sleep as they synchronise various
metabolic activities. Sleep deprivation can disrupt the hormones that regulate glucose
metabolism (insulin activity) and appetite. Excess glucose gets stored as fat and effectively
increases your appetite. Imbalanced insulin activity can also lead to diabetes.

Blood Pressure, Cardiac Functioning

Sleep can be used as an exercise to reduce blood pressure. When you sleep the heart slows
down and allows the blood pressure to drop. A study at Mailman School of Public Health
(Columbia University) revealed that people who slept five hours or less were significantly more
likely to develop hypertension (high blood pressure) after controlling for factors like obesity,
physical activity and diabetes.

Delusion

Harvard Medical School and the University of California at Berkeley both established a link
between sleep deprivation and psychosis (i.e. hallucinations and delusions). Just as your brain
places events into perspective when you sleep, so it becomes incapable of making suitable
responses to events and maintaining a balanced perspective on even the simplest of events
when sleep is sacrificed, this is not to say that you will become psychotic but it is a caution
against burning the candle at both ends.

How to Sleep Well

Many people struggle to sleep. The first major stride toward getting good sleep is to leave
work at work. When you walk into your home, forget everything. Cut off the outside
world. Sleep starts before you lay in bed and your mind needs to slow down. Keep the house
peaceful. Any device with speakers must have the volume set low. Also, eat at the dinner table
with the television switched off. All these little things place you in a better state to
sleep. Fifteen minutes before you go to sleep, turn everything off, do not read, and just let your
mind cool off.

Bed time is when your body and mind reset and put things back into balance. Being awake can
be a tough business from which you need a daily retreat. After a full day of talking, reading,
decision making, fighting and running around non-stop, sleep is indeed the sweetest form of
surrender there is.

Health should be your Default Setting

Give your body the fuel, exercise and sleep that it needs and it will repay you by allowing you
to revel in the physical dimension of life. A healthy body will make you happier, theres no
doubt about it. Your financial fortunes and relationships are sometimes subject to fluctuations
in spite of your best efforts, but a healthy, beautiful body is something that cannot be taken
away from you, come what may.

Chapter 6: A Meaningful Existence


Everything must have a context if it is to have meaning. A car driving fast on a road randomly
taking turns with no particular waypoint in mind has no context. Place that same car on a race
track with other vehicles, define the number of laps that need to be completed, and suddenly
there is a context to the fast driving.

In the way a race track, other vehicles and defined lap count gives context to a speeding car,
there are four fundamental relationships needed to provide context in our lives:

#1: Personal Interactions. We depend on each other. Life would mean little if we didnt have
others to share with, and learn from. It is the existence of others that forms the most important
point of reference for you as a human being. The people in your life also influence your mood
and state of mind, and consequently your overall success in life.

#2: Mother Earth. Everything you use and consume came from this earth. The planets and
universe are inextricably linked to each of us. The way we collectively manage this
relationship will determine whether our lives on this earth continue for much longer or if the
very ground underneath us becomes barren. This relationship needs urgent attention.

#3: The Cosmic Force (aka God). When you look at this entire system of life, you have to
wonder what balances everything from the tides, the seasons, the rising and setting of the sun,
to your bodys own natural rhythms. This force can be understood as the unseen hand that
keeps everything in balance. It is all-encompassing and omnipresent yet
mysterious. Spirituality is about discovering and understanding such forces as best as you can,
given your limited human perception.

#4: You. This is the most intimate relationship you can have. Life becomes a lot easier once
you dont just accept yourself, but rather start to love who you are. Most resistance and lack of
progress is the result of a reluctance to live and act in accordance with who you truly are. Life
will have no meaning if youre all things to all people yet arent true to your inherent character.

If you dont acknowledge and expand your relationship with the above four, your life is not as
meaningful as it could be. Like any good relationship, they require conscious effort to blossom.

However important, rich or powerful you are, never forget that you had help along the way:
coincidence smiled at you at some point and other people had a hand in your success. In this
world, you dont achieve anything all by yourself. Strictly speaking, nobody is self-
made. Jeff Bezos wouldnt have been able to build Amazon.com into the empire it is today
were it not for the pioneers and engineers that developed and continue to refine the World Wide
Web, or the millions of individuals that buy from Amazon. And dont forget the sand from this
earth that was used to make the silicon chip. We stand on the shoulders of those before us, on
each other and most importantly, Mother Earth herself. Existence is literally interdependent.

Your Fellow Human


There are seven billion of us on earth and this presents opportunities to network, collaborate
and expand like never before. By the same token it is also easier than ever to gain exposure to
toxic people. For the most part, managing your relationships is easy. There are a few, like a
romantic relationship or parenting, that require some circumspection.

Deepak Chopra imparted the best advice I ever read on people. He said there are just three
types of people in your life:

Type #1: Those that help you.
Type #2: Those that harm you.
Type #3: Those that leave you alone.

Each person you know falls into one of these three categories. Avoid the second type. By
default the others can only be a good or neutral influence. You can still love those in the
second group from a distance -- sometimes they may harm you without meaning to -- but do not
associate with them or even bother trying to save or change them.

This must be the guiding philosophy behind all your relationships and interactions with people
because your relationships have a very strong influence on the success and quality of your
life. People must either be in your circle or out of it. While sometimes you are temporarily
forced to associate with someone you dont like (like at a family gathering), you still, for the
most part, have control over who enters your circle and who stays out.

Many say that you shouldnt let the negativity or cynicism of others affect you, but if youre
exposed to it regularly then its near impossible to resist. Just ignore them can work when
somebody is on television, but when theyre in your proximity addressing you directly then its
not so simple. You assimilate your surroundings because thats what humans do -- you cant
just stop doing it. Negative influences in your surroundings have to be eliminated rather than
fended off.

The difficulty can come when you arent sure whether a person is harming or helping you. A
partner who occasionally abuses you verbally but shows tenderness 95 percent of the time is
such a case. Heres your solution: if you find yourself pondering for weeks what category
someone falls into, its the harmful one. If that boyfriend verbally abuses you once every three
months and is good to you for the other ninety-odd days, he is harmful.

We are always told to think before speaking; to see things from the other persons standpoint,
and not to make rash assessments but when it comes to people, indecisiveness will see the
wrong ones creep into your life. People who are good for you have a way of giving that vibe
off immediately upon meeting them. Ralph Waldo Emerson said, Who you are speaks so
loudly I cannot hear what you are saying. This is true of friendships, acquaintances and
commercial partnerships alike.

You have millions of years worth of evolution to thank for your highly developed ability to
assess people, and you have to use this ability as a quick assessment of whether you wish to
allow someone into your circle or not. So long as you dont have undue prejudices like racism
or sexism, your early feelings about someone are right.

Service

Is it fair that a child born into poverty in Sudan or Bangladesh doesnt even know where his
next meal is coming from, when we throw away what our kids dont finish? As advanced and
civilised as the privileged sector of the human population may think they are, the true test of
our humanity is reflected in the way we treat the suffering as well as the animals that share this
planet with us.

When I was younger I would switch off when the topic turned to serving others. I thought I
could build my own little bubble of prosperity and happiness. My view was that I owed
nothing to anybody and that nobody was obligated to me -- every man for himself.

Is it pure luck or by design that you werent born destitute? Thats what you must ask yourself
every day, because I dont have the answer. For reasons unknown millions are given an unfair
beginning to life.

Most charitable organisations accept online donations, making giving as easy as anything else
you do the Internet. If you have little money to spare, volunteer your time. It is worth as much
as any money and often worth far more. The sick person in the hospital never sees your
donation but they appreciate you sitting next to them and reading.

Life can start feeling heavy when youre only concerned with yourself. Looking after another
person or cause takes your mind off personal issues, and the knowledge that your existence is
supporting a greater cause than just yourself will energise you to jump out of bed every
morning.

Service is as good for you as it is for the person youre helping.

Proof of this good energy is in a person like the Dalai Lama who owns few earthly possessions
yet has an unmatched lust for life, as he loses himself in service to others.

Were in this thing called life together, and the burdens it presents would be greatly reduced if
each of us could live with the knowledge that were not alone. Service to others is not
socialism, communism or Marxism; its basic decency, empathy, and something your
conscience craves.

Mother Earth


Its no longer a debate: the earth is being destroyed and global warming is real. When each
person lives in a bubble of mindless consumption and opulence, all our lives lose context. We
point our fingers at large corporations and car factories for damaging our planet. What I want
to draw attention to though is our own impact as individuals.

Were the ones bleeding this planet dry.

Its easy to say that big companies are to blame for problems like pollution, over-fishing and
excessive mining, but individuals like you and me are the ones buying and consuming what
these companies make. They merely manufacture to our demands. People want to keep living
the consumptionist dream of the good life without any thought as to where their goods come
from. While fingering corporates for not caring about the planet, individual consumers make a
few small lifestyle adjustments on their part, like buying energy saving light bulbs and
installing solar geysers.

We need to collectively manage our relationship with planet earth. The lazy response would be
that one person doesnt make a difference: Billions of others arent doing anything, so what I
do wont make a difference anyway.

For mankind to reduce his footprint, all that needs to happen is for each individual to conduct
their life in a way that is as earth-friendly as possible. If each person just becomes more
conscious of what they consume, that is enough. Long ago we could each consume as we
pleased because the earth had bountiful resources. Now though 7 billion of us are placing strain
on the planet and we have to pull our socks up.

Forget the Vehicles, Look at what we Eat

The automotive industry comes under never-ending scrutiny for the emissions theyre
responsible for, but its food production that requires more resources than anything else humans
make. So should you eat less? Possibly, but the real issue is what we consume. Producing
meat for instance is a resource intense, hugely inefficient and low yield exercise. It takes
around 4,500 litres (1,188 gallons) of water to produce one meat based meal. Cattle consume
sixteen times as much grain as the meat they yield.

Think of the whole supply chain: grain has to be grown for the animals to feed on, and the
growing of that grain requires tons of water and acres of land in addition to the requirements of
the animals themselves. Each person in the U.S. can prevent the emission of 1,485kg
(3,274lbs) of carbon dioxide every year if they reduced meat intake by twenty percent.




The Hamburger Effect:
Even one less hamburger a week has a huge impact

In America alone, cows produce more greenhouse gas than 22 million cars do per year.
If each American eats three burgers per week, 158 million tons of greenhouse gasses
per year are produced for the beef in their burgers. It's not the cow's fault this is
happening.
Reducing by one burger per week will reduce pollution by as much as taking your car
off the road for 350 miles (563 kilometres).
If all Americans ate no meat or cheese for one day in the week, the climate change effect
would be the same as taking 7.6 million cars off the road for one entire year.
It takes 1,800 gallons (6,800 litres) of water to produce one pound of grain fed beef.

The smallest choices make the biggest difference to our environment and to our own
health.

25




Producing animal based foods requires much more energy and resources compared to grains,
vegetables and fruits. Ive thrown a few numbers at you, but the long and short of it is
worldwide (not just in America) we're growing and farming too many animals, and earth does
not have the wherewithal to keep this up. The resultant emissions and strain on water, soil and
grain supplies too are immense. I urge you to reduce your meat intake. Meatless Mondays is a
good way to start. In addition, eat one less hamburger per week. Like I said, if each person
makes some small adjustments on their own accord, our collective impact will be
immense. The more you substitute vegetables for meat, the lower your footprint on our planet
will be, and thats the truth as inconvenient as it may be to hear.


The Protein Argument

Most of us get too much protein. In the U.S. most people get twice as much as the
recommended daily allowance. Beans and legumes are rich sources of protein. Besides,
producing one kilogram of animal protein requires a hundred times more water than one
kilogram of grain protein does. After changing to a predominantly plant based diet for health
reasons, American Footballer Tony Gonzalez has managed to maintain both his weight and
strength. His kitchen is stocked with fruits and vegetables (which he makes into a shake each
morning), organic oatmeal and Brazilian acai juice. He is known to be one of the best tight
ends to ever play the game, so just remember this guy when people talk about a loss of strength
and mass if you eat less meat.

I am not a vegetarian but my meat intake is about one third as much as it used to be. I eat four
meat based meals per week and I find that with reduced meat intake, my digestion is better,
energy levels way higher, stomach flatter, and conscience clearer.

This is a call to get introspective on the footprint you leave. Let our politicians debate ad
nauseam at conferences. The real change will come from us, not from their policies. They
want to impose emission caps and taxes on companies, but will not tell us to change our habits
because that will lose them votes. If you want to change the world, look inward, not outward.

Cosmic Force


Why are we here? How did life come to be? Why do we die? How are the tides, seasons and
all of natures processes so perfectly synchronised? Who or what is synchronising it? These
are perplexing but important questions. Many choose to go through life ignoring them. Others
choose to follow religious scriptures and reject any train of thought that doesnt agree with their
religious beliefs.

Life is an open-ended question. I have my own beliefs and ideas and you need to develop yours
based on what makes the most sense to you. Answers to your questions should appeal to your
sense of logic as much as to your sense of belief and emotion. Ultimately spirituality is about
synchronising both emotion and rationality.

People dont do anything without having a reason: eating at a restaurant, working out or
watching a live performance; yet so many refuse to indulge the broader context of their
existence. They look away when the difficult questions about life, death and spirituality
come up. To do this is to stifle a very fundamental part of you: were naturally curious
creatures. Meaning and understanding begets a deeper, more permanent form of happiness than
transitory satisfaction like entertainment or delicious food does. With technology advancing at
breakneck speed, its time for us to explore the ultimate frontier: ourselves. Technology has
progressed way ahead of our social and spiritual understandings and the gap needs to be
bridged.

That nobody can conclusively answer these fundamental questions at the moment is not a
reason to ignore them. The voyage of finding the answers is half the fun anyway. Answers
will be uncovered from a combination of science, intuition and observation. Insight may speed
up once the existence of intuition and spirit have been proven scientifically. The day science
begins to study non-physical phenomena, it will make more progress in one decade than in all
the previous centuries of its existence, remarked Nikola Tesla, father of the alternating current
motor. We will then begin to rely on our innate powers -- an area largely untapped because
they arent regarded as credible or reliable -- and from here answers about life will start to come
in thick and fast.

Magic is found in pockets of uncertainty and the unknown. You should not limit your scope
based on verification thats been done by others. If you do that, then by definition you are
limiting what you can be based on other people. This is why I say you need to actually develop
your own beliefs.

Your spiritual evolution does not happen haphazardly. It happens based on the commitment
you give. In that respect its very similar to any earthly endeavour. This is a journey each
person must consciously choose. Time devoted to meditation, reading and contemplation will
drive the transformation of your consciousness. There are varying levels of consciousness and
part of the mystery of life is for you to uncover these layers systematically.

You


For every facet of life theres a script available for you to follow. People love professing about
the way the world is. They also love saying that you need to be a certain way in order to be a
success at one thing or another. When I was a cost controller for example, the directive from
my superiors was that an effective cost controller must be assertive. When I became a
procurement specialist after that, the direction was to be firm and persuasive with the
suppliers we brought from. For the most part, people who took this firmness and assertiveness
to the level of aggression were lauded for their approach. Sometimes we unfairly squeezed
third parties we dealt with but this was considered to be good negotiation.
How often are you told to be one way or another in order to be successful?

Geil Browning, founder of Emergenetics International and holder of a Ph.D. in Education from
the University of Nebraska, did a powerful post for Inc.com titled Power of the Quiet
Entrepreneur.
26
She remarks, In our culture, expressiveness plays a big role, and people are
generally rewarded more for being chatterboxes than silent observers. Being a confident talker
and a persuasive speaker can get you attention in meetings, get you the sale, and even get you
elected. No one gets kudos for sitting quietly, or saying, Let me think about it and I'll get back
to you. Im sure you can relate. From school we box people with terms like the quiet one,
bubbly, or well spoken. Browning concludes: People will appreciate that your solutions
are always thought out well. Your calm demeanour and ability to listen will serve you well if
you can harness it. You don't have to change who you are...no matter what your report cards
used to say.

It is not in my character to be assertive. Problem was I had a job that apparently required this
trait, and yet I could not pretend to be someone else. I resolved to at least try being true to my
characteristics and values for the first few weeks. Guess what: I managed to get whatever I
needed or requested without having to be aggressive or firm all the time. As a buyer I was
persuasive without being overbearing. I could be just as effective as anyone else. Youre told
to be many things every day: confident, proactive, spontaneous, fun-lovingthey sound good
but theyre all effectively telling you to be someone else. Allowing external scripts to mould
you is a quick and sure way to reduce the meaning of your life. It then becomes a tired plot
thats lived out to please others.

Discounting an abnormal or abusive upbringing, your personality is something you are mostly
born with; it isnt something that can be manipulated to fit an ideal. If you look past
appearances you will often find twins to have very different personalities for instance. They
would have had the same upbringing, schooling and even social circle, yet they can behave and
sound like completely different people. Certain qualities can be cultivated but for the most part,
you are who you are.

You are a certain way for good reason and to question or change this will never work,
never. True meaning is only derived when you speak, choose and act in line with what you feel
for.

Find Meaning Beyond the Physical

Your lifespan on earth is limited. You cant have every experience and possession you ever
wanted, even if you had unlimited money. Life should not be measured just by the experiences
and possessions you accumulate. Measuring your life this way means you will inevitably die
with regret.

Find deeper context within your life. Intensify your relationships, become intimate with this
planet, find God and be who you are at all costs. In this way you find meaning beyond
possessions and earthly experiences. Yes, life on earth means you should enjoy what this
planet has to offer, but you cant base your life solely on things you see, touch and do. None of
these things are permanent. When death knocks these things count for little in any case. Seek
the things that are true and eternal, rather than only the fleeting gratitude of possessions and
earthly experiences.

Be Politically Incorrect


Life isnt about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself. - George Bernard Shaw

The above ten words by Shaw say so much:

Firstly, you hold the answers to all the important questions in your life. People can help, guide
and advise, but they cannot give you the answer. The same question or conundrum usually has
a different meaning across different people.

Secondly a destiny is not found, it is lived out. You uncover your destiny when you create and
do what comes naturally to you. According to me, that is God's plan for each of us.

Thirdly, you are a work in progress. You can develop and grow in any direction you choose.
When your time on earth is done, you need to be able to look back at what you did as fun to you
and helpful to others.

We need to revolt and take back a life we can call beautiful. People moan I have no choice,
thats the way the world is in protest. Yet we are the ones who have made life the way it is
today. Nature did not dictate to us that we must work for other people, drive in traffic or eat
fatty food.

Dont accept things and just carry on hoping for tomorrow to change. This is why being honest
and true to your feelings instead of trying to paint them with positivity is important. In the end,
it takes a stronger person to pursue a life they want than one who chooses to remain stuck.

Become the dictator of your life.

People compromise too much and try too hard to appease the world. Theyre excessively
diplomatic and politically correct with their personal decisions. The world needs to pivot more
around you than you around it.

Remember that your mind and physical reality mirror each other. Change on both fronts
therefore is what you need. A better life is not really about working harder; its about making
different choices and diverting your time and energy from fruitless activities to ones that are
beneficial. Once you are conscious of your choices, you will by default pick the right path each
time there is a choice. The important thing is to be aware of the power your choices carry.

A world where the subordination is replaced by egalitarianism; where a clear mind is cherished
over an overloaded one; where the way we make our living is underpinned by joy; where we
synchronise perfectly with each other and the earth is not Utopia. If we choose to pursue these
avenues, such a world will become an inevitability. This world is being built or broken based
on what we each choose to do today. When you conduct your life differently you persuade
others to change theirs. Then when a critical mass of people changes, the very systems and
rules that govern us will have no option but to transform as well.

~

About me





Im pretty uncomplicated. Im a businessperson, share trader and writer. I have an Honours
degree in Commerce, but my real interest lies in living a meaningful yet light-hearted life. My
tenet is simple: get as close as possible to being a child again.

I believe in active writing. This means that I feel a non-fiction writer must practice what he or
she preaches.

I feel we are right at the beginning of a global renaissance, and that we will get there together
largely thanks to the catalyst role the Internet is playing and a new wave of consciousness thats
sweeping through our species. Things will not be handed to anyone though: you need to stretch
out your arms and take it. Utopia beckons.

Stay in touch

All my details, content and resources can be found on my site: LishenNair.com

Endnotes


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http://www.businessinsider.com/expert-shares-how-stress-in-the-workplace-is-killing-all-of-us-
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2. (AFP), Richard Carter. "AFP: Exhausted Davos delegates hear burnout warning." Google.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hJ6mkTT7_IQOZ6iMWVgQSyFZXJh
A?docId=CNG.59c8a650a1f0c8ba6aa289dc1ce08b97.2c1 (accessed October 22, 2012).

3. Siebold, Steve. How rich people think. United States: London House, 2010.

4. Steiman, Jonathan. "The Best and Worst Industries of the Next Decade." Inc.com.
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2012).

5. Bonner, William, and Will Bonner. Family fortunes: how to build family wealth and hold
onto it for 100 years. Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley, 2012.

6. Sylvia A. Allegretto. The State of Working Americas Wealth, 2011. Economic Policy
Institute. http://www.epi.org/page/-/BriefingPaper292.pdf (accessed October 15, 2012).

7. Anderson, Sarah, John Cavanagh, Chuck Collins, Sam Pizzigati, and Mike Lapham.
Executive Excess 2008: How Average Taxpayers Subsidize Runaway Pay. Institute for
Policy Studies. http://faireconomy.org/files/executive_excess_2008.pdf (accessed June 14,
2012).

8. Anderson, Sarah, Chuck Collins, Scott Klinger, and Sam Pizzigati. "Executive Excess 2011:
The Massive CEO Rewards for Tax Dodging." Institute for Policy Studies. http://www.ips-
dc.org/reports/executive_excess_2011_the_massive_ceo_rewards_for_tax_dodging (accessed
February 12, 2012).

9. Dennis, Felix. How to get rich: one of the world's greatest entrepreneurs shares his secrets.
New York: Portfolio, 2008. Print.

10. Friedman, Thomas L. "Average Is Over, Part II." The New York Times.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/08/opinion/friedman-average-is-over-part-ii-
.html?_r=3&ref=columnists (accessed August 20, 2012).

11. Edmunds, Angela, and Anne Morris. "The problem of information overload in business
organisations." International Journal of Information Management 20 (2000): 18.
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12. "Elancer Changes Lives with 'Gratitude' for iPhone." Elance.
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