7 Principles for Living a Successful Life from The Slight Edge by Jeff Olson

The Slight Edge is a way of thinking and processing information that allows a person to make choices on a daily basis that will lead to success. Some people dream but do nothing to make their dreams come true while they work for others, helping them to fulfill their dreams.   But if you want to learn how to  work on fulfilling your own dreams, this book can show you the way. 

In The Slight Edge, Turning Simple Disciplines into Massive Success,  2013, Success Books, Jeff Olson outlines his philosophy for how anyone can achieve a better life by taking small steps each day toward fulfilling his or her dreams.  Here are the seven core philosophies: 

(1) Show up. 

You have won half the battle if you commit to showing up every day. 

(2) Be consistent. 

Showing up consistently and doing the work is where the magic happens. 

(3) Have a good attitude. 

Having a good attitude will work in your favor when a selection is being made among candidates with similar abilities. Usually, people select the person with the better attitude. A good attitude toward life can help you to live longer, too.  Givers of good vibes and attitudes seem to brighten a room, whereas, those with a negative attitude can seem to dim the room.  Having a good attitude often starts with having a positive and happy outlook on life. 

(4) Be committed for a long period of time. 

In the book Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell writes that it takes about 10,000 hours before a person has mastered his or her craft. Ten thousand hours is about 40 hours a week for five years. There is no short cut to success.  The reason why most 90-day programs do not work for the long run is because a 90-day run is not long enough for people to build up a strong belief in themselves to continue working beyond the 90-day mark. 

(5) Have faith and a burning desire. 

In Napoleon Hill’s famous, Think and Grow Rich, the number one quality that the 500 most successful people had in common was faith along with a burning desire to succeed. Successful people look at a problem and see an opportunity. Keep implementing small changes that improve your life and your life trajectory can change. 

(6) Be willing to pay the price. 

Anything worth having in life is worth working for and paying the price.  If you are not willing to pay the price, the cost of neglect is brutal compared to paying the price of commitment. If a person does not make the choice to become successful, that person will remain unsuccessful for life by default. 

(7) Practice Slight Edge integrity. 

Integrity can be thought of what you do when no one is watching. It is also doing the thing you said you were going to do long after the mood for doing it has passed. 

Once a person masters the Slight Edge philosophy, personal development will help the person to grow. Educating yourself through continual learning is essential.   

The Kaizen method of learning, plan, do, review incorporates Slight Edge principles in action. Students plan what they are going to learn.  Then they develop experiments and activities to study. And then they review their planning and activity to see if anything is missing.  Finally, they plug these new insights into their next learning plan and repeat the process.  The constant and consistent back and forth between doing actions and correcting those actions creates “continuous improvement,” which is called kaizen in Japanese. 

Spend time with the masters. If you want to become successful in business, find a way to spend time with others who are successful business people. 

In Napoleon Hill’s, Think and Grow Rich, one of the core concepts is to be a part of a Mastermind Group. Surround yourself with people of like minds with different talents and temperaments who will all commit to achieving a definite purpose of serving the goals of the group. 

There are no perfect plans.  A plan is merely a jumping off point. Do the thing and you will have the power. If you want twice the success, double your rate of failure. 

Take small, baby steps toward fulfilling your dreams and be willing to pay the price.  Wanting one thing often means having to give up something else. 

Work your plan every single day. 

Rating: $$$$$ out of five.  Excellent book 


Copyright @ 2016 Christine Esser

This book was purchased, not a gift.   

This book can be purchased on Amazon by clicking the first link below. Disclosure: We may receive a small commission from your purchase, but this will not raise the amount you pay. Thank you for reading this review. Comments are welcome.  We have not received anything from the author or publisher in exchange for this review. Comments are welcome.

7 Strategies for Wealth and Happiness by Jim Rohn: Free Business Book Summary and Review

Mastering these seven strategies throughout a lifetime could take your finances and personal life to a higher level.  I love that Jim Rohn always focuses on both wealth and happiness, not one to the exclusion of the other.  

Jim Rohn reminds us in 7 Strategies for Wealth & Happiness: Power Ideas from America's Foremost Business Philosopher, 1996,  Three Rivers Press, that success is no more than the natural consequence of consistently applying the fundamentals of success to our life. This principle applies equally to wealth and happiness.  About six fundamental things make up about eighty percent of the difference in each area.  Find these six things and master them. 

Discipline is essential to both wealth and happiness. Although many people view failure as one colossal event, many times failure comes after a long list of small failures based upon a lack of discipline.  Failure occurs when we fail to act, think, care, strive, climb, learn, or keep going today. Discipline is the master key that unlocks the door to wealth. 

Here are the 7 strategies. 

(1) Unleash the Power of Goals 

Goals will motivate you if they are well defined. The better you define goals, describe them and work on achieving them, the stronger they will pull you. The four great motivators are (1) recognition, (2) to feel like a winner, (3) family, and (4) benevolence.  The main purpose of goals is to compel you to become the person it takes to achieve them. Income rarely exceeds personal development. Remember to “ask” for what you want.  Learn to use the seasons of life and make certain you are planting when it is time to plant and harvest at the right time. Realize that you will likely not get all that you want all the time. 

(2) Seek Knowledge

If you want money, study the acquisition of wealth. Search for knowledge. 

Remember to capture special moments with a camera and to write what you learn in a journal. 

There are two ways to acquire knowledge.  The first is to reflect on your own life for the lessons you have learned. At the end of each day, ponder what worked and what didn’t work.  Do this again at the end of the week, month, year. The second way to acquire wealth is to learn from other peoples’ experiences.  You can read books written by others, you can listen to others, and you can observe others. Look at both winners and losers. 
        

(3) Learn How to Change 

Learn to work harder on yourself than you do on your job. Instead of asking what you are getting from your job, ask what you are becoming.  To get more, you must become more. Income rarely exceeds personal development. It is hard to keep that which has not been obtained through personal development. 

You cannot create more time, so you need to work on creating more value. Whether you sell goods or services, you get paid for the value.  It is possible to become more valuable and, thus, earn more per hour.  

Life and commerce are like the seasons. You cannot change the seasons but you can change yourself. 

To be successful you must eliminate self-imposed limitations that hold you back. 

There are three areas of personal development: (1) spiritual self-development, (2) physical self-development, and (3) mental self-development. Start first by developing small disciplines and begin to string them together. Everything affects everything else.  Every low standard will affect the rest of your performance.   
  
Good people are found, not changed. But people can change themselves. 

(4) Control Your Finances

    
Our outer lives always reflect our inner lives. If you had a better plan, you could have more money. 

After you pay your taxes, learn to live on 70 percent of the money you earn.  Give ten percent to charity.  Set aside ten percent for capital investment: this money is spent on something you will fix, manufacture, buy, or sell. For example, buy a product wholesale and sell it retail.  The last ten percent should be saved. 

You need to have a financial statement. List your assets and subtract your liabilities (debts) and the balance is your net worth. Keep good books of your income and expenses. If your outgo exceeds your income, your upkeep will be your downfall.       

(5) Master Time 

There are four types of people.  A drifter is someone who drifts through life like a tumbleweed keeping their time as unstructured as possible but you cannot drift to a better life. A 9-to-5 type of person manages time around their job.  The workaholic works all the time and there is never enough work but workaholics are not always the ones who earn the most. The fourth type of time manager is the enlightened manager who works smarter, not longer like the workaholic by looking for ways to leverage activity through the work of others and by delegating. 

You either run your day or your day will run you. One of the most important words to manage time is to say, “No.” Learn to control the telephone and to use it at your convenience. By always answering the phone, you allow others to control your time. Instead, use an administrative assistant to screen calls or use an answering machine. Know the points you want to make before you call someone. If you write the key points of the conversation down, you will have a record should you need one later.  

4 Tools to think on paper

(a) A daily journal helps you record and capture good ideas. 

(b) A project book that is a ring binder with tabs in it. 

If working with people, use a tab for each person and record and file pertinent information for each person If you are running a business, you may want a tab for each department and the important information for each department such as sales records or performance charts. The key here is to have a central place to store pertinent information where you can find it.  

(c) Calendar

 A Day-timer type calendar can record important appointments. Keep track of business expenses, important calls, business tasks, etc.  

(d) A Game Plan 

Don’t start your day until you have it finished on paper.   Also, don’t start the week until you have it finished on paper. Don’t start the month until you have it finished on paper.  If you are starting a project, use graph paper to make vertical columns for the number of days it covers. On the left side of the paper, list the activities that must be done. 
 

(6) Surround Yourself With Winners 

You become like the people you associate with so choose carefully. Think about who you hang around with and what they have you doing, listening to, where they have you going, what they have you saying, what they have you feeling. Ask yourself if your present associations are helping you to grow into the person you want to become.  If not, then decide to disassociate or limit those associations and find new associations with people who will help you get to where you want to go. Spending more time with the right people will speed up your progress to your destination. 
   

(7) Learn the Art of Living Well. 

Learn to design a lifestyle with the amount of money you have now. When you treat people who serve you well, you will feel better about yourself.  Treat your family well and find ways to be generous in spirit with them. Be happy and grateful for what you have while pursuing what you want. Master the art of lifestyle and happiness and when your money increases, your lifestyle and happiness will increase with it. 

 Love and friendship are important in life. Pay attention to those you love and your friends. Know who are the friends who will go the distance with you and those who are casual friends who won’t and never confuse the two. 

Faith without action serves no useful purpose.  Action is the last part of the formula for success. Action ensures results. Only action generates a reaction. 

We are all given the gift of life. It is up to each one of us how we spend it and whether we use the universal laws to prosper. 

Rating: $$$$$ out of five.  Excellent book. 


Copyright @ 2016 Christine Esser

This book was purchased, not a gift.   

This book can be purchased on Amazon by clicking the first link below. Disclosure: We may receive a small commission from your purchase, but this will not raise the amount you pay. Thank you for reading this review. Comments are welcome.  We have not received anything from the author or publisher of Rohn's book in exchange for this review. The second link is a full summary of Rohn's book by Money Book Millionaire, a family member. Comments are welcome. 

    

10 Time Management Tips from Manage Your Time in Ten Minutes a Day by Michal Stawicki

This little gem of a book on time management will be useful to everyone who works a full-time job, has other obligations, and is looking for a systematic method to fit more activities into the day that will help them get ahead.

In Master Your Time in 10 Minutes a Day: Best Time Management Book for Anyone Struggling with Work-Life Balance, 2014, Michal Stawicki discloses how he works a full- time job and has managed to add other activities to his schedule, like church activities, family time, and creating multiple passive sources of income through his various writing activities.

The Ten- Minute Philosophy 

Daily sustained actions bring results. Also, the more action is taken, the better the results up to a certain point.  But, if efforts invested and results achieved were applied to a normal bell distribution curve, we could easily see that after a certain point, our results begin to wain.  It is only through varying our actions and measuring our results, we learn to hit the sweet spot where our efforts bring the greatest results.

Thus, the ten- minute philosophy is that every sustained action will bring you results if you apply effort consistently to any goal.  Draft your own personal mission statement. Now consistently work on developing habits that will help you achieve your mission and eliminate all those habits that interfere with achieving your mission.

10 Time Management Tips. 

(1) Use a time journal to manage your time, recording what you do with your time in 30- minute increments to determine how you presently use your time and develop a plan to use time better.

(2)  Work on important but non-urgent tasks, not the unimportant-urgent tasks Borrowing from Steven R. Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Stawicki reminds us of the important-unimportant and urgent-not urgent matrix that Covey developed and Covey’s advice to fit most of your activities into the box where the activities you perform are both important but not urgent.

(3) Don’t kill your time by performing activities that are time killers.  

(4) Work every day because consistency is key to achieving results.

(5) Break all large tasks down into small tasks and prioritize them.

(6) Use at least one task list. Use two task lists if you are constantly interrupted, so you have a list of habit tasks that you get done during non-interrupted times,  like during your morning routine, and another list of tasks that can be done time permitting.

(7) Block time and do tasks that are similar together in the same block of time.

(8) Eat that frog by doing the most difficult task first.

(9) When you have a small block of time, such as a commute on a train, find tiny tasks from your to-do list to fill in that time to get more done.

(10) Multitask by combining a mental task with a physical task, such visualize success while doing the dishes.

Confucius said, “It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.” But if you  use these ten time management tips, you can speed up your progress in reaching any goal.

Rating: $$$$ out of five.  Although these tips are recycled from others, such as Brian Tracy’s Eat that Frog, Stephen Covey’s 7 Habits Book of Highly Effective People, and Jeff Olsen’s The Slight Edge, sometimes it takes hearing how someone is managing his time and getting more done who is just slightly ahead of you to give you the boost you need to move ahead.  I am constantly interrupted during the day and found the discussion of the two task lists quite helpful.

Copyright @ 2016 Christine Esser

This book was purchased, not a gift.   

This ebook book can be purchased on Amazon by clicking the first link below. Disclosure: We may receive a small commission from your purchase, but this will not raise the amount you pay. Thank you for reading this review. Comments are welcome.  We have not received anything from the author or publisher in exchange for this review. Comments are welcome. 

   

Summary Of The Richest Man in Babylon by George Clason; #freesummary

The Richest Man in Babylon by George S. Clason covers the basic universal laws of money that are unchanging. Thus, it is as useful and viable today as it was in the 1920's when it was written. Clason’s goal was to write a book to teach others who do not have any money how they can use a simple formula for acquiring wealth.  

Clason used Babylon as the setting for his parables because it was known as the richest city in the world during its time. The people of ancient Babylon valued money and practiced sound financial principles in acquiring, saving, and investing money. In doing so, they secured a healthy financial future for themselves and their loved ones.

The Richest Man in Babylon contains a series of parables. The first parable is about Bansir, a chariot builder and his friend Kobbi, a musician, who have worked for many years yet do not have wealth and so they go to Arkad, the richest man in Babylon, to learn how to become wealthy. Within this story are other stories which explain the basic principles of money and wealth.

The Seven Cures for a Lean Purse and 5 Laws of Gold

(1) Save at least ten percent of all your earnings.

(2) Control your expenses so that you are living below your means and can save at least ten percent of your earnings.

(3) Invest your savings so that it earns more money. 

(4) Guard your investment from loss. Before you invest in your own business or invest in someone else’s business, make certain that you or they know what they are doing.  Consult with those more skilled in handling money than you are to determine if you are making a wise investment.

(5) Buy a home if you can do so using the 90 percent of earnings set aside for living expenses. 

(6) Insure a future income for yourself and your family by investing in assets that will increase in value to prepare for retirement and by having life insurance for those who are dependent on you. 

(7) Increase your ability to earn by becoming better at what you do or learning new skills. 



The first five on this list are the Five Laws of Gold.  All seven combined are considered the seven cures for a lean purse. 

10 Financial Principles

(1) Learn to love work if you want to have a lot of money.

(2) Have insurance to protect your wealth, such as car insurance, house insurance, etc.

(3) Your home [or real estate] can be a profitable investment.

(4) Save for your retirement.

(5) Those who are in debt are enslaved.

(6) Increase your ability to earn by learning new information/skills.

(7) Track your financial progress at regular intervals.

(8) Money is the medium upon which earthly success is measured.

(9) Money makes it possible to enjoy the best that this earth offers.

(10) Money is plentiful to those who understand the simple laws that govern its acquisition.

A Plan Anyone Can  Use to Get Out of Debt

(1) Place 10 percent of all your earnings into savings.

(2) Use 70 percent of earnings to cover all living expenses.

(3) Use 20 percent of earnings to pay off all old debts.  Apportion the amount you pay each creditor from this twenty percent.  For example, if your 20 percent to pay debts is $600 total. but the total amount of debt you owe is $3,000 and you owe one creditor $1500, that creditor would receive fifty percent of the 20 percent you have to pay debts, or $300 until the debt is paid in full.  When the old debts are paid, convert this amount to savings/investment as well.

(4) Do not incur any new debts.


Rating: $$$$$ out of five.  This book, written as a parable, covers all the basic principles essential to financial health that remain as true today as they did in ancient Babylon.  But for some people in some areas of the country, investing in a single -family home might not be a wise investment. For some people, a multi-family unit might be a better first investment in real estate. 

Copyright @ 2016 Christine Esser

This book was purchased, not a gift.   

This book can be purchased on Amazon by clicking the first link below. Disclosure: We may receive a small commission from your purchase, but this will not raise the amount you pay. Thank you for reading this review. Comments are welcome.  We have not received anything from the author or publisher in exchange for this review. The second book listed is audio. The third book is a full summary by Money Book Millionaire. . 

5 Key Ideas from Choose Yourself by James Altucher: Quick Book Summary and Review

Of course, as the forward indicates, the reason why you should always choose yourself is because if you don’t choose to serve yourself first, no one else will. But Altucher suggests that the business opportunities that you create for yourself are not likely to be found in a book. So where will they be found?

Altucher recommends that we should only do things that we enjoy. He explains that we feed our own fire by doing things we enjoy, but when we do things that we do not enjoy doing our fire begins to go away.

The Daily Practice 

Take care of your physical body by getting between 7-9 hours of sleep, exercising and eating a healthy diet. Also, take care of your emotional body by feeding it with people who are positive and encourage you and limit exposure to people who criticize and drain you. You need to tame your mind by focusing on what you want.  For your spiritual body, live in the present. By keeping your mind focused on the present moment you avoid stressing out about the past or future.

Making Money

If you want to earn money, find a problem and solve it.  The more people you solve the problem for, the more money you are likely to make. If you have an idea for a product, build it, sell it, ship it and then quit your job.  But if you don’t promote yourself, no one else will.

Don’t Be a Hater 

If you want to be successful, study success. Bless that which you want, especially others who are successful.

How to Become an Idea Machine

Every day read/skim books on at least four different topics. Every day write down ten new ideas on anything. Tap your own internal resources by cleaning up any past emotional garbage and stay physically, emotionally and spiritually healthy. Occasionally, spark your brain by trying something completely new, like taking a watercolor class. Look through old ideas and compare then to new ideas to see if you can generate something new by mixing the old with the new.

Always be Honest

Dishonesty works until it doesn’t and when it fails, a person’s life goes downhill quickly. Think of Bernie Madoff and his family and the massive scam that netted billions but resulted in Madoff going to jail, his divorce, a son’s suicide, and the pain of all the people who lost their entire retirement savings.

There are plenty more good ideas in this book. These are just the ones I selected that deal with earning money.

Rating: $$$$ out of five.   This is a quick read, interesting and quite inexpensive at less than a buck on Kindle.

Copyright @ 2016 Christine Esser

This book was purchased, not a gift.   

This book can be purchased on Amazon by clicking the first link below. Disclosure: We may receive a small commission from your purchase, but this will not raise the amount you pay. Thank you for reading this review. Comments are welcome.  We have not received anything from the author or publisher in exchange for this review. 

Copywriting Tips - How to Write Copy that Sells: Quick Book Summary and Review

As Zig Ziglar observes, timid sale people have skinny kids. But when you have an online business or do online marketing, your website, blog posts and email messages to your customers act as your salespersons.  How to Write Copy that Sells is an easy- to- follow guidebook on how to write sales copy for websites, advertising letters, and emails so that you and your kids will always be well fed.  

In How to Write Copy that Sells, The Step-By-Step System for More Sales, to More Customers, More Often, 2016, by Morgan James Publishing, Ray Edwards has written an easy to read and follow guide filled with copywriting tips. These are designed to help you write ad copy that creates cash flow for your business.  

Edwards is one of the highest paid copywriters in business today. He has written sales copy for Tony Robbins and Robert Allen, among others. In 12 chapters, Edwards covers the basics of what you need to know to write headlines that grab attention, how to write email messages that convert to dollars, how to use bullet points, how to write irresistible offers, and how to close the sale using guarantees.  It is all in here.  

Here are a few copywriting tips from the book: 

How to Find Your Message

To find your message, fill in the blanks in this sentence. Any [the audience you are trying to reach], can [solve their problem] by using [the product or service you are selling] because [how the product or service solves the audience’s problem.]  

For example, anyone who has been charged with a DUI, can obtain the best outcome for the case by hiring Ann Attorney because Ann Attorney carefully reviews all the facts of the case, has handled hundreds of similar DUI cases in the court where you are charged, and she knows how to get the charges dismissed or reduced in appropriate cases. 

Headlines Must Grab Attention 

Here are five types of headlines that grab attention: 

(1) How to. [For example, How to write copy that sells.] .

(2) Transactional headlines that make a promise, such as, "Follow this diet for three days and lose 5 pounds." 

(3) The reason why, such as, "5 Reasons Why You Should Hire Ann Attorney to Handle Your DUI Case." 

(4) The Probing Question [Do You Want to Know if Your DUI Can Be Dismissed or Reduced to a Lower Charge? 

(5) If then [If You Hire Ann Attorney, You Can Rest Assured That Your Case Is Being Handled Properly.]

Bullet Points Can Guide Readers' Eyes Down the Page

Edwards shares techniques he uses with bullet points to help you move your target readers' eyes down the page. Usually, you will want to limit the bullet points to ten at a time.  For example, if you have 50 bullet points, use a paragraph or two of text, present ten bullet points, and then list ten more and continue like this until you have covered your list. 

Rating: $$$$$ out of five. This book contains a lot of information anyone can use to improve sales copy and increase revenue. You can find this book on Amazon by clicking on the link below. 

Comments are welcome. Share your own favorite marketing books. Ramit Sethe in a recent blog post indicated that he likes Age of Propaganda: The Everyday Use and Abuse of Persuasion andThe Robert Collier Letter Book.

This book was purchased, not a gift.   

This book can be purchased on Amazon by clicking the first link below. Disclosure: We may receive a small commission from your purchase, but this will not raise the amount you pay. Thank you for reading this review. Comments are welcome.  We have not received anything from the author or publisher in exchange for this review.