Successful? Why, yes I am.

NY times - Clueless in America

2008-04-23T00:15:00.001+10:00

Interesting reading. Link

Id like to see how such a thing gets addressed in a free market economy.

Free market economy vs. Command economy

2008-04-21T20:19:00.002+10:00

CERN are close to opening their Large Hadron Collider later this year and it got me thinking. The project has taken 14 years to build and has cost billions. There is no immediate benefit that can be sought from such a project except to further human knowledge in particle physics.

Can you imagine such a facility being developed in the U.S.? The free market economy capital of the world? My thoughts on the matter are that free market economies are very much short term in their vision as the want for wealth essentially overtakes all other value systems.

Something to think about.

English writing

2008-04-15T22:02:00.003+10:00

Quick post..

was reflecting on my written skills back in high school and realised that had I known how to touch type back in highschool, I could have practicised writing essays on the PC. First and major benefit is you save time. Lots of time!

Credit Crisis

2008-04-13T21:29:00.002+10:00

So I was reviewing my blog after almost a 5-6 month absense and noticed I wrote a bit on this subject back in August.

Well, interesting to see now that many commentators and many people saying that when the collapse comes (not if) its going to be BIG. It will be bigger than the dotcom bubble burst, and quite possibly may match the depression of the 1930s.

Supply vs. Demand

2008-04-13T21:21:00.002+10:00

Anyhoos, I was reading reddit and some article on current affairs in the U.S and the following thought came to me;

Economics is based on supply and demand, correct?
So the question I want answered is, does demand include the ability to purchase or is it simply a want? Same goes with supply, does it include the ability to actually sell a good/service and not simply based on speculation?

The above questions came when I was reading about the rich/poor divide in the U.S and got to thinking, if there were only two people in the world, one super rich, the other very poor. Does the 'wealth' of the super rich guy equate to nothing if the poor guy cant afford what the rich guy has, or better yet, has no desire in getting his wealth?

Just some random thoughts....

Labour costs?

2007-11-11T23:34:00.000+11:00

So I was busy gardening today and while on my hands and knees pulling out weeds (hey that rhymes!) I got thinking about how expensive it is to get one of those professional gardeners to mow the lawn etc.

My thoughts turned to plumbing/electrical for some reason and how relatively cheap it is to get a handyman from a street corner in Karachi to come to your place and fix-up whatever it is that needs doing. And relatively speaking these labourers are very cheap as compared to plumbers and technicians here in Australia.

A couple of reasons as to why they are cheap over there is possibly due to the lack of higher education the majority of the population has, thus very difficult to move up from poverty standard of living into middle class. Also, the supply of labour is excessive.

A couple of reasons as to why labour costs for such trades is so expensive here in Australia (and probably applies to other western countries); not many people actually aspire to do such jobs (even though many of these people are multimillionaires!); There are barriers to entry into such roles. There are rules, regulations, certifications which must be met/passed before any sort of work can be done. I guess the basic premise is to protect the consumer? As a result of such barriers, supply is limited.

This is an analogy that applies to China and India. Excess labour supply is what allows China to maintain such cost competitive manufacturing, while in India although the I.T. sector is seeing a significant rise in costs, the number of engineers, scientists etc coming out of universities is tremendous. This is the case in China also.

Hmm something to think about....

Mr Bush and Ecomonics... oh dear.

2007-11-11T01:11:00.000+11:00

Found this on reddit.com

Brilliant article here

7 countries considering abandoning the U.S dollar

2007-11-07T22:01:00.000+11:00

Check this out... link

My dad was telling me the other week, how middle east oil producing countries are considering a move away from the U.S dollar. Their whole economy is pretty much 'pegged' on the U.S dollar. With the fall of the dollar, their asset values pretty much declines as the dollar does.

Now on the free market, the U.S dollar will rise and fall against other currencies, just that this time around its falling sharply against ALL currencies. The article link above is brief, but worth the read.

Serious 'economic correction' on the cards for U.S

2007-11-06T19:43:00.000+11:00

Wow, so eloquently put. Check out this article in todays SMH, which quotes billionare George Soros : Click here

Ive been reading social news networking sites such as reddit.com and digg.com for the past two months and the U.S economic and political situation does seem quite serious. I must admit I was chatting with my dad the other day and it definitely feels like a serious recession is on the cards.

To be brutally honest a U.S recession is unlikely to have serious implications here Australia.

Something worth tracking for the next couple of months.

PS: I've been out of blogging action for the past two-three months primarily due to work, but I should soon be able to start regular posts come mid-November.

Stock market correction

2007-08-16T20:52:00.001+10:00

I learned something new today. When the stock market drops more than 10% its officially labelled as a correction. The ASX is now sitting somewhere around 5700 points. The market hit a high of 6400 back in July 13.

I still think now is going to be an excellent time to buy some cheapish stocks.

Vocabulary

2007-08-16T05:44:00.000+10:00

Analogy time!

Okay, theres no back story to this so straight to the point.... ever wondered how having a good vocabulary allows you explain yourself, your story, your background to others more easily. Infact forget others, just yourself, having a higher vocabulary range allows thoughts and actions to be more easily defined and put into context.

Ok so what? Well this is analogous to how numbers, equations, mathematics, gives us added ability to understand the physical and natural world better, simply because we can interpret those into numbers which simply stated go from 0 to 9.

Take telecommunications, my field of profession, has many complex equations to understand how nature and the enviroment will affect say, the transfer of data via radio waves. Same goes for understanding fibre optic signals etc.

I'm beginning to realise that having a good foundation in vocabulary and numerical mathematics (in my case telecommunications, but I also want to learn about finance) has huge benefits in terms of accelerated learning. Taking a quick side-step from all this, in the telecommunications field, we have this thing called the 7-layer OSI model. It basically outlines what the data has to do for it to travel between two PC's for example across a network. These seven layers incorporate what the software must do, what the network protocol does, and how it goes on the physical medium.

The lowest layer in the 7-layer OSI model is the physical layer. This is basically the bare minimum that is required for data to traverse over. Eg: copper network cables, fibre optic connection, air for wireless connections. Now think of having a good vocabulary and number skills as having a superior physical medium. Now what I want to know is what things are there above this that one can learn and improve to better understand the environment around him/her?

One thing that has been on the back of my mind for the past month or so, is understanding psychology of humans. For example, listening to Dale Carnegie's audio book 'How to win friends and influence people' and also reading Stephen Covey's book 'The 7 habits of highly effective people', they both recommend being empathetic towards others. To be genuine when around others, first understand then be understood, etc etc.

The list goes on, so basically psychology OR understanding human behaviour is a somewhat important skill that should be developed. Im going about this via reading and then trying to read and see examples by observing people around me. At this stage Ive identified psychology to be one layer that would sit somewhere above vocabulary/numerical. What else can one identify?

Perhaps Im going about this all wrong? Perhaps layering is not the best way to look at this? Its about identifying basic 'things' (I could not come up with a better word) that one can work one in improving ones-self.

Oh and in this particular instance all this layering applies to career and relationship. Different layers would apply for wealth and spirituality.

I know I keep saying this, but Im going to try and return to this topic after Ive thought it through a little more. Watch this space.

Ross Gittins

2007-08-11T11:37:00.000+10:00

Another good easy to read and understand article by Ross Gittins, the Sydney Morning Heralds economics editor.

Click here

I have a strong dislike for lying politicians.

Why our internet costs are so high

2007-08-07T23:27:00.000+10:00

An excellent article found on www.smh.com.au Find the full story here

I hope our politicians and policy makers read this.

Be frugal with electricity use

2007-08-07T21:00:00.000+10:00

Simple policy by which to live by;

If not in room, turn of the lights.
If not using computer for more than 1 hour, turn it off. Leaving your PC running all day while your at work, is firstly consuming unnecessary electricity (unless your downloading stuff), second your actually diminishing the life of the PC.
If you have speakers attached to your PC, turn it off while not using. Same goes with printer, scanner etc.
Be wary of phantom lights around the house. Phantom lights are basically standby lights notifying you, your television or DVD player is still on. These lights stay on when you happen to turn off these devices via the remote. Get into habit of turning them off from the switch on the device itself or from the main wall socket.

The ASX down another 100 points this morning!

2007-08-06T11:00:00.000+10:00

The ASX down another 100 points this morning! Wow, its currently sitting on 5900. Damn.. the market was sitting on 6400 about two weeks back and now this.

Oh how I wish I had some spare cash to buy.

Free Market System?

2007-08-05T18:22:00.000+10:00

We live in the information age. The global economy. Capitalism rules!

Over the past decade for example, import tariffs on cars has steadily dropped. I think its almost down to zero nowadays. As a result imported cars have become cheaper. The federal government introduced new law called 'Work Choices' basically instead of having an award wage, each employer can negotiate their salary, terms and conditions individually (now I'm light on details basically business and business owners also have more power to easily sack people etc.)

From an economic standpoint, the whole reason for bringing in such laws is to allow Australians to compete in say, manufacturing against up and coming economies like China, India, Brazil. Labour costs in Australia (and I would assume also in other western countries) is quite high compared to other less well off Asian countries. It is in-fact a strong contributor to the high standard of living Australians enjoy, because generally speaking, everyone is very well off.

I personally admire the U.S. free market system. It actually stems from the whole free world thing. You work hard, you will see just rewards for your efforts. As a result, high production output and then good consumption has lead to the U.S being the worlds largest economy.
The rise of China and India economically speaking is a very good thing. Economically speaking it means the global economy will be less driven by U.S. activity alone. The saying goes, 'if the U.S sneezes, the rest of the world gets a cold'. (No more global recessions, we can rely on India and China thanks.) There are 2 BILLION people in India and China, can you imagine how good it will be for the rest of us, if they start buying our products!!

Take China, a communist country. The first definition found on google for communism is as follows;

An economic theory which stresses that the control of the means of producing economic goods in a society should reside in the hands of those who invest their labor for production. In its ideal form, social classes cease to exist, there is no coercive governmental structures, and everyone lives in abundance without supervision from a ruling class. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels popularized this theory in their 1848 Communist Manifesto.

One thing I find somewhat interesting is that if the whole world were a true free market system, we'd end up living like communists. Hey! whoa! hold on there!!

Let me explain. In economics, free economics especially, resources (ie: labour, capital, assets etc) move where there is demand. Simply speaking, its all about supply and demand. If the whole world were a true market system, where there were no international boundaries, no tariffs, no duties, no subsidies, no fixed exchange rates etc, everyone and I mean EVERYONE would end up making the same pay, everyone would be able to afford the same thing as the guy next door.
I also think as a result, goverments would cease to exist. There would be no requirement for such antique legacy systems. Democracy? nope, don't need it.

Free market system which would really be just another form of global communist society.

Value of dollar?

2007-08-04T18:05:00.000+10:00

I read an excellent blog post at Binary Dollar and it was about the 'cross over point'. That is when your investments earn enough money that they surpass your expenses. You could classify this by saying your financially free.

One thing of interest I found (in the comments actually) people generally speaking probably do not take into account inflation when investing for the future and what dollar value their assets will be worth after the term of investment.

Analogy: Take car ownership. When calculating weekly costs of a car ownership, you put in such things as fuel, insurance, wear & tear/servicing etc. BUT people do not include depreciation.
Apparently in Australia now half the cost of owning a vehicle is now gone in depreciation. Reason for this is simply because so many new vehicles are being sold, the demand for used ones falls rapidly. The average value of a brand-new car is almost 50% after three years of ownership!
If you think about it, same thing needs to be applied to housing/property.

Anyhoo, getting back on topic of dollar and its purchasing power, whole point to investing is obviously to grow your money/assets but also to beat inflation. That is, your purchasing power should never diminish! Im going to have to work out some new graphs and put them up here for comparisons sake.

Keep in touch for follow up post on this topic

Subprime lending

2007-08-03T13:00:00.000+10:00

The whole subprime lending catastrophe (well not quite catastrophic) thats happening in the U.S. thats causing world wide share market fall, Im wondering how long it will last?

There's an excellent article by Ross Gittins in todays SMH (www.smh.com.au) about how it doesnt really affect the economy in any major way. That is we're still working, still producing and still consuming, so no cause for alarm about having a possible recession. Apparently he said that the 1987 sharemarket crash did not, I repeat DID NOT, result in a recession. Very interesting.

Ive gotta focus on increasing my income so I can actually have more to invest. Sitting on median salary is not cool.

Policy: Car - Wheel alignment once a year

2007-08-02T18:42:00.000+10:00

As I experienced a flat tyre today, I was unable to simply get the tyre patched up, because one side of the tyre had worn out considerably and thus illegal to fix according to the tyre service centre. So I have to buy two new tyres as another one was also showing signs of wear.

Heres a new policy in relation to keeping your car well maintained and potentially saving you some cash. Get your car tyres/wheels aligned at least once every year. It should ensure your tyres last longer.

$250 out of pocket.. signing out!

Oh I wish I had some spare cash!!

2007-08-01T22:05:00.001+10:00

To invest that is. The ASX has dropped almost 4-5% in the last week following drops on the U.S. market.

Here's what happened to the top ASX 50 shares.

AGK	AGL ENERGY	$15.10		-$0.37
AIO	ASCIANO	$9.20		-$0.32
ALL	ARISTOCRAT	$13.40		-$0.25
AMC	AMCOR	$6.71		-$0.14
AMP	AMP	$9.77		-$0.29
ANZ	ANZ BANK	$27.52		-$0.78
ASX	ASX	$46.55		-$2.50
AWC	ALUMINA	$6.92		-$0.38
AXA	AXA ASIA	$7.04		-$0.31
BHP	BHP BLT	$35.96		-$1.04
BSL	BLUESCOPE	$10.33		-$0.62
BXB	BRAMB LTD	$10.85		-$0.23
CBA	CWLTH BANK	$52.25		-$2.01
CGJ	COLES GRP	$13.80		-$0.71
CNP	CENTRO.	$7.75		-$0.21
CSL	CSL	$86.00		-$2.95
FGL	FOSTERS	$5.83		-$0.08
FXJ	FAIRFAX	$4.77		-$0.07
GMG	GOOD GROUP	$5.92		-$0.16
GPT	GPT	$4.50		-$0.01
IAG	INSUR.AUST	$5.52		-$0.18
LLC	LEND LEASE	$18.16		-$0.47
MAP	MACAIRPORT	$4.15		-$0.22
MBL	MACQ BANK	$73.70		-$8.80
MGR	MIRVAC GRP	$5.09		-$0.05
MIG	MACQ INFRA	$3.06		-$0.21
NAB	NAT. BANK	$37.08		-$1.28
NCM	NEWCREST	$23.84		-$1.06
NWS	NEWSCORP	$26.49	-	$0.00
ORG	ORIGIN ENE	$9.50		-$0.33
ORI	ORICA	$26.62		-$1.33
PBL	PUBL&BROAD	$18.02		-$0.50
QAN	QANTAS	$5.59		-$0.15
QBE	QBE INSUR.	$28.54		-$1.43
RIO	RIO TINTO	$91.20		-$1.88
SGB	ST.GEORGE	$32.80		-$1.70
SGP	STOCKLAND.	$7.62		-$0.11
STO	SANTOS	$12.94		-$0.36
SUN	SUN MET	$19.04		-$0.36
TAH	TABCORP	$15.92		-$0.33
TCL	TRANSURBAN	$6.82		-$0.36
TEL	TELECOM NZ	$3.96		-$0.09
TLS	TELSTRA	$4.49		-$0.11
TLSCA	TELSTRA	$3.02		-$0.10
TOL	TOLLHOLDGS	$13.75		-$0.48
WBC	WESTPAC	$25.55		-$0.65
WDC	WESTFIELDG	$18.89		-$0.16
WES	WESFARMER	$37.50		-$1.49
WOW	WOOLWORTHS	$26.55		-$0.74
WPL	WOODSIDE	$42.20		-$1.09
ZFX	ZINIFEX	$18.61		-$1.30

If the market continues to slide, or even it starts to go up, now is an excellent chance to get some 'cheapish' stocks. Just my opinion.

Hmmmm

2007-08-01T22:00:00.000+10:00

Wow. August. Already!

July was uneventful, apart from the Pasha Bulker and the near-end-July stock crash. Anything else that may have happened I just can't care to remember.

I'll try to make 10 posts at least this month.

POLICY: Mind - Dont compare yourself to others

2007-06-21T20:08:00.000+10:00

Simple. Compare yourself to yourself alone.

Quality vs. Quantity: Friends

2007-06-16T22:37:00.000+10:00

I have a definite preference towards 'quality' friends.

Ive never been one to go make friends simply because I felt I wanted more. However, in social networking, having quantity can be advantageous.

TIP: Make good associations and respect your colleagues. Who knows it may serve you well.

Catch the train!

2007-06-16T21:17:00.000+10:00

Ever had one of those moments when your running towards the train platform only to see the train shut its doors and leave. When you were oh so close to getting it. That train was going to get you to your party/work/interview etc on time. Now your going to be late.

Well now that you missed the train you were supposed to get, are you going to wait around for the next one? Uh yes??

Now apply this logic to that goal you missed today? or was it yesterday?

So you missed that slight deadline, for whatever reason, are you going to stop simply because it completely stuffs up your plans? Apply this to your missed goals and keep going. Its difficult, but you'll thankyourself later :)

Are you leveraging?

2007-06-14T18:08:00.001+10:00

Ever read any entrepreneurial or business books. They all talk about leverage. Using leverage to grow your business and wealth.

So whats leverage? Definition: Leverage is using given resources in such a way that the potential positive or negative outcome is magnified.

Well a lot of small business grow and expand by leveraging their resources, capital, assets, knowledge etc. Okaaayy.. so what am I trying to say?

Well this post falls under my random thoughts label.

Well I was thinking of your local plumbers/electricians etc. They manage to start some good profitable businesses, after completing their apprenticeships, once they build their skills and enough experience, they make the big jump of going into business.

Alright.. so lets think about those people who are employed in a corporate environment, lets take engineers for example. How do engineers go about leveraging their skills and knowledge to start a business?? Can it be done? Honestly Im sure it can be, but I cant think how you would go about doing it.

Hmm something to think about.

Paradigm Shift anyone?

2007-06-14T08:39:00.000+10:00

So I bought 'The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" and I must say it looks like a ripper read.
Ive only read the first chapter and already he's got me thinking. He talks about paradigm shifts and stuff. More importantly he talks about making the inside-out change, about how being positive, doing external good things may not change who you are deep inside.

Let me finish this book, and I'll try to write up a little more on my thoughts.

Image....its such a relative thing.

2007-06-13T18:39:00.000+10:00

Image conscious beings we all are... Are we???

Ignoring your teen Hilton wannabes, Do the rest of secretly admire, or to put it less politely, envy the success other people have?

How often is it, you wonder 'how come that dude got that promotion!?' OR 'How on earth did he/she manage to get that job, I know more than he/she does!!'

Right from the birth of a child, most parents (like it or not) try to compare their children to others'.
Initially its probably pride when you think your child is the most beautiful, or behaves very well, doesnt wake you up at night etc etc. Now allow interactions to begin, that child starts to play with other children, uncles, aunties etc. Its here that comparison and opinions start to take place on how you think that child should think, do, act.

Now in this modern day capitalist society, it is no secret that most of are trying to compete with the Joneses. We all seem to want that car, that mobile phone, that watch, that plasma/LCD television set, that career, job, MONEY!!

Most people I know have goals that they're trying to achieve. Some have done very very well in their short careers. But how often do we see people get side-tracked by getting envious or jealous by the 'instant' success of others? We lose sight of our original goals just so we can copy what the other person did and try to ride our way into the same success situation. Fact is some people do get a break in their lives that others don't.... Im not doubting this.

The world is so unfair isn't it.

Changes we see in others, the success we see in others, isn't some magical instant change. It is a slow steady act of working towards what it is that they desire. Its the slow steady addition of skils compounding away that gives a person that 'break' that so many of us crave.

Fact of the matter is that we're all successful in our own right. A lot of us practice, I'd say majority of us, practice good honest habits. Unfortunately we lose sight of our goals due to infinite number of reasons. Technically speaking these are called excuses, but Im guilty of this as well. As much as I try and go for my goals, I lose track and develop excuses. Prime example: My CCNP study has been lagging. Seriously lagging. My excuse is the rhythm just isnt there.

So whats my point in all of this!? Point is, respect yourself first. A healthy respect. We all have many great and varied qualities. Just because you and I are not famous for our achievements, it is no reason to feel small and guilty. Your image is yours alone. My image is mine alone. No one can copy or become who I am and same goes for everyone else out there. So if you are on a path to success via those goals you've written down, be patient, work at it slowly, have balance in your life and enjoy the journey.

Life is a beautiful thing. Enjoy it.

PS: This article is not as fluid as I would like it to be. Thus why its labeled under Random Thoughts

Unlimited Wealth by Paul Pilzer

2007-06-12T21:45:00.000+10:00

An excellent book. Definitely recommended from my end.

Its not so much about how to get rich or anything but he talks about economics and our perception to economics and other issues. Fascinating read.

Success = Compound Returns!! Part II

2007-06-10T19:18:00.000+10:00

I wrote a post on compound returns and financial success a while back.

Many of the PD (personal development) gurus out there quote Einstein who said something along the lines of 'compound interest is the 8th wonder of the world'. When you think abou it... its an incredible thing. Unfortunately, its application is always applied to money/personal finance, getting rich over the long term etc etc.

Well I was listening to a Jack Canfield CD this weekend, and he talks about developing 4 new (good) habits per year. Thus in 10 years you will have developed 40 good habits, which will aid you in your success.

Now if you develop one good habit and it helps you to develop the next habit, then its like compound interest. Your effective returns increase with time and effort. Brilliant.

As stupid as it sounds, its such a simple idea, yet we fail (well, me) to apply it. We seem to lose track of ourselves. So work on the fundamental foundation habits and work your way upto building that skyscraper. :)

Cheers.

POLICY: Health - Balance

2007-06-05T22:03:00.000+10:00

I dont quite know how to put this, but I'll try.

Over the past two weeks I have felt that I am no longer in an equilibrium balance. I feel like a vegetable. Whoa? what!?

During high school, when I was studying for the HSC, I always heard people say, its important to keep a balance so as to avoid burn-out. There is a certain activity that I regularly fail to define as important. Your probably thinking... exercise, reading, daily goal revisions etc etc???

Its Socialising! I am what you would call an anti social person. This is an honest definition. Im serious! Im single, I only really have a select handful of friends and even then we very rarely do anything that would constitute as a social activity. Over the past 12 months I have tried to do something 'outdoorsy' like, watch a movie with my brothers (Outdoorsy for me is anything outside of home :p). Doing this really does make me feel good, because its a change in setting and scenery.

As easy as it sounds it rarely happens on a regular basis. Trouble for me is (here come the excuses) is that my work is based around 24/7 shift operation. There are sometimes weeks on end where I'll be working on the weekends and my days off fall on weekdays. *sigh*

Now take these couple of weeks as an example, even though sometimes my brothers and I have gone and watched a movie on weekdays, its not possible for at least another two weeks, due to their uni exams. (There is no way Im going alone to the cinema! But I sooo wanted to watch the new Pirates movie. Oh well.)

Now thankfully I actually budget for my socialising. I allocate roughly $30/week for this type of stuff. Now being the future type thinking person I am, I'd go as far as calculating how much interest return I'd be losing! This potential lost opportunity could be used instead to put more money away for shares, OR a motorcycle I may want in a years time, OR a new PC. The options and possible choices are infinite.

So whats my point? My point is, sure there are other 'non-social stuff' you could spend that money on, but dont! Use that money, that time, to give yourself a change. A much needed change from the everyday/weekly humdrum of work, life, home etc. I see it as a consicous health choice. Hopefully I'm not infringing on any copyright or trademark, but, Live hard Play hard.

My policy is thus;

Once every two weeks, go watch a movie with brothers/friends.
At least once every two months, catch up with friends for coffee/dinner/movie.
If I know the above is not happening, then at the very least go get take out. Try something new.

PS: This policy business is harder than I thought. Im not trying to win any votes here except convince myself that what I'm doing is in my best interests. I'll add more as I think them through.

ANZ Shares bought!

2007-05-31T21:53:00.000+10:00

First ever share purchase experience today!

33 ANZ shares at $28.840 each. Time to hold and watch.... for like 15 years :p

Today may just be a new first

2007-05-29T11:19:00.000+10:00

New first for what? Well Ive been meaning to buy shares off the ASX (Australian Stock Exchange) on an independant basis. Well today I placed a conditional order to buy 33 shares of ANZ at $29.000 Had I done this just before the day began I would have got this! (Price went down to $28.40).

When the order was placed the price was $29.140. Well here's hoping it goes down a bit.

Now here's a bummer. Initially I had a the plan to invest $200 per month into stocks of my own choosing. But this is really not very feasible as the brokerage fee is $32.95. If placing a conditional order add another $7.95. Thus I've had to bump up how much I can play with each time. The larger the amount, the less the stock has to go up to be back in positive profit territory.

So roughly speaking [($33+$8)/$1000]*100 equals 4%. For me to make any positive gain (assuming my conditional order goes through), the price needs to go up 4% first, then I can start talking about profits.

ANZ has performed very well in the last 10 years. It has almost tripled; from ~$10 to ~$30.
I think that works out to be an average of 11% return P.A. Not bad.

Again, the aim is to buy and hold. I think, by 2017, price of ANZ should hit around ~$90.

How to get other people interested in you.

2007-05-28T21:32:00.000+10:00

How to get other people interested in you; Following six taken from Dale Carnegie's How to Win Friends and Influence People.

Become genuinely interested in others
Smile
Speak their name. Everyone likes hearing their name.
Be a good listener, take genuine interest in others' interest.
Talk in terms of others peoples intersts.
Make the other person feel important and do it sincerly.

Top tips! Practice daily and they will serve you well in business, career, relationships and life in general.

Self-made policy

2007-05-28T10:58:00.000+10:00

So there is a federal election on this year. Both the Coalition and Labor party are on about their policies for this and that and whatever....

I was thinking, as a voter, as an observer to the news and events that have happened based on policy made by governments in the past, it is so easy to criticise policies and also so easy to suggest what policies should be forward to parliament.

Now apply this to ourselves. I was actually applying this logic to myself, but I believe it can generally apply to most people. We hardly ever have any policies/rules or liveby. Im not talking about basic policies, like honesty, telling the truth etc. Im talking about more detailed policies.

Take for example investing and saving for the future. Most of us want to retire comfortably. To be 'financially free' so to speak. Now wanting and knowing this, most of us know what steps are required for this to happen. I.E: start putting away a small percentage of your income and then investing that in some index fund or managed fund, not touching that amount for at least 20 - 30 years.

Take another policy example of wanting to continuously improve ourselves. A very broad statement you will agree. It requires further breakdown to help understand where we can work on continuous improvement, Toyota style!

Take as an example the following points:

Health
Finances
Career/business
Public speaking
Relationship

The above four points are broad areas of life that I want to work on improving. For example health: I ideally have a goal that I live past 85 years of age. I think its doable. But for me to get there, I require to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Agree?? Ofcourse you do.

So what constitutes a healthy lifestyle? Again break it down further;

Exercise
Eating right
Meditation
Take a holiday once a year/change of scenery.

Take point no.1 exercise. I have a goal where I can comfortably jog 10km. Now for me to get there, it requires I have excellent cardio fitness levels. As a result of knowing, I have been regularly skipping rope (unfortunately now as regularly as I would like as of late. Poor time management is my excuse). Once I feel I am comfortable with my skipping cardio levels, I want to do other things, like taking up bike riding to strengthen and build leg muscles. As of now, my leg muscles are almost non existent :p

So what I am trying to get at with policy?? Well once having identified how we want to live, what we want to achieve, we need to further breakdown those ideas further into attainable goals. Then work on how we can achieve them on a week by week or even day by day basis.

Working on your own policy and then investing the time required to achieved will have tremendous results come 2-3 years.

Now having wrote this, I need to work on my policy. I need to get reacquainted with my goals and then work on them. Unfortunately, motivation is not a permanent thing. We need constant reminders to do what we want to do.

I'll try and work on my policies further and then work on breaking them down. Once I have done this, I'll put it up here. Keep an eye out for it.

Death to the egg

2007-05-25T08:47:00.000+10:00

Was running a little late to work this morning, I had an egg on boil, waiting for 3 minutes to finish so I could get it off the stove.

Anyways, random thought, while I was waiting, eating some toast, I couldnt help think wonder if Id get another cracked boiled egg. This hasnt happen to me lately, but it got me thinking, why is it that some of us (in this case me) still have a subconcious negative mentality. I mean why cant we automatically assume the best. In this case, the egg will come out boiled ok.

Ive been working hard on my thoughts and I've come a long way from extreme pessimism to relative optimism. I guess I still have some more work to do.

PS: Lack of sleep doesnt help either :p

Economics and Abstraction

2007-05-24T22:04:00.000+10:00

I found the following joke in an economics text "Economics Principles and Policies" by Baumal et al.

The joke is filed under The Need for Abstraction;

Three people stranded on an isolated island - a chemist, a physicist, and an economist - with ample supply of canned food but no implements to open the cans. In debating what to do, the chemist suggested lighting a fire under the cans, thus expanding their contents and causing the cans to burst. The physicist doubted that would work, he advocated building a catapult with which they could smash the cans against some nearby boulders. They then turned to the economist for his suggestion. The thought for a moment and announced his solution: 'Let's assume we have a can opener'.

I find this joke hilarious. Not least because its quite relevant today with the Federal Elections coming up and the Coalition especially touting their superior management of the economy. Perhaps there is something abstract about that.

I want to win friends and influence people. :p

2007-05-10T21:08:00.000+10:00

Yep, Ive just started listening to Dale Carnegie's "How to Win Friends and Influence People".

In the first 10 minutes he says the highest paid engineers arent those with the most technical knowledge. But those with technical knowledge who are able to communicate their ideas to their colleagues, friends, clients etc.

Brilliant. And I dont mean that in a sarcastic way.

This just tells me that Im on the right path. I have been attending toastmasters :). I reckon in about 10 months I'll be very competent. Not long then before I become a professional public speaker.

Write much and write often

2007-05-06T12:18:00.000+10:00

An exceelentay post on Craigharper.com on public speaking.

His site: http://www.craigharper.com.au

Gives tips about speaking and I particularly like this practical advice;

Spend significant time writing, preparing and committing your presentations
to memory. You need to (1) have great content (fresh, interesting, challenging,
stimulating, confronting, funny, relevant) and (2) you need to know your stuff
inside-out.The better you know your material, the more relaxed you will be in
front of your group.Looking at notes repeatedly while you speak... not
cool.

I struggle to come up with interesting material. Now Ive been wanting to write blog posts regularly, but even when I intend to write something I struggle to come up with ideas.

Investing

2007-04-30T19:57:00.000+10:00

Was listening to Tony Robbins, Get the Edge program, and in particular his take on finances.

He also talks about investing about 10% of your income into stocks. Basically he states that over a time average, the stockmarket has always provided greater return than other investments such as property.

He staties strongly in paying yourself first. This really applies for people who have high debt. Fortunately a lot of the personal finance stuff out there does not apply to me because I do not have a high risk debt like credit cards etc. My university debt is around $25000, but thats inflation adjusted and doesnt really bother me.

So if I were to start investing $200 per month on stocks that I CHOOSE, and assume that my average per annum return is 12% which is re-invested, in thirty years I'd be sitting on just over $700k.

He also talks that a key strategy to investing and getting rich over the long term is asset allocation. For example he talks about investing into two different baskets, one named security, the other growth. The security basket is one where you put a certain percentage of your money like say 50% and the other 50% into your growth basket. So lets say your growth basket is doing really well, if you pull money out, make sure some of it goes into the security basket. Its basically assuming that the growth basket has high risk associated to it.

Helping others helps you?

2007-04-30T05:06:00.000+10:00

Ive heard this many times over in many different forms but for some reason it sunk in tonight. I was listening to a Deepak Chopra interview (HotType - check YouTube) and he said something along the lines of help others get what they want and you will get what it is that you want.

Now can this be applied to every person I meet and come into contact with. So the question I have now is how do you determine what it is that other people want?? How does one genuinely find out so that you can genuinely and humbly assist that person in getting it?

This is a concept I have literally heard a hundred times, but I never really understood. I guess I still I dont understand it. I'll have to experience it to understand it I guess. Im going to have to read up more on Deepak Chopra's teachings. His stuff certainly sounds much like what I read on www.stevepavlina.com. Perhaps I may find material that goes more in-depth than Steve.

Hmm something to think about and do.

Deepak Chopra

2007-04-29T19:50:00.000+10:00

Was watching ONE on ONE on Al-Jazeera this afternoon and Deepak Chopra was being interviewed by Riz Khan. Some things I got from his interview;

He exercises everyday.
He meditates everyday.

Im almost a regular on the exercise, I need to begin meditating. And meditating regularly.

Fitness update

2007-04-09T23:35:00.000+10:00

After a two day break from any major physical activity, I skipped rope for 25 minutes. Did it relatively comfortably, was not easy mind you, but I set my mind that I was going to skip for 25 minutes before I started and made it happen. Setting a purpose before you start anything helps heaps in achieving goals.

Physical exercise a lot of the times is lost and won in the mind. I cant remember where I read this but its true. :)

Im slowly getting into push-ups. I do two sets of about 8 - 10 pushups (one where my hands are wide, and then one set where my hands are closer together). Those triceps start hurting after a while. Ive also started doing some sit-ups. This time I only did 1 set of 7 - 10.

Im getting there, getting fitter, feeling lighter, feeling quicker, and not forgetting, looking much better. :)

Real Estate Agents

2007-04-09T12:49:00.000+10:00

House prices here in Sydney are averaging around $450 000. For simplicity's sake, assume its $500 000. Thats half a million dollars.

Take the job of a real-estate agent. These guys charge on avg, anywhere from 2% - 4% of sale price as their commission. Assume again its just 2.5%. Now lets see what it is they do.

They come and take pictures of the place.
They put a huge styrofoam board outside.
They advertise the house in the local 'Homes Pictorial' (or any other local free house publication)
They take out 15 - 30 minutes on Saturday or Sunday to put that house as an open-home.
During the week, they may field calls from 'potential' buyers about queries etc.

This is all they do. But if they make a sale, thats $12500 per house sale!!! Its no wonder real-estate owners, and people who work in real-estate are multimillionares, most who choose to drive 3-series BMWs or C-class Benzs.

From a business point of view, I dont see it being that difficult to operate. I guess patience is a compulsory requisite, as is the need to invest some odd hours. (Especially weekend work)

Learning to learn

2007-04-09T12:43:00.000+10:00

So I'm going through some CCNP BSCI reading. BSCI is one of the four exam components for the CCNP certification.

Im reading first with the intention to preview the material first, writing down any trigger words that I want to focus on my second pass. Anyway Ive just done my second preview, a relatively quick pass through the first half of the material, and I'm thinking....... how effective would it be for me to write down words, key words infact, and then use neuro association to learn the facts.

I'm going to experiment with this for the next two days and see how it goes. The advantage I have at this point is that this new material I'm reading is more organised than the previous text I had bought.

Random thought...

2007-04-08T03:58:00.000+10:00

Was watching a music channel, and they were showing some classics from the 90's like Salt N Pepa etc. Anyways it got me thinking;

If someone were to write a song that is potential top-ten material, would it still be top-ten material if the song is released not today, but 10 years from now, or even 20 years from now??

Basically, do songs hold their value, provided they havent been released? I know sometimes people re-do other peoples songs (happens quite often from what I can observe).

Anyhoos... just writing my thoughts down.

Space vs. Time

2007-04-07T23:23:00.001+10:00

Space and time. Einstein talked about. *I think*.

How is it that we value our space so much, for example, land space, car space, house space, personal space. Yet, I still see so many people that fail to value their time.

I myself did not care much for time, when I was in my early 20's. [Im in my mid to late 20's now]. But having started personal development, and getting to a point where I try and think and focus on success, personal success.... I keep thinking how valuable my current time is. How valuable my current time will be for my time in the future. How valuable the the time that has passed, has been for me in allowing me to learn from my experiences. These lessons point to the future, I want a good future, a successful future.

Case in point. Take investing, especially when used with building capital gains via compound interest. In 20 - 30 years, I know I will be a millionare. 30 - 35 years, I'll definitely be able to say I'm a multi-millionare. As of now, I'm still a passive investor, just putting regular amounts of money into a fund manager. I really want to start investing into stocks that I pick. I want to get into commercial property, because I see HUGE benefits of having such property, 20+ years from now. The best time to all of this is NOW. Using the time I have to now and the time that will pass to make the most of my life when Im in my 50's.

Take my intention and goal to get my CCNP and then go for my CCIE. I want my CCNP by this years end. I want my CCIE by next years end. Having these two certifications, should easily allow me to earn $50k more than what I earn presently. Again time is the issue. Well time AND effort.

So back to space and time, or more specifically time. I was listening to my Zig Ziglar CD (I listen it to everytime Im in the car alone) and he says to practice winning habits. I have been practicing winning habits of late. Ive been in regular attendance at my Toastmasters club. I regularly read material, from personal development to technology, to news. My prime focus is to read good positive material I can learn from. Ive been regularly exercising. My reading has also started include a little on health and fitness. My body is getting in shape, Im starting to look better, and I definitely feel better. My thoughts, Im now almost (and I say almost) always in a happy positive mood. Its a feeling I haven't maintained in ages!! It feels good. Very good.

I realise that these winning habits, and more winning habits that I'll start to do regularly in the future, all include the wise use of my time. For instance, today before coming to work, after showering, I sat on my bedroom floor, and meditated for about 2 minutes. This isnt much, but its a start. I can definitely see that it can have a lasting benefit if done regularly. Preferably daily.

My other goal, which includes this very post is to write more and write often. Even if the outcome is garble, (like this post) at least Im practicing. Once I get into the habit of writing more often I can then start to focus my thoughts on more pointy subjects.

Alright, no more to write. Adios.

Bruce Lee

2007-04-05T22:12:00.000+10:00

Super motivation article I found on a thread at StevePavlina forums.

Click Here

Must read, and watch. It contains some rare Bruce Lee footage.

Its got me thinking, if he was so determined, can I associate the image of Bruce Lee to achieve something ridiculous in my own personal life/career.

Im thinking Bruce CCIE!! As Tony Robbins says, the mind is a associating machine, associate Bruce Lee, the power, the discipline, the dedication, the fitness, the success, the aura..... to me holding my CCIE. Im a CCNA at present. I haven't even passed one CCNP exam. Heck I dont even work in Data/IP, Im currently working in optical networking.

Im going to play with this thought. As Ive been exercising very regularly for the past 3 months, I believe, that combined, with my positive thoughts, patience, affirmations and my ability to work smart, I'll have my CCNP in no time. Then its a matter of simply working hard for getting my CCIE. That will be a pinnacle for me in my telecommunications engineering career.

With a CCIE I will boldly claim that Ive made it!! And I can then move onto other more challenging roles.

Secrets?

2007-04-05T21:59:00.000+10:00

Many book titles, (and I'm not discrimating against any particular type or area) seem to have titles that begin with Secret to... OR Secrets Revealed..... If these authors are writing about so called "secrets", once they are out in the public, doesn't it go against it being a secret??

Nothing against the contents of these books, just why not call, "[Stuff] you may not know...." etc.

Something to think about.

Acting Like Godot

2007-04-02T21:28:00.000+10:00

A simple personal blog, but I really love some of the things he writes about, especially his experience with life, intention manifestation and law of attraction.

Found these two links for Scott Adams (Creator of Dilbert) discussing his succeesses and his use of affirmations.

Acting Like Godot

Dilbert links:
Here and Here

Success with speech #2

2007-04-02T21:24:00.000+10:00

I did my second speech at Toastmasters this evening. I was happy with it. It was much better than my first speech, however it didnt quite go as well as I would have liked.

Issues I noticed. I seem to choke up. I need to focus on putting my energy OUT, rather than let the energy come IN.

I was on time, Although my practice was like over 10 minutes, I finished just after 7 minutes from memory.

l felt good that I provided something of value to the listeners/audience. Some of the other speech makers used some of my content in their speeches are reference. One noted evaluation for me was that I did the transition thing very well early on in the speech.

I think my next speech will be next month as from memory all speech slots are filled out for the next meeting. oh well.

Speech #2 for Toastmasters

2007-03-31T10:18:00.000+10:00

Okay, so I have to give a 5-7 speech the title in my 'communication and leader program' states project 2 as being "Organise your speech".

Second para states
"As a speaker your role is to tell others about yoru ideas and occasionally persuade them to take soem action. Your audience will be more receptive to yoru efforts if you take the time to assemble your thougths in a logical manner. Well organised speeches have several benefits..."

So what I wanted to talk about was Personal development and especially focusing on consistency and taking action.

So here goes;

Fellow toastmasters and guests. Personal Development. In particular Personal Development and Success. What is it and whats it good for??

I came to this question after pondering over another question.

Now I’ll just quickly go offtopic for a moment.

It is a question that most people probably ask themselves at least once in their lifetimes. [Pause]

"What is the meaning of life??" Now your probably sitting here, wondering What the!? [Pause], this guy is only in his mid 20's and he's wondering about the meaning of life, WHATS WRONG WITH HIM?!

I'll answer that question later..... Not about whats wrong me, but my take on the meaning of life...

Back on topic….

Success. [Short Pause]. I think it'd be fair for me to say that most if not all of us want success. We want to be successful in our lives. We want success in careers, relationships, money, family etc.
If you type in 'success' OR 'successful' in google, you'll find numerous sites that will encourage you to take on personal development. Basically, there is a strong correlation between personal development and success.

Okay great. But this leads to more questions. If I undertake personal development what will it give me exactly? How does persoal development work?? Are there any side affects with personal development??

First lets define personal development;
As a rough definition found on wikipediea for self help it states:
The term self-help can refer to any case or practice whereby an individual or a group attempts self-guided improvement^[1]—economically, intellectually or emotionally. The basis for self-help is often self-reliance, publicly available information, or support groups where people with similar problems join together.

Personal development comes in many forms, for example, exercising, wanting to lose weight, OR learning about investing for the future, OR toastmasters, wanting to overcome fears of public speaking etc.

Now these are aspects of personal development, and PD generally begins by people buying self-help books and starting their journey from there on.

Based on numerous books, blogs Ive read, and CD audio programs and podcasts Ive listened to, PD revolves around the following core ideas.

Persistence
Goal Setting
Strong beliefs
Determination
Positive thinking
Visualisation
Discipline
Courage
Patience
Networking
Time Management
Hard work
Confidence
Motivation etc

AND the list can go on and on.....

This is where problems start creeping in…. [pause]

What ends up happening, is you read one self-help, it gets you motivated, energised hyped up. You want more. You rush out to buy another book/audio/program. That book gives you another kick in the pants, gets you hyped up again.

This is the first problem. The motivation high that you get after you read/listen to these books/CDs only lasts a short while. You crave for another new book which will give you another short motivation high. You become dependant on getting that 'high" from these books/CDs. I kid you not, its an addiction. It probably explains also why these personal development gurus are multimillionares, they’re like legal drug dealers!

Going deeper into the problem; is how these ideas and principles are presented and sold to eager personal development newbie such as yours truly. As an example this is how most personal development material is sold "Hard-work is the key to success"; OR "positive thinking is the key to success" OR "Visualisation is the key to success".

What this sort of thing ends up doing is it creates confusion and narrow-mindedness.

(Maybe more can be said here…??)

Let me further clarify the issue. Think of the previous mentioned points as ingredients of a personal development recipe. Now lets think of a recipe for an omellete.

Roughly speaking an omellete contains the following:

Eggs
onions
tomatoes
chillies
salt and pepper.

How does one make an omellete? It involves breaking the eggs, cutting up onion/tomato/chilly pieces, beating up a mix of the eggs, onions, tomatoes, chillies. Frying the mix in a hot pan, while turning till its golden and then adding salt/pepper for taste.

So what determines that you will make an omellette the same each time?? (PAUSE and look at audience)

It would be taking the correct steps in sequential order that would result in consistency.

To quote Brian Kim "Instead of treating these priciples as seperate from one another or worse yet, focussing in on only one concept or priciple and blocking out the rest, youve got to see how all these pieces fit in the BIG PICTURE"

Lets think about toastmasters. Lets say we joined toastmasters to overcome our fears of public speaking. If we consult our experienced colleagues (point to Darren OR Marcel) they will tell you that Toastmasters will require of you;

Persistence
Goal Setting
Strong beliefs
Determination
Positive thinking
Visualisation
Discipline
Courage
Patience
Networking
Time Management
Hard work
Motivation etc

Now that is almost the same list I had mentioned earlier. To succeed in toastmasters, you cannot just say that with “hardwork” I can succeed, or with “strong faith” I will succeed. These are components that make up the bigger picture. [Pause]

Alright so what does one do to succeed that involves most of the above mentioned points.

From personal experience (Now mind you Im still learning, and there is a lot to learn) I said earlier with the omellete recipe that taking correct steps in sequential order would result in consistency, well the same applies with personal development;

It can be summarised as follows:

Have a burning desire to accomplish your goal or purpose (whatever that maybe)
Have faith that you will succeed.
Organise a definite plan AND take action on that plan.
Never give up until you achieve your chosen goal/purpose

The key to all four steps is consistency.

If anyone goes through these steps consistently, success in achieving that goal is guaranteed!

[Conclusion]

So to conclude. Personal Development should be a must for everyone.

Now provided if you find a teaching/methodology attractive, stick with it, and be consistent when you practice it. There may not be one correct method or person who has the secret. There are many great teachers out there, its upto you and I to find them (they are among family/friends/relatives/work colleagues/toastmasters)

If the advice they give resonates with you, take action, and be consistent when you apply it.

To answer my earlier my question “What is the meaning of life”…. (pause) I cant tell you that!. But what I can tell you, and I sincerely believe this, “your life is what you make of it”. [Say slowly for emphasis]

Sufferring mental/writers block

2007-03-26T11:19:00.000+10:00

So Ive got myself signed to do my second toastmasters speech next Monday and I cant think of what to write and/or where to begin.

I do know that I want to speak about personal development and its different aspects. I want to present from a purely practical point of view.

I was thinking the title of the speech could be "Personal Development: Whats it good for?"

I think I'll visit StevePavlina.com and BriamKim.net and collect 10 or so articles and make a speech from that.

Providing value??

2007-03-25T13:34:00.000+10:00

How does one go about providing value to others?

Something Im going to think about over the next few days. See if I can get some inspiration towards 'pursuing my passion'.

Head over to www.briankim.net/blog and look up the blog entry on Kirk Nugent. Very inspiring and motivating story on Kirk, who pursued his passion of presenting his poetry.

Something to think about and write about :)

30 day trial

2007-03-25T08:17:00.000+10:00

Starting a new 30 day trial from today. To write something new everyday.

The aim to develop a little bit of creative thinking and writing. Ultimately I want to use this to help me think and write new material for Toastmasters.

Photoreading

2007-03-19T12:11:00.000+11:00

So its 12pm at the moment and Ive got about 4.5 hours till toastmasters later this evening. Im going to listen and go through at least first 4 Photoreading CDs (I bought the photoreading course a few months back). Ive been very disorganised in regards to going through the course and applying the learnt information.

Having read some recent articles on Briankim.net, there was an interesting post on the two most common traits some of America's richest persons have.

Regular exercise
Daily reading. Most averaging 2+hours per day.

These two points were enough to get me off my backside and start up the photoreading course. I intend to do a lot of reading in the course of my life. Especially since I work in the telecommunications industry, changes happen often and FAST. Thus to keep upto date and stay ahead, a lot of reading is required.

I'll keep the blog posted. :)

Oooh Yea! Skipped rope for 25 min!

2007-03-18T20:45:00.000+11:00

Major achievement for me, today I was able to skip rope with relative ease for 25 min. and then do three sets of 10 pushups.

Im getting very close to my goal of being able to skip rope for 30 minutes.

Oh and I checked my resting heart rate last night before falling asleep, and its dropped down to 50bpm, before it was 57bpm about a month back.

Now this is progress! Im very pleased.

March, the month of the bills! argh

2007-03-15T21:18:00.000+11:00

Great, just great.

This month is really costing me more than Id planned.

Last year I started an ING online account to cover costs for yearly costs like, car service, insurance, rego etc. Well it seems I underestimated.

I got my car serviced today at a Holden dealer, they charged me $700+. $300+ was just for labour costs!!! Although im displeased with the cost, Im going to start to learn car maintenance for myself.
They were going to charge me $300 just for brake/pad change!!

Guess how much I have to pay for the compsulsory insurance..... another $600.
The car is under my dads name, but funnily, the other family car, a 2005 Falcon, he only has to pay $400. Im like WTF?!

Seriously by end of this month my bank account is going to be empty and Im going to have to file for bankruptcy.

Did my first evaluation!!

2007-02-19T21:13:00.000+11:00

So I had toastmasters tonight. Evaluated a fellow member who did their sixth speech.

Again, nervousness was the order of the day, however I was much better this time around than my icebreaker speech.

To be keep it short, my personal lesson from toastmasters, is arranging thoughts and speech in order. This prevents getting nervous and losing track of what you want to say next.

Zig Ziglar

2007-02-12T20:47:00.000+11:00

So today I bought an audio CD, "How to be a Winner" by Zig Ziglar. Some very good practical points presented by Mr Ziglar. One thing that stuck in my mind over the first listening;
Listen to motivational tapes, regardless if your in a good mood or bad mood. Infact its better to be in a good mood when listening to these things.

I'll update the blog with another summary of points Mr Ziglar presents in the CD.

Something different in getting organised.

2007-02-09T20:42:00.000+11:00

Im in a good positive mood, and I've narrowed down 6 major streams that I will be focussing on this year in 2007.

They are;

Starting a new business. Succeeding and growing the business.
Investing. Learning, practicing, mastering and succeeding in stock and property investment
Networking. Learning, memorising, practicising key fundamental networking protocols such as SDH, ATM, IP, TCP, ICMP, SNMP, MPLS, Frame Relay, BGP and OSPF. Like I mentioned in my CCNP blog, once I know the fundamental basics of protocols and the services they provide I'll master all there is to know about networking.
Blogging. Regularly writing, updating, and actively participating in the blog community.
Exercise. I will get fit through regular cardio exercises such as skipping rope.
Toastmasters. Actively participating in not just giving speeches, but also in club administration duties.

Anyways, to keep a track of how well Im taking part in all of the above activities on a daily basis, Ive come up a with grid that I can tick every day for the above mentioned streams.

Below is a photo to give you an idea.

As you can see above on the left hand side Ive marked dates, above, where it says FMAM, that stands for Feb, March, April, May. Above this is where Ive indicated my six streams.

I'll update this chart/grid on a regular basis. This will provide me with feedback, affirmation and general progress as to my participation in the six streams.

My business intention manifestation

2007-02-08T21:19:00.000+11:00

Here it is;

With good heard and positive feeling, I am a successful business owner managing an excellent and prosperous computer solutions company. The freedom, excitement, challenges, achievement and rewards I get through this business is nothing like I have ever experienced before.

State of mind?

2007-02-08T21:11:00.000+11:00

Again, I've been reading www.stevepavlina.com/forums/ and I came across this particular post where this person managed to manifest through her intentions $10000. This was within a few days of her first intention.

The key she mentioned was that you must be the state of mind that you feel you already have attained what you desire, this then sends out a signal to the universe, and your intentions will come true if you truly believe. The other important thing she mentioned was do not concentrate on the how you will achieve it, just believe you will and it will happen.

So my personal self-experiment for myself for the next few weeks, is to practice this state of mind when setting out intention-manifestations.

I'll keep the blog posted.

I stuffed it! :(

2007-01-31T22:58:00.000+11:00

Yes thats right.
I got nervous. I had butterflies. I spoke to quickly, had 18 umms and aahs, and the speech was simply too short!

Dangnammit! not the best way to start toastmasters.

Oh well, live and learn. I think I'll be participating more in the table topics section before moving on.

OMG.. I have to do my first speech tonight!

2007-01-29T13:35:00.000+11:00

Well it had to happen, the time has come to do my first 'Ice Breaker' speech tonight at Toastmasters.

Now Im quite nervous as this meeting is a little different. Todays meeting will take place via conference call. This just adds another spanner into the works.

I'll update the blog on how I went after I get back.

2007 will be the year of the "me"

2007-01-01T05:10:00.000+11:00

I found this story this morning on news.com.au;

http://www.news.com.au/business/story/0,23636,20996760-462,00.html

Not the ideal story to start off 2007, but its not surprising.
Here is the story;

FOR most Australians, 2007 will be the year of the "me", according to a new survey.
A new year's resolution survey for Wizard Home Loans showed two thirds of people ranked getting ahead financially and setting themselves up for the future at the top of the list.
Helping others and the environment ranked at the bottom.
"People are looking at themselves first," Wizard Home Loans chairman Mark Bouris said.
"Spending more time helping others (7 per cent) and becoming more environmentally friendly (6 per cent) ranked surprisingly low on the priority list."
Mr Bouris said 2006 had hit pockets hard with interest rate rises, petrol hikes and even the cost of bananas at unforgettably high prices.
Sixty per cent of people said 2007 was the year to get serious about saving.
Some 37 per cent of people believed saving money was the way to get ahead, while 23 per cent said it was buying property.
The research also showed half of respondents were comfortable with their debt.
When asked whether they thought interest rates would go up in February 2007, 58 per cent said yes, 42 per cent no.
"Rate rises or not, it's obvious Australians aren't getting bogged down by external influences such as interest rate movements and are instead intent on getting their finances in order in 2007," Mr Bouris said.

I agree with the above. We do need to look at our own circumstances. However we should not completely forget about charity and other greater social issues.

Expect the best for 2007!

2006-12-31T20:09:00.000+11:00

Happy new year everyone. Expect the very best for 2007!

Starting a new blog!!

2006-12-19T17:21:00.000+11:00

Ive decided to start a more tech specific blog.
The blog is called CCNP? Yes I AM . It will focus around my study and efforts to attain Cisco CCNP certification in 2007. Its an ambitious goal, but definitely achievable.

I bought a domain (*shock - horror*). I'll use Wordpress as it feels more superior to Blogger.

Its still very much in its infancy stage, so give me another couple of months to have some decent content on there :)

Heres the link;

www.ccnpyesiam.com

The Power of Positive Thinking

2006-12-10T20:44:00.000+11:00

I bought an audio CD of The Power of Positive Thinking by Dr. Norman Vincent Peale.

Im currently listening to it, (going through second listening), I hope to write a breif summary on what its about and the key concepts it discusses.

Will keep the blog posted.

Making money consciously

2006-12-10T12:03:00.000+11:00

An excellent article posted by Steve Pavlina... Making Money Consciously

Good read.

Casino Royale

2006-12-09T19:54:00.000+11:00

Watched Casino Royale the new Bond movie last night. I highly recommend anyone who hasnt seen it yet, to go and watch it at your local cinema.

After coming back from the cinemas, I got to thinking how much training such M16, CIA, FBI agents etc would require especially field agents. I then also realised that personal development is a form of training. The more you practice what you want the better you get. (It was one of those moments where I think the bluntness of this idea really hit me :p)

New aim and goal for 'Successful? Why, yes I am' blog

2006-12-07T01:12:00.000+11:00

Its 1:12am on a Thursday, and I have this desire to make this blog successful. I want to measure this success by the number of people who will visit and read my thoughts and articles.

So here's my purpose for this blog. I, Faisal, will make two posts per week starting from today, about topics ranging from 'personal development', 'personal finance', 'hobbies', 'every day observations' and things that I'm doing to make myself successful. The way I will ultimately measure this success is through the number of people that pass through here. My aim is to have 500 hits per month by December 2007. I am prepared to give up 4 hours of my time each week to make this happen.

One of the major strategies I will need to undertake not only includes spending more time writing new material and linking to other interesting sites, but also actively posting comments on other people's blogs and forums and going from there.

So lets see if we can get some genuine traffic happening along with people leaving some comments. :)

Lessons in Saving - SMH

2006-12-07T00:15:00.000+11:00

An excellent article appeared in todays SMH Money section on saving. Especially saving early.

Click here for article

Have a Purpose for Everything!

2006-11-24T00:04:00.000+11:00

So I've been listening to the PhotoReading course I got from Learning Strategies Corp, in it Paul Scheele, says before begining the reading process always have a purpose in mind to why your reading the book and what you want to get out of it. Also have positive affirmations when you read and finish reading.

Combining these two things, purpose with positive affirmations, accelerates learning and improves memory retention. Im going to try this over the coming weeks and months. I think it will definitely work.

So my advice to myself and anyone who reads this, is to have a purpose for EVERYTHING you do and stay positive with your emotion, attitude and affirmations about what you have just done or learnt.

NOTE: Ever since I started on this personal development path to being a better person and being more successful, Ive come across a lot of good things that Im more receptive towards and it certainly feels like its having a positive effect.
Almost into December and I have a feeling 2007 will be an excellent year for me.

Learn as if you were to teach someone else

2006-11-20T21:29:00.000+11:00

Another concept that has just gelled in my mind.
I know I came across this on Steve Pavlina's forum, but just now as I was going through some study material for BSCI/CCNP cert, I think I have realised a new way of learning.

What I will do is, as I learn new concepts, I will try to summarise and post them up on a blog. This gives me reason to start a more specialised blog. My only aim is to help myself by pretending to help others.

I'll keep this blog posted on the new blog :)

What is the most valuable use of my time RIGHT NOW?

2006-11-17T22:34:00.000+11:00

This is a tip given by Brian Tracy in one of his audio tapes (21 ways to double productivity) and he says that one should always ask 'What is the most valuable use of time right now?'.

I'm finding this to be an excellent question to ask my when I start procrastinating and I feel indecisive. It helps me stay accountable of my time.

Setting goals with a different angle

2006-11-16T07:58:00.000+11:00

I've just finished listening to Brian Tracy's 21 Laws of Money and 21 ways to Double Productivity. There is an interesting thing Brian says about setting goals. That is to set your goals by thinking you have already achieved them.

For example, I have a goal of attaining my CCNP certifications by June 07. Instead of saying 'I want to get my CCNP by June 07', I should say 'I have my CCNP', and then imagine yourself in that scenario.

This is a powerful and more effective method of setting goals. Ive only just learnt this technique so I'll be using this. I am confident I'll see some better results in succeeding with my goals.

I know my life-purpose!

2006-11-13T16:48:00.000+11:00

YES!!

After many years pondering what the meaning of life is etc. I think I finally know how to tackle this. Ive been going about this all wrong! Instead of trying to figure out what life means and the point of it. We actually really need to define our own life-purpose. This is what life means to us. What we define for ourselves and how we choose to live life.

So while I was reading "Think and Grow Rich - by Napoleon Hill" and also visiting Steve Pavlina's new forums I have finally defined a life-purpose for myself. With faith and good intent I came up with the following;

I am happy, I am happy around others.
I am strong in faith;
I am positive in emotion;
I am humble and honest;
I am achieving great things for myself;
I am motivated;
I am persistent;
I am successfull in my own right;
I participate in my community;
I contribute to society

Now I will do my absolute best to revise this daily so that it becomes part of my daily thinking. I think once this happens I will see significant results in the change from my current persona to something that accurately reflects what I have written above.

I am truly excited.

I will join my local Toastmasters club

2006-11-11T23:19:00.000+11:00

I have made a commitment, that I will join a local Toastmasters club before the year finishes. I have procrastinated for too long on the matter and it is now time that I took action for the better.

I will update this blog with the latest updates and events and news :)

UPDATE: I went to my local ToastMasters meet tonight (20/11/06) and it was I must admit quite good. Defintely going to join and I will attend whenever i can provided I dont have conflict with work :p

Am I Time-Poor?

2006-10-16T22:11:00.000+10:00

So on the weekend I get a call from an old work colleague who I haven't heard from or seen in almost 10 months. We get talking, asking about work, and stuff and he mentions that he's contracting these days as his business is doing well and devotes time to do that. During our conversation he says something along the lines that he's on track to quit his 'day-job' in five years and be independantly earning a good living from his MLM business. Im like cool, good onya. So he asks me where my current job will lead me to? I told him I've got some specific goals and I have a fair idea I know what I want to do etc etc. (He also works in the I.T. industry). He goes on to say "so your probably very time poor in your current job and always will be when working in a job". Now at this point I told him, "No, infact Ive got more time than ever to do stuff. Plus with my curent role, I work 4 days off and then 4 days off, so it works out really well".

So what does time poor mean exactly. Basically its saying that your lifestyle, work, responsibilities etc, do not allow you to adequately devote time to other things that may be of your interest or leisure. Eg: Your timepoor if your so busy you cant find time to read a book, or do a painting, or you find it hard to go-out and participate in social events.

The mention of being time-poor actually ticked me off a little. Why? Well, I think its a common misconception that people who are working in a 'job', are time poor because they're stuck in a "routine" that barely gives them time to achieve their goals, dreams and aspirations. I know a few people who are running business and they're probably more time-poor than anyone in a job. Heck, I reckon even people like uni-students are time poor. I dont think being time-poor is restricted to just those working in a job.

Now I should let you in on a small matter of note and that is, this guy works in a MLM (multi-level marketing) business (hint: Starts with A and has five letters). These guys commonly use the term 'timepoor' to make you feel bad and then they try to sell how you can achieve your dreams of being financially secure and be time rich if you join their business. Mind you many people are doing are very well from this type of work and are very happy. Some people (like me for instance) join to try it out and realise its not entirely suitable for the type of person that I am.

Okay, so the question I ask myself is am I time-poor?? My answer is yes and no. Yes AND no? I believe your time-poor regardless if your stuck in a routine or not. If I am not managing my time and not writing goals to set out what I want to do with my time, well then yes I'm time poor. Simple. But, if I am writing down goals, actively working on these goals and crossing off my to-do list, then surely if I am relatively efficient at doing this, I can find time to schedule other things that I normally wouldnt be able to do. There are a lot of factors including but not restricted to the following such as,

prioritising your time and tasks,
being realistic about what you want to do and how much time and effort it may require,
try to be flexible. You dont want to become so monotonous in your life that there is no spontaniety left.

Thus my yes and no answer. I am trying to better myself in becoming more efficient with my time, but I believe I'm no-where near as efficient as I would like to be. I'd say it'll take me another 12 months minimum to become even better at managing and organising my time. Take this blog entry for example, Ive done everything that I had wanted to do and now im writing about this particular topic because I wanted to. Im just starting my weekend (yes its Monday, I know. Ive got Tuesday and Wednesday off).

In conclusion if someone says your timepoor, think about it before you answer. Are you really?? It will take discipline and some hard work to become good at managing your time, once you start doing this and become good at, there is no reason for you to say your time poor. Live a life of no-regrets and hopefully you'll never hear yourself say "I wish I had the time to this" OR "I wish I had done that when I had the time" etc.

The real reason for this guys call, to basically get me to renew my "business" subscription. I told him straight up, I got the renewal letter and Im not interested. Its just not my thing. He was dissapointed to hear this.

Success = Compound Returns!!

2006-10-11T17:07:00.000+10:00

Financial success that is....

Majority of people know what compound interest is and how it works etc. We all did it in maths class back in high school racking our brains trying to calculate how long much interest we'd earn if we put in X amount of principle, with Y% p.a. interest, at T time frame...yada yada...

Dont worry about the mathematics of the thing, I'm not here to share boring stuff. Instead I want to share something I recently came across in another blog a few weeks back and I can't help think, "damn, why didnt I start sooner!"

okay have a quick look at this.... Power Of Compounding - flash animation

The beaty of this animation is that it shows the difference in time frames. It puts into context the saying, 'the earlier you start saving for the future, the better.'

Alright, so lets take a look at some graphical pictures to see what would happen to my savings. Now to remind you I'm putting away $1000/month into a managed fund (my initial deposit was $2500), and I only started this last year in October.

Okay take figure below. If I only did this for 5 years I would end up with $77201.47

Alright so Ive decided to stop putting this money away and now im just "sitting on it" so to speak, so by the time I turn 55, I'll have approximately $566000. (assuming average rate of return is 8% p.a)

Another comparison. If I didnt stop at year 5 but kept going, by the time I turn 55 I'll have close to a whopping $1.5million. Again rate of return is same at 8%.

Lets see some figures with different return averages

Below if we left the $77201 after year 5 but got 10% returns, Id end up with $933219 when I turn 55.

If return on investment was 12% p.a, Id be sitting on $1.5 million.

What if I managed to get 23% average returns p.a. like Mr W. Buffet has. Id be sitting on $23million !!!

Now although at present Im a passive investor, I do plan on becoming an enterprising investor. For more on this topic I hope to do a book review on "The Intelligent Investor" - by Benjamin Graham. Im currently 1/3 of the way through and so far its compelling reading.

An interesting thing to note. Rule of 72. Heard of it??
Basically its a quick approximate calculation that allows you to determine how long it will take you to double your money depening on the annual rate of return. For example, if rate of return is 5%. Take 72, divide by 5 = 14.4 This will give you approximate number of years to double your money. Another example, If annual rate of return is 10%, 72 divided by 10 gives 7.2 years. Pretty nifty eh!

So in conclusion, if you can, start to put your money away early. Speak to financial advisors and get knowledgable on the concept of investing long-term. Majority of us will not be millionaires in our 20's and 30's, very few of us even come into decent inheritance money. By the way if you do get some inheritance money, INVEST IT! Or if you win lotto (fat chance) invest that too!! In my opinion if you want to be successful when it comes to wealth. Think long-term and start saving and watch compound returns do its thing.

The above pictures are screen shots taken from a savings calculator, found at http://personalfinance.news.com.au/banking/calculate/flash/savings.asp

The Mindset Determines Success

2006-10-11T00:01:00.000+10:00

If someone were to ask you, ‘What truly determines success?’. How would you answer that? Is it hard work? Education? Running a profitable business? At peace with oneself?

All of the above and more qualities add to the chances of being successful in life. But to make the most of the above qualities, we must all have a positive mindset. Easier said than done eh! Our emotions fundamentally lead to the actions we take in life. If we try to be positive, and feel enlightened, this helps infinitely in performing daily tasks, setting goals, being more organised etc.

I am genuinely trying to be a more positive person. I have been doing the following for the last 12 months and I have found it greatly assists me in keeping a balanced mind;

Start a diary. Doesn’t have to be kept upto date everyday, every-hour etc, but keep a small notepad on which you can jot down your comments/thoughts when you feel like it. What this actually achieves is that it allows you to put your thoughts into context. There has been many a time, when I’ve been stressed due to exam preparations or just simply depressed wondering where my life is heading. Writing down these feelings greatly helps to clear the mind and allows the mind to unblock all those thoughts that are stuck in your brain-pipes. Ever had a business/cool gadget idea? Write it down! You will be amazed at how much it helps to clarify ones feelings and thoughts.

NB: I recommend not keeping a proper diary which has dates listed and limited room for you write under those dates. What I did, and am doing at present is I bought a small notepad (half A4 size) with about 300 pages, (I drew a calender with dates for reference) and I write down my thoughts, ideas, goals and miscellaneous stuff when I feel like it.

In your notepad/diary also jot down things you want to do. This can be anything from washing the car, to doing your tax return etc. Now mind you I don’t do this all the time, but I do try to jot down some goals that need attention. Once you start doing this, it will become somewhat of a habit. One thing I will recommend highly is to look at your notepad/diary at least once daily. Even if you have nothing to write, open it up, flick through to the latest page and see if there is anything you forgot about or need doing. Simple.
Create a motivation whiteboard. I've got one. What do you do to create one? I bought a whiteboard (90cm x 60cm) from Officeworks for $28. I've currently got it setup as two columns. On the RHS column at the top, I have written down long-term and short-term career goals. Long-term: what position I want to be in say 5 years and what $$$ I want to be earning. Short-term, what certifications/exams/study I need to do in the next 6 – 12 months. Underneath this, still on the RHS column, I have broken down my financials into rough numbers. This basically includes monthly after-tax income, and estimated monthly fixed expenditures, eg: mobile bill, fuel bill, managed fund saving etc. I will go into how I organise my finances in detail in another future post.

Now on the LHS column, this is where I do most of my free thinking. I write down short-term dates for things I would like done, for example when I want to sit for my certification exams (this takes up about 10% of the LHS column). The rest of the space I leave dedicated for me to communicate with myself, motivating myself to write down things that I am proud of, my best achievements in the last 24 months, things I want to achieve and other off-topic stuff. Basically it acts like a sounding board. I have found in most instances discussing personal growth goals and ideals with friends and colleagues gets shot down pretty quick. Mainly because it seems to be human nature that we don’t like to see other people succeed. Thus these people are unlikely to boast the same level of enthusiasm as yourself on plans you have about your future etc. The only people that might support you are those who already have similar goals. They do exist but are rare.

Actively taking part in the above three has helped me immensely. It’s a significant part of the reason why I believe and say to myself that I am successful and will continue to be successful in the future.

I have found the greatest hurdle in having a positive mind-set has come from within. The above helps me cross this hurdle in a major way. Once my positive mental mind-set becomes more permanent, I sincerely believe it will allow me to study more efficiently, organise my time better, allow me to live a more balanced lifestyle, and best of all will give me confidence through success.

Some great sites to visit

2006-10-10T01:51:00.000+10:00

As Ive mentioned already, Ive been browsing many blogs on web in the past few weeks and I thought I'd list a few I have found to be great sources of information for personal development and personal finance.

Ive already listed these as links on the side and I hope to add more useful site links as I find them.

Its all relative...

2006-10-10T00:08:00.000+10:00

I made a bold claim in my first introduction post that Im already successful. Well it actually depends on how you seek to define success. In other words what I meant to say is that relative to my own past experiences, I am successful. Relatively speaking.

How so you ask?
At present most of my conscious thinking revolves around, developing my professional career, finance, and becoming a better person. To break down my career achievements, I graduated out of university back in July 2004. I got my first proper job out of uni in April working as a helpdesk monkey. Now this role I thought was very be-littling of me as I was somewhat over-qualified via my education (I spent five and half years studying Telecommunications Engineering). Apart from the role itself which was overly repitive and lame, I was only getting paid AUD $35k. Other graduates of my same age and education were scoring roles that paid minimum $45k (boy was I envious). But hey, I had to accept that the job market wasnt crash hot and I was somewhat fortunate that I managed to score this job.

Nine months on I changed jobs again to work for another company in a similar style help-desk role. I know your thinking WTF! Why did he do that! Well this role involved working in an ITIL environment, and although it was repetitive and boring work, the environment was more professional. Plus this was a contract role paying $25/hr plus 20% extra for shift loading. Yes the role was 24/7, I took it because I figured it would be good experience to have, and who knows, my next job might involve working in another 24/7 type role. I lasted 6 months before changing jobs again to my current role.

I now work for an American multinational as a Surveillance Engineer in their Network Operations. Finally a career role!!! Albeit its a graduate position, I consider myself extremely fortunate to have got this. Its paying $40k base with shift loading on top. Yes its another 24/7 job, who would have thunkit. An important note here, at my age money isnt tremendously important to me, as you can note I took a pay cut to work in this role. I am interested in building a long term successful career in networking. Long-term I want to be a specialist in network design. In the short to medium term, this role will definitely help me achieve my long term career ambitions and as I gain more experience, good money will surely follow. I can guarantee that!

So in-retrospect, after graduating out of university as an engineer, I had to slog it out in helpdesk for 15 months before finally landing a job I could happily tell people about. This to me is success. I succeeded in getting out of helpdesk in relatively short period of time and I know I will make great career progress in the coming years.

Now looking at the personal finance side of things. While in my first job out of uni, although I was getting crap pay, I was somewhat alert that I had to do something about securing my financial future. So what did I do? I went and spoke to a financial advisor. Basically what I wanted to know at that time was should I invest my money into a managed fund or should I be looking to go into property. Now this was October 2005, the advisor said straight up that at this point time your best bet is to invest in a managed fund, as the property market is currently sinking after the property bubble-burst due to the high unrealistic market prices driven by investor speculation.

So what Im doing financially is im putting away $1000/month into a managed fund, which is geared towards growth with roughly 50% Australian shares, 40% International shares and rest comprising of property/cash trusts. As im relatively young I plan to stick with this for about 5+ years minimum. I might look to invest in property once it starts to pick up again. As this is setup on auto-pilot, it gives me confidence and comfort knowing that I am already doing something about my long term future. Again success. (I will outline my personal finances in more detail in future posts)

Now becoming a success in terms of being a better person, this is something a little new to me. Ive realised a lot in the past 12 months I need to improve myself from within to become a better human being. Unfortunately this concept can be vague and is difficult to define at times. But in the past few weeks, Ive discovered there is an infinite amount of information available on the internet, particularly in the form of blogs and forums, I decided I would take action and start my own (I find writing down thoughts and feelings helps put things into perspective in many cases). The underlying aim is to reflect on what I write.

So here's hoping Ive explained my theory of relativity when it comes to defining success.

Introduction

2006-09-28T21:03:00.000+10:00

My name is Faisal, 26, male, living in Sydney Australia.
Why start this blog? Well im relatively new to the whole blog scene and after having read some blogs in the past couple of weeks, it got me motivated to start documenting my thoughts and experiences and then sharing these with other like minded people.

From a psychological/mindset point of view, I classify myself as someone who is always reflecting on ones inner thoughts based on what I see, hear and feel on a daily a basis.

As much as I hate to admit it, I am by nature shy, an introvert and also a pessimist (not the best combo). Thus the reason for this blog. As much as I curse and belittle myself over the lack progress I have made in my career and life, thinking I should be something much more than I currently am. I am beginning to contradict this negative mind-set. I believe I am already successful, and what I am doing and plan to do will only lead to a more prosperous and successful life. This is what I hope to discuss and write about in this very blog on a week-by-week basis on various topics.