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February 12th, 2009 | Posted in Blog | No Comments
THE MAGNET AND THE IRON
An interesting phenomenon has been discovered by scientists studying magnets and pieces of iron. A magnet is simply a piece of iron in which all of the molecules are oriented in the same direction, which means that they all have their positive pole in the same direction and their negative pole in the opposite. The molecules are ordered. In the common piece of iron this is not so. The molecules are randomly oriented and not organized.
You will have noticed that when we put an ordinary piece of iron in contact with a magnet, it temporarily obtains the qualities of the magnet and can attract other pieces of iron. While in contact it obtains magnetic powers.
When it is removed from the magnet, it looses those powers. But what scientists discovered was that the ordinary iron was not exactly the same after this contact. Some subtle changes had taken place. Some molecules had, under the power of magnetic field, actually changed position and more of them were oriented in the same direction. This slight change after each contact between the magnet and the iron is called “the hysteresis effect”. If this contact occurs for a long enough period of time, or for sufficient number of repetitions, then the ordinary piece of iron undergoes enough of a change in its molecular orientation, so that it permanently becomes a magnet. After such a transformation, it maintains its magnetic powers even when it is not in contact with the magnet.
This is an excellent example of what happens to the mind after years of meditation. The magnet is the inner self, soul, spirit, higher self or higher intellect, or even God, depending on the way in which you have learned to view the spiritual self. The ordinary piece of iron is our mind.
During meditation we bring the mind into contact with this higher aspect of our being. Temporarily, for the duration of this contact, the mind obtains the qualities of peace, clarity, freedom, bliss and wisdom. It is under the influence of the power of the spirit. We come out of meditation, we return to our ordinary way of thinking and reacting. But a small, imperceptible change has taken place like the “hysteresis effect” in the piece of iron. Our mind has been slightly altered by this contact. Our mental energies are slightly more organized, more focused in a spiritual direction, less scattered, more centered.
When this goes on for years, then we begin to experience those spiritual qualities throughout the day more and more. These feelings are no longer limited to the duration of the meditation. Just as the piece of iron, through repeated contact with the magnet, obtained magnetic powers, the mind, through regular daily contact with the spirit, obtains spiritual qualities and our energies are more spiritually oriented.
Rich Blessings
Ettore
February 6th, 2009 | Posted in Blog | 2 Comments
If you are like most people, you may feel at the mercy of life and that you have little power over how things turn out. Nothing could be further from the truth.
You can learn to use attraction to have more of what you want. The Law of Attraction is a powerful force and is responsible for most of what you experience in life (good and bad). It is accessible to every human being at every moment in time. All you have to do is learn how to harness it to make it work to your advantage.
Everything in the world is made of energy - you, a rock, tree, or table. Energy is vibration, and everything vibrates. As a human (energetic) being, you have a frequency that you vibrate at - sometimes high, low, or in-between.
Magnetic energy is attached to your thoughts. For example, when you feel “up”, filled with joy, gratitude, you are sending out frequency vibrations that magnetize good stuff to you. Fear, worry, guilt, shame send out lower frequencies. Thus, the way we think, is the way we feel, is the way we vibrate, is the way we attract!
No one is immune to the power of attraction. When you are not intentional about what you want, you create by default. Everything in your life you have attracted because of the person you are - what you think and feel, including your work, significant other, home, financial success or distress. Even challenges and opportunities have been attracted into your life because of your persistent thoughts about them.
The law states, “that which is like unto itself is drawn.” Simply put, like attracts like. Happy people attract happy people. Anger will draw frustrating circumstances. A prosperous mind attracts money-making opportunities. Doubt breeds more doubt. The law of attraction is neutral. It can help you or hurt you. Your state of mind will equal your state of life - be it positive, loving and flowing or negative, fearful, and stuck.
Like it or not, you are getting what you are getting because of how you are attracting. If you are not happy with what you have, you have not matched your vibration/intention to your desire. Keep doing and feeling what you have been and you will get more of the same.
In other words, if you say you want to be rich, and yet feel poor and unworthy inside, your emotions will send out the frequency of lack, and that is what the universe will supply you with. You are creating your experience at this moment.
Your thoughts are a form of energy that vibrate at a speed determined by the level of emotional intensity accompanying the thought. The more loving, fearful, doubtful, etc. you are, the more rapidly your thoughts radiate from you and attract similar people and situations to match that feeling state to you.
Attraction is an unconscious energy - you can’t see it, but you can feel it. It’s the “vibe” that you give off. Intentional attraction is the conscious recognition of the quality of your vibration and the deliberate choice of where and what you point that vibration towards.
To become more attractive, you must reprogram yourself into the affirmative and positive. Do not say or think, “I don’t want to be poor anymore” or “I don’t want to be treated badly.” When you think in the negative, what you are sending out into the universe is what you don’t want. And lo and behold, you will experience financial setbacks and/or unhealthy relationships.
For an entire week monitor your thoughts and words. When you catch yourself dwelling on the negative, use a thought-stopping technique and substitute it with something affirmative. Research shows that thoughts held consistently for about 15-20 seconds will begin to attract similar energy. This is a great reason to read, review, and reflect! on your goals and purpose daily, so as to reinforce what you really do want.
To activate this law in your life, pay attention to your thoughts and change them to a higher frequency. Be aware of your desires and take action on manifesting them. Put your energy and focus on what you want, not on what you don’t want. Be open to synchronicities, welcome people and opportunities that show up to help you fulfill your desires.
Creative visualization and affirmations also support your desires. Use anything that helps you to be focused and upbeat. This makes it difficult for the message to get mis-communicated. Watch for sending mixed signals. Consciously align your thoughts, feelings, and actions and you will see amazing results.
Be like a student. Read, write, repeat, learn, re-learn what it is you are trying to get. If you want more love, be love, and do love. Make love your mantra. Feel loving and most of all, give love away. Because the more you share love, the more it will come back to you.
Benjamin Disraeli said, “As you think, so shall you be.” If you think positive thoughts, you will have positive feelings, and thus more positive experiences. When you apply the principles of attraction to your own life, you start to co-create with the universe and reclaim your personal power. You will discover that you really can have more of what you want and find it much, much easier to come by. And guess what, success leads to more success!
Rich Blessings
Ettore
February 3rd, 2009 | Posted in Blog | No Comments
What one quality do all successful business owners share?
Countless institutions, organizations, business pundits and media have posed the following questions: What makes an entrepreneur an entrepreneur? What traits and characteristics best describe that unique person who successfully starts and grows a business enterprise?
There have been as many answers as there have been inquirers. Some say entrepreneurship cannot be taught. Some say it can. Some say you’re born with it; some say you acquire it. Some define entrepreneurs as artists; others as scientists. Some see entrepreneurs through a prism of words: passion, leadership, tunnel vision, clarity of mind, focused, disciplined, charismatic, creative, competitive. Some see entrepreneurs through a prism of feelings: possessed, obsessed, intense, consumed, rigid, insatiable, driven. Some describe entrepreneurs as obsessive compulsives; others as control freaks. Some describe entrepreneurs as insiders; others as outsiders. Some describe entrepreneurs as risk takers; others as risk averse.
And yet, while all these words describe some entrepreneurs, they don’t describe all entrepreneurs-at least not those who are preeminently successful.
It’s my position that all successful entrepreneurs possess one fundamental ability, one fundamental quality, one fundamental skill, one fundamental interest, without which they would never be successful: Entrepreneurs possess the ability to perceive the world as a system. Without a doubt, every entrepreneur worth his or her salt is a “systems thinker.” They could not do what they do without it.
What is a systems thinker? A systems thinker is one who intuits and sees the whole of a thing, the entirety of it, the one-ness of it, the integrated unity of it, as opposed to merely the sum of its parts. A systems thinker:
Transcends the world in order to transform it.
Is an inventor as opposed to an engineer.
Sees purpose in everything, and sees the system as the realization of the purpose.
Sees meaning in everything and, if not, pursues everything until the meaning becomes clear, until the system reveals itself in all its glory.
Is possessed by the meaning of things.
All great entrepreneurs are systems thinkers. Your business isn’t simply a group of people doing work. It is, or it should be, a business system that’s operated by people. The systems do the work, and people operate the systems. Your business should be systems-dependent, not people-dependent. Systemic thinking will set you free.
With no systems in place, your business depends on you and on a few people who run things for you. If you or they disappear, even for a short time, your business is thrown into chaos. But if you have the right systems in place, the systems run your business, and nearly anyone can run the systems.
If you have the right systems in place, you can decide suddenly to take a three-month vacation, and your business won’t skip a beat. If you have the right systems in place, your key employees could suddenly quit, and you could replace them easily with no ill effect on your business. If performance isn’t up to snuff, rather than blame your people and argue with them, you simply adjust the system. If problems and opportunities arise, you respond by creating new systems or adjusting existing systems. With the right systems in place, you can work every day in your business-or not. It’s your choice, because your system is what’s really running your business.
Systemic thinking is second nature to successful entrepreneurs, and it’s the real secret behind building a business that works. All who wish to become great entrepreneurs need to learn how to become a systems thinker. Or, more accurately, they need to develop their innate passion for seeing things whole and transcending the world. Their world. Our world. All worlds.
Michael Gerber is the founder and chairman of E-Myth Worldwide, where he invented a revolutionary small-business development system that’s been proven in thousands of businesses across the globe. Since 1977, Gerber has been sharing his business success strategies with millions of fans of his E-Myth books, audiotapes and programs. As a business-coaching pioneer and bestselling author, Gerber has changed the face of small business by providing entrepreneurs with an innovative and stunningly clear understanding, capability and process to transform any small business into a world-class enterprise.
Rich Blessings
Ettore
February 1st, 2009 | Posted in Blog | No Comments
There are essentially two different ways that you can make a million dollars: the easy way and the smart way.
The Easy Way
The simplest way to become a millionaire is to choose the right parents and/or grandparents. Paris Hilton of the Hilton Hotel chain fortune “chose” this route, as did Jamie Johnson of Johnson & Johnson and many others. Since our lineage and the occasional corresponding trust funds are usually out of our control, most of us can’t take advantage of this method.
If you’re incredibly lucky or have a knack for trivia, you might have a chance at winning the lottery, hitting it big in Las Vegas or winning a load of cash on a game show. But those methods may or may not throw you into the millionaire circle. Plus, with the Las Vegas approach you may find that you’re hooked (in which case, you should see our How Craps Works article) and subsequently lose your fortune on your next boondoggle.
If you have extreme athletic talent, you stand a slim chance of making millions as a professional athlete. LeBron James, who went straight from high school to the NBA, got a $90 million contract from Nike before he had even played a single professional basketball game.
The Smart Way
Even if you’re not a trust-fund baby and aren’t the luckiest person around, you can still make it big. As we mentioned earlier, most millionaires are self-made, ordinary people very much like you. But they set a goal to become a millionaire — or at least a goal to achieve financial freedom. In order to achieve their goals, most of them started their own businesses simply because it’s difficult to earn enough money to become a millionaire when you’re working for someone else. Instead, you’re making them a millionaire.
Nothing is a sure thing. But if you want to really have a chance at making a million dollars then working for yourself is one of the best ways. Of course, starting your own business means taking a risk, but it may not be the risk we’ve always thought it to be. According to an article at Business.com, the old saying that nine out of 10 new businesses fail just isn’t true. The author, Dan Kehrer, says that “a review of businesses gone bust by StartupJournal.com, a Dow Jones & Co. division, shows that the number of outright business failures in the United States is highly exaggerated.”
The article also explains that about one-third of business closures that government statistics assume to be failures are actually successful businesses. Their owners simply sold off pieces of the business or closed them to retire or pursue other activities.
Data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Business Tracking Series show about 65 percent of new businesses still operating after four years. Another recent study estimates that only 10 percent of the nation’s 5.5 million small businesses (not counting solo operators) close each year.
With this outlook for success, maybe starting that new business isn’t such a risk after all. If you do fail, just remember that with each failure comes experience and knowledge to help the next venture succeed. Many self-made millionaires failed at businesses before they got it right. And each time they failed, they learned a lesson for their next business idea.
Rich Blessings
Ettore
January 28th, 2009 | Posted in Blog | No Comments
Several researchers have studied the lifestyles of Millionaires and come to the conclusion that the majority of them don’t live that way at all. That’s part of why they’re millionaires. Thomas Stanley and William Danko’s book “The Millionaire Next Door” revealed that most millionaires really could be the folks next door. They don’t drive a new car every year or jet around the world. In fact, sometimes they’re the least likely person you would suspect.
Stanley and Danko found that millionaires share a few common characteristics:
They live below their means.
Half of the millionaires interviewed did not live in high-status neighborhoods. Instead, they lived in average neighborhoods in average houses. That’s how they were able to save money. The other half that did live in high-status neighborhoods only moved there after they had become wealthy.
They lead frugal lifestyles.
Most do not buy $5,000 suits, expensive boats or even new cars. You might say they’re tightwads. They shop for bargains and always negotiate for a better deal.
They’re self-employed or own their own businesses.
They also love their work — they connect with their jobs and feel very passionate about them.
They plan and study investments.
The majority of millionaires invest heavily and spend a large amount of their time studying their investments or seeking advice from financial advisors.
They weren’t always at the top of their class.
Another surprising commonality among the millionaires interviewed was that they didn’t all have advanced degrees or graduate at the top of their classes. Some didn’t even go to college and a few didn’t even finish high school.
They’re self-made.
Finally, the majority of millionaires received no family money and do not plan to give their own children a lot of money. They want their children to succeed the same way they did — on their own.
We’ll look at what it takes to make a million dollars next.
Rich Blessings
Ettore
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