Think & Grow Rich

Napoleon Hill - Think & Grow Rich (1937)

"Learn the secrets of the super achievers and how to use them for your success!"

I read this book because several of my previous readings were quoting it as a great read, a book that opened these authors' mind.

This book reminded a lot of the movie "The Secret", the message is very similar. Like the movie, they keep giving very detailed examples from the life of famous dead people to illustrate each idea.

For example Napoleon Bonaparte was a master in sex transmutation and was victorious as long as he was with the woman he loved. The style feels old and it reminded of these stories of apothecary sellings miracles and secrets.

There are still some good and valid points of necessary behaviors for success.

Below are some quotes I liked from the book

Desire

"Any person who wins in any undertaking must be willing to burn his ships and cut all sources of retreat. Only by so doing can one be sure of maintening that state of mind known as a burning desire to win, essential to success"

=> if you want to succeed you need to give yourself no other option. It requires full dedication, full energy, full risks. It needs to be an obsession.

"Every human being who reaches the age of understanding the purpose of money, whishes for it.

Faith

"If you think you are beaten, you are,

If you think you dare not, you don't

If you like to win, but you think you can't,

It is almost certain you won't.

Soon or late the man who wins

is the man WHO THINKS HE CAN!"

Auto-Suggestion

The Emil Coue formula "Day by day, in every way, I am getting better and better"

=> influence your subconscient

Specialized Knowledge

"The truth is that schooling does but little more than to put one in tthe way of learning how to acquire practical knowledge."

=> the most important is to know how to get people of knowledge work for you.

"The way of success is the way of continuous pursuit of knowledge"

Imagination

Organized Planning

"A quitter never wins - and - a winners never quits"

A successful leader "knows that most men will work harder for commendation and recognition thant they will for money alone"

=> let the honors go to your team.

Decision

Persistence

Sex Transmutation

"Sex is the most powerful of human desires. When driven by this desire, men develop keenes of imagination, courage, will-power, persistence, and creative ability unknown to them. So strong and impelling is the desite for sexual contact that men freely run the risk of life and reputation to indulge it."

The one "who knows how to take his mind off the subject of sex, and direct it in efforts with as much enthusiasm and determination as he would apply toits original purpose, has acquired the art of sex transmutation"

This book can be read online at

http://www.virtuescience.com/think-and-grow-rich.html

or downloaded from the Soil and Health Library

http://www.soilandhealth.org/03sov/0304spiritpsych/030413.Hill.Think.and.Grow.Rich.pdf

The Secret

The secret is some kind of documentary explaining the Law of Attraction.

I believe the Law of Attraction is true in part (if you don't wish for something, you're not gone get it, you will not even look for it!) but here it is presented in a pretty shallow way that involves a lot of mystery. The author just seems to say "close your eyes and order every thing you want from the catalog of the universe and you will get it; provided you wish for it thruthfully and constantly"

Below are some notes and remarks I took while watching the movie.

The secret is "the law of attraction" - hold on to the thought of what you want.

You attract what you want and think about the most.

"Thoughts attract things"

"Thing positively so positive things will happen to you"

I do believe that genuine positive attitude does attract generaly more positives responses from others and will help you in life.

Set yourself a goal, "You don't need to know the whole way how to get where you want to be. Think of when you drive a car at night, you can only see 200ft ahead, but then you will see the next 200ft, etc... till your destination.

"Focus on what you already have and feel grateful" that will boost your positive level. keep a token with you to remind you of it every day, all day.

Emulate in your thoughts what it would feel like to have what you want. Imagine the happiness.

"This is where magic and miracles happen"

Explains the placebo effects, your mind is the strongest factor into recovery.

=> at least something here that can't be refuted. Placebo effect is proven, but it is a case where the mind affects the body (not the universe).

"Focus on what you want, not what you don't want". Don't be anti-xxxx be pro-xxxx (the opposite: anti-war => pro-peace). Focus your energy on what you want, don't give free advertising to what you do not want. Being against something, gives that something exposure.

Ignore what you don't want, don't talk about it. => this will help you stay more positive.

"Whether you think you can or you can't; you are right". Ford

They're desperately looking to establish credibility. They boast long futile titles and degrees; that we are reminded of every 20 seconds; They keep quoting famous dead people out of context, since they're not famous themselves and dead people won't disagree.

They keep showing sugar-sweet testimonies of easy success and lavish lifestyles to create envy. That's what you'll get if you wish for it and a month is enough.

They quote mother Teresa as someone who understood the secret and applied it. Such a great person wishing so ardently for peace. However in the whole 20th century, there has only been 27 months of peace throughout the world.

What a poor result! On the other side, we see a simple-minded-looking guy who started wishing for a good parking spot everywhere he goes and he always gets it after only a month. He should have wished for a chauffeur!

If you want to know more www.thesecret.tv

They have an online shop and two free ebooks there http://thesecret.tv/secret-treasures-ebooks.html

- The Science Of Getting Rich

- The Master Key System

All in all, it's not badly done, it can create positive changes in people by giving them a motivation to change their behavior for the better and look forward their future with hope. However I'm afraid these changes would be based on loose reasoning.

Never Eat Alone

Keith Ferrazzi - Never Eat Alone

This is a very interesting book that illustrates the importance of networking for succeeding in life: Professionally and personally.

I enjoyed reading it.

Keith gives several practical tips on how to build and maintain your network. The book gives enthusiasm and energizes to do things differently.

You won't go anywhere by yourself. Hence Keith suggests that for every goal, one should write a NPA or Network Plan of Action.

Define the people that could help you reach your goal, either by their knowledge, their own network, their position...

Then strive to meet these people. (research for the most successful people in the field you are interested in, find out where you could meet them)

Before meeting the people you want to meet, do your homework and research who they are, what they like etc...when you finally meet them, flatter them by letting them know you researched them.

Whenever you decide to reach a certain position, start immediately to network in that domain.

Before changing career, build the network in that new domain, work for free to get references in that domain.

Establish a Personal Board of Advisors, similarly a company has a board of administrator, once should seek advise from several wise people or mentors.

Judge someone by how they treat people below them, not the people above them

Never forget who helped you get where you are in the present. Keep in touch. Don't hesitate to keep in touch with several people at the same time, for example you can very well meet 3-4 people for dinner and introduce them to each other.

Be an organizer, events, dinners, conferences, be a speaker at conferences...

Focus on giving and helping your network rather than receiving. Strive to be a connector and introduce people that can help out each other.

When you help others, they often help you.

After a talk, be among the first to ask a smart question and introduce yourself, that will probably be the only question most people will remember.

Don't be afraid of failure or rejection and rest in inaction:

"The choice isn't between success and failure; it's between choosing risk and striving for greatness, or risking nothing and being certain of mediocrity"

"Is it what you know or who you know that leads to success?

Both. Who you know determines how effectively you can apply what you know."

You need to broadcast who you are and your achievements

"Everyone sees what you appear to be, few really know what you are"

After meeting someone, always follow-up.

- Express your gratitude

- remember an item of interest from the discussion

- reaffirm whatever commitments you both made (meet again?)

If you met someone at an event where they probably met a lot of people, be the first to follow up, or get noticed, with a picture, a sentence remembering the discussion...

Check out Keith's blog at http://nevereatalone.typepad.com/

Building Wealth One House at a Time

Building Wealth One House at a Time: Making it Big on Little Deals - John Schaub

This books provides many tips about all the aspects of becoming a real estate investors.

This is not complicated however it takes a lot of time and skills, once you acquired the knowledge, it can become easy and require less time.

Below are some ideas I found interesting in the book and worth nothing down.

It is better to buy a house than an apartment, tenants stay longer and tends to be cheaper. Houses have lower vacancies than apartments.

You want to rent to tenants that are not good at bargaining or have lawyers: avoid companies and commercial buildings.

Don't buy from another investor, he may be a better negotiator than you.

Don't sell to an investor, sell to someone who likes the house, he'll pay more

Diversify, Invest in cheap houses and more expensive houses.

Public records are online, compare neighboorhoods of houses you like

Buy in a town which grows in population

your first investments should be starter houses 1000-1200 sq.ft, 1-2 small bedrooms, no goodies... easy to rent

nicer houses gets nicer tenants, who take better care of the house.

more expensive house tends to bring less cash flow, but better capital gain (less taxed).

Long term tenants have a lots of furnitures, they like 3 BRs houses the best.

Avoid houses with pools, jacuzzi, fancy backyards, corner houses...

Don't let a seller simply refuse an offer, ask him what he is ready to accept.

Don't let a seller "shop" your offer == use it to show it to another buyer.

=> make the offer valid only for a short period of time (today only!, don't let them time to find a higher offer)

before making the offer, ask the seller is he is ready to sell the house today.

=> Justify this because of course there is another house you are interested in and you can't offer to buy both. This one is your favorite 

house, thus your first offer.

While negotiating the price, never tell a price first. Offer what you want to pay (at least 15% lower).

if the seller comes with a counter offer several thousands $$$ lower => he wants to sell.. make a small increase on your original offer and 

keep going.

if the seller comes with a counter offer very close to his original... he is not ready to sell yet

Realtor usually represents the seller's interests.

Negotiate the least important first (repairs, keeping washing machines, fridge....) and lose.... then invoke fairness when negotiating the 

price.... plus the seller will be happy to have won before, and would have been thinking about selling to you for a while already (after 

having negotiated a lot of small points)

Be careful of sellers that try to be your ally, and 'help' you do an offer that 'his manager' will accept. He pretends to fight for you!

Car sales do that systematically, when they know very well, since the beginning, what the minimum sales price is. They are professionnals.

turn them around, have them bid against themselves, call another salesman from a dealership of the same brand, and ask him if he can beat 

this price.

then tell the seller in front of you that you like his dealership better and if he could do better, you'd go with him.

Short term lease option contract (some kind of owner financing, but safer for buyer who do not qualify for loan)

Good option to sell the house for more.

The buyer pays a small down payment, then pays a rent, till he qualifies for a bank loan and pays off. Give them advise on how to improve 

their finance or credit score so they can get a bank loan soon. If the buyer doesnt qualify for a bank loan within the timeframe in the 

contract (1, 2 years). You get the house back, and keep the money.

It's better to offer the buyer to pay for a small options, low rent, but high buying price, he'll see less risk, and you get more chance to 

sell your house for a good price. (advertise $5000 moves you in)

=> since the house price is fixed, you take the risk that the house value increases during the contract, so shorter is better (you can do 

1-year extension with higher house price and rent price, at least +5%, if the market doesn't raise so fast you can lower it)

A monthly amount goes towards a credit that the buyer will receive if he buys the house within the contract period

=> use $100/month, a low amount avoids that the buyer buils equity, then don't buy the house but claims or feel entitled to shared-

ownership.

=> about 50% of these sales close, for those that don't close, make the buyer a good tenant, extend the contract, don't force him out, give 

him half of hist deposit back to move out without doing problems.

Investors want to buy in a live-in home-owner neighboorhood, easier to resell for more expensive.

Avoid areas where all owners are investors.

The 4-Hour Workweek

The 4-Hour Workweek - Timothy Ferriss

Reading the back of this book, this guy has had an amazing life and is only 29!
It sounds very exciting to learn about his experience. and it is!

Tim convinces us that this is all not so hard and we can do it.

I wouldn't agree 100%, Tim is not anyone, he graduated from Princeton, created a company and made sure 80h/week for 3 years that it was working. And now he is managing it 'smartly' cashing in huge salary and working little.

The take home message for me is
- it's possible, anyone can immediately take several steps towards this
- Don't give importance to matters that don't deserve it. (80% of our time is used for 20% of our productivity)
- Remove interruptions from life to increase efficiency (emails, news, phone, coworkers)
- Don't Work For Work (W4W), being productive enough doesn't take 8h/day for everybody. Don't fill up your day with non-important tasks just to fill the day. Do your work fast and well then get out.


Of course, I'm going to critize some details he gives to convince us :)

Tim makes $80,000 a month and then he tells us he bought a magazine because there was a coke coupon and he wanted a coke? When he is trying to convince us of the value of our time.

Tim probably doesn't live in the same world, His world is - or was in 2001 - extremely cheap
- He could eat at a 4-5 star restaurant in Buenos Aires for $5?
- Rent a really nice apartment in downtown Berlin was $350?

=> my experience 2007 in Buenos Aires: for $25, you could only afford a 3 star restaurant and don't drink too much and 2005 in India, the 5 stars restaurants were $25.
=> Ok the $ lost value, the Euro and Argentinian Peso gained value, this still sounds out of proportion.

I liked his image that vacation are not that expensive if you compare it to rent in the US (even better if you're in California or New-York), but for most people it would be tough to stop renting, store/sell their stuff and go travel with the money saved. I like this idea.

Tim tries to convince us to write down your dreams for the short term and figure out how we can afford it.

I loved his concept of taking mini-retirements throughout your carreer: don't wait to be old to start enjoying. Also, if not, when you will retire you will not be used to it, you will not know what to do, and you will not enjoy it. You might end up saving money all your life, to have a great time once you retire, to find out you actually don't want to do these things. (And you will miss work, miss feelling useful and productive)


Below are some quotes I liked (couple are ideas that I re-phrased)


You are insecure, guess what? The rest of the world is, too.

99 percent of people aim for mediocre.
So competition is harder for simple things.

A person' success in life can usually be measured by the number of uncomfortable conversations he or she is willing to have.
Resolve to do one thing every day that you fear.

Ask for forgiveness, not permission.

'Someday' is a disease that will take your dreams to the grave with you.

If the worse happen, how permanent would it really be? How hard would it be to go back to your starting position?
What's the probability that the worse will happen?
What's the probability that the best will happen? Will the best be permanent?

Information is useless if not used immediately.

Convince people using the Puppy Dog Close => make it a one time trial and reversible.
Offer better guanrante than competition, and longer return period (people will take their time and finally forget to return products)

Am I going to fire an employee who made a mistake that cost the company $600,000? No, I just spent $600,000 training him.

Thanks to the interstate highway system, it is now possible to travel from coast to coast without seeing anything.


Suggested readings

David Schwartz - The Magic of Thinking Big
Dan Kennedy - How to Make Millions with Your Ideas: An Entrepreneur's Guide
Michael Gerber - The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It
Rolf Potts - Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel

More readings

Roger Dawson - Secrets of Power Negotiating: Inside Secrets from a Master Negotiator
Peter Bieler - "This business has legs": How I Used Infomercial Marketing to Create the$100,000,000 ThighMaster Craze
Richard Koch - The 80/20 Principle: The Secret to Success by Achieving More with Less
Randy Komisar - The Monk and the Riddle: The Art of Creating a Life While Making a Living


http://www.1800flyeurope.com/
Use orbitz then expedia, bid from 50% of regular price

Tim's Websites
http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/
http://www.brainquicken.com/
http://www.pxmethod.com/
This one is dedicated to fast reading, Tim give a quick sample tip in the book
1- read super fast for 2 min
2- for each line do not look at the 3 words from left and right (peripheral vision will read them)
3- train to read a line in 2 snapshots
4- read superfast doing the above for 3 min (too fast to understand)
=> now your normal reading speed should be double !

Finding manufacturers for your ideas: http://www.thomasnet.com/


It's a good book, enjoy!

The Brothers Karamazov

The Brothers Karamazov - Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Russian: Братья Карамазовы (Brat'ja Karamazovy)


The Brothers Karamazov is the final novel by the Russian author Fyodor Dostoyevsky, and is generally considered the culmination of his life's work.

The story is a little bit complex to grasp at the beginning, it took me some 200 pages to be "in" the book and start appreciating it.

Dostoyevsky spends a lot of time showing the struggle all the characters are going through and explaining their way of thinking.

The further you go in the story the more exciting it gets, the style and level of details of the story are remarkable. I particularly liked how the author understands the inner reasons that pushes his characters to act and explains their acts threw that. In this book, Dostoyevsky definitively shows that he is a master in psychology and that there are many ways of interpreting the same events.

Every detail has been thought through perfectly, and it all nicely takes shape as the story goes.

A quote: "Living as I do in conditions that render the exercise of hospitality impossible"

Rich Brother, Rich Sister

Rich Brother, Rich Sister - Robert & Emi Kiyosaki

This book is like a memoir of the two authors retracing their life and how they find their own path to wealth or spirituality.

This is an easy read, and show the life path of these two interesting characters. Below are a few quotes I liked.

There have been only 29 years in all of human history during which a war was not underway somewhere.

Methodists are going to heaven and Catholics are not. Because our cross does not have Jesus hanging on it. The Catholics still have jesus on their cross, which means they do not believe in the resurrection, which means Catholics will not go to heaven.

While my sister was looking for spirituality in the wilds of the Big Island, I was looking for sex in the wilds of Waikiki.

Many people believe in god, but very few people trust I god.

It took getting cancer to wake me up to the reality that money is useful.

What is the quickest, easiest, most convenient thing to do so I can reach enlightenment right away?

We would not be happy being poor, working at a job we did not love, working with people we did not like, living below our means in a dangerous neighborhood, not being able to afford health care or the finer things of life.

Suggested reading:

R. Buckminster Fuller - Critical Path

Getting Things Done

Getting Things Done by David Allen - "The Art of Stress-Free Productivity"


GTD is an interesting book, that gives you advises on how to become more efficient in your everyday life.

More efficient meaning
- 1- always know what you have to do
- 2- always know the things you are not doing
- 3- Focus better because your mind stops worrying about 1 & 2


Basic idea stripped down to its core is to use to-do lists.
The author explain several ways of creating, organizing and processing them for maximum optimization.

Most of us already do lists, or more probably one list, however we would gain more by doing this if were following this process all the way.
=> do not leave anything unlisted
Then your mind really stops worrying, and you will feel better and be more focused.
Also don't only list the things you have to do, list also the things that you are waiting for (from others, or at a particular date/event)

Another good advise that I will keep is that, you should write your to-do list(s) in terms of actions. You should write the first physical action you need to perform to get that project going. The thinking and decision making must be done beforehand so your mind won't mind picking up the task anytime and doing it.

The first part of the book explains this theory.
The second part of the book is very detailed explanations and tip on how to implement it. This part is probably better for people that feel like they can't manage with a single list or that they are still overwhelmed and need more rigorous methods.
You will spend more time getting things off your head, but if it is what it takes to free your mind this is what you need to do.

This organization will help you trust yourself on what you choose to do and what you choose to not do. You will feel better with your decisions, knowing that you sacrifices item X for item Y because it was more important to you.


It is crucial that your list must be available anytime, anywhere, simple and fast to update.

Maintain your email inbox at less than 10 items: act on, file, delete or put in to do list all emails as soon as possible.

One state of mind that the book tries to convince you to adopt is that everything that will take more than 2 minutes should be done immediately. You will waste more time to postpone it, add it to your to do list or keep worrying about it and finally do it.

so do not delay any short tast that you can do right at the moment, work, personal, even something misplaced.

Having a list of short /easy things to do will allow you to multi-task better in dead times (waiting for someone, on hold, etc).

This need to become systematic, a habit, you will be seen as a more reliable personne and with this gain of reliability and efficiency you will son be doing much more, and be given more to do. Be ready!

Rich Dad, Poor Dad

Robert T. Kiyosaki - Rich Dad, Poor Dad




The introduction sounds very exciting.


This is an easy read, Robert T. Kiyosaki simplifies every concept to the minimum.


The book deliver valuable content, and the take home message is "Wake Up, Take the Time, Train Yourself and Do It Everyday"


"Workers work hard enough to not be firedt, and owners pay just enough so that workers won't quit."


"For Winners, losing inspire them. For Losers, losing defeats them." [Inspire them to train, get better and succeed next time]


"tax lien certificates instead of CDs"


"How can I afford it?"


"My income comes from a Nevada corporation"


"I always make offers with escape clauses. 'subject to approval of business partner'. Most people do not know that my partner is my cat."


"Think Bigger First"


Suggested readings:

Peter Lynch - Beating the Street
Joel Moskowitx - The 16% Solution, 2009 Edition: How to Get High Interest Rates in a Low-Interest World with Tax Lien Certificates
Napoleon Hill - Think and Grow Rich: The Landmark Bestseller - Updated for the 21st Century
Donald Trump - Trump: The Art of the Deal