WEALTH SECRETS OF BIBLE :

http://laws-of-money.com/index.php

When you follow God’s Word in the Bible, your destiny is to be financially successful. - Mark Kauchak

This is a bold statement to make, but when you learn the awesome promises made to us in the Bible you will know it is true. Yes, you are destined to be a financial success. Believe it or not you have been blessed from the moment of your birth with everything you need for success.

You may have a hard time believing this because:

• of past failures to make any money building a second income or failures you have had in other parts of your life.
• there is a pile of bills sitting on your kitchen table waiting to be paid with little money to pay them with.
• you are overwhelmed trying to figure out how to make any money online
• you are not sure how to manage your finances to ensure a life free from financial worry

Make no mistake though; regardless of where you are now financially, Success can be in your future – when you commit to following a different path!

The Bible is a treasure house of information about how to be financially successful. It is a guide filled with advice as real and applicable today as it was when it was first written two thousand plus years ago.

The Bible provides us the guidance we need to enjoy a life of financial abundance by laying out the rules we must follow in order to obtain the awesome promises waiting for us.

But few people ever spend the time to look for, read and understand the messages in the Bible. And so, the promises God is ready to grant us remain unknown to most of us even though they are there for anyone willing to take the time to investigate the success secrets of the Bible.

The lessons that teach what we need to do to be financially successful are just as powerful and applicable today as they were to the first readers thousands of years ago.

These proven messages about financial success however, have been forgotten and overshadowed today by the newest, quickest and surest ways to make money at the cost of disappointment, discouragement and confusion in so many lives. I can hear it now; my parents were divorced, my dad drank, I was born in a poor neighborhood, I don't have a college degree, I'm too old, I can't... I don't..., I wasn't... I’m not … and the list goes on and on. While some people cling to these and so many more excuses for financial failure and can recite them like a mantra, be assured poverty is not God’s plan for us!

Wealth Secret # 1

Forget any ideas you may have about who can be successful! When we makethe decision to follow God’s rules our financial success does not depend on our education, sex, race, where you were born, the wealth of your parents or how tough your life has been. None of this matters when we commit to follow God’s rules.

That God shows no favoritism is a message that is clear from the Bible.

In Romans 2:11 we read;

“With God there is no favoritism.”

And from Acts 10:34-35;

“Peter proceeded to address them in these words; “I begin to see how true it is that God shows no partiality. Rather, the man of any nation who fears God and acts uprightly is acceptable to Him.””
Yes it is true some of us will have tougher roads to travel. In the end however, the only person responsible for achieving or not achieving financial success is the one person we see in the mirror every day when we wake up in the morning and go to bed at night.
Remember, success many times comes about because people change the way they think about success. So forget those ideas about success you may have picked up along the way because of the wasted time and money you have spent trying to build a second income with nothing to show for your efforts. Forget ideas about success that try to convince you who can and who can’t be successful.
Learn a new way to financial success that is available to anyone willing to take the time to learn at and to take action!

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The Biblical Guide to Internet Riches teaches there are three ingredients needed for success regardless of how you want to make money. Every aspiring entrepreneur needs, in this order, a Success Philosophy (the approach to wealth), a Success System (the game plan) and a Success Program (how you make your money).

But the Success Program, or how you actually make your money, comes third on the list of success steps following the Success Philosophy and Success System. Most of us have not been taught or learned steps one and two. All we see advertised on the Internet, in magazines and in the mail is information about Success Programs – how to make money to buy huge houses, expensive cars or
take dream vacations.

I tried many programs and many ways to make money. So how did I do with all of these programs designed to help reap a huge, financial harvest? Like the majority of people trying to build a second income I failed miserably spending untold dollars and time with nothing to show for it other than a stack of bills and a very unhappy wife because I did not have a Success Philosophy or a
Success System to follow. Take making money on the Internet for example. We have all seen the statistics quoted about Internet success. Depending on where you get your information, the
chances of people making real money on the Internet is somewhere between 3% – 10%. That is pretty sad. What makes it even worse is that many people truly need to make some extra money not to buy a fancy new car or wide screen TV, but just to stay one step ahead of bill collectors. Or, many people are just looking for some extra money to get ahead in life and have some financial security.
Think about it this way. If you were out looking for a car to buy and the chances of it starting were only 3% or even 10%, would you buy it? Would you buy anything for that matter which only had a 3% or even 10% chance of working? Of course not!
Yet how many of us do not hesitate to plunk down hundreds of dollars to start building a second income using approaches almost guaranteed to result in failure? Ouch! That hurts doesn’t it?
There has to be more reasons than just bad programs to explain why people are not making money. Actually the opposite is probably more accurate – there are so many good programs and ways to make money, the beginner and those who have failed on the Net are overwhelmed with choices. But most books you will findabout how to make money on the Net are focused on programs, or how to make money.
No, it is not the program – it is your approach to making money that is wrong! When you finally accept this fact and you open your mind to new possibilities, you will find the success you so desperately want. Once you learn and follow a new Success Philosophy and the step by step Success
System, the Success Program you choose will help place you in the 3% to 10% of Netrepreneurs who do make money on the Net. And most importantly for Christians who want to build Success His Way, these two building blocks are based on the Bible.
Without a Success Philosophy and Success System, you have a shaky foundation on which to build your success that all too often comes tumbling down, as you have probably unfortunately experienced.

Let’s look at how both of these factors can help us reach any financial goals we desire! We will start with the Success Philosophy.

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As you might expect, Christians are called to do more with the gifts our Father blesses us with.
When you read the Bible you will find there are definite expectations placed on us about how we are to use our money. And as we will soon see, how we use our money will determine how much more we will be blessed.
The purpose for the money we acquire is not to have bigger houses, faster cars or more gadgets to play with. These can come as a by-product of following the guidelines in the Bible, but they are not the primary reason we will be blessed with wealth.
As a result of a great deal of research, there is only one reason I have discovered to explain why we are destined for financial success. When you use this concept to guide you, you will discover your life will be changed in so many wonderful ways.

Wealth Secret # 2:

The reason why God will bless us with financial abundance is so we can be His hands on earth.
- Mark Kauchak

This may come as a surprise to many, but if you read the number of verses in the Bible that talk about our financial duties, you will find some pretty specific guidance for us. Our financial obligations can be summarized as follows:

1. Tithe

2. Help the needy

In Malachai 3:10 we read:

“Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house, and try me in this says the Lord of hosts: Shall I not open the floodgates of heaven, to pour down blessings upon you without measure?”

And in Proverbs 3:9-10:
“Honor the Lord with your wealth, with first fruits of your harvest. Then will your barns be filled with grain, with your new wine your vats will overflow.”

From Hebrews 13:16:
"Do not neglect good deeds and generosity; God is pleased by sacrifices of that kind"

Finally we see the advice Tobit gives to his son Tobiah in Tobit 4:7:
“Give alms from your possessions. Do not turn your face from any of the poor, and God’s face will not be turned away from you.”

What is really fascinating and little understood is that the Bible tells us by doing what God has asked us to do, to tithe generously from our first fruits and help the needy; He will bless us many times over. All we need to do is put God first in our lives.

Whether we are tithing or helping those in need, when we are generous with our money, we read in the Bible that we cannot outdo the generosity of our Father and He will bless us many times over. These are promises we can rely on because they are found in the Bible. But we must let money flow freely in and out of our lives Here is how Christians can make such a tremendous impact in the world.
The wealth pump starts when we tithe and help those in need. God has promised to bless us far in excess of what we give. When we receive these blessings, we are in a position to use more of our money to tithe more and give more to help the needy. As we receive more blessings from God we are in the position to tithe and help more – and the cycle grows and grows.

Now imagine this concept being used by Christians throughout the world and the impact we can have. Can you see now why I am so excited about spreading this philosophy to as many people as possible?
Isn’t this awesome? Once you learn the rules you need to follow to receive God’s blessings, your excuses for not taking action and not succeeding are gone! Here are the rules you need to follow for how you use your money.

Wealth Secret # 3

We must follow Gods Rules for our Finances. They are in this order:

1. Be a good steward for the money you are given
2. Tithe
3. Provide for yourself and your loved ones
4. Help those in need
5. Buy the extras you will enjoy – treat yourself!

We all know it is not easy to follow these rules. Just think about what bombards us 24 hours a day on TV, internet and the radio; buy the newest, sleekest, sexiest, largest … for ourselves. All of these messages work to make sure we put ourselves first. Why? Because this attitude is all part of the “me first” Wall Street mentality to spend, spend, spend on me, me, me.
Think about the testimonials and pictures you read about for programs. When the people describe how their lives have been changed because of all the money they made with a particular program or book, they talk about how many new cars or the big house they bought or the vacations they took. When we buy into this philosophy, tithing and helping others go by the wayside, which is not God’s plan for our money.
Placing ourselves first on the priority list for spending money goes counter to God’s plan for our money. When this happens and we place our needs first on the priority list, we focus our financial plans on ourselves essentially paying ourselves first instead of God. Satisfying our desires becomes number 1 on our list instead of number 5. Our life is out of whack! Before you get the idea you have to dress in burlap bags or live in a cardboard box remember this; there is nothing wrong with buying the nicer things in life. But those things must wait when we follow God’s rules not man’s. Placing ourselves number 5 on the priority list is very difficult for many of us. But who said being a Christian was easy?

What is so awesome is that when we follow God’s plan for our finances, when we put God first in our lives the financial pump is primed and we will be blessed far beyond our original contributions. God has promised rewards of abundance when we follow His rules – when we achieve Success His Way.

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With all of the verses in the Bible describing how we should use our money to do good it is truly unfortunate there are people who actually believe money is evil. This attitude is hard to understand if we believe God wants us to be financially successful so we can be His hands on earth. How can we fulfill this role when our attitude about money may actually be preventing us from accumulating wealth to do God’s work? We need to change this attitude at once! Believing money is evil will sabotage our efforts to gain wealth. This attitude works just like magnets with the same charge that repel each other. Negative thoughts about money repel money. This may be hard to understand now, but the Chapter on Faith in The Biblical Guide to Internet Riches will describe very clearly why this is so and why it may be the very reason you have not been making money with your programs to date. Rather than debate the good and the bad of money, we need to think about money in a whole new way. This way of looking at money will forever change how you think about it as it has mine and in so doing will eliminate false beliefs that may be the cause of your lack of financial success.
Here it is …


Wealth Secret # 4

All the money we obtain is a loan from God. But unlike loans in real life, our God is kind and generous and does not require us to pay 100% of the loan back. The Bible instructs us to pay God back in the form of tithes and by helping those in need. We are also told the tithes must come from the first fruits of our success, meaning it is the first obligation we must pay. And unlike loans in real life, when we pay back the small portion God asks of us, what does He do? Whatever the amount of money we offer as tithes and use to help the needy, we will be blessed many times over and His generosity will not be
outdone. The Bible is very specific about these blessings! The money we are provided by God as a loan should be viewed as a tool. Like any tool, it can be used in a good or bad way. How you use it is up to you. When you view money as a tool, you can use it for good and you can let it go in and out of
your life without a problem. Your only concern should be how to use this tool to live God’s word.
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Wealth Secret # 5

Any journey to success must start with a decision to change! Sooner or later in your life you must decide to change your financial situation. Your decision to change will be the starting point for your journey to success. Through all of the reading I did in the Bible and my library of success books, it is
clear that success does not come from outside factors alone. Success must start from the inside. For as you will discover, how much money you make depends on only one factor – you! But nothing can happen until your journey to financial success starts with a decision. You have to finally say “I am not happy with where I am at and I am going to do something to improve”. Until you make this decision, nothing in your life will change – it is this simple. Despite what you may hope for or want to believe, doing nothing and hoping things will magically change for you will not bring you success.Tony Robbins in his book “Awaken the Giant Within” says: “Making a true decision means committing to achieving a result, and then cutting yourself off from any other possibility.”. To me, that is what “cutting yourself off from any other possibility” means. How can we turn this decision into the type of decision described by Tony Robbins that will not allow you to settle for anything less than total success? You
must find deep within you the reason why you want to change. James Allen in “As A Man Thinketh” also talks about the next step to take once you have made a decision to change: “A man should conceive of a legitimate purpose in his heart and set out to accomplish it …They who have no central purpose in their life fall an easy prey to petty worries, fears, troubles and self pityings, all of which are
indications of weakness, which lead just as surely as deliberately planned sins (although by a different route), to failure, unhappiness, and loss, for weakness cannot exist in a power evolving universe.”
According to Napoleon, here is the benefit of the burning desire caused by having a legitimate purpose or a Core Desire: “A burning desire to be and to do is the starting point from which the dreamer must take off. Dreams are not born of indifference, laziness or lack of ambition.” Make your decision to change. Then find the reason why you want to change. It must be a powerful and compelling reason. You will need this for one of the steps in the Success System you will shortly learn about.

Wealth Secrets 6, 7 and 8

There are three related factors we need to learn about in order to get ready to claim the promises of financial success waiting for us in the Bible. Since they are interrelated we will discuss them at the same time. You must have an unshakeable Faith, a Positive Mental Attitude or PMA regardless of the trials you encounter and you must include Prayer in your plans for success. There is absolutely no doubt Faith is a key message for us to learn and use in the Bible. There is a superb definition of Faith found in Hebrews 11:1: “Faith is confident assurance concerning what we hope for, and conviction
about things we do not see.” Does this describe the Faith you have about achieving your financial goals ? Given the emphasis placed on Faith by the inspired writers, Faith must be a key
factor to our success in life too. Here are a couple of examples .

The blind men meet Jesus in Matthew 10: 28-29.
“Jesus said to them, "Are you confident I can do this?" "Yes Lord" they told him. At that point he touched their eyes and said, "Because of your faith it shall be done to you."”

Or how about the hemorrhaging woman in Mark 4:28: "If only I just touch his clothing," she thought, "I shall get well." Jesus said to her, "Daughter, it is your faith that has cured you."
In each of these examples, Jesus worked a miracle in the lives of these people because they had Faith. Ultimately, Faith means how much we believe God will (not can) bless us in our lives. Faith creates a burning desire for success because you will be doing something you are passionate about and you know success is the end result.

Faith creates a powerful by-product that plays an important role in achieving your success - Positive Mental Attitude (PMA). Believe it or not, the Bible does talk about the need to have a Positive Mental Attitude! Faith and PMA are the dynamic duo that will see you through any adversity, through any slump, through any doubts to make sure you arrive at any destination of your choosing.
What then is the relationship between Faith and PMA?
To start with, when you have Faith, you know you will achieve your desired goal of financial independence. With this confidence, you develop a Positive Mental Attitude.
With PMA, regardless of the roadblocks you run into on your journey you have the ability to keep positive thoughts – because through your Faith you know you will achieve success.
Finally, praying is interconnected and cannot be separated from Faith. There are just 2 things required to have your prayers answered.
1. Asking in Faith
2. God’s willingness to bestow
The secret to answered prayer in any aspect of our lives is to have both conditions fulfilled. This also applies to our prayers for financial success. Both conditions must be met in order for us to realize the promises made to us about financial security in the Bible.

But how should we pray? What is the most effective way to pray so that God will hear our prayers? We must do several things.
1. First, we must pray with complete Faith. Remember we must pray not that God can answer our prayers but that He will. That is praying with Faith!
2. We must eliminate the escape clause … If … from our prayers! We must pray with the expectation of prayers being answered. Unfortunately answered prayer seems to cause more amazement than being the norm for us.
3. You must be specific in your prayers. You must ask your Subconscious Mind the right answers to get the answers you seek. To say I want to be financially successful is not being specific. To say I want to pay off $35,000 in bills is specific. How else are you going to know if your prayers are being answered or how else will you know when you are receiving guidance to achieve your goals?
4. Once you have prayed in Faith, go about your business taking action,
knowing that your prayers rest with God. Listen to your Subconscious Mind for answers to your prayers and be alert for the circumstances you need for success!
Employ these techniques in your prayer life and see how powerful your prayers can become!
All of the Wealth Secrets discussed help form a Success Philosophy that is aligned with the Bible. The Wealth Secrets will prepare your mind to achieve Success His Way. We must now develop a Success System to implement what we have learned, for as we know, without taking action, there can be no success.

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The first Factor of the Formula of the Success System is to Conceive, which consists of 6 steps.

Step 1
You must identify your Heart’s Desire – that one reason that is causing you to develop a second income. The Desire will be your focus that will drive you to success no matter what obstacle you must overcome. Write down your Heart’s Desire(s). Make it a passionate statement. Make it a powerful one. Put lots of feeling into it because you will find the more passion and feeling it has, the more of a motivator it will be for you.

Step 2
Set your goals. Don’t make the mistake of setting lofty goals right from the start. If you do, you may find your Faith may not be strong enough to believe in what you are doing and you may be doomed from the start. Don’t forget about your ultimate objective, just set smaller sub-goals to help you
get there. It’s like the old joke; “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.”

Step 3
Identify your Financial Success DNA. In this step you will answer questions to help you determine what your strengths and capabilities are as well as what really interests you. This means you need to really be honest answering these questions since this will help you choose the program that ill give you the best chance of success. This is not the step where you choose your program.

Step 4
Find the program that matches your Financial Success DNA. This is where you do the research to find the program that best matches your Financial Success DNA. Don’t choose a program just because of the money it promises or the “guru” who is pushing it. Make sure it is something you will enjoy doing! Note, it is not time to sign up for a program!

Step 5
This is the step you choose your program and develop the plan to implement your decision. No, it is not time to sign up for programs yet!

Step 6
In this step you will fine-tune your plan by giving it a once over to make sure you are still happy with your selection. After all, you will be committing time and money to build your financial future. Take the extra time now before you get started to make sure you are headed down the right path. It is still not time to sign up for programs yet!

Factor 2

Once you have finished the Conceive Factor, the next Factor is to Take Action. This is when you will finally sign up for your program and execute the plans you developed in the Conceive Factor. The Bible encourages us to take action and not expect success to just fall in our lap.

In Ecclesiastes 11:6 we find the following verse: “In the morning sow your seed, and at evening let not your hand be idle: For you know not which of the two will be successful, or whether both
alike will turn out well.”

Factor 3

The final Factor is to Persevere and is important enough to merit separate mention.

In Mark Chapter 11, the story is told of a man who receives unexpected visitors late at night. Because he had no warning of their arrival, he has no food to offer. He goes to a neighbor’s house, even though it is a late hour, to see if the neighbor has some food to spare. Jesus tells his listeners, "I tell you, even though he does not get up and take care of the man because of friendship, he will do so because of his persistence, and give him as much as he needs."
We are told in this and other parables about the need to persist in our efforts. When we do persist, our reward is to be blessed with what we ask for – financial prosperity.

How to make it on the Internet

By Margarita Buenaventura (The Philippine Star) 

Art by MIKA BACANI

MANILA, Philippines - We young people can’t afford our own houses yet, but we do own a hefty amount of real estate. Online, that is. Virtually, we’ve found homes through our blogs and social media accounts; the feel of a perfectly framed Instagram post or a well-written blog post can practically give us the same cushy feelings that our beds can give. In fact, psychology professor Kristen Lindquist of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill says that because we get a shot of dopamine for every like, reblog, and fave, it becomes something we crave for. You know, like cocaine but cheaper.

So it only makes sense that like our moms and titas who would basically D-I-E at the thought of their living rooms making the cover of Architectural Digest, some of us would also like our Internet enclaves and personalities to gain the kind of attention we think they deserve. Of course, managing to cultivate a retweetable Internet persona is no easy task.

To figure out just what it is that makes an Internet superstar tick, we’ve called upon the collective powers of a few of Manila’s most well-known bloggers. From fashion blog demigods to Instagram rock stars, these virtual celebrities give us some tips and tricks to wading the waters of Internet fame. Fair warning, your online real estate will never be the same again.

Rule #1: Networking helps you gain a bigger audience

A lot of people think that making connections or reaching out is a trait of a user, but a friend once described it as such: ‘you scratch my back, I scratch yours.’ One example of this being, as a blogger, nobody’s going to read your blog if you don’t read other people’s blogs.

— Nina Pineda, @ninagpineda

Weapon of choice: Blogspot

Rule #2: Quality will always trump quantity

It’s not about the quantity of your followers, it’s about the kind of people who choose to listen to you.

I have 5k Twitter followers, and for a nobody like me, it’s an insane amount. But if you compare it to other internet personalities, it is not that much. But I still feel pretty proud about it because my followers are some of the funniest people I’ve met. Whenever I tweet something mildly funny/witty, almost always someone way funnier/wittier than me responds. And it makes me feel good that at least one smart-ass likes my content.

— Khaela de Leon, @khaela

Weapon of choice: Twitter

Rule #3: Deal with your haters privately

People love drama, so much so that they’d actually try and start it for you. Be the bigger person and ignore it, just don’t comment on anything publicly — and if there is an issue, hash it out with that person privately. No one else needs to know business that is between you and the other person.

— Camie Juan, @camiejuan

Weapon of choice: Wordpress

Rule #4: Your safety is a priority

Share but don’t over share. Be cautious about what you put out on the Internet for your own safety.

— Camille Co, @camilleco

Weapon of choice: Wordpress

Rule #5: ‘Thank you’ goes a long, long way

The most important thing I want people to remember is to always be nice. No matter how big you get, it is important to remember to keep your feet on the ground. Never feel entitled to be treated specially just because a lot of people know you. When someone says your work is beautiful, never forget to say “thank you.”

— Jelito de Leon, @jelitodeleon

Weapon of choice: Instagram

12 Practical Tips to Decrease Electrical Bill

By imoney 

The inflation rate reached 4.5 percent in May this year, which was considered the highest in the last two years. For someone who earns a fixed income, this means a plunge in buying power. If you think that your budgeting concern ends with the inflation rate, you have to think again. The next time you receive utility bills, try to look at your electricity bill. We won’t be surprised if you cringe at your electricity bill every month.

Though we have LPG, fuel and even charcoal as other sources of domestic energy, electricity remains the most viable. In the Philippines, electricity is the most common source of energy consumed according to the Household Energy Consumption Survey. In 2011, 21 million households made use of electricity consuming 8,134 gigawatt hours of electricity.

Despite being a third world country, the Philippines has one of the most expensive rates in electricity. In fact, if you will look at other countries, a 2,000 square foot apartment would get you around $60-70 bill every month. As for the Philippines, it is roughly around $450 or give or take around P18,000.  If you live in Manila, an 85 sq. meter apartment will consume an average of P4,840 monthly charge in electricity alone.

To understand why electricity in the Philippines costs that much, here is the rate of our electricity bill as of December 2013. The generation cost runs around P9.10/kWh, while VAT, and other expenses would run around P4.15/kwh. Why did it reach this rate? According to reports, there were a number of factors to blame. First would have to be the shutdown of the Malampaya system during its maintenance period, and the second event would have to be the shutdown of a number of power plants. This shifted Meralco to make use of alternative and more expensive source of energy to produce electricity. The question now is, how do we keep the power rates to a minimum?

Improve on your home’s airflow and insulation

One of the reasons why people spend so much money on air conditioning is because of the non-efficient design of their home. If you are going to decrease the electricity consumption of your air conditioning unit, you want to have proper insulation within your home. For instance, what is the material of your ceiling? If you are using plywood, keep in mind that the heat from your roof is easily transferred to the plywood’s thin material. For some households, they provide added insulation to allow the room to heat slower.

For those who want to make things right from the beginning of the construction phase, what about trying on some gypsum board? From the ceiling walls, the thick material of gypsum has the ability to prevent heat reaching the main floor. Also, this can also be a fire preventive addition to your home. The height of your ceiling should also be a factor. Remember that a lower ceiling height would mean heat to reach the floor easier.

Always check the energy rating of appliances before buying

Modern homes enjoy a great number of appliances. For manufacturers of appliances, they are now prioritizing the energy efficiency. Given the issue of climate change, coupled with the desire of homeowners to save money on their appliance usage, though energy efficient appliances are more expensive, this is still a more practical option in the long run. For instance, do you know that 11% of your monthly electrical bill came from your fridge? What if you could decrease its energy consumption?

Habits in ironing the clothes

Do you know that ironing your clothes all at once every week can help you save some cash? It is because of the fact that the iron consumes more energy when you are starting it. Another method that you could use to save energy is to use fabric softeners. Fabric softeners allow you to just wash and dry your clothes. This way, you decrease the piles of clothes that you have to iron, not only decreasing the workload, but also decreasing the bill.

Timer to shut down air conditioning unit

When is the best time to use the air conditioning unit in your room? Most people only use the air conditioning unit at night to fall asleep comfortably. Why not turn off the air condition unit an hour before you wake up? Most air conditioning units today have timers which you could set to how many hours should the appliance run. An hour without the air conditioning unit still allows you to enjoy a cool room. In fact, if you use the air conditioning unit every night, and go for this option, you could save as much as 30 hours worth of electricity every month.

Motion sensors

One of the most common things that happen inside the house is that we walk in a room and turn on the light, only forgetting to shut it off on our way out. If you have a walk in closet, just imagine the lights being turned on the whole time? For some offices, they install motion sensors in rooms that people rarely go to.

Lighting options

One of the things that you can have to save money on electric bills is to use LED lights instead of incandescent bulbs. Incandescent bulbs are not energy efficient, not to mention they don’t last that long. LED lights last up to 10 times longer than the incandescent bulbs, not to mention it doesn’t produce heat that much.

Use curtains and tinted windows

If you want to keep the heat to a minimum inside the house, which would eventually decrease your air condition and electric fan use, then perhaps, you would want to have your windows tinted. If you don’t want a permanent fix on your window, then a curtain will also be a good alternative. Thick and dark colored windows prevent the heat from penetrating inside the room.

Cooking with an Induction Cooker

Imagine cooking more efficient with electricity, heat is transferred directly to kitchenware without any waste. You save money for gas bills and it will be safer to use since there are no open fires involved when cooking.

Taller fridge means less efficiency

Cold air goes down, while the hot air goes up. This concept explains why the box type fridge is more efficient than the taller ones. If you have a box type fridge, this provides better air flow in your fridge. If you can’t help but settle for tall refrigerators, it is a good idea that you turn to organizing the food properly in order to have the proper air flow. Also, don’t place meals that are still hot inside the fridge.

Save money on your computer’s electrical consumption

How many hours do we spend on PC’s and laptops? It has been a habit of many computer users to not turn off the other hardware when it is not in use. From the printers to the scanner, these are just some of the things that we don’t turn off when not in use. This contributes to the wear and tear of our gadgets, not to mention also consume electricity. For the laptops and PCs, it is also a good idea to keep the computer on hibernate mode if you just want a five minute breather from the work that you are doing.

Charge efficiently

Whether it is your tablet or your phone, you want to make sure that you only charge the gadgets when the battery is already critically low. This allows you to not consume electricity every now and then. This avoids you from plugging the charger even if there is still sufficient energy on your device. Also, remember to always unplug the charger once you are done. A charger that is plugged in is still consuming electricity, regardless if it is charging a device or not. Aside from using the chargers in a more efficient manner, you can also check the chargers operated by solar cells. As long as you have light, you can already charge your phone through these accessories.

Regular monitoring of your electric meter

It is crucial to have an idea if you are already consuming more than your average electrical consumption. Also, keep in mind that even if you have the same consumption as last month, the current rate still plays a great role to how much you are paying at the end of the month. The first thing that you need to know is to learn how to read an electric meter. If you have 2-3 meters in your home, try to have a separate sheet for each of them and monitor them separately. The cost of electricity has a different rate as your consumption spikes up. The second tip that can be useful in this scenario is to record your monthly bill. And third, you have to be updated of the current rate.

Is it possible to keep the electrical bill down? With smart planning and practical implementation of these tips, it is possible to have a breather with the rising cost of utilities, particularly that of electrical bills. You don’t need to purchase products sold in the market that claim to decrease your electrical consumption. These easy to follow steps are already enough to give you the savings that you’ve been looking for.

Think about....

If wealth is the secret to happiness, then the
rich should be dancing in the streets; but 
only poor kids do that.

If power ensures peace of mind, then officials
should walk unguarded; but those who live
simply sleep soundly.

If beauty and fame bring ideal relationships
then celebreties should have the best 
marriages;
but those who are in God deeply has the 
most fulfilled relationships.

The real essence of Life is having CHRIST
in us....

Peace and Love!

Man up during this teachable moment (or how to understand the new business jargon)

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COMMONNESS By Bong R. Osorio (The Philippine Star)

New words and phrases emerge when world-shaking political events happen, a pandemic occurs, a financial tsunami hits, new behavioral patterns arise, deaths of revered icons occur or developments in technology and gadgetry creep into our daily lives.

Terms, slang and expressions — Twitter, global warming, climate change, cloud computing, jai ho, Mayan calendar, King of Pop, snowmageddon, shellacking, simplexity, teachable moment, man up, ambush marketing, occupy, fracking, non-veg, kummerspeck, Arab spring, royal wedding, Bunga Bunga, apocalypse, omnishambles, drones, frankenstorm, YOLO (you only live once), adorkable, Gangnam Style, rogue nukes, toxic politics, WAW (war against women), selfie, 3.0, hastag, twerking, filibuster, ethical fashion, meme, marathon bombing, federal shutdown, all-time high, tread lightly, beat boxing, eticket, heroine worship,  chugging, bestie, toilet-papering, blu-tack, crowdfunding, amazeballs,  firemost, photobomb, ghost plane, VV Putin, emoji, futebol — have become part of our vocabulary. Your workplace, and even your home, is now a minefield of professional and personal gobbledygook that people use on a daily basis.

These words and phrases, as Caroline Taggart, author of the book Pushing The Envelope, Making Sense Out Of Business Jargon, says, can be  “indecipherable abbreviations and business terminology, to buzz words, motivational phrases and more. They can all start to sound like everyone around you is speaking another language. But it’s time to shoot the puppy (do the unthinkable), push the envelope (expand the boundaries), knife and fork the problem (handle it bit by bit), and come to grips with the language of business!”

The tome takes a wry and witty look at business jargon, uncovering the origins and meanings of many useful — and some, not so useful —phrases that can be heard in the workplace and in everyday life. Amusing and informative, Taggart’s work guarantees that you’ll be fluent in business in no time. Jargon-using people are seen as too lazy to use language everyone can understand, or they just want to pull the wool over the eyes of their colleagues or clients.  Get familiar or re-oriented with this abbreviated list from the book. You might just have the need to throw some of them into today’s meeting:

Blamestorming: Obviously a corruption of “brainstorming,” which is an after-event faceoff intended to determine why something went awry in the implementation. It goes without saying that all parties involved are trying to avoid accountability and point a finger at someone else as the culprit, who could most likely be the trainee or the lowest-ranking member of the team.

Blue-sky thinking: A buzz phrase of the ’60s and ’70s, this means  “pie in the sky” or something that should be avoided. It connotes an unrealistic, impractical, or exorbitant delusion. Think Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds — a song by the Beatles. In today’s usage, the expression has undergone a makeover, and has come to mean, “The sky’s the limit, go for it.” It is now something to aspire for: “Reach for the stars!” 

Brain dump. 
When you leave your job, you’re also leaving your work station, the laptop issued by the company, thousands of emails, hundreds of Excel and Word documents and Powerpoint presentations accumulated while there. You want to make this information available to your successor but don’t want the inconvenience of cataloging the junk. So what do you do? Save it all onto the computer system and “dump” it on the poor fellow who inherits your computer.  Bluntly, you’re beyond helpfulness and caring when you do that.

Face time. You can’t email a handshake or pat on the shoulder. You need to have face time, which requires getting together in the same room, looking people in the eye and feeling their warmth or lack of it, as opposed to communicating by phone or email. It is also known as a meeting.

Gardening leave. A euphemism, which has been in use since the 1980s, to describe the act of sending someone home on full pay — normally to “work out” a notice period — without actually doing any work. In other words, you want to get rid of him and you don’t want his pernicious influence around the office, but if you sack him, he’ll sue. The implication is that he will have plenty of time to potter in his garden, which will keep him out of mischief and, specifically and often contractually, prevent him from selling his expertise to your competitors. It’s like preventive suspension or house arrest, with fewer guards and more gardening.

Knee-jerk reaction. If you’re sitting down with your feet off the floor and someone taps you just below the knee with a small hammer, the lower part of your leg jerks forward. Physiologically, this is a knee-jerk reaction — a reflex action that you don’t make consciously and can’t easily prevent.  In business and politics, it’s generally a bad thing — a reaction made automatically, without thought, in a “we always do it like this” sort of way.

Lipstick indicator. An expression coined by Leonard Lauder, son of Estee and chairman of the cosmetics company that bears her name, at the time of the recession in the beginning of this century. His theory was that, in a period of economic uncertainty, when a woman may feel guilty about splashing out on new shoes or a handbag, she compensates by indulging in smaller treats such as lipstick. Increased sales of lipstick, therefore, could be a sign of poor economic health. Economists don’t really buy the idea, but then, most of them are men.

Managing expectations. 
A synonym for “brazen deception,” like telling your shareholders to expect the worst, and then dazzling them with better-than-expected profits. The great proponent of this is the Disneyland theme park, which hangs a sign saying, “Waiting time for ride from here 45 minutes,” at the point in the queue when the waiting time is, in fact, only 30 minutes. Customers are then delighted to reach the front of the queue 15 minutes earlier than expected.

Mass sampling. 
If you’ve ever accepted a free hotdog slice, an ounce of a new coffee mix, or been accosted by a perfume salesman in a department store, then you’ve been a victim of mass sampling — a marketing ploy intended to make customers try — then buy — a new product. It is otherwise known as a “freebie.” 

Mushroom management. A belligerent management style not normally advocated as a serious course of action, which Jonathan Green — compiler of the Dictionary of Jargon in 1987 — defines as a theory of management that believes the best way to treat employees is to “put them in the dark, feed them muck and watch them grow.”  Time off and pension packages do not feature heavily. 

Out of left field. 
An American baseball idiom, whose origin can be traced to a batsman’s ball getting unexpectedly bowled out of left field in a game. The idea came out of nowhere, and has since gone international. It doesn’t follow rationally from anything that has been discussed before — and may well be complete garbage. 

Pushing the envelope. 
In aeronautical parlance, the “flight envelope” describes a plane’s best possible performance — flying at the fastest speed, the highest altitude, and using full engine capacity. Engineers and test pilots who “pushed the envelope” were trying to build a plane that could fly faster, higher and farther than ever before. In today’s usage, it refers to any moderately ambitious office project, giving birth to the joke: “No matter how much you push the envelope, it will still be stationary.”

Revenue stream. Governments use this phrase because it sounds better than “income generated by taxes.” In business it means little more than “sales.” Increasingly, however, it has come to mean “a new and exciting source of income” — the Kindle is a new revenue stream for Amazon, as is podcasting for a radio station or newspaper. But as long as the cash keeps flowing, it doesn’t matter much what you call it.

Swarm intelligence. This metaphor comes from the notion of beehives or ant colonies working in tandem to attain a common end. It’s teamwork, plain and simple, where a lot of people work together, without any one individual knowing what the big picture is. Everyone sees the trees but not the forest.

Time poor, cash rich. This was the great cry of the overworked, over-stressed 1980s, when it seemed that lots of people had plenty of money but no time to spend or enjoy it. But times have changed. As one encyclopedia of management wryly points out, being time poor but cash rich tends to be a lifestyle choice: those who are time poor and cash poor because they work hard in badly paid jobs rarely have any say in the matter.

Water-cooler moment. 
This phrase first came into use in the 1990s to describe a controversial moment in last night’s episode of a soap opera that had everyone talking around the water cooler, the fax machine or the pantry the following morning.

Words. New ones will be born and old ones will die and perhaps be resurrected at a later time. You live and breathe them. Buddha says, “Whatever words we utter should be chosen with care for people will hear them and be influenced by them for good or ill.”

* * *

Email bongosorio@yahoo.com or bong_osorio@ abs-cbn.com for comments, questions or suggestions. Thank you for communicating.

How to Find Your True Calling

By Brian Tracy

Your success in life will be largely determined by your ability to find your true calling, the right work for you to do, and then putting your whole heart into doing it very well.

The happiest people are those who have carefully thought through who they are, what they want, where they are going, and then decided exactly what they need to do to get to their goal. Asking yourself five targeted questions can help you home in on whatever path is right for you.

#1: What do I do easily and well?

When you are seeking your true calling, you must look at the activities that have always been easy for you but which have been difficult for others. Often, you will get comments and compliments on how well you do a particular task. You will be surprised when you hear those remarks, because you never even thought about it that much. It just seemed natural for you from the very beginning.

My daughter is a natural and spontaneous little actress. From the time she was three or four years old, she has memorized lines and acted in every school play and function that has ever come up. In fact, by the time she was six, she was memorizing every line in the school play, not only her own but the lines of every other child. When the other children forgot their lines, Christina would whisper them and keep the play on track.

When Christina was 11 years old, she appeared at a city council meeting and gave a speech in favor of a permit allowing her school to expand. She stood up at the meeting, on a chair, in front of 150 adults, and gave an impassioned little talk. As a result, the permit was granted – and Christina was on the front page of two newspapers the following day.

#2: What are the things that I have done in life that have been most responsible for my success?

In looking back over your work and your activities, what are the things you have done that have given you the greatest rewards and satisfaction? If you work for a company, what are the activities you have engaged in that have achieved the very best results for yourself and your company? Your previous success experiences are signposts pointing to the sort of things that you should be doing more and more of if you want to deploy yourself more fully for greater happiness and satisfaction in life.

#3: What would I do differently, knowing what I know now?

Is there anything that you are currently doing that you wouldn’t start up again if you had to do it over? Is there any relationship that you are in that you wouldn’t get into if you could make the choice today? Is there any job or part of any job that you are doing that you would not embark upon, knowing what you now know, if you had to do it over?

As many as 95 percent of people working today are under-employed, not working to their full capacity for themselves and their companies. Only 5 percent, when interviewed, will say that they are working fully extended at their current job. Only 5 percent feel that their entire potential is being consumed and that they are working on the outer edge of their abilities. These people also tend to be the happiest, the highest paid, and the most fulfilled in any organization or enterprise.

#4: What work would I choose to do if I won a million dollars, cash, in the lottery tomorrow?

This is a question I sometimes ask my seminar audiences. When you hear this question, your gut reaction is a good indicator of where you are today and possibly where you should be going in the future. Most people, when they think of winning a million dollars, think of quitting their current job and doing something else. There is nothing wrong with that. Since most people have backed into their current jobs, taking them because they just happened to be there at the time a job was needed, most people probably should be doing something else.

Napoleon Hill once said the key to success in America is to find out what you really enjoy doing, and then find a way to make a good living at it. What do you most love to do?

Successful people don’t feel like they work at all. They are doing what they love to do, and they are so busy doing it that their work becomes their play. Their work life and their personal life blends together like a hand fitting neatly into a glove. There is no separation. They are totally committed individuals who are accomplishing far more in a shorter period of time than the average person who is merely going through the motions.

#5: If I were absolutely guaranteed tremendous success in any job I chose, what field would I go into?

One of the major reasons people hold themselves back from doing what they are truly meant to do is that they are afraid they will fail in some way. And being afraid that you will fail is the surest guarantor that you will fail.

But what if you are absolutely guaranteed success in any field you choose? What would it be? What would you want to do if you had unlimited time, unlimited resources, and guaranteed success?

The answer to that question should cause you to tingle a little bit. It should make your stomach flutter. It should send a thrill of excitement and anticipation through you that tells you this is the job you should be doing.

Asking and answering the above five questions can change your life.

You have within you talents and abilities so vast that you could never use them all if you lived to be a thousand. You have natural skills and talents that can enable you to overcome any obstacle and achieve any goal you could ever set for yourself. There are no limits on what you can be, have, or do if you find your true calling.

When you become one of the few people who are doing what they love to do, who are totally absorbed in doing something they really care about, you will make more progress in a couple of years than the average wage slave makes in five or 10 years. You will come to the attention of people who can help you and open doors for you. You will be happy and fulfilled in both your work and your personal relationships. You will have more energy, enthusiasm, and creativity. You will unlock your true potential, and your future will become unlimited.

 find out about Brian Tracy and his expertise here.

Are you in the flow?

BUSINESS MATTERS (BEYOND THE BOTTOM LINE) By Francis J. Kong (The Philippine Star)

Think of great athletes.

Think of Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, or perhaps, the Olympian Michael Phelps. What about Tennis prodigies Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal?

The list goes on and on.

When they are in the flow, no one, no power and no entity could ever stop them.

Have you ever witnessed a speaker who can engage an entire audience of 12,000 people yet still be able to have their attention and savor his every word? I have.

When Dr. Ravi Zacharias came to speak last May, he held an entire audience of 12,000 people engaged in his talk. I kid you not when I say that in his 45-minute discourse on truth, you can hear a pin drop in the whole arena.

Have you ever seen a master artist at work? And while he was doing his masterpiece, have you ever felt so struck and amazed that all you could do was stare in wonder? This craft master was ‘in the flow.’

Behaviorists and social scientists define “In the flow” as an “Optimal Stage of Consciousness.” This is when you feel at your best and perform at your best.

Flow is total absorption. Everything else fades away. The self vanishes.

You don’t have to be world famous to experience this.

In fact, I am sure that there were occasions in the past when you worked on a project so intensely that you never even noticed that you were working. Everything sped up. Time became dilated. And it felt like nothing can stop or distract you. This meant that you were “in the flow.”

Many admire experts like these yet feel frustrated. They reason to themselves, “I will never be like them. I wasn’t born with such talents.”

But every expert starts as an “outsider.” They look for activities they would like to engage, and once they found it, they join it. But here is the key difference, they work extra hard on it. And though there would be times when the familiar feeling of “giving up” creeps into their minds and hearts, these people would remember their love for the activity and conquer these feelings.

Malcolm Gladwell, in his book Outliers, says that it takes a person an aggregate 10,000 hours of practice and work to elevate him into a stage of expertise and thus, allows the person to be “In the flow.”

These champions are not exempted from failures. And neither are you.

Failure is highly expected. But if you don’t give your best in what you do, you are actually setting up yourself for more failure.

I give all of myself into my talks, trainings and seminars.

And I do not have any control whether the participants would love it or hate it.

But deep down inside me, I know I have delivered my best and I challenge myself to do better in my next events.

You can control the effort but you can’t control the result. You need to focus on your craft and to be driven with the passion to be better every time you do it.

You can’t be a LeBron, a Kobe or a Jordan, especially if your height is 5’7”’ and below. You can’t be a Phelps if you easily drown in a bath tub of water.

But your passions, your experiences, and your skills are unique to you. Nobody else has the same combination. This is why you have your unique way of making a positive contribution to this world.

Do not live under the shadow of someone else, and try to be someone you are not.

You should be “in the flow” and the only one who can do what you do.

Our days are finite. One day, our time will run out. If you waste your day today, you will run out of opportunities tomorrow.

What is your craft? What is it that you do well? Don’t go around it, don’t deny it, because this is how you grow and be in the flow.

Don’t just do it well, do it better every time, all the time.

(You can connect with Francis Kong through Facebook at www.facebook.com/franciskong2 or listen to his program called “Business Matters” from Monday to Friday at 8:00 am and 6:30 pm in 98.7 dzFE-FM ‘The Master’s Touch’, the classical music station.)

7 steps to stronger, more secure passwords

Associated Press 



AFP FILE PHOTO 

NEW YORK — Rarely does a week go by without news of another hacking incident. On Tuesday, The New York Times reported that a Russian crime ring had amassed some 1.2 billion username and password combinations. 

The Times report, based on information from Milwaukee-based Hold Security, called the data “the largest known collection of stolen Internet credentials.” Hold’s researchers did not identify the origins of the data or name the victim websites, citing nondisclosure agreements. The company also said it didn’t want to name companies whose websites are still vulnerable to hacking, according to the Times report. 

A representative for Hold Security could not immediately be reached for comment on Tuesday afternoon. 

Security threats have long been part of online life, but the increased attention on them makes now a good time to review ways to protect yourself. 

If there’s reason to believe any of your passwords might have been compromised, change them immediately. One of the best things you can do is to make sure your passwords are strong. Here are seven ways to fortify them: 

• Make your password long. The recommended minimum is eight characters, but 14 is better and 25 is even better than that. Some services have character limits on passwords, though. 

• Use combinations of letters and numbers, upper and lower case and symbols such as the exclamation mark. Some services won’t let you do all of that, but try to vary it as much as you can. “PaSsWoRd!43″ is far better than “password43.” 

• Avoid words that are in dictionaries, even if you add numbers and symbols. There are programs that can crack passwords by going through databases of known words. One trick is to add numbers in the middle of a word — as in “pas123swor456d” instead of “password123456.” Another is to think of a sentence and use just the first letter of each word — as in “tqbfjotld” for “the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.” 

• Substitute characters. For instance, use the number zero instead of the letter O, or replace the S with a dollar sign. 

• Avoid easy-to-guess words, even if they aren’t in the dictionary. You shouldn’t use your name, company name or hometown, for instance. Avoid pets and relatives’ names, too. Likewise, avoid things that can be looked up, such as your birthday or ZIP code. But you might use that as part of a complex password. Try reversing your ZIP code or phone number and insert that into a string of letters. As a reminder, you should also avoid “password” as the password, or consecutive keys on the keyboard, such as “1234″ or “qwerty.” 

• Never reuse passwords on other accounts — with two exceptions. Over the years, I’ve managed to create hundreds of accounts. Many are for one-time use, such as when a newspaper website requires me to register to read the full story. It’s OK to use simple passwords and repeat them in those types of situations, as long as the password isn’t unlocking features that involve credit cards or posting on a message board. That will let you focus on keeping passwords to the more essential accounts strong. 

The other exception is to log in using a centralized sign-on service such as Facebook Connect. Hulu, for instance, gives you the option of using your Facebook username and password instead of creating a separate one for the video site. This technically isn’t reusing your password, but a matter of Hulu borrowing the log-in system Facebook already has in place. The account information isn’t stored with Hulu. Facebook merely tells Hulu’s computers that it’s you. Of course, if you do this, it’s even more important to keep your Facebook password secure. 

• Some services such as Gmail even give you the option of using two passwords when you use a particular computer or device for the first time. If you have that feature turned on, the service will send a text message with a six-digit code to your phone when you try to use Gmail from an unrecognized device. You’ll need to enter that for access, and then the code expires. It’s optional, and it’s a pain — but it could save you from grief later on. Hackers won’t be able to access the account without possessing your phone. Turn it on by going to the account’s security settings. 

The 3 steps to success

By James Michael Lafferty (The Philippine Star)

Illustration by REY RIVERA

MANILA, Philippines - Twenty-five years ago I had one of those bosses who drastically influenced the course of my life. His name was Darryl Mobley and he was the living and breathing example of a “self-made man.” He grew up as the son of migrant orange pickers in Florida. He studied hard, stayed out of trouble, and after high school attended the prestigious United States Military Academy at West Point (alongside batchmate Danilo Lim). He graduated into leading roles in US Army Intelligence, Special Forces, and then later entered business life, first as a P&G marketer and now as a successful entrepreneur, publisher, and consultant.

The man is the definition of success — of overcoming huge odds and winning.

Whenever someone asked him, “How did you do it?” and avoid the traps so many of his peers fell into, Darryl always had a simple answer. He has an uncanny ability to distill things into very simple concepts. And his “three steps to success” changed the course of my life and has shaped how I have approached challenges ever since.

It’s super-simple stuff. And it applies to life. Business. Sports. You name it. You want to succeed? Well, it only takes three simple — yet oh-so-difficult — steps. Here they are in order:

1. Determine what you want.

2. Determine the price.

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3. Pay the price.

So, you want to be a lawyer, let’s say? Well, good! Now you have step one out of the way. On to step two.

The price? Well, it is getting good grades and three years of law school. And that is step two.

Now you have to pay the price. You need to buckle down. Study. Give up three years of life to attend law school.

That’s it. Success is really not any more complicated than this.

I have shared Darryl’s wisdom over the past quarter-century with students, colleagues, and employees. My own children. And it has resonated well with everyone. It just makes sense. We can make things so complicated. Success really isn’t.

The issue is usually in steps one and three. Step two is rarely a problem. Some people struggle to understand “What do I really want?” This can be common for younger people with less life experience, or fresh out of school. It’s okay to be confused. Take your time. Go see things. Learn about the world. What is not okay is to sit around and do nothing and mope about it. The answers won’t come from sitting in a room, listening to music, or playing video games. It comes from experiencing life and seeing new things. Eventually you will find your passion.

Of course, the biggest hang-up is on step three, no surprise. When you get right down to it, many people are clear on steps one and two, yet they simply refuse to execute step three. They want to believe the price is “really not that high” or they want to find a way to get a “discount.” They listen to get-rich-quick gurus who charge them huge sums on money on how to avoid paying the price! Success doesn’t work this way. It is a non-discounted part of life. You have to pay full price!

These people lack the real drive. Or desire. Or simply self-discipline to achieve what they want.

Many of us, for example, have a goal, or define success as weight loss. So they know what they want. They know the price is to stay away from sugary foods, eat right, and exercise. But when they get down to it, they simply won’t pay the price! So they look for the discounts and shortcuts that never work. They take pills or supplements to “make it easy.” They wear plastic clothes to “sweat the fat off” and the temporary water weight loss remains temporary!

Unfortunately, I see it in the workplace all the time. Everyone wants a successful career, full of promotions and ever-increasing incomes. But many simply won’t pay the price to bring this to life. They play hooky and take false sick leave to run around and play with friends. They don’t put in the extra hours to sell a few new accounts each day. They don’t exert the effort to put in the merchandising materials and do it right. They cut corners whenever they can. They quit and run away when a job gets too tough, and along the way they learn how to quit whenever things get messy.  And then they wonder why they don’t get the rewards they feel they deserve. Why their career leaves them so unsatisfied.

Look no further than a failure to pay the price.

I have said many times in this column that sports mimic life. And nowhere can one find more glaring examples than in athletics.

At present I am working with some potential Olympians. Everyone wants to go to the Olympics. Everyone will say, “I want to win a medal.” But, my gosh, is the price high! Are they all ready to pay the price?

Some are. And some aren’t.

Olympians today give up much of their lives to train and win gold. Michael Phelps celebrated upon retirement his “first fast food in seven years.” Now contrast this against an athlete who celebrates by posting pictures of eating donuts on Facebook days before a major competition. Or saying, “I cannot give up my white rice.” They aren’t going to make it, and they aren’t going to win. Because somewhere else, someone is paying this price. And they will be the ones who win.

Be it in life, in sports, in business, there are three simple steps to success. You know what to do. It is all up to you.