HOW TO BECOME A BETTER THINKER

Do you want to master the process of good thinking? Do you want to be a better thinker tomorrow than you are today?  Then you need to engage in an ongoing process that improves your thinking.  I recommend you do the following:

think smart

1. Expose Yourself to Good Input

Good thinkers always prime the pump of ideas. They always look for things to get the thinking process started, because what you put in always impacts what comes out.

Read books, review trade magazines, listen to CDs, and spend time with good thinkers. And when something intrigues you-whether it’s someone else’s idea or the seed of an idea that you’ve come up with yourself-keep it in front of you. Put it in writing and keep it somewhere in a favorite place to stimulate your thinking.

2. Expose Yourself to Good Thinkers

All of the people in my life whom I consider to be close friends or colleagues are good thinkers. Now, I love all people. I try to be kind to everyone I meet, and I desire to add value to as many people as I can through conferences, books, audio lessons, etc. But the people I seek out and choose to spend time with all challenge me with their thinking and their actions. They are constantly trying to grow and learn.

The writer of Proverbs observed that sharp people sharpen one another, just as iron sharpens iron. If you want to be a sharp thinker, be around sharp people.

3. Choose to Think Good Thoughts

To become a good thinker, you must become intentional about the thinking process. Regularly put yourself in the right place to think, shape, stretch, and land your thoughts. Make it a priority. Thinking is a discipline.

Recently I had breakfast with Dan Cathy, the president of Chick-fil-A, a fast food restaurant chain headquartered in the Atlanta area. I told him that I was working on this book and I asked him if he made thinking time a high priority. Not only did he say yes, but he told me about what he calls his “thinking schedule.” It helps him to fight the hectic pace of life that discourages intentional thinking. Dan says he sets aside time just to think for half a day every two weeks, for one whole day every month, and for two or three full days every year. Dan explains, “This helps me ‘keep the main thing, the main thing,’ since I am so easily distracted.”

You may want to do something similar, or you can develop a schedule and method of your own. No matter what you choose to do, go to a special thinking place, take paper and pen, and make sure you capture your ideas in writing.

4. Act on Your Good Thoughts

Ideas have a short shelf life. You must act on them before the expiration date. World War I flying ace Eddie Rickenbacker said it all when he remarked, “I can give you a six-word formula for success: Think things through-then follow through.”

5. Allow Your Emotions to Create Another Good Thought

To start the thinking process, you cannot rely on your feelings. In Failing Forward, I wrote that you can act your way into feeling long before you can feel your way into action. If you wait until you feel like doing something, you will likely never accomplish it. The same is true for thinking. You cannot wait until you feel like thinking to do it. However, I’ve found that once you engage in the process of good thinking, you can use your emotions to feed the process and create mental momentum.

Try it for yourself. After you go through the disciplined process of thinking and enjoy some success, allow yourself to savor the moment and try riding the mental energy of that success. If you’re like me, it’s likely to spur additional thoughts and productive ideas.

6. Repeat the Process

One good thought does not make a good life. The people who have one good thought and try to ride it for an entire career often end up unhappy or destitute. They are the one-hit wonders, the one-book authors, the one-message speakers, the one-time inventors who spend their life struggling to protect or promote their single idea. Success comes to those who have an entire mountain of gold that they continually mine, not those who find one nugget and try to live on it for fifty years. To become someone who can mine a lot of gold, you need to keep repeating the process of good thinking.

Credit: John C. MAXWELL

Lesson 3:MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS

My third lesson from Rich Dad, reminds me of a comment that was making waves in the political environment in Ghana some months ago. The well like " Di wu fie asem" by Prez.Atta Mills,which translated literally means "Mind your own business". Well, Rich Dad also tells us to mind our own business!So what that this mean?

“The secret is: "Mind your own business” Financial struggle is often directly the result of people

working all their life for someone else. Many people will have nothing at the end of their working

days.”- Robert Kiyosaki

 

“There is a big difference between your profession and your business. Often I ask people, "What is your business?" And they will say, "Oh I'm a banker." Then I ask them if they own the bank? And they usually respond. "No, I work there."  In that instance, they have confused their profession with their business. Their profession may be a banker, but they still need their own business.”- Robert Kiyosaki

MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS!

Mind your own business,or better still put a business on your mind: There is nothing wrong being an employee, everybody needs to  work for someone one way or the other,but whiles excelling in your current profession seeks out other avenues to accumulate wealth. You can  keep your day job and work all night to develop a business that would pour in money whilst  on your day job.It’s your boss duty to pay you for a month, you need to pay yourself for life.At the end of the day,when you are retired you cannot carry the company along!.It’s not your business.

Your business revolve around your assets column,invest time there.As young  Ghanaians, we need time to build an asset column, before we leave home, get married,make babies  and get trapped in the same financial situations as our parents.We need to build a business that do not require our presence, we own them but they are managed by others. We also need to invest in stocks,bonds, mutual funds and royalties  from intellectual property such a music, script and books.

I now have two investment account with leading financial service industries in Ghana,and working hard to start  a business by the end of much 2012. Watch out I would keep you posted(lol)

“When I say mind your own business, 1 mean to build and keep your asset column strong. Once a dollar goes into it, never let it come out. Think of it this way, once a dollar goes into your asset column, it becomes your employee. The best thing about money is that it works 24 hours a day and can work for generations. Keep your daytime job, be a great hard-working employee, but keep building that asset column.”-Robert Kiyosaki

Lesson Two:MASTER FINANCIAL LITERACY

Lets me start the next lessons from the excerpts of his book "Rich Dad Poor Dad"

“I am concerned that too many people are focused too much on money and not their greatest wealth, which is their education. If people are prepared to be flexible, keep an open mind and learn, they will grow richer and richer through the changes. If they think money will solve problems, I am afraid those people will have a rough ride. Intelligence solves problems and produces money. Money without financial intelligence is money soon gone.”

What is Financial Literacy?

Financial literacy is conscious education on the issues of money an d how to personal finance.Our educational system does not teach us about money but aspects us to go out there and make money.Because financial literacy is not thought in school, you need to search for avenues where you can learn about the issue of money i.e How to make money, how to invest money and how to protect the investment. Financial literacy teaches that it doesn’t matter how much money you make,but how much you keep and how many years you keep it. It also teaches that whatever your current state of earning investment can be made on each income.You need to start learning how to save the pennies  before  you can master how to save the millionaires.

ASSETS Vrs Liabilities

One vital lesson you learn from financial literacy is knowing the difference between an asset and a liability and investing in assets. In a lay man’s view, an Asset is anything that put money into your pocket. Liabilities on the other hand is something that takes money out of your pocket. Assets generates income whiles liabilities generate expenses. A car, can  be an asset to someone and liability to the next. The underlining difference is whether it put money into your pocket or takes money out.A GSM phone can be an  liability to a senior high school student but a great asset to a business owner.

There is the need.You need to be financial literate to survive these evolving world of financial crisis every single year

“Most people fail to realize that in life, it's not how much money you make, it's how much money you

keep. We have all heard stories of lottery winners who are poor, then suddenly rich, then poor again.

They win millions and are soon back to where they started. Or stories of professional athletes, who,

at the age of 24, are earning millions of dollars a year, and are sleeping under a bridge by age 34. In

the paper this morning, as I write this, there is a story of a young basketball player who a year ago

had millions. Today, he claims his friends, attorney and accountant took his money, and now he

works at a car wash for minimum wage.” -Robert Kiyosaki

 

LESSONS FROM RICH DAD

Were you ever thought anything about money at school? Was there ever a time that your teacher jumped into the class to teach you a topic called “Savings 101” or “How to Make Money in ten easy steps”? Certainly not, why? Because school does not teach us about money. Isn’t it funny? After spending so many years schooling the expected output is to apply the knowledge to make a living. So how do you learn about issues of money? Or better still where do you learn them from?

From the home, I guess! Or may be through the trial and error  means.

Today I would like to share with you some vital lessons on personal finance from one of the best selling personal finance books “Rich Dad poor Dad”. Ever heard of the title? I bet you, if you have never read this book I’m afraid you are leaving your financial life to chance. Rich Dad, Poor Dad contains timeless lessons for anyone who is seeking for the road of financial independence. It is not a theoretical book, Rich Dad, Poor Dad is a must read.I bought my personal copy of Rich Dad Poor Dad four years ago and today I just thought I  should share some of its lessons to my lovely readers.

So let’s begin

Lesson One: The Rich Don’t Work For Money

"The poor and the middle class work for money." "The rich have money work for them."

One of the keys to financial success is learning to make money work for you. What that means is, you develop a system that brings in money whether you are present or not. Can you mention a rich man in your county who works for someone? Certainly not, if you can, then, that person is definitely not rich .All rich people are business owners. A business   owner in the initial state  puts in all the effort to start and grow his business, the waiting period is hard and you sometimes feel like quitting.However, if the business stands on its feet, they don’t  necessary have to be present.They can be globetrotting from Ghana to Libya  and the money would be pouring into their bank account 24/7. The poor and the middle class work for money, they work for the owners’  of the businesses  who pays them monthly salaries which would not be enough to meet their expenses.To solve this problem, they work hard to earn money, ironically the more they earn the more their expenses increases to meet their income. They never make progress.

 The key is: don’t work for money. Don’t depend on your boss to make you rich.Use your mind the most powerful computer in the world to create a business for yourself

It only starts with a thought, an idea and a burning desire to take control of your life.Seek to be a business owner,investor rather than an employee.

25 LESSONS @ 25

Today I turn 25 on this planet called Earth, as I figured out how to make this occasion memorable, I said to myself,”Why don’t I write a post on the lessons I have gathered in life for the 25 years of existence.” I was a bit reluctant initially ,as I could not readily think of anything to pen down.

Emmanuel Kumah

Finally like the dawn of a new day, I took the giant step and now here is the post.

25 lessons at 25 years.

I am going to share with you 25 things I have learnt in life.Please feel free to comment to make this occasion memorable.

1. ·         FIND YOUR PURPOSE: What on earth am I here for? If you were to be like me, you may have asked yourself this question before .There is a reason why God brought you here, you are not a mere accident. So many people walk through life without discovering the true meaning of existence.God did not bring you here to fill the gap.A life without a purpose is not worth living. 
2.      KNOW THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ASSETS AND LIABILITIES: If you want to be successful in life you  should know the differences between the “L” and the “A”.Simply put, an Asset is what puts money into your pocket and  liability is what takes money out of your pocket. What one may consider and asset would be someone’s liability and what you may consider a liability is a great asset.If you want to be financially successful,get to know what an asset is, buy one and build your asset column.No what liabilities  are  and avoid them 
3.    DO WHAT YOUR LOVE: One key factor for fulfillment in life is to do what you love or to love what you do. Life is too short to spend all your energy and time in a career you hate. If you wake up on a lovely Monday and you are not filled with joy that you would be off to work, then it simply means you hate the job, Quit! You either have a choice to do what you love or love what you are currently doing 
4. LEARN TO EARN:The highest paid individuals in the world are those who have much knowledge and knows how to apply the knowledge.I have learnt that in life if you want to be successful you should be willing to learn the more, the more you learn new things the more you know and the more you know the better it gets which would finally translate into monetary  equivalent.
5. MAKE AN IMPACT: Have you ever killed a mosquito before? How did you do it? By smashing that little insect in your wide palms.Do you take notice of the sound you hear when the insect finally dies, I am talking about the “pa” you hear. That is the mosquito making an impact before it dies.If  an unintelligent  insect like the mosquito leaves behind a “pa” sound in its death so should you.You should never leave this world without anybody noticing.When you time on earth is due,people should look back and be amazed at what you have done in your generation.Just look at these Great Men: Steve Jobs, Albert Einstein,Kwame Nkrumah etc.they were men who made a mark in their generation 
6. SEIZE THE MOMENTS: Any chance you get in life is an opportunity to make someone better,seize the moment, opportunities flows around in abundance. 
7. PREPARE, PREPARE, PREPARE: It’s true “your time go come” if you believe you would get there one day, prepare, prepare, prepare. Opportunity waste no time on those that are not prepared. Champions are not made in the ring, they are made in the gym
8. YOU CAN’T DO IT ALONE: No man is an island, you need someone to show you the way and a shoulder to lean on in times of need. Don’t be too self centered, you can’t do it alone.
9. DON’T WAIT TILL ALL THE LIGHT TURNS GREEN: Most times we want to wait for the perfect time to start doing something. The traffic light cannot be green from Accra to Bolga,so if you are waiting for all the light to turn green, you would never get to your destination. 
10. PLAY YOUR HUNCHES:listen  to your heart,follow your intuition.Your inner voice speaks volumes of words to you if followed would change your life completely 
11. DON’T TRY TO GET RICH TOO QUICKLY: Don’t follow the get rich quick gimmicks; money that comes to stay comes bit by bit. If you want it all now and fast, you would have it now and pay a price you never thought of 
12. BE ONE STEP AHEAD OF THE  CROWD: Always learn new things, Let this guide your life,before they know it you should have known it already.Before they do it, you have done it and reaped the rewards before time. 
13. DON’T FOLLOW THE SAME ROUTE AS EVERYONE ELSE: IF you see everyone moving in a particular direction change yours. Beginning charting a new course for your life.There is no one absolute way to the pot of gold. 
14. PUT SOMETHING ASIDE FOR YOUR OLD AGE: Don’t wait for it to be too late.Had I known is always at last.Beginning putting aside some money for your old age.Because your children may not be in the best situation to take care of you them 
15. GET TO KNOW WHERE YOU ARE BEFORE YOU START: If you want to venture out, get to  know your current situation, evaluate the mess you are in now.This would motivate you to take the first giant step towards greatness
16. KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT: God gave us two ears and one mouth so we can listen the more and talk the less.Keep your mouth shut else you may sell some brilliant ideas to others 
17. GET SOME MENTORS IN LIFE: You cannot make it alone, surround yourself with people who have been where you are planning to get to 
18. KNOW WHEN TO SAY NO: Be firm on your decisions, say “no” when something is against your values don’t compromise because you feel the other person would be hurt 
19. CHOOSE THE LIFE YOU WANT TO HAVE: God has given each of us the  ability to chose,from  today chose the kind of job you want to have,the care you want to drive and what to do with your life 
20. PRAY,PRAY,PRAY: Prayer is a communication with a supreme being, when you pray you  identifies your limitation us man,and give way for God to  intervene.When you fail to pray it means you are capable of handling all that comes in your life 
21. GO THE EXTRA MILE: Don’t be too comfortable with what you are doing, stretch your imagination and you would never return to the current state again 
22. GET OUT OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE: Move away from the things that makes you very comfortable, explore new opportunities.Life may be greener at the other end 
23. WALK IN LOVE: So many people have fallen in love and now have a broken heart, I suggest you walk in love so that it would be easy to walk out of love when things don’t go well 
24. LAUGH A MINUTE: Laughter is the greatest medicine in the world, watch some good movie or funny clip and laugh your lungs out. Don’t need to stay depressed all your life 
25. WORSHIP GOD: Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come.Where you would say I had no pleasure in them

NJKWRS7P9BUX

 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

EMPTY YOUR POCKET TO FILL YOUR MIND

Suddenly, the bell has begun tolling, a reminder that whatever has a beginning must surely have an end. Once again, the year is coming to an end, whilst people anxiously await the Christmas festivity I decide to take a different approach, to evaluate the goals I set for myself before the year begun. I went into my personal folder on my laptop and found a copy of the goals I documented in 2010.In 2010, painstakingly wrote down all that I wanted to achieve for the next five years, that is from 2010 to 2015 (funny isn’t it).I didn’t want to live my life by chance, so took it upon myself to create my own world by my own words.

 I set spiritual,educational,relationship and financial goals. As I look at the financial goals I set for myself and how much money I have been able to accumulate, only one saying came to mind, “Empty your pocket to fill your mind refill your pocket with your mind”. So today, I have decided to write a post on this quote

“Empty your pocket to fill your mind refill your pocket with your mind” is a quote a got from a book by a Ghanaian Author, Richmond Kwame Frimpong, a management consultant and motivational speaker in his book, “Beyond Orientation”

emptypocket

There is a saying that, it is what is in your head that determines what is in your hand. Most people in their quest to financial independence fail to understand that getting money begins with an idea. You need to provide somebody with something of value in return for money. But how can you provide someone something of value if you have an empty head? There should be something of value in your head that someone desperately needs before you can feel the money in your hand. But before you can get something of value in your head, you must empty your pocket.

Let’s just say you realize so many institutions in Ghana want an online platform to attract more clients, so you decide to learn web development to provide them with such services. You need to pay for the services of a web development expert before you can provide the institutions the services the require. This is a perfect example of emptying your pocket to fill your mind. After you have acquired the skills in web development you now refill your pocket with your mind by developing website for these institutions. Remember, it has to be in your head before you fill it in your hand.

How to Empty Your Pocket Wisely

Now that you have decided to empty your pocket, how do you start? Invest in books, reading books can really expand your mind and allow you to learn so many different skills and gain knowledge that will help you in all areas of your life. I'm not talking about fiction books here. I'm talking about business books, personal development books, or any book where you will actually learn a new skill by reading it. When I graduate from the university in 2010, I found out that I have spent over 100 cedis on personal development books alone. I have emptied my pocket to fill my mind.

You can also take courses and attend seminars. Think about it. These programs are taught by people who have spent decades figuring out how to make some aspect of their life work and now they are going to teach you how to do it. Of course, you want to do some research before you invest in some of these seminars and make sure you're not just paying for some sales presentation.

Reading, listening to audio tapes while you drive or workout, attending seminars, and doing anything that will increase your knowledge and skill base is a great way to empty your pocket to fill your mind. However, before you start, you will want to make sure you have a goal in mind. You want to be clear on what you will gain out of doing all of these things.

When you learn how to invest your money in yourself, you will start to improve different areas of your life. The more you do this, the more valuable you will become to the market place. If you have a job where you can get better pay by being more knowledgeable in your industry, take some time out each night to increase your understanding and skill sets in that business. If you want to be the best in your field of work, you will want to invest some money into upgrading your skills and knowledge.

 When you invest in yourself, the results in terms of return on investment can be huge. You may not see any monetary gains right away, but over time, it will show up in terms of your happiness level as well as your level of success.

What Next?

As you plan to enjoy this festive season, remember to also set some financial goals for the coming year 2012.Just know that if you fail to plan you plan to fail. Take my advice ,”empty your pocket to fill your mind,refill your pocket with your  mind”

MERRY X’ MAS