At the tender age of 40, I'm going to become a father. Around the 18th of January 2008 is the due date. 7 weeks or so to go. I am awash with emotions, the predominate one being elation. WTF!
From my late teens to early thirties I lived the devil may care life. It's been great. From early on I've been a big fan of The Doors and as Jim Morrison once asked: "Did you have a good life when you died, enough to base a movie one?". I kept that with me and always asked, would that be good in a movie? From failure to great success I've run the gamut of highs and lows in my life to date, I've kissed girls AND boys, got lost (deliberately sometimes), been found, seen the savage beauty of mountain top from other peaks, clear streams, wildlife, lowlife and all kinds of animals that populate the earth.
Because my dad was in the UN we traveled a lot too from Bangladesh to Israel and some places in between. I've seen the Taj Mahal and the Great Pyramids, the Dead Sea and Jerusalem. I have an affinity for both Arabs and Jews, Sikhs and Muslims. I can ask "How are you?" in 17 different languages. Not bad for boy from an island on the westernmost part of Europe, Ireland.So why am I telling you all this? It's not to boast but to let you know what a great life I've had.
So now the wheel turns and my baby boy Samuel is about to introduced to this world. For a while he will be completely helpless and dependent on us and he will be trying desperately to take in all the information around him and we'll be doing our best to give him all the knowledge he needs! What an exciting time.
Recently, I've just finished painting his room, putting up shelves and assembling his cot and crib. It's really coming together and really bringing it home. Now I see more clearly what other fathers have told me; "You have no idea what you're in for until it happens!". Well, I'm as ready as I can be at this time with only 2 weeks to. I'll keep you all posted and I promise to put up pics. :)
Subscribe To
Posts
All Comments
Wednesday
Friday
The work from home mindset
Would you like to work from home? Many might say "Well, that's a stupid question, dumbass... ... I want to work from home because (fill in as appropriate)". I can't counterpoint any of the valid reasons that people give. "I want to be there as my child grows up", "I'm not getting along with my boss", "My jobs isn't certain at the moment". I hear these a lot because of the home business that I work in. People go to my site, fill out their details and I call them back to conduct a brief interview. I do this because I don't want to work with just anyone.
The distance between the perceived wish to work at home and the actual, ok I'm ready to start working from home is vast. It's a chasm that, in this day and age, is insurmountable for most. I say "in this day and age" because as Robert Kioysaki, author of the Rich Dad, Poor Dad series (I highly recommend them if you are an employee, self-employed, a business owner or an investor) notes, we are living at the end of the Industrial Age and the start of the I.T. age. I'll return to this later.
So why is it so huge? Well, to comment from the point of view of this writer, it's the mindset. For society to run smoothly we need rules that we all agree to. For example, this oblong object that I hold in my hand, solid and sturdy and used in the building of houses, we all have agreed to call "a brick" in the English language. All we all agreed? Yes? Great. So when I ask someone to fetch me a brick I pretty much know what that person is going to bring back. (I'm not going to go in to the semantics of colour or size or make of brick.) So it is that we are taught in school. That's a flower, that's a bee, that's a quadruped. Great, I'm learning! So when does education turn us into conforming, solid members of society and of the work force? At what age do we "choose" to do the best we can at school so that we can get the praise we so richly deserve, that we can move higher to high school/secondary school. When did we choose to be streamlined from the achievers to remedial? Perhaps it was in University where we're studying to get that much needed degree so that we can get a good job, marry the right person, live in the right neighbourhood and have the right amount of children.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not ranting. This is the blueprint for live of so many people, me included. I did all these things but I wasn't happy. Many aren't. I think that's because, and again I am speaking from my own point of view, that our source of happiness was always external. What kid doesn't want their mum and dad to be proud of them, to a less extent, praise from the teacher, recognition from their professors and recognition from their bosses for doing a great job? The television adverts tell us that if we have a Caribbean cruise or whiter teeth that we will be happy. I think nowadays the collective consciousness is more aware that happiness comes from within. I'm very happy now to look in the mirror and say "I love you Howard". I don't do it to the exclusion of others like Narcissus. How can I let others love me if I don't love myself? Conjure up, if you will, the image of a person who doesn't want to be loved. They exist. You may know them but that's for another day.
To answer my above questions on when we became comfortable in the Industrial Age blueprint for a happy life... who knows. It was some time when you looked to your early role-models for life, your parents. Those who grew up in that age. Get good grades, get a good job, marry a good girl and live in a good neighbourhood would have been their words of wisdom. So that's what we did for 20, 30, 40 years of our lives. We settled and we were content but I think we may not necessarily have been happy. The comfortable old shoes of going to work with the security of the paycheck at the end of the month were not something we wanted to take off. Mmmmm comfy. It's a very difficult mindset to get out of. So I ask again; would you like to work from home? Are your ready to work from home?
Albert Einstein defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. So how many employees do you worked their way up to being multi-millionaires? I'm sure you could count them on one hand. We can't keep doing the same thing and expect different results. If we want different results, we have to change our mindset. Thankfully, with this business, I did and now I teach others how to become wealthy, they bring the why.
Until next time,
make it a great day because you deserve it.
The distance between the perceived wish to work at home and the actual, ok I'm ready to start working from home is vast. It's a chasm that, in this day and age, is insurmountable for most. I say "in this day and age" because as Robert Kioysaki, author of the Rich Dad, Poor Dad series (I highly recommend them if you are an employee, self-employed, a business owner or an investor) notes, we are living at the end of the Industrial Age and the start of the I.T. age. I'll return to this later.
So why is it so huge? Well, to comment from the point of view of this writer, it's the mindset. For society to run smoothly we need rules that we all agree to. For example, this oblong object that I hold in my hand, solid and sturdy and used in the building of houses, we all have agreed to call "a brick" in the English language. All we all agreed? Yes? Great. So when I ask someone to fetch me a brick I pretty much know what that person is going to bring back. (I'm not going to go in to the semantics of colour or size or make of brick.) So it is that we are taught in school. That's a flower, that's a bee, that's a quadruped. Great, I'm learning! So when does education turn us into conforming, solid members of society and of the work force? At what age do we "choose" to do the best we can at school so that we can get the praise we so richly deserve, that we can move higher to high school/secondary school. When did we choose to be streamlined from the achievers to remedial? Perhaps it was in University where we're studying to get that much needed degree so that we can get a good job, marry the right person, live in the right neighbourhood and have the right amount of children.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not ranting. This is the blueprint for live of so many people, me included. I did all these things but I wasn't happy. Many aren't. I think that's because, and again I am speaking from my own point of view, that our source of happiness was always external. What kid doesn't want their mum and dad to be proud of them, to a less extent, praise from the teacher, recognition from their professors and recognition from their bosses for doing a great job? The television adverts tell us that if we have a Caribbean cruise or whiter teeth that we will be happy. I think nowadays the collective consciousness is more aware that happiness comes from within. I'm very happy now to look in the mirror and say "I love you Howard". I don't do it to the exclusion of others like Narcissus. How can I let others love me if I don't love myself? Conjure up, if you will, the image of a person who doesn't want to be loved. They exist. You may know them but that's for another day.
To answer my above questions on when we became comfortable in the Industrial Age blueprint for a happy life... who knows. It was some time when you looked to your early role-models for life, your parents. Those who grew up in that age. Get good grades, get a good job, marry a good girl and live in a good neighbourhood would have been their words of wisdom. So that's what we did for 20, 30, 40 years of our lives. We settled and we were content but I think we may not necessarily have been happy. The comfortable old shoes of going to work with the security of the paycheck at the end of the month were not something we wanted to take off. Mmmmm comfy. It's a very difficult mindset to get out of. So I ask again; would you like to work from home? Are your ready to work from home?
Albert Einstein defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. So how many employees do you worked their way up to being multi-millionaires? I'm sure you could count them on one hand. We can't keep doing the same thing and expect different results. If we want different results, we have to change our mindset. Thankfully, with this business, I did and now I teach others how to become wealthy, they bring the why.
Until next time,
make it a great day because you deserve it.
Monday
Power vs Force
If one was to plot my journey of knowledge about business and myself since I joined Liberty League on a graph, it would show a gradual increase. I don't know what the gradient of the graph would look like as the graph is continuous! The great thing is, this isn't exceptional to any Liberty Leaguer and it's not why I'm posting this blog. The reason I'm posting is that I have read 6 or 7 books since I came back from the Summit in April of this year (it's now 2nd August 2008). I didn't so much read them as "consume" them. That said, there would be two "spikes" in my graph that would show an exceptional rate of growth. The two "spikes" are related to two books. One is the ubiquitous "Think and Grow Rich" by Napoleon Hill. The second is, in my opinion, one of the most mind expanding, life perspective altering books, "Power vs Force" by Dr. David Hawkins.
When my adviser, the larger-than-life, John Lavinia, told me that this book would be as important to me as Think And Grow Rich, I was a tad unbelieving. You see, I had just finished reading Think And Grow Rich (I'll shorten it to TGR if you don't mind?) and THAT was a life altering experience. Having learned about neroplasticity from Prof. Shawn Achor at the Rome Summit 2008, I knew why my forehead ached slightly when I read it. My brain was taking a new shape with the new information. Heavy jelly, eh?
So what else could or would produce 1) such a feeling of empowerment and 2) the need for my brain to reform with new information?
Well, the short answer is Power vs Force. If you want the long answer, read the book! lol. Whereas TGR had reformed my mind in business practice in such a profound way, Power vs Force has changed my perception of our world with the same, if not greater, profundity. Let me illustrate by saying that last night I was in a karaoke booth with my friends from work (I'll be handing in my notice at the end of Aug 08 btw yipee!) and on the walls, as big as the walls allowed, were pictures of space and spiral arm galaxies. As I pondered them, I considered them small compared to the vast bank of consciousness that I can tap into. Space, time and distance were and are all relative. Without my body (and I mean that in both senses of the term i.e. outside of and "not with") is the most amazing "world" that each of us has power and ability to tap into and see. What if we could step out of linear time? Would there be causality? Would "this" cause "that"? Life and the universe are not linear.
So if we lead linear lives were missing out on our true potential to be greater. Life is a gift from God (I use the term God to refer to the Creator and not a religious icon) and as such, I was to maximise his gift, not hide it away in a hum-drum life. Beauty exists in everything and your point of view is only relative to where you're looking from so what would your poit of view be if you looked at an object from various viewpoints? You'd have different opinions right? Different opinions from the same conscious entity. As you you think these thoughts, you put them into the bank of collective consciousness right? It's in the bank for someone else to be aware of. The converse is also true, your thoughts are taken from the bank and "realised". So now I know that "my" thoughts aren't really my conception. To have the notion "my thoughts" is, a vain concept and vanity doesn't serve anyone justly.
So, having read about two-thirds of the book, I'm fairly sure that I know AN answer to the question, which came first, the chicken or the egg?
Let me leave it at that for now. If you're still with me, well done! There are no embedding link on YouTube but http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45LuPQUUEAI will give you a taste.
Thanks for taking the time to read this. You have the power, so make it a great day.
When my adviser, the larger-than-life, John Lavinia, told me that this book would be as important to me as Think And Grow Rich, I was a tad unbelieving. You see, I had just finished reading Think And Grow Rich (I'll shorten it to TGR if you don't mind?) and THAT was a life altering experience. Having learned about neroplasticity from Prof. Shawn Achor at the Rome Summit 2008, I knew why my forehead ached slightly when I read it. My brain was taking a new shape with the new information. Heavy jelly, eh?
So what else could or would produce 1) such a feeling of empowerment and 2) the need for my brain to reform with new information?
Well, the short answer is Power vs Force. If you want the long answer, read the book! lol. Whereas TGR had reformed my mind in business practice in such a profound way, Power vs Force has changed my perception of our world with the same, if not greater, profundity. Let me illustrate by saying that last night I was in a karaoke booth with my friends from work (I'll be handing in my notice at the end of Aug 08 btw yipee!) and on the walls, as big as the walls allowed, were pictures of space and spiral arm galaxies. As I pondered them, I considered them small compared to the vast bank of consciousness that I can tap into. Space, time and distance were and are all relative. Without my body (and I mean that in both senses of the term i.e. outside of and "not with") is the most amazing "world" that each of us has power and ability to tap into and see. What if we could step out of linear time? Would there be causality? Would "this" cause "that"? Life and the universe are not linear.
So if we lead linear lives were missing out on our true potential to be greater. Life is a gift from God (I use the term God to refer to the Creator and not a religious icon) and as such, I was to maximise his gift, not hide it away in a hum-drum life. Beauty exists in everything and your point of view is only relative to where you're looking from so what would your poit of view be if you looked at an object from various viewpoints? You'd have different opinions right? Different opinions from the same conscious entity. As you you think these thoughts, you put them into the bank of collective consciousness right? It's in the bank for someone else to be aware of. The converse is also true, your thoughts are taken from the bank and "realised". So now I know that "my" thoughts aren't really my conception. To have the notion "my thoughts" is, a vain concept and vanity doesn't serve anyone justly.
So, having read about two-thirds of the book, I'm fairly sure that I know AN answer to the question, which came first, the chicken or the egg?
Let me leave it at that for now. If you're still with me, well done! There are no embedding link on YouTube but http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45LuPQUUEAI will give you a taste.
Thanks for taking the time to read this. You have the power, so make it a great day.
Tuesday
My First Week
Testing testing.... is this thing on?
Hi there. If you've come across this blog it may be by chance or it may be because I have very excitedly pointed you in this direction. So you're probably a friend of mine. Sad.
When I first came across the concept of blogging it blew my mind. This online diary that EVERYONE could read. Or not as the case may be. It's a big world but I wouldn't like to give it a second coat.
Which leads me nicely on to the point of my first blog entry. It's a BIG world.
About a year ago, I signed up with a home based business. What attracted me was the "home based" bit. I've always tried to give my best to companies and be really enthusiastic about whatever project I was working on. I'd suggest that perhaps we could do it this way or improve it by doing it that way or including this person. While my enthusiasm was appreciated, I never felt like my ideas were. I've been told that I'm quite a strong personality so I've tried to hold back in case others felt encroached by me.
Right there is the mistake. Instead of celebrating my "large" personality I tried to throw camouflage over it. I was the elephant in the room. I had some run-ins.
So a home based business for me then. To be my own boss and to work my own hours and to make the money that would never have been possible had I stayed in corporate life. So here I am now, coming the end of my first week of working from home. AND I LOVE IT.
You may ask "what took you so long?". The truth is, I did.
When someone is used to, as we all are, of being taught how to conform and that things don't work if you don't, it's hard not to want to run back into the burning building. At least you knew where you were then! The building that is you pre-formed life. I'm not dissing it. I was there for a long time. And once you're there for a long time, it's hard to leave.
So, I'll sign off on this post saying that, for me, I've found a better way. I'm spending more time with my pregnant wife. Our son, Samuel, is expected in mid-January and I'm going to be there for him every step of the way. It's nice to be able to keep that promise to him and hold that glow in my heart when I think about it.
Next time: why I prefer not to refer to myself as "me".
Hi there. If you've come across this blog it may be by chance or it may be because I have very excitedly pointed you in this direction. So you're probably a friend of mine. Sad.
When I first came across the concept of blogging it blew my mind. This online diary that EVERYONE could read. Or not as the case may be. It's a big world but I wouldn't like to give it a second coat.
Which leads me nicely on to the point of my first blog entry. It's a BIG world.
About a year ago, I signed up with a home based business. What attracted me was the "home based" bit. I've always tried to give my best to companies and be really enthusiastic about whatever project I was working on. I'd suggest that perhaps we could do it this way or improve it by doing it that way or including this person. While my enthusiasm was appreciated, I never felt like my ideas were. I've been told that I'm quite a strong personality so I've tried to hold back in case others felt encroached by me.
Right there is the mistake. Instead of celebrating my "large" personality I tried to throw camouflage over it. I was the elephant in the room. I had some run-ins.
So a home based business for me then. To be my own boss and to work my own hours and to make the money that would never have been possible had I stayed in corporate life. So here I am now, coming the end of my first week of working from home. AND I LOVE IT.
You may ask "what took you so long?". The truth is, I did.
When someone is used to, as we all are, of being taught how to conform and that things don't work if you don't, it's hard not to want to run back into the burning building. At least you knew where you were then! The building that is you pre-formed life. I'm not dissing it. I was there for a long time. And once you're there for a long time, it's hard to leave.
So, I'll sign off on this post saying that, for me, I've found a better way. I'm spending more time with my pregnant wife. Our son, Samuel, is expected in mid-January and I'm going to be there for him every step of the way. It's nice to be able to keep that promise to him and hold that glow in my heart when I think about it.
Next time: why I prefer not to refer to myself as "me".
Saturday
Arrivederci Roma
Did you ever thing about something for so long and so hard that it actually manifested itself? Up until now I would have referred to it as a wish or a longing. I used to watch planes fly overhead and wish that I, too, could fly. Not in a superman way, I mean the mechanical way. For years "I wished" it. And then one birthday, my then girlfriend, now wife, actually bought me flying lessons. Out of the blue and without conscious prompt from me.
So it was with little surprise that I found myself in Rome in April with Liberty League. To say "I expected it" is not to mean that I took it for granted. Myself and my wife had arrived 2 days before the Summit and on both nights we toasted "our Liberty League Life".
It being my first Liberty League event, what we couldn't have anticipated was incredible and indelible the event would be on our lives.
Having checked in and registered at the Sheraton Roma, we went to the loby bar to grab some lunch. There in shorts and T-Shirt chatting casually was my adviser, John Lavinia. John has been in this business since its inception, or close to. He is a self-made millionaire with the heart of a lion. He is an amazing public speaker too but I digress. He came over to us delighted by the fact that we made it, Ireland's first Summit and Conference advisers with no small help from him.He flipped over his phone and says, in his New Jersey accent, "Let me grab my partner in crime.... Hello Shane..?" Pretty soon we were having lunch in a very relaxed fashion with Shane Krider, his lovely wife Michelle and John. Just shooting the breeze talking about dogs, odd photos and moving house and a small bit about the business, the reason that 900 of us have gathered there in Rome!
So how does an Irishman, an islander, and his wife sit down to lunch with two self-made millionaires imparting to him the benefit of their wisdom in a casual fashion? Because I wanted it to happen! Subconsciously, I had orchestrated this meeting. As an amusing aside, my wife had no idea who Shane and Michelle were at the time. The look on her face was priceless when the light came on inside her head.
I think it's important to note at this point that I'm not in awe of these people or feel inferior to these people but I do have the utmost respect for what they have accomplished. Their lives are truly their own. They made a decision to a) become wealthy and b) be their own boss. And it's something they have passed on to countless. Unfortunately some don't see it for the opportunity that it is.
So that was day 1! I won't go through everything in detail but I would like to share the "pearls" that I came away with at another time.
So it was with little surprise that I found myself in Rome in April with Liberty League. To say "I expected it" is not to mean that I took it for granted. Myself and my wife had arrived 2 days before the Summit and on both nights we toasted "our Liberty League Life".
It being my first Liberty League event, what we couldn't have anticipated was incredible and indelible the event would be on our lives.
Having checked in and registered at the Sheraton Roma, we went to the loby bar to grab some lunch. There in shorts and T-Shirt chatting casually was my adviser, John Lavinia. John has been in this business since its inception, or close to. He is a self-made millionaire with the heart of a lion. He is an amazing public speaker too but I digress. He came over to us delighted by the fact that we made it, Ireland's first Summit and Conference advisers with no small help from him.He flipped over his phone and says, in his New Jersey accent, "Let me grab my partner in crime.... Hello Shane..?" Pretty soon we were having lunch in a very relaxed fashion with Shane Krider, his lovely wife Michelle and John. Just shooting the breeze talking about dogs, odd photos and moving house and a small bit about the business, the reason that 900 of us have gathered there in Rome!
So how does an Irishman, an islander, and his wife sit down to lunch with two self-made millionaires imparting to him the benefit of their wisdom in a casual fashion? Because I wanted it to happen! Subconsciously, I had orchestrated this meeting. As an amusing aside, my wife had no idea who Shane and Michelle were at the time. The look on her face was priceless when the light came on inside her head.
I think it's important to note at this point that I'm not in awe of these people or feel inferior to these people but I do have the utmost respect for what they have accomplished. Their lives are truly their own. They made a decision to a) become wealthy and b) be their own boss. And it's something they have passed on to countless. Unfortunately some don't see it for the opportunity that it is.
So that was day 1! I won't go through everything in detail but I would like to share the "pearls" that I came away with at another time.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)