The second secret to a limitless life is your motivation.

1. Purpose - the reason why matters.
2. The ability to do what you want. This requires energy, and energy requires something called energy management. The science of human performance is critical to achieving your purpose, eating whole unprocessed food, exercise, stress management, quality sleep, and skills at communication and building healthy relationships (eliminating toxic ones). Tasks must be bite-size, small steps that lead to success.
3. Using the right method - Focus, study, memory enhancement, speed reading and critical thinking.

The limitless model

• Mindset (the WHAT) : deeply held beliefs, attitudes, and assumptions we create about who we are, how the world works, what we are capable of and deserve, and what is possible.
• Motivation(the WHY): the purpose one has for taking action. The energy required for someone to behave in a particular way.
• Method (the HOW):  a specific process for accomplishing something, especially an orderly, logical, or systematic way of instruction.

Neuroplasticity, also referred to as brain plasticity, means that every time you learn something new, your brain makes a new synaptic connection. And each time this happens, your brain physically changes, it upgrades its hardware to reflect a new level of the mind. Neuroplasiticity is dependent on the ability of our neurons to grow and make connections with other neurons in other parts of the brain. It works by making new connections and strengthening (or weakening, as the case may be) old ties. we have the incredible ability to change its structure and organization over time by forming new neural pathways as we experience, learn something new, and adapt.

Faster Method

Forget - The key to laser focus is to remove or forget that which distracts you.

1. it’s what you already know, we tend to assume we understand more than we do about that subject, this stand in the way of our ability to absorb new information.
2. forget what’s not urgent or important. your brain doesn’t multitask.

Act - Traditional education has trained many people that learning is a passive experience. The brain does not learn as much by consumption as it does by creation.

State - Your state is a current snapshot of your emotion. Get excited about how you will benefit from what you are about to learn and what you will do with your new knowledge. All learning is state-dependent. Consiously choose states of joy, fascination, and curiosity.

Teach - Learn with the intention of teaching the information to someone else. Learning isn’t always solo, it can be social.

Enter - We enter important things on our schedule, work meetings, parent teacher gatherings etc, how about your personal growth and development?

Review - best way to reduce the effects of the forgetting curve is to actively recall what you learned with spaced repetition.

Genius

Dynamo - Those who express their genius through creativity and ideas. this are those we most commonly think of when we think of geniuses. (Shakespeare, Galileo)

Blaze - Those who genius becomes clear through their interaction with others, They tend to be master communicators. ( Oprah Winfrey, Malala Yousafzai)

Tempo - Those who genius expresses itself through their ability to see the big picture and stay the course, they tend to understand the long view in ways that most of those around them cannot. (Nelson Mandela, Mother teresa)

Steel - Those who are brilliant at sweating the small stuff and doing something with the details that others missed or couldn’t envision, they love getting the information they can get and have a vision for doing something with that information that most others miss. (Sergey Brin, Billy Beane).

The positive thinking that usually comes with optimism is a key part of effective stress management. and effective stress management is associated with many health benefits. These benefits includes - Increased life span, lower rates of depression, lower levels of distress, greater resistance to the common cold, better psychological and physical well being, better cardiovascular health and reduced risk of death from cardiovascular disease, better coping skills during hardships and times of stress.

Developing a superhero mindset

1. Name your limiting beliefs - They might have to do with your talents, character, relationships, education, or anything else that leads to internal whispers that you can’t be what you want to be. being aware of how you’re holding yourself back with your self-talk and spending some time to get to the source of these beliefs is extremely liberating, because once you’re aware, you can begin to realize that these aren’t facts about you, but rather opinions, and have a good chance those opinion is wrong.
2. Get to the facts - whether there is in reality any evidence to prove that you are truly hampered in this area and whether even that evidence was tainted by the noise in your head.
3. Create a new belief

“Broaden and build” theory - positive emotions broaden your sense of possibilities and open your mind which in turn allows you to build new skills and resources that can provide value in other areas of your live.

1. Broaden people’s attention and thinking
2. undo lingering negative emotion arousal
3. fuel psychological resilience
4. build consequential personal resources
5. trigger upward spirals toward greater well being in the future
6. seed human flourishing.

People should cultivate positive emotion in their own lives and in the lives of those around them, not just because doing so makes them feel good in the moment, but also because doing so transforms people for the better and sets them on paths toward flourishing and healthy longevity.

Fixed and growth mindset - in fixed mindsets, students believe their basic abilities, intelligence, talents, are just fixed traits. They have a certain amount and that’s that, and then their goal becomes to look smart all the time and never look dumb. In growth mindset student understand that their talents and abilities can be developed through effort, good teaching and persistence.

Your intelligence is not only malleable but dependent on your ability to cultivate a growth mindset. Start looking at your attitude. Listen to the way you talk. It’s not how smart you are, it’s how you are smart. There are multiple types of intelligence. like so many things, intelligence is a combination of attitudes and action and dependent on context. Intelligence is fluid.

Mistakes don’t mean failure. Mistakes are sign that you are trying something new. Remember you are not your mistakes. Making mistake doesn’t mean anything about you as a person. There’s no such thing as failure. Only failure to learn.

Knowledge is not power. It only has the potential to be power. You can read any book and learn everything on it, but if you don’t take it and apply the knowledge, it will be useless. Knowledge x Action = Power.

Sometimes it is hard to learn new things, to understand that learning is a set of methods, a process that can certainly be easier when you know how to learn. Challenge of learning new things can be fun, easier and more enjoyable.

Creating the life that you want can be scary, you know what’s scarier, Regret. Don’t allow other people’s opinions and expectation to run or ruin your life. It’s not your job to like, love, or respect me. It’s mine.

Genius leaves clues. There’s always a method behind what looks like magic. Genius is not born, it’s made through deep practice.

Motivation = Purpose x Energy x S3 (small simple steps)

When you combine purpose, energy, and S3, you get sustainable motivation. And the ultimate form of motivation is the state of flow. Think about it as energy management. Creating it, investing it, and not wasting it. A clear purpose or reason gives you energy. Practices you employ will cultivate energy for your bran and the rest of your body, and small simple steps require little energy.

SMART

S - Specific - Your goal should be well defined. Don’t say you want to be rich, say you want to make certain amount of money.

M - Measurable - If you can’t measure your goal, you can’t manage it. Getting fit isn’t measurable, running 6 minute miles is.

A - Actionable - you wouldn’t drive to a new town without asking for directions. Develop the actions steps to achieve your goal.

R is for realistic - Your goals should challenge and stretch you but not so much that you have to give up on your team.

T - Time based - A goal is a dream with a deadline

HEART - To get your goals out of your head, into your hands.

H - Healthy - Your goals should contribute to your mental physical and emotional health

E - Enduring - Your goals should inspire and sustain you during the difficult times when you want to quit

A - Alluring - You shouldn’t always have to push yourself to work on your goals. They should be so exciting, enticing, and engaging that you’re pulled toward them.

R - Relevant - Don’t set a goal without knowing why you’re setting it. Your goals should relate to a challenge you’re having, your life’s purpose or your core values.

T - Truth - Don’t set a goal just because your neighbor or parent expect it of you. Make sure your goal is something you want and remains true to you.

Finding your passion is not about choosing the right path or finding the perfect professional destiny. It’s about experimenting to see what ignites your joy. Passion comes when we rediscover our authentic, alive self, the one who has been muted and buried beneath a pile of other people expectations. Different passions can be cultivated simultaneously. You don’t have to choose one over the other when you’re exploring. Finding your passion is like finding true love.

Energy

A good brain diet - The human brain requires 45 distinct nutrients to function bets. While most of these nutrients are created by the brain itself, the rest are imported from our diet.

• Avocados - They provide monounsaturated fat, which helps to maintain healthy blood flow.
• Blueberries - They protect your brain from oxidative stress and reduce the effects of brain aging. There have also been studies that show they can help with memory
• Broccoli - a great source of vitamin K, which is known to improve cognitive function and memory.
• Dark chocolate - this helps your focus and your concentration and stimulates endorphins. Chocolate also has flavonoids, which have been shown to improve cognitive function. The darker here the better, as the darkest chocolate has the least sugar.
• Eggs - They provide memory-improving and brain boosting choline
• Green leafy vegetables - These are good sources of vitamin E, which reduces the effects of brain aging, and folate, which has been shown to improve memory.
• Salmon, Sardines, Caviar - They’re rice in omega-3 essential fatty acids, which help reduce the effects of brain aging.
• Turmeric - it helps reduce inflammation and boost antioxidant level while also improving your brain’s oxygen intake. There’s also some indication that turmeric helps reduce cognitive decay.
• Walnuts - These nuts provide high levels of antioxidants and vitamin E that protect your neurons and protect against brain aging. They also contain high levels of zinc and magnesium, which are really good for your mood.
• Water - Your brain is about 80% water. Dehydration can cause brain fog, fatigue, and slower reaction and thinking speed. Studies show that well-hydrated people score better on brainpower tests.

Brain nutrients - the benefits of supplementing with phospholipid DHA, your brain uses this to create healthy cell membranes. This is important because our cell membranes form all the receptors involved in mood, executive functioning, attention and memory. B vitamins have been shown to improve women’s memory. Curcumin, the nutrient found in turmeric, can forestall cognitive decay.

Exercise - this changes the brain in ways that protect memory and thinking skills, even 10 minutes of aerobic exercise a day can have enormous benefits.

Killing Ants (Automatic negative thoughts) - If you regularly tell yourself that you can’t do something, or that you’re too old to do something, or that you don’t have the smarts to do something. you won’t do that thing. Only when you move on from this kind of destructive self-talk can you truly accomplish what you can accomplish.

A clean environment - this goes beyond air quality. Removing clutter and distractions from your surroundings will make you feel lighter and improve your ability to focus, so take time to Marie Kondo your mind and remove unnecessary stuff.

A positive peer group - you are the average of the five people you spend the most time with. those you spend time with have a genuine effect on brain function.

Brain protection - take as many precautions and use as many safety tools as you can.

New learning - As long as we keep learning, we continue to create new pathways in our brains. We keep our brains plastic and supple, capable of processing new information in relevant ways.

Stress Management - stress can be debilitating to your brain, finding ways to reduce or avoid stress become critical.

Sleep - Without sleep you can’t form or maintain the pathways in your brain that let you learn and create new memories, and it’s harder to concentrate and respond quickly.

Meditation  isn’t about emptying your mind but rather, “training your mind to be aware in the present moment”

The best way to deal with tension between what you want and what you’ve done so far to achieve it is to remember what the Zeigarnik effect teachers us. You’re not going to be able to ease your mind about this task until you complete it, so get yourself moving toward completion. Start somewhere, anywhere, even if you don’t have the energy or the motivation to get the entire thing done, get stated on getting it done. You’ll be thankful for the relief.

Fogg Behavior Model

To identify the circumstances that need to be present for behavior change to occur. A person must have sufficient motivation, sufficient ability, and an effective prompt. All 3 factors must be present at the same instant for the behavior to occur.

Motivation

Pleasure/pain - This is most immediate motivator. The behavior has a nearly immediate payoff, positive or negative.

Hope/fear - When you’re hopeful, you’re anticipating something good happening; when you’re fearful, you’re anticipating the opposite.

Social acceptance/rejection -The power of social motivation is likely hardwired into us and perhaps all other creatures that historically depended on living in groups to survive.

Ability

Time - We only perceive something to be simple if we have the time available to perform the function.

Money - Similarly, if something stretches our financial resources, we do not consider it simple.

Physical effort - we consider things that are physically easy for us to be simple

Brain cycles - simple things don’t tax our thinking, and we shy away from things that require us to think too hard.

Social deviance - this goes back to the acceptance motivation. A simple act fits into societal norms.

Non-routine - How far something is out of one’s normal routine will define its level of simplicity.

Prompts

Spark - A spark is a type of prompt that immediately leads to a form of motivation.

Facilitator - this type of prompt works when motivation is high, but ability is low.

Signal - in some cases, you’ll have both high motivation and high ability. The only other thing you need to make a behavior a habit is some kind of reminder or signal.

Creating new habit (WIN)

W - Want - Make sure you really want it. It’s nearly impossible to turn something into a habit if you don’t want to do that thing.

I - Innate - Remember that you’re unlikely to make something a habit when it is consistently difficult for you to perform.

N - Now - Create a prompt for yourself that encourages you to perform the new habit now.

Some of you have trouble recalling your dreams,  here’s some quick mnemonic technique designed to help you (DREAMS)

D - decide - The night before, make a conscious decision that you’re going to recall your dreams. If you set the intention your chances improve dramatically.

R - Record - Keep a pen and paper by your bedside, or even a recording app readily available on your phone. As soon as you wake up record any lingering remembrance of your dreams.

E - Eyes - Keep your eyes closed right after you awaken. Dream can disappear within minutes, and if you keep your eyes closed, this will help you reflect

A - Affirm - Before you go to sleep, affirm that you are going to remember your dreams, because affirmation is a critical tool in accomplishment

S - Share - Talk about your dream with other. When you do so you bring them more and more to the surface, and you develop the routine of tapping into your dreams so you can discuss them later.

Qwik Morning - First thing make the bed, have tall glass of water, have a glass of celery juice, which boost the immune system, helps flush toxins from the liver and helps restore the adrenal glands. Take probiotics to make sure my second brain is getting what it needs. Brush my teeth with opposite hand, I do this to train my brain to do difficult things, because it stimulates a different part of your brain, and because it forces me to be present.

Do 3 minute workout to get my heart rate up first thing in the morning, take a cold shower. go through series of breathing exercises to fully oxygenate my body. 20 minutes of meditation . Make “brain tea” combination of gotu kola, ginkgo, lion’s mane, mct oil, and few other things. Journaling, accomplish 3 things for work and 3 things personally, and set agenda. Read half hour of reading. make brain smoothie, a combination of many of brain food.

4 stages of flow

Stage 1 - Struggle - This is when you’re digging deep to access whatever it is that you need to reach the flow state.

Stage 2 - Relaxation - This is the break you take before fully diving into flow. It is an essential step, as it keeps you from burning out over the struggle you’ve just been through.

Stage 3 - Flow - This is that flow state that hopefully you’ve experienced at various points in your life, where you’re doing your absolute best work and it almost seems to be happening automatically.

Stage 4 - Consolidation - You pull together everything you accomplished during the flow stage. All the kind of positive chemicals have been running through your brain while you’re in flow, and now that high is ending.

Motivation and flow need to wok together, and they must be coupled with a solid recovery protocol, like good sleep and nutrition.

Finding flow

1. Eliminate Distractions - It can take you up to 20 minutes to reconnect with what you’re doing after you’ve been distracted from doing it.  So put everything else aside and concentrate completely on what you’re doing
2. Give yourself enough time - Make sure you have a block of time set aside to get into flow. It takes about 15 minutes to achieve a flow state and that you don’t really hit your peak for closer to 45 minutes. Set aside at least 90 minutes and ideally a full 2 hours.
3. Do something you love
4. Have Clear goals - If you don’t know what you’re trying to accomplish. It’s likely that casting around for a mission will keep flow at bay. set yourself on a mission at the outset, and it is something that you’re excited about achieving. you’re likely to find yourself deeply immersed in that mission
5. Challenge yourself … a little - if you do something that you love that also has a moderate level of challenge to it, this level of challenge is likely to keep the task exciting for you and therefore engage you deeply.

Methods are the procedures or processes for accomplishing something. In this context, method is the process of learning how to learn, also called meta learning. When we go through the education system, we are taught very antiquated and inefficient ways of learning.

Most of us think of lack of concentration as a function of our mind bouncing from place to place. It isn’t your mind that’s moving, it’s your awareness. He sees awareness as a glowing ball of light that moves to different parts of your mind. In order to excel at concentration, you need to make yourself keep that ball of light trained on one spot in your mind for an extended period. if you notice the light of your awareness beginning to shine on something else, bring that ball back to the report.

You might not even realize it, but all the input you’re getting on any given day is causing you a considerable amount of stress. Anxious thoughts can overwhelm you, making it difficult to make decisions and take action to deal with whatever issue bothers you.

Help you calm your busy mind  ( if can’t afford to get away from busy life)

• Breathe
• 4-7-8 - close you mouth and inhale quietly through your nose to a mental count of 4
• Hold your breath for a count of 7
• Exhale completely through your mouth, making whoosh sound to a count of 8
• Do something that has been causing you stress - things weighing on our minds are going to continue weighing on our minds until we deal with them.
• Schedule time for distractions -  Instead of worry about something later but saying i’ll worry about that at 4:15 is better.

Learn faster and study better

Habit 1 - Employ active recall - it’s a process through which you review material and then immediately check to determine how much of it you’ve remembered.This allows you to draw the distinction between simple recognition (familiarity with the words on the page) and recollection ( making the material an active part of your memory)

• Review the material you’re studying
• Then close the book, turn off the video or lecture, and write down or recite everything you remember from what you just reviewed.
• Now, look at the material again. How much did you remember?

Optimal learning occurred when an initial learning session included repeated study and forced-recall testing of all items at least four times in a row.

Habit 2 - Employ spaced repetition - Spaced repetition is simple but highly effective because it deliberately hacks the way your brain works. It forces learning to be effortful and like muscle, the brain responds to that stimulus by strengthening the connections between nerve cells. by spacing the intervals out, you’re further exercising these connections each time. It produces long-term, durable retention of knowledge.

Habit 3 - Manage the state you’re in - If you’re feeling great, when opportunity arises, you would definitely produce better result. The more positive and resourceful your state, the greater the results you’ll produce. Studying is no different.

Habit 4 - Use your sense of smell - The scent of resemary has been shown to improve memory, peppermint and lemon promotes concentration. Incoming smells are first processed by the olfactory bulb, which starts inside the nose and runs along the bottom of the brain. The olfactory bulb has direct connections to two brain areas that strongly implicated in emotion and memory : the amygdala and hippocampus.

Habit 5 - Music for the mind - Music stabilizes mental, physical and emotional rhythms to attain a state of deep concentration and focus in which large amounts of content information can be processed and learned. Baroque music, 50 to 80 beats per minutes creates an atmosphere of focus that leads students into deep concentration in the alpha brain wave state. Learning vocabulary, memorizing facts, or reading to this music is highly effective.

Habit 6 - Listen with your whole brain - Listening is critical to learning, and we spend a large percentage of our waking time listening. While listening is the core of most of our communications, the average adult listens nearly twice as much as they talk. One of the reasons we don’t listen well is that we tend not to apply all our brainpower to the exercise.

H - Halt - do everything you can to tune all of this out (distractions) to be completely present with whomever you’re listening to. Listening involves more than just the words a person is saying : vocal inflection, body language, facial expressions etc.

E - Empathy - If you can imagine yourself in the speaker’s shoes, you’re likely to learn more from this listening experience than if you do it dispassionately.

A - Anticipate - Engage in the experience with a sense of anticipation.

R - Review - Ask clarifying questions or maybe even for a point to be repeated. If you’re in the position to take notes, do so. And afterward reflect on what the speaker said. Paraphrase it in your mind and imagine yourself teaching it to someone else.

Habit 7 - Take note of taking notes - The ultimate advantage of taking notes is that they customize the information you need to retain to your vocabulary and your mode of thinking. Notes allow you to organize and process information in a way that makes it most likely that you can use this information afterward. When you use your own words in your notes, you begin to process the information and that greatly enhances learning.

Tip for upgrading your note taking

• T - Think - Before you begin any session where you’re going to be taking notes, think about what you’re hoping to retain most from this session. This will help you filter the high-value information from the information that is less relevant to your goal.
• I - Identify - Listen carefully to the information being presented and identity what is most important in the context of your goal.
• P - Prioritize - As you review your notes after the presentation, prioritize the information that is most valuable to you.

5 reason why improving memory is essential

• Memorization is discipline for the mind - Memorization helps train the mind to focus and be industrious
• No, you can’t always “google it”
• Memorization creates the repertoire of what we think about.
• We think with the ideas held in working memory, which can only be accessed at high speed from the brain’s stored memory - Understanding is nourised by the information you hold in working memory as you think.
• The exercise of the memory develops learning and memory schema that promote improved ability to learn. - The more you remember. the more you can learn.

To train your memory (MOM)

• M - Motivation - Simple fact we likely to remember things that we are motivated to remember. if you can convince yourself that there’s value in retaining a memory, there’s good chance that you will.
• O - Observation - If you’re serious about boosting your memory, condition yourself to be truly present in any situation where you want to remember something.
• M - Methods - Always carrying set of tools to be able to use when you remember something in your mental toolkit.

A Quick way to remember everyone’s name (BE SUAVE)

• B - Believe - Believe that you’re going to be able to do this is the essential first step.
• E - Exercise - As with other tools in this book, doing this is going to take some practice.
• S - Say it - When you hear a person’s name for the first time, say it back. This will confirm that you heard the name correctly and offer you the opportunity to hear the name twice
• U - Use it - During the course of your conversation with this person, use their name. this will lock it in
• A - Ask - Ask where a person’s name came from.
• V - Visualization - Vision is an incredibly powerful memory tool as we already saw with the loci method. Try to attach an image to a person’s name.
• E - End - When you part ways with that person, end your conversation by saying the person’s name.

A quick way to remember vocabulary and languages - Vocabulary is one of the cornerstones of learning. To remember the meaning of words is easy; just use the very same systems you have been using. One of the most powerful concepts is word substitution ( the process of turning intangible (hard to picture) information into a image).

How reading makes your brain limitless

• Reading kicks your brain into gear - reading gives you an incomparable level of mental exercise, and the brain is always a “muscle” that gets stronger the more you challenge it.
• Reading improves your memory - studies suggest that exercising your brain by taking pat in activities such as reading and writing across a person’s lifetime, from childhood through old age, is important for brain health in old age.
• Reading improves your focus
• Reading improves your vocabulary - people who sound smart tend to have access to and a facility with a wider vocabulary than the average person. Reading allows you to build vocabulary than the average person and organically. The more you read, the more you are exposed to an expanded range of language and the use of that language in a variety of context.
• Reading improves your imagination - A great imagination helps you see more possibilities in your life, and reading keeps your imagination on high alert.
• Reading improves understanding

Reading misconceptions

• Myth 1 - Faster readers don’t comprehend well - The key to better reading comprehension is focus and concentration. But some people read so slowly that they completely bore their own minds. A bored mind doesn’t concentrate well.
• Myth 2 - It’s harder and takes more effort to read fast - trained readers tends not to back-skip as much as slower reader, slow readers stop at words, reread them, go to another word, regress to a previous one. This takes a lot more effort and extremely draining and boring. Faster readers go though words much easier  and in a lot less time.
• Myth 3 - Faster readers can’t appreciate reading - you do not have to study each and every word in a book, to realize its value.Faster readers have the option of speeding through boring/nonessential material and slowing down or even rereading the exciting/important information. Flexibility is power.

Thinking hats

This regularly used to help groups problem-solve in a more productive way, it is easily adaptable by any individuals hoping to keep their thinking fresh.

• White hat - When you’re information-gathering mode - focus is on collecting details and getting all the facts you’ll need to address whatever issue you’re tying to address. (white lab coat)
• Yellow hat - to bring optimism to your thinking, you’re trying to identify the positives in any problem or challenge you’re facing, highlighting the value inherently in place. (yellow sun)
• Black hat - to pivot from looking at the good side of the challenge to facing its difficulties and pitfalls. (judge’s robe)
• Red hat - allow emotion to come into play. this is also where you can allow speculation and intuition to enter into the conversation. (red heart)
• Green hat - creativity mode (green grass)
• Blue hat - management mode (blue skies)

How are you smart

• Spatial - someone who usually thinks from the perspective of the space around them.
• Bodily-kinesthetic - Someone with a dominance of this form of intelligence uses their body as a form of expression or problem solving.
• Musical - Strong “sensitivity to rhythm, pitch, meter, tone, melody and timre”
• Linguistic - Someone with a dominance in linguistic intelligence is particularly attuned to all the implications of words, not just their strict dictionary definition.
• Logical-Mathematical - This is a strength in seeing the “logical relations among actions or symbols”
• Interpersonal - Someone with a dominance in interpersonal intelligence has a deep innate ability to connect with other people and a rich understanding of how others might be feeling at any given moment.
• Intrapersonal - Have a particularly refined sense of what is going on inside of you.
• Naturalistic - Expresses itself in an ability to see the world of nature in all its complexities.

Learning Style

Visual - you tend to learn through illustrations, charts, video, and other visual media.

Auditory - most confortable learning by listening, either to a lecture, a discussion, a podcast, an audiobook

Kinesthetic - prefer to learn via physical interaction.

Mental models are constructs for thinking that help us make sense of the world around us. Think of them as shortcuts. Mental models train your mind to think, you don’t rise to the level of your expectation, you fall to the level of your training. Models can act as shortcuts that save you valuable energy and time when you’re evaluating and idea, making a decision or problem solving.

Decision-making - the 40/70 rule - Never make decision with less than 40 percent of the information you are likely to get, and gather no more than 70 percent of the information available. less than 40 percent and you’re just guessing anything more than 70 percent you’re stalling over making the decision.

Productivity - Create a not-to-do list - this tactic is used best for directing your attention to the essentials and avoiding what doesn’t matter in the moment

Problem solving - Study your errors - this is to evaluate what went wrong so you can get a better result next time.

Strategy - second-order thinking - few of us think even two steps beyond the immediate effects our actions will have on our lives, simple and yet not always easy.

Thinking exponentially - incremental mindset focuses on making something better, while exponential mindset is focused on making something different. Incremental is satisfied with 10 percent. exponential is out of 10x.

1. get to the underlying problem
2. posit a new approach - one of the keys to exponential thinking is filling your thoughts with what if statements.
3. read about it - Reading is especially important when it comes to exponential thinking. You can’t make huge cognitive leaps if you don’t have a well-rounded view of a subject
4. Extrapolate - You’ve now identified the underlying problem, posed questions that allow you to imagine a world without the problem, and done your research.

Our memory is just a habit, and habits can be improved with the right kind of training and practice. I discovered that there are basic fundamentals to memory improvement and that if we apply them consistently, we will get the same results that great memory masters do.

Concentrate

“The best advice I ever came across on the subject of concentration is: Wherever you are, be there.” ~ Jim Rohn

Every excuse you accept makes you weaker. Excuses stop you from concentrating and paying attention. When you excuse yourself from learning something new, you block your focus and your energy. Always remember that where your attention goes, your energy flows.

Never believe a lie

“The mind is the limit. As long as the mind can envision the fact that you can do something, you can do it – as long as you believe 100 percent.”

~ Arnold Schwarzenegger

There was once a fish that lived in a pond. One day, he met another fish that used to live in the sea. The pond fish asked, “What is the sea?” and the sea fish said, “It is a vast amount of water that is a million, million times bigger than your pond.” The pond fish never talked to the sea fish again because he thought the sea fish was a liar.

A belief is a sense of being certain and what you believe, you become.

I WAS BORN WITH EXCEPTIONAL CONCENTRATION AND MEMORY

“Do not tolerate for a minute the idea that you are prohibited from any achievement by the absence of in-born talent or ability. This is a lie of the grandest order, an excuse of the saddest kind.” You don’t need anything more. You don’t need a special talent or pill to have brilliant concentration or a great memory. All you need is a willingness to learn, a method, and self-discipline.

MEMORY IMPROVEMENT IS IMPORTANT

Successful people believe that what they do is important and worth doing. With this belief, people move from interest into commitment. Consider living without your memory for one week. You wouldn’t be capable of doing anything. Everything you do, say, and understand is due to memory. It is your most important mental function and if you improve it, you will improve your life.

I HAVE INCREDIBLE ABILITIES. MY MEMORY IS UNLIMITED

THERE IS NO FAILURE, ONLY FEEDBACK

Catch your memory doing things right. One of the best ways to strengthen this belief is to ask yourself, “How does my memory serve me – how did it serve me today?” Generally, people only focus on where their memory went wrong; therefore, making it weaker. Focus on your strengths and change your approach when the feedback or result is not what you want.

1. I DON’T KNOW IT ALL

Listen and become interested in other points of view and embrace change as well as new things. Allow information to come to you. Open all channels to receive information. Decide now that you will only feed your mind with good. Adopt and try on as many empowering beliefs as you can. Use them and watch your life take on a new direction.

“If you don’t like how things are, change it! You’re not a tree.”

Training your concentration isn’t that hard. You just have to learn to become more peaceful and find the moment. You have to learn to be here now. When you are at work, be at work. When you are at home, be at home. “Learn to be silent. Let your quiet mind listen and absorb,

1. TAKE CONTROL OF YOUR INNER VOICE

Your inner voice has the ability to offer instructions so instruct yourself well. It is the center of your focus of control that helps you explain and make sense of your world. Don’t agree with the wrong voices; all self-hatred and conflict is just a thought or a little voice… so change the thought. It is not set in stone. Remember: if you give yourself bad commands, then bad things will happen.

1. STOP MULTITASKING

Neuroscience consultant Marilee Springer says, “Multitasking is known to slow people down by 50% and add 50% more mistakes.” Multitasking is like putting your brain on drugs. There is a whole body of research that shows that multitasking is less productive, makes you less creative, and contributes to you making bad decisions.

1. KNOW WHAT YOU WANT (PIC)

Purpose: Have a clear purpose because clarity dissolves resistance. Always remember why you are reading or learning the information. Keep your purpose at the forefront of your mind. If you don’t know what you want, how are you going to know when you get it? Learning with a purpose increases your attention, comprehension, retention, and organizes your thoughts.

Interest: Your level of interest sets the direction of your attention and, therefore, your level of focus. If you are not interested, remembering what you read will be almost impossible. Whatever is highest on your interest list is where your mind is alert, disciplined, and focused. Whatever is lower on your interest list is where you hesitate and procrastinate.

Your mind never wanders away; it only moves towards more interesting things

all ‘boring’ information can be made more interesting with the right mindset. Gilbert Chesterton said, “There are no uninteresting things, only uninterested people.” So get interested!

Curiosity: Questions are the answer to improving curiosity. Before you start reading or learning, ask yourself motivational questions. Most people ask  questions that don’t move them to take action.

Tony Robbins says, “If you want to cure boredom, be curious. If you’re curious, nothing is a chore; it’s automatic – you want to study. Cultivate curiosity, and life becomes an unending study of joy.”

1. ELIMINATE WORRY

Byron Katie says, “I could only find three kinds of business in the world - mine, yours, and God's. Whose business are you in?” You become more relaxed when you decide to take up residence in your own mind and your own business. Life is easy when you simplify and make peace with your train of thought.

Learn to practice peace because if you have no attention you have no retention.

Ask “What would I do” than “What if”

When you train your creativity, you automatically train your memory. When you train your memory, you automatically train your creative thinking skills!” ~ Tony Buzan

Bring information to life

“Your mind is the greatest home entertainment centre ever created.” ~ Mark Victor Hansen

Learn to use your imagination; it is a learned skill and not a natural talent.

THE SEE PRINCIPLE

Use your S – Senses: there are only five ways to get anything into your brain, and that is through sight, sound, smell, touch, and taste. When you utilize your senses you experience more of life and you remember more. Our senses help us mentally recreate our world. If you train your senses you will be using more of your brain, and if you learn to engage as many of your senses as you can then you will automatically improve your memory.

E – Exaggeration

Exaggerate with Humor; tickle your mind. There is no scientific evidence to prove that learning should be serious. Make your images illogical. Have fun; create some positive exaggerated learning memories.

E – Energize

Make your information vivid, colorful, and not boring, flat and black and white. Use action; it brings life to your memories.

The process of imagination is a fun creative process. The more enjoyment you can put into it the better.

Some people say, “This is not the way that I naturally think.” This is not the way that I naturally think either; this is how I have taught myself to think, because it works. The more skilled you become in using your imagination the more you can know, comprehend, and create. In this way, you become the director of your own mind.

Imagine you had to remember the name Washington; you could turn that word into a picture of you washing a tin. Or, if you had to remember the word Hydrogen you could see a picture of a fire Hydrant drinking gin.

The greatest secret of a powerful memory is to bring information to life with your endless imagination. Take responsibility for your memory. You can only learn to control your memory when you become the source of your imagination. Memory is not a thing that happens to you; you create your memories. You can make any information into something more meaningful. When we start using the memory systems you will see how easy it is to convert abstract information into meaningful concepts. Using all these memory methods improves your creativity, enhances your memory and your humor too.

The car method

Let me explain each of the pictures; the Seven Habits are as follows:

Habit 1: Be Pro-active – I thought of a Bee that is a pro-golfer. That picture should be enough to trigger habit 1. Habit 2: Begin with the End in Mind – The brain is running a race, and looking at the end in mind.

Habit 3: Put First Things First – the man is in 1st position, putting first things first. Habit 4: Think Win/Win – the two trophies show that everyone wins with win/win. Habit 5: Seek First to Understand, Then to be Understood – The man under the umbrella will stand up. Habit 6: Synergize – sign balancing on the edge with eyes. Habit 7: Sharpen the Saw – on the tire of the car.

Learning is connecting new information to old information, it doesn’t happen any other way. It is creating a relationship between the known and the unknown – and the more you know, the easier it is to connect more information and get to know more.

USE YOUR BODY TO REMEMBER“The music of your life is far better played with all the fingers of your Multiple Intelligences performing their magic on the keyboard of your existence.” ~ Tony Buzan

PEGGING INFORMATION DOWN“The existence of forgetting has never been proved: We only know that some things don't come to mind when we want them.” ~ Friedrich Nietzsche

The Ten Emotions of Power are:

1. Love and warmth 2. Appreciation and gratitude 3. Curiosity 4. Excitement and passion 5. Determination 6. Flexibility 7. Confidence 8. Cheerfulness 9. Vitality 10. Contribution

Remember to make the images illogical. SEE the information in your mind for a few seconds. Take your time and make the associations strong; you can also draw an image to help you experience the information more. One bun, imagine a heart (symbol for love) shaped warm bun, or imagine that thousands of warm hearts are flying out of a bun. Really visualize it and you will remember that one is love and warmth. Two shoe, imagine that a preacher is grating a shoe with a cheese grater. I used a preacher to remind you of appreciation and a grater for gratitude. Three tree, imagine a cat in the tree, don’t make it logical. Maybe, imagine that the branches look like cats, cats are hanging off the branches or cats are growing out of the tree. Curiosity killed the cat. So, three is curiosity. Four door, imagine an excited person bashing down your door. Or, the door is so excited it jumps up and down and opens and closes. You squeeze passion fruit on the excited door. Four is excitement and passion. Five hive, imagine determined bees or determined terminators trying to break open a bee hive. Bees are a determined nation. Determination is five. Six sticks, imagine hitting a flexible person, that is doing the splits, with a stick. Or, really feel how flexible the stick can be. Six is Flexibility. Seven heaven, imagine heaven is full of confident people. See them walking tall with confidence that they are in paradise. Seven is Confidence. Eight gate, see a smiley faced shaped gate. You cheerfully open the cheerful gate. Eight is cheerfulness. Nine vine, see vitamins growing on a vine. As you eat these vitamin grapes you feel your sense of vitality improve.

Ten hen, imagine a hen giving you presents. She is a contributing hen. Ten is contribution.

IN THE FIRST PLACE“Whatever you think about, that’s what you remember. Memory is the residue of thought.” ~ Daniel T. Willingham

Here are the keys: 1. Attitude 2. Priorities 3. Health 4. Family 5. Thinking 6. Commitment 7. Finances 8. Faith 9. Relationships 10. Generosity 11. Values 12. Growth.

We start in the kitchen. The first word is Attitude. Imagine someone with a really bad attitude jumping into your washing machine. Clean up his attitude in the machine. SEE it! At the next place imagine writing all of your Priorities on the fridge door. Use a permanent marker and think about how your priorities are permanently stored on the fridge door. Imagine a healthy bodybuilder making an apple pie and shoving it into the stove. The apples are also a reminder for Health. So what was in the washing machine? On the fridge? At the stove? Now we move to the TV room. The first place there is the chairs. Imagine your whole Family is jumping up and down on the chairs. The more illogical the image, the more it will stick. The second place is the TV. Imagine a thought bubble coming out of the TV, because it is a Thinking machine. It also influences our thinking. The final place in the room is the exercise bike, so imagine combing (reminds you of commitment) the exercise bike. It is also a Commitment to use the bike.

In my bedroom the first place is the mirror and here imagine money flying out of the mirror. Your Finances are a mirror of your productivity. Whatever represents faith for you, place it inside the cupboard. Put Faith on every shelf or hanger. The next word we want to place on our memory journey is Relationships, and that is on the bed. Okay, you can make your own picture here. The final room is the bathroom. See a genie jumping out of the bath and he gives you what you wish. The genie giving reminds us of Generosity. Imagine the shower is made out of gold. Or, you open the taps and gold runs out of it. Gold has great value, and represents Values. At the last place we imagine a tree growing out of the toilet for Growth.

LINKING THOUGHTS“No memory is ever alone; it's at the end of a trail of memories, a dozen trails that each have their own associations.” ~ Louis L’Amour

1. Washing a tin - Washington 2. Adams apple - Adams 3. A chef and her son - sounds like Jefferson 4. Medicine - sounds like Madison 5. Marilyn Monroe - Monroe 6. Adams apple Adams 7. Michael Jackson - Jackson 8. A van with beer in - Van Buren 9. A hairy sun - Harrison 10. A tiler (a person who lays tiles) - Tyler 11. Polka dots - Polk 12. Tailor - Taylor

“Remember that a person's name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language.” ~ Dale Carnegie

1. CONCENTRATE

Listen and get genuinely interested in the other person’s name. We are normally so worried about being interesting, that we forget to be interested. When you become interested you will want to listen to the name. Learn to listen to people from their perspective and not your own. Not only will it improve your name memory, but your social intelligence too.

1. CREATE

When you put a name into your mind and you don’t do anything with it, it will disappear and you won’t be able to find it again. This is because working memory doesn’t store information. So to store it you need assistance from your short and long-term memory. You have to really think about the name to remember it because we only remember what we think about.

1. CONNECT

Remember that all learning is creating a relationship between the known and the unknown. You will already know the face so you need to connect the unknown name to the known face.

FACE CONNECTION

With this method you make a link between the name and an outstanding feature on the person’s face. Every person’s face is unique and every face has an outstanding feature

MEETING LOCATION CONNECTION When we meet people for the first time we tend to also remember the place that we first met them. The place makes a clear impression in our memory, but the name is nowhere to be found! With this method we connect the name to the place where we meet the person. We are using a journey peg to hold on to the name. Let’s say we meet a woman by the name of Rose. Ask yourself, “What will I remember about this place where I meet her?” Let’s say you think you will remember the buffet table, you then connect a big red rose to it and when you think of the place you will think of her name.

REMEMBERING NUMBERS“Group a list of letters together and you have a word that represents something – an image, an emotion, a person. Throw a few numbers together and you have, well, you have another number.” ~ Dominic O’Brien

If I make the word TOMATOES, what will the number be? T: 1, O: no value, M: 3, A: no value, T: 1, O: no value, E: no value and S: 0. The number would be 1310. What word could you make for 321? 3: M, 2: N and 1: D or T. We have the letters MNT or MND. If we add the vowel ‘i’ we have the word Mint, or if we add a ‘d’ at the end and the vowel ‘e’ we have Mend. Or, try the vowel ‘a’ and add a ‘y’, then you can make the name

ART IN MEMORY“Interest level is measured by how much you remember.”

The link starts with a picture of an old factory (sounds like Olfactory). The second picture is a tic to remind you of Optic. The third picture is a motor with ice blocks on it; it is an icy cool motor (sounds like Oculomotor). The fourth picture is a truck, with clear written on it, which represents Trochlear. The three gems are a reminder for Trigeminal. Two cents for Abducens. A lady having a facial is for Facial. Vest for Vestibulocochlear – you can always add more to the picture if the vest doesn’t trigger the whole word. The lip gloss is for Glossopharyngeal. Elvis represents Las Vegas, so the word is Vagus. The earring is an Accessory and finally the hippo is for Hypoglossal.

Mind Mapping (Registered trademark by Tony Buzan)“Your memory system operates so quickly and effortlessly that you seldom notice it working.” ~ Daniel T. Willingham

Step 1:

Make a central image Step 2: Once you have your central image, then you connect branches to the central image and start branching out the headings. The main branches are all the memory systems we have covered. Step 3: Once we have our main branches, then we can connect second and third level branches to give more detail to each main branch.

USING THE METHODS“Success is neither magical nor mysterious. Success is a natural consequence of consistently applying basic fundamentals.” ~ Jim Rohn

1. REMEMBERING WRITTEN INFORMATION WORD-FOR-WORD“Memory ...is the diary that we all carry about with us.” ~ Oscar Wilde

SUCCESS

The first element of this memory method is to find the key words that will help you remember the rest of the text. Have a look at the key words that I have picked out:

To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded. Once you have found your keywords, the next step is to create images out of them and place it on one of the systems that you have learned in this book. Remember it is like your imagination is the pen and the system is the paper. You can use a journey, your body, a car or anything that is already in your long-term memory. You can even link all the concepts together like you did with the presidents. Let me get you started; let’s use a tree to remember the key concepts. Why a tree? Because it represents growth for me, and it is in your Long-term memory.

1. PRESENTING FROM MEMORY“The human brain is a wonderful organ. It starts working as soon as you are born and doesn’t stop until you get up to deliver a speech.” ~ George Jessel

Great presenters know that audiences tend to remember the first and last bits of the presentation. Therefore they make their introduction and conclusion powerful and outstanding. They make their introductions more outstanding by opening with a memorable demonstration, question, fact, quote or a meaningful story. They also continually link information to the audience, making it more outstanding and keep repeating the main points. You can design your presentation with this FLOOR principle in mind. In a presentation we tend to remember: F – First things L – Last things O – Outstanding information O – Own links R – Repeated information

1. ABSENT MINDS “Is the object lost or are you lost?” ~ Anonymous

Have you ever wondered if you had taken your vitamins or other medication? And don’t you just hate it when you put your car keys down and when you need them you can’t find them? If any of this has ever happened to you, then you are normal. Yes, normal! This all happens because familiarity breeds forgetfulness. All of our routines sometimes create a state of ‘autopilot’ and we often don’t attend to what we are doing. The good news is that 95% of the time you are not absent minded. You remember where you put your car keys, you could find your car again, and you didn’t put your pants in the fridge. Yet we ‘beat’ ourselves up for the mistakes we make 5% of the time. If you keep your focus on your absent minded moments you are going to create more absent mindedness.

Start to catch your memory doing things right and you will start to see improvements.

1. REMEMBERING PLAYING CARDS

The card system works in the same way as with numbers. Only this time, the first letter of each suite will start the name of each card e.g. the 3 of diamonds will be D for diamonds and 3 = M, add a vowel and you have DaM. All the Diamond cards will start with a D; all the hearts will start with H etc. And then you just add the converted number to the end of the card. Here are all the images for all the suites: Diamonds A – Date (Ace is 1) 2 – Dan 3 – Dam 4 – Door 5 – Deal 6 – Dish 7 – Duck 8 – Dove 9 – Deep 10 – Dice (10 will be zero, s sound) J – Diamond (Jacks will always be the image of the suite) K – Ding (With Kings we use a word with ‘ing’ in it) Q – Dean (With Queens we use a rhyming word) Heart A – Hat 2 – Hen 3 – Ham 4 – Hair 5 – Hail 6 – Hash (hash brown) 7 – Hack 8 – Hoof 9 – Hoop 10 – House J – Heart (Jacks will always be the image of the suite) K – Hinge (With Kings we use a word with ‘ing’ in it) Q – Your queen of hearts (E.g. Princes Diana) Spades A – Sit 2 – Sun 3 – Sam (Uncle Sam) 4 – Sir 5 – Seal 6 – Sash 7 – Sack 8 – Safe 9 – Soap 10 – Seas J – Spade (Jacks will always be the image of the suite) K – Sing (With Kings we use a word with ‘ing’ in it) Q – Steam (With Queens we use a rhyming word) Clubs A – Cat 2 – Can 3 – Camo (camouflage) 4 – Car 5 – Coal 6 – Cash 7 – Cake 8 – Cafe 9 – Cap 10 – Case J – Club (Jacks will always be the image of the suite) K – King (With Kings we use a word with ‘ing’ in it) Q – Cream (With Queens we use a rhyming word) Let’s practice: imagine a King bashing down the Door and entering your House. He finds some Ham and Duck to eat in your fridge. With that silly story you remembered five cards – King of Clubs, 4 of Diamonds, 10 of Hearts, 3 of Hearts and 7 of Diamonds

To remember the whole shuffled pack you then create a journey of 52 places and you store each character on the journey, or you can link the cards together. These methods are not tricks; you are just using the memory fundamentals and therefore maximizing more of your memory potential. This is memory gym, the more you work with it the more your overall memory will improve. It is a way to practise your memory skills. I know many people are not going to put in the effort to remember cards, but at least now you know how. This is just another example of how these methods can be applied to solve any memory problem.

1. STUDYING ANYTHING “Learning new information isn't helpful unless it can be recalled later. Anything that increases one's memory power increases access to everything learned.” ~ Richard Restak, M.D.

There is no learning without memory. The more you can enhance your memory the better you will be able to learn. In every course there is some theory that needs to be remembered. The quicker you can get the theory down the more time you can spend on practising the information.

There are a few things you should consider to enhance your performance in your area of study. First, never learn just to pass an exam. What is the purpose of doing well in an exam and not knowing what you have learned two weeks later? Learning is not a destination, it is a continuous process

Before you study anything make sure you have a strong PIC (Purpose, Interest and Curiosity) in mind.

Your vision will determine how much energy you will have for your learning and how hard you will be willing to work. When studying it is also important to take breaks, as our mind can remain focused for only so long before we become unproductive and tense. When you return from a break you will feel refreshed and do more work in less time. Every 35 to 40 minutes take a break, take a walk and get away from whatever you’re working on and give your mind a rest.

PART 3. CONTINUOUS USE “Habits begin as offhanded remarks, ideas and images. And then, layer upon layer, through practice, they grow from cobwebs into cables that shackle or strengthen our lives.” ~ Denis Waitley

“We all love to win but how many people love to train?” ~ Mark Spitz (7 Gold medals in the 1972 Olympics)

Self-discipline is not self-deprivation. It is about raising your standards and going for and being more.

CREATE A VISION Your inner vision and your energy are connected. If you wake up in the morning and focus on all the bad things that could possibly happen in a day, your energy level will be low. If you wake up and imagine all the exciting possibilities, and focus on all the great things that you get to do, your energy level lifts. Where your attention goes, your energy flows. David Campbell said, “Discipline is remembering what you want.” The more reasons you have to do something the better your inner movie will be, and therefore the more energy you will create to do it. If your excuses are high and your reasons are low, you will have no discipline to start. If your reasons are high and your excuses are low, you will have lots of motives, and motives in action creates motivation. Always ask yourself, “How badly do I want it?” If you really, really want it, you will create a strong vision and you will have the self-discipline to do it.

MAKE A DECISION All change happens only when you make a true decision to change. When you make a true decision you will not allow for any other possibility. Make a commitment to yourself that this is the way that you are going to live your life. For anything to happen in your life you have to schedule it. Decide to make it part of your routine.

STOP LISTENING TO YOUR FEELINGS Elbert Hubbard said, “Self-discipline is the ability to make yourself do what you should do, when you should do it, whether you feel like it or not.”

DAILY ACTION If you want to develop a habit then the only way to achieve this is by doing something daily. You have to review your new skill to renew it. Only by consistently practising your discipline can you turn it into a skill. Most of the research that I have read says it takes twenty-one days to develop a new habit. In my experience it takes a lot longer. Some people think that once the twenty-one days are up the brain will then take over. Then after twenty-one days they give up, waiting for their brain to do the rest. Self-discipline requires you to make a decision daily. Self-discipline requires you to start fresh every day. Every day is a new day. You don’t have to practise this skill for the rest of your life. Just for today

The only way you get good at anything is through self-discipline; remember life only rewards action!

REVIEW TO RENEW “You know as well as I do that it is entirely wrong to assume that any subject matter which we once learned and mastered will remain our mental property forever.” ~ Bruno Furst

Review after 1 hour then 1 day, 3 days, 7 days, 14 days, 21 days, 28 days, 2 months, 3 months and then it should be in your memory forever. During the first 72-hour period the knowledge transfers into a deeper stronger memory. So if you are using a route or journey system, after the first 72-hours you will be able to reuse the journey for new information. However, if you have information that you want to keep forever, rather assign it its own route or system and review it often.

1. The hardest financial skill is getting the goalpost to stop moving
   Life isn’t any fun without a sense of enough. Happiness, as it’s said, is just results minus expectations.
2. Social comparison is the problem here
   The ceiling of social comparison is so high that virtually no one will ever hit it. which means it’s a battle that can never be won, or that the only way to win is to not fight to begin with, to accept that you might have enough, even if it’s less than those around you.
3. “enough” is not too little
   Enough is realizing that the opposite, an insatiable appetite for more will push you to the point of regret.
4. There are many things never worth risking, no matter the potential gain
   Don’t get too attached to anything, your reputation, your accomplishments, or any of it. I think about it now, what does it matter? OK, this thing unjustly destroyed my reputation. That’s only troubling if i am so attached to my reputation.

Applying the survival mindset in the real world comes down to appreciating 3 things :

1. More than I want big returns, I want to be financially unbreakable. and if i’m unbreakable i actually think I’ll get the biggest returns, because I’ll be able to stick around long enough for compounding to work wonders.
2. Planning is important, but the most important part of every plan is to plan on the plan not going according to plan.
   - A plan is only useful if it can survive reality. And a future filled with unknowns is everyone’s reality.
   - A good plan doesn’t pretend this weren’t true, it embraces it and emphasizes room for error. The more you need specific elements of a plan to be true.
3. A barbelled personality, optimistic about the future, but paranoid about what will prevent you from getting to the future is vital.

Investment returns can make you rich. But whether an investing strategy will work and how long it will work for. and whether markets will cooperate, is always in doubt. Results are shrouded in uncertainty.

Personal savings and frugality, finance’s conservation and efficiency, are parts of the money equation that are more in your control and have a 100% chance of being as effective in the future as they are today.

Learning to be happy with less money creates a gap between what you have and what you want, similar to the gap you get from growing your paycheck, but easier and more in your control.

Saving without a spending goal gives you options and flexibility, the ability to wait and the opportunity to pounce. It gives you time to think. It lets you change course on your own terms

Intelligence is not a reliable advantage in a world that’s become as connected as ours has. but flexibility is. If you have flexibility you can wait for good opportunities, both in your career and for your investments. You’ll have a better chance of being able to learn a new skill when it’s necessary.  Having more control over your time and options is becoming one of the most valuable currencies in the world..

Aiming to be reasonable instead of rational, is one more people should consider when making decisions with their money.

There’s never a moment when you’re so right that you can bet every chip in front of you. The world isn’t  that kind to anyone, not consistently. You have to give yourself room for error. You have to plan on your plan not going according to plan.

A good rule of thumb for a lot of things in life is that everything that can break will eventually break. So if many things rely on one thing working. and that thing breaks, you are counting the days to catastrophe. That’s a single point of failure. The biggest single point of failure with money is a sole reliance on a paycheck to fund short-term spending needs, with no savings to create a gap between what you think your expenses are and what they might be in the future.

Growth is driven by compounding, which always takes time. Destruction is driven by single points of failure, which can happen in seconds, and loss of confidence, which can happen in an instant.

Let go of the past - the adaptation strategy

In dealing with your career and its inevitable changes, you must think in the following way : You are not tied to a particular position; your loyalty is not to a career or a company. You are committed to your Life’s Task, to giving it full expression. It is up to you to find it and guid it correctly. It is not up to others to protect or help you. You are on your own. Change is inevitable particularly in such revolutionary moment as ours. Since you are on your own, it is up to you to foresee the changes going on right now in your profession. You must adapt your Life’s task to these circumstances. You do not hold on to past ways of doing things, because that will ensure you will fall behind and suffer for it. Your are flexible and always looking to adapt.

If change is forced upon you, you must resist the temptation to overreact or feel sorry for yourself. You don’t want to abondon the skills and experience you have gained, but to find a new way to apply them. Your eye is on the future, not the past.

Your life’s task is a living, breathing organism. The moment you rigidly follow a plan set in your youth, you lock yourself into a position, and the times will ruthlessly pass you by.

Find your way back - the life or death strategy

No good can ever come from deviating from the path that you were destined to follow. You will be assailed by varieties of hidden pain. Most often you deviate because of the lure of money, of more immediate prospects of prosperity. The road to mastery requires patience. You will have to keep your focus on five or ten years down the road, when you will reap the rewards of your efforts. The process of getting there, is full of challenges and pleasure. money and success that truly last come not to those who focus on such things as goals, but rather to those who focus on mastery and fulfilling their Life’s task.

Reversal

When you are faced with deficiencies instead of strengths and inclinations, this is the strategy you must assume : ignore your weakness and resist the temptation to be more like others.Instead,  direct yourself toward the small things you are good at. This will bring you confidence and become a base from which you can expand to other pursuits.

Your life’s task does not always appear to you through some grand or promising inclination. It can appear in the guise of your deficiencies, making you focus on the one or two things that you are inevitably good at. Working at these skills, you learn the value of discipline and see the rewards you get from your efforts. like a lotus flower, your skills will expand outward from center of strenth and confidence. Do not envy those who seem to be naturally gifted; it is often a curse, as such types rarly learn the value of diligence and focus, and they pay for this later in life.

Submit to reality : The Ideal Apprenticeship

The principle is simple and must be engraved deeply in your mind: the goal of an apprenticeship is not money, a good position, a title, or a diploma, but rather the transformation of your mind and character, the first transformation on the way to mastery. Your knowledge of the world is subjective, based on emotions, insecurities, and limited experience. Slowly, knowledge and skills that make people successful in it. You will learn how yourself from someone who is impatient and scattered into someone who is disciplined and focused, with a mind that can handle complexity. In the end, you will master yourself and all of your weaknesses.

The Apprenticeship Phase

Deep observation - the passive mode

1. Knowing your environment inside and out will help you in navigating it and avoiding costly mistakes.
2. The ability to observe any unfamiliar environment will become a critical lifelong skill.

Skills Acquisition - the practice mode

When you practice and develop any skill you transorm yourself in the process. You reveal to yourself new capabilities that were previously latent, that are exposed as you progress. Real pleasure comes from overcoming challenges, feeling confidence in your abilities, gaining fluency in skills, and experiencing the power this brings.

Experimentation - the active mode

Most people wait too long to take this step, generally out of fear. It is always easier to learn the rules and stay within your comfort zone.

In general, you must think of yourself as a builder, using actual materials and ideas. You are producting something tangible in your work, something that affects people in some direct, concrete way.

Keep expanding your horizons

No one is really going to help you or give you direction. In fact, the odds are against you. If you desire an apprenticeship, if you want to learn and set yourself up for mastery, you have to do it yourself, and with great energy. When you enter this phase, you generally begin at the lowest position. Your access to knowledge and people is limited by your status. If you are not careful, you will accept this status and become defined by it, particularly if you come from a disadvantaged background. You must struggle against any limitations and continually work to expand your horizons. Reading books and materials to go beyond what is required is always a good starting point. Being exposed to ideas in the wide world, you will tend to develop a hunger for more and more knowledge.

The people in your field, in your immediate circle, are like worls unto themselves, their stories and viewpoints will naturally expand your horizons and build up your social skills. Mingle with as many different types of people as possible. Those circles will slowly widen. Be relentless in your pursuit for expansion. With your mind expanding, you will redefine the limits of your apparent world. Soon, ideas and opportunities will come to you and your apprenticeship will naturally complete itself.

Revert to a feeling inferiority

When you enter a new environment, your task is to learn and absorb as much as possible. For that purpose you must try to revert to a chillike feeling of inferiority, the feeling that others know much more than you and that you are dependent upon them to learn and safely navigate your apprenticeship. You drop all of your preconceptions about an environment or field, any lingering feelings of smugness. You have no fears. You interact with people and participate in the culture as deeply as possible. You are full of curiosity. Assuming this sensation of inferiority, your mind will open up and you will have a hunger to learn.

Trust the process

What separates master from others is often something suprisingly simple. Whenever we learn a skill, we frequently reach a point of frustration, what we are learning seems beyond our capabilities. Giving in to these feelings, we unconsiously quit on ourselves before we actually give up.

When it comes to mastering a skill, time is the magic ingredient. Assuming your practice proceeds at a steady level, over days and weeks certain elements of the skill become hardwired. Slowly, the entire skill becomes internalized, part of your nervous system. The mind is no longer mired in the details, but can see the larger picture. It is a miraculous sensation and practice will lead you to that point, no matter the talent level you are born with. Trusting this will all happen, you will allow the natural learning process to move forward, and everything else will fall into place.

Move toward resistance and pain

Path of amateurs. To attain mastery, you must adopt what we call resistance practice. The principle is simple, you go in the opposite direction of all yournatural tendencies when it comes to practice.

• First, you resist the temptation to be nice to yourself. You become your own worst critic, you see your work as if through the eyes of others. You recognize your weakness, precisely the elements you are not good at.
• Second you resist the lure of easing up on your focus. You train yourself to concentrate in practice with double the intensity, as if it were the real thing times two.

Apprentice yourself in failure

When a mchine malfunctions you do not take it personally or grow despondent. It is in fact a bleesing in diguise. Such malfunctions generally show you inherent flaws and means of improveent. You simply keep thinkering until you get it right. Mistakes and failures are precisely your means of education.

There are 2 kinds of failure. The first comes from never trying out your ideas because you are afraid, or because you are waiting for the perfect time. This kind of failure you can never learn from, and such timidity will destroy you. The second  kind comes from a bold and venturesome spirit. If you fail in this way, the hit taht you take to your reputation is greatly outweighted by what you learn.

Advance trough trial and error

You want to learn as many skills as possible, following the direction that circumstances lead you to, but only if they are related to your deepest interests. Like a hacker, you value the process of self-discovery and making things that are of the highest quality. You avoid the trap of following one set career path. You are not sure where this will all lead, but you are takingfull advantage of the openness of information the knowledge about skills now at your disposal. You see what kind of work suits you and what you want to avoid at all cost.

The Alchemy of knowledge

The best mentors are often those who have wide knowledge and experience, and are not overly specialized in their field. they can train you to think on a higher level and to make connections between different forms of knowledge.

You will want as much personal interaction with the mentor as possible. A virtual relationship is never enough. There are cues and subtle aspects you can only pick up through a person to person interaction, such as a way of doing things that has evolved through much experience. These patterns of action are hard to put into words, and can only be absorbed through much personal exposure.

Gaze deep into the mentor’s mirror

To reach mastery requires some toughness and a constant connection to reality. As an apprentice, it can be hard for us to challenge ourselves on our own in the properway, and to get a clear sense of our own weakness.The times that we live in make this even harder. Developing discipline through challenging situation and perhaps suffering along the way are no longer values that are promoted in our culture.

Masterare those who by nature have suffered to get to where they are. They have experienced endless criticsms of their work, doubts about their progress, setbacks along the way. They know in their bones what is required to get to the creative phase and beyond. As mentors, they alone can gauge the extent of our progress, the weaknesses in our character, the ordeals we must go through to advance.

Transfigure their ideas

To learn from mentors, we must be open and completely receptive to their ideas. We must fall under their spell. But if we take this too far, we become so marked by their influence that we have no internal space to incubatee and develop our own voice, and we spend our lives tied to ideas that are not our own. The solution is subtle :  Even as we listen and incorporate the ideas of our mentors, we must slowly cultivate some distance from them. We begin by gently adapting their ideas to our circumstances, alter them to fit our style and inclinations. As we progress we can become bolder, even focusing on faults or weaknesses in some of their ideas. We slowly mold their knowledge into our own shape. As we grow in confidence and contemplate our independence, we can even grow competitive with the mentor we once worshipped.

If you are forced into the path of nobody crossed his path who could serve as a teacher or mentor, you must follow edison’s example by developing extreme self-reliance. You push yourself to learn from every possible source. You read more books than those who have a formal education, developing this into a lifelong habit. You try to apply your knowledge in some form of experiment or practice. You find for yourself second degree mentors in the form of public figures who can serve as role model. Reading and reflecting on their experiences, you can gain some guidance. You try to make their ideas come to life, internalizing their voice. As someone self-taught, you will maintain a pristine vision, completely distilled through your own experiences, giving you a distinctive power and path to mastery.

Thinking inside

You will continue to have problems in attaining social intelligence until you come to the realization that your view of people is dominated by the Naive perspective. You can reach this awareness by reviewing your past, paying particular attention to any battles, mistakes, tensions, or disappointments on the social front. If you look at these events through the lens of the Naive perpective, you will endured from them, the slights or injuries you felt. Instead you must turn this around and begin with yourself, how you saw in others qualities they did not possess. With this new awareness and attitude in place, you can begin to advance in your apprenticeship in social intelligence. This intelligence consists of two components, both equally important to master.

1. There is what we shall call specific knowledge of human nature, namely the ability to read people, to get a feel for how they see the world, and to understand their individuality.
2. There is the general knowledge of human nature, human behavior that transcendus as individuals, including some of the darker qualities we often disregard.

Specific Knowledge - reading people

To begin this process, you need to train yourself to pay less attention to the words that people say and greater attention to their tone of voice, the look in their eye, their body language, all signals that might reveal a nervousness or excitement that is notexpressed verbally. If you can get people to become emotional, they will reveal a lot more.

Being able to place yourself to any degree in the mindset of others is a brilliant means of loosening up your own thought process, which will tend to get locked into certain ways of seeing things. Your ability to empathize with others is related to the creative process of feeling your way into the subject you are studying. This intuitive form of reading people becomes more effective and accurate the more you use it, but it is best to combine it with other, more conscious forms of observation. For instance you should take particular note of people’s actions and decisions. Your goal is to figure our the hidden motives behind them, which will often revolve around power. People will say all kinds of things about their motives and intentions; they are used to dessing things up with words. Their action, however, say much more about their character, about what is going on underneath the surface. In the end, your goal is to identify and pierce through to what make people unique, to understand the character and values that lie at their cores. This way you will be able to understand their motivations, foresee their actions, and recognize how best to win them to your side.

General knowledge - the seven deadly realities

Through study and observation, we must understand the nature of these seven deadly realities so that we can detect their presence and avoid triggering them in the first place. Consider the following as essential knowledge in acquiring social intelligence.

• Envy - If you have a gift for a certain skill, you should make a point of occasionally displaying some weakness in another area, avoiding the great danger of appearing too perfect, too talented. If you are dealing with insecure types, you can display great interest in their work and success. It is always wise to occasionally reveal your own insecurities, which will humanize you in other people’s eyes. You must be careful to nevermake people feel stupid in your presence. Intelligence is the most sensitive trigger point for envy. By standing out too much, you will spark this ugle emotion, and best to maintain a nonthreatening exterior and to blend in well with the group, at least until you are so successfull it no longer matter.
• Conformism - Think of the workplace as a kind of theater in which you are always wearing a mask. (reserve your most interesting and colorful thoughts for your friends, and for those whom you can trust outside work.) Be careful in what you say, it is not worth the bother of freely expressing your opinions. People will not acknowledge the cause of their disaffection, because they do not want to think of themselves as conformists. They will find some other reason to ostracize or sabotage you. Do not give them material for this kind of attack.
• Rigidity -People do not advertise their rigidity. You will only trip up aganst it if you try to introduce a new idea or procedure. If you press your case with logic and reason, you will tend to make them even more defensive and resistant. If you are an adventurous open-minded type, your very spirit will prove disruptive and upsetting. If you are not aware of the dangers of butting up against this fear of the new, you will create all sorts of hidden enemies, who will resort to anything to conserve the old order. It is useless to fight against people’s rigid ways, or to argue against their irrational concepts. You will only waste time and make yourself rigid in the process. The best strategy is to simply accept rigidity in others, outwardly displaying deference to their need for order. On your own, however, you must work to maintain your open spirit, letting go of bad habits  and deliberately cultivating new ideas.
• Self obsessiveness - When it is time to ask for a favor or help, you must tink first of appealing to people’s self-interest in some way. You must look at the world through their eyes, getting a sense of their needs. You must give them something valuable in exchange for helping you. In general, in your interactions with people, find a way to make the conversations revolve around them and their interest, all of which will go far to winning them to your side.
• Laziness - be wary of people who want to collaborate, they are often trying to find someone who will do the heavier lifting for them. Keep your ideas to yourself, or conceal enough of the details so that it is not possible to steal them. If you are doing work for a superior, be prepared for them to take full credit and leave your name out, but do not let this happen with colleagues.
• Flightiness - It is best to cultivate both distance and a degree of detachment from other people’s shifting emotions so that you are not caught up in the process. Focus on their actions, which are generally more consistent, and not on their words. Do not take so seriously people’s promises or their ardor in wanting to help you. If they come through, so much the better, but be prepared for the more frequent change of heart. Rely upon yourself to get things done and you will not be disappointed.
• Passive Aggression - When dealing with this low-level variety in others, you can call them on their behaviour and make them aware of it, which can often work. Or, if it is truly harmless, simply ignore it. Sometimes you are confused because you suspect sabotage or obstruction, but they present such a friendly or benign exterior. Discard the exterior and focus only on their actions and you will have a clearer picture. If they evade you and delay necessary action on something important to you, or make you seem like an accident, you are most likely under a passive-aggressive attack. You have on of two options : either get out of their way and leave their presence, or return the attack with something equally indirect, signaling in some subtle way that messing with you will come with a price. This will often discourage them and make them find another victime. At all cost, avoid entangling yourself emotionally in their dramas and battles. They are masters at controlling the dynamic, and you will almost always lost in the end.

The human brain is an interconnected organ, which is in turn interconnected with our bodies. Our brains developed in tandem with our expanding powers as social primates. The refinement of mirror neurons for the purpose of better communication with people became equally applied to other forms of reasoning. The ability to think inside objects and phenomena is an integral part of scientific creativity.

The ability to think inside other people is no different from the intuitive feel masters gain in relation to their field of study. To develop your intellectual powers at the expense of the social is to retard your own progress to mastery, and limit the full range of your creative powers.

Speak through your work

Your work is the single greatest means at your disposal for expressing your social intelligence. By being efficient and detail oriented in what you do, you demonstrate that you are thinking of the group at large and advancing its cause. By making what you write or present clear and easy to follow, you show your care for the audience or public at large. By involving other people in your projects and gracefully accepting their feedback, you reveal your comfort with the group dynamic. Work that is solid also protects you from the political conniving and malevolence of others, it is hard to argue witht he results you produce. By remaining focused and speaking socially through your work, you will both continue to raise your skill level and stand out among all the others who make a lot of noise but produce nothing.

Craft the appropriate persona

People will tend to judge you based on your outward appearance. If you are not careful and simply assume that it is best to be yourself, they will begin to ascribe to you all kinds of qualities that have little to do with who you are but correspond to what they want to see. All of this can confuse you, make you feel insecure, and consume your attention. Internalizing their judgement, you will find it hard to focus on your work. You never settle on one image or give people the power to completely figure you out. You are always one step ahead of the public.

You must see the creation of a persona as a key element in social intelligence, not something evil or demoic. We all wear masks in the social arena, playing different roles to suit the different environments we pass through. You are simply becoming more consious of the process. think of it as a theater. In this diverse, multicultural world, it is best that you learn how to mingle and blend into all types of environements, giving yourself maximum flexibility.

Suffer fools gladly

In dealing with fools you must adopt the following philosophy: they are simply a part of life, like rocks or furniture. All of us have foolish sides, moments in which we lose our heads and think more of our ego or short-term goals. It is human nature. Seeing this foolishness within you, you can then accept it in others. This will allow you to smile at their antics, to tolerate their presence as you would a silly child, and to avoid the madness of trying to change them. If they are causing you trouble, you must neutralize the harm they do by keeping a steady eye on your goals and what is important, and ignoring them if you can. The height of wisdom, however, is to take this even further and to actually exploit their foolishness, using them for material for your work, for example by looking for ways to turn their actions to your advantage.

If you simply do not have the patience that is required for managing and mastering the more subtle and manipulative sides of human nature, then your best answer is to keep yourself away from those situations as best as possible.

Second transformation

Masters not only retain the spirit of the original mind, but they add it their years of appreticeship and an ability to focus deeply on problems or ideas. This leads to high-level creativity. Although they have profound knowledge of a subject, their minds remain open to alternative ways of seeing and approching problems. They are capable of thinking beyond words, visually, spatially, intuitively, and have a greater access to preverbal and unconsious forms of mental activity, all of which can account for their surprising ideas and creations.

We all ppossess an inborn creative force that wants to become active. This is the gift of our Original Mind, which reveal such potential. The human mind is naturally creative, constantly looking to make associations and connections between things and ideas. What kills the creative force is not age or a lack of talent, but our own spirit, our own attitude.

The Dimensional mind has two essential requirements: one, a high level of knowledge about a field or subject; and two, the openness and flexibility to use this knowledge in new and original ways. Once the mind is freed from having to learn these basics, it can focus on higher, more creative matters.

To awaken the Dimensional mind and move through the creative process requires 3 essential steps: first, choosing the proper creative task, the kind of activity that will maximize our skills and knowledge; second, loosening and opening up the mind through certain creative strategis and third creating the optimal mental conditions for a breakthrough or insight. Finally, throughout the process we must also be aware of emotional Pitfalls, complacency, boredom, grandiosity and the like, that continually threaten to derail or block our progress.

Step one: The creative task

You must begin by altering your very concept of creativity and by trying to see it from a new angle. People associate creativity with something intellectual, a particular way of thinking. The truth is that creative activity is one that involves the entire self, our emotions, our levels of energy, our characters, and our minds. You must have patience and faith that what you are doing will yield something important. You could have the most brilliant mind, teeming with knowledge andideas, but if you choose the wrong subject or problem to attact, you can run out of energy and interest.

The primary law of the creative dynamic that you must engrave deeply in your mind and never forget: your emotional commitment to what you are doing will be translated directly into your work. If you go at your work with half a heart, it will show in the lackluster result and in the laggard way in which you reach the end. If you are doing something primarily for money and without a real emotional commitment, it will translate into something that lacks a soul and that has no connection to you. You must never simply embark on any creative endeavor in you field, placing faith in your own brilliance to see it through. You must make the right, the perfect choice for your energies and your inclinations.

Step two: Creative Strategies

Think of the mind as a muscle that naturally tightens up over time unless it is consciously worked upon. What causes this tightening is twofold. First, we generally prefer to entertain the same thoughts and ways of thinking because they provide us with a sense of consistency and familiarity. Sticking with the same methods also saves us a lot of effort. We are creatures of habit. Second, when ever we work hard at a problem or idea, our minds naturally narrow their focus because of the strain and effort involved. The only antidote is to enact strategies to loosen up the mind and let in alternative ways of thinking.

Cultivate Negative Capability

All Masters possess this negative capability and it is the source of their creative power. This quality allows them to entertain a broader range of ideas and experiment with them, which in turn makes their work richer and more inventive.

To put negative capability into practice, you must develop the habit of suspending the need to judge everything that crosses your path. You consider and even momentarily entertain viewpoints opposite to your own, seeing how they feel. You observe a person or event for a length of time, deliberately holding yourself back from forming an opinion. You seek out what unfamiliar, for instance, reading books from unfamiliar writers in unrelated fields or from different schools of thought. You do anything to break up your normal train of thinking and your sense that you already know the truth.

Allow for serendipity

To help yourself to cultivate serendipity, you should keep a notebook with you at all times. The moment any idea or observation comes, you note it down. You keep the notebook by your bed, careful to record ideas thatcome in those moments of fringe awareness, just before falling asleep, or just upon waking. In this notebook you record any scrap of thought that occurs to you and include drawings, quotes from other books, anything at all. In this way you will have the freedom to try out the most absurd ideas.

Alter your perspective

The mind can be trained to loosen itself up and move outside the grooves. To do this you must become aware of the typical patterns your mind falls into and how you can break out of these patterns and alter your perspective through consious effort.  Once you engage in this process, you will be astonished at the ideas and creative powers it will unleash.

• Looking at the “what” instead of the “how”
• Rushing to generalities and ignoring details
• Confirming paradigms and ignoring anomalies
• Fixating on what is present, ignoring what is absent

As you work to free up your mind and give it the power to alter its perspective, remember the following: the emotions we experience at any time have an inordinate influence on how we perceive the world. If we feel afraid, we tend to see more of the potential dangers in some action. If we feel particularly bold, we tend to ignore the potential risks. What you must do then is not only alter your mental perpective, but reverse your resistance and setback in your work, try to see this as in fact something that is quite positive and productive. These difficulties will make you touger and more aware of the flaws you need to correct.

Revert to primal forms of intelligence

This use of images, diagrams, and models can help reveal to you patterns in your thinking and new directions you can take that you would find hard to imagine exclusively in words. With your idea exteriorized in a relatively simple diagram or model. you can see your entire concept projected at once, which will help you organize masses of information and add new dimensions to your concept.

Creative people do not simply think in words, but use all of their senses, their entire bodies in the process. They find sense cues that simulate their thoughts on many levels, whether it be the smell of something strong, or the tactile feel of a rubber ball. What this means is that they are more open to alternative ways of thinking, creating and sensing the worlds. They allow themselves a broader range of sense experience. You must expand as well your notion of thiking and creativity beyond the confines of words and intellectualizations. Stimulating your brain and senses from all directions will help unlock your natural creativity and help revive your original mind.

Step 3 : The creative breakthrough - tension and insight

The feeling that we have endless time to complete our work has an insidious and debilitating effect on our minds. Our attention and thoughts become diffused. Our lack of intensity makes it hard for the brain to jolt into a higher gear. The connections do not occur.For this purpose you must always try to work with deadlines, whether real or manufactured. Faced with slenderest amount of time to reach the end, the mind rises to the level you require. Ideas crowd upon one another. Every day represents an intense challenge, and every morning you wake up with original ideas and associations to push you along.

The Authentic voice

The greatest impediment to creativity is your impatience, the almost inevitable desire to hurry up the process, express something, and make a splash. What happens in such a case is that you do not master the basicsl you have no real vocabulary at your disposal. What you mistake for being creative and distinctive is more likely an imitation of other people’s style, or personal rantings that do not really express anything. Audiences, however, are hard to fool. They feel the lack of rigor, the imitative quality, the urge to get attention, and they turn their backs, or give the mildest prase that quickly passes. The best route is to love learning for its own sake. Anyone who would spend ten years absorbing the techniques and conventions of their field, trying them out,ploring and personalizing them, would inevitably find their authentic voice and give birth to something unique and expressive.

The fact of great yield

You must read journals and books from all different fields. Sometimes you will find an interesting anomaly in an unrelated discipline that may have implications for your own. You must keep your mind completely open, no item is too small or unimportant to escape your attention. Better to look into ten such facts, with only one yielding a great discovery, than to look into twenty ideas that bring success but have trivial implications. You are the supreme hunter, ever alert, eyes scanning the landscape for the fact that will expose a once-hidden reality, with profound consequences.

Mechanical intelligence

Mechanical intelligence is not a degraded form of thinking, as compared to abstract reasoning. It is in fact the source of many of our reasoning skills and creative powers. Our brain develop to its present size because of the complex operations of our hands.The principles behind mechanical intelligence can be summarized as follows: whatever you are creating or desingning, you must test and use it yourself. Separating out the work will make you lose touch with its functionality. Through intense labor on your part, you gain a feel for what you are creating. In the end, you win through superior craftsmanship, not marketing. This craftmanship involves creating something with an elegant, simple structure, getting the most our of your materials, a high form of creativity.

The high end

You must make this a model for your own work as well. Your project or the problem you are solving should always be connected to something larger, a bigger question, an overarching idea, an inspiring goal. When ever you work begins to feel stale, you must return to the larger purpose and goal that impelled you in the first place. By constantly reminding yourself of your purpose, you will prevent yourself from fetishizing certain techniques or from becoming overly obsessed with trivial details. In this way you will play into the natural strengths of the human brain, which wants to look for connection on higher and higher levels.

The evolutionary hijack

What constitutes true creativity is the openness and adaptability of our spirit. When we see or experience something we must be able to look at it from several angles, to see other possibilities beyond the obvious ones. We imagine that the objects around us can be used and co-opted for different purposes. We do not hold on to our original idea out of sheer stubbornness, or because our ego is tied up with its rightness. Instead we move with what presents itself to use in the moment, exploring and exploiting different branches and contingencies. The difference then is not in some initial creative power of the brain, but in how we look at the world and the fluidity with which we can reframe what we see. Creativity and adaptability are inseparable.

Alchemical creativity and the unconscious

To create a meaningful work of art or to make a discovery or invention  requires great discipline, self-control, and emotional stability. It requires mastering the forms of your field. Drugs and madness only destroy such powers. Do not fall for the romantic muths and cliches that abound in culture about creativity, offering us the excuse or panacea that such powers can come cheaply. When you look at the exceptionally creative work of masters, you must not ignore the years of practice, the endless routines, the hours of doubt, and the tenacious overcoming of obstacles these people endured. Creative enery is the fruit of such efforts and nothing else.

The third transformation

In all cases of rational thinking, we can reconstruct the various steps that were taken to arrive at some kind of conclusion or answer. This form of thinking is extremely effective and has brought us great powers. We developed it to help make sense of our world and to gain some control over it. The process that people go through when they arrive at an answer through rational analysis can generally be examined and verified, which is why we esteem it so highly. We prefer things that can be reduced to a formula and described in precise words. But the types of intuitions discussed by various masters cannot be reduced to a formula, and the steps they took to arrive at them cannot be reconstructed.

It would be misconception, however, to imagine that masters are simply following their intuitions and moving beyond rational thinking. First, it is through all of their hard work, the depth of their knowledge, and the development of their analytical skills that they reach this higher form of intelligence. Second, when they experience thisintuition or insight, they invariably subject it to a high degree of reflection and reasoning. In science, they must spend months or years verifying their intuitions. In the arts, they must work out the ideas that come to them intuitively and rationally shape them into a form. This is hard for us to imagine, because we find intuition and rationality mutually exclusive, but in fact at this high level they operate together in a seamless fashion. The reasoning of masters is guided by intuition. their intuition springs from intense rational focus. The two are fused.

You must also maintain a sense of destiny, and feel continously connected to it. You are unique, and there is a purpose to your uniqueness. You must see every setback, failure, or hardship as a trial along the way, as seeds that are being planted for further cultivation, if you know how to grow them. No moment is wasted if you pay attention and learn the lessons contained in every experience. By constantly applying yourself to the subject that suits your inclinations and attacking it from many different angle, you are simply enriching the ground for these seeds to take root. You may not see this process in the present, but it is happening. Never losing your connection to your Life’s task, you will unconsciously hit upon the right choices in your life. Over time, mastery will come to you.

The roots of master intuitions

This intuitive form of intelligence was developed to help us process complex layers of information and gain a sense of the whole. And in the world today, the need to attain such a level of thinking is more critical than ever before. To follow any career path is difficult, and requires the cultivation of much pationce and discipline. We have so many elements to master that it can be intimadating. We must learn to handle the technical aspect, the social and political gamesmanship, the public reactions to your already-daunting quantity of study the vast amounts of information now available to use, and that we must keep on top of, it all seems beyond our capability.

We must learn how to quiet the anxiety we feel whenever we are confronted with anything that seems complex or chaotic. In our journey from apprenticeship to mastery we must patiently learn the various parts  and skills that are required, never looking too far ahead. In moment of perceived crisis, we must develop the habit of mainting our cool and never overreacting. If the situation is complex and others are reaching for simple black and white answers, or for the usual conventional responses, we must make a point of resisting such a tempation.

The problem that technology presents us is that it increases the amount of information at our disposal, but slowly degrades the power of our memory to retain it. Tasks that used to exercise the brain , remembering phone numbers, doing simple calculation, navigating and remembering streets in a city, are now performed for us, and like any muscle the brain can grow flabby from disuse. To counteract this, in our spare time we should not simply look for entertainment and distractions. We should take up hobbies, that bring p;easure but also offer us the chance to strengthen our memory capacities and the flexibility of our brain.

The return to reality

The ultimate distinction you make is between yourself and the world. There is the inside and theres the outside. But every time you learn something, your brain is altered as new connections are formed. Your experience of something that occurs in the world physically alters your brain. The boundaries between you and the world are much more fluid than you might imagine. When you move toward mastery, your brain becomes radically altered by the years of practice and active experimentation. It is no longer the ecosystem of years gone by. The brain of a master is so richly interconnected that it comes to resemble the phusical world, and become a vibrant ecosystem in which all forms of thinking associate and connect.

Connect to your environment - primal power

The ability to connect deeply to your environment is the most primal and in many ways the most powerful form of mastery the brain can bring us. It applies equally well to the waters of micronesia as it does to any modern field or office. We gain such power by first transforming ourselves into consummate observers. We see everything in our surroundings as a potential sign to interpret. Nothing is taken at face value.

Play to your strength - primal focus

Achieving mastery in life often depends on those first steps that we take. It is not simply a question of knowing deeply our Life[s task, but also of having a feel for our own ways of thinking for perpectives that are unique to us. A deep level of empathy for animals or for certain types of people may not seem like a skill or an intellectual strenth, but in truth it is. Empathy plays an enormous role in learning and knowledge. Mastery is like swimming, it is too difficult to move forward when we are creating our own resistance or swimming against the current. Know your strengths and move with them

Transform yourself through practice - the fingertip feel

The ability to master complicated skills by building connections in the brain is the product of millions of years of evolution, and the source of all of our material and cultural powers. When we sense the possible unity of mind and body in the early stages of practice, we are buing guided toward this power. it is the powers through repetition. To lose our connection to this natural inclination is the height of madness, and will lead to a world in which no one has the patience to master complex skills. As individuals we must resist such a trend and venerate the transformative powers we gain through practice.

Submit to the other - the inside our perspective

We can never really experience what other people are experiencing. We always remain on the outside looking in, and this is the cause of so many misunderstandings and conflicts. But the primal source of human intelligence comes from the development of mirror neurons, which gives us the abiity to place ourselves in the skin of another and imagine their experience. Through continual exposure to people and by attemting to think inside them we can gain an increasing sense of their perpective, but this requires effort on our part. Our natural tendency to project onto other people our own beliefs and value systems, in ways in which we are not even aware. When it comes to studying another culture, it is only through the use of our empatic powers and by participating in their lives that we can begin to overcome these natural projections and arrive at the reality of their experience. To do so we must overcome our great fear of the other and the unfamiliarity of their ways. We must enter their belief and value systems, their guiding myths, their way of seeing the world. Slowly, the distorted lens through which we first viewed them starts to clear up.

• Again, turn off notifications when you’re trying to get stuff done!
• Put on headphones to discourage interruptions
• If you were a successful engineer, you know how to get into “the zone” still
• Hide somewhere if you must
• Defensively block off time on your calendar for getting work done

The importance of letting go

Your immediate instinct is to stick to what you’re good at : writing code! Building things!

THAT IS NOT YOUR JOB NOW

Your job is to keep your larger team productive!

You exist to AMPLIFY THE TALENTS OF YOUR TEAM MEMBERS

You will achieve much bigger things than you could as an individual.

THIS IS THE MOST COMMON PITFALL FOR NEW TECHNICAL MANAGERS

Don’t steal credit

Give credit where credit is due

• “Brett did an exceptionally good job with the design of this system”

You SHOULD be helping to guide your team in design decisions and architecture

• But IT’S NOT ABOUT YOU

Listen to their ideas

Ideally your company tries to hire smart people - so listen to them!

Don’t shut down ideas that aren’t your own

You’re there to nurture their career development

Leading by example

Your team will emulate the leadership skills you demonstrate.

Be honest, be productive, and focus on results. Strive to always improve.

• … and they will too.

Remember: Your team will emulate negative behaviors as well as positive behaviors.

If you feel frustrated or demoralized, work through that yourself before you let it show

Inbox Management 101

Stay on top of emails whenever you can

The goal is INBOX ZERO

Email is slowly dying, but the same idea can be applied to messages.

Your (not) fancy to-do list

• I used a whiteboard
• A little text document will do as well
• You don’t need fancy software to manager your own work.
• You can also schedule meetings with yourself to complete individuald tasks, or to remind yourself to follow up on things.
• By knowing you have a record of all your current responsibilities somewhere, you can erase it from your mind and make it seem less overwhelming.

Well that sound sounds fine and dandy

but what if there aren’t enough hours in the day to stay on top of it all?

It’s achievable with :

• Dicipline
• Focus
• Delegation
• Saying no (tactfully)

Those the real secrets to time management, not some fancy patented system.

Avoiding Death By notifications

NOTIFICATIONS DISTRACT YOU AND STEAL YOUR FOCUS

KILL THEM NOW

If you are tethered to slack conversations, you will NOT be productive

If you check your messages every few hours or so, you’ll be fine

Delegation

Remember, you have a team! Let them help you.

Do you have a project manager? A shared administrative assistant? Let them do their jobs!

DON’T TAKE ON EVERY TASK YOURSELF JUST BECAUSE YOU DON’T TRUST ANYONE BUT YOURSELF TO GET IT DONE

• Common new manager pitfall

The art of saying no (Delegating Out)

You don’t have to accept every task that gets thrown your way.

Are you the right / best person to do it?

Can you get it done within expectations?

Can you say no to another task to make room for this one?

Can you flat-out say no? Is it just pointless busy work and you should call it out as such?

• This may require tact

Activity : Tame your inbox

If you have time to watch this course right now, maybe you can take an hour to get closer to inbox zero as well.

Go through all the emails you’ve received so far today and apply our system for managing them.

Spam or useless notification? Unsubscribe & delete

Information only? Archive, reply only if necessary

Requires a quick action? Do it now, then reply and archive, or keep it in your inbox until you do it later today.

Requires a larger action? Delegate, create a meeting with yourself to get it done as soon as possible, or add it to your to do list, then reply to set expectations, and archive.

BONUS POINTS: Disable notifications on your phone and desktop for any non-emergency topics. If you make inbox zero a habit, you won’t need them.

Think strategically, act tactically

But graspoing the strategy behind what you are building may be a new skill

You need to learn to THINK BIG. What are the BUSINESS objectives you are trying to fulfill?

Understand WHY your team is building something, not just HOW.

Understand the customer experience you are delivering, not just the technology.

As you progress as a manager, you will start developing your own strategies.

Activity: Understanding Tactics and Strategy

Make a list of the goals you have committed to (hopefully you already have this)

For each, write down HOW you plan to achieve them (tactics)

… and WHY that goal is important to the business (strategy)

If you don’t know why a goal is important, ask your boss in your next meeting!

• Understanding the strategy makes it easier to “sell” the work to your team

Avoiding overcommitment

• The quickest way to fail is to sign up for more work than your team can handle
• Learn QUICKLY that how long it would take for YOU to perform a task is not the same amount of time it would take your TEAM to perform a task
• You CANNOT take your own time estimate, divide it by the number of people assigned to the task, and go with that. There is overhead, unforeseen difficulties, varying experience levels, and dependencies to consider
• Remember people are not writing code 8 hours a day

Tactics: How things get done

There’s a strategy to tactics!

Realistic estimations require an ability to:

• Break down a project into individual, lower-level tasks
• Understand the availability and efficiency of the people best suited to those tasks
• Understand the dependencies between these tasks
• Understand any external dependencies that might impede progress
• … and how those external dependencies might be eliminated

Even if you are using something like Kanban or Scrum for day-to-day project management, older “waterfall” project management techniques may be better for understanding dependencies

GANTT charts

PERT charts

If you have a PM, use her experience and tools

Pushing things forward

If you were promoted from a technical position, you already know your company’s daily project management practices

• Kanban
• Scrum
• Waterfall

Remember what you found useful and annoying as an engineer - you have a change to fix that now!

• Too many meetings?
• Are “daily standups” necessary for every projects?

Use Your weekly(?) 1:1 meetings to stay on top of deliverables (among other things)

• What are they working on right now? Does that surprise you?
• How did they spend their time this week?
• Are they blocked by anyone or anything?

The Importance of simplicity

Engineers (like you?) prefer building complex system that provide interesting engineering challenges

THIS IS NOT HOW TO GET THINGS DONE

Understand the RESULTS you are being asked to deliver

What is the SIMPLEST system that will deliver those results?

Simplicity = less things to break, quicker delivery, lower cost

Example : Build a system to recommend related products in a person’s shopping cart.

Solution A: Use deep learning on a large cluster of GPU instances in the cloud, with daily tuning of its hyperparameters and systems to manually classify objectionable content. Train it in real-time using customer purchase behavior data.

Solution B: Store purchase data in a graph database, and issue a one line query to find items that tend to be purchased with other items.

Deep learning may be fun to build, but it will be expensive and difficult to tune and maintain.

If you want to get stuff done, and minimize the accrual of technical debt - a is the right choice.

You need to strike a balance between too simple and too complex

This is where your judgment comes in.

What if you just recommended the highest rated products within the same category? That’s even simpler, but might not be targeted enough to be effective.

Starting simple and working your way up can work.

Working backwards

Work BACKWARD from the customer experience you are delivering, and figure out the simplest technical solution to deliver that experience.

Avoid working FORWARD from whatever the latest trendy technology is

• solutions in search of a problem

Examples:

• Using blockchain to manage an achievements system
• using deep learning when a database search would do
• Using quantum computing for … anything right now.

Stay focused on results

Tools for working backwards

Start with a press release, explaining to the world why they should be excited about what your new system will DO (not how it works)

Design systems from the customer backward

• Start with the UI and what builds it
• Then the services that power that UI
• Then the data that powers the services

Activity: Working backwards

Your team has been tasked with building an ad targeting system for showing specific product ads to individuals on social media.

• Feel free to substitue a problem more relevant to your organization or expertise.

Write down your initial “thinking forwards” thoughts about the type of system that would work best.

Start with press release aimed at the customers who will see these ads. Why should they be excited about it? What will it deliver to them?

Sketch a high-level system design working backwards from the front-end that will deliver this system.

• Note, social media will give you information about individual customers like the subjects and categories they are interested in, where they live, demographics, etc.

How did the “backwards” approach differ from the “forwards” approach?

Running useful 1:1 meetings

Meet regularly with everyone on your team. Ideally once per week.

Objectives of the 1:1 meeting:

• Learn about status of deliverables, anything blocking the person
• Work toward their career goals
• Provide timely feedback, positive and negative
• Let them provide feedback for you

Mainly this meeting protects everyone from nasty surprises

Absolute Candor

Acknowledge work well done ( this is surprisingly powerful! and surprisingly rare)

But do not shy away from delivering areas for improvement

• Nobody should hear negative feedback for the first time on their performance review.
• Nip issues in the bud
• Be blunt, stick to the facts.
• You are criticizing the behavior, not the person

the !@#$ Sandwich

• Start with positive feedback, then negative (if any), then end with something positive
• If it’s serious though, don’t sugar coat it.

Checking in on goals

Your employees may have specific goals for the year

SMART goals (your organization may vary)

Do these goals still make sense?

Is the employee receiving opportunities to achieve them?

Is the employee on track to achieve them?

Adjust them before review time, before they become a problem.

Sample 1:1 agenda

Check-in on project status

Check-in on performance goals

Check-in on career goals

Feedback (positive and negative)

Feedback for you

Handling difficult conversations

LISTEN

• “Reflective listening” / “Active listening”
• Repeat back what you heard in your own words, get affirmation that you understand
• Acknowledge how it makes them feel
• The engineer in you wants to jump right to solutions
• But first, listen! Empathize!

Stay cool

• Don’t cross the line to sympathy or assigning blame just yet
• Listen, be concerned, but don’t promise things you can’t deliver
• No touchie - you’re the boss, not a friend

Kleenex and a glass of water

Set up a time to follow up on the issue so you can investigate

• Involve HR and/or your boss if appropriate
• Respect confidentiality

Write down what you heard and what you said someplace safe and secure

Active listening

• Pay attention! show that you’re listening
• Don’t interrupt; Defer judgment
• Keep your own feeling out of it

Do not hesitate to involve HR

There could be legal repercussions if you try to solve delicate, personal situations yourself

• Not only for the company, but for you

Anything health related, potentially discriminatory, harassment etc. - go straight to HR

Many companies have an employee assistance program (EAP) to help with personal problems

• They are qualified to offer advice, not you

Letting employees be their best

Solicit and nurture new ideas

• Find ways to let them explore them without sacrificing current commitments

Align tasks with career goals

Guid technical decisions without being proscriptive

• Being the boss doesn’t mean you’re hte smartest
• You can define the goals, not the means - let your engineers do their job

Amplify their talents, skills and ideas - not yours

Managing growth at different levels

How you manage a new hire is different from how you manage a principal engineer

New hire - find them a buddy, set clear expectations, ensure work is tightly defined. Check-in frequently.

Mid level - find opportunities for growth; working with other groups, architecture work. Check-in weekly.

High level - collaborating with other high-level engineers, or work toward management. Check-in as needed

Activity: Practice active listening

Active listening, or reflective listening, isn’t just useful at work!

Try it at home, next time a family member or friend has an issue they want to talk about

Listen, acknowledge

Reflect back what you heard and how it makes them feel

It may seem unnatural to you but not to them

• It’s just demonstrating empathy really

Recruiting tips

• Make your company’s recruiters your best friends
• Devote the necessary time – this is a very important part of your job
• Hone your sales pitch – why is your team awesome?
• And if your team really is awesome, you won’t have to recruit as much…
• Get creative with sourcing
• Interns / college hires
• Incent employee referrals
• Searching GitHub
• Searching academic papers
• Social media / groups – where do your potential employees hang out online?
• Host or sponsor local technical events / hackathons etc
• Internal hires
• Host internal or external tech talks
• Go on tour
• Remote workers

“Managing up or out”

Sometimes a member of your team won’t be pulling their weight, and you must take action.

You can manage “up” – try to correct the behavior. Or “out” if that fails.

Always consult with HR before taking any disciplinary action.

Firing someone is the most difficult thing for a new manager – or any manager.

Layoffs happen too.

Sometimes someone is just in the wrong role.

Why firing is important

The cost of a toxic employee is astronomical

• Your entire team could fall apart

Even someone who is just underperforming will drag down the performance of the entire team

You may be surprised that the rest of your team will thank you for it

The cost of turnover and hiring a replacement is high, but the cost of having the wrong person on the bus is higher.

How NOT to fire someone

• Do it out of anger
• Deflect blame
• Make it personal
• Give false hope
• Be too nice
• Dump them on someone else’s team
• If the employee is surprised by it, you’ve done it very wrong
• If you have security waiting outside because you think they’ll get violent, you’ve done it very wrong

Firing: best case scenario

Employee has known for some time they are not meeting expectations

With HR you implement a Performance Improvement Plan

Employee finds a new job that is a better fit for them

You can remain on good terms

It is done discreetly

HR guides you on logistics

Handling layoffs

• Demonstrate empathy
• But stick to the facts
• Have all logistics ready
• Final payments / severance
• Guidance for unemployment & insurance
• As a new manager you probably won’t have much say in it.
• Don’t get sued

Managing Up

• Not as nefarious as it sounds…
• Just understand your manager
• Understand both of your goals
• Keep open communication
• A good relationship with your boss means you’re both more effective

Have backbone

Work to understand mangerial decisions and directives first

But don’t be afraid to ask questions, or push back

In most corporate cultures, critical thought is valued

Disagree and commit

Sometimes however you must commit to a decision from above

• Even if you don’t personally agree with it.

Recognize you could be wrong

Do not complain about it

• Especially to your team

Just make it happen and move on

How to deliver problems or bad news

Be honest

COME WITH SOLUTIONS

Present your plan to fix the immediate problem

Show that you understand the ROOT CAUSE of the issue

… and you have already taken actions to prevent reoccurence

Meeting etiquette

If you don’t know, say “I don’t know” (but will find out and follow up - then do that.)

• Never make stuff up just to look good

Don’t hog the floor

Don’t interrupt others

Speak clearly

Be prepared

Be on time

Leave on time

Don’t call unnecessary meetings

Overcoming introversion

Common issue with developers turned manager

• Extroverts tend to dominate discussions

Finding openings to talk without interrupting can be hard

Find an ally - can your boss make sure you’re given an opportunity to speak in meetings?

Be the person who may not say much, but says something relly insightful

Listening more than talking

If you are structuring the meeting, ensure everyone - including you - has a chance to speak.

Can follow up in writing later

Presenting to upper management

BE PREPARED

• Anticipate questions and have the answers and data ready
• Sit in on similar meetings if you can, so you know what to expect
• Do a practice run with your boss

IN THE MEETING…

• Be succinct, don’t ramble
• Don’t make stuff up, say “I don’t know but will look that up and get back to you right after this meeting.”
• Don’t take things personally

Building and maintaining morale

• Build your tribe

Remaining relatable

You were one of them not long ago! use that to your advantage

Continue to respect and listen to your team

Show that you’re in this together

Listen, don’t just talk

Don’t demand more than what you would demand of yourself

Goals and morale

A team making progress toward a shared goal makes the team more cohesive.

Individuals making progress against their own career goals keeps individual motivated.

Always watch for opportunities to help people with their personal goals

Always make sure your team know their shared goals and their progress toward them

Killing a project without destroying morale

• A very challenging situation is cancelling a project your team has been working hard on
• Make sure you understand why it was cancelled and can convey this effectively
• Deliver the news in person
• You may be demoralized by it – don’t let that show
• Recognize the great work done on it thus far
• Recognize what was learned from it
• Can work from the cancelled project be used for a new one?
• Keep the focus on larger strategic goals

Killing a project without destroying morale

• A very challenging situation is cancelling a project your team has been working hard on
• Make sure you understand why it was cancelled and can convey this effectively
• Deliver the news in person
• You may be demoralized by it – don’t let that show
• Recognize the great work done on it thus far
• Recognize what was learned from it
• Can work from the cancelled project be used for a new one?
• Keep the focus on larger strategic goals

Your continued growth as a manager

• Find mentor
• Understand the business
• Learn from decision you don’t understand
• Observe upper management and learn from them
• Build good relationship outside your team

"Kalau ingin hidup dimanja, senang, dan damai, JANGAN BUAT DOSA"

Sumber-sumber pembelajaran keajaiban :

1. Dr. Masaru Emoto - Ternyata kalau air diberi kalimat positif akan memberi respon positif, berbentuk kristal berlian. Sebaliknya kalo diberi kalimat negatif, air pun memberikan respons negatif, yakni bentuknya tidak beraturan.
2. Roger Hamilton - menyimpulkan bahma 38 orang terkaya di dunia mempunya habit (kebiasaan atau gaya hidup) yang khas. Mereka bukan sekadar rajin berikhtiar, tetapi mereka punya rahasia rezeki berkelimpahan, yakni senang berbagi kepada orang lain atau berjiwa sosial.
3. Rhonda Byrne - law of attraction, banyak bukti ilmiah bahwa law of attraction di hidup ini.
4. Yvonne Oswald - Setiap kata itu punya kekuatan dan energi. Karena itu penting sekali selalu berkata positif.
5. Erbe Sentanu - Menjelaskan tentang perasaan yang positif dan berpengaruh terhadap kehidupan kita.
6. Ari Ginanjar - ESQ
7. Danah Zohar & Ian Marshall - Spiritual Quantum dan Spiritual Capital
8. Dr. Jaribah - meneliti tentang kekayaan sahabat Nabi saw.
9. Ustaz Yusuf Mansur - mengampanyekan kekuatan sedekah.
10. Ippho Santosa - Frekeunsi tertentu menari frekuensi yang sama.

Nasib tercipta karena karakter, karakter diciptakan dari kebiasaan, kebiasaan adalah tindakan yang dilakukan berulang-ulang. Semua tindakan pasti diilhami oleh pikiran, pikiran dikendalikan oleh perasaan, dan perasaan bergantung pada spiritual.

Setiap pikiran adalah doa dan setiap doa dikabulkan oleh Allah, baik yang positif maupun yang negatif.

Bagi yang sekarang sedang di-PHK, sedang tidak ada pekerjaan, anda bisa kok langsung move on. Sadari saja bahwa rezeki sudah dijamin. Sadari saja bahwa Allah Maha Pemberi Rezeki. Lalu, lakukan saja apa pun yang positif. Melihat rumput tetangga yang tinggi, lalu anda ambil alat pemotong rumput, dan beramal-lah dengan membahagiakan tetangga anda. Saat dia mau bayar, bilang saja "Maaf terima kasih, saya tidak bisa terima, saya hanya ingin bantu". Siap-siap saja, dia akan berikan kejutan, pada suatu saat nanti ada hadiah yang dikirim ke rumah anda. Tentunya tetap mengandalkan keikhlasan anda sebagai fondasi amalnya.

1. Paksakan diri untuk selalu khusnuzon - Terhadap segala sesuatu yang terjadi pada kehidupan kita, paksakan saja untuk berkeyakinan bahwa itu positif, bahwa itu baik. Ya paksakan saja. Sekali lagi paksakan, karena memang sudah tidak ada jalan lain. Saat anda larut dalam hal yang tidak nyaman, malah ujungnya akan menjadi tidak baik.
2. Tinggalkan asupan persepsi negatif - Setiap saat otak kita menyerap 2 juta informasi per detik, lalu memancarkan 60.000 pikiran setiap hari. Maka, sangan penting dalam memperhatikan input otak kita agar yang keluar adalah pikiran-pikiran yang positif.
3. Mengubah Kata-Kata - biasakan untuk nutrisi otak kita agar menjadi energi yang positif adalah mengubah kata-kata. "change your word will change your world" energi yang ada di dalam pikiran kita berubah ke luar dalam bentuk simbol.
   - Sulit diganti menjadi tidak mudah
      - Berat diganti menjadi tidak ringan
      - Miskin diganti menjadi belum kaya
   - Sakit diganti menjadi kurang sehat
   - Benci diganti menjadi tidak senang
   - Mahal diganti menjadi tidak murah
      - Gagal diganti menjadi belum berhasil

The law of projection - "Apa pun yang ter-FOKUS-kan dalam PIKIRAN kita, akan otomatis terproyeksi menjadi NASIB kita."

Mensyukuri apa pun yang terjadi pada kehidupan kita adalah kekuatan yang sangan berharga dalam magnet rezeki.

"Man yuridillahu bihi khoiron yushib minhu" - Sesiapa yang ingin diberikan kebaikan oleh Allah, akan diberi musibah terlebih dahulu. (HR. Bukhari Muslim).

"Sesungguhnya, besarnya pahala itu bergantung pada besarnya cobaan. Sesungguhnya apabilah Allah Ta'ala mencintai suatu kaum, maka dia mencobanya. Barang siapa yang rela menerimanya, maka dia pun mendapat keridhaan Allah dan barang siapa yang murka, maka dia pun mendapat kemurkaan Allah" (HR. Tirmidzi)

Saat kita kecewa, mengeluh, depresi, stres, maka lingkungan di luar kita juga mengalami hal yang sama. Begitu juga sebaliknya, ketika kita bahagia, tersenyum, ridha, dan menerima apa pun dalam kehidupan kita, dan bergetar hal-hal baik di dalam energi syukur kita, maka semua yang ada di luar kita akan berbentuk seperti berlian.

Prinsip positif feeling:

1. Kekayaan bukanlah harta secara fisik yang kita miliki, melainkan kekayaan terbesar, yaitu ketenangan hati yang perlu diperjuangkan secara maksimal.
2. Semua hidup sudah sempurna, tidak ada cacat dalam kehidupan kita. Kejadian tidak mengenakkan yang menimpa kita hanya menjadi inspirasi untuk bangkit dan berjuang.
3. Musibah adalah anugerah, dia seperti "bungkus permen". Saat kita menerima musibah itu dengan bahagia di kesempatan pertama, maka Allah akan berikan rezeki yang besar dibaliknya.
4. Apa pun fakta dalam kehidupan kita, semuanya tidaklah penting, yang penting adalah: hati kita yang tenang. Setenang berada di "taman", sejernih pandangan tanpa "jendela buram", tanpa mendramatisir masalah dengan perasan "jeruk nipis"

Saran untuk malam jumat untuk membaca Al-Maidah 114 dan Al-Kahfi.

Surah Al-Mā'idah (5) ayat 114:

Qāla ‘Īsabnu Maryama allāhumma rabbana anzil ‘alainā mā'idatam minas-samā`i takụnu lanā ‘īdan li awwalinā wa ākhirinā wa āyatam minka warzuqnā wa anta khairur-rāziqīn.

Artinya (terjemahan Indonesia):
Isa putra Maryam berdoa, “Ya Allah, Tuhan kami, turunkanlah kepada kami hidangan dari langit yang akan menjadi hari raya bagi kami, yaitu bagi orang-orang yang bersama kami sekarang maupun yang datang sesudah kami, dan menjadi tanda dari-Mu. Berilah kami rezeki, dan Engkaulah Pemberi rezeki yang paling baik.”

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When you try to live your most authentic life, some of your relationships will be put in jeopardy. Losing them is a risk worth bearing; finding a way to keep them in your life is a challenge worth taking on.

Your identity is a mirror covered with dust. When you first look in the mirror the truth of who you are and what you value is obscured. Clearing it may not be pleasant, but only when that dust is gone can you see your true reflection. - Gauranga Das

When we tune out the opinions, expectations, and obligations of the world around us, we begin to hear ourselves.

Negativity, in conversation, emotions, and actions. Often springs from a threat to one of the three needs: a fear that bad things are going to happen (loss of peace), a fear of not being loved (loss of love), or a fear of being disrespected (loss of understanding). These negative feelings  spring out of us as complaints, comparisons, and criticisms and other negative behaviors.

Don’t judge someone with a different disease. Don’t expect anyone to be perfect. Don’t think you are perfect. - Gauranga Das

Letting go gives us freedom, and freedom is the only condition for happiness. If, in our heart, we still cling to anything, anger, anxiety, or possessions. We cannot be free. - Thich Nhat Hanh

The process of learning to work with fear isn’t just about doing a few exercises that solve everything, it’s about changing your attitude toward fear, understanding that it has something to offer, and then committing to doing the work of identifying and trying to shift out of your pattern of distraction every time it appears. Each of the 4 distractions from fear, panicking, freezing, running away, and burying, is a different version of a single action, or rather, a single inaction: refusing to accept our fear. So the first step in transforming our fear from a negative to a positive is doing just that.

Breathe to calm and relax yourself. Breathe in for a count of 4 through your nose in your own time at your own pace, hold for a count of 5, exhale for a count of 4 through your mouth. 10x.

Quadrants of potential

Dharma Profiles

Creators

Originally: merchants, businesspeople

Today: marketers, salespeople, entertainers, producers, entrepreneurs, CEOs

Skills: brainstorming, networking, innovating

Make things happen, can convince themselves and others of anything, great at sales, negotiation, persuasion, highly driven by money, pleasure, and success, very hardworking and determined, excel in trade, commerce, and banking, always on the move, work hard, play hard.

Ignorance: Become corrupt and sell things with no value / lie, cheat, steal to sell something, beaten down by failure, burned out, depressed, moody, due to overwork

Impulse: Status drive, dynamic, charismatic, and captivating, Hustler, goal-oriented, tireless

Goodness - use money for the greater good, create products and ideas that make money but also serve others, provide jobs and opportunities for others

Makers

Originally: artist, musicians, creatives, writers

Today: social workers, therapists, doctors, nurses, COOs, heads of HR, artists, musicians, engineers, coders, carpenters, cooks.

skills: inventing, supporting,and implementing.

Ignorance: depressed by failure, feel stuck and unworthy, Anxious

Impulse: Explore and experiment with new ideas, juggle too many things at the same time, lose focus on expertise and care, focus more on money and results

Goodness: Driven by stability and security, generally content and satisfied with the status quo, chooses meaningful goals to pursue, works hard but always maintains balance with family commitments, best right-hand man or woman, leads team gatherings, supports those in need, highly skilled at manual professions.

Connections: Makers and Creators complement each other, Makers make Creators focus on detail, quality, gratitude, and contentment. Creators help makers think bigger, become more goal-oriented

Guide

Originally and today: teachers, guides, gurus, coaches, mentors

Skills: learning, studying, sharing knowledge, and wisdom

A coach and a mentor no matter what role they play, want to bring out the best in the people in their life, value knowledge and wisdom more than fame, power, money, security, like having space and time to reflect and learn, want to help people find meaning, fulfillment, and purpose, like to work alone, enjoy intellectual pursuits in their spare time, reading, debate, discussion.

Ignorance: don’t practice what they preach, don’t lead by example, struggle with implementation

Impulse: Love to debate and destroy others' arguments, use knowledge for strength and power, intellectually curious, mode of goodness, use knowledge to help people find their purpose, aspire to better themselves in order to give more, realize knowledge is not theirs to use alone, but that they are here to serve

Leaders

Originally: kings, warriors

Today: military, justice, law enforcement, politics

Skills: governing, inspiring, engaging others

Natural leaders of people, movements, groups and families, directed by courage, strength and determination, protect those who are less privileged, led by higher morals and values and seek to enforce them across the world, provide structures and frameworks for the growth of people, like to work in teams, great at organization, focus and dedication to a mission.

Ignorance: Give up due to change due to corruption and hypocrisy, develop a negative, pessimistic viewpoint, lose moral compass in the drive for power

Impulse: Build structures and frameworks for fame and money, not meaning, use their talents to serve themselves, not humanity, focus on short-term goals for themselves

Goodness: fight for higher morals, ethics, and values, inspire people to work together, build long-term goals to support society

Connections: Guides and leaders complement each other; guides give wisdom to leaders, leaders give structure to guides.

Dharma is of the body

Alive: For some people, being in their dharma means they feel a calm, confident satisfaction. For others, there is a thrill of joy and excitement. In either case, you feel alive, connected, with a smile on your face. A light comes on.

Flow: In dharma, there is a natural momentum. You feel like you’re in your lane, swimming with the current, instead of struggling through a resistant surf. When you are truly aligned, there is a sense of flow, you come out of your own head and lose track of time

Comfort : in your dharma, you don’t feel alone or out of place, no matter who comes or goes or where you are physically, where you are feels right, even if the place where you feel right is traveling the world.

Consistency: if you have a great time snorkeling on vacation, that doesn’t mean snorkeling or being on vacation for that matter, is your dharma. Being in your dharma bears repeating. In fact, it gets better the more you do it. But a single event is a clue to what energy you like. when and how you feel alive.

Positivity and growth: when we’re aware of our own strengths, we’re more confident, we value others’ abilities more, and we feel less competitive. The inclination to compare yourself to others may not go away completely, but it shrinks because you only compare yourself to people within your area of expertise. Rejection and criticism don’t feel like assaults. They feel like information that we can accept or reject, depending on whether they help us move forward.

A lot of the time, creativity comes from structure. When you have those parameters and structure, then within that you can be creative. If you don’t have structure, you’re just aimlessly doing stuff” - Bryant

Location has energy; time has memory. If you do something at the same time every day, it becomes easier and natural. If you do something in the same space every day, it becomes easier and natural.

When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us.

Four types of trust

Competence : someone has to be competent if we are to trust their opinions and recommendations. This person has the right skills to solve your issue. They are an expert or authority in their area. They have experience, references.

Care: we need to know a person cares if we are putting our emotions in their hands. Real care means they are thinking about what is best for you, not what is best for them. They care about your well-being, not your success. They have your best interests at heart. They believe in you. They would go beyond the call of duty to support you: helping you move, accompanying you to an important doctor’s appointment.

Pillars of service

Service connects us. When you serve, it’s hard to be lonely. In most scenarios, you have to go out into the world to help other people.

Service amplifies gratitude. Service gives you a broad view of all that you have.

Service increases compassion. When you serve, you see that the world needs what you have to offer.

Service builds self-esteem. Helping others tells you that you’re making a difference in the world. You have a sense of meaning and purpose.

D for Definition turns misguided common sense upside down and introduces the rules and objectives of the new game. It replaces self-defeating assumptions and explains concepts such as relative wealth and eustress.

E for Elimination kills the obsolete notion of time management once and for all. It shows exactly how I used the words of an often-forgotten italian economist to turn 12-hour days into two-hour days... in 48 hours. Increase your per-hour results ten times or more with counterintuitive NR techniques for cultivating selective ignorance, developing a low-information diet, and otherwise ignoring the unimportant. * Time

A for Automation puts cash flow on autopilot using geographic, arbitrage, outsourcing, and rules of nondecision. * Income

L for Liberation is the mobile manifesto for the globally inclined. The concept of mini-retirements is introduced, as are means for flawless remote and escaping the boss. * Mobility

Fundamental differentiators to keep in mind :

• Retirement is worst-case scenario insurance - Retirement planning is like life insurance. It should be viewed as nothing more than a hedge against the absolute worst-case scenario: in this case, becoming physically incapable of working and needing a reservoir of capital to survive.
• Interest and energy are cyclical - The NR aims to distribute "mini-retirements" throughout life instead of hoarding the recovery and enjoyment for the fool's gold of retirement. By working only when you are most effective, life is both more productive and more enjoyable.
• Less is not laziness - Doing less meaningless work, so that you can focus on things of greater personal importance, is NOT laziness. Focus on being productive instead of busy
• The timing is never right - The stars will never align and the traffic lights of life will never all be green at the same time. The universe doesn't conspire against you, but it doesn't go out of its way to line up all the pins either. Conditions are never perfect. "Someday" is a disease that will take your dreams to the grave with you. Pro and con lists are just as bad. If it's important to you and you want to do it "eventually", just do it and correct course along the way.
• Ask for forgiveness, not permission - If it isn't going to devastate those around you, try it and then justify it. if the potential damage is moderate or in any way reversible, don't give people the chance to say no. Most people are fast to stop you before you get started but hesitant to get in the way if you're moving. Get good at being a troublemaker and saying sorry when you really screw up.
• Emphasize strengths, don't fix weaknesses - It is far more lucrative and fun to leverage your strengths instead of attempting to fix all the chinks in your armor. The choice is between multiplication of results using strengths or incremental improvement fixing weaknesses that will, at best, become mediocre. Focus on better use of your best weapons instead of constant repair.
• Things in excess become their opposite - Too much, too many, and too often of what you want becomes what you don't want. This is true of possessions and even time. Lifestyle design is thus not interested in creating an excess of idle time, which is poisonous, but the positive use of free time, defined simply as doing what you want as opposed to what you feel obligated to do.
• Money alone is not the solution - By using money as the scapegoat and work as our all-consuming routine, we are able to conveniently disallow ourselves the time to do otherwise. The problem is more than money.
• Relative income is more important than absolute income - Absolute income is measured using one holy and inalterable variable: the raw and almighty dollar. Relative income uses two variables: the dollar and time, usually hours.
• Distress is bad, eustress is good - Distress refers to harmful stimuli that make you weaker, less confident, and less able. Destructive criticism, and abusive bosses, are things we want to avoid. Eustress, on the other hand, is a word most of you have probably never heard. Eu = Healthy, is used in the same sense as the word "euphoria.". Role models who push us to exceed our limits, stress that is healthful, and the stimulus for growth. People who avoid all criticism fail. It's destructive criticism we need to avoid, not criticism in all forms. Similarly, there's no progress without eustress, and the more eustress we can create or apply to our lives, the sooner we can actualize our dreams. The trick is telling the two apart. The New Rich are equally aggressive in removing distress and finding eustress.

Having an unusually large goal is an adrenaline infusion that provides the endurance to overcome the inevitable trials and tribulations that go along with any goal. Realistic goals, goals restricted to the average ambition level, are uninspiring and will only fuel you through the first or second problem, at which point your throw in the towel.  The fishing is best where the fewest go and the collective insecurity of the world makes it easy for people to hit home runs while everyone else is aiming for base hits. There is just less competition for bigger goals.

Excitement is the more practical synonym for happiness, and it is precisely what you should strive to chase. It is the cure-all. When people suggest you follow your "passion" or your "bliss" I propose that they are, in fact, referring to the same singular concept: excitement.

Here are 2 truisms to keep in mind:

1. Doing something unimportant well does not make it important.
2. Requiring a lot of time does not make a task important.

Remember - What you do is infinitely more important than how you do it. Efficiency is still important, but it is useless unless applied to the right things.

Pareto's law can be summarized as follows: 80% of the outputs result from 20% of the inputs.

• 80% of the consequences flow from 20% of the causes.
• 80% results come from 20% of the effort and time
• 80% of company profits come from 20% of the products and customers.
• 80% of all stock market gains are realized by 20% of the investors and 20% of an individual portfolio.

Parkinson's law dictates that a task will swell in (perceived) importance and complexity in relation to the time allotted for its completion. It is the magic of an imminent deadline. If I give you 24 hours to complete a project, the time pressure forces you to focus on execution, and you have no choice but to do only the bare essentials. The end product of the shorter deadline is almost inevitably of equal or higher quality due to greater focus.

1. Limit tasks to the important to shorten work time (80/20)
2. Shorten work time to limit tasks to the important (Parkinson's Law)

The best solution is to use both together: Identify the few critical tasks that contribute most to income and schedule them with very short and clear deadlines.

• Develop the habit of asking yourself, "Will I definitely use this information for something immediate and important?" - Information is useless if it is not applied to something important or if you will forget it before you have a change to apply it. Focus on "just-in-time" information instead of "just-in-case" information
• Practice the art of nonfinishing - If you are reading an article that sucks, put it down and don't pick it back up. If you go to a movie and it's worse than matrix III get out of there before more neurons die. If you're full after half a plate of ribs, put the fork down and don't order dessert. More is not better, and stopping something is often 10 times better than finishing it. Develop the habit of nonfinishing that which is boring or unproductive if a boss isn't demanding it.

Learn to be difficult when it counts. In school as in life, having a reputation for being assertive will help you receive preferential treatment without having to beg or fight for it every time.

• Don't accept large or costly favors from strangers - If you can't pass it up, immediately return to karmic neutrality with a gift of your choosing.
• You don't have to recoup losses the same way you lose them
• One of the most universal causes of self-doubt and depression: trying to impress people you don't like
• Slow meals = life - Have at least one 2 to 3-hour dinner and/or drinks per week with those who make you smile and feel good. Mealtime with friends and loved ones is a direct predictor of well-being.
• Adversity doesn't build character; it reveals it.
• Related: money doesn't change you; it reveals who you are when you no longer have to be nice.
• It doesn't matter how many people don't get it. What matters is how many people do.
• Related: You're never as bad as they say you are.
• Eat a high-protein breakfast within 30 minutes of waking and go for a 10-to-20 minute walk outside afterward.
• A good question to revisit whenever overwhelmed: are you having a breakdown or a breakthrough?
• Rehearse poverty regularly, restrict even moderate expenses for 1-2 weeks, and give away 20%+ of minimally used clothing
• It's usually better to keep old resolutions than to make a new one.

More output and less overwhelm

• Considering options costs attention that then can't be spent on action or present state awareness.
• Attention is necessary for not only productivity but also appreciation.

1. Set rules for yourself so you can automate as much decision making as possible
2. Don't provoke deliberation before you can take action
3. Don't postpone decisions just to avoid uncomfortable conversations.
4. Learn to make nonfatal or reversible decisions as quickly as possible - fast decisions preserve usable attention for what matters.
5. Don't strive for variation, and thus increase option consideration, when it's not needed. Routine enables innovation where it's most valuable.
6. Regret is past tense decision making. Eliminate complaining to minimize regret.

Not to do list : habits to stop

1. Do not answer calls from unrecognized phone numbers.
2. Do not email first thing in the morning or last thing at night.
3. Do not agree to meetings or calls with no clear agenda or end time.
4. Do not let people ramble
5. Do not over communicate with low-profit, high-maintenance customers.
6. Do not work more to fix overwhelmingness, prioritize
7. Do not expect work to fill a void that non-work relationships and activities should.

While $2b$ and $2y$ are functionally equivalent in terms of Bcrypt behavior, Laravel's implementation does not recognize $2b$ directly.

Step 1.1: Create a Custom User Provider

Create a new file:
app/Auth/CustomUserProvider.php

<?php

namespace App\Auth;

use Illuminate\Auth\EloquentUserProvider;
use Illuminate\Contracts\Auth\Authenticatable as UserContract;
use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Hash;

class CustomUserProvider extends EloquentUserProvider
{
    /**
     * Validate a user's credentials.
     */
    public function validateCredentials(UserContract $user, array $credentials)
    {
        $plain = $credentials['password'];
        $hashedPassword = $user->getAuthPassword();

        // Fix: Replace $2b$ with $2y$ dynamically for compatibility
        if (strpos($hashedPassword, '$2b$') === 0) {
            $hashedPassword = str_replace('$2b$', '$2y$', $hashedPassword);
        }

        return Hash::check($plain, $hashedPassword);
    }
}

Step 1.2: Extend the Auth Service Provider

In AppServiceProvider.php, bind the custom user provider:

use App\Auth\CustomUserProvider;
use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Auth;

public function boot()
{
    // Register the custom user provider
    Auth::provider('custom_user', function ($app, array $config) {
        return new CustomUserProvider($app['hash'], $config['model']);
    });
}

2. Modify Auth Configuration

In your config/auth.php file, set the custom provider as the default user provider:

'providers' => [
    'users' => [
        'driver' => 'custom_user', // Use the custom user provider
        'model' => App\Models\User::class,
    ],
],

Extracting PDF to text

Instead of just sending the file to some LLMs, it's better to extract it first and let them read by text so it's lighter.

import pdfplumber

def extract_text_from_pdfs(pdf_files):
    extracted_text = []
    for pdf_file in pdf_files:
        with pdfplumber.open(pdf_file) as pdf:
            text = ''
            for page in pdf.pages:
                text += page.extract_text() + '\n'
            extracted_text.append(text)
    return extracted_text

Converting using FFMPEG

Download and add an environment variable

Releases · BtbN/FFmpeg-Builds

Contribute to BtbN/FFmpeg-Builds development by creating an account on GitHub.

GitHubBtbN

import subprocess

CurrentFileName = 'input/audio.m4a'
FinalFileName = 'output/audio.mp3'

try:
    subprocess.call([
        'ffmpeg',
        '-i', CurrentFileName,    # Input file
        '-ac', '1',               # Set audio channels to 1 (mono)
        '-ar', '16000',           # Set sample rate to 16000 Hz
        FinalFileName             # Output file
    ])

except Exception as e:
    print(e)
    print('Error While Converting Audio')

ch = input('Press Enter to Close')

Extracting audio to text using free Google Web Speech API

This can only be processing audio for 60 seconds using the free service

import speech_recognition as sr

# Initialize the recognizer
recognizer = sr.Recognizer()

# Path to your audio file
audio_file = "output/audio.wav"

# Convert audio to text
try:
    # Load the audio file
    with sr.AudioFile(audio_file) as source:
        print("Processing audio...")
        audio_data = recognizer.record(source, duration=60)  # Record the entire audio file

    # Recognize the speech
    text = recognizer.recognize_google(audio_data, language="id-ID")
    print("Text extracted from audio:")
    print(text)
except sr.UnknownValueError:
    print("Google Web Speech API could not understand the audio.")
except sr.RequestError as e:
    print(f"Error with the request to Google API: {e}")
except Exception as e:
    print(f"Unexpected error: {e}")

Speech-to-text Google Cloud (paid)

There's a lot to be done here, first, you need to make the file sound to mono and the sample rate to 16000, this is better because it takes less storage than making it to 46000 sample rate. There was a choice where its either I make the audio file separate or 1 long audio to process. I want to be done with an use the long audio, so we need to use Async request and use GCS to store the file to process.

def speech_to_text_google(gcs_uri, output_file):

    client = speech.SpeechClient()
    audio_config = speech.RecognitionAudio(uri=gcs_uri)
    config = speech.RecognitionConfig(
        encoding=speech.RecognitionConfig.AudioEncoding.LINEAR16,
        language_code="id-ID"
    )

    # Asynchronous request
    operation = client.long_running_recognize(config=config, audio=audio_config)
    print("Waiting for operation to complete...")
    #response = operation.result(timeout=90)  # Adjust timeout as needed
    while not operation.done():
        print("Still processing...")
        time.sleep(30)  # Wait for 30 seconds before checking again

    if operation.done():
        response = operation.result()  # Retrieve the result
        # Open a file for writing
        with open(output_file, "w", encoding="utf-8") as file:
            for result in response.results:
                transcript = result.alternatives[0].transcript
                print("Transcript:", transcript)  # Print to console (optional)
                file.write(transcript + "\n")  # Write each transcript to the file
speech_to_text_google(gcs_uri , output_file_path)

Upload to GCS

Since we cannot process large files straight from my local where there's default timeout, in my case audio file, we need to put it in google cloud storage to make my other function work.

import os

os.environ["GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS"] = "filename.json"

def upload_to_gcs(bucket_name, source_file_name, destination_blob_name):
    storage_client = storage.Client()
    bucket = storage_client.bucket(bucket_name)
    blob = bucket.blob(destination_blob_name)

    # Check if the file already exists in the bucket
    if blob.exists():
        print(f"File {destination_blob_name} already exists in GCS.")
        gcs_uri = f"gs://{bucket_name}/{destination_blob_name}"
        return gcs_uri

    # Upload the file if it does not exist
    blob.upload_from_filename(source_file_name)
    print(f"File {source_file_name} uploaded to {destination_blob_name}.")
    gcs_uri = f"gs://{bucket_name}/{destination_blob_name}"
    return gcs_uri

# Example usage
filename = "audio-1"
audio_file_path = f"output/{filename}.wav"
output_file_path = f"input/{filename}.txt"

# Google Cloud Storage settings
bucket_name = "bucket_name"  # Replace with your GCS bucket name
destination_blob_name = f"{filename}.wav"  # File name in GCS

# Upload the audio file to GCS (or skip if already exists)
gcs_uri = upload_to_gcs(bucket_name, audio_file_path, destination_blob_name)

Using OpenAI

At some point, we'll need to use OpenAI, here's the way

import openai

openai.api_key = 'YOUR_OPENAI_API_KEY'

def summarize_text(text):
    try:
        response = openai.ChatCompletion.create(
            model="gpt-3.5-turbo",  # Use GPT-3.5-turbo or newer available model
            messages=[
                {"role": "system", "content": "You are an AI assistant that summarizes texts."},
                {"role": "user", "content": f"Please provide a summary for the following text:\n{text}"}
            ],
            max_tokens=150,
            temperature=0.7
        )
        return response['choices'][0]['message']['content'].strip()
    except openai.error.OpenAIError as e:
        return f"An error occurred: {str(e)}"
        
summarized_data = [summarize_text(text) for text in pdf_texts]

Sending Email Using SMTP

Sending email using SMTP, this is one option as we don't have another transactional email service to use.

import smtplib
from email.mime.multipart import MIMEMultipart
from email.mime.text import MIMEText

def send_email(subject, body, to_email):
    from_email = "your_email@example.com"
    password = "your_password"

    # Set up the MIME
    message = MIMEMultipart()
    message['From'] = from_email
    message['To'] = to_email
    message['Subject'] = subject
    message.attach(MIMEText(body, 'plain'))

    # Send the email
    with smtplib.SMTP('smtp.gmail.com', 587) as server:
        server.starttls()
        server.login(from_email, password)
        server.send_message(message)

email_body = "\n\n".join(summarized_data)
send_email("Summarized PDF Data", email_body, "recipient@example.com")

Make exe from .py

Make sure you have your icon ready

py -m venv venv
.\venv\Scripts\activate
pip install pyinstaller
pyinstaller --onefile --icon=icon-console.ico index.py

Adding requirements.txt

Making requirements.txt will add all the required packages, after adding the required packages to the file run this.

pip install -r requirements.txt

Changing Python version

I've had trouble on some package, need to change the version to support the package.

after installing run below to check if the python is installed

py -0 

Forecasting

Time Series Models - Traditional statistical methods that explicitly use temporal data patterns such as trends, seasonality, and autoregressive behavior.

Ex: ARIMA (AutoRegressive Integrated Moving Average), SARIMA (Seasonal ARIMA), ETS (Exponential Smoothing State Space)

Machine Learning Models - Predictive models that learn patterns from historical data without explicitly modeling time dependencies.

Ex: Linear Regression, Random Forests, Gradient Boosting (XGBoost, LightGBM, CatBoost)

Deep Learning Models - Neural network-based methods that excel in capturing complex patterns in data, including long-term temporal dependencies.

Ex: LSTM (Long Short-Term Memory), GRU (Gated Recurrent Unit), Transformer-based models (e.g., Attention mechanisms)

Hybrid Models - Combines the strengths of traditional time series models with machine learning or deep learning models.

Ex: ARIMA combined with a neural network for residual forecasting.
SARIMAX for trend/seasonality and gradient boosting for residuals.

pip install statsmodels


# Select the columns to use
columns_to_use = ['date', 'machine_id', 'cycle_time', 'downtime', 'production_count']
data = data[columns_to_use]

# Convert 'date' to datetime format
data['date'] = pd.to_datetime(data['date'])

# Sort data by date and machine_id
data = data.sort_values(by=['date', 'machine_id'])

# Initialize a DataFrame to store all forecasts
all_forecasts = []

# Group the data by 'machine_id' and apply the ARIMA forecast for each machine
grouped = data.groupby('machine_id')

for machine_id, group in grouped:
    # Sort the group by date
    group = group.sort_values(by='date')

    # Train a VAR model for multivariate forecasting
    model = VAR(group[['production_count', 'cycle_time', 'downtime']])
    model_fit = model.fit(maxlags=15)

    forecast_steps = 30
    forecast = model_fit.forecast(y=group[['production_count', 'cycle_time', 'downtime']].values, steps=forecast_steps)

    # Create a new DataFrame for forecasted data
    forecast_dates = pd.date_range(start=group['date'].max() + pd.Timedelta(days=1), periods=forecast_steps, freq='D')
    forecast_df = pd.DataFrame(forecast, columns=['production_count', 'cycle_time', 'downtime'])
    forecast_df['date'] = forecast_dates
    forecast_df['machine_id'] = machine_id

    # Append the forecast_df to the list
    all_forecasts.append(forecast_df)

# Concatenate all forecasts into a single DataFrame
forecast_result = pd.concat(all_forecasts)

# Round values for better readability
forecast_result['cycle_time'] = forecast_result['cycle_time'].round(2)
forecast_result['downtime'] = forecast_result['downtime'].round(2)
forecast_result['production_count'] = forecast_result['production_count'].round(1)

# Rearrange columns to the correct order
forecast_result = forecast_result[['date', 'machine_id', 'cycle_time', 'downtime', 'production_count']]
# Sort the forecasted data by date and machine_id
forecast_result = forecast_result.sort_values(by=['date', 'machine_id'])

# Save the forecasted data to a new CSV file with the correct column order
forecast_result.to_csv('assets/result/forecasted_production_data_reordered.csv', index=False)

Setting up docker

# Use an official Python runtime as a parent image
FROM python:3.10-slim

# Set the working directory in the container
WORKDIR /app

# Copy the project files into the container
COPY . .

# Install dependencies from requirements.txt or using pip
RUN pip install --upgrade pip
RUN pip install -r requirements.txt

# Set the environment variables from the .env file
ENV PYTHONUNBUFFERED 1

# Run the Python script manually (modify as per your need)
CMD ["python", "manual.py"]

docker build -t takehome .
docker run -d --name takehome_container takehome
docker run -it takehome /bin/bash

Postman Notes

https://api.postman.com/collections/645144-308749c7-6e82-43f0-930d-e1db8d13261e?access_key=PMAT-01JBXTCYV7XK6VVPDP6H9F494M

Introduction to API Testing with Postman

• Course Overview: This course introduces API testing using Postman, a tool designed for interacting with APIs and writing tests. The instructor, Valentine, emphasizes hands-on experience and practical assignments throughout the course

Understanding APIs

• What is an API?: An API (Application Programming Interface) serves as an interface to a server, allowing for data exchange and actions. It can be compared to a power outlet, which provides a standardized way for devices to connect

• Postman as a Tool: Postman simplifies the process of sending and receiving data from APIs, functioning like a connector to the server

Getting Started with Postman

• Installation: Postman can be run in a browser or as a standalone application. The instructor recommends using the browser version for this course
• https://www.postman.com/ → can use web-based or install
• User Interface: Upon first opening Postman, users can customize settings, such as changing the theme

Making API Requests

Github example - https://github.com/vdespa/introduction-to-postman-course

• Understanding Endpoints: Each API has a specific endpoints that define how to interact with it. For example, the course uses an API for ordering books, which includes endpoints for checking the status and retrieving book lists
• Sending Requests: Users can send requests to the API using Postman. A successful request returns a status code (e.g., 200 OK), and the requested data

HTTP Basics

• Request and Response: The communication between Postman (client) and the API (server) involve HTTP messages. A request is sent from Postman, and a response is received from the server
• Headers and Body: Requests can include headers (metadata) and a body (data sent with POST requests). Understanding how configure these is crucial for successful API interactions

Using Query Parameters

• Filtering Data: Query parameters allow users to filter responses from the API. For example, specifying a type of book (fiction or non-fiction) can refine the results
• Error Handling: If an invalid query parameter is used, the API will return an error message, indicating what went wrong

Path Parameters and Ordering Books

• Path Variables: These are dynamic parts of the API endpoint that changes based on the request. For example, to get details about a specific book, the book ID is included in the URL
• Placing an Order: To order a book, users must send a POST request with the appropriate body format, including the book ID and customer information

Authentication

• API Client Registration: Some APIs require authentication, which involves registering the client (Postman) to obtain an access token. This token is then used in subsequent requests to authorize actions
• Using Access Tokens: The access token must be included in the request headers for authenticated endpoints

Conclusion

• Practice and Application: The course emphasizes the importance of practicing API testing using Postman. Students are encouraged to explore the API documentation and apply what they've learned through assignments

Study Guide: API Testing with Postman

Key Concepts

• JSON Syntax: JSON requires strict adherence to syntax rules, including the use of double quotes for keys and strings. For example, specifying keys without quotes or using single quotes is invalid
• Data Types in JSON: JSON can contain various data types, including strings, numbers, and booleans. For instance, a string can be represented as "John", while a number is simply written as 1
• Valid JSON Submission: When submitting data to an API, it's crucial to ensure that the JSON is valid. Invalid JSON will lead to errors, as APIs cannot process it

API Testing Workflow

1. Creating a POST Request: When creating a POST request, ensure the JSON is valid. For example, submitting an order with valid JSON will return a success status

• Handling Out-of-Stock Items: If attempting to order a book that is out of stock, the API will return a 404 error, indicating the item is not available
• Using Postman Variables: Postman allows the use of random variables to generate unique data for requests, such as customer names. This helps avoid repetitive data submissions
• Debugging with Postman Console: The Postman console is essential for debugging. It allows you to view the request and response details, helping to identify issues when something goes wrong

1. Testing API Responses

• Writing Tests: You can write tests in Postman to verify the status code of responses. For example, checking if the status code is 200 can be done using JavaScript snippets
• Parsing JSON Responses: To test specific values in the response body, parse the JSON response into a JavaScript object. This allows you to access properties and verify their values
• Dynamic Variables: Instead of hardcoding values, use Postman variables to dynamically reference data, such as order IDs. This reduces manual errors and improves efficiency

Common API Operations

• GET Requests: Use GET requests to retrieve data, such as fetching all orders or a specific order by ID
• PATCH Requests: PATCH requests are used to update existing resources. For example, updating a customer name in an order requires specifying the order ID and the new name
• DELETE Requests: To remove an order, send a DELETE request with the appropriate order ID. A successful deletion will return a 204 status code

ConclusionThis study guide provides a comprehensive overview of API testing using Postman, covering essential concepts, workflows, and operations. Understanding these principles will enhance your ability to effectively test and interact with APIs.

Study Guide: API Testing and Automation with Postman

1. Introduction to API Testing

• API testing involves verifying that an API meets expectations for functionality, reliability, performance, and security. It is essential to ensure that the API behaves as intended.

2. Working with JSON Responses

• When handling API responses, it's crucial to parse the JSON data correctly. Use pm.response.json() to convert the response into a JavaScript object for easier manipulation

3. Accessing Data in Arrays

• API responses often return data in arrays. To access specific elements, remember that JavaScript arrays are zero-indexed. For example, to get the first element, use response[0]

4. Filtering Data

• Use the filter method to retrieve only the available books from an array of books. Define a condition to check for availability

5. Setting Global Variables

• Postman allows you to set global variables to store values like book IDs. This is helpful for reusing values across different requests

6. Writing Tests in Postman

• You can write tests to validate API responses. For example, use pm.expect to check if a book is available.

7. Automating API Tests

• Use the Collection Runner in Postman to execute multiple requests in sequence. This feature allows you to automate the testing process

8. Handling Request Order

• You can control the order of requests in the Collection Runner by specifying the next request to execute using pm.setNextRequest

9. Monitoring API Performance

• Postman monitors can be set up to run collections at scheduled intervals, ensuring that your APIs are functioning correctly over time

10. Using Newman for CI/CD

• Newman is a command-line tool that allows you to run Postman collections in various CI/CD environments. It can generate reports and integrate with tools like Jenkins and GitLab CI

11. Generating Reports

• Newman can generate detailed HTML reports that provide insights into the execution of your API tests, helping you debug issues effectively

12. Conclusion and Further Learning

• Understanding the basics of JavaScript, API testing, and Postman is crucial for effective API development and testing. Consider exploring advanced topics like data-driven tests and OAuth2 authentication for deeper knowledge

This study guide provides a structured overview of key concepts and practices in API testing and automation using Postman, along with relevant citations for further reference.

Merupakan penggabungan dari 15 tehnik terapi

1. NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming
2. Behavioral therapy (desensitization)
3. Psychoanallisa
4. Logo Therapy (meaning)
5. Akupressure / energy therapy
6. Sedona Method
7. Sugesti & Affirmasi
8. Visualisasi
9. Provocative therapy
10. Trancendental relaxation
11. Gestalt therapy
12. Self Eriksonian Hypnosis
13. EMDR (eye movement desensitization reprocessing)
14. Ego state therapy
15. Powerful prayers

Mengatasi masalah FISIK :

Sakit kepala, Nyeri punggung, Maag, Asma, Sakit Jantung, Stroke, Kelebihan berat badan, Alergi, Anestasi, Birthing, Nyeri haid, Kelumpuhan, dll

Mengatasi Masalah EMOSI :

Takut, Phobia, Trauma, Depresi, Cemas, Kecanduan, Stress, Sulit tidur, Mudah marah, Kesedihan mendalam, Gugup, Latah / gagap, Kesurupan, kesulitan belajar / konsentrasi, Tidak percaya diri, Kesal, Dendam / tidak bisa memaafkan, Kecewa, Sakit hati, Luka batin, Perasaan tidak layak, Perasaan tidak di cintain Dll.

Mengatasi masalah KELUARGA dan ANAK:

Ketidakharmonisan keluarga, Perselingkuhan, Masalah sexualitas, Diambang perceraian.

Anak nakal, malas belajar, ngompol, sulit termotivasi

1. Bisa dilakukan kapanpun
2. Cukup 1x belajar untuk selamanya
3. Bisa dilakukan untuk semua umur
4. Sering kali terjadi one minute wonder
5. Nyaris tidak ada efek samping
6. Tanpa menggunakan prosedur diagnosis rumit
7. Terapi jarak jauh
8. Mudah & murah
9. Merawat diri sendiri
10. Membantu penyembuhan dan menghindari penyakit berat (jantung, stroke, kanker, dll)

Fungsi Dasar Tubuh

1. Menyerap segala sesuatu yang bermanfaat, mengolah, merubah, memanfaatkan nutrisi, informasi dan energi untuk kepentingan tubuh - jiwa - roh
2. Membuang segala sesuatu yang tidak bermanfaat / bertentangan dengan fungsi tubuh diatas
3. Menghindari sengsara, mengejar nikmat, melanjutkan keturunan.

Komponen Memori

Kapan / data waktu, Lokasi, siapa yang terlibat / pelaku / objek, gambar, suara, bau / aroma, rasa lidah, sensasi perasaan / perabaan, Emosi.

Proses EFT

1. Persiapan
2. Set up & Tune in (titik sore spot)
3. The sequences (short / long)
4. Gamut procedures
5. The sequences / gamut finishing

9 Gamut Procedures

1. Tutup mata yang kencang
2. Buka mata dan melotot
3. lirik kanan bawah sambil melotot
4. lirik kiri bawah sambil melotot
5. Diputar searah jarum jam
6. Diputar balik / berlawanan jarum jam
7. Bergumam “happy birthday to you”
8. Menghitung cepat : 1-2-3-4-5
9. Bergumam “happy birthday to you

Persiapan

• Minum air putih 1 gelas
• Lepas semua logam dan benda elektrik
• Atur suhu ruangan
• Duduklah yang nyaman
• Matikan handphone atau apapun yang bisa menciptakan gangguan terapi
• Masuklah ke dalam diri, ciptakan kondisi khusyuk, tenang, hening dan damai

Persiapan

• Take interview :
• Sudah berapa lama anda memegang, mengalami, menyimpan, memendam, merasakan hal ini?
• Bagaimana kualitas hidup anda selama ini?
• Apa kerugian yang telah anda alami?
• Apa kerugian / pengaruh negatif yang akan anda alami apabila hal ini tidak kunjung selesai?
• Bila masalah ini bisa diselesaikan, bagaimana kualitas hidup anda?
• Hal-hal positif apa yang akan terjadi bila masalah anda terselesaikan?
• Bayangkan dan rasakan apabila hal-hal positif itu benar benar terjadi, dan apa perasaan anda?

Kalimat set up untuk masalah fisik dan emosi

“Ya tuhan, meskpun saya sedang … (masalah: sakit punggung, nyeri), karena …., dan segala sesuatu yang berhubungan dengan … Tetapi saya ikhlas menerima ( sakit / nyeri ) ini dan saya pasrahkan masalah dan kesembuhan saya ke dalam tangan tuhan”

Tips: Gambarkan rasa sakit misalnya : seperti ditusuk jarum, seperti dicubit, seperti tersaya, seperti tergores, seperti ditekan oleh benda berat, seperti memar, dll, BUKAN NAMA SAKITNYA. Jika anda mengetahui nama sakit (penyakit)nya, silahkan menggunakan kalimat set up untuk masalah emosi.

Prosedur terapi untuk permasalahan Fisik

1. Identifikasi masalah FISIK
2. Rasakan sakitnya, pada posisi seperti apa, diterima, jangan di lawan.
3. Beri nilai 0 =  clear, 10 = sakit sekali.
4. Bentuk dan ucapkan kalimat set-up sambil mengurut sore spot.
5. Beri nilai kembali
6. Ketuk putaran short 2 - 4 kali
7. cek nilai
8. ulangi langkah 4-7 hingga clear.

Catatan : Jika belum tuntas total setelah beberapa putaran ada kemungkinan sakit itu berasal dari emosi.

Memprogram Pikiran

• Buat sugesti dengan kata-kata positif
• Buat dalam bentuk kalimat pendek
• Jelas, spesifik dan bisa diukur (hindari pengukuran dengan jangka waktu)
• Makna dari kata-kata harus memicu emosi positif : senang, damai, bahagia, tenang, sejahtera, feel good.
• Pada saat kalimat sugesti dibacakan pikiran sadar dan bawah sadar mengerti esensi dari keinginan yang dimaksud
• Pastikan tidak ada perasaan yang mengganjal ketika kalimat diucapkan
• Kondisi harus relaks secara pikiran dan otot
• Atur nafas seringan mungkin
• Akses perasaan damai, bahagia, tenang, sejahtera, sukacita, senang, feel good.
• Taping langsung ke short sequences lakukan 3 putaran
• Setelah melakukan , cek perasaan anda apakah ada perasaan yang mengganjal?
• Jika tidak ada, anda tinggal mengulangi langkah ini 3x sehari, minimal selama 1 minggu kedepan
• Jika ada perasaan mengganjal, maka anda harus membereskannya terlebih dahulu.

Kunci keberhasilan

• Niat tulus. mengakui permasalahan adalah bagian dari hidup. Sadar dan memiliki kemauan.
• Ikhlas : menerima masalah, rasakan, keluarkan semua, jangan dilawan.
• Pasrah : melepas masalah, emosi, serahkan sama tuhan
• Syukur
• Full, total, all out
• Menemukan aspek emosi yang tepat (accept & utilize)
• Kata-kata doa yang tepat. (kalimat set-up dan tune-in)
• Bersedia untuk diproses

Apabila EFT tidak efektif?

• Kurang cairan / minum
• Emosi salah / kurang spesifik / masih ada emosi lain yang belum terselesaikan
• Butuh treatment khusus yang lebih mendalam dari orang yang berpengalaman dan spesialis dibidangnya
• Therapist kurang pengetahuan dan keterampilan
• Dekat dengan benda elektrik
• Hambatan spiritual (yakin, ikhlas, pasrah, syukur, khusyuk)
• Perlawanan psikologis / sabotase diri
• Akar masalah belum ditemukan
• Aspek yang berubah-ubah
• Membutuhkan sentuhan orang lain
• Tidak ingin berubah / secondary gain
• Alergi terhadap object tertentu
• Memerlukan “pernafasan collarbone”

Wejangan EFT

• Try it on everything
• Practicing / handling excessive intensity
• Testing your work
• Improving spiritual power
• Be persistence
• Apabila mengalami kendala, silahkan hubungi therapist pikiran yang berpengalaman (minimal 2 tahun) yang anda kenal
• Pelajarilah therapy dengan tingkatan yang lebih tinggi untuk hasil yang lebih maksimal untuk kasus-kasus berat.

Jangan terapi terhadap

• trauma sangan berat
• post traumatic stress disorder
• trauma private (diperkosa, masalah keluarga, dll)
• atau kasus lain yang tergolong berat dengan luka batin masa lalu yang tertancap kuat. Jika anda menemukannya, silahkan hubungi thrapist yang berpengalaman minimal 4 tahun

Tehnik advance EFT

• Surrogate
• Real phobia cure
• The movie technique
• Tell the story technique
• Tearless trauma technique
• Lucky factor EFT
• Hypno - EFT
• NLP - EFT

Aplikasi EFT

• EFT untuk konseling dan terapi
• EFT untuk parenting
• EFT untuk anak
• EFT untuk meningkatkan keberuntungan dan keuangan / lucky factor
• EFT untuk atlet / olahraga
• EFT untuk pelajaran / murid & guru
• EFT untuk peak performance perusahaan, karyawan, jajaran direksi dan managerial, owner

He who takes advice about his savings from one who is inexperienced in such matters shall pay with his savings for proving the falsity of their opinions.

• "Provide also that thy family may not want should the gods call thee to their realms": This means that you should make sure your family will not be in need if you pass away (i.e., if the gods "call you to their realms").
• "For such protection, it is always possible to make provision with small payments at regular intervals": You can secure this financial protection for your family by regularly setting aside small amounts of money. This refers to something like life insurance or saving for emergencies.
• "Therefore the provident man delays not in expectation of a large sum becoming available for such a wise purpose": A wise, forward-thinking person does not wait to accumulate a large sum of money all at once before starting to prepare for the future. Instead, they start making regular, small contributions as soon as possible.

A part of all you earn is yours to keep

For every ten coins thou places within thy purse take out for use but nine. Thy purse will start to fatten at once and its increasing weight will feel good in thy hand and bring satisfaction to thy soul.

Study thoughtfully thy accustomed habits of living. Herein may be most often found certain accepted expenses that may wisely be reduced or eliminated. Let thy motto be one hundred per cent of appreciated value demanded for each coin spent. “Therefore, engrave upon the clay each thing for which thou desireth to spend. Select those that are necessary and others that are possible through the expenditure of nine-tenths of thy income. Cross out the rest and consider them but a part of that great multitude of desires that mush go unsatisfied and regret them not. “Budget then thy necessary expenses. Touch not the one-tenth that is fattening thy purse. Let this be thy great desire that is being fulfilled. Keep working with thy budget, keep adjusting it to help thee. Make it thy first assistant in defending thy fattening purse.

Budget thy expenses that thou mayest have coins to pay for thy necessities, to pay for thy enjoyments and to gratify thy worthwhile desires without spending more than none-tenths of thy earnings.

A man’s wealth is not in the coins he carries in his purse; it is the income he buildeth, the golden stream that continually floweth into his purse and keepeth it always bulging. That is what every man desireth. That is what thou, each on of thee, desireth; an income that continueth to come whether thou work or travel.

Put each coin to laboring that it may reproduce its kind even as the flocks of the field and help bring to thee income, a stream of wealth that shall flow constantly into thy purse.

Guard thy treasure against loss by investing only where thy principal is safe, where it may be reclaimed if desirable, and where thou will not fail to collect a fair rental. Consult with wise men. Secure the advice of those experienced in the profitable handling of gold. Let their wisdom protect thy treasure from unsafe investments.

It behooves a man to make preparation for a suitable income in the days to come, when he is no longer young, and to make preparations for his family should he be no longer with them to comfort and support them.

The man who, because of his understanding of the laws of wealth, acquireth a growing surplus, should certain investments or provisions that may endure time arrives which he has so wisely anticipated.

To attract good luck to oneself, it is necessary to take advantage of opportunities. Therefore, in the future, I shall endeavor to make the best of such opportunities as do come to me.

Men of action are favoured by the goddess of good luck

The five laws of gold

1. Gold cometh gladly and in increasing quantity to any man who will put by not less than one-tenth or his earning to create an estate for his future and that or his family.
2. Gold laboureth diligently and contentedly for the wise owner who finds for it profitable employment, multiplying even as the flocks of the field.
3. Gold slip peth away from the man who invests it in businesses or purposes with which he is not familiar or which are not approved by those skilled in its keep.
4. Gold flees the man who would force it to impossible earnings or who followeth the alluring advice of tricksters and schemers or who trusts it to his own inexperience and romantic desires in investments.

Better a little caution than a great regret

We cannot afford to be without adequate protection

Where the determination is, the way can be found

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