I will admit that life has been a little hectic lately. I put in about sixty hours per week at work and I’m in charge of about thirty employees. I’m on an accelerated learning course at my college in which I take one class per month. I have either lectures or assignments every single night of the week. I have an exam every Saturday with a final on the last weekend of every month. It is a lot of studying and it’s been a bit crazy. It’s only my first month and I’ve got about seventeen more to go. Finishing a higher education is one the steps on my path to wealth. I must make it one of my biggest priorities. Often times it is very hard to keep up with everything going on in life.

Over the last six months my favorite blog has been Zen Habits. It is a great site that offers so much advice on how to keep your head in the right place when life gets hectic. It also offers up some advice on how to keep certain aspects of life from getting too hectic. I’ve adopted a lot of Leo’s philosophies and my life has been a lot less stressful because of it. I’m not sure what specific posts some of these ideas came from but they are various ideas that I’ve adopted that have really cut down on my stress.

Prioritize the things that are important and cut out the things that aren’t.
This is basically the theme of the entire Zen Habits website. The things that are important in my life are my family, my girlfriend, my education and my job. I also love my blog but, in reality, it is just a hobby. I will always update it when I feel compelled to write. I love sharing my personal goals, my financial goals and the journey that I’ve embarked upon. It will always be here for me to vent and for me to give and receive advice. I love it, it is an outlet and I will never let it die. It may slow down when my priorities need more attention but I will never let it go to waste.

Take time in silence to reflect and listen to your thoughts.
I basically wrote an entire post on this subject over at Lazy Man and Money. Sometimes you just need to take some time and relax in silence. Let ideas run through your head and see what comes out. This concept has a few benefits. You get to relax your body. You can find a comfortable quiet spot, kick off your shoes and just relax. You may be a genius and not even realize it. Who knows what kind of ideas will pop in to your head while you are relaxing. I do this for a little bit every afternoon. It is kind of my post-work/pre-school ritual.

Keep organized.
The biggest lifestyle change that I have made since I’ve begun blogging is the organizational habits that I have adopted. I’ve gotten in the habit of always keeping everything clean and organized all of the time. It’s not like I’m constantly cleaning either. I clean up as I go. I make sure anything I take out, I put it away immediately after using it. Every morning when I wake up, I do a real quick room cleaning. It takes me about two minutes. You have no idea how much stress this relieves. Being clean and organized feels so good and I always know where everything is. I’ve adopted the same philosophy at the office and I’m more productive because of it.

Don’t carry things around on you.
This is one of the little tips that Leo suggested in one of his older posts. It seems like a small thing but it feels so liberating to never have anything in your pockets. Everyday when I arrive at work; I take my wallet, my keys and my cell phone out of my pocket and throw them in my desk drawer. I’m not sitting on a lump all day, I don’t have bulges in my pocket and I’m not concerned with who’s calling me in the middle of the day. Whoever it is, it can wait until after work. It’s a great little liberating, productivity-boosting tip.

Always be positive.
I am going to finish with this tip but I believe it is the most powerful. I have made a real conscious effort to be positive about everything. Even when things get stressful or deadlines get tight, I honestly try to stay positive. Sometimes it’s hard but it makes people like to be around me more, it helps others around me stay positive and with a can-do attitude, things get done. If you believe in the “law of attraction” type stuff (like I do), there are only benefits to always being positive. Good things come to people who are positive and never lose focus. I see nothing but good things in my future.

Photo Credit: ajusticenetwork

By the way, I want to congratulate Leo from Zen Habits on making the leap in to Professional Blogger. It’s what all of us bloggers strive for one day and it is awesome to see the success that he has made for himself in so little time. It is a great achievement.

Personal Goals

• Complete all of my Christmas shopping within a budget of $500
  Success. I think I spent a total of $350. I’m not sure the exact number but it is in that range.
• Open up a separate bank account for my side business
  I failed here. I never got around to getting to the bank to set up an account.
  

Blogging Goals

• Post 5 blog posts per week
  I failed here too. I only posted 15 blogs posts for the entire month of December.
  
• Get to 200 subscribers
  Failed. I maxed out at 135 subscribers. This is probably due to my lack of posting for the month.
• At least 2 carnivals per week
  Failed. I think I participated in 4 carnivals all month.
  
• Break $150 total money made
  Success! This was actually the first month I started to see a little bit of blogging income. The blog made $75 for the month. That puts my total income as a blogger at $197.14 (Over a 6 month period).
  
• At least 2 guest posts on other (more popular) blogs
  Failed. I only managed one guest post this month. You can read it over at Lazy Man and Money.

January Goals:
For January I’m going to tone down my goals a little as far as blogging goes. I start back to school on Monday and I have a feeling that it’s going to consume a whole lot of my time. Blogging is very important to me because I love sharing my goals and being held accountable when I fail (kind of like this month). I do think pursuing my degree in finance will fuel my blog; I just know that my free time is going to be harder to come by. With that being said…

Personal Goals

• Complete my first month of school (without going insane)
  Work is hectic enough. I’m starting back to school on an accelerated program. I will be completing one class per month for the next seventeen months. I will attend class three times a week for four hours per session. It is going to be intense.
• Open up a separate bank account for my side business
  I’m going to try to squeeze it in somewhere this month.

Blogging Goals

• Post at least 4 blog posts per week
  I’m going to shoot for five posts per week but I’m being realistic. Four is probably much more obtainable.

That’s about it. I’m not setting too many goals for myself until I see what my new life is going to be like. Next month, once I have a better feel for how hectic my school schedule is really going to be, I’ll set some more ambitious goals. For now, I’m just hoping to make it through my first class.

Thank Yous
I’ve never really had the StumpleUpon effect before December. For some reason, my site got stumpled like crazy though. That was the number one source of traffic for this month. Here are the blogs that sent me the most traffic in December.

1. Lazy Man and Money
2. Get Rich Slowly
3. Cash Money Life
4. Brip Blap
5. Plonkee Money
6. Consumerism Commentary
7. Stock Trading To Go
8. Moolanomy
9. I’ve Paid For This Twice Already
10. Be Healthy and Relax

Thanks so much to everyone who reads my blog and to all the other bloggers who support and help my blog. I appreciate it so much.

A reader named Tim said;

I saw The Movie and I was intrigued too. The whole premise of the movie is based on the law of attraction. The law of attraction says you can change the way you think and doing so will bring whatever you want into your life. To me, it is more symbolic than a known fact. It is symbolic of positive thinking, focusing, and perceiving opportunities. Be careful though, one of the characters is in trouble for taking money for investing and he spent it on himself.

Fiscal Musings said;

I also haven’t read this book, but I’ve heard a lot about it. I think they did a great marketing job by shrouding everything in secrecy, but ultimately it’s not really a new concept.

Napoleon Hill wrote a book on the subject that most people have heard of, Think and Grow Rich. I don’t really have any desire to read this new book though.

Brip Blap said;

I have seen (and own) the DVD, but haven’t read the book. I’m actually going to recommend Think and Grow Rich, too, because it’s the “original” motivational book – it inspired The Secret, Rich Dad, Poor Dad, and a bunch of other books. My copy of it is so beat up and marked up it looks like it’s been attacked.

I doubt I’ll read The Secret, simply because I think the DVD is probably a fair representation of the book; at least that’s my guess based on reviews I’ve read. But who knows, might be something else in there that’s not in the DVD.

Martin Saenz said;

I’ve read the book and live the principles. Much of what is written is actually taken from “The Science of Getting Rich” by Wallace Wattles written in 1890 or something. The Secret does a nice job of wrapping the concept.

My thoughts:

I’ve actually had a few people recommend Think and Grow Rich to me. I think I am convinced enough to go buy it now.

As far as The Secret goes, I really like the concept. I know a lot of other people out there claim that it is B.S. or that it doesn’t work and I guess those people will just never know. The way I look at it is that it seems a little out there but what is it going to hurt. The people that are nay-sayers are not going to think positively because they don’t think it will make them successful? I think that it’s always good to think positively. If there’s really something to all of this then you will enjoy the benefits.

I don’t believe that you can have whatever you want just by thinking about it. I do believe that, by constantly thinking about something, you do whatever it takes to make sure it happens. Your mind, subconsciously, helps you figure out how to achieve your goals. This is what I believe the true secret is. Your mind is constantly working to figure out problems for you.

I have more thoughts on the whole concept and believe that a lot of this is related to Neural Linguistic Programming. You can mold your mind in to anything you want it to be. I will get more in to that topic at a later time…

I want to know if anyone has read The Secret The book has been endorsed by Oprah and has topped best seller lists. I have yet to talk to a single person who has read the book. I am bringing this up because, a few months ago, my girlfriend’s aunt gave us a copy of the DVD. We finally got around to watching it over the weekend and I must admit, I was intrigued.

The idea of The Secret isn’t any new idea. The simple concept is that if you want something and you visualize yourself with it, one day you will achieve your goal. That’s the whole idea… You just think positive thoughts and you never let yourself believe that your goal is unattainable.

There is more complex theory behind it all. When looking at The Secret on a quantum physics level, the DVD explains that everyone and everything is made up of energy. When really broken down, everything in the universe is made up of the same thing. The concept explains that your brain sends off signals and the universe receives those signals and, ultimately, helps you get what you want.

I’ve never read the book. I know it promises a lot. It claims that with “The Secret”, you can have money, good relationships and anything you can ever want. I don’t want to give my opinions on the theory just yet. I want to know if people have actually read the book and I want to know what they thought. To tell you the truth, I haven’t completely made up my mind on what I think about this book.

If you get some discussion going, I’ll repost some of your thoughts on the idea and also give you a more detailed version of what my thoughts actually are.

I was talking to my dad the other day about our company and the way things were going over the last few years. With the economy the way it is, we’ve had some rough patches. Somewhere in the conversation he brought up a poem that he had heard that really struck a chord with me. The poem is about a person writing the autobiography of their life in five short chapters. I couldn’t remember the entire thing so I scoured the internet, looking for the poem. I wanted to make sure that if I repeated it, it was accurate.

Autobiography in Five Short Chapters
by Portia Nelson

I
I walk down the street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk
I fall in.
I am lost … I am helpless.
It isn’t my fault.
It takes me forever to find a way out.

II
I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I pretend I don’t see it.
I fall in again.
I can’t believe I am in the same place
but, it isn’t my fault.
It still takes a long time to get out.

III
I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I see it is there.
I still fall in … it’s a habit.
my eyes are open
I know where I am.
It is my fault.
I get out immediately.

IV
I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I walk around it.

V
I walk down another street.

This poem holds a very valuable lesson.
This can be pretty much a metaphor for almost anything you do in life. You make a mistake once and you feel really bad, you make the same mistake again and just can’t understand it. At some point you must come to the realization that you need to take another path to avoid the same mistakes.

Take investing for example.
I made a huge mistake in the stock market when I was first getting in to it. I dabbled in penny stocks a little. I invested a lot of money in a stock that traded for less than one dollar per share based on a tip in a message board. Based on the theme of this post, it’s not hard to imagine what happened next. The company went bankrupt. Penny stocks are like gambling in a casino. I had to make my money back. I invested in a different penny stock, thinking that I could make all my money back and more. How could I be so stupid and make the same mistake twice? I learned from it and have never as much as looked at a quote for a penny stock since.

This advice holds true in almost anything in life.
The people in this world that are the most successful have gotten there by making many mistakes. The only way that you can really learn that some paths shouldn’t be taken is by traveling them yourself and experiencing it first hand.

I am really interested in hearing other’s interpretations of the poem. I’d also love to hear stories of people making the same mistakes repeatedly but eventually finding their way around it.

Photo Credit: Helga’s Lobster Stew

• Post 5 blog posts per week
  I had no problem achieving this goal. I’ve realized my optimum writing time. I have discovered that if I set some time aside at night close to bedtime and I just sit in silence for a little while, I come up with my best ideas. The blog posts just flow naturally. I tend to be insanely busy on the weekends and have a hard time finding the time to blog. By sticking to approximately five posts per week, I get a couple days off and I don’t overload the readers.
  
• Get to 100 subscribers
  It’s kind of funny because my goal before this was to get to fifty subscribers and literally two days after my month’s end deadline, I hit my goal. This month I had my goal set at 100 and by November 30th, I had a total of 93. As of writing this (December 4th), I have broken that 100 subscriber mark. I will consider that a success for the month, despite the fact that my deadline was about 4 days late.
  
• At least 1 carnival per week
  This goal was no problem. I probably averaged about three carnivals per week this month. I love carnivals. They are such a great way to get exposure for your blog.
  
• Break $100 total money made
  I was shooting to make $100 total. That’s not $100 for this month, that was a total of $100 since the conception of this blog. This is the one goal this month that I failed to meet. The blog’s income, since the day it was born, currently stands at $90.14. So in case you are wondering, this blog averages about $0.73 or so per day.
  
• At least 2 guest posts on other (more popular) blogs
  I actually did write a few guest posts this November. I was successful in doing that. They weren’t published in November but I did manage to get them written. One of them was actually featured yesterday over at Brip Blap.
  
• New theme / layout
  As you can see, my blog has a new theme. I like it better than the last one but it still needs work. I’m actually rethinking the whole thing once again. Right now, I think it might be a little too busy. I’m thinking about switching it to something a little more minimalistic. White background, black text… Something like that.

I had a pretty good month as far as achieving goals go. Hopefully I can do even better in December and meet 100% of them.

Goals For December

I’ve realized that I’ve only been sharing my goals related to blogging. I’ve decided that, starting this month, I’m going to get a little more personal with my goals. I will still share my goals concerning this blog but I also feel that it could be beneficial to share my goals concerning my personal finances and my entrepreneurial endeavors. Sharing these goals holds me accountable and I will realize that, this time next month, I will have to share how well I faired on my personal goals as well.

Personal Goals

• Complete all of my Christmas shopping within a budget of $500
  I tend to go a little overboard every year on my Christmas shopping. I dig in to credit cards and pay for Christmas for months. This year I am going to set a strict budget and stick to it. So far, I’ve already spent $40 of my budget on one person… I’ve got about ten more people to go…
• Open up a separate bank account for my side business
  Joe and I have a few internet endeavors in the works. I’ve got a separate Tax ID number already, I just need to find time to get down to the bank and get an account set up.

Blogging Goals

• Post 5 blog posts per week
  For now, I’m going to stick to this schedule. It has worked great. It’s not overwhelming me and I don’t think it’s overloading any readers.
• Get to 200 subscribers
  I’m feeling pretty confident this month. I hit my 100 subscribers, I’ve got guest posts out and about, I’m consistently participating in carnivals and some bigger name blogs are starting to make mention of my blog. I’m confident that in December I can make the subscribers double from what I’ve managed to accomplish in the entire history of this blog. I have decided that, once I hit 150 subscribers, I will publish my subscriber numbers for everyone to see.
• At least 2 carnivals per week
  Carnivals are great. I don’t know if you’ve noticed but I’ve been mentioning them a lot lately. They do great things for blogs that are just starting out. It’s really a great way to get yourself out there. Last month I committed myself to one per week. I am upping my commitment to two per week.
• Break $150 total money made
  Seeing as it has been extremely hard to make much income off this blog, I’m not really shooting for the stars this month… If I can make $60 over the next 25 days I will be extremely happy. That will put my overall blog income at $150.
• At least 2 guest posts on other (more popular) blogs
  So far, only one of my guest posts has been published. That one day, however, I saw a huge boost in hits. I’ve got to continue with this. I’m going to start submitting some of my best stuff to share on other sites. I really think that can be a great tool to help this blog grow.

Some Thank Yous:
These are the ten sites that referred the most traffic to me in November:

1. Lazy Man and Money
2. Brip Blap
3. Consumerism Commentary
4. My Two Dollars
5. No Credit Needed
6. I’ve Paid For This Twice Already
7. Stock Trading To Go
8. The Digerati Life
9. The Simple Dollar
10. Clever Dude and Personal Finance

Thanks so much to all of the blogs that have sent traffic to me and talked about me on their blog. I appreciate it so much. The blogging community has been so great and accepting of new blogs and I think it’s really great to finally to start to feel like part of the community.

Thanks So Much to everyone,
-M

Today has been one of those days. I keep setting aside time and nothing comes to me. I think my mind is already getting excited about my upcoming four day weekend. Anyway, I’ve come up with a little remedy to this problem that usually works pretty well and gets me thinking. So, today, instead of writing something related to personal finance, I’m writing about how I get over writer’s block. I’m beginning to realizing that a lot of the people that read my blog are actually fellow bloggers themselves. So, with that being said, I am hoping nobody minds that I’m taking an even larger step away from my normal writing topic to explain, on a day the I have writer’s block, how I get over writer’s block.

What I have started doing recently is something that has really helped me a lot. First, I go around to the other blogs that I really enjoy and that have become pretty popular. Blogs like Get Rich Slowly, The Simple Dollar, I Will Teach You To Be Rich and Consumerism Commentary all come to mind. Then I go back to the very first post that they ever did. From that point on I just start reading forward. I really like to see what various bloggers wrote about when they first started. I love the writing style at the beginning and watching it progress as you follow through all the posts. You’ll notice that they become much better at getting their points across and they really start to find their voice. You can also really start to get an idea, based on the comments, about what topics worked for them and what stances they took on the topic. If you really want to become successful as a blogger, it’s a good idea to use these popular blogs as a blueprint. If you model your blog after the ones that have managed to become successful, your chances are that much better of making something of yourself.

Another tip that I recommend when that dreaded writer’s block hits is that you look at bigger blog’s popular posts. Most blogs tend to have some section that lists off their most popular posts. They do this because they want to provide a place so that first time visitors know where to start. Scan through all the popular posts that they’ve written. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with taking that topic and making it your own. I don’t condone stealing their idea and their point of view and rewording it but I see no harm in taking the topic and elaborating off of it. If you use your own unique blogging voice and put your own spin and opinions on the topic, you are basically elaborating off the original writer’s ideas. In fact, link back to the site that you received the idea from in your post and not only will the original poster have no problem with you using their topic, they will probably even appreciate it.

Hopefully these little suggestions help others that find themselves in the position that I constantly find myself in. Writer’s block is frustrating but there are a lot of blogs out there that have been doing this for years and years now. Somehow they always managed to keep their blog going. I am hoping that, one day, my blog is one of those that people are going back through the archives of because they want to gain the amount of success that I’ve gained.

-M

I’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately about my blog and what direction it’s been going in. I originally created this blog to journalize my journey to create a company and watch it either succeed and make me rich or fail and send me back to the drawing board. I also created it to give little personal finance tips and entrepreneurial wisdom along the way. Looking back through my last several posts, I am starting to realize that my blog has taken more of the direction of a motivational site. It wasn’t originally my intention to make post after post of advice about how to be better to people or how to make your life better by committing to do things. When I blog and discuss what’s on my mind, that’s just what has been coming out.

Lately I’ve been asking myself, “Are these posts really relevant to someone looking for financial and business tips?” I’m starting to come to the realization more and more that they really are relevant. If you really want to get ahead in life and really want to make a name for yourself, it is really important to have a good head on your shoulders. It is really important to treat people right. Remember the saying, “It’s not what you know but who you know.” That statement is very true for many circumstances. Do you want to know a lot of people and make connections that can be very beneficial in your future? Treat people right and have the right attitude towards life and the opportunities will come knocking.

In the business world, you can never learn too much. There are always areas in which someone can improve. I believe one of, if not the, most important area to be successful is through interpersonal communication skills. If you have the power to motivate people, to inspire people and to have people genuinely like you, there is nothing you can’t achieve. I’ve just finished the book, The Magic of Thinking Big, and it really got me in this mindset. The book really makes the idea hit home of how important it is to think big and to also help people around you think big. It’s teaches that it is important that if you want to be a success in life, you must surround yourself by people that share your vision.

Hopefully I can continue to write posts that motivate others to get moving in the right direction. Being rich doesn’t always mean an abundance of money. People can be rich in other ways. Some definitions say that to be rich is to have a high quality of living. Having people like you, having people want to work with you or for you, setting goals and actually achieving them. That all sounds like a higher quality of living. Don’t get me wrong, I do want to strive to achieve an abundance of money and I do want to blog about it as well. But sometimes it’s important to take a step back and realize that you can’t do it alone. This is why my blog has taken the direction it has. Personal relationships and achieving goals hold a higher value in my book than any personal possessions.

-M

I’m currently finishing an excellent book called The Magic of Thinking Big by David J. Schwartz. In the very last chapter there is a great list of ways to improve your life. The list that the book has is a list of suggestions. I thought the list was such a great list that I basically used it word for word. In fact, I even made a copy of this list and hung it on the wall in my office. I recommend printing this out and putting this somewhere prominent to constantly remind yourself of the points in your life that can use improvement. Remember this list is just suggestions. Omit points that don’t apply to you and add in areas that need some improvement.

Between now and 30 days from now I will:

A. Break these habits:
1. Putting off things.
2. Negative language.
3. Watching T.V. for more than 60 minutes per day.
4. Gossip.

B. Acquire these habits:
1. A rigid morning examination of my appearance.
2. Plan each day’s work the night before.
3. Compliment people at every opportunity.

C. Increase my value to my employer in these ways:
1. Do a better job of developing my subordinates.
2. Learn more about my company, what it does, and the customers it serves.
3. Make three specific suggestions to help my company become more efficient.

D. Increase my value to my home in these ways:
1. Show more appreciation for the little things my significant other does that I’ve been taking for granted.
2. Once each week, do something special with my whole family.
3. Give one hour each day of my undivided attention to my family.

E. Sharpen my mind in these ways:
1. Invest two hours each week in reading professional magazines in my field.
2. Read one self-help book.
3. Make four new friends.
4. Spend 30 minutes a day in quiet, undisturbed thinking.

I want to talk for a little bit about the attitude of some of my employees. Before I do, I want to give a little background about what I do on a day to day basis. A few years back I developed a piece of software, specifically tailored for my company. It is a piece of software that is linked to a database that stores all of our customers, all of their contact information, when they’ve paid, how much they owe, if there was any problems with their job, etc. It’s basically a massive compiling of all of our customers and every last, little detail about each customer. I’ve trained my employees on how to use it and how to keep it up to date. When the program is updated daily, I can generate a huge assortment of reports. I can generate reports that tell me exactly how much we are spending, how much we are making, and get down to every last detail for analysis. It’s like Quickbooks but tailored around our company and exactly what we do.

A couple weeks ago I went to generate some of my usual reports and noticed that a few of the numbers that were coming up just weren’t making sense. It bugged the hell out of me. I just couldn’t figure it out. The data is updated on a daily basis and no one had missed any days. How can my reports be coming out wrong? I wanted to pull my hair out, I was getting so frustrated. I talked to all of my employees and they all claimed that they were getting the information updated on a daily basis. There was one employee in particular, however, that made a comment that really got to me. She claimed that she knew for a fact that she was getting the information in there accurately at least 90% of the time. This comment upseted me. If you only get your job done 90% of the time, my data is going to be 100% wrong.

Being 90% effective at what you do is not good enough. In my case, the reports that I generate are completely useless unless the data is entered correctly 100% of the time. I guess I just don’t understand the mentality of thinking that 90% is good enough. I believe that no matter what you do in your career, you should do your absolute best. Give 100% all of the time. I don’t care if you are in a job that you hate. Be the absolute best at that job that you hate. If I had a job at McDonald’s cleaning toilets in the middle of the night, I’d be the best damn toilet cleaner they ever had. Do you want to know why? Because that’s how you get noticed. That’s how you move up in your career. If you just give everything you do a partial effort, people will notice that too. You don’t want that reputation.
I had a professor in college that always used to make a statement about percentages. He used to ask us, “if you knew that a plane that you were getting on had a 90% chance of making it to its destination, would you get on it?” Of course the answer to that question is absolutely not! That’s a 1 in 10 chance that your plane is going down. Those are not good odds. Why is that acceptable in your career? It shouldn’t be. Give every job you have 100% and be the best damn person in that position that you can be. You will move ahead faster than anyone else and guarantee you a much more successful career.

-M