Article by Adam Khoo

An interesting article from Singapore's Youngest Millionaire. ...
A Blog Post by Singapore 's Youngest Millionaire By Adam Khoo on Money. Some of you may already know that I travel around the region pretty frequently, having to visit and conduct seminars at my offices in Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Suzhou (China). I am in the airport almost every other week so I get to bump into many people who have attended my seminars or have read my books. Recently, someone came up to me on a plane to KL and looked rather shocked. He asked, 'How come a millionaire like you is travelling economy?' My reply was, 'That's why I am a millionaire.' He still looked pretty confused. This again confirms that greatest lie ever told about wealth (which I wrote about in my latest book 'Secrets of Self Made Millionaires'). Many people have been brainwashed to think that millionaires have to wear Gucci, Hugo Boss, Rolex, and sit on first class in air travel. This is why so many people never become rich because the moment that earn more money, they think that it is only natural that they spend more, putting them back to square one. The truth is that most self-made millionaires are frugal and only spend on what is necessary and of value. That is why they are able to accumulate and multiply their wealth so much faster. Over the last 7 years, I have saved about 80% of my income while today I save only about 60% (because I have my wife, mother in law, 2 maids, 2 kids, etc. to support). Still, it is way above most people who save 10% of their income (if they are lucky). I refuse to buy a first class ticket or to buy a $300 shirt because I think that it is a complete waste of money. However, I happily pay $1,300 to send my 2-year old daughter to Julia Gabriel Speech and Drama without thinking twice. When I joined the YEO (Young Entrepreneur's Organization) a few years back (YEO is an exclusive club open to those who are under 40 and make over $1m a year in their own business) I discovered that those who were self-made thought like me. Many of them with net Worth well over $5m, travelled economy class and some even drove Toyota's and Nissans (not Audis, Mercs, BMWs). I noticed that it was only those who never had to work hard to build their own wealth (there were also a few ministers' and tycoons' sons in the club) who spent like there was no tomorrow. Somehow, when you did not have to build everything from scratch, you do not really value money. This is precisely the reason why a family's wealth (no matter how much) rarely lasts past the third generation. Thank God my rich dad (oh no! I sound like Kiyosaki) foresaw this terrible possibility and refused to give me a cent to start my business. Then some people ask me, 'What is the point in making so much money if you don't enjoy it?' The thing is that I don't really find happiness in buying branded clothes, jewellery or sitting first class. Even if buying something makes me happy it is only for a while, it does not last. Material happiness never lasts, it just give you a quick fix.. After a while you feel lousy again and have to buy the next thing which you think will make you happy. I always think that if you need material things to make you happy, then you live a pretty sad and unfulfilled life. Instead, what make ME happy is when I see my children laughing and playing and learning so fast. What makes me happy is when I see by companies and trainers reaching more and more people every year in so many more countries. What makes me really happy is when I read all the emails about how my books and seminars have touched and inspired some one's life. What makes me really happy is reading all your wonderful posts about how this BLOG is inspiring you. This happiness makes me feel really good for a long time, much much more than what a Rolex would do for me. I think the point I want to put across is that happiness must come from doing your life's work (be in teaching, building homes, designing, trading, winning tournaments etc.) and the money that comes is only a by-product. If you hate what you are doing and rely on the money you earn to make you happy by buying stuff, then I think that you are living a life of meaningless.

Being happy is always in your hands. A happy employee is more productive and gives more than an unhappy employee.
So let's look at some ways to up the happiness factor.
1. Plan your week on Sunday nightLook at your work calendar and plan your week on Sunday night or Monday morning. This would include important meetings, deliverables, a brief summary of things that are pending from last week and any tasks to be achieved during the week. Though this might look like a time management tip, at the end of the week, on Friday night when you re-visit what you have achieved over the last five days, the satisfaction is immense.
2. Undertake activities that you are passionate about even though it might not be in your job profileStart an initiative that you would love to do irrespective of whether it is required for you to do or not.
Send a daily newsletter to your team on the topics that most of them will be interested.
Do a presentation on the topic that you are passionate about.
Organise a small sports event for your team.
Call everyone in your team for a team coffee, breakfast or lunch break
Appreciate colleagues in your team or in a cross-functional team who did a great job
Write a poem on your team's achievements
Arrange a potluck lunch
3. Do not indulge in the blame gameIf something goes wrong do not blame others blindly. If you commit a mistake, do not hesitate to accept it. As Gauthama Buddha said, there are three things we can't hide for long: the sun, earth and the truth. Accepting your mistake gracefully will only make you look like a true professional and also give you the satisfaction of not cheating.
4. Communicate more often in personUtilise all the opportunities where you can speak to an individual in person rather than e-mail or phone. But be aware of the other person's time and availability. Listening to a positive answer from a person will give you more happiness than if it is done over the phone or via e-mail.
5. Know what is happening at your workplaceWill this make a person happy? Truly, yes! Imagine a cricket team that doesn't know how many runs to score to win a match? More than losing the game, the player will never be interested or motivated to play well.
Attend all meetings that are addressed by the CEO to your immediate manager to know what is going to happen around you. It could be the company's growth plan or your department's next big project. Jack Welch mentions in his book Winning "every employee, not just the senior people, should know how a company is doing."
You will also get an extra edge if you are in a position to answer queries raised by your peers or juniors. This is not just for the good reasons, but bad reasons as well. You do not want to be the last employee to know if your company is laying off employees (in the worst case, if you are the one who is on that list).
6. Participate in organisation- level activitiesThis could be as simple as spending one weekend for a corporate social responsibility activity or attending a recruitment drive to help your HR team or arranging a technical/sports event at the organisational level. Most of these events will be successful as people do come on their own to contribute.
7. Have a hobby that keeps you busy and happyMany people say their hobby is watching TV or listening to music or reading the newspaper. These aren't hobbies, they are just ways of passing the time. Some hobbies are evergreen and will keep you evergreen as well: dancing, painting, writing short stories, poems, blogs and sharing your experiences.
8. Take up a sport While choosing a sport make sure that there is physical activity. There is the danger of becoming addicted to sports where there is less physical activity (like computer games, chess, cards etc). Physical activity keeps a person healthy and happy. If you pick up one sport well, you can represent your organisation in corporate sports event too.
9. Keep yourself away from office politicsPolitics, as a practice, whatever its profession, has always been the systematic organization of hatreds. -- Henry Brooks Adams
Politics is everywhere and the office is no exception. Playing politics might be beneficial but only for the short term. So the best thing to do is play fair.
10. Wish and smile More often than not, there are fair chances that the other person will smile back. This could be your security guard at the gate, your receptionist, your office boy, your CEO or your manager -- never forget to wish them and smile.
11. Volunteer for some activity
"The value of a man resides in what he gives and not in what he is capable of receiving." � Albert Einstein
Do at least one activity without expecting anything in return. There is no set frequency for this. This could be once in a day or once in a week or thrice in a week. It could be as simple as making tea at the office for your colleague, helping a colleague who is working in another department by using your skills, dropping your colleague at his door step in your car, going to your manager or colleague to ask if there is any help you can extend, contributing to technical or knowledge management communities in your organisation etc.

Different Ways To Be Happy

Being happy is always in your hands. A happy employee is more productive and
gives more than an unhappy employee. So let's look at some ways to up the happiness
factor.

1. Plan your week on Sunday night
Look at your work calendar and plan your week on Sunday night or Monday morning.
would include important meetings, deliverables, a brief summary of things that are
pending from last week and any tasks to be achieved during the week. Though this
might look like a time management tip, at the end of the week, on Friday night when
you re-visit what you have achieved over the last five days, the satisfaction is
immense.

2. Undertake activities that you are passionate about even though it might not be in
your job profile .Start an initiative that you would love to do irrespective of whether it is
required for you to do or not.
Send a daily newsletter to your team on the topics that most of them will be interested.
Do a presentation on the topic that you are passionate about.
Organise a small sports event for your team.
Call everyone in your team for a team coffee, breakfast or lunch break
Appreciate colleagues in your team or in a cross-functional team who did a great job
Write a poem on your team's achievements
Arrange a potluck lunch

3. Do not indulge in the blame game
If something goes wrong do not blame others blindly. If you commit a mistake, do not
hesitate to accept it. As Gautam Buddha said, there are three things we can't hide for long:
the sun, earth and the truth. Accepting your mistake gracefully will only make you look like
a true professional and also give you the satisfaction of not cheating.

4. Communicate more often in person
Utilise all the opportunities where you can speak to an individual in person rather than e-
mail or phone. But be aware of the other person's time and availability. Listening to a
positive answer from a person will give you more happiness than if it is done over the
phone or via e-mail.

5. Know what is happening at your workplace
Will this make a person happy? Truly, yes! Imagine a cricket team that doesn't know how
many runs to score to win a match? More than losing the game, the player will never be
interested or motivated to play well. Attend all meetings that are addressed by the CEO to
your immediate manager to know what is going to happen around you. It could be the
company's growth plan or your department's next big project. Jack Welch mentions in his
book Winning "every employee, not just the senior people, should know how a company is
doing." You will also get an extra edge if you are in a position to answer queries raised by
your peers or juniors. This is not just for the good reasons, but bad reasons as well. You do
not want to be the last employee to know if your company is laying off employees (in the
worst case, if you are the one who is on that list).

6. Participate in organisation- level activities
This could be as simple as spending one weekend for a corporate social responsibility
activity or attending a recruitment drive to help your HR team or arranging a
technical/sports event at the organisational level. Most of these events will be successful as
people do come on their own to contribute.

7. Have a hobby that keeps you busy and happy
Many people say their hobby is watching TV or listening to music or reading the newspaper.
These aren't hobbies, they are just ways of passing the time. Some hobbies are evergreen
and will keep you evergreen as well: dancing, painting, writing short stories, poems, blogs
and sharing your experiences.

8. Take up a sport
While choosing a sport make sure that there is physical activity. There is the danger of
becoming addicted to sports where there is less physical activity (like computer games,
chess, cards etc). Physical activity keeps a person healthy and happy. If you pick up one
sport well, you can represent your organisation in corporate sports event too.

9. Keep yourself away from office politics
Politics, as a practice, whatever its profession, has always been the systematic organization
of hatreds. -- Henry Brooks Adams Politics is everywhere and the office is no exception.
Playing politics might be beneficial but only for the short term. So the best thing to do is play
fair.

10. Wish and smile
More often than not, there are fair chances that the other person will smile back. This could
be your security guard at the gate, your receptionist, your office boy, your CEO or your
manager -- never forget to wish them and smile.

11. Volunteer for some activity "The value of a man resides in what he gives and not in what he
is capable of receiving."
� Albert Einstein said, do at least one activity without expecting anything in return. There is
no set frequency for this. This could be once in a day or once in a week or thrice in a week. It
could be as simple as making tea at the office for your colleague, helping a colleague who is
working in another department by using your skills, dropping your colleague at his door step
in your car, going to your manager or colleague to ask if there is any help you can extend,
contributing to technical or knowledge management communities in your organisation etc.

Isn't It Strange?

Isn't it strange ? Isn't it strange how Rs. 20/= seems like such a large
amount when you donate it to temple, but such a small amount when you go
Shopping?

Isn't it strange how 2 hours seem so long when you're at place of worship,
and how short they seem when you're watching a good movie?

Isn't it strange that you can't find a word to say when you're praying, but
you have no trouble thinking what to talk about with a friend?

Isn't it strange how difficult and boring it is to read one chapter of the
Bible/ Quran / Gita, but how easy it is to read 100 pages of a popular
novel?

Isn't it strange how everyone wants front-row-tickets to concerts or games,
but they do whatever is possible to sit at the last row in a holy place?

Isn't it strange how we need to know about an event for temple 2-3 weeks
before the day so we can include it in our agenda, but we can adjust it for
other events in the last minute?

Isn't it strange how difficult it is to learn a fact about God to share it
with others, but how easy it is to learn, understand, extend and repeat
gossip?

Isn't it strange how we believe everything that magazines and newspapers
say, but we question the words in the Bible and other holy books?

Isn't it strange how everyone wants a place in heaven, but they don't want
to believe, do, or say anything to get there?

Isn't it strange how we send jokes in e-mails and they are forwarded right
away, but when we are going to send messages about God, we think about it
twice before we share it with others? IT'S
STRANGE ISN'T IT?

This is actually really freaky!! (mainly the end part, but read it all first)

1) New York City has 11 letters
2) Afghanistan has 11 letters.
3) Ramsin Yuseb has 11 letters . (The terrorist who threatened to destroy the Twin Towers in 1993)
4) George W Bush has 11 letters.


This could be a mere coincidence, but this gets more interesting:
1) New York is the 11th state.
2) The first plane crashing against the Twin Towers was flight number 11.
3) Flight 11 was carrying 92 passengers. 9 + 2 = 11
4) Flight 77 which also hit Twin Towers , was carrying 65 passengers. 6+5 = 11
5) The tragedy was on September 11, or 9/11 as it is now known. 9 + 1+ 1 =11
6) The date is equal to the US emergency services telephone number 911.

9 + 1 + 1 = 11

Sheer coincidence. .?! Read on and make up your own mind:
1) The total number of victims inside all the hi-jacked planes was 254.

2 + 5 + 4 = 11.

2) September 11 is day number 254 of the calendar year.

Again 2 + 5 + 4 = 11..

3) The Madrid bombing took place on 3/11/2004. 3 + 1 + 1 + 2 + 4 = 11.
4) The tragedy of Madrid happened 911 days after the Twin Towers incident.

Now this is where things get totally eerie:

The most recognized symbol for the US , after the Stars & Stripes, is the Eagle. The following verse is taken from the Quran, the Islamic holy book:

"For it is written that a son of Arabia would awaken a fearsome Eagle. The wrath of the Eagle would be felt throughout the lands of Allah while some of the people trembled in despair still more rejoiced: for the wrath of the Eagle cleansed the lands of Allah and there was peace."

That verse is number 9.11 of the Quran.
unconvinced about all of this Still ?!

Try this and see how you feel
afterwards, it made my hair stand on end:

Open Microsoft Word and do the following:
1. Type in capitals Q33 NY. This is the flight number of the first plane to hit one of the Twin Towers ..
2. Highlight the Q33 NY.
3. Change the font size to 48.
4. Change the actual font to the WINGDINGS 1

Try doing this

U P (WORD IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE)

Lovers of the English language might enjoy this. It is yet another example of why people learning English have trouble with the language. Learning the nuances of English makes it a difficult language. (But then, that's probably true of many languages.)
There is a two-letter word in English that perhaps has more meanings than any other two-letter word, and that word is 'UP.' It is listed in the dictionary as being used as an [adv], [prep], [adj], [n] or [v].


It's easy to understand UP, meaning toward the sky or at the top of the list, but when we awaken in the morning, why do we wake UP?
At a meeting, why does a topic come UP ? Why do we speak UP, and why are the officers UP for election and why is it UP to the secretary to write UP a report? We call UP our friends and we use it to brighten UP a room, polish UP the silver, we warm UP the leftovers and clean UP the kitchen. We lock UP the house and some guys fix UP the old car. < /B >
At other times the little word has a real special meaning. People stir UP trouble, line UP for tickets, work UP an appetite, and think UP excuses.

To be dressed is one thing but to be dressed UP is special. And this up is confusing:
A drain must be opened UP because it is stopped UP.

We open UP a store in the morning but we close it UP at night. We seem to be pretty mixed UP about UP !

To be knowledgeable about the proper uses of UP , look the word UP in the dictionary. In a desk-sized dictionary, it takes UP almost 1/4 of the page and can add UP to about thirty definitions

If you are UP to it, you might try building UP a list of the many ways UP is used. It will take UP a lot of your time, but if you don't give UP, you may wind UP with a hundred or more.

When it threatens to rain, we say it is clouding UP . When the sun comes out we say it is clearing UP. When it rains, it wets UP the earth. When it does not rain for awhile, things dry UP.

One could go on & on, but I'll wrap it UP , for now ........my time is UP , so time to shut UP!

Oh...one more thing:
What is the first thing you do in the morning
Get UP

OLD IS WHEN.....

'OLD' IS WHEN...
Your sweetie says, 'Let's go upstairs
And make love,' and you answer,
'Pick one; I can't do both!'
********

'OLD' IS WHEN...
Your friends compliment you
On your new alligator shoes
And you're barefoot.
*********

'OLD' IS WHEN...
A sexy babe catches your fancy
And your pacemaker opens the garage door,
********
'OLD' IS WHEN....
Going bra-less
Pulls all the wrinkles out of your face.
********
'OLD' IS WHEN....
You don't care where your spouse goes,
Just as long as you don't have to go along.
********
'OLD' IS WHEN....
You are cautioned to slow down by the doctor instead of by the police
********
'OLD' IS WHEN..
'Getting a little action'
Means you don't need to take any fibre today.
********
'OLD' IS WHEN....
'Getting lucky' means you find your car
In the parking lot.
********
'OLD' IS WHEN....
An 'all nighter' means not getting up
To use the bathroom.

AND

'OLD' IS WHEN...
You are not sure these are jokes!

ENGLISH LANGUAGE

English Language
1. 'I am.' is the shortest complete sentence in the English language.
2. Clans of long ago that wanted to get rid of their unwanted people without
killing them use to burn their houses down - hence the expression 'to get
fired.'
3. Dreamt is the only English word that ends in the letters 'mt.'
4. Facetious and abstemious contain all the vowels in the correct order, as does
arsenious, meaning 'containing arsenic.'
5. In English pubs, ale is ordered by pints and quarts. So in old England, when
customers got unruly, the bartender would yell at them to mind their own pints
and quarts and settle down. It's where we get the phrase 'mind your P's and
Q's.'
6. In Shakespeare's time, mattresses were secured on bed frames by ropes. When
you pulled on the ropes the mattress tightened, making the bed firmer to sleep
on. That's where the phrase, 'goodnight, sleep tight' came from.
7. It's impossible to sneeze with your eyes open. (DON'T try this at home!)
8. It was the accepted practice in Babylon, 4,000 years ago, that for a month
after the wedding, the bride's father would supply his son-in-law with all the
mead he could drink. Mead is a honey beer, and because their calendar was
lunar based, this period was called the 'honey month' or what we know today as
the 'honeymoon.'
9. Many years ago in England, pub frequenters had a whistle baked into the rim or
handle of their ceramic cups. When they needed a refill, they used the whistle
to get some service. 'Wet your whistle,' is the phrase inspired by this
practice.
10. No word in the English language rhymes with month, orange, silver or purple.
11. Stewardesses is the longest word that is typed with only the left hand.
12. The combination 'ough' can be pronounced in nine different ways. The following
sentence contains them all: 'A rough-coated, dough-faced, thoughtful ploughman
strode through the streets of Scarborough; after falling into a slough, he
coughed and hiccoughed.'
13. The dot over the letter 'i' is called a tittle.
14. The longest one-syllable words in the English language are screeched and
scratched.
15. The longest place-name still in use is
Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupo
-kaiwenuakitnatahu, a New Zealand hill.
16. The longest word in the English language, according to the Oxford English
Dictionary, is pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis. The only other
word with the same amount of letters is
pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconioses, its plural.
17. The name Jeep came from the abbreviation used in the army for the 'General
Purpose' vehicle, G.P.
18. The only 15 letter word that can be spelled without repeating a letter is
uncopyrightable.
19. The phrase 'rule of thumb' is derived from an old English law which stated
that you couldn't beat your wife with anything wider than your thumb.
20. The term 'the whole 9 yards' came from W.W.II fighter pilots in the Pacific.
When arming their airplanes on the ground, the .50 caliber machine gun ammo
belts measured exactly 27 feet, before being loaded into the fuselage. If the
pilots fired all their ammo at a target, it got 'the whole 9 yards.'
21. The word 'Checkmate' in chess comes from the Persian phrase 'Shah Mat,' which
means 'the king is dead'.
22. The word 'set' has more definitions than any other word in the English
language.
23. There are only four words in the English language which end in '-dous'
tremendous, horrendous, stupendous and hazardous.
24. There is a seven letter word in the English language that contains ten words
without rearranging any of its letters, 'therein': the, there, he, in, rein,
her, here, ere, therein, herein.
25. To 'testify' was based on men in the Roman court swearing to a statement made
by swearing on their testicles.
26. Underground is the only word in the English language that begins and ends with
the letters 'und.'

Laws Newton Forgot

More often than not this is bound to happen to you!!!

LAW OF QUEUE:
If you change queues, the one you have left will start to move faster than the one you are in now.

LAW OF THE TELEPHONE:
When you dial a wrong number, you never get an engaged tone.

LAW OF MECHANICAL REPAIR:
After your hands become coated with grease, your nose will begin to itch.

LAW OF THE WORKSHOP:
Any tool, when dropped, will roll to the least accessible corner.

LAW OF THE ALIBI:
If you tell the boss you were late for work because you had a flat tire, the next morning you will have a flat tire.

BATH THEOREM:
When the body is immersed in water, the telephone rings.

LAW OF ENCOUNTERS:
The probability of meeting someone you know increases when you are with someone you don't want to be seen with.

LAW OF THE RESULT:
When you try to prove to someone that a machine won't work, it will!

LAW OF BIOMECHANICS:
The severity of the itch is inversely proportional to the reach.

THEATRE RULE:
People with the seats at the furthest from the aisle arrive last.

LAW OF COFFEE:
As soon as you sit down for a cup of hot coffee, your boss will ask you to do something which will last until the coffee is cold.

And LASTLY
LAW OF LOVE
The person who loves you most is the last person in your list