Habits

One of the strongest determinants of our life’s success or failures is our habits. If you are constantly broke, it is because of your money habits. If you are achieving mediocre results in your life, it is again because your habits are programmed to keep you mediocre.

If you want to change your life in any area, you have to change those habits that are creating those specific results. The Habits of Success

After working helping so many people achieve their life’s goals, I have realized that what truly separates ordinary people from extraordinary individuals are the habits they have developed.

Successful people have different habits from mediocre people. Happily married people have different habits from couples that constantly argue and fight. Healthy people have different habits from those who are constantly tired, sick and fatigued. Rich people have different habits from those who are always broke.

Extracted from ‘Winning The Game of Life!”

In The Patterns of Excellence, you are going to learn and apply life-changing tools like Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) and Success Conditioning Techniques to breakthrough your limiting patterns and to develop the Patterns of Excellence and Success to achieve your life goals.

Habits Make You Successful Or They Destroy You!

I am your constant companion.
I am your greatest helper or heaviest burden. I will push you onward or drag you down to failure. I am completely at your command.

Half of the things you do you might as well turn over to me and I will do them – quickly and correctly.

I am easily managed – you must be firm with me. Show me exactly how you want something done and after a few lessons, I will do it automatically.

I am the servant of great people, and alas, of all failures as well. Those who are great, I have made great. Those who are failures, I have made failures.

I am not a machine though I work with the precision of a machine plus the intelligence of a person. You may run me for profit or run me for ruin – it makes no difference to me.

Take me, train me, be firm with me, and I will place the world at your feet. Be easy with me and I will destroy you.

Who am I?

I am Habit.

(Author Anonymous)

One of the strongest determinants of our life’s success or failures is our habits. They are the internal forces that control most of our thoughts, emotions, behaviors and results. Ninety percent of all our thoughts and actions are habitual. In other words, they are set on automatic pilot and we think and act subconsciously and repeatedly in that same way, everyday.

Since our thoughts and our actions create the results we experience in our lives, then the quality of our life is truly determined by the habits we have programmed ourselves with. If you are constantly broke, it is because of your money habits. If you are constantly unhappy, it is because of the habitual way you perceive the world and the way you talk to yourself. If you are achieving mediocre results in your life, it is again because your habits are programmed to keep you mediocre.

If you want to change your life in any area, you have to change those habits that are creating those specific results. No matter how many goals you set or how much you believe that you can achieve it, if you don’t change your habitual daily actions, you life will never get better.

The Habits of Success

After working helping so many people achieve their life’s goals, I have realized that what truly separates ordinary people from extraordinary individuals are the habits they have developed.

Successful people have different habits from mediocre people. Happily married people have different habits from couples that constantly argue and fight. Healthy people have different habits from those who are constantly tired, sick and fatigued. Rich people have different habits from those who are always broke.

Here is a non-exhaustive list of the differences in habits I have observed between highly successful and mediocre individuals.

Extracted from ‘Winning The Game of Life!”

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize the habits that different people exhibit. It just takes a curious mind and an observing eye. You can start doing the same thing.

If you want to improve the level of your health and fitness, start by observing the habits displayed by healthy people and contrast them with the habits of friends who you believe to be unfit and unhealthy.

Announcing A Brand New Patterns of Excellence Video

After running the highly successful Patterns of Excellence (POE) Programme for 10 years (Since 2002), I am excited to announced a brand new video! For those of you who may not realize, the POE was the very first programme that I created when I started my company 10 years ago. It still remains the programme that I am the most passionate about simple because it is life changing. I hope you enjoy it.

About the Patterns of Excellence NLP Training programme

Do you want to become among the best in your professional field, to achieve financial freedom, to build lasting relationships and to be happy and fulfilled?

In The Patterns of Excellence, you are going to learn and apply life-changing tools like Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) and Success Conditioning Techniques to breakthrough your limiting patterns and to develop the Patterns of Excellence and Success to achieve your life goals.

Through this life transforming experience, you are going to understand why you are the way you are and how to re-condition your mind and body to achieve breakthroughs in your life. You are going to…

• Re-ignite your passion for life and work
• Get absolutely clear on your life’s direction
• Understand how your beliefs and paradigms are shaping your life right now
• Model the success mindsets and strategies of exceptional individuals in business, sales, parenting and much more
• Manage your emotions to overcome fear and procrastination and develop unstoppable confidence and personal motivation
• Overcome the failures and setbacks in your life and turn them around

Loving the Most Important Person In Your Life

This post is extracted from my best-selling book ‘ Winning The Game Of Life”

I am sure that there are many people in your life whom you love and care for deeply. These are the special people in your life. It may be your wife, husband, lover, sibling, children or parents.

But let me ask you a question that you may have not thought about much “Do you love yourself just as much?” “Do you love that person you see in the mirror every day?” It may seem like a strange question but an extremely important one. How you feel about yourself determines how you treat yourself and, ultimately, it impacts on your level of success and happiness.

It may surprise you to know that not everybody loves himself or herself. In fact, there are many people in life who don’t like who they are, wishing they were somebody else. A handful of people go so far as to detest themselves.

So, give this question some serious thought. How do you feel about yourself? How much do you love yourself?

Learning to Love Yourself…Is the Greatest Love of All

Many people think that they must first become successful before they can start loving themselves and their life. In fact, the opposite is true. You must first love yourself before you can become successful. People who love and feel good abut themselves have what is called a high level of self-esteem and self-worth. This gives them the confidence and drive to excel in life.

The Power of Loving Yourself

So, how does loving yourself equate with success in life? Think about this. When you really love somebody, what do you usually want for that person? You would want the very best for him or her, right?

The same thing goes when you love yourself. When you love yourself, you will want the very best for yourself. You would set high standards for yourself, believing that you deserve only the best in life. You would demand the best: the best career, the best relationships and the best lifestyle. You would not allow yourself to accept mediocrity.

At the same time, when you love yourself, you will be willing to work hard and make sacrifices. People who love themselves will take good care of their bodies and their mind. They will not allow themselves to stay ignorant, to waste time or to harm their bodies with drugs or alcohol. They are willing to sacrifice short-term pleasures for future benefits. They will constantly focus on learning, upgrading their skills, watching their diet and keeping themselves in good shape.

The Consequence Of Not Loving Yourself

On the contrary, what are the consequences of not loving yourself? Well, it can destroy any chance you have for success and happiness.

When you don’t like yourself, you tend to put yourself down constantly and set low personal expectations. You will think that success is reserved for only ‘other people’. If you don’t think you deserve the great things life has to offer, you will never dare to go for it.

When you don’t love yourself, you will criticize and put yourself down, just as you constantly find fault with others you don’t like. You will not be willing to make sacrifices for your self-benefit, instead taking actions without consideration about the consequences to that person you see in the mirror. Haven’t you seen some people who don’t seem to take care of themselves? They overeat till they gain excessive weight, they don’t bother to dress appropriately and may get themselves into a financial mess by making irresponsible financial decisions or gambling recklessly.

Accept Yourself for Who You Are

No matter how you feel about yourself right now, you can learn to love yourself much more and develop the self-esteem and confidence you need to achieve an extraordinary quality of life.

The most important thing is to ‘Accept Yourself for Who You Are’. Before you can love yourself, you have to first accept the unique person that you are. Accept the way you look and your physical body. Accept your unique personality and character.

Accept your strengths as well as your weaknesses. Don’t wish you were perfect. Nobody is perfect.

Aim instead for excellence, which is doing the very best with what God has given you. If you have made mistakes in the past, know that we all make mistakes. Instead of hating yourself for it, forgive yourself and learn from those mistakes to become better today.

Do you know that out of the billions of snowflakes that fall on earth, no two are ever identical? Similarly, out of the billions of people born, nobody will ever be exactly like the way you are (not even twins are exactly alike). You are specially designed by God with a unique set of interests, strengths and weaknesses to be successful in your very own way.

So start loving yourself today.

In Loving Memory of My Grandpa Lau, 1912-2012

On the 27 of May 2012, my maternal Grandpa passed away at the age of 96 and I would like to pay him a very special tribute. I was especially close to my Grandpa because he used to bring me out with my cousins every weekend when I was a young boy and led my entire family and I on his many travels around the world (including Nepal, Kashmir, the US, Japan and all over South East Asia.

He was also a remarkable man who taught me many life lessons that have made a huge difference in my life. These are just some of the lessons he has taught me.

Live Your Life to The Fullest
My Grandpa was somebody who truly lived his life to the fullest and I believe that he has no regrets at the end of it all. He has literally travelled to every part of the world, visiting 140 countries including South Africa, Egypt, Portugal, Brazil, North Korea, Kashmir, Nepal etc…). He was also extremely fit for his age. At the age of 76 (20 years ago), he was climbing mountains in the Himalayas, when the rest of my family and I were panting away to catch up behind him.

Kindness and Generosity
Grandpa was also an extremely kind and generous man. When he worked as a supervisor (in his much younger years), he would give part of his own bonus to his subordinates because he felt that they deserved to share in the rewards of the company, even though they were junior staff who were only entitled to a fixed salary.

Although my Grandpa never started his own business and was a supervisor working for a Malaysian Company, he was an astute investor who invested everything he had in SIngapore Blue Chip stocks since the 1950′s. Simply though his investments, he accumulated millions of dollars.

Humility and Patience
Despite his wealth, my Granpa was extremely humble and lived very simply. He drove a beat-up old Suzuki Swift, wore the cheapest clothes and ate the simplest food. The only things that he spent on was on his travels around the world and sponsoring the rest of the family to travel together with him. He also gave generously to the less fortunate and helped many families when they were in financial need, even though they were not even related.

He was also the most patient man I have every met. He was an extremely positive and optimistic person who never ever got angry. Everyday to him was a happy and beautiful day. That is what I believe was the secret to his great health all the way to such a ripe old age.

In fact, I believe it was his extremely positive mindset that overcame many of his few bad habits which would probably have killed most people years earlier. What bad habits? Well, my Grandpa loved to smoke and continued to smoke 4 packs of Benson & Hedges a day. He also loved softdrinks and would only drink coffee with 4 table spoon fulls of sugar.

He always laughed and joke that the only Doctor he needed was Dr. Benson & Dr. Hedges and that his smoking killed all the germs and bacteria in his body and that kept him healthy. Of course, the truth is that it was again his positive mindset that kept him healthy despite, the smoking, fatty foods and Coke.

Finally, my Grandpa was also the one who introduced me to the world of investing and the stock market when I was very young. From the time I was 16+, my Grandpa would give me (and all of his many grandchildren) share certificates for our Chinese New Year Ang Pows. He would then explain to us that the secret of becoming rich was to save and to invest. So, that is where it all began for me.

Sharing His Wisdom
My Grandpa would also always take the time to share with us his life lessons and philosophies. Many of his ideas are what shaped my own writings and lessons that I impart in my seminars.

In fact, my Grandpa, has written three small books (on his life lessons and his collection of success quotes) on his old typewriter and gave it out to all the family members. He never published them. One of the things I want to do is to publish his books and to give away the proceeds to charity, in remembrance of him. I am going to miss you dearly Grandpa.

Announcing PSLE Exams Seminar, 6-8 June 2012

I am very happy to announce that my company, Adam Khoo Learning Centre will organizing the 6th PSLE Exams Seminar 2012 from the 6-8 June in Singapore.

The Primary School Leaving Exams marks the first major examination in a child’s life. As students gear up for the final sprint, parents begin to ask the key questions: “Is my child ready? Which programme suits my child best?”

At Adam Khoo Learning Centre, we understand that students do not perform in exams for various reasons, whether it is because they are lacking in academic knowledge or because they are simply unable to cope with the tress of examinations.

Aiming to tackle these issues, we have developed the PSLE Seminar 2012 to help Primary 5 and 6 students. Aside from reinforcing content knowledge and fostering motivation, the PSLE Seminar also covers exam strategies such as time and stress management in order to maximise your child’s academic potential.

Besides our team of ‘I Am Gifted!’ trainers who will inspire and empower students to excel in the upcoming PSLE exams, we have a team of Academic Specialists who will give students the winning edge to score their A Stars.

This event is organized in partnership with CDAC, Singapore Children’s Society & Mendaki. We also be using part of our proceeds to give under privileged children to attend this 2 day seminar for free so they can have the best tools to prepare them for their future.

Event details:
Date-6 to 8 June2012
Time – 8:30am to 5:30pm
Venue: Republic Polytechnic
Parents can register their child for PSLE Seminar 2012 at any of the Adam Khoo Learning Centre branches (Please refer to www.aklc.com for the location of branches. Alternatively, parents may call 67655516 / 67832093 / 67772128 to sign up today!)

“If You Are So Rich and Successful, Why Do You Bother To Teach?”

Someone came up to me at one of my talks and asked, “If you can make so much money in your investments and your business, then why do you bother to spend the time teaching people?”

At first, I felt a bit offended but then I thought it was a fair question. So I said, “the reason is because I love to teach. It is my passion and my calling. I love it when I see people’s faces brighten up and experience breakthroughs in their lives. That’ something that money can’t buy”. I also teach because I feel that it is my duty to. I have been so lucky to have been able to have all this knowledge and the gift to inspire and teach that it is my duty to make use of this god-given gifts.

This lady looked at me and remarked, ” If I had all your money, I will not waste my time teaching and enjoy myself relaxing instead”. I then said, ” honestly, that is why I am rich and successful and YOU ARE NOT.” If you are just interested in making money, you never will. However, if you are interested to help others and do what you love, then you will be rich, happy and successful. She looked at me as if I was crazy and walked away.

Problems… The Ultimate The Key to Wealth And Success!

Do you have problems in your life right now?

If you are a living, breathing, human being, I would bet the answer is ‘yes’. This is because every single person on this planet has problems all the time. You are not alone!

However, do you allow your problems to stop you from achieving your goals or do you allow your problems to challenge you into becoming a stronger & wiser person? Do you allow your problems to cause you stress and unhappiness or do you allow your problems to ignite your fighting spirit?

If Only I Had No Problems
Many people who come to my courses tell me that ‘problems’ are the main cause of their unhappiness, stress and failure. They wish that by learning my strategies, they can rid their life of all their problems once and for all.

You Will Always Have Problems
I normally respond by telling them the harsh truth. They will always be problems in your life. Whenever you solve your problems, you can bet that another three more will pop up! The only time you will have no more problems is when you are lying in the graveyard… 6 feet under.

In fact, being more successful doesn’t rid you of your problems… it actually creates more! The more successful you become, the more and the bigger problems you will have to deal with. Successful people have a lot more problems that mediocre people. That is because the former tend to take more action.

For example, when my company was small and I was just a one-man trainer in Singapore, I had very few problems. Now that my company (Adam Khoo Learning Technologies Group) has over a hundred staff and is operating in 7 countries, training over 90,000+ people a year, I have much bigger problems to solve.

Everyday, my management team and I are solving problems- problems in Singapore, problems in India, problems in China, problems in developing new breakthrough programs, problems in managing 100+ staff, problems with managing more programs, more business partners, and more trainers etc…

We Need Problems…They Make Us Grow Smarter and Stronger
Many of us may not like problems. We all wish that everything can go the way we expect, smoothly.
However, the truth is that we NEED problems. Problems are what challenge our minds and spirit. Problems force us to think of new ideas. Problems force us to grow as a person- to develop courage, resolve, determination and gratitude. Problems teach us the most valuable lessons and make us into better people.

If everything came easily, we tend to get complacent, weak and ungrateful. We will keep doing the same things, staying in our comfort zone and stop learning and growing.

Successful People Are Bigger Than Their Problems, Mediocre People Are Smaller Than Their Problems
What I have realizes is that successful people tend to be BIGGER than their problems whereas mediocre people tend to be SMALLER than their problems.

Imagine that you have a level-5 problem and you are a person with level-3 capabilities. To you, it would be a relatively big problem, wouldn’t it? It would cause you stress and unhappiness. However, if you grew yourself to become a level-8 person (with more knowledge and skills), the same problem will seem relatively small. If you grew yourself to become a level-12 person, it may not seem like a problem anymore.

So, the key to becoming more and more successful is NOT to AVOID PROBLEMS. The key to success is to KEEP GROWING YOURSELF to become BIGGER than your problems, and to become bigger than any problem! For example, when I first started as an inexperienced trainer, I would find rowdy and resistant people in my audience to be a huge problem. As a result of constantly learning new ways of managing my thoughts, learning new persuasion techniques and becoming more and more confident and charismatic, it is no longer a problem to me. I am able to easily handle and turn around resistant people in my audience!

When I first started my business, I found that it was a huge problem to market my products and programmes to the public. Although I had high quality programmes, it was very difficult to attract people to sign up. After 10 years of dealing with these problems, I have developed the marketing, branding and selling skills such that it is now so easy to attract thousands of people to attend my best-selling programmes.

It Is Not The Size Of Your Problems… It Is The Size Of Your Capabilities!
So, if you find that you have huge problems in your life, realize that it is not the size of the problem that is the problem…The real issue is the level of your own capabilities and mindset. It is the size of you! When you start to increase your skills, knowledge and capabilities, your problems will start to become small in comparison.
Whenever I find that a problem that causes me stress, it tells me that I need to grow myself so that I can deal with it. In other words, ‘Don’t wish for things to get better, make yourself better!’

If You Want to Be Rich… Find And Solve Bigger Problems For More People
Problems are also the source of wealth.

People often ask me the secret of creating wealth, My answer usually is, ‘find lots of problems and solve them’. They usually look at me with a blank stare. Let me explain.

When do customers pay us? Why do companies pay us (if we are working as a employee?) They pay us only because we can help them to solve their problems to reach their goals. The bigger the problems we can solve for people, the more we get paid! Your income is a result of the amount of problems you can solve.

Think of why a heart surgeon gets paid so much more money than a massage therapist, for example. A message therapist solves a small problem- helping people to relieve their aches and pains. A heart surgeon solves a much bigger problem- he/she helps save people’s life by repairing their hearts.

Why does a company CEO get paid 1,000 times more than a janitor? Once again, it is because the CEO has the ability to solve problems 1,000 times larger than what the janitor can solve. If the company is losing customers and market share, a good CEO will be able to turn the company around and solve this big problem. Can a janitor solve such a big problem? No! The janitor can only solve small problems- when someone spills something on the floor and it needs to be cleaned.
So, instead of asking, ‘how can I get rich?’, you should ask, ‘how can I help more people solve their problems? By focusing on helping more people solve their problems, wealth will come to you as a natural by-product!

When I first started in my career, I created wealth by helping students solve their problems of failing in school. I taught them strategies to make learning easy and fun and to get self-motivated to excel.

Then, I asked the question, ‘How can I help even MORE PEOPLE?’ That question inspired me to write 12 books to teach more and more people all over the world. That question inspired me to create BLOGs (like this one) to encourage more and more people around the world. That question inspired me to create a whole range of programmes- Wealth Academy, Patterns Of Excellence, I Am Gifted etc… to help people solve their problems from all walks of life and ages.

The more and more people I was able to help, the more wealthy I have become- not just financially wealthy, but spiritually wealthy as well.

So, stop avoid problems, Embrace your problems, find more problems and solve them!