Create Your Money Machines

I love a quote from Harold Geneen.  He said, In the business world, everyone is paid in two coins: cash and experience.   Take the experience first; the cash will come later.

         Meaning?  You've got to go out there and do it.

         You need to fail along the way.  Cry some tears.  Hurt some bones. 

         Just see to it that your failures are small.

         And most important, you learn from every failure.  (Don't waste your tears.)

How God Supplies Your Every Need

         So many people say, "God will supply my every need.”

         I love saying that.

         But how will God provide?

         Ninety nine percent of the time, He'll do it through what I call money machines.

         How many of you would like to own a machine that prints money?

         I own 6 of them.  (A long time ago, I had 16.  Now, I've been focusing on my most financially rewarding businesses and discarding the others.)

         Every day, they print money for me.

         The difference between the financially wealthy and the financially poor is the consistency of money machines you own. 

         In Bible times, sheep or cows were their money machines. That's why it says, Be sure you know the condition of your flocks, give careful attention to your herds…  (Proverbs 27:23)  In the same way, you also need to give careful attention to your money machines.

Two Stages of Your Financial Life

         I got this piece of wisdom from my friend Rex Mendoza.

         He said that there are two stages in our financial life.

         In the first stage, man works for money.

         The second stage, money works for man.

         Sadly, there are many people who don't reach Stage 2.

         They get stuck in Stage 1. Consequently, they're very busy doing things they're not happy about.

         Because in Stage 2, they can now do anything they want. The irony is that when they do what they really want to do, they can earn even more money.

Are You Busy Getting Rich Or Are You Just Busy?

         Someone said, "If the devil can't make you bad, he'll make you busy.”

         Many people are so busy!

         Busy earning money. In the process, they lose their family life, their health, and their spiritual life.

         So busy, they don't ask themselves the question, "Is this the best way to earn money?”

         But in Stage 2, people start owning automated money machines. These machines print money for them every day.

         Then they stop just being busy. They become busy getting rich in all areas of their life.  They spend more time with their families. They serve God. And they do what they love, thereby earning more money.

         May your dreams come true,

         Bo Sanchez

7 Laws of Aggressiveness

The greatest dreams are always unrealistic. - Will Smith

            If you want to become wealthy, you need to be aggressive.

            If you want to be entrepreneurs, you have to be aggressive.

            If you want to be great employees—not just mediocre ones—you have to be aggressive.

            Single-minded.

            Pro-active.

            Focused.

            Here are the 7 Laws of Aggressiveness:

1. The Law of Clarity

            People ask me, "How were you able to achieve all that you have achieved?”

            Here's my answer: "I know what I want. I imagine it. I dream it.”

            How can you be aggressive if you don't know what you want?

            People who aren't clear with what they want will always be lukewarm, wishy-washy, tepid, non-committed.

The more precise these thoughts are, the quicker it becomes a reality

            When Tiger Woods was 8 years old, he already said, "I will break all golf world records and be the number one golfer in the world.”

            When Steven Spielberg was 12 years, he already said, "I will tell stories to the world through movies.”

            When Bill Clinton was still in Yale, Hilary said that he told everyone he met, "One day, I'll be the President of the United States.”

            They were clear about what they wanted.

            Are you?

            Review your dreams.

           

2. The Law of Focus

            An aggressive person is totally focused.

            At any time, you only can focus on one thing.

The more focused you are, the quicker it becomes reality.

            Single-minded.

            (More on this on Habit 7.)

3. The Law of Intensity

           

            Show me a successful person, and I'll show you a passionate person.

            If you have not yet discovered your passion, you've not yet discovered your path to success.

            Be intense! Be passionate! Be on fire!

            Note: I'm not talking of obsession.

            We want to live a life of balance. 

            But to succeed in business, you need to have passion for what you do.

4. The Law of Action

            Let me ask you a question:

            Six frogs were sitting on the fence. One frog decided to jump off. How many are left?

            If you answered 5, you're wrong.

            The correct answer is all 6 are still sitting on the fence. 

            Because I said "One frog decided to jump.” 

            But did he really jump?

            Many people just make decisions.

            "I'm deciding to diet tomorrow.”

            "I'm deciding to quit smoking.” 

            "I'm deciding to get rich.”

            Will something happen?

            Aggressive people don't just decide. 

            Aggressive people don't leave the place where they made their decision without putting their decision into action.

            Unless you act, nothing happens.

            One of my most favorite quotes is from the CEO of Google, Eric Schmidt.

            He said, "Fail quickly. So you can try again.”  

            This has been the story of my life.

5. The Law of Hustle

            If one door is closed, look for an open door somewhere.

            You don't give up until you succeed.

            Walt Disney was turned down 302 times before he got financing for his dream of creating the "Happiest Place on Earth."

            Colonel Sanders spent two years driving across the United States looking for restaurants to buy his chicken recipe. He was turned down 1,009 times! How successful is Kentucky Fried Chicken today?

            Aggressive people hustle.

            They always look for the open door.

6. The Law of Gestation

     

            There's a timing in everything.

            The baby has to stay in his mother's womb for nine months.

            You can't force the baby to come out in one month or two months.

I believe there's also the right timing for the birth of your achievements.

            Wait for the right time.

            Remember: Success is 90 percent preparation and 10 percent action.

            You don't wait for luck. You create it.

            But how? 

            Let me define luck for you: Luck is when preparation meets opportunity.

            When opportunity comes, you're prepared!

            So keep preparing now for your great success.

7. The Law of Integrity

            Everything you do must come from love.

            You can be a loving person and an aggressive person at the same time.

            In fact, you are aggressive because you love.

            Naturally, entrepreneurs focus on money. 

            But there are two types of income.

            There's monetary income. And psychic income. 

            In psychic income, the entrepreneur believes he's making this world a better place—by giving jobs, by giving his product, by being a businessman.

            Remember that you're a great person.

            Don't ask, "Am I worthy of these goals?” 

            Ask, "Are these goals worthy of me?”

How Aggressive Are You?

            I read the life story of Sylvester Stallone and it moved me.

            Stallone was born in poverty. In fact, his mother gave birth to him in the steps of a school. 

            When he grew up, he spoke with a slurred speech all his life. 

            Yet his dream was to be an actor.

            Obviously, no one wanted to hire him. 

            But the man had hustle.

            Every day, he sat in front of the Director until he was given a bit part in a movie. After that, no one wanted to hire him again. 

            One day, he became so poor, he sold his dog for $50. 

            That was heartbreaking for him. 

            He then wrote a movie script that nobody wanted. 

            Finally, after many rejections, one production house said they want to buy the script for $75T on one condition: Someone else would play the main role.

            Stallone rejected their offer because he wanted to play the main role. 

            The production house raised the price to $225T—for as long as Stallone would agree that someone else would play the main role. 

            He rejected them again. 

            Finally, they offered him an offer he couldn't refuse: $1M. 

            But he rejected that too. 

            So they offered $35T for the script—with him in the starring role. 

            He accepted! 

            And as they say, the rest is history: That movie was Rocky and it grossed $171 Million. It also won 10 Academy Awards including Best Actor and Best Picture of the Year. That one movie started his meteoric rise to stardom.

            (By the way, when he became rich, he bought back his dog!)

            That, my friend, is aggressiveness.

            After reading his life story, I realized why many are not successful. We're simply not aggressive enough.

Rate Your Aggressiveness

           

            Do you give up easily?

            Do you get discouraged and become passive?

            From a scale of 1 to 10, rate your aggressiveness towards your dreams. 

            1 is totally passive while 10 is Stallone's aggressiveness.

           

            Aggressiveness Rating:                                  

            How can you be more aggressive?

            Next Habit: Money Machines.

            May your dreams come true,

            Bo Sanchez

5 Cultural Roots That Rob Us of Our Aggressiveness

The world is moving so fast these days that the man who says it can't be done

is generally interrupted by someone doing it.

Elbert Hubbard

• You ask your husband, "Have you fixed the roof?” He answers, "I'll do it next week.  It leaks only when it rains anyway.”

• You ask your son, "Have you bought a new battery for the car?” He answers, "Next month. It still starts if you give it a little push anyway…”

• You ask your friend, "Have you started investing?” He answers, "I'll do that after I get over my bills. Besides, God will provide for my needs…”

• You ask your sister, "Have you renewed your insurance policy?” "Not yet! Been so busy. So far, nothing bad is happening with me anyway. And if something happens, you'll take care of my kids, right?”

            I agree with my wealthy foreigner friend. 

He said, "I haven't seen a more polite, courteous, and nicer people than the Filipino.”

            This is indeed our strength.

            And that's why we're the best employees in the world.

            That's why our biggest export is Overseas Filipino Workers.

            We export the best nurses, teachers, managers, domestic helpers, engineers, and seamen.

            But our strength is our weakness: We're too subservient, we lack aggressiveness.

            Where does this come from?

            There are 5 Cultural Roots that rob us of our aggressiveness:

1. Haciendero Complex

            When we were mostly farmers, we had a haciendero who would take care of all our needs. Food, housing, education of the kids, hospitalization,…

            To this day, we still want someone to care for us.

            To many Filipinos, the President of the Republic of the Philippines has become the biggest haciendero. The governors and mayors and congressmen have become the new hacienderos. People depend on them. They ask them for everything.

            We've lost our aggressiveness because of the Haciendero complex.

2. Bahala Na! Attitude

            May I give you common examples?

            You ask your son, "Did you study for the tests today?”

            He answers, "Bahala na!”

            You ask your husband, "Did you tune up the car for our trip to Baguio?”

            He answers, "Bahala na!”

            You ask your friend, "Did you go to the doctor for your checkup?”

He answers, "Bahala na!”

            "Bahala na!” means whatever happens, happens.

            It's fatalism. Que sera, sera.

            The word may have come from our old Filipino word, "Bath-Allah” which was our name for God. So "Bahala” could have meant, "I trust God.”

            But we twisted the meaning and made it fatalistic.

           

3. Lotto Culture

            One day, I was talking to a woman who had large debts.

            I asked her how she plans to pay her loans. 

            She said, "I'm buying lotto tickets.”

            I was about to laugh when I realized it wasn't a joke. This was her only plan.

            Everywhere I go, when I ask the poor, "How will you get rich?” they always give the same answer, "I buy lotto tickets.”

            Nowadays, another kind of lotto has appeared: Noonday TV shows.

            Poor people pin their hopes on winning these contests to rise above their poverty. For the poor, lotto isn't a game.

            It's their only hope.

            I feel so sad. 

            That's why I've made it my passion to teach financial literacy.

            By the way, some people treat network marketing (or multi-level marketing) like the lotto. It's a common invitation. "Join us,” our friend says, "because all you have to do is buy the basic package, ask two friends to join you, and you'll earn millions.”

            That's not true. 

            My close friends who are very successful in network marketing work like crazy. Some of them work 10 hours a day. Believe me, it's not a lotto ticket. It's something better—hard work that's fulfilling and helping people at the same time.

4. Manana Habit

            One man said: "I will stop procrastination—starting tomorrow!”

            It's a close cousin of "Bahala Na!”

5. Crab Mentality

            I mentioned this earlier.

            I've met a lot of people who are afraid of what others will say.

            In our culture, some people will look down on you because you're aggressive.

            Some won't like it that you're aiming too high.

            Some won't like you anymore because you're trying to succeed.

            Some will criticize you because you're becoming wealthy.

            Some will even create dirty gossip about how you got rich.

            I urge you: Don't mind the crabs.

            Fulfill your dreams anyway.

            May your dreams come true,

            Bo Sanchez

You Teach People How To Treat You

         One summer, when I was a thin, small, peepsqueaky, sixteen year old boy, I placed a backpack over my shoulder and rode a plane for Israel.  (I won first prize in a Bible Quiz in Television—and this was the prize.)

It was the first time I traveled out of the Philippines.

And would you believe?

I went alone.

After moving around Holy Land for 10 days, I took another plane for Rome.  And from one train to another, I traveled to 30 more cities in Europe: Assisi, Padua, Paris, Geneva, Brussels, Amsterdam, Frankfurt…  All by my lonesome self.

When I came back, my classmates asked me what I did last summer.

Naturally, they freaked out when I told them.  They pulled their hair and screamed, “That’s unfair!  Your parents allow you to travel to Europe alone for a month? My parents don’t even allow me to go to my friend’s house across the street without a chaperone for two minutes!  My parents are absolutely, completely, totally unfair!”

      

I laughed and never understood how our parents could be so different.

      

Today, 30 years wiser, I now understand.

      

I believe their parents weren’t being unfair.

      

What happened?  Phillip Mcgraw says it powerfully: You teach people how to treat you.

      

I realize now that my classmates taught their parents to be controlling.

      

And I taught my parents to give me all the freedom in the world.

      

How?  I was boringly predictable!

As a young guy, I basically obeyed them everyday.  I came home at the time they wanted me to come home, I did my assigned responsibilities, and I loved God with all my heart!  I was so boringly predictable, my parents could predict what I would say if a friend gave me a cigarette (“No, thank you. I love my lungs.”) or when a stranger would offer me drugs (“No, thank you. I love my brain.”).

      

Hey, this principle works in any relationship, so adults, listen to me.

Do you feel that your boss in the office is treating you unfairly?

      

Has your husband been verbally abusing you for ten years now?

      

Do you feel that your friends totally ignore you?

      

Let me give you a bitter pill to swallow: Partly, you created their response towards you.  You taught them how to treat you.

      

About that boss that is unfairly treating you—just MAYBE, you showed a negative attitude in the office and your boss is responding with hostility.

      

About that verbally abusing husband—just MAYBE, you made your husband think it’s acceptable behavior that he maltreat you because you tolerate it again and again.

      

About the friends who totally ignore you—just MAYBE, they’re simply respecting the wall you’ve erected around you.

      

Stop blaming others.

      

Take responsibility.

Now go change your life.

May your dreams come true,

Bo Sanchez

Are You Having Burnout? Here’s The Solution…

Burnout is expensive. 

I know from personal experience.  I experienced one over fifteen years ago.  It cost me my health, my relationships, the vibrancy of my faith and happiness of work.

Today, I try to stay clear from burnout by watching for the signs that I had during that difficult season of my life.  See if you have any of them…

·      I was always tired.  Even after waking up in the morning after supposedly a good night’s rest, I wake up already exhausted and drained.

·      I dreaded to go to the office.

·      I felt depressed.  Many times, I felt helpless at the difficulties and conflicts that I was facing at work.

·      I doubted myself so much.  I lost confidence and wondered what in the world was I doing in my job.  I wanted out.

·      I was more susceptible to psychosomatic illnesses, like frequent colds, stomach problems, etc.

Researchers state that there are certain professions that are prone to burnout, such as high-pressured business positions as well as the helping professions: doctors, nurses, clergy, missionaries, counselors, social workers, and teachers.

When you see these symptoms and if you’re in these professions, you know that you’re a prime candidate for burnout. 

Watch Out For Causes Of Burnout

      

Let me share with you the causes for my burnout and find out if any of them look familiar to you.  Remember that this is simply myexperience and therefore other factors may trigger another person’s burnout.  But sharing these circumstances to you will give you an idea and spur you on to explore your own life for possible causes.

As I reflected on my ordeal, there were internal and externalcauses—and this is important to know because healing our burnout by changing our environment won’t solve our problems if your burnout has internal causes.  You could change jobs and even go to another country and still experience burnout in your next job and company if you don’t deal with the inner attitudes that need changing.

Internal Causes:

·      I had low self-worth.  I used my achievements to cover up my need for affirmation and love from others, but no matter how much success I had at work, my broken self-image kept asking for more.

·      I had ambition, driven by my low self-worth.  I had so much drive, I could work for sixteen hours straight.

·      I had an overwhelming fear of conflicts and rejection, and so avoided problems and conflicts.  I needed love so much, I didn’t want anyone to get angry with me—so I tried my very best and exhausted every means to please everyone.  Naturally, that goal was impossible and will always be impossible.

External Causes:

·      According to psychologists, working for either extreme—an authoritarian, demanding boss, or a vacillating, wishy-washy boss—will produce burnout.

·      I had chronic conflicts with co-workers.  Conflicts are normal in our world but when they become prolonged and unresolved, they can cause burnout.

·      Low moral in the office was pervasive.

·      There was poor communication between the different parts of my organization.

If you are familiar with these causes, you have more chances of avoiding burnout.

Deal With The Two Sides Of Burnout

How did I get over my burnout?

        First, I had to deal with the internal causes.

I had to change my attitudes toward my work and myself.  I was depending on my work to prop up a poor self-image.  So I needed to heal that poor self-image.  Now note that healing low self-worth and taming fears is a life-long process, but recognizing them within you is already a first step in the right direction.  Remember that any addiction is a way of escaping feeling the most painful emotions of life.  In this case, a burnout victim is using his work as the escape hatch so he won’t feel the fears, the loneliness, the sadness, and the traumas in his past.  By entering into these feelings of pain, acknowledging them, embracing them, accepting them, and allowing yourself to feel their fiercest storms within will shrink these monsters to their true size.

A burnout victim doesn’t genuinely love himself, and he needs to learn this virtue before he experiences healing.  By allowing himself to feel his emotions as is, no matter how painful they are, he is giving a message to himself that “you’re worthy” and “you’re normal” and “I respect what you’re going through.”

Loving himself will also mean developing healthy boundaries between himself and his work and the people around him.  Because the burnout victim has blurred his identity with the success or failure of his work and what other people say about him, he needs to distinguish his own worth from these two separate realities.  He needs to learn that his life is more than his professional reputation and the bottom-line of his financial statements.  This “more” are his values or moral code and his spirituality.  From this deeper self, he should then craft a higher purpose for living that is beyond career goals or financial objectives.

Finally, loving himself means adapting practical self-care habits—developing exercise, meditation, healthy diets, engaging hobbies, and other wonderful stuff that burnout victims and workaholics neglect.

       Second, I also had to deal with the external causes.

My working environment was so awash with indecisiveness (mine) and the resultant disorganization, low morale, disorganization, and chaos; it was definitely causing my burnout.  So for the first time in a long, long time, I faced my fears by meeting people I had conflicts with.  I made hard decisions at work, no matter how unpopular they were.  I “created” a few enemies by doing what I believed was right.  I removed staffers who were hindering the mission of the organization.  Believe me, healing my burnout wasn’t popping a few pills into my mouth; it was major surgery!

I did this by asking help from people I could trust.  Having a group of friends around you, assisting you and praying for you, was a real gift from God to me.

Don’t Burnout, Burn-up!

After a bout with burnout, some people think that the way to go is to coast along and be boring.  In other words, be monotonous so that you won’t burnout again.

But that’s not true.  The antidote to burnout is to burn-up!  Ferdinand Foch said, The most powerful weapon on earth is the human soul on fire.

Let me give you an illustration.  Think of an oil lamp.

A burnout victim is simply a lighted oil lamp that didn’t have oil.  The result?  The flame burned and consumed the entire wick rather quickly.

The solution is not to keep the oil lamp unlighted.  It will not serve its purpose.

The solution is to put oilin the oil lamp and to light it again.

You and I were created for a purpose.  For a sacred mission larger than us.  We need to live and be consumed by this higher vision!

But to be aflame by a vision for the long term, we need oil.

And that oil is the core values written in the fabric of our soul.  We need to live by those values: love for self, for our neighbor, and for our God.

And love for self will include the virtue of balance.

Because I don’t need to borrow worth from my achievements as a crutch for my own self-value, I work in my job without the pressure.  I work for love and the happiness that I feel in my work.  There’s balance!  My oil is constantly replenished.

       And when my day of departure comes, when my body reaches its end, I shall gladly allow the fire of my sacred mission consume the last dregs of me.

       Don’t burnout, Burn-up!

       May your dreams come true,

Bo Sanchez

Are You A Lifeaholic?

I was a true-blooded, full-pledged workaholic. 

I’ve now converted and have become a lifeaholic—if there’s such a thing.  I’m now “addicted” to breathe, to love, to quiet, to beauty, to balance, to peace, to joy, to simplicity, and all the wonderful stuff contained in this adventure called life.

          A workaholic works long hours. 

        But a lifeaholic works regular hours.

          A workaholic has very shallow friendships, in and out of work.

      

       A lifeaholic treasures his deep friendships as his greatest wealth.

         A workaholic works with no defined goals.  He just wants to be busy.

      But a lifeaholic has defined goals and works towards attaining them.  And half of these goals have nothing to do with his work.

           A workaholic has no interests outside of work.

       A lifeaholic on the other hand has pleasurable interests outside his work.

          A workaholic cannot delegate.

         A lifeaholic makes delegation his master skill.

          A workaholic doesn’t take vacations.  And if he is forced to take one, his mind will still be trapped in his office desk no matter where he goes.

         A lifeaholic on the other hand takes afternoon naps, annual personal retreats, second honeymoons, regular family picnics, and weekly day-offs with gusto.

          A workaholic feels that life is one huge problem.

      

        A lifeaholic feels that life is one mysterious and wonderful gift.

     The choice is yours…

Laugh More Often

And one of the most important marks of a lifeaholic is laughter.  I love the Zen proverb that says, Angels can fly because they take themselves so lightly.

Laughter is one of the simplest, most inexpensive, drug-free stress-reduction gifts of the universe!  Experience the healing energy of laughter flow through your body, soul, and mind regularly.  Simplicity means not taking yourself too seriously, and the alternative can only be laughter.

       Norman Cousins, who pioneered scientific research on laughter, labeled laughter as “inner jogging,” noting its healthful effects on muscle relaxation, heart rate, and blood pressure.  He writes, “I made the joyous discovery that ten minutes of genuine belly laughter had an anesthetic effect that would give me at least two hours of pain-free sleep.”  He credibly claims that his cancer was healed by laughter.  And for him, his laughter regimen included watching old films of Laurel and Hardy and The Three Stooges!

       Don’t take life too seriously—especially the small irritations of your day.  Instead of being frustrated at traffic, try laughing at the silly way we urbanites live.

Most especially, laugh at yourself and at your mistakes.

       You might have seen this quote somewhere else (it’s the stuff people forward to each other through e-mail) but I re-quote it here nonetheless because it points to what we’ve been talking about.

“If I had my life to live over,…I would relax.  I would be sillier than I have been in this trip.  I know of a very few things I would take seriously.  I would climb more mountains, swim more rivers, and watch more sunsets…  I would have more actual troubles and fewer imaginary ones…  If I had my life to live over, I would ride more merry-go-rounds,…pick more daisies.”

Do you laugh at yourself and the crazy things in your life?

Do you regularly involve yourself in playful activities?  If you enjoy humor books and films, why not enjoy a good dose of belly laughter every once in a while?

Make a list of playful activities you want to try in the coming week.

          Don’t wait to live life over.

          Do it now.

           Be a lifeaholic and laugh more often.

           May your dreams come true,

           Bo Sanchez