6 Quick and Easy Tips to Pay Yourself First

Pay Yourself first

“It is never too early to encourage long-term savings.” — Ron Lewis

Treat paying yourself first like paying your newspaper vendor or any other financial commitments, make it obligatory. Here are a few ways that you can do it in a hassle-free way:


1. Budget for it: The first step is to decide the amount that you can save every month. The financial situation in each and every household is different, only you can decide the quantum.

2. Direct payroll deductions: The easiest thing to do is to arrange with your employer to deduct and remit the desired amount to your savings account. Don’t apply for an ATM card for this account. The fund is earmarked for specific purposes such as investment, emergency fund, and down-payment for a new car

3. Arrange for standing order with your bank: Another way is to arrange with your banker to transfer an amount of your choice from the account that your salary is credited to a savings account.

4. Investment-linked insurance policy: This method is even better. You take up an investment-linked policy and arrange with a credit card issuer to debit your credit card for the monthly premium. The money you have saved provides protection for you as well as investment for your future needs. Because you pay your premium by credit card, you earn points (rewards card) or pay less (rebates card) for the amount charged.

5. Personal deposit into a savings account: When you are self-employed, it is necessary for you to deposit an amount into your savings account; you have to be disciplined to pay yourself first.

6. Unit Trust monthly investment scheme: Another good idea is to take up a unit trust investment scheme to invest a fixed amount every month by instructing your bank to remit the said amount from your account on a regular basis. The beautiful part is that it smoothes out market volatility and you benefit from the effects of dollar-cost averaging.


Can you think of any other ways to pay yourself first? Share your ideas with our readers.

An Attitude of Gratitude

Attitude of Gratitude

“There is a calmness to a life lived in gratitude, a quiet joy.” ―Ralph H. Blum

It is coming to the end of yet another year; instead of pondering what you have achieved for the year why not focus on gratitude?

According to the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, gratitude is the feeling of being grateful and wanting to express your thanks.

These are the things in life that I am grateful for and I am expressing my appreciation and thankfulness here.

• To be alive: Thankful to God that I am alive to enjoy every breath of life and to enjoy abundant living.

• My country: Glad to live in Malaysia, a cosmopolitan country, which is free from natural disasters. Most people from different races are living cordially and happily with each other.

• My neighbor: We live in peace and we are tolerant of each other. When we see each other we smile.

• My wife: I am happy that we are able to go through thick and thin and to bring up our two children together.

• My children: They are brilliant children and are able to enjoy what they have given in life.

• My sister: Over the last two years she has been editing my articles without fail. I appreciate her work to help reduce errors in my articles to almost zero.

• My friends: I have few friends but I am grateful we check out each other and we never take advantage of our friendship.

• My readers and followers: I am grateful to my readers and subscribers who keep me hanging on over the last two years. There are comments and I value their positive input. I wish to thank from the bottom of my heart, especially, the followers of my blog and those at the social networking sites.

• Me and my family: I am thankful to God that I am able to enjoy good health. I am also grateful that I am debt-free even though I may not be rich. I am appreciative of my employer who is keeping me in their payroll though I am old enough to retire. I am also thankful that we have a roof over our head and to enjoy what we have in life. I am also happy that we are living together as one family unit.

Gratitude can increase your levels of well-being and happiness Gratitude thinking is also associated with increased levels of energy, optimism, and empathy.

Start today to adopt an attitude of gratitude and be appreciative and thankful for what you have in life. Can you share your gratitude here?

How to be Popular -10 Instant Tips

Popularity Secrets

True popularity comes from acts of kindness rather than acts of stupidity.     

Bo Bennett

The fastest and easiest way to be popular is to focus your attention on the people around you. Here are the 10 instant ways to do so that you are always welcomed by others:

1. Talk to the people around you. You acknowledge their presence and make them feel important by talking to them. You never know, perhaps, you will be able to learn something from them. You may even get connected to the right person that opens up great opportunities.

2. Try to remember their names: People are impressed that you can recall their names just by meeting only once. You really need to use all your senses to remember a name. Write it down, repeat often during a conversation, and associate the name with something else so that recalling is easy. As an example, Chris could be associated with Christmas, the very day you met him for the first time.

3. Be humble. When you are humble, polite, and respectful in your approach, you can be accepted by others easily.

4. Total Acceptance: Look for the virtues of others and accept the ways as they are without judgment. Respect their points of view, though you may not be agreeable.

5. Talk pleasantly about the other person's interest. Encourage him to talk about himself. Find out more about his interests and achievements. Get to know more about his family background. The more you know about the other person the easier it is for you to establish a closer rapport with him.

6. Watch your appearance: Do not allow others to perceive that you don’t care too much about yourself. When you care less for yourself it is unlikely that you care much for others

7. Praise more and criticize less. Say a few kind and encouraging words. Praise for a job well done. You make the other person happy and also lift his self-worth and self-esteem.

8. Be trusted: Honour your promises, but do not commit too many or else you may not be able to deliver.

9. Responsive and empathic: Always be available and ready to respond to the needs of others. Be sensitive to the feelings of the people around you.

10. Smile at the people you meet: Be cheerful; don’t talk about your problems and disappointment. Everyone has a fair share of troubles. Crack a joke about yourself to laugh out loud and lift the mood of others.

When you are only interested in yourself, you can’t arouse the interest of others in you. In a beneficial human relationship, it is like a savings account, you can’t withdraw without a deposit. When you are interested in the people around you, they will be more inclined to like you and interested in you as well.

Dry Eyes and Herbal Cure

Dry Eyes
(https://www.allaboutvision.com/conditions/dryeye.htm)

Tears are nature's lotion for the eyes. The eyes see better for being washed by them.      

Christian Nevell Bovee

Lately, I have been suffering from dry eyes. It is irritating and making me feel uncomfortable. I think I have glued to the PC too much and too long. Now, I stop using PC early in the morning and in the evening. I am also happy that I have found a herbal cure. It is in the form of capsules. Each capsule consists of the following


Eyebright (Euphrasia Officinalis)

Eyebright herbs are beneficial for reducing redness and swelling. Eyebright tightens the mucous membranes of the eye and appears to relieve the inflammation of conjunctivitis and blepharitis ( Chevallier. A. The Encyclopedia of Medicinal Plants Dorling Kindersley, London 1996 ISBN 9-780751-303148)


Bilberry (vaccinium myrtillus)

It was shown in early studies to improve dark adaptation in people with poor night vision. (Jayle. GE. Ann Ocul, 1965, 198:556-62, Belleoud. L. et al, Rev Med Aeronaut Spatiale 1966; 18:3-7)

A clinical study in Russia shows that dietary supplementation with bilberry extract prevents macular degeneration and cataract (Fursova Azh, Adv Gerontol, 2005; 16:76-79)


Ginkgo biloba

Findings have shown that the flavonoids found in ginkgo could even increase blood flow to the retina (relating to the back part of the eye) and slow down the retinal deterioration

Lutein

Lutein provides nutritional support to our eyes as well as our skin. It has been linked to promoting healthy eyes by reducing the risk of macular degeneration.


You may use artificial tears or eye drops to get instant relief, but in the long run, it is harmful to your eyes. According to the Hong Kong Association of Private Eye Surgeons (HKLAPES), frequent use of eye drops could damage and might even cause complete loss of vision. If eye drops are used frequently – say, over six times a day – preservatives’ residues could accumulate and cause chronic irritation and eye infection of the cornea and even cause permanent loss of vision.

The best option is to feast your eyes with essential nutrients to strengthen the organ

Responsibility and accountability at the Workplace

Responsibility and accountability are often used to mean the same thing. When you are holding an executive position you will be able to make a distinction between the two.

When you recruit new staff, it is your responsibility to conduct an orientation and provide training to make sure that he is able to do the job as required. The new staff is responsible to get the job done. When an assignment is not done accordingly, the staff may be responsible for the work but you are accountable for the outcome.

The questions are:

· Are you the one who is giving the order to get the job done?

· Have you chosen the right person for the job?

· Is the person given adequate training and full instructions to get the job done?

· Has he been properly supervised?

You can’t blame the staff or pass the buck to him. You see, when a job is done well you get the full credit.

On the other hand, when you are given an assignment by your boss and you have to do it all by yourself, you are responsible to get it done and accountable for the outcome. When it is executed properly you get a pat from your boss. When you screw up, blame yourself and nobody else.

You can be a responsible and accountable executive by taking the following steps:

· Accept the consequences of your action

· Don’t blame others when things do not turn up right. The buck stops here.

· Don’t give excuses. Excuses mean that you are trying to say that you are not responsible.

· Forgive yourself. Learn from the mistakes and move on.

· Admit that you are wrong gracefully. People will respect you more for your strong character.

As an executive at the workplace, you may not be responsible but you are accountable.

What do you think?

Purpose in Life

'The meaning of life is to find your gift. the purpose of life is to give it away"
Pablo Picasso

“If you can't figure out your purpose, figure out your passion. For your passion will lead you right into your purpose.”

― T.D. Jakes

Recently I watched a video about an interview asking people in the street about their purpose in life. In most cases, the interviewees say that their purpose is to be happy or live happily in life. Happiness is the right way to live in life but it is not a purpose in life. It is only a means to an end. When you are happy you are relaxed, you look at life positively and you make others happy too. You work better and you are healthier when you are happy. 

 The big question is, “Do you live to eat, or do you eat to live?” I think the purpose of life is to contribute. We all cannot contribute in a big way like what President Obama has contributed to world peace; but still, we can play our role to contribute in a small way. If you can’t give to society you can at least teach your children to be wiser by sharing your knowledge and experiences. It is still a contribution. The contribution of knowledge, wisdom, and experience of each generation provides valuable insight and enlightenment to a future generation. It does not mean that the life of the future generations will be easier just by applying the knowledge that we have contributed. The fact is that there are always new challenges ahead of us. Life is always changing and is never dull and boring. It is always exciting. It is just that the future generations will be better equipped to face problems and difficulties in life. By contributing you will find life worth living and more meaningful. 

What is your purpose in life? Share your thoughts with us.

A Lesson Learned in Blogging

Blogging

I am very interested in blogging and I know there is a lot of information and tips available on the Net to help me to achieve success and so I read feverously and I get good tips by reading articles of successful bloggers such as Darren Rowse, Glen Allsopp, Daniel Scocco, Brian Clark and Caroline Middlebrook. The trouble is that I have got the message but things are not happening at my blog. Why?

There is a very simple answer. I have not taken the necessary action as recommended by successful people.

I think success and failure are just that. You know what to do but when you have failed to take action there is no way to be successful

There are three things I know I must do in order to succeed in blogging - writing original articles on a regular and consistent basis, marketing your blog, and building relationships with other bloggers. There is very little that I have done to get involved with other bloggers. Here are some of the things that I know I should do but I have not gotten to do it:

Create outbound links to relevant and high linking blogs

Participate in forums

Accept the request to participate in worthy causes

Comment on other related blogs

Get to know other bloggers in my niche and be connected

The reality is that when you are not interested in other bloggers, they will not show interest in you. From now on I will read less and take action more. There is no point in reading a lot and know what to do but not doing anything about it.

Share your blogging lessons here.

Long-Term Success and Blogging

BLOGGING

According to the New Straits Times, Dr. Fadzilla Azni Ahmad, 37, took six years of studious research for her thesis to beat 12 other entries for the Best Thesis Award for research on Islamic disciplines. For her effort, she was awarded a gold medal worth RM10000/=, a cheque for RM5000/=, and a certificate of merit by Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin. What are her secrets of success? 

 • Perseverance: She is focused and working continuously until the project is completed.

 • Obtain knowledge: She does a lot of quality reading 

• Writing: She has started a blog about research and management quality to hone her writing skill. 

Blogging, according to her, helps broaden her mind and train it to think and analyze issues critically. She also wrote once a month for Dewan Ekonomi for about a year. How can you apply her success when you aspire to be a successful blogger? 

 1. There is no overnight success. Working diligently by writing original articles regularly and consistently over a long period.

 2. Get the right information to start blogging effectively. Read stories and articles of successful bloggers on the Net 

3. Take action: the most important thing is to act right away. Start writing articles to improve your writing skills. 

Over time you will be writing better and better articles. Here is a free e-book on blogging to get you started on the right track in 2010, ”Profitable Blogging for Newbies.”

Belief

• What distinguishes the majority of men from the few is their ability to act according to their beliefs.
  - Henry Miller

According to a newspaper report, it is possible to get healed by a placebo. A placebo is a dummy pill or a faked treatment with no activity at the physical level that seems to affect the belief system of the patient. That in turn, makes the belief bring about healing responses in the body.

By the same token, Dr. Kenneth Casey, a professor at the University of Michigan, says,” If you’re providing treatment to a patient, it’s important that you really provide them with the expectation that it would work, so that you enhance the effect. If you gave them a drug or any kind of treatment with the attitude, either explicit or implicit, that this might not be effective, it would be much less likely to be effective.”

It illustrates that believing is such a powerful force in our minds. When you believe you can be healed even without actually given treatment, you can achieve success in life when you believe you can.

Napoleon Hill says in his great book, Think & Grow Rich,” What the mind can conceive and believe, the mind can achieve.”

It’s a wonderful idea to plant positive thoughts in our minds to realize our dreams and goals in life.

Tiger Woods and Truthfulness

Tiger Woods is one of the rich and famous people in the world. After the one-car crash, he is still rich and famous but he is no longer a role model as a perfect husband and a father of two. According to reports in the newspapers and TV, he has had affairs with Rachel Uchitel, Jaimee Grubbs, and Kalika Moquin.

As I have mentioned in my previous article, My philosophy of Life - Truthfulness and Asking, truthfulness means you are honest with yourself and others. There is no guilt feeling and you need not have to ask for forgiveness from God. You can sleep soundly at night. You face the world with the fullest confidence. Tiger Woods would have been able to explain clearly and fully about the one-car accident to the police.

He may be forgiven by his wife but do you think he still can be trusted by her 100%? Do you think he still can maintain his impeccable image in the eyes of the public? 

Candid Personal Review of 2009

2009 is coming to an end. It is yet another turbulent year. It is also a good time to take stock of ourselves to see what we have achieved for the past year.

The following are the most important areas in our life and I hope you will do the same to critically look at yourself in the following areas to check your progress:

Healthy lifestyle: I am glad that I have been able to enjoy a healthy lifestyle throughout the year. I exercise regularly and consistently. I sleep very well at night. I am careful with my diet to eat less sugar, fat, and meat. All these items are acidic and favorable for cancerous cells to grow in our bodies. My life is not stressful and I stay calm most of the time.

Personal finance: The most important thing about finance is that I am debt-free. It means I am free to budget fully my limited resources for my family. I live within my means ad I enjoy what life has offered to me.

Homelife: It is about being a husband and a father to my two children. My children are doing well academically and I am delighted to know that they are happy in life. With so many broken homes around, I am pleased to enjoy happy home life.

At the workplace: The ability to hold on to your job during the financial crisis is an achievement in itself. It is even more so because I should have retired at my age and I am still able to cling on to a job that I enjoy doing.

Relationships: My wife and my children are my friends. We talk and we share ideas. I have friends and I am proud that we don’t take advantage of each other. One of the pleasures in life is to exchange gifts during Chinese festivals with a friend by the name of Ah Hong. We exchange text messages and we phone each other from time to time. To be connected with friends is a wonderful thing in life.

Article writing and blogging: I have been able to learn more and more about blogging and I am able to write better articles over the last two years, but not much better than those pro bloggers. There is still room for me to improve.

Happiness: I have learned not to dwell on the past and worry too much about the future. I always tell myself to cherish every moment in life and enjoy it. Happiness is from within. Happiness is a close-knit family. Happiness is connecting with others. Happiness is able to do things you enjoy doing in life.

What have you achieved in 2009? Share your success story here.

How to Set Your Goals

Goals

“If you want to be happy, set a goal that commands your thoughts, liberates your energy and inspires your hopes.” —Andrew Carnegie

Success in life means setting and achieving your goals. Consider the following points to set your goals: 

 1. One important goal: Instead of having too many goals, identify just one goal that can greatly impact your life. One goal means you are focused on it. Your goal is manageable and it is more likely to achieve. 

2. A clear vision of your goal: Imagine and visualize vividly in your mind that you have succeeded in achieving your goals. These images or the thoughts in your mind will set in motion to realize your goal. 

 3. A deadline: A goal without a deadline remains a goal. The earlier you set your deadline the more urgent it will be for you to pick up your momentum to work on your goal and the faster it is to reach your goal. 

 4. Benefits of achieving your goals: If your goal is to lose weight the benefits will be better health, more energy, better appearance, and higher self-esteem. More benefits mean more incentive and motivation to achieve your goal. 

 5. Obstacles: Expect obstacles along the way and be prepared psychologically to overcome them. A goal is not a goal when it is not challenging and easily attainable.

 6. Get help: Solicit those people who can lend you a hand. You may not be able to do it alone and it is wise to enlist the right people to assist you. 

 7. Plan your successive stages: This will allow you to gauge and monitor your progress against time spent. Are you meeting your sub-goals according to your timeframe? Do you need to revise your plan because of changing the prevailing situation? When you know the benefits that you can enjoy when you have achieved your goals, you will work mindfully at the moment and look forward to each new day with high expectations. You will have no regret in life as you look back because you know you have wasted no time to make your dream a reality.

5 Learning Ways to Be a Better Executive

Leaning

‘Being ignorant is not so much a shame, as being unwilling to learn.’ –Benjamin Franklin

Like a growing baby, it takes time for you to gain experience and learn to work better and smarter. Here are the top five ways to learn and improve at the workplace: 

 1. Learn from your past performance: Review and evaluate your performance. What can you learn from it? Have you been doing the right thing at the right time? Have you been effective and efficient? Have you been getting along well with others at the workplace? 

 2. Learn from mistakes: Learn from not only your own mistakes but also learn from the mistakes of others at the workplace. As an example, in an office, if it is working fine, it is a quiet place. When you notice people rushing about and behave in a panicky way you know something is not right. Observe and learn. What mistakes have you committed? What can you learn from it? Making mistakes along the way and learning from these mistakes is a way to grow and work better. Dare to try means dare to make progress.

 3. Learn from others: Seek out those smart people in the office and be humble to learn from them. They have worked longer in the office and they have accumulated vast knowledge and experience to be at their present positions. 

 4. Learn from learning: One of the most important things in your career is doing continuous learning. Change is the byword because of new knowledge and new ways of doing things keep appearing every now and then. Keeping yourself updated is the only way to survive in the corporate world. 

 5. Learn from the success of others and yourself: Do not just notice your shortfalls, find out what you have done right previously. Learn from it and improve upon it and do even better the next time. Observe and learn from those who are successful in the workplace. What are their secrets? What have you learned and how you can apply it to your advantage. Be curious and be alert to the happenings around you. 

Always be interested to learn something new in life. The thirst to learn and know more and the lifelong quest for knowledge will stand you in good stead in the long run.