Getting Exactly What You Want in Life

By Craig Ballantyne

Practice what you preach. Take Action on what you teach. You control your life and your destiny. It will turn out how you design it. And since this is your one and only life — live it right. First, know EXACTLY what you want, and then make the right decisions, right now. Need help figuring that out?

Time-Management Reminder from the Ancients

By Craig Ballantyne

“While we are postponing, life speeds by.” — Seneca Set an alarm for every hour of the day. Each hour ask yourself, "What is the VALUE in this?" Are you arguing, daydreaming, wasting time, or doing something that matters in your life? Make the hours count. this is your one and only life. Make the right decisions, right now.

How to Think Like Einstein

By James Altucher A producer at [well known television show] said to me, “whatever you do — don’t ever ever say ‘I don’t know.’ If you say that, we’ll never ask you back.” Then, thrust into a dark room, mic'ed up, camera pointing at me, the producer in my ear, “anndd…GO!” and six of us arguing about the worst, most obscure issue. “Can the economy pick up an elephant and throw it into the sun?” I don’t know. People ask me, “How can you stay informed if you don’t read or watch the news?" Other people don’t ask. They just say, “And this is what is wrong with society. People like him don’t stay informed. If everyone did that we’d go back to the Dark Ages.” Claudia said to me, “Don’t put ‘I don’t know’ in your articles so much. It sounds false.” I don’t know. We’re so conditioned to read from people who pretend to “know” that we forget the beauty of “I don’t know.” Marie Curie didn’t know why some rocks gave off light. So she discovered radioactivity. The Wright Brothers didn’t know how to fly in the air. So they took the science of riding a bike (a bike is allowed to wobble) and added wings and made a plane. Andy Warhol didn’t know what art would stand out against his peers. So he painted a soup can. Many people don’t know when the baby has consciousness and when it doesn’t. So the past 20 years has seen a massive evolution in brain science. Einstein didn’t know what it would be like for a man traveling at the speed of light, looking at a man standing on Earth. What a weird thing for someone to not know. Einstein also said, “The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious.” The mysterious gave him a simple equation to define all of time and space. That one quote made me research all his other quotes. Not about science, but about all the things we don’t know. When I interview people on a podcast, I never know. I want to know.  These people of such a variety of backgrounds: writers, artists, entrepreneurs, musicians, astronauts, and on and on. I want to get at their secret. To peel back the layers. To grasp a little bit of their heart and feast on it. What was that moment? The moment where they heard the CLICK — where the lock was picked — and they entered that velvet room. The room that always seems hidden from me and I keep looking for it. When I begin a relationship, I don’t know anything — and I’m insecure. I have to learn to be comfortable with not knowing. The layers of a person never end. We each just have to decide when we stop peeling. We’ll never know what’s at the core. How often do we just sit and dwell in not knowing? To be comfortable with not knowing. Scott Adams, the cartoonist of Dilbert, told me he likes to argue both sides of an intense issue. Then both sides hate him (“How can you defend the other side??” each side says). I’m jealous of the people who seem to know. They walk around confident, they smile, they are sure of their opinions. They will die comfortably, wrapped snugly in opinions that carried them from birth to death. After my divorce, I moved back into The Chelsea Hotel in New York City, where I had lived before I got married. The Chelsea is known for its drug dealers, its artists, its hookers, its people who got lost for a moment or a decade and found themselves at its doorsteps just to ride out the storm. Everyone there had a story. But nobody would tell it.  Everybody was up to something. None of it was good. We were all broken. Passing our time enough to get bandaged up again to face the real world. What am I trying to say? I’ve reached for the sun and fallen to the Earth. I tried to know. I tried to shout, “Here I am!” Every day there’s a new question. What can I possibly do to justify why I am alive? Every day a new answer to explore. Is this it? Einstein said, “Curiosity has its own reason for existing.” I don’t know. I don’t know. About the Author: James Altucher is a successful entrepreneur, angel investor, chess master and prolific writer. He has started and run more than 20 companies and is currently invested in over 30. His writing has appeared in major media outlets including the Wall Street Journal, The New York Observer, Tech Crunch, The Financial Times, Yahoo Finance and others. He's followed up his WSJ Bestselling book Choose Yourself with the Rich Employee to share daily practices that can lead you to be rich, without quitting your job.

This November - Step Up Your Game

Hello Friends,

Certainly November is not just here, it is already on its journey out.

It is the 4th day of November 2015 and in 26 days time, it will be gone.

26 days are not in the realm of eternity but a lot could still happen in the remaining days of November.

But that is completely dependent on what you are doing with your time.

What are you engaged in doing?

A Civil Servant (8am to 4pm)

A Public Servant (8am to 6pm)

A Retiree?

A Pensioner?

A Stay-at-home Mum?

A Stay-at-home Dad?

What do you find your hands doing when you are not sleeping?

This November, step up that your game.

This is the 2nd to the last month of the year and money has to be made because December is literally the month of expenditure. So if the money to be spent in December is not made in November, it would not augur well for the festivities.

Have you been earning One kobo all through this year, this November, strive to earn One hundred kobo and there are loads of ways to increase earning whether or not we are employed or unemployed.

Are you employed like I stated above, this November, to step up your game, take out a Plan B action of income stream. If you don't know how to do that, ASK me (that is why I am here for you)

Are you unemployed but employable?, this November, to step up your game, EMPLOY yourself. There are hundreds of ways available now (thank God for the internet) that any young and energetic person can employ him or herself. If you don't know, ASK me. I shall guide you to the genuine sources

Are you unemployed and unemployable?, this November, to step up your game, LEARN a trade or ACQUIRE a skill.

No skill or talent is to be wasted, hone them this November and make a difference in your liquidity value.

And as you do that, I certainly would be expecting you right where you ought to belong - guess where?

Among the CHAMPIONS

Waiting to celebrate you at the end of November 2015

Cheers to a successful step-up program

#DrJTF

Stop Waiting For Government

 On one good day on the 14th of January 1970, the Nigeria - Biafra war came to a physical end (even though the psychological and spiritual wars have been on since then). The man who was presiding over the affairs of Nigeria then - Gowon declared it a "No Victor, no vanquished" war but we all know that it was physically mouthed but ----

Most of the landscapes of Eastern Nigeria were destroyed, her infrastructure especially Schools were leveled to the ground from the actions of the fighter planes used by the other side.

Even though the then Federal Government declared a state of Reconstruction, Rehabilitation and Re-integration of the East to the other parts of Nigeria, but again it was obvious that if it was not Gowon putting on his work clothes to ensure that those three legs were adequately implemented, no one else was willing to do anything about them.

After waiting for a while and with no help or assistance coming from the Federal Government to rehabilitate her battered infrastructure, the people of the South East introduced the Community Self Help Efforts to build for themselves that which the Government failed to build for them and so was born the "Project Launchings" that doted the landscape then and which was a common place thing during festivities especially Christmas in the South East.

Most funds raised from those launchings were used to rehabilitate debilitated Schools or Hospitals or Health Clinics and Centres or used to build Community Halls.

Some were used to even repair damaged roads.

The people of the South East knew that if they waited for the Federal Government of Nigeria to come and rebuild those infrastructure for them, they would be like "waiting for godot"

Those were the good old years of 70s and 80s and even early 90s

Prepare For November - Are You Ready

Just some days ago Buahri stated that "Nigeria is BROKE".

Earlier before that declaration, Osibanjo had stated that "We will not devalue the Naira"; in the same vein Emefiele also said "We are not devaluing the Naira but ..."

These are statements that are pointing to the fact that ALL IS NOT WELL WITH THE NIGERIAN ECONOMY.

And how can all be well with the economy that has over the past 50 years been heavily and majorly dependent on oil? and at the present times, even Countries that are not expected to have oil announcing that they have also found oil at their back yards, making that resource more abundant than ever, and even Countries that used to be at the beck and call of Nigeria's oil are now doing "shakara" and even asking to buy the oil at $20 per barrel?

America is going "oil-less" with extensive research going into finding and exploiting alternative sources of fuel in place of oil.

You need to know that:

*        The Naira is severely under pressure not to hit the N300 per dollar mark

*        About 2 million Ex-Corpers have been added to the labour market, thus increasing the percentage of the unemployed to more than 35%

*        Oil prices have slid to close to $40 per barrel, shattering all the bench marks set for the 2015 budget and even threatening the 2016 budget that is yet to be prepared

*        Inflation has hit a 2-digit all time high of 13%

*        The percentage of Nigerians living below the poverty line has greatly increased to more than 70%

*        There have been massive retrenchments in the Oil and Gas, Banking, Manufacturing and Industrial, Telecom and hospitality Sectors, thus overburdening the already burdened unemployment market

*        In the past 2 quarters, there have been no growth in our economic indices and the Government has even drastically reduced its own economic growth projection from 7.5% to 2.5%

So, November is certainly not going to be easy at all, and the time to prepare for it is NOW - infact Today.

Inspite of these bad news, there is still a piece of good news

Remember the saying that when the going gets tough, the tough gets going?

Well then, this is the time to be the tough and keep going

Prepare for November, don't say I did not tell you

#DrJTF

Happy New Month Friends

It's November, the eleventh month of the year 2015

It has pleased God to bring us into it and for that there is a purpose

In it, He shall

provide for us

sustain us by His Mighty Right Hand

protect us with His Wings

defend us with His Shield

enable us to be that He wants us to be

awaken our cold spirits to His Service

love us like never before

This November, God shall uplift us beyond our expectations

He shall turn His Face to us and brighten our days

He shall not let the sun to smite us in the day time nor the moon in the night

And He shall not let our feet to hit upon any stone

It surely shall be a very joyful, purposeful and fulfilling month

Happy New Month to all my friends

#DrJTF