THURSDAY, 4 JANUARY 2018
The book I’m currently reading – Harv Eker’s Secrets of the Millionaire Mind, and the few I finished recently – Robert Kiyosaki’s Rich Dad, Poor Dad, Scott Adams’s How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big, and Mark Douglas’s Trading In the Zone – presuppose two things, and expect of you to accept these two things if you want to lead a better life:
1) People have the ability to create an environment where certain (positive) results will be more probable, and
2) people are not only programmable animals, you can program yourself to abandon certain ways of thinking, to replace certain habits with better habits, and to replace certain beliefs with other beliefs that will enable you to achieve better results, and just maybe end up leading a happier and more productive life.
TUESDAY, 23 JANUARY 2018
When I write, translate, or edit a piece, I’m in my comfort zone. When I have to read it one last time and publish it, I’m uncomfortable, and I want to postpone this final step.
When I do research for a product, I’m in my comfort zone. When I have to produce the product, I’m still in my comfort zone. When I have to take the product to the market to sell it, I’m not in my comfort zone.
When I had to research affiliate marketing many years ago, I was in my comfort zone. When I had to write product reviews and beckon people closer to read my reviews, I was not in my comfort zone.
When I have to learn about currency trading, I’m in my comfort zone. When I need to enter live trades and monitor them, I’m not in my comfort zone.
I think it’s pretty accurate to say that there is limited money in my comfort zone, and that there is no restriction on the amount of money that can end up in my bank account if I can manage to venture outside my comfort zone.
* * *
As I was jotting down the above-mentioned thoughts, I remembered a piece I wrote in 2007 entitled “Expanding your comfort zone” (a reminder of my tendency to want to lecture other people while occasionally failing to do the right thing myself):
“What you need, is to EXPAND your comfort zone. Start doing things differently. Take new actions, even if they are strange at the beginning, and even though you stare back at your comfort zone like a child staring back at his mother on the first day of school.
But as you take these first steps, imagine becoming comfortable taking them. As you talk to new people, or do new things, or start running with new ideas, imagine these actions becoming PART of your comfort zone. Imagine a day when all those wolves that now roam outside your cosy circle run beside you like protectors, like part of your inner circle.
Isn’t that the more natural thing to do?”
* * *
One of the ideas in the Harv Eker book that I like is that getting rich is not just about making a lot of money. It is primarily about becoming the person you need to be in character, personality and outlook on life. He believes the fastest way to get rich and stay rich is to improve yourself: “The idea is to grow yourself into a ‘successful’ person.”
TUESDAY, 6 FEBRUARY 2018
21:54
I crave my comfort zone. That’s why I easily sneak back to where I’m comfortable. I quietly ignore what I have to do outside of my comfort zone.
23:09
What I’m trying to say is: The way I work is still inadequate. From time to time, I’ll do things outside my comfort zone, but instead of broadening this area with repeat actions, I quietly sneak back to the old boundaries of my comfort zone.
What I need is a system where you repeatedly take actions that are initially uncomfortable, for at least a few weeks, until the limits of your comfort zone have actually been moved. (It’s as if there is an agent inside my head that would say, “He wants to move the boundaries of his comfort zone again. If everyone stays calm and work together, it’ll be over within a week or two. Don’t kick up too much fuss if he wants to do something strange. Say: ‘Oh, yeah, that’s great, let’s do it!’ or something. As I say, everything will be back to normal soon.”)
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