Tuesday, July 22, 2014
Monday, June 2, 2014
How to Win Friends and Influence People
Fundamental Techniques in Handling People
- Don't criticize, condemn, or complain.
- Give honest and sincere appreciation.
- Arouse in the other person an eager want.
Six Ways to Make People Like You
- Become genuinely interested in other people.
- Smile.
- Remember that a person's name is, to that person, the sweetest and most important sound in any language.
- Be a good listener. Encourage others to talk about themselves.
- Talk in terms of the other person's interest.
- Make the other person feel important – and do it sincerely.
- There is one all-important law of human conduct. If we obey that law, we shall almost never get into trouble. In fact, that law, if obeyed, will bring us countless friends and constant happiness. But the very instant we break the law, we shall get into endless trouble. The law is this: Always make the other person feel important. John Dewey, as we have already noted, said that the desire to be important is the deepest urge in human nature; and William James said: "The deepest principle in human nature is the craving to be appreciated." As I have already pointed out, it is this urge that differentiates us from the animals. It is this urge that has been
responsible for civilization itself. - Chris taught me a lesson I will never forget-our deep desire to feel important. To help me never forget this rule, I made a sign which reads "YOU ARE IMPORTANT." This sign hangs in the front of the classroom for all to see and to remind me that each student I face is equally important.
Twelve Ways to Win People to Your Way of Thinking
- The only way to get the best of an argument is to avoid it.
- Show respect for the other person's opinions. Never say "You're Wrong."
- If you're wrong, admit it quickly and emphatically.
- Begin in a friendly way.
- Start with questions to which the other person will answer yes.
- Let the other person do a great deal of the talking.
- Let the other person feel the idea is his or hers.
- Try honestly to see things from the other person's point of view.
- Be sympathetic with the other person's ideas and desires.
- Appeal to the nobler motives.
- Dramatize your ideas.
- Throw down a challenge.
Be a Leader: How to Change People Without Giving Offense or Arousing Resentment
- Begin with praise and honest appreciation.
- Call attention to people's mistakes indirectly.
- Talk about your own mistakes before criticizing the other person.
- Ask questions instead of giving direct orders.
- Let the other person save face.
- Praise every improvement.
- Give the other person a fine reputation to live up to.
- Use encouragement. Make the fault seem easy to correct.
- Make the other person happy about doing what you suggest.
Letters That Produced Miraculous Results
This section was included in the original 1936 edition but omitted from the revised 1981 edition.
- In this chapter, the shortest in the book, Carnegie analyzes two letters and describes how to appeal to someone's vanity with the term "do me a favor" as opposed to directly asking for something which does not offer the same feeling of importance to the recipient of the request.
Seven Rules For Making Your Home Life Happier
This section was included in the original 1936 edition but omitted from the revised 1981 edition.
- Don't nag.
- Don't try to make your partner over.
- Don't criticize.
- Give honest appreciation.
- Pay little attentions.
- Be courteous.
- Read a good book on the sexual side of marriage.
Saturday, May 24, 2014
Thursday, May 1, 2014
19 Things The Millionaire Next Door Won't Tell You
Although having a million bucks isn’t as impressive as it once was, it’s still nothing to sneeze at.
In fact, Reuters reports that in 2009 there are 7.8 million millionaires in the United States. That’s a lot of people and the odds are one or two of them are living near you.
Heck, one of them might even be your neighbor. In fact, the odds are very good that it is your neighbor.
But, Len, you don’t know my neighbor. That guy doesn’t look anything like a millionaire.
Well, guess what? A millionaire who is truly financially savvy won't be easily recognizable.
1. He always spends less than he earns. In fact his mantra is, over the long run, you’re better off if you strive to be anonymously rich rather than deceptively poor.
2. He knows that patience is a virtue. The odds are you won’t become a millionaire overnight. If you’re like him, your wealth will be accumulated gradually by diligently saving your money over multiple decades.
3. When you go to his modest three-bed two-bath house, you’re going to be drinking Folgers instead of Starbucks. And if you need a lift, well, you’re going to get a ride in his ten-year-old economy sedan. And if you think that makes him cheap, ask him if he cares. (He doesn’t.)
4. He pays off his credit cards in full every month. He’s smart enough to understand that if he can’t afford to pay cash for something, then he can’t afford it.
5. He realized early on that money does not buy happiness. If you’re looking for nirvana, you need to focus on attaining financial freedom.
6. He never forgets that financial freedom is a state of mind that comes from being debt free. Best of all, it can be attained regardless of your income level.
7. He knows that getting a second job not only increases the size of your bank account quicker but it also keeps you busy – and being busy makes it difficult to spend what you already have.
8. He understands that money is like a toddler; it is incapable of managing itself. After all, you can’t expect your money to grow and mature as it should without some form of credible money management.
9. He’s a big believer in paying yourself first. Paying yourself first is an essential tenet of personal finance and a great way to build your savings and instill financial discipline.
10. Although it’s possible to get rich if you spend your life making a living doing something you don’t enjoy, he wonders why you do. Life is too short.
11. He knows that failing to plan is the same as planning to fail. He also knows that the few millionaires that reached that milestone without a plan got there only because of dumb luck. It’s not enough to simply declare that you want to be financially free.
12. When it came time to set his savings goals, he wasn’t afraid to think big. Financial success demands that you have a vision that is significantly larger than you can currently deliver upon.
13. Over time, he found out that hard work can often help make up for a lot of financial mistakes – and you will make financial mistakes.
14. He realizes that stuff happens, that’s why you’re a fool if you don’t insure yourself against risk. Remember that the potential for bankruptcy is always just around the corner and can be triggered from multiple sources: the death of the family’s key bread winner, divorce, or disability that leads to a loss of work.
15. He understands that time is an ally of the young. He was fortunate enough to begin saving in his twenties so he could take maximum advantage of the power of compounding interest on his nest egg.
16. He knows that you can’t spend what you don’t see. You should use automatic paycheck deductions to build up your retirement and other savings accounts. As your salary increases you can painlessly increase the size of those deductions.
17. Even though he has a job that he loves, he doesn’t have to work anymore because everything he owns is paid for – and has been for years.
18. He’s not impressed that you drive an over-priced luxury car and live in a McMansion that’s two sizes too big for your family of four.
19. After six months of asking, he finally quit waiting for you to return his pruning shears. He broke down and bought himself a new pair last month. There’s no hard feelings though; he can afford it.
So that’s it. Now you know what your millionaire neighbor won’t tell you.
In fact, Reuters reports that in 2009 there are 7.8 million millionaires in the United States. That’s a lot of people and the odds are one or two of them are living near you.
Heck, one of them might even be your neighbor. In fact, the odds are very good that it is your neighbor.
But, Len, you don’t know my neighbor. That guy doesn’t look anything like a millionaire.
Well, guess what? A millionaire who is truly financially savvy won't be easily recognizable.
1. He always spends less than he earns. In fact his mantra is, over the long run, you’re better off if you strive to be anonymously rich rather than deceptively poor.
2. He knows that patience is a virtue. The odds are you won’t become a millionaire overnight. If you’re like him, your wealth will be accumulated gradually by diligently saving your money over multiple decades.
3. When you go to his modest three-bed two-bath house, you’re going to be drinking Folgers instead of Starbucks. And if you need a lift, well, you’re going to get a ride in his ten-year-old economy sedan. And if you think that makes him cheap, ask him if he cares. (He doesn’t.)
4. He pays off his credit cards in full every month. He’s smart enough to understand that if he can’t afford to pay cash for something, then he can’t afford it.
5. He realized early on that money does not buy happiness. If you’re looking for nirvana, you need to focus on attaining financial freedom.
6. He never forgets that financial freedom is a state of mind that comes from being debt free. Best of all, it can be attained regardless of your income level.
7. He knows that getting a second job not only increases the size of your bank account quicker but it also keeps you busy – and being busy makes it difficult to spend what you already have.
8. He understands that money is like a toddler; it is incapable of managing itself. After all, you can’t expect your money to grow and mature as it should without some form of credible money management.
9. He’s a big believer in paying yourself first. Paying yourself first is an essential tenet of personal finance and a great way to build your savings and instill financial discipline.
10. Although it’s possible to get rich if you spend your life making a living doing something you don’t enjoy, he wonders why you do. Life is too short.
11. He knows that failing to plan is the same as planning to fail. He also knows that the few millionaires that reached that milestone without a plan got there only because of dumb luck. It’s not enough to simply declare that you want to be financially free.
12. When it came time to set his savings goals, he wasn’t afraid to think big. Financial success demands that you have a vision that is significantly larger than you can currently deliver upon.
13. Over time, he found out that hard work can often help make up for a lot of financial mistakes – and you will make financial mistakes.
14. He realizes that stuff happens, that’s why you’re a fool if you don’t insure yourself against risk. Remember that the potential for bankruptcy is always just around the corner and can be triggered from multiple sources: the death of the family’s key bread winner, divorce, or disability that leads to a loss of work.
15. He understands that time is an ally of the young. He was fortunate enough to begin saving in his twenties so he could take maximum advantage of the power of compounding interest on his nest egg.
16. He knows that you can’t spend what you don’t see. You should use automatic paycheck deductions to build up your retirement and other savings accounts. As your salary increases you can painlessly increase the size of those deductions.
17. Even though he has a job that he loves, he doesn’t have to work anymore because everything he owns is paid for – and has been for years.
18. He’s not impressed that you drive an over-priced luxury car and live in a McMansion that’s two sizes too big for your family of four.
19. After six months of asking, he finally quit waiting for you to return his pruning shears. He broke down and bought himself a new pair last month. There’s no hard feelings though; he can afford it.
So that’s it. Now you know what your millionaire neighbor won’t tell you.
Monday, April 21, 2014
Here's The Only Way To Get Really, Really Rich
Want to be remarkably successful? Want to get really rich? (While there are many ways to feel "rich," in this case we're talking about monetary wealth.) Then check out this little gem of an investment opportunity.
It's a simple investment. You only have to invest almost all of your money. On the upside, after a year you might earn 3 percent more. The downside? Any day you could lose it all, for reasons usually outside your control and that you will almost never see coming.
Would you make that investment? Of course not.
Yet millions of people do — every day they go to work for someone else.
Of course the analogy isn't perfect. Until you're laid off or fired you do earn a salary. But when you work for someone else, your upside is always capped — sure, you might occasionally get a raise, but in most cases 3 to 4 percent is the best you can expect.
Yet your downside is always unlimited because getting fired or laid off can make your income disappear overnight — and with it the considerable investments you've made in time, effort, dedication, and sacrifice.
Extremely limited upside. Unlimited downside.
That's a terrible investment.
The IRS Statistics of Income Division, a place where fun surely goes to die, has published "400 Individual Tax Returns Reporting the Largest Adjusted Gross Incomes Each Year, 1992-2009," or in non government-speak, "400 People Who Earned a Freaking Boatload of Money."
In 2009, it took $77.4 million in adjusted gross income to crack the top 400. (That just barely got you in; the average income of everyone on the list was $202.4 million.)
Where it gets interesting is how the top 400 made their money:
Clearly getting really rich in financial terms is the result of investing in yourself and others, of taking risks, of doing hundreds of small things right...and then doing one or two big things really right.
But what if you don't get one or two big things really right? There's another way to get really rich.
But when we talk about the life of an entrepreneur, about how it feels to be an entrepreneur, they all light up. They start to gush about the challenges, the responsibility, the sense of mission, the sense of purpose, the sense of fulfillment and excitement of working with and for a real team, the amazing feelings of empowerment and the control over their own destinies....
It happens every time.
The bootstrappers with infinite dreams and negligible revenues light up.
The successful entrepreneurs such as Joel Gascoigne, who helped expand Buffer from a personal project into a business with a talented team with real revenues, light up.
The hugely successful entrepreneurs such as Scott Dorsey, who helped steer ExactTarget out of a garage, into an IPO, and then into an acquisition by SalesForce.com, light up.
Every entrepreneur lights up when we talk about being an entrepreneur because they feelalive: free to chart their own courses, to make their own decisions, to make their own mistakes — to let the sky be the limit not just financially but also (and almost always more importantly) personally, too.
And in that way, regardless of financial return, they feel really rich. And they are really rich — regardless of income or wealth.
There's no reason not to. You don't have to quit your job right away; in fact, you probably shouldn't. (One of the best ways to minimize your risk is to keep your full-time job while you build your foundation for success.) Plus the basics of starting a business are easy; you can do it in one day.
The downside for entrepreneurs is also unlimited — but in return, they enjoy the possibility of an unlimited financial upside and an unlimited personal upside.
Take a chance on yourself. Try to get really, really rich. Maybe you'll only become really rich.
One out of two is still awesome — and you will have achieved it on your terms.
If your friends and family think you were crazy for starting a business, show them this article. If you've been thinking about starting a business and people say you're being foolish, show them this article.
If the people around you don't understand how personally fulfilling taking a chance on yourself can be, have them check this out.
And then get started on your entrepreneurial journey, even in the smallest and safest way. Every step you take will bring you closer to becoming at the very least really rich — and maybe, just maybe, really, really rich — and will let you join a group of people who live their lives their way, on their own terms.
Who are those people?
Entrepreneurs. Be one.
It's the best investment you can make — because it means you're investing in yourself.
It's a simple investment. You only have to invest almost all of your money. On the upside, after a year you might earn 3 percent more. The downside? Any day you could lose it all, for reasons usually outside your control and that you will almost never see coming.
Would you make that investment? Of course not.
Yet millions of people do — every day they go to work for someone else.
Of course the analogy isn't perfect. Until you're laid off or fired you do earn a salary. But when you work for someone else, your upside is always capped — sure, you might occasionally get a raise, but in most cases 3 to 4 percent is the best you can expect.
Yet your downside is always unlimited because getting fired or laid off can make your income disappear overnight — and with it the considerable investments you've made in time, effort, dedication, and sacrifice.
Extremely limited upside. Unlimited downside.
That's a terrible investment.
Rich in Wealth
So if you hope to get really rich, working for someone else will never get you there. But don't just take my word for it, the government agrees.The IRS Statistics of Income Division, a place where fun surely goes to die, has published "400 Individual Tax Returns Reporting the Largest Adjusted Gross Incomes Each Year, 1992-2009," or in non government-speak, "400 People Who Earned a Freaking Boatload of Money."
In 2009, it took $77.4 million in adjusted gross income to crack the top 400. (That just barely got you in; the average income of everyone on the list was $202.4 million.)
Where it gets interesting is how the top 400 made their money:
- Wages and salaries: 8.6 percent
- Interest: 6.6 percent
- Dividends: 13 percent
- Partnerships and corporations: 19.9 percent
- Capital gains: 45.8 percent
- Working for a salary won't make you really rich.
- Making only safe "income" investments won't make you really rich.
- Investing only in stock of large companies won't make you really rich.
- Owning a business or businesses could not only build a solid foundation of wealth but could someday...
- Generate a huge financial windfall — and make you really rich.
Clearly getting really rich in financial terms is the result of investing in yourself and others, of taking risks, of doing hundreds of small things right...and then doing one or two big things really right.
But what if you don't get one or two big things really right? There's another way to get really rich.
Rich in Life
I've spoken to hundreds of entrepreneurs, and each and every one does the same thing. When we talk about the financial side of being an entrepreneur — exit strategies, revenues, IPOs, cashing out — they're interested but far from animated.But when we talk about the life of an entrepreneur, about how it feels to be an entrepreneur, they all light up. They start to gush about the challenges, the responsibility, the sense of mission, the sense of purpose, the sense of fulfillment and excitement of working with and for a real team, the amazing feelings of empowerment and the control over their own destinies....
It happens every time.
The bootstrappers with infinite dreams and negligible revenues light up.
The successful entrepreneurs such as Joel Gascoigne, who helped expand Buffer from a personal project into a business with a talented team with real revenues, light up.
The hugely successful entrepreneurs such as Scott Dorsey, who helped steer ExactTarget out of a garage, into an IPO, and then into an acquisition by SalesForce.com, light up.
Every entrepreneur lights up when we talk about being an entrepreneur because they feelalive: free to chart their own courses, to make their own decisions, to make their own mistakes — to let the sky be the limit not just financially but also (and almost always more importantly) personally, too.
And in that way, regardless of financial return, they feel really rich. And they are really rich — regardless of income or wealth.
Really, Really Rich
That's why the only way to become really rich financially and really rich personally — in other words really, really rich — is to start your own business. Even if it's just on the side. Even if it's just a slightly stepped-up hobby.There's no reason not to. You don't have to quit your job right away; in fact, you probably shouldn't. (One of the best ways to minimize your risk is to keep your full-time job while you build your foundation for success.) Plus the basics of starting a business are easy; you can do it in one day.
Here's the deal.
In return for less freedom, less control, and less fulfillment, every day you go to work for someone else your upside is always capped and your downside is always unlimited.The downside for entrepreneurs is also unlimited — but in return, they enjoy the possibility of an unlimited financial upside and an unlimited personal upside.
Take a chance on yourself. Try to get really, really rich. Maybe you'll only become really rich.
One out of two is still awesome — and you will have achieved it on your terms.
If your friends and family think you were crazy for starting a business, show them this article. If you've been thinking about starting a business and people say you're being foolish, show them this article.
If the people around you don't understand how personally fulfilling taking a chance on yourself can be, have them check this out.
And then get started on your entrepreneurial journey, even in the smallest and safest way. Every step you take will bring you closer to becoming at the very least really rich — and maybe, just maybe, really, really rich — and will let you join a group of people who live their lives their way, on their own terms.
Who are those people?
Entrepreneurs. Be one.
It's the best investment you can make — because it means you're investing in yourself.
Saturday, April 12, 2014
Tuesday, February 25, 2014
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