precis of acumen - volume one

7/28/2019 Precis of Acumen - Volume One

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Prcis of Acumen

Volume One

Efrem


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Prcis of Acumen - Volume One E-Book Edition

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About the Author Efrem was born in southeast Georgia,very close to historic Jekyll Island in thecity of Savannah. His family andheritage is from the Creek Indians of South Georgia. He is a self taughtindividual, freeman, teacher, researcher,artist, speaker, thinker and businessman.He has traveled the world and lived in

North America, South America, Europe,the UK and the Caribbean. After highschool, he became a temporary substituteteacher while studying ElectronicsEngineering in Atlanta Georgia. He was

quickly moved to permanent status as a human anatomy and physiologyteacher at the age of nineteen making him the youngest teacher in the statesystem at that time. He was eventually kicked out of college for having adeclining GPA, so he stopped teaching, partnered with an old workmate

and together they opened an electronics repair store in Decatur. After afew months, he got a $500 loan from a client and began buying out his

partners share in the business. Within 3 months, Efrem was the soleowner of what would become known as Ampville Car Audio servicecenter. Within a year, he expanded the company, landed major contractsand grew to have 18 stores nationwide. Interestingly, he later hired manyof his classmates who finished with the Electronics Engineering degree henever got. He went from college kick-out to successful entrepreneur in just

a few years. Next, he moved into venture capital and businessdevelopment and raised $1.2Million on his first deal. He invested overseasand became heavily involved in the entertainment and culture creationareas. Introduced to the music business by the late Lisa Lefteye Lopes attwenty-one years old, he is still active in that industry today. Efrem haslearned from vast experiences, successful mentors and avid reading. Hespeaks four languages while currently learning two more. He is theFounder and Director of an Offshore Business Development firm, which heactively manages along with his personal and educational developmentfrom his current home in South America.


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Table of ContentsDedication.......5

Acknowledgement......6

Introduction.........8

Definitions.........12

"The Activity of Success" flow chart.13

Principle 1 .....14 Educate, then entertain

Maximize your mind Principle 2 .....25 Learning is forever

The learning process Principle 3 .....40

People who fear failure avoid success Stop running away

Principle 4 .51 You are only bigger than what you face

The warrior mindset Principle 5 .57

Money viewpoint equals money standpoint The money myths

Principle 6 .....82Stop working hard, start working smart

Change your game


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Principle 7 .....91

Do not complain, gain control Moved to action

A word from the author.....98

Quotes...99


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Dedication

To my unborn children, their offspring, my great grandchildrenand family in hopes that they may one day remember me and gain

from what I have learned in my early years.

To Neah, the woman who will give birth to my children and withme build and educate the heirs to our legacy.

Yours truly and always Efrem


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Acknowledgements

This opus, my first ever, was started at the age of twenty-three in 1997, and ninety percent done at theage of twenty-five. The last ten percent and editing for

publication was done in 2008. It was intended to beshort and intense. This book is filled with wisdom and

made to push readers to think for themselves, whilelearning as much as possible in life. I would never have been able to pen these words if it had not been for some very special people that I must recognize.People, who have helped to teach, mold, guide and

push me to higher levels in life.Harriette Annette Mason, you raised me to be

extra-ordinary, cared for me and showed me true love.You prayed dangerous prayers, reminded me of whoseI am, supported me to no end, and told me how proud Imake you. My life started with you and the legacy yougave birth to will affect the world forever. I ameternally grateful for you.

Allen Albury, spiritual father, mentor, motivator and teacher. Thank you for being the example that Ineeded during those crucial years. Leading byexample so that reading would become natural to me.Being like you was cool to me even though it hadme walking through high school in slacks and a rayonshirt while carrying a briefcase. Even with a low GPAI was voted most likely to succeed. What emanatedfrom me was not containable by a standardized


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Hegelian educational system. I was being taught from

that small 20x35 while others were wasting time.Your selflessness has earned you a permanent place inmy heart and life.

Barrett Dungy for believing in this little country boy enough to put money in my hand, I will alwaysappreciate your guidance, vision and wisdom.

Sidney, you never saw my willingness to growand hunger to expand as a threat. Thanks for showingme how to work with a real organized businessmindset and teaching me so much about car audio.

Lisa Left Eye Lopes for being my first celebritycustomer and opening some new doors for me. I never thought that a stereo system for your cousin wouldlead me into the world that I ended up entering, RIP.

Marquez, you produced a song about not chasingthem but now I live with a waterfall in my back yard.Thanks for the hustle, support and believing in me.Glad to help that wedding ring appear on that dove atyour wedding.

Brian Ingram, Clint, Zay, Tai, Umar, WilliamLeecan, Yolanda, Drastic, S. Frye, Deneen, Billy (yea Isaid it!), Nanny, Grandma Nettie, PopPop, EddieLong, Edward McKnight, Cassius Stuart, WentworthMusgrove. All my friends who have passed, my other family and friends, and anyone I missed, thank you.


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Introduction

It amazes me that in life everyone has a want or need to "do something," yet so few know andunderstand "what" is necessary to do that "something".This is true for any activity under the sun. It doesn'tmatter if you want to play a sport, increase your

intelligence, or become a teacher. Each of theseactivities requires that you have information aboutthem to successfully do them. This also applies towhat I call, "The Activity of Success."

I have heard success described in manydifferent ways. Unfortunately, many of thesedescriptions were not relevant to the bottom linemeaning of success. Western culture teaches us thatwhat you own is the measure of success. I do notwant to focus on what you own, but rather what ownsyou. What you drive does not mean as much as whatdrives you. Do you spend as much time investing inyourself as you spend in monetary investmentvehicles? The perspective we want to look from flowslike this:

Seed Plant Tree Fruit More Seed

The planting of the new seeds obtained from thefruit of old trees will create more new trees with morenew fruit that have more new seeds. If we arecompletely honest with ourselves, most of us measure


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someones success by looking at his or her fruit.

Fruit can tell you what type of tree you are looking at but not always the history and story behind the tree.We all like to see, touch, and taste fruit, but what aboutthe growth process. Is that something we like asmuch?

This book is a perspective on success that willmove you to think about that growth process ; not justdream of and observe success. In the end, if you cangrasp and activate that process, your own personalsuccess is inevitable. Many books, courses, workshopsand speakers simply give you a glimpse of someoneelse's success; they do not equip you with the toolsnecessary for your personal success. This book will

break that trend.

There are four points about success that I want you toconsider as you read:

1. Success is Relative2. Success is Continuous3. Success is not Obvious4. Success is not the opposite of Failure

Honestly ask yourself what is success to me?After you answer that question, I want you to write

down your "definition" of success and put it on a pieceof paper that you can use as a bookmark. We will

probe through success principles that you may have


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heard for the first time. Hopefully you will begin to

apply what you learn the moment it becomes clear toyou. I say this because I was taught there are twoactions that are extremely dangerous to growth:

1. Procrastinating on knowledge, and2. Rejecting knowledge

I admonish you to consider that you will be heldaccountable for what you know in one way or another.Once you have learned new information there is noturning back, you must act on your knowledge or suffer the consequences. If you want to succeed youmust do the things that make you successful.

The success of this book lies solely on thedifference that it makes in your life. I know first handthat it is a common practice in the lives of many

people to be successful failures. Whether you areaware or unaware of it, life does not compensate for your level of ignorance by making success easier; youwill reap what you sow. Some have invested their energies well and mastered specific areas while others

just dream of doing so.Those who "dream" and never "wake up and

learn," will never see real results. Many people gawk at the fruit of others labor, but seldom seem to see the

blood, sweat and tears that got them there. There is adistinct discipline that is a part of the life of asuccessful person. And whether you are successful in


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your finances, in your family life, in your scholastic

endeavors or even planting a garden. Being successfulrequires a discipline that guides and directs your thoughts and actions, and ultimately affects the resultsyou see. Nothing plus nothing equals nothing; if you

put nothing in, you will get nothing in return.Do not fool yourself my friend, I have fooled

myself in the past and it is not fun. Fooling yourself isa trap that will stop "The Activity of Success." Everything will produce after its own kind. If you arean apple tree, then you should see apples. If you are anapple tree and you see oranges instead, there is a

problem. Just like trees bear fruit, successful habits produce successful results. Let us strive to be a greatlysuccessful in life by developing the habits necessary tosucceed. I hope to share some of what I have learnedin my few years and will be sure to update my growth,findings and experience in each coming decade withthe release of additional volumes to my Prcis of Acumen.


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Definitions

prcis pr s; prs noun

a summary or abstract of a text or speech.synopsis, rsum, abstract, outline

acumen kyomn; aky- noun

the ability to make good judgments andquick decisions, typically in a particulardomain.

judgment, understanding, awareness, sense, commonsense, discernment, wisdom


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"The Activity of Success"

Information

Knowledge

Understandin

WISDOM

Information enters brain through the

senses

Reviewing Info Thinking about Info Regurgitating Info Conceptualizing Info

Work Mistakes Attempted Ventures Ex eriences

Decide to Apply

Decide toStudy

Decide to Learn

Learning

Studying

Application


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Principle 1


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Principle 1

Educate, then entertain-Maximize your mind

There is a very popular phrase that serves as aslogan for the United Negro College Fund. It is

penned, "A mind is a terrible thing to waste." Iinitially heard this slogan years ago, yet it still remainsengrafted in my mind because of intense marketing.This slogan was attached to a television commercial inan effort to motivate individuals to donate money tothe UNCF. The commercials had compelling scenesthat portrayed young, Black individuals who hadeverything it takes to go to college, except for themoney to pay for college.

To be honest, if you had any compassion in your heart for what you saw, the commercials would moveyou to give, even if you did not have the money to doso. Besides, they were not asking for a handout, just ahand. I was very young when these commercialsinitially aired. Though I had pocket change, and adesire to give, I never did. I did not think that my oneor two dollars would make a difference. The moneythat was sent in to the UNCF was to be used to assistin paying college expenses for students who could not

pay for it themselves. For some reason, I do not

believe that many people who heard the slogan trulyunderstood the point it implied.


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My understanding of the phrase is this: if a person

does not get a college education, then their mind would be wasted. The money was just a means to get theeducation. To some extent I can see truth in that.Consider this statement, "If a person does notcontinually educate themselves, the potential of their mind is not maximized."

Now the only way I can figure to "waste" your mind is to totally reject knowledge and decide you willnot learn another thing in your life. All you have to dois stare at the ceiling, never to speak or think again. To

be an individual who does not consistently learn ismore of a waste of time, than a waste of mind . Nomatter the market value of precious metals like gold or

platinum, time is the most precious commodityavailable. Additionally, time is the only commoditythat when lost, cannot be recovered or restored.

Losing time is comparable to death. Withoutsupernatural intervention, the loss of time isirreversible. Yet we are so apt to let time pass, to"shoot the breeze," "hang out," be lazy, etc. Thismindset of time wasting frightens me. If you do notvalue time, try talking to someone who has a scheduledappointment with death. (Death row inmate, a terminalillness patient, etc.) They cringe at the way most

people let time pass away unaccounted for.

This trend of "wasting time" is more prevalentnow than it has ever been in history. We have gadgetsand technologies that are supposed to help us save time


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yet they seem to help us consume more time. The

question that arises here is not one of saving or consumption, but it is one of activity.What activities are you engaging in during your

"saved" or "consumed" time? If it is not The Activityof Success my friend, it is still a waste. I have heardthe slogan, "The only difference between rich, middle-class, and poor people is what they do with their time."Remember everyone has the same 24 hours in a day;some people maximize those hours better than others.

Just yesterday I had an appointment with a friendwho was coming to Atlanta to perform in a concert.He called me a few days early to let me know that hewas coming to town. He only told me the name of thearea of town where the concert would be held. On mymap software, I pulled up a map of the town. Keep inmind though, I did not know specifically where theconcert was and it was at least a 40-minute drive to thetown.

Now being the efficient man that I try to be (ha-ha), I knew that I could not just drive out there withhopes to find the show, and my attempts to reach himon his cell phone were not successful. Opting not togo, I decided to catch him next time. If I would havegone, I could have easily wasted two hours of my time.This would have been time that I would have never

seen again in life. I was in the introductory stages of some new business deals among other projects, so Ididnt have that luxury.


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Actually time wasting can never be a luxury. I

was willing to sacrifice my time and attend the concertif I had known where it was. Attending however would have meant cutting some sleep to keep my usualnumber of active hours. When people are your friendsthose are things that you do for their sake. On a sidenote, remember that maintaining good relationships isa part of being successful.

Life in essence comes down to a competition for your time and attention. As competitive as some of usare, this is a competition we usually lose every time.Who really controls what you do from 7pm - 10pm,you or the television? Who or what dictates theamount of time you devote to various activities. Idiscovered a short time ago that I was committing toomuch time to "worthless" television programs. I was astagnant viewer of junk TV.

There was absolutely no intellectual, spiritual,financial, or emotional growth in my life. I might aswell have been a corpse. Physical death is the absenceof physical growth, progress and the vital signsnecessary to sustain life. The same is true with your mind. If you lack the growth and progress necessaryto sustain mental growth then you are in a state of mental death.

I saw the same trend in a young boy I know. He

was eight years old at the time and knew the day andtime of all his favorite entertainment shows, yet, notsome of the most foundational principles of life that


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keep us healthy, intelligent and strong. So for both his

sake and mine I decided that it was time to consciouslychoose to educate myself before I entertain myself.If you want to see a difference in your life, change

is inevitable. Please do not believe that you can do thesame things and expect different results, you will only

be fooling yourself.

T HE C ONSCIOUS AND SUBCONSCIOUS MIND I want to speak about the part of your mind where

life changes take place. Based on my studies of thespace between our ears I discovered that for anyconsistent change to occur our subconscious mindmust be reprogrammed. Consider that your mind is acomputer, there are two areas of memory your computer has. Similar to the hard drive of a computer,your sub-conscious mind holds all the "final"commands on how you will conduct your self. Your conscious mind is simply the RAM of your computer;it will not provide you with any permanent change,only temporary adjustment. In order to change your habits you must reprogram your "hard drive."

It was not until I hated ignorance and mediocritythat I consciously decided to change my hard drive. Idid not change my RAM; I "decided" to change myhard drive. You must understand that the only power

your conscious really has is to make the decision tochange. After that decision is made you must gain


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access to the memory of the hard drive and change

what it thinks.I grew up as a very active and hyper boy, alwaysunderweight. I had never had a problem with my size,except for being too small. It wasnt until I started my

business and began to make huge sums of money that I begin to take in more food than I burned off on a daily basis. It was not unusual for me to eat out at expensiveseafood and fine dish restaurants 6 days a week. For some time I was spending at least thirty dollars anevening for dinner alone. And when I was dating thatwould jump to sixty or seventy dollars a night.

After some time, the extra fat and calories startedto show on my body. I gradually got larger until itstarted to bother me. I never became obese, justconsiderably larger that I needed to be. My clothes didnot fit the same and I stared noticing the emergence of a "gut." So I consciously tried to change myself, first

by dieting, which is not a healthy way of loosingweight, secondly, by exercise, in my case doneimproperly. All of my multiple efforts ended in meremaining the same.

That is when I begin to understand, if I want tochange I need to educate myself on how to do so. Yousee, educational programming is what erases your oldsubconscious mind and reprograms it. It was what I

did not know that was keeping me locked into thatweight. And after getting up to 305lbs I decided it wastime to "learn" how to totally transform my physique.


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After learning how to loose weight I committed to and

applied the principles and I went from 305lbs to225lbs.I saw results because I learned , studied to get an

understanding, and applied what I understood. Theresult was a man who was 6'2" 225lbs, soon to be215lbs and feeling great. However, this is only

possible because I reprogrammed my subconsciousmind by educating myself. Remember ignorance canonly reign where knowledge is absent. Stop all of theentertaining of your mind and begin to educate your mind if you want to see a change in your life.Hopefully this book will help you reprogram your subconscious mind about success.

E DUTAINMENT , A GOOD ALTERNATIVE I do not expect you to find yourself banning your

eyes from the TV for the rest of your life. However Ido expect you to begin to recognize the value of your time and what you do with that time. All things should

be done in balance, including entertainment andeducation.

It can become very frustrating for some people totry to study all the time. As a matter of fact it candrive them crazy. I do not recommend that you forceyourself into an insane asylum just to learn "all the

time." This can begin to get tedious and boring andmake you loose interest in learning at all. Paceyourself and use tools that make learning fun. For


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example there are many educational games that blend

education and entertainment. One of these games is byone of my favorite authors, Robert Kiyosaki ; it iscalled CASHFLOW 101 . For those of you who lack Financial Literacy, this is a must have, especially if you plan on leading a successful financial life. Itteaches you what most people lack, how to understandmoney and numbers. It is important that you are not

just "word" literate but "numbers" literate.Other things include TV shows and videos that

actually teach you something, not just consume your precious time with a plot or story line. Do notmisunderstand me, I am not saying do not look atmovies with plots and story lines. However, even if you have a secure, happy life, with no debt, hundredsof millions of dollars in "real assets", a loving family,and a spiritual foundation, you have not arrived.Learning is forever; even with those things you have

just scratched the surface.Furthermore, if you are not operating in the

capacity of helping others to achieve the same in their lives you do not have much time to waste at all.


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Principle One Conclusions

PRINCIPLE EDUCATE , THEN ENTERTAIN

POINTS THE CONSCIOUS AND SUBCONSCIOUS MIND EDUTAINMENT , A GOOD ALTERNATIVE

SUMMARY The value of information in this day and age is

tremendous; the value we place on entertainmentseems to be even greater. Misused time alwaysnegatively contributes to an individual's position in lifesolely because time can never be regained. If growthis not occurring every moment of every day then that isgrowth that is being delayed, thus resulting in a lesser

position in life over time. Imagine if you knew tenyears ago what you know now. Where would you be?Where would your family be? Could you be moreeffective than you are now? Yes, if you decide toapply what you learn and convert what you know intowisdom.

Can you go back? Of course not, but you canchange the present and future by what you decide to dowith your time right now. You are reading this book so you are on track, but do not allow it to stop there.Decide in your conscious mind to change andreprogram your sub-conscious mind through


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education. Remember education is not necessarily a

process of going to college to get another degree, but a process of growth and learning. Understanding thiswill propel you into the next principle. Use your timewisely and educate before you entertain.


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Principle 2


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Principle 2

Learning is forever-The Learning process

Experience has been hailed as the best teacher,and what better place to gain experience than in theUniversity of Life. What is the University of Life youmay ask? It is the learning place where you dwell atall times. It is in essence, your learning existence. It isevery moment of every second, of every hour, of everyday, of every weekad infinitum. If you choose todrop out then you only hurt yourself. Remainingenrolled means that you make a decision to learnconstantly and grow consistently from now until theend of your years. This process must be taken asseriously as most people take the feeding of their

bodies. If you do not feed your mind, mental-malnutrition grows ever closer.

APPLY THE PRINCIPLES , NOT THE PERSON The process of learning is really not complicated;

it just requires that you remain disciplined at all timesin order to reap the benefits. One of the things I didnot want to do in this book was just to tell you what I do and how I apply the principles. It is never myintention for a person to emulate me. Looking up to

who I am as a person for what I have accomplished isok, there are many people I look up to. However, do


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not try to duplicate my actions and who I am in your

life. I can guarantee that my choices are not identicalto yours, neither are my ideals, ways thoughts andattitudes. In a world that works to socially group usaround our similarities, I choose to bask in myindividuality and encourage you to do the same. Most

people will find it initially easy and comforting. Then,over time it becomes tremendously frustrating becausethey have opted to be someone other than who they arenaturally.

This is something I know first hand. When I wasyounger I did not have a father to learn from. Therewas no one there to bring out the "me" that was insideof me. For a long time I did not even have a good rolemodel; as a result, I was in a constant battle toestablish an identity for myself. It is proven thatyoung boys and young girls receive their identity (their manhood and womanhood), from their fathers.Without a father in my life I usually emulatedwhatever male was closest to me. This included myfriends, all of whom were my age and fatherless justlike me. One could imagine the crisis we lived in-fatherless boys trying to be alike.

I had tremendous role models and spiritual fathersin my life. I learned from them, but I still tried to

become them instead of being myself. One of mymentors, Edward McKnight was an interestingcharacter. When I was around him I talked, walked,


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looked and acted just like him. There was also Allen

Albury, who to this day still remains a spiritual father to me. When I was around him I talked, walked,looked and acted just like him as well. It wasnt until Iwas 16, out of my mothers house and off to collegethat I began to discover who I was. This was anenlightening time for me. I began to discover what Iliked, how my personality was, and what clothes fit mystyle. As I discovered who I was, I was able to apply

principles I was taught by my mentors whilesimultaneously achieving my goals and being myself.

APPLY THE PRINCIPLES IN YOUR OWN WAY I found that each person applies principles in

different ways, at different times, and in a differentorder than his or her neighbor. By learning the

principle alone one should be able to find a way toinfuse it into ones life, but this is not always the case.As a result I have opted to share with you some of thethings I do to keep my "learning process" in operation.

Please remember this is what Efrem does, it doesnot mean that you must do exactly as I do; however,following the trend should yield similar successfulresults in your life. The following are habits I haveformed to maintain a life of learning:

I am an avid book reader. I read informative and alternative media.


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I purchase and review tape series on various

topics. I attempt to apply a new word every day. I try to talk less and listen more. I associate with people who know more than I do. Regurgitate, Regurgitate, and Regurgitate.

I will go deeper into each of these a little later.

You may think thats so much to do, but I didnteven list half of what I do. And remember these arenot things I force myself to do, they have now becomegood habits. Just like someone learns to wash his or her hands after using the restroom, I force informationinto my mind habitually. The day I learned that human

beings use only 10% of their brain capacity I wasmotivated to maximize my brain. I would often say tomyself, "If I only use 10%, there is no way that I couldoverload it so let me give it everything that I couldfind!"

I never want to get caught not knowing something

important, hence I read and study vigorously. I usedthis ideology on a family friend recently when I wasteaching him some points on financial literacy. I choseto ask him some questions that I knew he could notanswer. To make a point I prefaced each question witha bribe. I put a $10 bill on the table in front of me and

told him that if he could answer any of my questions,then I would give him the $10 bill. (To an eight-year-old $10 that is comparable to a million.) So I shot


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from the hip with the first question, "How many people

live in the city of Atlanta?" He began to scratch hishead struggling to find an answer, and then suddenlyhe said "a thousand." "Wrong" I said, "the answer isfour million." Now just imagine you were in his placeand the money on the table was 10 million dollars. If you knew the answer, you could be a millionaire in amatter of moments. However, if you do not know theanswer nothing will change except the level of disappointment on your face.

"Its the man who knows the answer to the questionthat wins!"

An even deeper school of thought goes into theunderstanding of knowing what questions to ask after you have the answer in front of you. This is a definiteway of invoking many more brain cells for thoseinterested, but I will not touch on that more in thiswork. I will save that for a later volume.

One of my most influential mentors and the firstof the two men I call father, Allen Albury, commandedme to read a book when I was sixteen years old. The

book revolutionized my attitude. It was Aug 21 of 1991 that I got the Harrison House production called

An Enemy called Average. A gentleman named John

L. Mason wrote it, and it sparked flames in me thathave never ceased to burn. It contains 52 nuggets of information, one for every week of the year. The book


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was so good that I read it twice in two days. A few of

the nuggets read like this: Nugget #2

Growth comes from building on talents, gifts, andstrengths - not by solving problems.

Nugget #3The nose of the bulldog is slanted backwards so hecan continue to breathe without letting go.

Nugget #4Fear and worry are interest paid in advance onsomething you may never own.

If you are asking what does this have to do with thelearning process, consider what #2 says "growth comesfrom building," and if you want to build you have tolearn.

Think about #3, you should aggressively hold onto what you want and never let go. Have a bulldog'smentality even if you do not have its anatomy. Never let go until you get what you want. You can only dothat by learning.

Remember this about #4, 99% of what most people worry about never happens. Worry is simply

the absence of knowledge. You only worry about whatyou do not know about. The more you know the lessyou worry. So let us look and what I do to learn.


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Become an avid reader

Vast amounts of knowledge come by reading. Asa result, my local bookstore and I have formed aspecial relationship. They have a guarantee to get atleast $25 a week from me. Sometimes I buy three

books at a time because my quest for knowledge doesnot have a price tag. This is very crucial to remember:In this new era, "not knowing" and/or "not knowingsomeone who knows" will mean the difference

between just surviving and abounding.It is time to revise our normal "day to day"

routine. It's time out for irresponsibility, for lack, for debt, for foolishness and complaining. I discoveredthat if people would strategize as much as theycomplained, then there lives would not be in theshambles that they seem to be in. Of course you haveto know how to strategize. And that can only comethrough the acquisition of information. If I seesomeone who has something that I want, but I do nothave it yet, I attempt to discover what he knows that Ido not know . Most information is found in books, soread until your eyes bleed.

Read informative and alternative mediaI do not just pay for these items and allow them to

sit around without reading them. And some I do not

pay for, I just go to my local library, usually onSaturday, and read my heart out. One thing I likeabout newsletters and alternative magazines is that


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they contain a lot of information that might not interest

me. Unlike a book that I choose because I know thesubject is something I like, multi-subject based mediaallows me the opportunity to foster knowledge that Ireally do not care to know. This is where I believemost people lose interest in educating themselves.They only attempt to learn what they want to learn. Ihave been most successful from information that Ilearned outside of my core interests. Regardless of what a person may think, all information andknowledge is connected. By not learning a little bitabout a lot of things you leave a break in the chain thatconnects the world of information and knowledge.Besides it's not about what I necessarily want to knowabout anyway, it's about what is best for growth.

Review tape series on various topicsWhen wanting to increase my intellectual wealth I

choose to listen to educational tapes that challenge myinformation base and experience. I love being movedinto a new dimension of learning and knowledgeapplication. I listen to topics ranging from real estateto time management to improving your marriage.

Learn and apply a new word every dayIf you do not learn new words consistently you

will never learn to use one of the most powerful toolsof communication & negotiation, your vocabulary. It's


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not necessary to be specific, just flip through the

dictionary and find something new and learn it.Talk less, listen more

I am one who firmly believes in being quick tohear, and slow to speak. I intentionally place myself infront of people who keep me quiet. I thirst for wisdomthat comes from the mouth of experience. People whotalk about doing something that they have never attempted are speaking from information notexperience. Wisdom cannot exist without experience.Contrary to common belief, experience is notnecessarily age related. Age only proves that you haveexisted for a certain amount of time. Experiencecomes from what you did during that "certain amountof time." There are people twice my age who have notexperienced half of what I have experienced. Maybeyou have seen the same in your life and sometimesfind it rare to meet other experienced people.Whatever you do, when you find them, pull up a chair and soak up as much as possible. Speak little andaddictively listen.

People who thirst for knowledge, understanding,and wisdom are a special breed of people that haveexperienced much in life. Our experiences seem torepeatedly remind us of how little we know, and

resultantly, drive us to learn more. To show in simpleform a few points that separate these thirsty peoplefrom the masses, consider the following:


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Lazy people do nothing Therefore, they experience very little.

Because they lack experience, they have no wisdom. A wisdom-less person usually stumbles and falls

constantly. Reason being is that there is no track record of

"experience."

There is nothing for them to "learn from." They are like unlearned children

Conversely,Smart workers move constantly and tirelessly

Therefore, they experience very much. Because they have experience, they have much

wisdom. A wise person rarely stumbles or falls.

Reason being, is that there is a long track record of "experience."

They have "learned from" everything they have done.They are mature, wise adults.

"Experience comes quickly to one who worksdiligently, experience begets wisdom, and wisdom

begets riches."

If I am always talking, I will never learn anything. Ido not mind feeding, especially if the purpose at thattime is for me to feed. I do not like casual situationswhere I am constantly feeding instead of being fed. At


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this point in my life thats a no-no. I must keep

company with wisdom."You should listen more than you speak because

listening is a process which can duplicate the effectsof experience."

Have you ever sat and given 100% of your attention tosomeone? For example, you can give your attention toa pastor, a professor or a parent. If so, you probablycan relate to feeling as if you were living through thevery words they were saying. It is almost like youwere experiencing the words as they spoke them. Thisis the easiest way to receive wisdom, through othersexperiences. It is also the best way to avoid thetragedy of ignorance.

Wisdom is wisdom whether it is from your experience or someone else's experience. So if someone transfers his or her wisdom to you, it is anefficient gain. But most of us spend our time withignorant fools, instead of quality people. We reflectexactly what they transfer to us, which is ignoranceand foolishness. It is time to leave the chicken coopand soar with the eagles!

Associate with people who know more than I doIn an effort to protect my future I spend the

majority of my time with individuals of a like, yet agreater mind. The more you can discover from others,the fewer mistakes you make in life. It is interesting


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that as I spent time writing a list of the people in my

life, I found that there are four categories individualsfall into. People in my life are advisors, mentors,colleagues or associates.

Out of all the people in my life I have moreadvisors and mentors than those in any other role. The

prevalent idea behind this trend is that I seek the bestadvice and guidance. Of my mentors, a few are someof the most influential men in the world. You will

become what you learn and reflect from whom you'velearned it. I believe that this is why nine of the peopleon the entire list are all very successful in all areas of life. To some this may have no significance; however I understand that this reflects my future right back atme. "Hum, I wonder how I will turn out?"

Regurgitate, Regurgitate, and RegurgitateAs I was growing into a young man, Allen taught

me about the anatomy of a cow. I learned that cowshave five stomachs and a tongue that could act like ahand when grasping food. But what is interestingabout how a cow eats might astound you. Cows chewon the same food for extremely long amounts of time.And each time they finish chewing and swallowing,they regurgitate the food not to long after. This maysound foul but there is a revelation hidden inside this

activity. The understanding of what happens in this process and the results of the process can shed somelight on "The Activity of Success."


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Everytime a cow brings the food back up and

chews, it makes the food finer and finer. Finally, thecow breaks the food down into particles so small thatthey can be absorbed directly into the blood stream and

bring nutrition to the body's system.Everytime you listen to that informative tape or

read this or any other book, you are regurgitating.Regurgitation can and will change your life. Try tolearn how to force what is inside of you back to the

place where you can "chew" on it again and again;your mind.

Theodore Roosevelt wrote,Your ability needs responsibility to expose its

possibilities. Do what you can with what you havewhere you are.


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Principle Two Conclusions

PRINCIPLE LEARNING IS FOREVER

POINTS APPLY THE PRINCIPLES , NOT THE PERSON APPLY THE PRINCIPLES IN YOUR OWN WAY

SUMMARY There is only one way for the information in this

book to work for you. You must apply it and relate itto yourself. I have been open and honest in explaininghow and what I do to grow personally. The key is for you not to limit yourself to my examples. Each personlives in different environments and has a differentstructure of time. It may be easy for me to workout at2 a.m. and terribly difficult for the next person so thereshould be no attempts at change without personalconsideration. I wish that all people simply saw thevalue and benefits of a life of learning instead of justthe pain and sacrifice. It is the joy set before you thatwill keep you in the trenches. For me it's the positionof freedom to live my dreams and fulfill my chosendestiny. Therein lies true fulfillment. The things are

just the frosting, not the cake. The only way to

experience any of these things will come from mycontinued enrolment in The University of Life.


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Principle 3


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Principle 3

People who fear failure avoid success-Stop running away

It is seemingly amazing to me that even though Iam writing this book from my experience to benefitothers, at times I seem to be writing to myself. Muchof what I say helps me deal with day-to-day situationsthat I face, and I hope it does the same for you.

If I am writing this book for "us" then that meanswe are in this thing together. As a result, let usexamine what I believe to be the most effective tool instopping The Activity of Success from occurring. It isthat bad four-letter word:

FEAR

I dislike this word so much that I will refer to it asf#@* from now on in this section. I want you to beginto revolutionize your mind and destroy f#@*.

If f#@* could talk, what would it tell us? Andmore importantly, what would we tell it? You are

probably wondering what you could say to f#@* if you really could talk to it. Well guess what, YOUCAN talk to it! As a matter of fact you NEED to starttalking to it now and put it on notice that it no longer

has a place in your life. Do it now! Denounce the gripit has had on your creative ability and declare that youare not controlled by f#@*, you employ it.


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Thats right I said you employ it! As they say in

the Bahamas "Listen to me good." Anything that usedto control me or use me got fired from its position asmy boss. I then put it to work as my slave. As far as Iam concerned, f#@* and its friends (apprehension,stress, indecisiveness, cowardice, etc.) robbed me of many opportunities to step outside of my comfort zoneand progress in life. I am now demanding that f#@*and its friends pay me back seven times more thanwhat was stolen.

F#@* I S THE OPPOSITE OF COURAGE Never confuse f#@* with apprehension and never

confuse courage with boldness. Courage is the"mindset" that gives you the "will" to face whatever situation you encounter. F#@* is the "mindset" thattakes away that will. Yes, f#@* is a mindset not anobject. It is not a real monkey that jumps on your

back. It is a thought process that acts as Kryptonite tothe Superman inside of you. It is what makes you runfrom things, weaken in the face of adversity and bowto challenge. Apprehension and boldness are by-

products of fear and courage, not synonyms.Do you remember that earlier I wrote about worry

and how worry stems from the absence of knowledge?Well f#@* is what initiates the actions you take when

you are worried about something. For example, mylife as an entrepreneur, investor and venture capitalistalways puts me in the line of fire when it comes to


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money. I have generally been bulletproof and

successful in my business negotiations. However,there have been, there are currently, and there will betimes when a deal does not go as expected and willcost me and those I do business with money. The keyto dealing with money and people is communication,action and results. F#@* normally shuts the entire

process down from the beginning. You never communicate, so you worry, and the only action youdo is running. I have run before and discovered it is awaste of time and energy. Facing the situation withcourage and boldness is the most effective and timelyway to deal with it.

F#@* AND MONEY I do not think there is anyone who is more versed

than me in the experience of owing money. I haveowed money to many, including investors, family,employees, friends and companies. I also know whatit is like to be owed money. In both cases the numbershave totaled many tens of thousands of dollars. As mylife and business move and grow I am seeing the sizeof the numbers I deal with move into the hundreds of thousands and even millions. However, the ways Ideal with the situations have totally changed, as havethe people who I deal with. F#@* is no longer a

player in the game. I have developed a relationshipwith myself and I have grown beyond the point of f#@*ful reactions. To go a step further, I never react


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anymore to anything, f#@* causes reactions. Instead,

I consider all things and respond to situations.F#@* AND BUSINESS

There are those who are too short sighted tounderstand anything except their current situation.Those are the people you do not do business with. Asa result of my experiences and because of the nature of my businesses, I find it better for me to deal with theminority of the entire class of people. I call thisminority the "few." The "few" are those who have

been through enough and have learned and grownenough to know what "to do" and what "not to do."They are also those who have succeeded tremendouslywhen it comes to personal and spiritual growth,influence, and maturity. For me to walk with anyonewithout evidence of these qualities is not prudent.

I carry vision and purpose that cannot be sharedwith many people. There are only a handful of peoplewho I know that understand how to carry, protect,cultivate, give birth to, raise and parent a vision.

Never cast your pearls before pigs, they will trampleover it. Never tell your secrets to those who do notwalk with you. When those who are not close to yousee you, all they need to know is right in their face; thefact that you and your family are doing fine is enough.

The people that I deal with outside of the realm of the"few" are those that I am helping to leave the realm of


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the majority and enter the realm of the "few." This is

in hopes that the few will one day become a majority.F#@* CAN TOTALLY SHUT YOU DOWN IF YOU LET IT

Have you ever seen someone who is paralyzed bya terrible car accident or a crippling disease? F#@*can create similar results in the minds of people. It canliterally paralyze them. The only thing that can break through f#@* is fulfilling The Activity of Success. But

be careful, it will try to keep you from The Activity of Success. If you follow the chart you will see how ittakes you from the acquisition of information to theapplication of that information. This creates wisdomin your life and removes any reason for being f#@*fulabout anything you know and understand. Do not let itshut you down. You are a student in the University of Life. Do not let f#@* be one of our professors.

99% OF WHAT YOU F #@* NEVER HAPPENS This is not anything deep, just think about it. All

of what you worry about is what you f#@*. Most of what you f#@* never happens, so why worry at all?At least if you are going to worry about something, doso after it has occurred, not in hopes that it will occur.That is the same as writing a blank check, signing itand handing it to the next person you see. You are

giving away everything! Neither worry nor f#@* willmake anything change. Only action and results will


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make things change. An important point to take note

of:"If you cannot do anything right now to change the

situation you are in, and you do not have anyinformation or ideas as to how to change thesituation; it is not time to worry, it is time to

discover."

Find someone or something that DOES know how tohelp the situation. Remember what they taught you ingrammar school: there is no such thing as a dumbquestion. If you do not know find someone who doesand ask them for help.

F#@* IS A BYPRODUCT OF IGNORANCE This is something I will die screaming:

"If you do not know pertinent information aboutthe situations you face in life you will operate in

f#@*."

The only way to eliminate the f#@* is to find out whatit is that you do not know. While I was leasing some

property for my business a couple of years ago I foundmyself far behind in rent. I was threatened with legalaction and faced with expensive attorney fees. I knewthat I owed the landlord money. I was not trying torun I was trying to earn so I could pay. But since hedecided to threaten me by getting legal and technical, Itook the same attitude toward the situation as he did. I


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got legal and technical. I ended up having a meeting

and telling him, "Legally, I do not owe a dime, mycorporation does. If you sue my corporation it couldtake up to a year to get a trial and judgment (by thattime I could pay the amount off). And if thecorporation had no liquid assets you will get nothing."

Now do not attempt to go and do what I did just because you read it in this book. Zeal withoutknowledge can be a very destructive force.Remember, I had been in similar situations and I havea group of advisors that can give me information andadvice that I need to help me make the best decisions.At that time, what I learned made me pull out a DonaldTrump move and become the aggressor in order tosave my company.

What I want you to understand is that I could havereacted and become afraid, which probably would haveshut me down. I would have avoided the man, the

building and the situation totally. But that is not what Idid because I had an understanding of what couldactually happen. See the landlord tried to threaten mewith what he said would happen. However, I knewthat his threats were empty because I chose to learnabout what could actually occur. As a result, I spoketo him, we worked out a deal and he got his money.All in all I never got scared, not one bit. Why?

Because ignorance was not allowed to operate, therewas an abundance of knowledge.


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"Success is not an issue of who is right or wrong, it

is an issue of who has knowledge and applies itbest."

You can be ethically wrong and succeed simply because of your knowledge base and network channels. If you do not believe me look at most of theworld, there are a lot of wicked successful people. I

choose to sleep well at night by living by myconvictions.

F#@* IS WHY MOST PEOPLE RUN FROM RISK When dealing with risk and business it is not the

idea or the market that is risky, it is what you do not

know that is risky."Ignorance it the greatest risk on earth."

When you do not know how to adjust to a changingmarketplace you are walking a thin line. When you donot know that the beautiful girl you are trying to sleep

with is HIV positive you are walking a thin line. Risk does not kill, but ignorance will. Stop running fromrisk and run from f#@* and ignorance, never let themcatch up with you. Learn as much as you can and acton your knowledge. This will protect you and teachyou how to manage risk. F#@* cannot be managedunless you control it instead of letting it control you.


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F#@* GETS THOSE WHO EXPLOIT IT WHAT THEYWANT

There is another way of wording this subtitle, bynow you should know what it is. The other way towrite the subtitle is: "Exploit F#@* and get what youwant from those who are ignorant." Some

professionals that use this tactic are:

Bill collectors Lawyers NGOs Salesmen

Doctors Governments Religious Orgs Gangsters

I am not pointing out these professions and sayingthat this is what they do. I am simply explaining my

point about the use of f#@* as a tactic. If you are oneof these professionals please do not become offended.I just want people to identify if they are on thereceiving end of f#@* tactics. If so, begin to armyourself against their ways. Fight ignorance, learn,learn, and learn some more. Do not run; face your situation and watch it run.

"There is nothing wrong with messing up, there issomething wrong with not learning and trying

again. If you avoid failure, you will avoid success."


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Principle Three Conclusions

PRINCIPLE PEOPLE WHO FEAR FAILURE AVOID SUCCESS

POINTS F#@* I S THE OPPOSITE OF COURAGE F#@* AND MONEY F#@* AND BUSINESS F#@* CAN TOTALLY SHUT YOU DOWN IF YOU LET

IT 99% OF WHAT YOU F #@* NEVER HAPPENS F#@* IS A BYPRODUCT OF IGNORANCE F#@* IS WHY MOST PEOPLE RUN FROM RISK F#@* GETS THOSE WHO EXPLOIT IT WHAT THEY

WANT

SUMMARY There is no way to move in fear; it immobilizes

anyone who allows it to do so. This section is the keyto establishing your mental, spiritual and physicalfreedom. Once there is courage established and youare able to remove the element of fear in all relativeareas in your life, you can achieve success. As long asyou operate in fear you will never succeed, becauseyou will never fail. By principle, failure is the womb

of success.


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Principle 4


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Principle 4

You are only bigger than what you face -The warrior mindset

W ARRIOR OR WIMP Ok let us separate the real from the fake right

now. How do you think about yourself? In the wordsof one of my great fathers, Eddie Long "If you are

plastic you will melt when the heat is on." Speak toanyone who was enlisted in the military and ask themwhom they would rather face on an average day, awimp or a warrior. If the person you are talking towere just an average person, their common sensewould tell them to say "the wimp," because it is aneasy win. If the person themselves is a warrior, theywould say "It does not matter, I will face and defeateither of them." Did you catch that? A warrior is so

bold that they are willing to face another warrior withthe mindset that they will defeat the warrior.

Let me tell you, your mindset dictates your attitude, and your attitude dictates your actions. Themindset of a warrior is "take no prisoners." Themindset of a wimp is to become a prisoner. Sitting

back and being overtaken helps a wimp avoid struggle.Warriors do not care who they face; wimps becomevictims of who they face. Wimps are passive not

militant. Warriors initiate the battle and win it at all cost, not any cost.


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Though they start with the same letter, the

meanings and characteristics of the words are verydifferent. For example:

1. Warriors - contains the word war.2. A war is a strategic military fight based on a

series of battles.3. Wimps - do not understand the word war, just

the word whim.4. A whim is doing something without thought.

Warriors have a purpose, to fight and win.Wimps have a purpose, to lose and be driven by their whims. Wimps do things on a whim, while warriorsfight in a war. Do you understand? I hope you chooseto be a warrior not at wimp. If you are scared youhave two choices: become courageous or die now,

because in war fear will kill you.

H OW WARRIORS THINK As much as I want to, I know I cannot just jump

into your head and make you think like a warrior. Ihave many stories of fighting and winning and alsofighting and losing. My life is ever full of battles, andI believe that is why I grow so fast. I am always beingforced to perform, fight and learn. The mind of a

warrior is simple, yet it is the first stage to his success.Let us look at some characteristics of his mind:


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"Losing" is replaced with "Learning"

To "not try" is to "risk" To "not grow" is to "die slow" To "fight" is to "live" The reward is in the battle not the spoils Fight now, rest later

Writing this book is a fight. There are so manydifferent things I can be doing right now. But Idiscipline myself because I understand the rules of engagement. The moment I snooze is the moment Ilose.

I have a love for exotic sports cars and I waslooking for and entry-level Ferrari for an excellent

price. The model I had been interested in was theFerrari 348. I have been to auctions, looked in the

paper, visited the dealership, and whatever else I coulddo to find what I wanted. Just the other day I visitedthe dealership and found one for two thousand morethan what I wanted to pay. I offered my price andmade up in my mind that I was going to get it.However, I never took in the deposit money (I still ask myself why I did not). No deposit, no deal. I went

back to the dealership today to look at some the Ferrariclothing gear and the car I wanted was sold. It wasclear, I was thinking like a wimp, not a warrior.

Instead of going for what I desired, I procrastinatedand lost out.


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"Procrastination will only prolong the

manifestation of what you desire in life."Warriors do not move without thinking, and they think from the mindset of a warrior. Procrastination shouldnot be found in that mindset. It is possible to be awarrior and to procrastinate. It is not possible to be awarrior that procrastinates and not care that you do. A

warrior identifies a problem and finds a solution.Wimps dwell in their shortcomings.

H OW WARRIORS FIGHT AND WHY WARRIORS WIN It may not be obvious but initially this subtitle

was two separate titles. I found information to be so

related and similar that I decided to join the two. Thissection, however, will be the shortest section in the book because it is too simple to over explain.

"Warriors win because they fight hard andconsistently."

That was simple, right? I have found that pure, tirelessdrive and consistency are the key ingredients to thesuccess of a warrior. What do they do tirelessly andconsistently? They fight, not run. So fight, fight,fight.


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Principle Four Conclusions

PRINCIPLE YOU ARE ONLY BIGGER THAN WHAT YOU FACE

POINTS WARRIOR OR WIMP PHYSICAL SIZE DOES NOT MATTER IN A FIGHT HOW WARRIORS THINK HOW WARRIORS FIGHT AND WHY WARRIORS WIN

SUMMARY The mentality of a wimp is not permitted or

allowed in the circle of success. If you do not want tofight or if you do not like difficulty, success is not for you. You may do better at being mediocre andaverage. In my ranks that is not an option, and in your life I pray that it is an option that you reject. Once youmake the decision to fight and the warrior mentality

becomes a part of your life, success is right around thecorner.


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Principle 5


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Principle 5

Money viewpoint equals money standpoint The money myths

You are not what you do; you are what you think.What you do is a result of what you think. What youthink is a result of what you have learned. If you weretaught lies all your life then you will live lies. Becauseyou live according to lies, it does not make youintentionally wrong, just unknowingly victimized. Justalways remember that life does not compensate for ignorance or false information.

If you do not know that you are planting badseeds, you still will reap what was sown. If you think that you can never make the money you would like to,you will not make it and you will die believing thatyou cannot. If you have been lied to about money andyou cannot seem to understand how it works, you needto re-program yourself with the proper information.Until you destroy the myths about money you willnever effectively earn, possess, manage, invest andgive money. Hopefully you will learn much from thissection.

M ONEY ALONE

Myth 1 - Money is real Before you try to earn, possess, manage, invest or

give money, you should understand it. You should


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have a clear picture of what money is. It goes without

saying that understanding something you want tomaster is key to mastering it. On the subject of money,the "masters" are few, the "maximizers" are some, the"utilizers" are many and the "wasters" are most.

For most people, money is real; at least thatswhat they think. Money is not real. The paper they

print on is real, the images and ink you see are real, butmoney is not real. I am not talking about Monopolymoney here; we know that is not real. I am talkingabout the cash that is made by most from day to day.What I have said may have you a bit confused rightnow. However, if your mind is not reprogrammed tothink like those who are most effective with moneythen you will never maximize your potential with it.

Now say it with me, "Money is not real." Your mindis probably freaking out. You are probably thinking,"Money is real!" I can pay real bills with real money;therefore it is real.

Consider this: money is an idea; it is not seenwith your eyes it is seen with your mind. Thats one of the reasons why I am not afraid of losing the "paper,"it is not real anyway. Let me tell you what is real. Themind that I have to "invent money" is real. The abilityto adapt and adjust to changing circumstances is real.The potential to create an investment opportunity that

would generate income is real, not the money.This, I must say, is hard to swallow; it was hard

for me. But once you realize that money is not the


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reality that will change your situation you are on the

road to success. The first step to The Activity of Success is not "get money." Consider the AgrarianAge: during this time goods and services wereexchanged, not money. For example, you would getgrain from a farmer by giving him eggs that your chickens laid. People were driven by their abilities andideas to produce something that could provide for their families. You must be driven by your ideas andabilities, not money.

This is difficult to explain to most because their circumstance controls their lifestyle and thoughts.When in actuality your thoughts and lifestyle shouldcontrol your circumstance. Do you live a lifestyle of learning, growth and development? Are youconstantly improving and changing for the better? If not, then you can easily become dependant on the"unreal" money and forget about your real abilities andideas. Its these ideas that can give you money that youmay need to exchange for other goods and servicesdifferent from those created by your abilities and ideas.

"Your mind has the capacity to rise above anysituation and meet your needs. Your money does

not have that capacity"

I have yet to see money make a mate feel loved, but

your mind can create a new clever way to express your love to your mate. Yes you can "use" money to help

purchase something to express your love but your


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"mind" initiates that, not the money. Do you

understand? Dwell on what is real, your mind, and notyour money.

Myth 2 - Money is not important I just explained that it is a myth to think that

money is real. You could be saying in your head"Now how dare he tell me it is a myth to think thatmoney is not important. How could something thatsnot real be important?" In order to operate in our current society money is necessary. Nothing is free,even if you do not pay for it. Someone somewhere

pays for what you receive for free.If you want to eat, someone has to pay. If you

want to fly someone has to pay. Yes money isimportant, just do not make it your reality.

Myth 3 - Money brings joyThere are only two money problems, no money

and too much money. When you lack it, you spendmost of your time trying to get it, and once you have it,you spend much of your time trying to keep it. Moneycan make you happy, but money cannot bring you joy.

Happiness is a temporary "good feeling or circumstance," joy is a permanent assurance of peace,love and harmony. Joy does not mean you won't

experience pain; joy simply says that you can stillsmile in the midst of pain because it is temporal.


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Happiness does not bring this assurance because it

itself is temporal.Many times money only creates a larger void inlife because we tend to focus on the money and we buythings. We waste money to fill a space that moneycannot fill. Money cannot bring joy; you should have

joy and use your money to assist in your happiness andthe happiness of others.

Myth 4 - Money begets greed In my earlier years, I always believed that

financially rich people were greedy people, until I became aquatinted with a few financially rich people.Growing up I was not exposed to rich people, mainly

poor to middle-class people. It was almost dreamy tothink of meeting or knowing people who were rich.Being exposed to both types of people in my lifetimemakes me consider a few things about them both.I firmly believe two things:

1. Lack begets more greed than money.2. Money begets more freedom than greed.

The rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer haslittle to do with "the system" holding poor peopledown and lifting rich people higher. It has more to dowith the attitude of the people in each class to hold on

to what they have. For the poor that means holding onto "nothing" and for the rich it means holding on to"everything".


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"Rich people can only hoard their money and poorpeople can only hoard their poverty."

There are rich people who want more and moremoney. However, there are poor people who hoardmore and more lack. In the end, when speaking infinancial terms, this tends to have a greater effect onthe poor than it does the rich because of the law of reciprocity. What the poor or rich have or lack is the

process of The Activity of Success at work or dormant.

"If you never give there can never be fruit."

Imagine a woman who was never given the seed of aman trying to get pregnant. Think about a tree thatnever gives a seed trying to reproduce another tree.Consider a flower never giving pollen in order toreproduce itself.

"Reproduction and increase without giving istrivial."

As a matter of fact, if some of the keepers would become givers , not just of money, our country would be in better shape. The answer for the success of anynation is for those with the wealth (insight, wisdom,network, opportunities and money) to share it. Allanyone needs is what is necessary for survival,happiness and security. If those who have it will teachthose who do not know how to get it and then help andguide them in the process they would actually make it


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better for themselves. Because giving always pays

back. There is much more I can say on this topic;however I will leave that for the future.

Myth 5 - Money separates classes of peopleMoney does not separate classes, mentality does.

It is a proven fact that most people are the sum total of their thoughts of themselves. Though themanifestation of the physical riches may not beevident, there is a person on your block you believesthey are something greater than they are. Peoplesthoughts not only can put them in a place, but alsokeep them there. It is easier to have nothing than tohave something, so you do not even have to doanything to be poor of mind, body or spirit.

Most people who have broken out of the poor-class mentality find themselves in a job or self-employed. This moves them into the middle-classarena. Which is more difficult to escape than the poor-class arena. For those who choose to be rich ( Read

Rich Dad Poor Dad and Cashflow Quadrant by Robert Kiyosaki ), their mentality is what separates them andmoves them constantly up and out of the other classes.

What I find extremely dangerous is the personwho actually thinks in one class and tries to live in onethats above the one he thinks in. This I believe is the

ultimate self-deception. The ultimate self-sacrifice isto live in the one below your mentality.


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There are many people who look rich and are

actually deep in debt working hard to presentthemselves as wealthy. They spend 100% of their income to look like they make 300% of what theymake. However, imagine a business owner, whodrives a Ford escort, worth $250,000, earning $1,000

per week, with expenses of only $1,000 per month.Their mind and lifestyles are in different stages butwho is better off? Which of these individuals is in atrap? Who is intelligently humble? Who do you think is most likely to become truly wealthy and not justmomentarily rich?

Myth 6 - Money is moral Now this is a blatant lie if I have ever heard one.

If you have it and you are a criminal then it does notknow or care. If you have it and you are the world'sgreatest caregiver, money does not care. Money inessence can never be dirty. What many people do withit is not necessarily squeaky clean, but the money isalways clean.

Every millionaire I have spoken too views it in thesame way, poor and middle-class individuals tend to

parallel money and morals. That is like trying to saythat the Internet is bad. Now whether you use it for vulgar pornography or to expand your business will

determine the morality of your actions. The Internetitself is a tool, a resource, and a medium of exchange.Money must be viewed in the same way-amorally.


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Besides, if money was judged based upon what it was

used for then every dime of the money on earth must be declared dirty.While in my first business, I was offered some

(string free) money by some drug dealers to helpexpand my business. I kindly refused because theyoffered it to me as "dope money" that they wanted to"hide." Because I had a purely cash business the goalwas to mix their money in with mine when I went for my bank deposits. I could retain a certain percentageof the money for the service; I just needed to make themoney available to them when needed in certifiedfunds. Sounds like a good idea huh? It seemed to beeasy money in theory, no company ownership and noshareholder meetings, just me covering up their illegalactivity. This is where most people get the idea of "dirty money" - money that was earned through illegalmethods.

I on the other hand never saw that money as dirty, just the people as dirty. Doing business with dirty people is not an issue of "clean" or "dirty" money; it isan issue of the integrity of the source of the money.

"Money will take on the character of who is incontrol of it."

Meaning the moment I receive money from whatever source, what I do with it determines its "perceivedmorality." As it pertains to being successful, your


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ability to acquire money that could be perceived as

dirty should be judged by how you got it and what youdo with it. Who you got it from does not matter in thiscase.

If I provided a politician who I know got hismoney from bribes or payoffs with a legal service or

product, the money he gives me is not dirty.Regardless of how he got his money, I got itlegitimately. The same if I inherited money from afamily member who was a robber baron. As long asmy goal is not to carry on his legacy in the same or different illegal business, the morality of my money isirrelevant. Money is not moral, individuals are.

Myth 7 - Money is to be worked for Examine the following answers to the same

question in different settings. The question is "What isthe key to a bright successful future?"

In a low-income milieu1. Good Job2. Hard Work 3. Determination4. Setting your mind to achieve

In a high class ranks:

1. Good portfolio2. Smart Work 3. Patience


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4. Smart Decisions

The answers are synonymous with the character of their intellect. The low-income individuals think interms of what they can do themselves, the higher-classindividual thinks in terms of what their money can dofor them. This mentality is what separates the classes,not the money. It is a question of how people think about money. This is why it is necessary to educateyourself. I have yet to see an individual that haschanged their perception of money becomeunsuccessful at attaining wealth.

If you have to kill yourself to make it, you willnever earn enough to pay for the death you will cause.It is not worth the risk of getting immediategratification over steadily building wealth. Whatscares me most is the price people are willing to payfor short term, unsecured, non-residual income, when alittle financial education and sacrifice can save somany people from a lot of gray hair and arthritis.Build pipelines and stop carrying buckets; money wasmade to make itself. You should never work for it, butit should work for you!

Myth 8 - Money is the source (worshiping it) Money is not the source of anything. It can bring

things into your life by allowing you to purchase them but it can never be a source for you. Miriam Webster defines the word "source" as:


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A: a generative force: CAUSE B: a point of origin or procurement: BEGINNING C : one that initiates: AUTHOR ; also : PROTOTYPED: one that supplies information

Money is not a synonym for any of thosedefinitions. I have a hard time understanding why

people are so apt to think that money will eliminateyour core issue problems. Do not get me wrong, it cangive you a greater freedom and create a sense of trouble-free living. However, the only people ready tolive with the freedom money can bring are those whohave addressed their core issues of life and foundsolutions.

"Money is a Resource, not THE source "

Money is not a "point of origin," it is a means to anend. It can give you the financial muscle you need toaccomplish your next project. The car you can "buy"with the "money" you "earn" can only get you to themost important meeting of your life. However, your intelligence and conduct in that meeting will have tomake the meeting a success. For all of those who trulywant to be successful recognize two important things:God is the source of life; money is a resource for lifeand definitely not the ONLY resource for life. Thosewho operate daily in The Activity of Success understand and live by this principle, and their trees

bear the fruit of it.


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M ONEY AND YOU

Myth 1 - I do not care about the moneyWhat most people who think and say statements

like this are actually saying is that it is not important tothem. I have heard this drip from the lips of both richand poor and it sounds just as ludicrous coming fromeach of them. Let's get real! If it was not for themoney a monetarily wealthy man could never say he isfinancially rich, and a poor man could never claim

being financially poor. According to this myth, thevery thing that they do not care about defines them.

You will never hear me say "I do not care aboutthe money," and to think this way is a myth. Iadmonish you to be surrounded by realistic individualswho can prioritize need instead of eliminating need.You care about the money, you may not have

prioritized its position and role in your life, but you docare.

Myth 2 - All I need is loveThis will be the shortest myth section because it

really is a no-brainer. Tina Turner sang, "What's lovegot to do with it." I am frightened by our ability to getso many things screwed up in our minds and totallymisunderstand simple principles. Love can be many

things, but let me tell you what it is not. Next time youhave to pay a power bill send a check of love and see


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what happens. Somebody is going to be using candles

pretty quickly. Myth 3 - I need a job

I struggled with this question up until my last job,which was in 1995 at the age of 20. Until then Iworked everywhere I could. I held positions atMcDonalds, Piggly Wiggly, Subway, and as asubstitute teacher. Then after being kicked out of college and starting my own business again Iunderstood that a job is not a necessity but income is.

"A job is not a necessity, income is a necessity"

Income is necessary for all the reasons listed in mythnumber one. You have to pay for things to live in thisearth; you just do not necessarily have to have a job to

pay for them. There are other ways of making moneywithout having a 9-5. For most young startingentrepreneurs that work shift can turn into a 6 a.m.- 2

a.m. shift, as it did for me. From 1995-1998 (age 20-23) I had generated over half a million dollars in my business. In addition, it was growing at a rate of 400% per year. I had 18 stores nationwide, other businessesin other countries and more money than I had ever seen in my life. It had nothing to do with having a job;I was providing jobs for others.

Find out what it is that you want to do and you are purposed and destined to do. Your income, no matter


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where it comes from, is to finance the destiny in you.

Some destinies require larger incomes than others;therefore, never be limited to a job. Attach yourself togetting more income, not to getting more work.Dedicate yourself to cash flow, not exhaustive labor.There is always a smarter way, the question is do youknow the smarter way. The reward always goes to theone who knows the answer.

M ONEY AND WHAT YOU DO WITH IT

Myth 1 - Money is to be spent (wasting it)In the words of one of my fathers, "Our pain has

come from consumption." For most people of myethnic background we are just beginning to see a newlevel of financial endowment. For the first time inhistory we have a record number of blacks withmoney. In comparison to the money that other ethnic

backgrounds have, our wealth is a drop in the bucket. Not because we fail at earning it, we fail at managingit. Let me share some of our consumption statisticswith you for a moment.

Blacks dump over 1 Billion dollars a day into the economy 95% of that Billion goes outside of our community Of the 5% that remains in our community about 1% goes into

the pocket of a black business owner.

We spend more on food, clothing, electronics and hair carethat any other population segment.

We make up 13% of the population We earn 35% less than the average


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We spend more per capita than any other population segment We rent more than own We spend more than we invest We complain more than we support

When I look at Blacks I see an interesting scenario thatcauses me to pose a question. Where is the next dollar of the average wealthy individual? The answer is in the

pocket of the average black consumer right now!We do not as a race have a heritage of wealth andriches in this country. This is why it is so importantthat this cycle is broken for the sake of our posterity.For you who want to be successful it is more importantnow that you stop playing with future generations.How are you doing this you ask? By remaining thesame person each day and experiencing no growth, nochange, no expansion and no evidence of increase. Tosome, mediocrity is a way of life; to those who choseto succeed, it is a way of death.

A foundation of The Activity of Success isnecessary if you plan on affecting this world in anyway. And if your success is passive instead of activeyou are still a pawn in the big game. Consider wheremost of our cultural wealth has come from: sports andentertainment. We are the athletes and the artistinstead of the team owner and the record companyexecs. Would you rather make money from 1 artist or 50 artists? Is it more exciting to you to collect a check

by being on the field or to sign checks for everyone onthe field?


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We are always enthused by the accomplishments

of Michael Jordan (Age 36) who is worth $357Million. That is not any money compared to MichaelDell (Age 34) who is worth $21.49 B

precis of acumen - volume one

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