February 23, 2014

Click here to see all posts about "The slight edge" by Jeff Olson

If you think reading is boring, you are doing it wrong

What was the first book you read?

The very FIRST motivational book that I read, touched, and smelled was “The Slight Edge”. It was about 2 years ago and I would consider this as a turning point in my life. I used to not like reading books at all, because I thought they were long, boring and useless. The only books I read were textbooks which were required to read by my teachers. I still remember that day when I met a friend of mine at the library, Jersey Li. He wasn’t my close friend at that time. I was sitting in the library studying for my philosophy class, then we saw each other and started talking about school and life. Eventually, we had this conversation: 

Jersey: "Hey Johnny, do you read books?”

Me: "Yes, I do. But only textbooks…lol!”

Jersey:  "Ok, that’s fine. Do you read any other types of books?”

Me:  "No, not really. I don’t really like reading books.”

Jersey:  "Okay, I see. Why don’t you try reading this book, The Slight Edge? It will teach you several principles to be successful in life. I know that you are a motivated person. You want to achieve great things. That’s why you studied so hard to get the scholarship. I believe that this book will benefit you a lot! I can give it to you and you can give it back to me anytime.”

Me: "Alright, thanks Jersey. I will take a look at it.” 

Have you ever got addicted to a book?

That evening, I went home and opened the book, and I just kept reading and reading. It was like somebody taped my hands to the book that I couldn’t put it down.  I couldn’t resist the temptation to keep on reading until I finish it. This is the first time ever in my life I became so ADDICTED to a book. I’m pretty sure some of you have had similar experience before, right? If you haven’t, one day it will come. There is a saying: “If you don’t like reading books, it’s just because you haven’t found the book you like!” The Slight Edge completely changed the way I think, feel, and act. It really brought me to a whole new level of intelligence. I’m very thankful for Jersey for having given me The Slight Edge. If we didn’t have that conversation that night, if he didn’t give me the book, I would continue to be a shy, depressed guy with no clear vision of my life. 

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February 24, 2014

Click here to see all posts about "The slight edge" by Jeff Olson

You cannot hang out with negative people and expect to live a positive life

How I struggled as a kid

Probably, I should give you more details about who I was so that you can see the big improvement. Since I was a little kid, I heard people telling me this all the time: “Johnny, he is so shy. He doesn’t talk much”. They were right. There were only a few people that I felt comfortable expressing myself with. During outdoor activities, I would usually stand in a corner or a shadow, watching other people playing and having fun. I didn’t want to join them because I was afraid that I would screw up and become a joke for everyone. I’m pretty sure some of you have been a joke for everyone before, or you found it amusing to make someone become a joke, right? GUYS, DON’T EVER PUT ANYONE IN THAT SITUATION. To the person being joked, it’s not funny at all and it will damage their personality and who they will become in the future. It will also create hatred and that’s one of the reasons why some people become serial killer. PROMISE me, never make somebody become a joke, and if you see someone being put in that situation, just step inside and protect them and they will be very grateful to you! 

Get rid of bullying once and for all

 I remembered once, I was surrounded by a group of guys trying to pull my pants off and I saw a friend standing behind the group. He was laughing at first, but then he realized that the joke had gone too far. I still remember his facial expression, changed from a “smile face” to a “sympathetic face”. Thank god! There was still a human in him. He then ran to the teacher and reported what was happening, and I was finally saved. There were several other times in my life that I got bullied by people. To be honest, I often had thoughts of killing anyone who ever bullied me and teased me. I had thoughts of using a knife and stabbing them a thousand times. My friend, did you have similar thoughts before? Luckily, I still have some people who offered me so much love that gave me hope in life. Having been bullied before, I feel sorry for this kid :((

Have you ever wanted to change, but didn't know how?

I kept being the same person though out my school life. When I was in high school, I chose to sit at the corner of the class so that I wouldn’t have to interact with other people. When I had to do group work, I didn’t say much either and I felt really stupid and worthless to them. I was so shy that I didn’t even know how to start a conversation.  And if somebody asked me a question, I would just give them a quick answer and then kept silent again. Even the first 2 years staying in Canada, I didn’t change much either. I used to have a job washing dishes at a Vietnamese restaurant. I didn’t talk much with my co-workers either, and sometimes I felt left out. I was very disappointed about my situation and I DESPERATELY wanted to become more outgoing, but I didn’t know how. I had high grades in school but I was failing with people skills. I was SAD! I was so so SAD!

Stay strong, things will get well soon

My friend, can you relate to my story above? Were you like that before? Be strong my friend! Keep reading motivational books! One day you will experience some breakthroughs. Or maybe you have always been out-going, do you know any shy friend like that? I know it’s not easy to talk with people like me. But if you act as a good listener around them, you show them that you care about them, and you must be patient at the same time. They eventually feel comfortable around you and maybe you can start to take them to parties, networking events to help them become more outgoing!

How to choose friends and increase your network

Now that you know more about who I was, let’s get back to The Slight Edge. One principle the book talks about is people who you hang out with will determine who you are. None of my close friends were out-going at all. When I read the book, I finally understood why my parents had been telling me to “choose friends to hang out with”. If you hang out with positive people, people who constantly improve themselves, then you will also become a better person. If you hang out with negative people, people who have no goals in life and are fine with where they are at, then you will be pulled down to their level. 

I decided to hang out with Jersey more often. He is a very nice, friendly, out-going guy and he is very driven to be successful.  Month after month, Jersey had introduced me to several other friends and I started to get better at communicating with people. I have learnt to make a first impression when meeting new people, to make better eye contact, to shake hands firmly, to ask open ended questions which allow people to talk more about themselves, to be a good listener, and to connect with people better through F.O.R:  “Family, Occupation, Recreation”. I have become much more outgoing!! Some of my friends told me that: “Hey Johnny, you have changed! You are different from whom I can remember a year ago”. So yeah, look at people who you are hanging out with right now. Are they helping you move toward your dreams, or are they taking you away from your dreams? For a bit of fun, see the video below about networking :)

Thank you for reading! Remember to comment, like, subscribe and share with your friends!

February 25, 2014

Click here to see all posts about "The slight edge" by Jeff Olson

Don't ask what the meaning of life is. You define it

What's your philosophy in life?

Let’s talk about another great principle in The Slight Edge. They say “actions cure fears”. Yet before we initiate actions, we need to have a good philosophy about life. “Live fast die young” is not really a good philosophy…lol! My philosophy in life is that I want to accomplish great things before I die, so that when death comes for me, I will have no regrets. I want to make a difference in the society. I want to help as many people as possible to have a better life. I also want to have a great relationship with my friends and family. Of course, I still need to work on my philosophy. 

You are stronger than you seem, smarter than you think

As you have a good philosophy, you will develop good attitude and you will become more positive. You don’t see challenges as burdens, but opportunities. Then, you can initiate good actions to cure your fears and achieve great results. There is a saying: “action without knowledge is dangerous”. So, it’s every important that we work on our philosophy and our attitude first. Since I applied this principle into my life, I have achieved much better results than I could imagine. I have got better jobs. I have made more friends. I have defeated some of my fears such as public speaking, meeting new people, and also making phone calls (I used to be afraid of making phone calls to English speakers because my accent was so thick that I was so embarrassed about it…haha!) See this video for funny Vietnamese accent: 

The secret of compound effect

Another very important principle is the compound effect. Small, little things that you do every day, compound over time, will become big results, either negatively or positively. Have you ever wondered why some people are so successful? I have wondered about that too. I thought that these people must be genius and they were born to be successful. But no! It’s the little things that they do every day that help them achieve great results. For example, successful people such as Brian Tracy, Jeff Olson, Les Brown, Zig Ziglar all stated that they have read lots of good books and they set a minimum number of pages to read every day. Let’s say if you read 5 pages per day, that’s 1825 pages a year, which is probably equal to 8 good books! Imagine how much you can grow if you can finish 8 books a year!!

Some people might say: “Well, I know it’s good to read books. But I don’t have time, I’m busy with school and work”. This is just an excuse that unsuccessful people make. Come on! How long does it take to read 5 pages? Probably about 10 to 15 minutes. They have 15 minutes to lie on the bed and do nothing, they have 15 minutes to listen to music, they have 15 minutes to talk non-sense with their friends, and they have 15 minutes to play games, BUT THEY DON’T HAVE 15 MINUTES TO READ BOOKS AND INVEST IN THEMSELF? There is a saying: “Successful people are willing to do what unsuccessful people are not willing to do”. Is it easy to read 5 pages a day? Of course! Is it easy to not read at all? Absolutely! Some people might still say: “I don’t like reading books”. Well, fine. I hope they have a good life. So my friend, if you have visited this blog, probably you like reading books as well. You might want to start having a plan to read books every day. You just need to be consistent and the results will eventually come.  If you are already doing it, that’s awesome! Keep it up!

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February 26, 2014

Click here to see all posts about "The slight edge" by Jeff Olson

Simple discipline repeated over time will create success, while simple mistakes repeated over time will create failure

Take of your body, it's the only place you have to live

Now, let’s look at some negative compound effects.  Every single decision that we make in every single minute during the day, all adds to our final results. Unfortunately, we usually consider that it’s not really a big deal. For example, if you are someone who wants to stay fit and healthy, probably you want to avoid junk foods. Let’s say, you are at McDonalds with your friends, and everyone is ordering some fried chicken. Now it’s your turn and you are so hungry! What would you do? Come to your friends and say: “Hey guys, I’m on diet now, trying to look good in front of my girlfriend”? Or you say to yourself: “Screw it! I’m so hungry now. Let’s just order a Big Mac. It’s just this time. It’s not a big deal”. Haha! Got you! I know right! Me too! Sometimes I just can’t resist the temptation! If you eat a Big Mac today, will that make you unhealthy? Not really. The problem is that if you allow yourself to break your own rule once, you will tend to do it again, again, and again. And if you don’t do anything to get back on track, you will eventually develop some bad habits. And you might end up looking like the kid at the picture above…haha! See below for a McDonalds parody :)

Try to be punctual most of the time

How about in the work place? There was one time I went to work late for a few minutes, and I didn’t get into any trouble. However, I told myself that: “I was late a few minutes today, and they didn’t say anything, maybe next time I can be late again”. You know what happened? I started to be late more often and sometimes I was even late for more than an hour. This led me to some troubles with my manager. The same with waking up late. Sometimes, we just want to be lazy and sleep for the whole day right? Yet, if you allow yourself to do it once, you might do it again which will eventually affect your every day schedule. I used to sleep around 11:45 PM and wake up at 6:00 PM. Some days, I felt lazy and I slept until 2:00 PM. After that, I found it very difficult to get back to my schedule. So my friend, the lesson is that we should discipline ourself to do the things that will move us toward our goals and dreams, anything that doesn’t move us toward our goals and dreams will have to be eliminated! My friend, let’s do it together and I believe that you and I can do it!! Have fun watching Hitler being late for work :))

How to keep yourself focused and get what you want

The last thing I want to share with you about The Slight Edge is the importance of having written plans and goals. Have you ever had a day that you didn’t know what to do for the day? Me too! I asked myself: “Haizzz…What do I do now? Should I watch movie? Should I play games? Should I call someone? Or should I just sit here dreaming about me being with beautiful girls? LOL!” I guess we all want to live a meaningful life, so it’s very important that you have a written plan the night before so you that you keep yourself productive. Also, if you keep yourself busy and productive, you will less likely feel depressed too. Sometimes, if we have nothing to do, we feel kind of boring and meaningless, which affects our mental attitude, am I right? It’s also important to write down your goals as well, write down in details what you want to achieve and when you want to achieve it. Then make a plan and work on it. For example, over a year ago, I wrote down a goal saying that I want to earn 6,000$ to pay for my tuition fee by January 6^th, 2013. I worked my ass off day by day to achieve the goal, and I finally did it! So yeah, that’s all I want to share about how this book changed my life. What about you? If you have read the book before, why not send me an email sharing how the book changed your life as well. See the video for goal setting tips from Brian Tracy:

Thank you for reading! Remember to comment, like, subscribe and share with your friends!