The Practical Way

Setting smart goals

Have you ever set a goal that you wanted to achieve, but it seems to take ages to achieve it? Have you set a goal and after a while you are questioning yourself if it is still a valid goal and if you should put more effort to achieve it? I had this happen to me often in the past and I think that I have found the answer.

Before I give you the answer let me ask you a different question. What is your purpose? What is the big goal? Now, if you do not have clear answers to these questions, this will cause you problems in the medium run. Let me explain.

All of us need a big goal, something that we are moving towards to. For example, I want by the age of 40 to sail around the Greek islands for 3 months. Using this goal for example, we can start to build towards it. You can even say that this goal is not big enough and it is merely a step to a bigger goal. That is good, work to find the even bigger one. For now we will use this example. [...]

“The 4-Hour Work Week” by Timothy Ferriss

This is an amazing book and I believe that it is a must read for people who want to get out of the office jobs and experience life to the full. Tim explains how he went from working 80h per week to working 4h per week while at the same time increasing the profits in his company.

In this book he gives the tools and techniques that he used to achieve this and how other people he met during his travel have achieved similar goals. His main process has four steps and he explains them in great depth. At the start, he recommends that you need to define which tasks are important to you and which ones are not. The second step is to eliminate what is not important. Then you automate the ones that are left and then you are ready for the final step, liberation. [...]

“Richest Man in Babylon” by George S. Clason

This is a great book that talks about personal finances. It has many practical steps on how to control your financial situation as well as ideas on how to build wealth. The book is a collection of stories that take place in ancient Babylon. In these stories rich people of that age share their secrets of how they have created their wealth with other citizens of the city. Through these stories you can understand the principles and the actions that these people took and apply them in this modern age. The advice of these people is timeless and is not specific to that time or location. Of course if you try to find a camel trader these days to do business…… good luck with it. [...]

Steve Jobs speech at Stanford

On 12 June 2005, Steve Jobs gave a speech to the graduates of Stanford University. In his speech he narrated three stories from his life to the students and the meaning that each one of them has and how they shaped his life.

His first story is about connecting the dots. Sometimes events in your life look insignificant at present and only in the future you will realise how important they really are. His second story is about love and loss. In this one Steve explains how he left Apple and how through this loss he became stronger and came back. His last story is about death. People need to enjoy life and not let it pass by them. You need to challenge yourself all the time if you compromise or you live the life you dream. [...]

Tony Robbins speaks at TED

Tony Robbins has given an amazing presentation at the Technology, Entertainment and Design (TED) conference. In this presentation he talks about why people act the way they do and what is driving them. It is a 30 min presentation and it is very insightful. Pay attention to his presentation style and also see how in the end he manages to get extra time with a clever technique. [...]

“A Whole New Mind” by Daniel H. Pink

Have you read the “A whole new mind” from Danieal H. Pink? I just finished it the other week and I think that it is a great book. In his book he explains how we will need to start using our right-brain as much as our left-brain in the years to come. There are three reasons for this: the competition from cheap labour in Asia, the power of computers that replace workers and the abundance of goods.

His opinion is that we need to work on the following six areas to be able to compete effectively in the new market:
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Positive cash flow from investment property

For a long time I was searching to find a way to calculate if a property is profitable and I should buy it. I was looking at the cash flow and at the value appreciation of it over the years.

Many property investors were talking about the importance of being able to cash flow a property and the need to have a positive cash flow at the end of the month (or at least a break even). What no one was telling was what you need to include in these calculations. So, after a lot of search here is an extensive list of items to include in the calculation. This list is quite strict and you might need to relax some of them. I have included here everything for the benefit of you and you can make the call if you want to ignore some things. But do it with your eyes open and knowing the consequences. [...]

The best investment property

I have been looking for a long time for a way to evaluate if a property is a good one for investment or not. There are so many properties on the market, but which one is going to make me the most money? That is the question.

I would like to make a distinction here before I go ahead. This article is about properties for investment. It is not about your dream house/flat. You should keep this in your mind all the time. Based on this you should throw all your emotions out of the window. This is all about the numbers. We are looking for a property to make money and not one that looks nice. Therefore, we will at the numbers and not if the living room is cosy. [...]

The biggest property market dilemma!

I have spoken to a lot of people about the property market in the UK and most of them seem to be caught in the eternal dilemma of buying or waiting for things to get better. Of course, the funny thing is they all say that this is not the right time to buy. They say that all the time. If the market is going up they wait for it to go down. If the market is going down they wait for it to go even further down. I think that what they lack is the gut to act and the knowledge on how to invest.

People wait for property to get cheaper and then they will buy. They wait for the prices to hit the bottom and then the great opportunity will appear. The fact is that they will never know where the bottom is. Usually they miss it and they start to buy when prices start to increase again. After a few months, you hear them say “I should have bought earlier”. Yes, you should. [...]

Why you want to read this blog (part 2)

This blog will cover the areas of personal development and wealth creation. These are two areas that I am very interested in and I would like to share my knowledge with you and learn what you have found, as well.

In the area of personal development, I will focus on the knowledge part. I will not cover the belief system, because I believe that there are many resources out there that you can use. I do not like to duplicate all this good work. I will mention the beliefs in certain posts, because they will help you to understand the knowlwedge better. The action part is something very personal and different for every individual, because everyone has different circumstances. If you would like to work on that area I would recommend that you find a mentor to guide you and a peer group to support you. My focus is on the practical steps. How and when you follow them are up to you. I want to make sure that you know them when the time comes to act. [...]

Why you want to read this blog (part 1)

After years of reading books on personal development and wealth creation, I have seen a common pattern in them. They all advocate that there are 3 actions that a person needs to perform to develop:

Believe. These are the internal aspects and what is going on in a person’s mind. There is no point to try to improve yourself if deep inside you, you believe that you are a loser. You need to create a belief system that supports the life that you desire. [...]