By Robert Kiyosaki, Author of Bestselling book "Rich Dad, Poor Dad".

My real dad came from the world of academics, a world where mistakes are perceived as bad and to be avoided. My rich dad came from the streets. To him, mistakes were opportunites to learn something new, something he did not know before.

Street Smart Versus School Smart
My rich dad was very successful financially for many reasons. At the top of the list was his attitude towards making mistakes. Like most of us, he hated making them, yet he was not afraid of making them.

Each time he made a mistake, instead of being depressed, he often seemed happier, wiser, more determined, and often richer from the experience. He would say to his son and me, "Mistakes are how we learn. Every time I make a mistake, I always learn something about myself, I learn something new, and I often meet new people I would never have met."

As I watched my real dad struggle financially and professionally, my rich dad said, "To be successful in the real world of business, you have to be school smart as well as street smart. In school, you're given the lesson first. On the street, you're given the mistake first and then it's up to you to find the lesson. Since most people have not been taught how to make mistakes and learn from them, they either avoid mistakes altogether, which is a bigger mistake, or they make a mistake but fail to find the lesson from the mistake. That is why you see so many people making the same mistake over and over again." Rich Dad said, "I am so rich because I've made more financial mistakes than most people. Each time I made a mistake, I learned something new. In the business world, that something new is often called 'experience.' But experience is not enough. If a person truly learns from a mistake, his or her life changes forever, and what that person gains instead of experience is 'wisdom.'"

The Art of Making a Mistake
Rich Dad taught us the art of making a mistake and gaining wisdom from it. "The first thing that happens after you make a mistake is that you become upset. At this point of upset, you find out who you really are," he said, going on to describe the cast of characters who are brought to center stage when upsets from mistakes occur:

1. The Liar. "I didn't do that."

2. The Blamer. "It's your fault, not mine."

3. The Justifier. "Well, I don't have a good education so that is why I don't get ahead."

4. The Quitter. "I told you that it would never work."

5. The Denier. "No, there is nothing wrong. Things are fine."

Rich Dad said, "If you want to learn and gain wisdom from this priceless mistake, you have to let 'The Responsible You' eventually take control of your thinking."

Mental Attitude Quiz

1. What are your attitudes to risk, making mistakes, and learning?

2. What are the attitudes of the people around you to risk, making mistakes, and learning?

3. Are there still some financial, professional, or business upsets that remain unresolved?

4. Are you still angry with some one else in regards to money?

5. And if you are upset with someone else or yourself, what lesson can you learn and be grateful for being courageous enough to have taken a risk and maybe learned something?


Go to Richdad.com

This is the second article in a series entitled "The Wealth Environment". In the first article, we dealt with the fundamentals of wealth - what it is and what it is not. In the second article, we shall deal with the three types of wealth, their order of importance and how to create them. In our third and final article, we shall see examples of several ways to acquire enormous wealth both offline and online. Companies large and small are beginning to appreciate the value of intellectual capital in their employees and companies are investing huge amounts of cash in knowledge management. The reasons are quite clear. If you study the balance sheet of many companies today you will notice that only about 15% – 20% of the total assets held by the companies are actually tangible or fixed assets. The remaining 80% - 85% are either, intangible, liquid or near-liquid assets. This is especially more so with service-oriented companies such as software houses whose actual tangible assets comprise only about 10% of the balance sheet. In fact, since all tangible assets are usually rented e.g. computers, desks, carpets etc., the only assets held by some software companies are the software and the human capital who help to create the software, (e.g. software designers, software developers, computer programmers, system analysts, software engineers and administration staff).

The same appears to be the case with banks and other financial institutions such as insurance companies whose balance sheet comprises between 80% – 90% of intangible assets either in liquid or near-liquid form.

Perhaps you are wondering – What's the big deal about all this? The big deal is that accountants believe that you cannot generate an asset from nothing. You need resources to create assets. For example, if you want to create an asset worth $1 million dollars (e.g. a machine, a building etc.), you must employ (spend) a resource worth $1 million dollars (e.g. cash). If we follow this principle, it becomes easier to explain where the 15% – 20% tangible or fixed assets are coming from. So where are the 80% – 90% of the assets coming from? They are coming from the human beings who are using their brains to control the existing tangible assets and processes to create the assets. Therefore although human capital is the most valuable asset of any company, it's not usually reflected in the balance sheet when companies produce their annual financial statements.

Knowledge Management is a relatively new study that is quickly gaining momentum mainly due to extensive work done by pioneers of the subject such as Thomas A. Stewart, Ikujiro Nonaka, Hiroyuki Itami, Carl-Erik Sveiby, Yogesh Malhotra ( www.brint.com ), Karl M. Wiig ( www.krii.com) and others. As intense interest grows, extensive research is going towards the subject and several models have been proposed for measuring human capital but none of them have been agreed upon. In fact, some large insurance companies such as Skandia, are already recognizing human capital in their annual financial statements.

“Therefore physical or material wealth is derived from an image of wealth created by the human mind that has already been transformed through knowledge to create images of wealth”.

It is widely believed that knowledge is power. Really, this is incorrect. Knowledge is potential power. It only becomes powerful when it is applied. Knowledge is more important than wealth because most wealth is really perishable but knowledge is not – as long as you continue acquiring it or replacing it. Therefore knowledge to create wealth is itself wealth, which is at a higher level than common material wealth since this form of wealth is perishable and is derived from the knowledge to create it.

You need to realize that this is a fundamental universal principle. You cannot get a dog from a fish and you cannot get maize from sand but you can grow maize on soil to get maize. Therefore physical or material wealth is derived from an image of wealth created by the human mind that has already been transformed through knowledge to create images of wealth. The transformation is a process and is very important since the transformed mind is the one that creates the wealth environment and it's on this environment that physical or material wealth is created.

Where do you begin to transform your mind? I mentioned in my earlier articles that you need to change your attitude – the willingness to transform. Once this is done you need to start learning new ways – attending seminars, conferences, watching DVDs, listening to tapes and reading books about the subject you want to transform to (e.g. wealth creation etc.). Secondly you must be willing to replace old or obsolete knowledge with new knowledge and ideas. This you also do by the same process of learning – attending seminars, conferences, watching DVDs, listening to tapes and reading books. It's also important to associate yourself with like minded people and get away from others. This may not be easy as it means dropping some of your old friends and associates. You don't need to get away from your close relatives and friends but you can design a formula on how to live with them. Some will support you and some will be against you. But then you need to realize that life's a journey and the road you want to travel is mostly lonely and may not be popular with most people. You must understand that nothing comes without sacrifice. Therefore you must be willing to change the way you talk, what you read, what you hear, what you watch on TV, how you spend your spare time etc. and instead use the time to do something that would contribute to your long term goal.

“The shocking fact is that the difference between the rich and the poor is in the remaining 8 – 10 hours in a day and how we spend them!”

Did you realize that for all of us rich or poor there are 24 hours in day? Out of this, most of us spend about 8 hours a day going to work or conducting our business. According to physicians, the human body needs to rest for between 6 – 8 hours a day in order to maintain good health. This leaves a balance of between 8 to 10 hours unaccounted for. How do you spend these remaining hours – watching TV? Gossiping? Or perhaps whiling it away with your friends at the pub? The shocking fact is that the difference between the rich and the poor is in the remaining 8 – 10 hours in a day and how we spend them!

It's a known fact that our social lives are as important to us as anything else. But perhaps what you need to realize is that in order to be rich there are some sacrifices to be made. Did you realize, for example that when you were preparing for your college exams you had to cut yourself off of your friends, your relatives and your social life for a while otherwise you would not have passed your exams?

Many people think that in order to become rich there's a magic formula, a secret of some kind, or some luck that enables rich people to become rich. In fact nothing is further from the truth. The fact is that there's no rich person on earth who was born rich. They either acquired wealth or inherited it. And you need to realize that acquisition is much easier than inheritance because inheritance is governed by very strict rules, traditions and restrictions that you must maintain, sometimes for the rest of your life even after your predecessor has died. For example, your predecessor may have left a will that restricts you from marrying again, or visiting or seeing certain people, or traveling to certain countries, or from spending your wealth in inappropriate ways, otherwise you may lose your inheritance rights.

You see, the problem with inheritance wealth is that it is always left under the hands of a trustee or an executor, so you don't really have direct control of your wealth. In most cases, wills are written such that the trustee controls important aspects of inheritance even after the heir is past the age of 18 years. Therefore you are not always in direct control or free to spend or to invest your wealth the way you would like. In addition you are required to maintain a very strict code of conduct.

Finally, the taxman is not very kind to inherited wealth due to a preconceived idea by tax authorities that perhaps you don't deserve the wealth in the first place, so unless you are wearing the face of a public, educational, religious or charity institution, tax authorities are notorious for taking quite a generous chunk out of your inherited wealth.

Then there are accountants and lawyers who are not any kinder either. You see, there are many predators stalking on your inherited wealth. The moment somebody dies and leaves (or doesn't leave) a will, you will be shocked by the number of people, previously unknown, who will come out of nowhere to file suits in court claiming a part or all of your wealth. By the time you settle down, relax and can finally lay your hands on what's left of your inherited wealth, accountants and lawyers have deducted quite a huge chunk of the wealth for their professional fees, charges and commissions.

But perhaps the most important drawback is that inheritance is not for everybody even within the same household. So what happens to the rest of us?

The knowledge that people used to create wealth in the 1930s may not work today but the principles remain the same. It is these principles that I would want you to know.

Fig. 1 - The Wealth Pyramid

On the above diagram (Figure 1), material wealth is the lowest form of wealth followed by the knowledge to create wealth found in our human brain. Spiritual wealth is the highest form of wealth. Notice that the diagram takes the form of a pyramid. It is wider at the bottom and narrows as you go up. This indicates that material wealth although found in large quantities on earth, is of the least quality and is the least durable. Knowledge to create wealth is higher in quality and durability but is more rare to find than material wealth. Spiritual wealth is the highest form of wealth but is also the least in quantity.

The knowledge to create wealth is more important than the wealth itself because it is reusable and can be duplicated. This knowledge gives you the ability to create wealth but itself doesn't become wealth automatically, until you apply it. This is very important because it is this application that the rich have always used and kept secret for centuries.

The application of knowledge is actually a formula and can even be borrowed or copied from someone else, applied and converted into physical wealth. This is really the secret.

Many of you have been wondering whether the formula to create wealth or to become rich is some kind of mathematical formula. This is not the case – rather, it's a set of rules and principles that work for you regardless of your race, the color of your skin or your geographical location. In fact it's not even a secret since these are simply a set of rules and principles that anybody can follow to become very rich but they require some kind of discipline on your part.

Next Article: The Wealth Environment – Part III (10 Ways to Create Enormous Wealth)

Probably many of my readers have been wondering what happened to me, because I haven’t been posting anything on my blog lately, since February.

Well, I just decided to take a long break, that’s all – but to my esteemed readers and those of you who’ve been missing my articles, I say sorry. In fact I didn’t even know that people read my blog until recently when I met a friend who told me that he still visits my blog. To that friend and many others, I say, “kudos” – keep up the motivation. You ready inspire me to continue giving you whatever comes to me from above – my divine source of inspiration. This one’s for you.

In this three-part series, we will begin to examine the wealth environment – what it is, and what it’s not, and we will end with examples and a few exiting ways we can create enormous wealth both in the real world and on the Internet.

Wealth is an environment. Many of you may wonder what I mean by this. Ok – Be patient and take a deep breath. Wealth is not money. And certainly, wealth is not the material things that you see all around you – beautiful houses, beautiful cars, buildings, gold, diamonds, jewelry, etc., although these are part of it. I’m sure the accountant will disagree with me a million times, but I’m not worried about this. Believe me, I spent the best part of my prime life doing nothing but number crunching (also known in the U.S.A. as “bean counting”), and working with some of the largest multinational companies in the world such as CPC International and Nestlé. What really worries me more is that many people do not really understand what wealth is, and if need be, I will spend the rest of my life teaching this subject, God willing.

Therefore many people tend to measure how rich they are or how rich they’re not by the material things they own or don’t have, especially the money aspect of it – how much money they have or don’t have. Yet money itself is not wealth but a symbol for measuring the economic value of wealth and a medium of exchange. This will come as a shock to you, but have you realized that many people worry more about the things they don’t have than the things they have?

You see, in the natural sense, material things are widely regarded as wealth – and I will not argue with you because they are tangible and they really are wealth. Since I also use these things and I also seek them for the purposes of this life, I would be shooting myself on the foot if I argued to the contrary. So, I also think that they are wealth and they’re certainly important – and if you are patient I will show you in a moment how you can acquire them very easily.

Let’s start with an example. A prostitute exchanges her precious body and soul – something very precious and priceless, for money – a medium of exchange and something that’s not wealth in itself, because she wants to satisfy a temporary need or desire. This desire might be hunger, nice clothes, poverty, sexual pleasure or all of the above. On the other hand if she had been patient enough, resisted the temptation and waited for a while, she would have attracted a wealthy young man who would have given her all these and much more – beautiful house, beautiful car, respect, self esteem, good friends, prestige, class, fame etc. Money has no value in itself, but these other things certainly have more value and are more durable than money which is consumed immediately. The only reason we carry money around is so that we can spend it. If you don’t carry money around, you won’t spend it.

The key to unlocking wealth is in the understanding of what it is and what it’s not. And one of the keys to understanding wealth is in the understanding of the term, “durability”. If you look all around you, you will notice that the things that are more durable are also more expensive than things that are not durable. For example, pure leather is more expensive than synthetic leather, wool is more expensive than cotton, metal is more expensive than plastic, gold is more expensive than iron etc. I could give you more examples but you could also think of many others. Therefore we can safely say that wealth is relative to durability.

In a short while I will show you several ways you can use, which the rich have used for centuries to create enormous wealth, and in my next series of articles, I will specify the exact ways you can begin to create durable wealth immediately. Then I will show you surprising new ways that people are using to make millions on the Internet.

Coca-Cola is one of the most successful companies in the world. Actually, the key to the success of Coca-Cola is not the famous Coca-Cola drink. Rather, it’s a secret formula for the chief ingredient to manufacture the drink. According to tradition, this formula is held under lock and key that’s entrusted to only three people on earth, through a very strict corporate tradition of succession. It is believed that the founders of Coca-Cola bought the formula from the original owner only after everyone else had declined to buy it, saying it was a “tasteless concoction made of unknown substances”. This was around the 1930s during the great depression.

At this moment you’re wondering what I’m driving at. The key to unlocking wealth is the potential to create wealth. And the potential to create wealth lies in the knowledge to create wealth that is found in the human brain.

Next article: The Wealth Environment - Part II (The Knowledge for Wealth Creation)...

Wealth almost always follows a certain environment conducive to it. This environment is not necessarily a geographical place or climate and it has little or nothing to do with the earth's physical features, but everything to do with our physical and mental abilities and more precisely, our mental attitude.

The ability to discover wealth does not depend on whether the government has made any improvement to the infrastructure or not. The fact that there's no infrastructure is itself a great opportunity for anyone who has a vision to see it. One prominent South American leader was asked how come that North America (U.S.A. and Canada) was so advanced technologically, scientifically and economically compared to her counterpart South America, which has lagged behind and yet both continents were discovered almost at the same time by Spanish explorer, Christopher Columbus. He replied that, when the Spaniards invaded South America to settle there and to exploit it, they went looking for gold, while the Pilgrim Fathers who went to North America to escape religious persecution and to settle there, went looking for God.

I hope you can see the two different points of view here. One point of view is physically motivated and materialistic, while the other point of view is spiritually motivated. And it is the spiritual view that always emerges the winner, for it sees far.

Jesus Christ told His disciples:

“But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”

– The Bible, (Mat 6:33, KJV)

Some may disagree with this, but I urge you to take time and think about it. The right environment for wealth creation cannot come to you unless you have the right mental attitude. And the right mental attitude cannot come to you unless you have the right divine connection. This is the basic foundation.

Another story is told of two young, American friends who traveled to India in the early seventies to seek divine truth and to explore its diverse cultures. After traveling all over the expansive country, while marveling at its sheer beauty and its mystic landscape, they ended up in Calcutta, one of the poorest provinces in the country. One of them looked at the poverty, disease and hopelessness on humanity and remarked, “Look at the sickness and poverty! Why are these people suffering like this? Why can't somebody do something about it?”

The other man didn't say much, but when he saw the hopelessness, sympathy engulfed his very soul and he wondered what he could do to alleviate some of the suffering he was witnessing. Eventually, both men returned to America. The first young man didn't do anything and soon forgot about his experience in India, but the second young man went immediately into action. He had seen so many poor people suffering from avoidable diseases because they couldn't afford any shoes. He had an idea. Suppose he made a type of shoe that was so cheap that any poor, Indian peasant could afford to buy?

Soon, he had a design for a very cheap, plastic shoe suitable for the low Indian market. He approached a few friends who were willing to lend him money. He established some contacts in India who told him to send a few samples. All the samples were snatched up immediately. His Indian contacts were so impressed that they asked him to send a whole container, which was also bought immediately. Soon, the orders were so huge that supply could not meet the demand. He went on to become one of America's millionaires.

Motivation guru, Dr. Myles Munroe, says that the wealthiest place on earth is not found in the goldmines of South Africa, or in the oilfields of Iraq, Kuwait or Saudi Arabia; nor is it to be found in the world's biggest economy, U.S.A., but the wealthiest place on earth is in the graveyard. What? Let me explain – you see, in the graveyard lies stories that were never told, ideas that were never accomplished, dreams that were never realized, visions that were never achieved, goals that were never attained, books that were never written, etc. Actually, Dr. Myles Munroe calls this kind of wealth, “potential”, and you can read more on this from his best-selling books, Realizing Your Potential and Maximizing Your Potential.

Don't you find it rather strange that the continent of Africa is undoubtedly, the richest continent on earth in terms of minerals and natural resources, and yet some of poorest nations on earth are to be found in Africa? Indeed, in some of the poorest countries in Africa are to be found the world's largest deposits of gold, diamonds, oil, gemstones, copper, uranium, rubber, wild life, human resources etc. Some of these countries, such as Liberia, Côte d'Ivoire, Sierra Leone, Democratic Republic of Congo, Southern Sudan, Rwanda and Somalia, have been devastated by decades of endless civil wars that have left many of its people hopelessly poor. So, what went wrong?

Bad governance, corruption, greed and illiteracy are just some of the reasons constantly cited, but definitely not the root causes. The root causes of the problems in Africa and indeed, in many parts of the world is lack of attitude change. “Attitude is everything”, so I wrote in one of my earlier articles. It doesn't matter whether you're in Africa, Europe, South America, North America, Asia or Tazmania. Regardless of who you are, where you come from, where you were born, what environment you find yourself in, what color of skin you have or how arid or cold your climate is, you can find wealth anywhere. You can change your environment by simply beginning to change your mental attitude. Nelson Mandela won the battle against the apartheid regime in South Africa, way back when he was still in prison.

Nearly six decades ago, the kingdom of Saudi Arabia owned nothing but goats, sheep and camels and lived in tents. For centuries, Arab nomads and the Bedouins of Arabia wandered the Arabian Desert looking for an oasis so they can feed and water their animals. But then something happened that changed all that. Around the turn of World War II, in the late-forties, large deposits of oil were discovered in Saudi Arabia. At the time, the kingdom did not have any resources to drill the oil, but then, through clever thinking by the Saudi king, they entered into lucrative deals with British and American oil companies who had the drilling know-how and who agreed to do the actual drilling. They would then share the proceeds with the Saudi kingdom. Today, Saudi Arabia is one of the wealthiest nations in the world.

I sincerely believe that everything God created on earth, and indeed the universe, is good, and every place on earth is good whether agriculturally fertile or arid. There must always be something good waiting to be discovered somewhere. It just hasn't been discovered yet.

As a matter of fact wealth is not something you find somewhere physically such as gold, diamonds, cars or money. In fact, money itself is not wealth – it is only a symbol that we use to attach economical value to physical things. The physical things themselves are only shadows of the real wealth. Do you find that controversial? I will explain shortly. Wealth is something within us that we carry around with us wherever we go. It is the internal value within us. It is the ability within us to realize any physical form of wealth such as money, cars and property. What about gold, diamonds and oil - are these not wealth? Yes they are. But unless we have the internal ability to realize how much value these things are worth, they are all worthless to us. Does this begin to make sense? Don't worry if it doesn't. Please read on…

Economists argue that until there's real demand for something, its economic value is always zero. For something to become valuable someone must be willing to attach an economic value on the item and another one must be willing to buy it. Therefore, there must always be a willing seller and a willing buyer. As more willing parties emerge, demand for the item rises, and so the value (or price) rises too. It is only when we express our internal value towards external things that the things begin to acquire economic value even as more people begin to gain interest in them. Imagine in an auction for example. Bidding for an item usually starts at a low price and gradually rises according to market demand until it reaches a price where there's only one bidder. By then the closing value (price) may appear ridiculous to the public, but to the highest bidder, the item is every bit worth the highest price. Remember the saying, “ beauty is in the eyes of the beholder ”? This also applies to economics. In fact, economists would say: "value is in the eyes of the bidder".

The environment that attracts wealth is called wealth consciousness and it's a certain mental attitude – a certain mindset. To acquire this mindset is quite easy, but it takes time and effort. Start to exercise both your mind and body regularly. Meditation, physical exercise, good diet and rest are necessary. Read as widely as possible and read the right stuff. I will write more on this topic in a future article. Meanwhile, you can read more on the topics covered here from David Cameron's extraordinary books, A Happy Pocket Full of Money and Diet Liberation, which you can obtain from his website.

Alternatively, you can also obtain the Wealth Fundamentals Pack, which includes A Happy Pocket Full of Money and other great books by David Cameron. In the Wealth Pack, you will also get a bundle of timeless classics most of which have sold millions of copies around the world such as the classics: Think And Grow Rich, by Napoleon Hill and The Science of Getting Rich, by Wallace D. Wattles.

According to the law of attraction, if you possess an environment of wealth consciousness, you will attract anything you want, such as houses, cars and money the same way a magnet attracts metal or another magnet. Renowned hypnotic marketing writer and Internet marketing guru, Dr. Joe Vitale, has also written fantastic books on the topics covered here such as his best-selling book, The Attractor Factor, which you can obtain here. You can also obtain many of his now famous books online from his website.

If you have been following the news lately you know that stock markets across the world have been tumbling over the last few weeks. It all started in early January 2008 when stock markets in Asia started falling amid fears that there could be a looming economic recession in the United States of America.

This was triggered by economic data that showed that a recession was possible following the effects of the much touted credit crunch in the U.S.A. that was in turn triggered by a collapse in sub-prime mortgage lending. As a matter of fact the credit crunch was so serious that major mortgage houses such as J.P. Morgan and Citigroup had to make huge accounting write-downs in their books late last year, to make provision against the impending loses. At the same time these companies also announced huge job-cuts on top of resignations by their respective CEOs.

If you have been reading business news lately, or have been watching television you will recall that this has been the major topic on all major television networks across the world including CNN over the last couple of weeks. In fact at one time, it was reported that trading had to be suspended in the Indian stock market, the Bombay Stock Exchange to forestall further loses after loses of over 10% per day were recorded in early January.

What followed was a series of stock market loses across Europe, North and South America and Africa, with the major stock market indicators at the New York Stock Exchange, such as the Dow-Jones Industrial Average and the NASDAQ recording some of the worst stock market loses in recent times.

Panic started when world oil prices escalated to a record high of 100 dollars a barrel following the weakening of the U.S. Dollar against all major currencies. This precipitated a major migration of assets held in U.S. Dollars by big investors across the world to other denominations such as the British Pound and the Euro.

I think it is in order to mention that exactly one year ago, the price of oil was standing at around 55 dollars a barrel while the price of gold was around 600 dollars an ounce. Currently gold is trading at nearly 1,000 dollars an ounce!

Ironically, while all this was happening, world leaders, economists, industrialists, scientists, management gurus, thinkers, environmentalists, entrepreneurs, businessmen/women and financial experts were meeting at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, to discuss the current global economic turmoil, environmental degradation and to chart the way for the future. For your information, the list of participants comprised economic movers-and-shakers including some of the wealthiest people in the world such as Bill Gates and George Soros.

How do we make sense out of all this?

Well, first of all we need to realize that economic turmoil is not new. In 1929 amid similar circumstances the world witnessed one of the greatest stock market crushes in history. This followed a prolonged global economic recession from 1933 just before the onset of the Second World War in 1939 – 1945.

Secondly, we need to realize that economic turmoil is largely man-made. The other day I was watching an interview on CNN, of the Indian minister for Commerce and Industry who was also participating in the Davos Forum. When he was asked by a CNN reporter to explain what he thought might be the cause of the fall in stock market prices across Asia and in India, he said he was convinced that the price falls were triggered mainly by panic selling due to “sentiment”. That's interesting. He went on further to explain that economic fundamentals in India were relatively strong, perhaps even better looking than in most other developing economies. He said for example, that the price-to-earnings ratio (the measure that determines if a stock or a stock market is overpriced) in the Indian stock market for example, was relatively low compared to other stock markets, therefore the price falls were not justified in face of the stable economic indicators.

Of course, the Indian minister was right and he might as well have been speaking for the entire global stock and financial markets. There's nothing wrong with the economies or the stock markets of the world.

What is wrong is the panic of men and women amid fear.

A long time ago I read a novel titled Fear Is The Key by best-selling author, Alistair MacLean. In the book, the author suggests that fear is the most effective weapon for control of human beings no matter how strong a person may look.

Here are a few common fears:

Fear of losing money

Fear of losing a house

Fear of losing a car

Fear of losing a job

Fear of a looming economic crisis

Fear of money (yes, people fear money!)

Fear of becoming broke

Fear of becoming poor

Fear of becoming rich (believe it or not!)

Fear of starting a business

Fear of losing a business

Fear of investing

Fear of losing an investment

Fear of travel

Fear of losing a girlfriend

Fear of losing a boyfriend

Fear of losing a husband

Fear of losing a wife

Fear of marrying

Fear of war

Fear of death

Fear of the unknown

The list is not exhaustive. You may also think of many other fears also known as phobias. You must realize that a lot of the things that people fear may or may not happen.

Historically, powerful individuals have often used fear to manipulate or control other people, and also to manipulate world economies and stock markets for their own benefit. An interesting tale is told that the lion is the most fearless animal in the African jungle. It is a fearless predator that intimidates its prey and enemies alike by its sheer fearlessness. On the other hand the Maasai of Kenya, are said to be the most fearless people in Africa. A young Maasai moran (warrior) can kill an adult lion single-handedly armed with only a spear and a sword. But it said that the most lethal weapons a Maasai moran possesses are fearlessness, patience and focus. Once the lion senses the fearlessness in the moran, its courage and mental strength slowly wane. Without much courage left and strength quickly wearing down, the lion doesn't have any more patience left and out of fear and panic, it lunges carelessly into the moran's already drawn, razor-sharp spear and to its death. The moran's sword is only used afterwards to slaughter the already injured animal and to cut off its claws, which are highly prized among the Maasai.

"The successful warrior is the average man, with laser-like focus."

– Bruce Lee, 'Kung Fu' martial arts legend.

In one of my earlier posts, I wrote a comprehensive article on wealth – What it is and what it is not. For example, I mentioned that wealth is not physical as many people think. Physical wealth is only the outcome of the wealth within. Real wealth is spiritual and usually manifests into a condition known as wealth consciousness. This can happen with the full consciousness of the individual or as it often happens in life, subconsciously. In the late 19 th century, a gentleman by the name Wallace D. Wattles wrote an extraordinary book on this subject. The book is called The Science of Getting Rich . Download a free copy of the book here .

Wealth consciousness and money is also a topic I covered extensively earlier and if you would like to explore this topic further, you may purchase another amazing book called A Happy Pocket Full of Money by David Cameron . Get this extraordinary book here . David Cameron is a renowned wealth consciousness guru and his extraordinary books, which can be obtained in his website , have made a significant impact on the lives of many people across the world.

As I write this article, stock markets across the world are again on a rebound. What had changed? The answer is, as you might expect – Nothing! Only the value within human beings had changed. This value within human beings is usually eroded by fear. And once this value is eroded, panic sets in and is usually reflected very fast in the physical in the following forms:

Panic selling of stocks at throwaway prices

Falling stock market prices

Bad financial decisions that result in wrong investments

Bad management decisions

Bad economic policy decisions

Weakening of foreign exchange rates

Weakening of world currencies

Escalating oil and food prices etc.

The list is endless.

Remember the cause and effect principle?

What you see in the physical is only the effect – not the cause. Always remember that when you panic for any reason, another individual takes advantage of the situation. For example, when stock market prices fall, many so-called retail (small) investors tend to panic and in a frantic effort to "cut losses", they sell their precious stocks at throw-away prices. Predator investors and speculators also called crocodiles, then move in for the kill, thereby making huge profits. In the book, The Warren Buffet Way by Robert G. Hagstrom, Billionaire Warren Buffet says that if you cannot tolerate to see your stock fall by at least 50%, you should not be an investor.

The key to any meaningful success is patience, focus and fearlessness. Whenever there's an economic crisis of whatever kind, there are also countless opportunities that only the patient, trained eye can see – not the average man or woman.

Train yourself for all these things and your success and wealth is guaranteed. Of course this requires much discipline, time and effort but the rewards are enormous. Seek information and knowledge, which you can obtain easily in this information age. Above all seek wisdom, which comes out of a combination of information, knowledge, and discipline, and of course, divine help.

I don't know whether it's orchestration or sheer coincidence but every time I read the biographies of highly successful people in history, they all seem to have one thing in common – they all went through great difficulties first.

Consider this short biography:

PORTRAIT OF AN ACHIEVER

Failed in Business – Bankruptcy, 1831

Defeated for Legislature, 1832

Sweetheart/Fiancée Dies, 1835

Suffered a nervous Breakdown, 1836

Defeated in Election, 1836

Defeated for U.S. Congress, 1843

Defeated again for U.S. Congress, 1846

Defeated once again for U.S. Congress, 1848

Defeated for U.S. Senate, 1855

Defeated for U.S. Vice President, 1856

Defeated again for U.S. Senate, 1858

Elected President of the U.S.A., 1860

ABRAHAM LINCOLN

You Cannot Fail… Unless You Quit!”

The test of your faith is not when you have a beautiful home, a big car or a fat bank account.

Quite to the contrary, great faith is demonstrated when we're going through tough, difficult times, for it is during these difficult times that our resolve is tested to the limit and we begin to see visions and dream dreams. It is during such difficult times that most successful people received the visions that eventually led them to the levels of success we remember them by.

Right now, you may be going through some tough, financial difficulties.

Maybe you're disappointed because you lost all your money in a scam or a shoddy financial deal.

Or maybe you lost your money in the stock market.

Or maybe you started a business that for one reason or another went under and you're now bankrupt.

Or maybe you're feeling sorry for yourself because you've been unable to get a decent job.

Or maybe you're disappointed because you just lost your job.

Or maybe you fell ill and you're the sole breadwinner for your family.

“Everything that happens in your life is moving you in the direction of your goals.”

– Bob Proctor, author of You Were Born Rich and The Science of Getting Rich seminars.

Whatever you're going through, just remember that you're going through it in order to become a better person.

You're not alone! Great men and women throughout history went through tough times before they reached their destiny. The striking thing about all of them that made the difference between success and failure is that they did one thing in common – THEY DID NOT GIVE UP!

Tough times are merely a test of your faith for a short while and an opportunity to learn. We learn through mistakes, therefore tough times are perfect opportunities to learn why we got there and how to get out of there.

When you're faced with difficult times, first of all try to remain as calm as possible – DON'T PANIC.

• Resort to regular meditation or prayer for it is during these times that you have the opportunity to discover yourself – who you really are. Read spiritual and motivation books regularly.


• Whenever possible, try to understand the reason for being in the situation and try to learn from it as much as possible.


• Think of ways and possibilities to get you out of the situation and how to prevent a similar situation from occurring in future.


• Do Not – I repeat, Do Not blame anybody, including yourself.


• List on a piece of paper, all possible ways to get you out of the situation. Place the list in a place where you can read it daily (e.g. in your wardrobe, in your bathroom etc.).


• Plan and work your way daily towards the ways and possibilities to get you out of the situation.


• Record any achievements made so far, and what goals/objectives have not yet been achieved.


• Adjust your plans wherever possible, giving yourself new goals/objectives and adjust your timetable accordingly.


• Work your way systematically with the new goals/objectives without putting too much pressure on yourself.


• If possible, reward yourself whenever you achieve something no matter how small it may seem – by going out for example, taking your spouse out or by taking your family or your friends out etc.


• If you believe in God – and I recommend that you do, it is very important to take time to thank your maker for any achievements made so far, for you could not have done it without divine help.

Getting back on track, especially after going through a crisis, can sometimes be very challenging. Some crises may last for only a few days or months, but others may last for years. Your ability to come out of a crisis depends largely on how quickly you recover from it and how quickly you discover a way out of it. Sometimes you may know exactly how to get out of a situation but your mental attitude or your general frame of mind may not allow it.

The mind is your most powerful weapon that you posses and if it's held captive for whatever reason, by negative thoughts, then your entire physical being is in captivity and your future is at stake. Your plans are also held captive. Gather around yourself a few, good, trusted, friends who are like-minded and who may have gone through similar experiences. Sharing your experience with others especially if they've also gone through similar experiences can significantly improve your chances of recovering out of difficult situations.

The Internet is also filled with diverse forums about every conceivable topic on the planet, where people can freely share their interests, feelings and ideas with other people with similar interests/feelings regardless of gender, age-groups, geographical location, cultures, religious beliefs, intellect and so on. Many good forums exist on the Internet and joining such forums can be greatly helpful. With a good search engine such as Google, it is possible to find a good forum where you can share your experiences with a large pool of people across the world, who may be undergoing similar circumstances.

According to Forbes Magazine, Warren Buffet was until recently, the second richest man in the world. He has now been overtaken by Carlos Slim Helu, the Mexican telecommunications billionaire who has also overtaken Bill Gates of Microsoft Corp.

Not so long ago, Mr. Buffet pledged to give away nearly 30 billion dollars to charity or charitable causes over the course of ten years. According to Forbes, he was worth nearly 37 billion dollars at the time. And guess which foundation he chose to give the charity? You guessed right – The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. No need to remind you that at the time, Bill Gates was still the richest man in world.

When asked by a reporter why he gave so much money away after struggling all his life looking for it, his reply was: “All this time I was looking for it just to give it all away”.

This is baffling, wouldn’t you agree? After reading this, I was baffled and for a long time I pondered over this statement made by Warren Buffet. I mean; most of us spend years; perhaps our entire lifetimes, just trying to make-ends-meet. And here is a man who says that he looked for so much money just to give it all away!

As a reminder, the entire population of the world today is just over 6 billion people. If you divide 30 billion dollars over this figure, it doesn’t take a mathematician to figure out that each one us would walk away with over 5 dollars. This is a significant amount considering that in the poorest countries of the world, the average human being lives by less than a dollar per day.

After this, I asked myself several questions:

Who Am I?

Where did I come from?

Why Am I here?

What is the meaning of life?

Where Am I going?

Well, if somebody can make so much money only to give it away, it doesn’t take long to figure out that there must be something better than money out there; something perhaps more valuable than money or material wealth.

But what is that thing? I will leave you to figure that out but I will not leave without a clue.

One thing that comes to mind is loneliness. You see, it is very lonely up there! Most of the people I have talked to about how it feels like to be one of the richest man or woman in the world have replied nearly unanimously that you become more and more lonely as you go up there. And the fear of becoming lonely can sometimes be very terrifying!

Another reason that can prompt a man or woman to give away so much money is the realization that there are other things more valuable than money. In fact, many people struggle all their lives seeking money and material wealth only to discover the hard way that they have earned the money and wealth at the expense of the most valuable things in life such as happiness, love, good health, peace of heart, friendship, companionship, etc.

Please don’t misunderstand me. It is not pleasant to be poor or broke, and certainly, you cannot be happy when you are poor and broke. I have been poor and broke and I have also been rich and I have been unhappy on both occasions, but I prefer to be rich. Seek wealth and happiness
by any means but once you get it do not neglect to do the most important things in life and that is to share your wealth with your friends and the less fortunate in society. This way you will retain the most valuable things in life such as happiness, love, good health, peace of heart, satisfaction, friendship, companionship etc.

The third reason is the fear of death, the unknown and the afterlife. Very little is known about life after death. Fear of the unknown and the prospects of the afterlife can motivate people to try and make peace with themselves and with others, by whatever means possible, because frankly, no one has died and come back to life to tell the tale. If such a man or woman does exist, then they are very few indeed. Most religions, Christianity in particular, teaches about being rewarded after death – good reward (heaven) if you have done well on earth, and punishment (hell) if you have done evil.

Ernest Hemingway, one of the greatest writers of all time, lived his entire life without acknowledging the existence of God. Just before he died aged 61, this is what he had to say:

“When you are sixty one and you are dying, it is very imperative that
you begin to learn something about death and the afterlife”.


Certainly live your life abundantly, but do not neglect the more important things in life. Life on earth is very short but we are informed by many religions that the afterlife is eternity. As you go
about seeking money, wealth and happiness do not neglect to learn more about this important part of your life.

To learn more about this subject and to get answers of questions such as 'Who Am I?', 'Where do I come from?', 'Why Am I here?' and 'Where Am I going?' please watch Dr. Kent Hovind's extraordinary videos downloadable from his web site at: http://www.drdino.com/.