Accidental Genius

Accidental Genius: Using Writing to Generate Your Best Ideas, Insight, and Content by Mark Levy (San Francisco, California: Berrett-Koehler, 2010)

The act of writing stimulates thought, so when you cannot think of anything to write, start writing anyway. – Barbara Fine Clouse, Working it out: A Troubleshooting Guide for writers.

Mark Levy in Accidental Genius teaches you how to use the process of writing to unlock the vast and valuable potential that is housed in your subconscious mind.

Mark teaches the concept of writing without inhibition and as fast as your finger can type or write. Through freewriting, the paper on which you write becomes the dumping ground for the content of your mind.

Writing is a good habit to have. Set some rules for yourself and then discover the genius in you through your writings.

Here are five things I like about Accidental Genius

  1. Try Easy – this is the process of telling yourself as you write that what you are writing about doesn’t matter and so you can be relaxed about what you write. When I tell myself to try easy, I know that the quality of what I am writing is not important at that moment. What is important is that I write. You get another opportunity to improve on your writing quality.
  2. Work against a limit – Mark believes that and I agree with him that setting a time limit for your writing session is very important. Many of us do our best work when we have a deadline. The time set by you is all you have and as such you write fast and furious to get as much down within the deadline.
  3. Getting a hundred ideas is easier than getting one idea – Again this is a quantity versus quality argument. With a hundred ideas, you become idea rich and from the one hundred you can refine, extend or combine you best to come up with the ones that are worth further investigation. If you are trying to get 100 ideas on paper, you also give yourself the room to experiment. You suspend judgement and suddenly ideas begin to flow.
  4. Holding a paper conversation – Imagine that you are sitting with someone you admire in your field and you are asking him or her questions and then you write down the answers. Mark advocates that you flesh out your characters before you talk to them. The more concrete you can describe your character, the better the quality of answer you will receive.
  5. Write your own rules – As a writer you need to have rules that guide your writing sessions. This will help you to be effective and consistent. The rules are yours and they are there to help you get the best out of your free writing sessions. So play around with some rules until you come up with what works for you.

Accidental Genius has twenty eight chapters so you will need to get the book to find out more. This is defiantly one of my all time favourite ideas to action and writing books. I am still working on my writing and freewriting has certainly helped me to get more out of my writing sessions.

Why not get your own copy of Accidental Genius today and start your freewriting today.

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Five Benefits of Financial Freedom

Financial Freedom for me is a freedom from money worries. This can be elusive simply because we are bombarded with images and adverts that fuel our desire to want more and yet our income or finances invariable does not keep up with our wants. So we spend more than we earn and then get into debt.

Young Woman Agonizing Over Financial Calculations.

A good financial plan is a road map that shows exactly how the choices we make today will affect our future – Alexa Von Tobel

Most of us will always have a limited money supply and so we must curb our appetite for spending.

In Taking Control of Money, we learn step by step how to establish financial freedom and how to ultimately create wealth – two valuable tools for you.

For me financial freedom is a journey. I still have money worries so I am not there yet. I am on the road and its a beautiful road to travel.

Let me give you what I consider to be some benefits of financial freedom.

1. Freedom From Debt

Imagine a life without debt. No credit card loans to pay, no mortgagees outstanding, all your income goes to growing your cash reserve and investments. I hear you saying such a world does not exist. Yes it does. To get there you simply have to learn to spend less than you earn.

2. Freedom to Increase your savings

I was asked the question, why save when you will only get a little interest on your savings? Here is my answer.

Savings is a natural thing that occurs when you spend less than you have. To put it in simply if your income exceeds your spending, you will have cash which you can then do with as you please. You save to build a healthy cash reserve and you save to have the money to take advantage of investment opportunities that may come your way. For example having the necessary deposit for a mortgage.

3. Freedom to do what you want

When you are not at the mercy of creditors, you can do a lot. For example, you can start your own business, move to another city or country or make other big decisions without worrying about paying your debt.

4. Freedom from Financial Stress

Without debt, you can avoid the physical and mental impact of financial stress.

5. Freedom to start creating wealth

Ultimately, wealth creation is what will give you financial freedom. But you can only create wealth if you have a positive cash flow to enable you take the steps. Wealth creation involves risk so you must seek advice from qualified professionals before deciding to put your hard earned money in some investment.

Get your copy of the book Taking control of Money. Also download your free Taking Control of Money Workbook.

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A Question of Time

I find myself in recent times asking the question – “what do you do in your spare time?” Here is what I have found out. There is so much variety in what people do with their down time. And there is a growing number of people who truly believe that they have no spare time. Twenty flour hours a day, seven days a week and fifty two weeks a year and you have no spare time?

A Question of Time

You are right. I don’t have a lot of spare time because I love to stay busy and keep my calendar full ~ Kiana Tom

Let me suggest three things that will enhance your life. You can schedule them into your daily to do list.

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I Have My Budget Working for Me, Now What?

So, you have followed my advice and started work on taking charge of your finances. Good for you! I am glad to know that you have created a budget and that it is working to help you cut expenses where you can and to save money when possible.

Discipline

But a great budget is only half the battle. If you are looking to not only save money at the end of every month, but to actually build wealth, there is still work to be done. Let’s take a look at what you can do to start accomplishing that.

Taking Control of Money

Taking Control of Money – A Young Adults Guide To Financial Freedom by Wole Ososami (London: The Vine Media, 2014)

If you have not yet read Taking Control of Money: A Young Adult’s Guide to Financial Freedom, what are you waiting for? This book is packed with valuable information that can not only help keep you free of debt, but that can actually help you create your own wealth. It isn’t some gimmick where you buy “secrets to making money overnight” or anything of that sort, but rather a hands-on guide to truly taking control of your finances so that you can make money through savings and investments.

What The Book Has to Offer

Taking Control of Money is broken down into five chapters, also known as keys. Each key is another step towards establishing financial independence and creating wealth. The five keys are:

  1. Know the True Value of Your Money – In this section we examine things like compound interest, the things money can and cannot do, the time value of money, and how to spend more wisely.
  2. Take Charge of Your Financial Freedom – In this section we look at the many benefits of financial freedom and begin setting both long and short-term goals for achieving this freedom. We use the SMART system to make sure that goals are easily achievable and close out with a section on having a job versus owning a business.
  3. Budgeting and Planning Your Way to Financial Freedom – In this section, we look at the true benefits of honest budgeting and how it can be the biggest step towards smarter spending. We look at how to create your own budget and even offer a sample budget template for you to use. We also talk about various budgeting skills and mindsets, create a piggybank technique for saving money, and offer a savings and investment toolkit.
  4. Developing Financial Disciplines – In the fourth key, we examine the reasons behind most young adults’ financial problems and discuss how important it is to change your mindset when it comes to spending money. We look at the value of financial discipline when it comes to saving and spending before moving on to specific disciplines such as delayed gratification and a heart of gratitude.
  5. Creating Wealth – In the final key, we take a look at the path one needs to take in order to create wealth, such as seeking professional advice, eliminating debt, starting an emergency fund, and planning for retirement. We then take a look at how to get started as an investor before looking at the many different types of investments that you can make. We close with a wealth creation checklist.

As you can see, there are many benefits to reading Taking Control of Your Money. Far from another “get rich quick” type of book, this book is an honest look at the way young adults do and should handle their money. It is an essential tool for anyone looking to build wealth rather than continue spending beyond their means and is a solid investment in your financial future if you are willing to do the work and follow the steps outlined within the book’s pages.

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Set Up Shop in 5 Simple Steps

You will no doubt agree with me that online shopping is on the increase and there is no reason why your business should not benefit from the billions of dollars spent in shopping through this channel every year.

It doesn’t matter that you have one product or many products, giving your customers web access to your products and services will help you reach more people in far flung places.

So let me give you 5 simple steps to take to automate your sales and have a full e-commerce site. Please have a look at my site www.takingcontrolofmoney.com for what can be achieved with a modest budget. I will be talking about selling online using some of the products which I used in building my own site. There are many other products in the market but as I have not used them I am not in a position to talk about them.

The trouble with not having a goal is that you spend your life running up and down the field and never score.

Bill Copeland
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5 Suggestions For Composing Emails That Get Read

Why don’t people answer your emails? Well, maybe you’re longwinded. Maybe you’re not stating what you want clearly enough. Maybe you’re just boring people to tears. Only you know what you put in your emails that might be putting people off.

Whatever the problem, you need to fix it. So here are 5 suggestions for composing emails that people will actually read, and answer.

1. Use a Personal Touch

People love to hear their name, and they love to see their name in a document. Using a person’s name in the subject header and the body of the message will make your message stand out from all the other messages that a person receives. It gets their attention, and makes them want to read more.

It’s never too late to start. There is nothing to gain from your could have should have or would have thoughts.

Make the most of your today by taking the first step towards achieving your financial goals.

Start a regular savings today and watch your money grow. Let compound interest work for you.

For more information visit Taking Control of Your Money.

 

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Why Do People Hate Change?

People are always going to resist change. That’s because we love what’s predictable and we don’t want anything in our lives that’s going to lead to a loss of control. Everyone wants to feel as though they’re powerful and autonomous.

Our dilemma is that we hate change and love it at the same time; what we really want is for things to remain the same but get better. ~ Sydney J. Harris

When we’re faced with change, we either rebel or just sit back and practice passive resistance.

Here are 7 things people hate most about change.