Top 3 Things you can do to Help Build Wealth

Many of you want to build wealth and these are the top 3 things that I’ve used to help me in my life.

• Read good books about finance. Then think about, and find someone to discuss your ideas with. Find someone who has been successful at building wealth. Don’t listen to the talkers of big success but the doers that have really done it.
• Record your thoughts in a journal as you read. This will help you retain knowledge.
• Write down your goals along with timeframes of when you will reach them.

I love this quote: “Always have two books – one to read from and one to write in.” As mentioned in the first point, find people that are good at what you want to learn. All my life I’ve looked for mentors – people who have been successful at what I want to learn. I’ll go into this more in my next post.

A Journey Takes Unexpected Turns

Passion, like life, is about journeys not arriving. Kimberly and I have been planning a trip to Europe for a year. This was a goal of ours. You see the brain craves the new, the unfamiliar. Living in the moment also stimulates the mind. Of course it’s easy to live in the moment when you’re in Paris.

Another way is to experience something familiar through someone else’s eyes. We took our good friends  Frantoise and Stein Eriksen (who is now in his eighties and has a Wikipedia page) with us. We’d been to some of the places before, but they came alive again when we showed them. Our brain loves new experiences.

Everywhere we went I asked people what there passion level was. We visited a farm of a cheese maker in Switzerland. We stayed at the Palace Hotel in Gstaad Switzerland which had unbelievable scenery and impeccable service. I got to introduce the Eriksen’s to an Australian tennis champ. We were in Germany for Octoberfest (I’ll put up some video of the trip).

The most exhilarating part of the journey though started with a train ride that had some curve balls. Getting on the train and going from Zurich to Croatia there was no one was there to greet us. We had a tough time finding a cab to make it to the ship. We finally found a cab and arrived an hour late. Luckily, they waited for us.

Once we got onto the ship we realized it was not like the spacious hotel with great service. It was tight quarters. The bathroom was so small you could hardly change your mind, let alone change a shirt in it. The shower was a spout hooked up to the bathroom sink. You turned it on and sprayed yourself, along with the rest of the room.

The week long ship ride was full of adventure. There were people from all different nationalities speaking different languages. We stopped on islands of all sizes. We bicycled 30-40 kilometers. One island was so small that license plates weren’t necessary – everyone knew everyone else. With only a few hundred people, there were maybe 25 cars.

Then there were high winds – so high that the buses couldn’t run because they might blow over. So rented an expensive taxi, and headed back to make our flight home – which we barely made.

While we loved the more predictable parts of the trip, our real passion was in the unexpected – the missed rides, the cramped ship, the collage of cultures, and even the storm.

Do you fears prevent you from traveling (literally or figuratively) because you’re afraid to try something new? Sometimes people are so comfortable it scares them to do something different. Yet when they go ahead they look back that is what stands out, it’s what they talk about.

Mixing things up, trying the new, seeing something through another’s eyes, being open to adventure. This is how you create passion.

Gold Medal Gratitude

I believe that gratitude for the contribution of others in our lives, our acknowledgment of their support, and giving credit for their part in our successes and triumphs keeps one more humble, open, and more connected to “those who brought you to the dance.”

I also believe the expression and attitude of gratitude also serves as a slingshot for greater triumph and personal satisfaction.

This is my own gold medal experience with gratitude and giving credit. I would not have had a certain personal triumph without a bunch of support, inspiration, and help mainly from three great people.

I had a goal to reach the top of the tennis rankings in my state of Utah. I certainly worked at it. But I had a problem in the way of my goal. I was hardly able to run, bend, or walk more than 200 yards without stopping because of the pain in my two arthritic hips. (See Movement Is a Must in Chapter 10, “An Umbrella Goal for LIFE” of my new book: How to IGNITE Your Passion for Living, 2008)

So how did I win the gold medal in the Men’s 60-65 Singles Tennis Tournament at last year’s Huntsman World Senior Games?

First, a ton of credit goes to Paul J. Meyer (www.success-motivation.com) who taught me by word and example to never stop setting and going after goals—he preached over and over to me to do this all my life—no matter what.

He also showed me the power of spaced repetition. What did that mean for me? It meant that I hit thousands and thousands of tennis balls warring out two ball machines in the process.

Second, I owe a huge amount of credit to the one-time most winning tennis player in the history of the game—the incomparable Australian Roy Emerson. He conducted a phenomenal one-week tennis camp high in the mountains of Switzerland that consisted of many long hours of teaching techniques, strategies, and drills that nearly wore my brand new hips to a frazzle. But what great lessons I learned!

And third … about those new hips—WOW! Without those pieces of chromium cobalt placed so perfectly by a great surgeon with steady hands and many years of experience, the example and coaching of Paul J. Meyer and Roy Emerson would not have won me the gold.

Dr. Harlan Amstutz of the Joint Replacement Institute deserves so much thanks and credit for my tennis success. He gave me my young life back.

I am so grateful!

Now about my goal of being in the top rankings for tennis in my state—as published on February 4, 2008 () I am the NUMBER ONE ranked tennis player in Utah, for my age group.

As you progress through your own life at every stage, whether you’re just starting out or you’re an old fart like me, be sure to fully realize that you owe (gratitude to) so many for helping you along your success path.

None of us, no matter how smart we think we are or even how lucky we may be,  can do it or go it alone. Take time to give credit and gratitude. It truly will amaze you how much joy and energy you will add to your life and everyone around you.

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