Greatly missed

On Friday 25 December 2009, I whistled and Bluemle responded as usual, though with a faint voice. She moved towards the cage to assure me she was still strong. I rushed into the kitchen and brought her salad. She looked very weak and could not move toward the salad. We gave her cucumber. She managed to take a bite, but was too weak to eat anything. It made our Christmas day a worried one because Bluemle did not eat throughout the entire Christmas Day. We noticed the cancer tumours have advanced.

On Saturday 26 December 2009, Bluemle breathed her last. Alas! our lovely guinea pig is gone. It was very painful as I laid her body in a carton box. I wept. My wife wept too. We laid her to rest just behind our window near the garden.

Schlaf gut, Bluemle.

Achieving Success PT-1

Welcome note
I am delighted to welcome you to the Achieving Success course that I am pleased to deliver through this blog site. In the coming weeks, I will share with you business and self-enhancement strategies that work for me and others... and might work for you. Based on the revised and expanded edition of my Innovation and Entrepreneurship driven book—The Moneymaking Code—I have derived the Achieving Success blog course specifically for you... and it is absolutely FREE.


Discipline yourself in order to achieve success.
Getting a financial life as well as achieving success begins with self-discipline.

"Change your mind-set and your attitude," — Magic Johnson, Chairman and CEO of Magic Johnson Enterprises.

Are you worried about the so-called credit crunch? Don't, because most small businesses achieved financial success in the heat of the financial crisis. Translate your challenges into opportunities. It's possible.

"CNN started in the 1980s economic recession in the United States... Disney started during the US depression," — Tony Robbins, CEO of Anthony Robbins Companies.

The most important element of success is to "open your mind" to possibilities. The opposite, which is "closed mind" seals off innovative ideas, preventing any possibility for new windows of opportunity. A closed mind keeps you marking time; where you are in life; where you have been for the past ten years; and will probably continue to be for the next X years. A closed mind is that part of your mental faculty that continues to create a constant struggle to achieve or get started. A closed mind is that monster in your head that says: "Oi! Guess what... 2009 is gone and you did not get to improve your financial life. It will certainly be the same for you in 2010... you'll never make it... stop trying."

Is that all?

Nope! A closed mind is that Big Mouth inside your head that gives you the envy and the rubbish you talk each time you hear about someone more successful than you.

What must I do to succeed?

Answer: Divorce your "closed mind" this minute... and keep an open mind to possibilities.

What are the elements of your "closed mind"?

THOUGHTS
You've thought of starting a small business. In your mind you say: "I want to start a small business." This appears like a positive thought, because you want to do something positive by creating an extra stream of income. However, the phrase "I want" keeps you wanting to start a small business rather than actually starting the business. So, you continue to want to start a small business—never achieving your goal. You are marking time simply because you are stuck in your thoughts.

FOCUS
Focus leads to the trends that cause "thoughts" to be formulated in your thoughts. You constantly focus on the small business you want to start. You study different small business operations and visualise what your small business would look like. You smile... and continue to build castles in the air. You think this is a positive focus, because it keeps the goal constantly dancing in your mind.

Is it a problem to keep my great business idea constantly dancing in my mind?
Glad you asked. The problem is that you're stuck. Your actual focus at this stage is on "wanting versus starting". Rather than moving toward your goal, you are dreaming about it.

SELF-SPEECH
Self-speech is what you mentally and consciously say to yourself and to others about you. It is the negative and self-labeling voice within. It is the voice that makes you attribute the following to you:

• It's too late to catch up with the Internet age.
• Today's technology is for the young. I'm too old to join in.
• My friend was right... I've lived my life and need to give up trying.
• I'm too shy to ask for help.
• It's too late to learn new stuffs.

This attitude will limit your capabilities, talent, potential and opportunities. You say you are... and so you become what you say you are. That is called "self-fulfilling prophecies".

Focus on your positive and creative inner voice to help you achieve success.

"There is a powerful driving force inside every human being that once, unleashed, can make any vision, dream or desire a reality," — Anthony Robbins.

What do I do about the negative stuffs I say to myself?
Remember that the things you say to you are what actually define your personality. Make a list of the negative things you say about yourself. After compiling the list of your negative attributes, ask yourself whether this is what you want to become.

Strike through your negative attributes... and say to yourself, very loud: "This is not me!"


That's it for now.
Thanks for being generous with your time... and for giving me the opportunity to share a few tips with you. Please send comments and related questions to help me better my presentation. And please be kind enough to share the lesson with your friends and family.

If you are an expert in this area, please click on comment to contribute your self-enrichment knowledge.

Next free course date

Course title: Achieving Success Part-2 (PT-2)

Click on ACHIEVING SUCCESS Part-2 main topics are:

1. The Right Syndrome
2. Reinventing Yourself
3. Dr. Joseph Adonu's Psychology of Personal Development

I wish you a financial success!
Ich wünsche Ihnen finanziellen Erfolg! 
Kong xi fa cai!
Pénzügyi sikert kívánok az új évben!

China 2009

Ni hao.

I love China... I really do. On Tuesday 1 September 2009, I checked in at the beautiful and cosy YuNing Hotel, Shenyang, China. Shenyang is one of China's manufacturing strongholds. I was in China to present an engineering paper on global manufacturing systems at the 7th International Conference on e-Engineering and Digital Enterprise Technology hosted by the Northeastern University (NEU) in Shenyang... and I had prepared my mind to enjoy every bit of China.

The conference was successful thanks to my mentor who encouraged me to attend the conference.

I made great friends at NEU where I spent nearly my entire one week in China. The campus is beautiful...



...and the grad students at NEU are exceptionally down-to-earth and lovely. They have great sense of homour. We had good laughs at all times.



I had so much fun... and tried everything Chinese: I learned to speak a few Chinese words and sentences; I enjoyed Chinese foods... Right now "wo xiang chi mi fan."



...and I used the chopsticks a few times too. Hei hei.

...Oh yeah, I would never forget my Chinese tea tasting with Jay on my right. Ganbei!

Although I am in regular correspondence with my great friends in China, I must sincerely admit that I miss them a whole lot. Saying "zai jian" (goodbye) on Monday 7 September 2009 was very teary. I wished it had rather been a "mingtian jian" (see you tomorow).

All work and no fun...

If you love the adrenal rush from the mystery, horror, thriller and suspense genre... and have a strong stomach for serious stuffs that also contain laughs... then why not take a break to:

•  Watch a trailer... and preview the Michael Flowers' Jackal
• Preview the Michael Flowers' Jackal screenplay
• View the Michael Flowers' Jackal storyboard

Business Workshop

I was in Ghana for a 52-day visit from June-August 2009 during which time the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) requested for a 2-day workshop on Innovation and Entrepreneurship that would benefit 32 African university students currently being sponsored through the Deutsche Akademische Fluechtling Initiative (DAFI) or Albert Einstein Academic Refugee Initiative Fund. As a DAFI Scholar myself, it was a honour and privilege to be given such a great opportunity to give back to the refugee student community thanks to the UNHCR.


The structure of the 29-30 July 2009 workshop on Innovation and Entrepreneurship was based on the recently published second edition or expanded version of The Moneymaking Code—a "what-to-do" and"how-to" self-help course material that is designed to help you discover moneymaking capabilities of niche products and services in the niche marketplace. You may have been pregnant with great entrepreneurial ideas, but a few obstacles here and there might have prevented you from progressing your business and innovative ideas to the next level.

As refugees face many challenges particularly in the job hunting department, the workshop placed emphasis on how to create one's own business very little or no start-up capital. It was practically about:

• Sharing straight-forward, easy-to-follow, non-jargonistic information on how to unlock the moneymaking secrets.
  
• Helping you quit talking, and begin doing.
• Helping you create extra streams of income while you keep your present job or continue doing the stuffs you love.
• Encouraging you to become an entrepreneur with minimal or zero start-up budget.
• Helping you translate your writing ability to becoming an authorpreneur—getting paid for writing.
• And the list goes on...

From left to right: David, Elton, Melanie, me, and Allison

With the generous involvement of academic colleagues (David Ako Odoi, Elton Owusu, and Allison Felix Hughes), Melanie Flowers and Nurideen Ibrahim of the Flowers School of Technology and Management, the support of the UNHCR, Christian Council of Ghana (CCG), KLK GmbH,  Gatlin International LLC, and Kojo Denanyoh CEO of Primestar Productions, the workshop was successful. If you are interested in reading the Analysis of the Course Participant's Evaluation (courtesy of Dr. Joseph Adonu), please click to DOWNLOAD or view workshop photos.

Above all we had fun.

Norway 2009

On 17 May 2009, Norwegians proudly celebrated their national Constitution Day anniversary in grand style. The celebration included parade of school of kids, brass band march, musical and traditional dance performances, high school grads (RUSS) in red, blue or black costumes marching through the principal streets. Joe and I proudly joined in the parade and attended the Church service at Volda.

Sassy, frisky and family

Bluemle is our 4-year old 4-legged family. She is frisky, sassy, full of energy... and has an attitude. In summer 2005, my wife and I went away on holiday... and so Bluemle had to stay at my aunt-in-law's, who has two rabbits. We later learned how Bluemle, then at only 11-12 months, chased out one of the rabbits. Although my wife's aunt and family were shocked at how a tiny visiting guinea-pig could chase their rabbit out of the rabbit's own territory, my wife and I weren't. We burst out laughing. Typical Bluemle. Sadly Bluemle has been diagnosed of suffering from advanced stage cancer... and the doctor has given her 2-6 months. We believe in the power of prayer and so we continue to pray for the guinea-pig... And guess what? She is doing great, getting all the best parts of the salad and cucumber.