Bruce Berkowitz Conference Call

Bruce Berkowitz, from Fairholme Funds, participates in a public Q&A conference call. He gives insight into his holdings, what the future holds, and some of his theories on investing. A great call from one of the best value investors recently. It's good insight into value investing theory in these troubled time, especially because not many value investors talk about their holdings this openly.

10 Traits of a Successful Human Being

(Source: Persistantillusion.wordpress.com)

Taken from "10 Traits of az Successful Human Being" on Pick the Brain.

1. An Independent Nature

If we rely too much on those around us for assistance and/or support we will be setting ourselves up for disappointment in the future. This is not to say that we shouldn’t look to others for help when the time is right, but crafting our pursuits in such a way that requires the intervention of another is like handing over the keys and getting in the back seat. Our friends and colleagues may help open the doors of opportunity, but it is our own responsibility to take the wheel.

2. Self Confidence

Every decision we make in life will have some kind of effect on future outcomes. If our choices our filtered through fear and doubt, we can be assured of the life we are trying to avoid. Trust your instincts and listen to your heart. When you make a mistake, don’t look at it as reason for doubt, but instead, realize the opportunity for wisdom as you continue to push ahead.

3. Persistence

It’s been 5 years since I started my consulting business. 5 years of long hours and hard work. Many times did I consider throwing in the towel when things didn’t go my way. But every year that’s gone by, every road block I’ve pushed through, my business has grown as my resolve to make it a success has strengthened. Persistence is not an optional trait for those who desire success, but an essential attitude that must be embraced!

4. A Big Imagination

When I think of some of the greatest ‘achievers’ in American history I see great innovators and people of purpose. Names like Henry Ford, Walt Disney and Bill Gates come to mind. From cars to cartoons to computers, their personalities were as diverse as their pursuits. But one thing they share is the wonderful ability to see what’s not yet visible to the naked eye. It was the imagination of Henry Ford that first painted the picture of a car in every garage, and Bill Gates, a computer in every home. And it was Walt Disney who continues to inspire millions with the idea that ‘anything is possible’.

Those with inevitable success can see the unseen. They’ve become successful in their minds before they laid their first brick.

5. A Thick Skin

I’m a people pleaser at heart and can be devastated by disappointment. But as a necessity in business, I’ve grown a thick skin that allows me to deflect defeat while maintaining my focus. Whether in corporate conflict or the liabilities of life, it is those with a strong armor who will maintain their momentum.

6. Clarity Of Self Understanding

If you don’t know who you are, you will never truly know what you’re capable of. It is in our daily pursuits that we need accurate information on our strengths and weaknesses to succeed. Because being blind sided by your own inability or missing out on your true talents will bring nothing more than failure and frustration.

7. Clarity Of Intent

Continuing with the analogy of Ford, Disney and Gates, we can see three individuals with very clear intentions. No one ever questioned Ford’s intentions of filling the roads with his Model T’s. Disney was never far from his pursuits of capturing our imaginations. And even when no one believed in his dream of populating every home with a PC, there was never a question of Gates greatest goal.

8. Focus

There’s a lot of talk about multi-tasking and single tasking when it comes to getting things done. But however you go about accomplishing your goals, focus must be at the core of your character. Successful people have the knack for deflecting distraction and keeping their nose to the grindstone. It is our drive that pushes us forward and keeps our momentum, but without focus we will just be moving for the sake of motion.

9. Optimism

Many of the traits mentioned thus far would not be possible without this key ingredient. Without being able to constantly see the cup as half full, we would never be able to stay focused. Being blind to that silver lining would paralyze our persistence. So it is absolutely crucial that our minds maintain a positive outlook on life and never give in to the destruction of defeat. Optimism is at the heart of a successful human being!

10. Passion

Success can be obtained by many, but maintaining the drive to reach our goals requires a passion for pursuit and a lust for life. We can create a to-do list and set our goals with the best of them, but without this necessary habitual hunger, we will most certainly fail to bring to the table the results we imagined.

All ten of these traits are very important in being a good person, being liked by others, and being successful at anything you do.

Focus

Source: Photobucket.com

Focus (definition):

• concentrate: direct one's attention on something;
  

• maximum clarity or distinctness of an idea; "the controversy brought clearly into focus an important difference of opinion"

The Most Important Ingredient to Success

When asked what the most important thing that led to their success, Warren Buffett and Bill Gates replied "focus".

I have always been told to do well on everything and if I become really good at something I would be successful. I have been told to find something I have a relentless interest for and success will eventually follow. I think the secret to success breaks down to "focus". To be the best at something in the world, you have to have the physical and mental capacity first. If you want to be the best business man/woman, you aren't born with the knowledge of business. You may have the attributes to be a great business person as you grow up, but the knowledge has to be learned. I feel the more you learn on the topic the better off you will be.

My goal is to be a great investor and businessman. How do I get there? I have determined that I have the physical and mental capacity to be one of the best. Step 1, complete. Step 2, obtain and gain knowledge in those areas. My knowledge comes from experiences in investing and business (both success and failures), talking to others and getting their opinions, building scenarios and possible outcomes, joining clubs and associations, and reading on the subject (books, blogs, audiobooks, podcasts, internet sites, seminars, studying for certifications, news stories, and following the advice of others who are great in the field or fields).

Never stop learning about your topic, to be the best you have to have the best, most accurate information from the past and present. The better your information, the better assessments you can make now and for the future. Focus on what you want to be and how you are going to get there and what you have to do. Constantly focus on the topic and dream about where you will be in the future. Don't get lazy, put time, effort and focus into it. Think about what you are doing and build a scenario on what someone else in the world is doing and compete against them. If you are not thinking about it at least once a day or at minimum most days out of the week, you probably will never be the best, because chances are someone else is thinking about it on a daily basis and acting on how to be the best.

10 Ways to Get Rich by Warren Buffett

(Source: BusinessWeek.com)

In Parade Magazine, Warren Buffett listed ten ways to get rich.  Here is the list and my comments are below.

1. Reinvest your profits.
2. Be willing to be different. 
   
3. Never suck your thumb.
   
4. Spell out the deal before you start.
   
5. Watch small expenses.
   
6. Limit what you borrow. 
   
7. Be persistant.
   
8. Know when to quit.
   
9. Assess the risks.
   
10. Know what success really means. 
    

Reinvest your profits.

• If you make a little money, refrain from spending it on unnecessary things.  Instead, reinvest your profits in the asset or other investments.  Typically the more you invest, the better off you will be.  Compounding interest as quoted by Albert Einstein is "the most powerful force in the universe."

Be willing to be different. 

• Don't always follow the crowd, be a contrarian.  This is where you will make your money.  Place bets on what the crowd doesn't like and the calculate the risks in doing so.  If the benefits outweigh the risks and you are correct in your assumptions, you will make a bundle when the crowd starts to follow the idea again.

Never suck your thumb.

• Buffett also calls this "unnecessary sitting".  A form of procrastination, determine what you need to do, and DO IT.  Action and execcution are really all that matter.  If the task is large, break it up into pieces and set deadlines to get those pieces done.  It will seem like a much smaller task once you break it up.

Spell out the deal before you start.

• The ability to see scenarios of what can happen and planning on your responses is the best way to get what you want out of negotiations.  Always be prepared.  Understand what the other party wants from the deal and both sides can win.

Watch small expenses.

• Sometimes we lost sight of the little things in life, and in this example are the small expenses.  In general, the more we make, the more we lose track of the little expenses because we feel they don't matter.  Managing your little expenses can save you a lot down the road.  This also applies to doing business.

Limit what you borrow. 

• Living on credit cards and loans will not make you rich.  It may appear to other people that you are for a short period of time until all of the debt becomes apparent.  Work on being debt-free and investing the excess.

Be persistant.

• Don't give up what you believe in and stand for.  

Know when to quit.

• Know when to walk away from a loss.  If the business is a failing business, leave emotional ties behind.  The ability to think clearly and knowing when to cut your losses is crucial to being successful.

Assess the risks.

• Crucial to Berkshire Hathaway's business, Warren has to constantly evaluate possible risks when owning companies.  Evaluate all possible scenarios so there will be no surprises.

Know what success really means. 

• Buffett doesn't measure success in dollars surprisingly.  He lives an extremely humble live and doesn't own many lavish things.  This is how Warren measures success "When you get to my age, you'll measure your success in life by how many of the people you want to have love you actually do love you. That's the ultimate test of how you've lived your life." 

Follow the Leader

(connect-world.net)

What ever happens to our heroes and heroines? Most, if not all, kids have heroes that they look up to and want to be when they grow up. Whether it's a superhero, a character on a television show, a sports figure, or someone they know.

As kids grow up, they lose sight of their heroes, probably because most of them mature and wouldn't want to be seen carrying a Batman or Scooby-Doo toy, understandably. But regardless, everyone needs a hero to model for different aspects of their life. It's easy to attempt to be the best at something when you are doing things like the best. If you want to enhance your life, take lessons from the people that are the best at it.

If I want to be a good investor, I look to greats like Warren Buffett, Benjamin Graham, Eddie Lampert, Bruce Berkowitz, Monish Pabrai, etc. If I want to be a more generous person, I look to philanthropists like Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, and John D. Rockefeller. If I want to be a great public speaker I look to Dale Carnegie, Steve Jobs, and Steve Ballmer. If I want a good sense of humor I look to George Carlin, Dennis Miller, and many others. Modeling these people will help you drastically and makes life a lot easier. They have found a way to be excellent at something and can be your teachers as you grow.

Some suggestions I would suggest on how to learn how your heroes did it would be to read their biographies, wikipedia, websites, books that they have stated they have read or are reading, atricles and books they have written, online videos, and DVDs.

It's not really that hard to be good at something. You just need to be passionate and focus and model what the greats are doing or have done.

The Secret to Happiness is No Secret

See The 'secret' to happiness... is no secret at The Financial Philosopher.

The blog post gives some great advice on finding happiness from the following quotes:

• "Health is the greatest possession. Contentment is the greatest treasure. Confidence is the greatest friend. Non-being is the greatest joy." ~ Lau-tzu

• "All truly wise thoughts have been thought already thousands of times; but to make them truly ours, we must think them over again honestly, till they take root in our personal experience." ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

• "My opinion is that you never find happiness until you stop looking for it." ~ Chuang Tzu

• "If thou wilt make a man happy, add not unto his riches but take away from his desires." ~ Epicurus

• "Don't aim at success. The more you aim at it and make it a target, the more you will miss it. For success, like happiness, can not be pursued; and it only does so as the unintended side-effect of one's dedication to a cause greater than oneself or as the by-product of one's surrender to a person other than oneself. Happiness must happen and the same holds for success: you have to let it happen by not caring about it. I want you to listen to what your conscience commands you to do and go on to carry it out to the best of your knowledge. Then you will live to see -- in the long run, I say! -- success will follow you precisely because you had forgotten to think of it." ~ Viktor Frankl

Morningstar Interview with Bruce Berkowitz

Truly an inspirational investor, Bruce Berkowitz discusses his new investments.

Best Advice I Ever Got: Thomas S. Murphy

Thomas S. Murphy, Former CEO of Capital Cities/ABC

Always do the right thing and you will have nothing to worry about:
I got two pieces of advice I have always remembered. The first was from my father, Charles E. Murphy, who was a justice of the New York State Supreme Court. It was a point about ethics. He said, "Doing the wrong thing is not worth the loss of one night's good sleep."

Some things in life cannot be controlled. Spend your time on things you can control:
The other came from Benjamin Selekman, a Harvard Business School professor who taught labor relations. The last thing he said, at his last lecture to my class, was, "Here is something to remember for the rest of your life: Don't spend your time on things you can't control. Instead, spend your time thinking about what you can."

Source: Best Advice I Ever Got

Quit Smoking

I have never been a smoker, but here is some motivation to quit for those who are unable to and are trying.

Three Ways to Motivate People

Motivating people is one of the key attributes that makes great leaders. There are three useful ways to motivate people, by command, negotiation, and persuasion.

Command - To direct with certain authority or prerogative.

• Often useless, command is used when neither negotiation or persuasion works as a last result. Command is used in the military and is used to tell people what to do or what not to do. It is a one-sided communication and should be avoided when another method can not be implemented.
  

Negotiation - Mutual discussion or arrangement of the terms of the transaction or agreement.

• More useful than command typically, you usually have to give something to get something in negotiating. Identifying what the other party needs and what you have to offer are the challenges. If you are able to identify these two, people will then try to get what they want while giving up as little as possible themselves.
  

Persuasion - The act of influencing the mind by arguments or reasons offered, or by anything that moves the mind or passions, or inclines the will to a determination.

• The most desired method of motivation, persuasion will usually get a positive result at little cost on your part. Great leaders are typically always great at persuasion and getting others to do what they want and are great listeners. Leaders create ideas and persuade others to enforce them. Gaining respect from others and then using persuasion will enable the people who respect you to want to help you and will have a better attitude then the previous methods.
  
  
• There are four steps to becoming a great persuader and four things to avoid. (from HBS - The Necessary Art of Persuasion)

• Effective persuaders:
1. must establish credibility;
2. frame their goals in a way that identifies common ground with those they intend to persuade;
3. reinforce their positions using vivid language and compelling evidence; and
   
4. connect emotionally with their audience.

• Ineffective persuaders:
1. attempt to make their case with an up-front, hard sell;
2. resist compromise;
3. think the secret of persuasion lies in great arguments; and
4. assume persuasion is a one-shot effort.
   

Definitions are from Dictionary.com.

While each method can be used in most situations, persuasion is the most useful generally, as it results in a positive output and requires very little of the leader. Great leaders press on to persuade people even when they feel it is impossible and resort to commanding or negotiating as little as possible.

10 Things to Learn this Year

From Guy Kawasaki's blog, How to Change the World:

I’m on the campus of UCSB this week at family camp, and it's inspired me to blog about what students should learn in order to prepare for the real world after graduation. This is an opportune time to broach this subject because the school year is about to begin, and careers can still be affected.

First, take this little test about the state of your understanding of the real world right after you graduated from school.

Here are the top 5 things Guy thinks you should learn this year and my advice under them:

• How to talk to your boss.
• The importance is obvious here. If you are unable to communicate with your boss then you will hardly be recognized when promotion time comes around. Just communicating with your boss will not be sufficient so try quality communication. Quality communication could be not taking up his/her time when he/she is busy by asking for advice from others or working on the task yourself. Quality communication is making your point accurately and quickly, giving him/her status updates, and sending him/her interesting material through email. If you find an interesting article and send it to your boss stating you found the material useful and is applicable to a project you are working on, you will be recognized. Most importantly... do not treat your boss like he/she is better than you. Treat him/her with the utmost respect, but if you are unable to communicate to them because you are terrified then that gets you no where.
  
• How to survive a meeting that’s poorly run.
• Look at the bright side, "is there anything that I can get out of this meeting that I am not seeing?" If the meeting is incredibly boring to you maybe there are some underlying things that you can learn from. Ask yourself "what would I do if I was the presenter right now, or what wouldn't I do?"
• How to run a meeting.
• Prepararion is the largest thing here. Prepare, prepare, and prepare. Take your time when you speak, it is not a marathon. If you see that your audience is bored or not comprehending you, clarify your points and dig deeper. The purpose of you presenting is to teach your audience something. Think of it this way, they are there for you.
  
• How to figure out anything on your own.
• Study. If you don't understand a concept, break it into smaller pieces. What are the pieces that I understand? What are the pieces that I don't understand? Seek out the answers to the ones you don't understand and the puzzle will eventually fit together. Do your due diligence. Google the topic, read books on the topic, and ask your peers and superiors for help.
  
• How to negotiate.
• Negotiation falls into many aspects of life, asking someone to stay late to work, getting a pay increase, a promotion, not being able to go to dinner with your spouse. If you need help on a project or task, you have to negotiate with others into helping you. Start out with the problem or solution, and ask "what do I need to get there?" If you need help for x days from x people, who are you going to ask? Who has time? How am I going to convince this person if they are available? If they aren't available, can I convince them to help by working late? How? You should be asking yourself all of these questions to these scenarios and how you are going to answer them. Preparation again is the key to success in this area. Always remember that you can't willingly get people to do things by forcing them. Think about what they want and how you can help them when they help you. It's a two-sided scenario always and can usually be a win-win result if you put some time into thinking about it.
  

The Fear of Failure

"After a lifetime of making money and observing better men and women than I fall by the wayside, I am convinced that fear of failing in the eyes of the world is the single biggest impediment to amassing wealth. Trust me on this. If you shy away for any reason whatever, then the way is blocked. The gate is shut -- and will remain shut." - Felix Dennis

This is a great quote on how to get rich. Motivation for wealth stems from fear - the fear of failing in the eyes of the world. The eyes of the world could be composed of your family, friends, work associates, people you will meet someday, etc. Until you take the chance to fail, you will never fail, nor will you complete your goal. The goal discussed here is wealth but can be utilized to many other aspects of life (finishing college, being a good parent, getting a certain job, taking care of your family, traveling the world, etc.).

Take a chance at something... anything. If you fail, find out why you failed. Maybe you failed because the idea just wouldn't work, maybe you failed because of lack of effort, branding, knowledge, resources. Whatever the case, fix it or move on to something else you might fail at. Those who succeeded at something always failed along the way.

The Effect of No Alcohol

I'm not a alcoholic by any means, but I don't mind a few drinks when the weekend comes around. Drinking during weekdays has almost vanished since my college days - a step in the right direction.

I have noticed that drinking a few drinks or not at all for a week has promising effects. I have more energy, ambition and drive throughout the week and feel much more rested. Laying in bed the next day with a headache after a long night of drinking doesn't just affect my activities that day but it seems to spill over into the rest of the week. It's good to take a break every once in a while and let your liver rejuvenate too.

If you always seem to have a lack of energy and motivation, try taking care of your body first by eating healthy and exercising. They may give you the small jump-start you need.

Getting Rich in America, by Brian Tracy

Based on the audiobook "Getting Rich in America" by Brian Tracy.

Here are my favorite high-level points from the book:

• Whenever you see an opportunity to sell people something greater than the price than you can do it for, you are capturing value. The value is what makes you wealthy.
  
• Knowledge is what makes your value more useful and profitable.
  
• Always strive to succeed to do your best.
• Networking is crucial to success.
  

Another interesting topic -

At the time the book was written, the majority of self-made millionaires were in the following industries:

1. Commercial Machine and Equipment Wholesaling
2. Commercial Printing
3. Designing Computer Programs
4. Data Processing Services
5. Dry Cleaning Establishments

Very seldom do people ever look into these industries. Everyone wants the "exciting" technology businesses or the next big thing. Maybe try something in the tried and true businesses above and you will have better success.

Wesley Autrey, Subway Samaritan

Wesley Autrey (b. 1956) (dubbed by the media as the "Subway Samaritan", "Subway Superman", "The Hero of Harlem" and as the "Subway Hero") is a New York construction worker and Navy veteran who in 2007 achieved international recognition after he saved Cameron Hollopeter, a 19-year-old film student who had suffered a seizure and fallen onto the tracks, from being struck by a New York City subway train.

He was on the 2007 Time 100 most influential people in the world list made by Time magazine and had the text about him written by Donald Trump.

The Subway Story

On January 2, 2007, Autrey was waiting for a train at the 137th Street and Broadway station in Manhattan with his two young daughters. At around 12:45 p.m., he and two women noticed a young man, Cameron Hollopeter, having a seizure. Autrey borrowed a pen from someone and used it to keep Hollopeter's jaw open. Following the seizure, Hollopeter stumbled from the platform, falling onto the tracks.

As Hollopeter lay on the tracks, Autrey saw the lights of an oncoming train. As one of the women held Autrey's daughters back away from the edge of the platform, Autrey dove onto the tracks. He thought he would be able to take Hollopeter off the tracks, but he realized there was not enough time to drag Hollopeter away. Instead, he protected Hollopeter by throwing himself over Hollopeter's body in a drainage trench between the tracks, where he held him down. The operator of the train applied the brakes, but two cars still passed over them, close enough to leave grease on his cap.

Source: Wikipedia.org

The simple act of caring and doing something nice for a complete stranger is what gives this story meaning.

Advice from Arnold Schwarzenegger

Arnold gives advice to the contestants of the TV Show, "The Apprentice".

Here are a few quotes from the video:

• "Never listen to -- it can't be done"
• "Pain is temporary, the result may be permanent"
  
• "The more you succeed, the more people will attack you"

Lessons from Richard Branson

After launching his first business at 16, a magazine called Student, Branson went on to establish a mail-order record business that turned into a chain of music shops and eventually became Virgin Megastores. Today, Virgin has grown to include some 250 companies, including airlines and mobile phones. Last year, Branson launched Virgin America, a stateside domestic air service.

Never criticize anyone, it looks bad on yourself:
"My parents would never let me criticize anyone, saying it would reflect badly on me. To this day, I look for the best in people who work for Virgin and believe that as a result I only get the best back. 'Flowers flourish when watered,' they'd tell me. The same applies to people."

Source: BusinessWeek.com

See Richard Branson's Bio for more information.

Teen Millionaires

Stories of two teen millionaires. One of the teens had 12 businesses before age 21.

Here are some of the lessons from the video:

• Put yourself out there.
  
• Start with small goals.
• Focus on something you know.
• Adapt or die, continue to change.
• Read books and study successful people.
  

Motivation from Knowing

The following is from the blog of author, Seth Godin, who has written many books:

I like reading magic books.

I don’t do magic. Not often (and not well). But reading the books is fun. It’s a vicarious thing, imagining how a trick might work, visualizing the effect and then smiling at how the technique is done. One after another, it’s a pleasant adventure.

A lot of people read business books in just the same way. They cruise through the case studies or the insights or examples and imagine what it would be like to be that brilliant entrepreneur or that successful CEO or that great sales rep. A pleasant adventure.

There’s a huge gap between most how-to books (cookbooks, gardening, magic, etc.) and business books, though. The gap is motivation. Gardening books don’t push you to actually do something. Cookbooks don’t spend a lot of time trying to sell you on why making a roast chicken isn’t as risky as you might think.

The stakes are a lot higher when it comes to business.

Wreck a roast chicken and it’s $12 down the drain. Wreck a product launch and there goes your career...

I’m passionate about writing business books precisely for this reason. High stakes, high rewards. My guess is that there are more business books sold than most other non-fiction categories--it's not just recipes.

The fascinating thing is this: I spend 95% of my time persuading people to take action and just 5% of the time on the recipes.

The recipe that makes up just about any business book can be condensed to just two or three pages. The rest is the sell. The proof. The persuasion.

Which leads to your role as the reader. How to read a business book... it’s not as obvious as it seems.

• Bullet points are not the point.

If you’re reading for the recipe, and just the recipe, you can get through a business book in just a few minutes. But most people who do that get very little out of the experience. Take a look at the widely divergent reviews for The Dip. The people who ‘got it’ understood that the purpose of the book was to get you to change your perspective and thus your behavior. Those that didn’t were looking for bullet points. They wasted their money.

Computer books, of course, are nothing but bullet points. Motivated programmers get amazing value because for $30 they are presented with everything they need to program a certain way or in a certain language. Yet most programmers are not world class, precisely because the bullet points aren’t enough to get them to see things the way the author does, and not enough to get them motivated enough to actually program great code.

So, how to read a business book:

1. Decide, before you start, that you’re going to change three things about what you do all day at work. Then, as you’re reading, find the three things and do it. The goal of the reading, then, isn’t to persuade you to change, it’s to help you choose what to change.

2. If you’re going to invest a valuable asset (like time), go ahead and make it productive. Use a postit or two, or some index cards or a highlighter. Not to write down stuff so you can forget it later, but to create marching orders. It’s simple: if three weeks go by and you haven’t taken action on what you’ve written down, you wasted your time.

3. It’s not about you, it’s about the next person. The single best use of a business book is to help someone else. Sharing what you read, handing the book to a person who needs it... pushing those around you to get in sync and to take action--that’s the main reason it’s a book, not a video or a seminar. A book is a souvenir and a container and a motivator and an easily leveraged tool. Hoarding books makes them worth less, not more.

Effective managers hand books to their team. Not so they can be reminded of high school, but so that next week she can say to them, "are we there yet?"

In reading business books, Seth is absolutely right - the gap between most how-to and business books is motivation. Business books stimulate you to do something, while how-to books do very little in this regard.

The thrill that I get from reading business books is the risk. The risk comes from not knowing when I am presented with a problem. If I am presented with a problem and have previous knowledge in the area for alleviating it, I feel better off about myself. If I do not know a resolution to the problem, I am determined to find one. For me, it's not just finding a resolution to every problem that I face in my life, it's putting the maximum effort forth to finding the best solution.

I absolutely bask in certain topics that are important to me in my life. The reason for this is the motivating thought of 'being the best at something in the world'. For example, if I want to be the best at investing in the world, I look for ways to accomplish this. I mimic investing gurus, I read investment books and business books, I email owners of businesses that are selling, I ask questions to people in the profession, I look at what others are doing and try to do them better, etc. My motivation stems from the thought of putting my maximum effort forth, knowing I will be very good at it eventually. That simple thought is what keeps me going.

Positivity and Success

What effect does positivity have on success? Can you be successful without being positive?
It seems as though it would be very difficult to be successful without being positive. How will you stick to one idea and believe it will work if you are an entrepreneur? How will you work with great enthusiasm at your current job without being positive? How will you manage your life without having some positivity in it (something good to look forward to)?

You don't have to be positive all the time, it is good to challenge your thoughts and instincts and as it's a great way to become better at what you do. I have found happiness and success through staying positive a majority of the time in my life and taking some time to challenge my thoughts and ideas a minority of the time. It has proven to work for me.

Next time you are unsure of something, or a decision you've made in your life, attempt to believe everything is going to be alright. Believing things will work out in the end shouldn't be difficult if you've put time and effort into making every decision in your life. The decisions you have made over time will turn out to be the best for you, so everything has to turn out right. Right?