The greatest value on earth

The greatest value on earth

A house without books is like a room without windows. —Heinrich Mann

Imagine investing the cost of a meal to feed our mind instead of feeding our stomachs

Why reading the right books provide the greatest return on your time? The first key to open our brains is what books we should read. Mentors and coaches are great places to start. Read wide and read deep. Among the great books I have read last month are Uncommon Friends by James Newton and The Education of Little Tree by Forrest Carter. What great books have you read in the last month?

1.      Expand our minds and stretch our thinking.

Expand our ideas for thinking wider and deeper. Create images for a better future. Feed the growth of our soul and our spirit. Education from reading is a bridge from misery and despair to hope and a bright future.

2.      Introduce us to ourselves.

The more we know others the more we know ourselves. Most people have no idea the potential inside them. Great books are the best books we can give to ourselves and to others because we can keep opening them over and over again.

3.      Borrow the experience of others.

Leverage the experience of others to compound our own experiences. The more we read the freer we are.

4.      Reduce stress.

Find true meaning in our lives. Stress comes from fear of the unknown. Wisdom eliminates stress.

5.      Gain empathy and humility.

Realize how truly blessed we are. When we read we know we are not alone.

6.      Improve the functioning of our brains.

Improve memory and increase our response time. Read to remember and not to forget.

7.      Exercise our brains.

Keep our minds young and delay the onset of illnesses. We must feed our brains continuously with the right foods, the right information that is.

Thank you for reading and reflecting on today’s nuggets. Share them with others.   

Be blessed and be a blessing to others

Carlos Fontana

Author of the book Priceless, Co-author of the book Follow to Lead

www.tatepublishing.com/bookstore/book.php?w=978-1-61346-494-6

"The future belongs to those who can see and pursue opportunities before they are obvious."

"Those that take swift action will always leave those that don't breathing the dust."

I would love to do a podcast or a blog interview and share my Nuggets with your audience!

Equitable Inequality

Why such inequality in an equitable system?

How unfair is the world? The sun and the rain shines and pours on everyone. How can we explain that the top one percent own the equivalent of the bottom 40% in our society? In the information age it is critical we get the right information from the right sources. Hope the following helps to explain such inequality. Please don’t take it personally. I am not referring to you. I am referring to people you know J Beware these folks would love for you to join their club for they love pity parties! If you are not satisfied, then study the lives of the top one percent. You may be surprised what you find. I can assure you will not find them as members of any of the following clubs:

1.      The SFNC. The Something For Nothing Club. The members want the results but are not willing to put in the effort to achieve those results. The members of this club believe they are entitled to things without having to work for them. Please tell them the world knows who they are. Stop expecting others to provide for you and start taking responsibility for your upkeep.

2.      The AEC. The All Excuses Club. The members of this club suffer from chronic excusitis, the failure disease where self-deception rules their lives. Please tell them we know their reasons are viewed by others as excuses. Stop paying your dues with your excuses and start looking for reasons for doing something productive.

3.      The IAAVC. The I Am A Victim Club. The members of this club cannot wait to see you so they can tell you all about the things that happened to them. These members carry a healthy dose of negativity with them. Please tell them we know who they are. Stop thinking that your circumstance happen to you and start thinking circumstances happen for you so you can leave the club and live a better life.

4.      The AKANAC. The All Knowledge And No Action Club. This is still one of the largest clubs out there. These know it all members are full of ideas loaded with smoke and no fire. Please tell them that in life doing is more important than knowing. Start finishing and stop quitting the endeavors your endeavors.

5.      The MNRC. The Me No Read Club. These members never have time to read. They are always busy. Please tell them that if they ready 15 minutes per day they will read 1,000 books in their lifetime. Leverage the compounding effect of applied knowledge and you will live and love your life. Stop watching TV and start reading great books.

6.      The AADC. The All About Distractions Club. This club has experienced the fastest growth thanks to the social media. They are the Facebook lovers who are interested in everything about everything. They love noise. They know a lot about nothing. Facebook loves them and their money ($15 million of profit per day! So unfair; FB is making money on us!). Who build and keeps building FB and working for free? Please tell them we don’t need to know when their parrot had a bleeding foot. Stop with selfies and self-aggrandizing and start coming up with something of substance and value.

7.      The AAEC. The All About Entertainment Club.  Members of this club also consume a healthy dose of social beverages. Please tell them they are easy to spot. They have love affairs with the lives of others. Stop keeping score in the lives of others and start keeping score in your life.

Be part of the EBC (a very prestigious club); the Excuses Begone Club!

Thank you for reading and reflecting on today’s nuggets. Share them with others.   

Be blessed and be a blessing to others

Carlos Fontana

Author of the book Priceless, Co-author of the book Follow to Lead

www.tatepublishing.com/bookstore/book.php?w=978-1-61346-494-6

"The future belongs to those who can see and pursue opportunities before they are obvious."

"Those that take swift action will always leave those that don't breathing the dust."

I would love to do a podcast or a blog interview and share my Nuggets with your audience!

Freedom vs Justice

Freedom vs Justice

The justice or the equality camp demands their rights to share the wealth. The freedom camp fights for a system that protects the entrepreneurs to produce the wealth. Which one is more important? Both are important in a free society. Which one comes first? Freedom does. Without freedom there is no justice. Can you find a country in the world that is not free but has justice for its citizens? The cycle of democracy starts with great moral courage to obtain freedom. Justice and prosperity cannot exist in a nation that is not free, no matter how we dictate, demand or legislate. A deep division between these two camps has been promoted in nations around the world for centuries. America does not have immunity against it. Divided camps will not stand for long since demanding justice in a system where freedoms are being eroded every day is futile. Isn’t the freedom to produce more important than the demanding a share from the wealth created by freedom? History shows that the masses are much more responsive to justice than they are to freedom. It resonates with them because it requires little from them, except for protesting, occupying, rioting, etc. We must swim against the current and have deep courage to fight for freedom that will benefit everyone. Which camp are you? How about leaving the camp and becoming a climber on the freedom mountain?

Thank you for reading and reflecting on today’s nuggets. Share them with others.   

Be blessed and be a blessing to others

Carlos Fontana

Author of the book Priceless, Co-author of the book Follow to Lead

www.tatepublishing.com/bookstore/book.php?w=978-1-61346-494-6

"The future belongs to those who can see and pursue opportunities before they are obvious."

"Those that take swift action will always leave those that don't breathing the dust."

I would love to do a podcast or a blog interview and share my Nuggets with your audience!

Can you see them?

Can you see them?

By definition an opportunity is a set of circumstances that makes it possible for us to do something about it. The educated mind can see the positive outcomes coming from a set of circumstances.

Opportunities abound and they are everywhere. What is the problem then? The problem is that we only see the problems and not the opportunities that come with them.

1.      Why. Opportunities always look better from the back than from the front end.

2.      Where. The best opportunities live right in our neighborhoods.

3.      Who. Great opportunities are only seen by the minds of the risk takers.

4.      How. Opportunities whisper, problems scream at us.

5.      When. Opportunities come when we least expect.

6.      What. The optimist sees opportunities as fun work; the pessimists see them as drudgery.

7.      Which. Do you know which opportunities are right for you? It is a lot easier to prioritize opportunities when you know your purpose in life.

Leaders pursue opportunities before they become obvious to everyone else. Don’t live a life full of regrets for the opportunities you did not take.

Thank you for reading and reflecting on today’s nuggets. Share them with others.   

Be blessed and be a blessing to others

Carlos Fontana

Author of the book Priceless, Co-author of the book Follow to Lead

www.tatepublishing.com/bookstore/book.php?w=978-1-61346-494-6

"The future belongs to those who can see and pursue opportunities before they are obvious."

"Those that take swift action will always leave those that don't breathing the dust."

I would love to do a podcast or a blog interview and share my Nuggets with your audience!

How can I succeed?

Entrepreneurship

Why entrepreneurs success?

How can I succeed as an entrepreneur?

Here is how the successful ones do:

1.      Know the why. Focus on what matters. Be passionate about your purpose, vision, and cause. Focus on doing something bigger than yourself. The outside world can see they are on a quest. They can see a bright future ahead of others.

2.      Provide value. Respect for customers. Concern about delivering value.

3.      Build trust. Trust their partners. Learn from and value the experience of others. Team builders putting people first.

4.      Respect capital. Plan and put relentless action behind their plans. Keep score. Understand and mitigate risk.

5.      Relentless growth. Always growing in financial, personal, and professional wisdom. Become true professionals in their business. Become the best at their craft.

6.      Lead the way. Creative, innovative, and ingenious. Persistent optimism is part of their being.

7.      Tenacious. Learn from failures and never give up. Continuously and systematically improve what they do.

Thank you for reading and reflecting on today’s nuggets. Share them with others.   

Be blessed and be a blessing to others

Carlos Fontana

Author of the book Priceless, Co-author of the book Follow to Lead

www.tatepublishing.com/bookstore/book.php?w=978-1-61346-494-6

"The future belongs to those who can see and pursue opportunities before they are obvious."

"Those that take swift action will always leave those that don't breathing the dust."

I would love to do a podcast or a blog interview and share my Nuggets with your audience!

Still thinking about …

Amazing changes

                                                      When the new is already old!!!

Just a few thoughts on how many things have changes while most of us were distracted. Yes, you may get upset or even mad. And that my dear readers may be a good thing for you to do. At some point we all need to away up and smell the coffee.

Still thinking about …

1.    Getting an education. Imagine going to college to get trained for a career in jobs that no longer exist. Value experiences over degrees. Seek skills over traditional education so you don’t become another educated poor. Find a mentor to help with your financial, personal, and professional development. In a recent poll 95% of college graduates and their teachers said the graduates were ready to enter the workforce. Contrast that with the 14% of CEOs. Ouch! Talk about self-deception! Time to leave the fantasy world and face reality?

2.    Getting a secure job. Security is no longer found in jobs. Security is found in our ability to perform. Wages have gone down 8% in the last 15 years while the cost of what we buy has gone up 43%. Security is found in investing in yourself so you can build assets to provide future income. Careful to volunteer for a trap you don’t know it is a trap. Imagine working in a job you don’t like to service a suffocating debt burden. Time to start thinking?

3.    Being entertained. Avoid entertainment and seek leisure so you can  rid self of stress and learn and grow. Travel to expand your mind and start seeing real future opportunities. Still wanting to be entertained, squandering that precious time?

4.    Financing things. Eliminate any debt and stay out of debt and do it quickly. Avoid any future purchases with someone else’s money. Never mortgage your future for short term pleasures. Still thinking about financing those liabilities?

5.    Investing in 401k. 401k and such programs were created for those who created them; big Gov. Big government is watching your balances closer than you think. In a strike of a pen those funds can be taken away. This will happen when the issue fiat money stops. Still thinking 401k is a great deal for you?

6.    Seeking retirement. Retirement is a thing of the past. Get over it. Find something you love to do and do it because you love or you will be forced to do something you don’t like for the money you don’t have. Still thinking about retirement?

7.    Counting on pension and social security. Pensions are disappearing fast. Social insecurity is fast becoming the norm. When America was found 85% of the people owned their own businesses. Today 85% of the people depend on someone else to provide for them. Become self-employed and own your own business. Still counting on that pension and social security?

Thank you for reading and reflecting on today’s nuggets. Share them with others.   

Be blessed and be a blessing to others

Carlos Fontana

Author of the book Priceless, Co-author of the book Follow to Lead

www.tatepublishing.com/bookstore/book.php?w=978-1-61346-494-6

"The future belongs to those who can see and pursue opportunities before they are obvious."

"Those that take swift action will always leave those that don't breathing the dust."

I would love to do a podcast or a blog interview and share my Nuggets with your audience!

Do you really know the difference?

Do you really know the difference?

Spending vs Investing

Do you really know the difference between spending and investing? An expense is gone forever while an investment is expected to bring a return. Do you know the different types of spending and investing? Learn and profit from knowing and taking action.

1.      First Party Spending. When we spend our money to buy something for us. This is when we are the most concerned about value, the cost and the quality of what you buy.

2.      Second Party Spending. When we spend our money to buy something for someone else. Here we are not as concerned about value because we are most concerned about the cost of what we buy.

3.      Third Party Spending. This is where we are spending someone else’s money to buy something for someone else’s. All types of government spending by definition are third party spending. The money is spent with the least concern about value. No wonder governments spend so much and get so little for what they buy.

4.      Fourth Party Spending. This is where we spend someone else’s money to buy things for ourselves. This is the easiest form of spending. Student loans, car loans, mortgage loans, credit cards, etc. This is where we mortgage our future for something we want today. The government and banks promote this kind of spending because they know we are not as diligent as we ought to be when spending someone else’s money.

5.      First Party Investing. When you invest your money in something for you. Investing in yourself is the best type of investing because it will bring you the best return. Invest heavily to improve your financial, personal, and professional life. Invest in great books, audios, and association (seminars, conventions, etc.). Apply what you learn. Knowing and not doing is not knowing.

6.      Second Party Investing. When we invest our money in someone else. Companies invest in training and development of their key employees because they expect a return on their investment. Investment in people brings the second best form of return.

7.      Third Party Investing. When we invest someone else’s money for someone else’s benefit. Investment companies through their investment brokers fit this type of investing. Be sure to ask your investment advisor if he or she has invested at least the same amount of money as you are about to invest in the same type of investment. This is the third best form of investment. Be completely out of debt (including your mortgage) before investing in stocks, bonds, CDs, mutual funds, etc.

8.      Fourth Party Investing. When we invest someone else’s money for ourselves. This is where many people get in trouble financially because of greed. We borrow money (margin) to invest is something to get rich quick. We get that hot tip and borrow money to invest. Stay away for this type of investing unless you want to go broke quickly in a grand scale.

Thank you for reading and reflecting on today’s nuggets. Share them with others.   

Be blessed and be a blessing to others

Carlos Fontana

Author of the book Priceless, Co-author of the book Follow to Lead

www.tatepublishing.com/bookstore/book.php?w=978-1-61346-494-6

"The future belongs to those who can see and pursue opportunities before they are obvious."

"Those that take swift action will always leave those that don't breathing the dust."

I would love to do a podcast or a blog interview and share my Nuggets with your audience!