DOES IQ SCORE OR YOUR S.A.T. SCORES MATTER?

Good day, recently I was listening to an audio book by Dr. Stanley called The Millionaire Mind.  The same author wrote the best seller The Millionaire Next Door. One of the things that captured my attention and brought about the topic of this blog post was the discussion about the correlation or rather lack there of, between academic aptitude and standardized  tests such as IQ, SAT, LSAT, MCAT, and success in life financially. 

I think you would be surprised at the findings and it may also change your parenting style if you are a parent.  I know for a fact I will be changing mine immediately. 

Perhaps I hinted a bit to the conclusion by my previous paragraph, but if you have not surmised by now, from interviews collected from a multitude of self made first generation millionaires and multimillionaires, there is very little evidence showing a positive correlation between high scores on standardized tests and accumulating wealth.  In fact there is an opposite trend.  In most cases the students that excelled at these test are working or are the employees of those students that did not do well at all in the same tests.  

What interviews conducted with mega millionaires show is that most of them bombed their IQ or college entrance  exams.  Most we're labeled dumb, underperforming, amount to nothing etc.  The one thing they all had in common however, was that they did not take those labels to heart. Usually they had supportive parents, or were lucky enough to have had a mentor early in life to tell them that they could achieve their dreams regardless of the labels. Some succeeded in an attempt to prove those nay sayers wrong. Some succeeded because they came to the conclusion that if their grades and school standing were not going to help them get into the lucrative careers they had to rely on themselves to make it, and make it they did. 

Thankfully in this country at least, the fact that you do not get into a prestigious higher learning institution does NOT mean you are done financially speaking.  As long as you have the drive and persistence, you can succeed. It has been proven. It is not a fluke. In fact it is the rule rather than the exception.  Most multimillionaires are business owners and entrepreneurs. Only a small fraction of the top 1% net worth individuals are professionals such as doctors or lawyers.  What does this mean? It means that other factors besides academic excellence influenced their success, because frankly they were not the top of their class by standard measures.  Most realized that if they were going to make it financially they would have to depend on and invest in themselves.  They are business owners because they believed with their grades they would not be able to get a good job. They invest the bulk of their money in businesses as apposed to stocks, because they believe the people who sell stocks are concentrating way too much in the SELLING to be able to be proficient in the actual quality of what they are selling. Even so they all do have a small portion of their wealth managed by a large institution, but that usually entails the profits of investing in their own business.  

What was important in success, was social skills, leadership, ability to take a hit and keep on going.  The cream of the crop in school rarely had to deal with adversity until they got into the real world. Then what happens when the company that they work for is sold to another company and their job becomes redundant? They face defeat perhaps for the first time in their life.  Conversely the so called average students and those who were mistaken for being "underachievers" had to deal with set backs and ridicule all  their lives, and if given the positive encouragement, learned to deal with it positively.  They realized that just because one person tells you "no" it does not mean you stop. In fact they learn quickly that the more they persevere the more they benefit and it becomes their routine to work hard, believe in themselves, work with others, and learn leadership in other areas than academia.  

This continuous hammering that these so called second rate students received through their school years can be likened to how a Samurai Sword is created.  Arguably the finest and strongest form of bladed weapons, the katana is made by rolling steel repeatedly back on itself and hammering it down over and over until the final product is so strong  that it can cut through armor.  Few if any successful people have achieved their success without taking that occasional bump backwards.  There is a lesson in that for us parents.  

Thankfully as I write this post in 2012, our school systems are starting to see and give more weight to other characteristics than pure academic excellence.  As parents we need to make sure we do not kill the spirit of the student because of a less than stellar IQ or SAT score.  We need to ingrain in our children the will to succeed regardless of what college they attend.  The important thing is that they COMPLETE their education. In college it is important that they take part in different activities and yes even the parties and social interactions have their place in contributing to the ultimate success they achieve in life.  Instead of reacting with disappointment when the student brings home a bad grade, it is important that they  understand that they can do better. Then they need to come up with a plan, with your help, on how they can do better.  Most importantly they need to learn to finish.  The majority of the millionaires interviewed, accounted the habit of finishing a task and sticking to it till it was done no matter how many times it took to achieve it as one of the top characteristics that contributed to their success.  Intelligence, great schools, high test scores ranked in lowest characteristics by most millionaires and by all who's net worth was 10 million dollars or more.    

I shudder at the thought of how many students took those labels in early school years to heart? How much more productive would we as a country be now and in the future if more encouragement is given to those students who are not necessarily the top tier academic scholars? 

What about you? Think back and see if those labels early in school applied to you? How have you responded to those early imprinting? The good new is that it is not too late.  You can see that you can ignore all those labels if they applied to you in your early school career. Perhaps you had to leave school? Perhaps you were told you would not be suited for a career in a certain field? Perhaps you though you could not do what you love because you did not have the right education? All of that is a bunch of crap.  If you want to be a success you need to work for it and don't quit until you have achieved it.  It is never too late to get the education you need.  If one bank refuses to give you a loan for an idea go to 10 others and ask.   Find other people in the business sector that could be sympathetic to your business plan, and do joint venture with them.  Rarely people succeed on their own merits when it comes to being a multimillionaire.  Success takes the ability to work well with others.

You don't find this type of information publicized because most millionaires still think of themselves as those labels they were given and therefore are modest. They are frequently surprised at how well they have done. Also their stories are rarely glamorous and exciting.  They work hard, live comfortably but well bellow their means, and are mostly family oriented.  Their stories do not make a good reality T.V. show, and they are ok with that.

How cool is this information from the stand point of The Law of Attraction? We can see that intellect alone is rarely enough to get us to financial security, wealth, and success.  The multimillionaires in Dr. Stanley's book had a tremendous desire to be wealthy and for one reason or another they steadfastly stuck to those goals. Some had their backs against the wall with a family to support and no where to go, so they went for it and started their own business. That is a great source of vibrational power. When you "have to get it done" all sort of amazing opportunities come your way because you are sending a very powerful signal of asking and you are open to receive, the 2 key elements of making The Law of Attraction work for you. Opportunities come your way as it is the law. Since the multimillionaires in question had the opportunities to work hard and look for opportunities all their lives, when opportunities came, no only did they see them, but they also took advantage of them.    Nothing was given to them with ease in most cases. That is what prepared them to see the opportunity and have open minds.

I hope this post was helpful and interesting to you. As always please feel free to comment and definitely  share this with your friends. 

A READER ASKED AJ DO YOU BELIEVE IN GOD?

Good day, You will hear a detailed video blog of my answer to this reader bellow. I do believe in God. I was raised a Muslim and also I go to Church. I believe that there is room in heaven for all of us because our father is loving and forgiving that we cannot come close to imagine how much love he has for us. I like a quote I heard from a Christian Pastor, pastor McGinty at the Movement Church "we don't do good because we are religious. We are religious therefore we do good. Because of our beliefs we want to do good. It is not a chore, or a duty, or something we have to do to please God". That made an impact on me. I hope you enjoy this break from my usual posting. I don't like to discuss religion here because it is not a correct forum for it. I created this place to help people succeed using the tools of The Law of Attraction and also to learn from you. But since the question came from one of the readers I am sure others have thought about it and I will answer it as best and as honestly as I can in the video bellow. Enjoy and I welcome your comments.

Financial Wisdome

As this post will come out about a month before the presidential elections I need to make sure not to come across as partisan towards any candidate asI am not here to persuade, just to educate. 

While at a customers site a month back I could not help over hear a discussion on taxes and income levels.  "How much do you think a millionaire pays in taxes" asked one of the technicians, " I don't know probably 14% or something, and I pay over 20%" replied the other.  As I listened my heart was breaking as this single parent was saying how their take home income was around $600 per check. 

I was raised by a single mother who some how made me not notice any lack even though she was making $12,000 per year.  I know first hand how the lack of financial education effects the regular tax payer. In this post I want to educate and make the lay person understand why even with all the hype and misinformation out there we are in the best country in the world. 

I have taken the 2012 tax brackets by typing "tax brackets in google and picking one of the results from Forbes.  

Tax Bracket Married Filing Jointly Single

10% Bracket $0 – $17,400                 $0 – $8,700

15% Bracket $17,400 – $70,700         $8,700 – $35,350

25% Bracket $70,700 – $142,700 $35,350 – $85,650

28% Bracket $142,700 – $217,450 $85,650 – $178,650

33% Bracket $217,450 – $388,350 $178,650 – $388,350

35% Bracket Over $388,350                 Over $388,350

Payroll SS & Medicare 7.7% 

The first part to realize is that there are stepwise increases when it comes to taxes. So for example your first $8,700 is taxed at only 10%, what remains of your earned income up to the $35,350 is then taxed at 15% and so on. So not all of your $35,000 is taxed at 15% rate. 

The other point to know is there are only 3 types of taxable income. They are 1) Earned income that is taxed at the rates you see above, then there are 2) portfolio and 3) passive incomes that are taxed at a 15% rate.  Why does the government give such a nice break to the last two types? Lets explore that a little and see the beauty of it.  When you invest in the economy by either having investments in the stock market or having real estate or intellectual property, you are stimulating the economy for everyone so you can essentially reduce the amount of income that is seen as taxable by the IRS.  This option is not available to the individual. As an individual your taxes are taken before you see a single sent of your earned income.  Again why do businesses get such a break? Because businesses are the lifeblood of our economy.  It makes perfect sense from the stand point of the Law of Attraction.  Businesses put the money into circulation. That is an abundance mentality. Individuals for the most part "save" or hoard the money. That is a scarcity mindset.  As a business, all the payroll and retirement taxes are taken off of the profit line and business expenses are paid before a tax is levied and that is a good thing.  Businesses provide jobs and revenue and do not (usually) become a burden on the government, so they are rewarded. 

I talked with the  technicians during a break and used the example of the owner of their company to make a point. I pointed out that if the owner of the company made one million dollars as earned income, most of the earnings would be taxed at 35%, but chances are that the business is ran as a corporation and hence is taxed at a much lower percentage. 

The same is true with most people of wealth. They rarely earn most of their income as earned income to be taxed at the highest level.  They are rewarded because they are not a burdening the government, they stimulate the economy, they provide jobs, they contribute to charity and such.  

The great thing about our country is that anyone has the opportunity to become wealthy.  Most of the really wealthy people in the U.S. came from very humble beginnings and worked hard to get there.  What separates them from the average Joe is that they DECIDED that they would not depend on the government for a handout, and they will follow their dreams no matter how many people told them they were crazy.  Wealth starts in your mind not in your pocket. Again do you see the magic of The Law of Attraction in this?  Your reality is first created in your mind, however you can't think about  things that you don't know about. The saddest kind of ignorance is one you have no idea exists.

Since I was "a science major" in school, I didn't learn anything about finance even though I had all kinds of math classes.  It took real world to teach me about finance.  I lost my "job" and in the process I ended up taking a job at a MLM company that dealt with insurance and financial services. Wealth is a mindset I learned quickly after reading Think And Grow Rich.

Robert Kiyosaki  the author of Rich Dad, Poor Dad, a book that I think should be required reading in High School by the way, explains that there are 4 financial quadrants. On the left side is Employee, and Self Employed.  On the right side are Business Owners and Investors. You cannot be truly wealthy as long as you trade your time for money, on the left side of the quadrant. Also to be a true business owner you need to have a system that makes money for you weather you are there or not. 

The main point is that you can keep more of your income by some simple discussions with your tax advisor or by a few trips to your local library. You will find out that you don't have to be a massive conglomerate or invent the next light bulb to have a business.  In this age of technology you can have a business real quick.  Try E-bay for example.  Get a business identity IF IT MAKES SENSE TO YOU. Dream big. Take action.  That is the most important thing. The next step is to never ever give up. You will learn from your mistakes, lessons that no one can teach you.  Also remember you only have to deal with people that WANT to pay you for your goods and services.  The rest will always have opinions, and I love the sayings "opinions are like a@$ holes, everyone has them, and they all stink". 

I hope this helps and as always feel free to share this with anyone who may benefit. Comments are always welcome.

THE TIMING OF GOALS

 

I have been teaching goal setting for a long time. One of the things that is of paramount importance when you're starting to set your goals is the timing and your mind frame during the process.

The other day when I was trying to put some finishing touches on a new product opportunity I am launching, I found out real quickly how important this idea of timing and mind frame really is.

The idea of the new opportunity came to me like an inspiration. In a very short time I had all the details and put together the finishing touches. I was really excited because the potential to help allot of people was great.  Many would be able to build a good amount of wealth in a short period helping others. So by all means this has all the positivity encompassed in it.  Something went really awry however, the other night with some finishing touches. I could not really figure out how something that was flowing smoothly suddenly hit a brick wall. 

Then I took a look from an outsiders point of view and noticed that something outside of the project had affected my mind set.  I was trying to work out the final touches when my 4 year old daughter went into one of her "don't want to go to sleep" tantrums.  In dealing with that, which tool a while, I got out of my flow.  My energy was sapped.  I was frustrated and borderline upset. Then I tried to go back into the project and regain the energy and creativity. If you have been to my Goal Setting and PMA workshop or studies how to turn your emotions, you know it is difficult to jump big steps on the emotional scale. It becomes even more difficult when you try to push it. In my book  and in my seminars, I see this all the time and point out that if the process is starting to seem like work you need to take a break. The same thing was happening here, but I was not recognizing it.  I was to engaged and too close to see it intellectually and like a rookie I ignored my feelings as well.  The results were hours of wasted time and effort.  What I did learn was that as I tried to push harder, I kept on sliding lower and lower on the emotional scale into pessimism, and finally anger. It is Law. 

Then it hit me like a brick. All my emotional warning signals were going off and I was ignoring them.  It was like the fire alarm was going off to get out of the building and I was determined to finish my work like nothing was happening. Needless to say nothing productive besides this blog post and a lesson came out of this.  

I had to take a breather. No matter how much I wanted to finish the planing, I had to listen to the feelings.  When I did not by The Law of Attraction more situations came to bring more of the crappy feelings that I was experiencing, and I did not get any progress done.  I was finally forced to stop and go to bed. Fortunately I have disciplined myself to get my energy to at least neutral before going to sleep. During my meditation all became clear. I knew what had happened. I also knew how to fix it.  

Even though I teach this stuff it amazing how the people I love can get under my skin sometimes and throw off the balance to the point where I ignore the feeling alarms. Lesson learned though. The next day in a great feeling mood I took on the project and within minutes everything was back on track.

Many times when you are setting goals all kind of things come up from mistakes to disappointments.  You need to change the way you are feeling by doing the exercises I mention in my seminars and book, as well as in this blog, and move yourself up the emotional ladder to a place of joy and excitement. Your goals have to have good energy. It may take a walk, or a session of physical exercise to get your energy going. You may have to meditate or listen to some great music. What ever it takes get yourself back on track and finish working on your goal setting when you are in the good feeling zone. It may seem you are wasting time, but believe me it is more productive than trying to push on with the wrong frame of mind.  This practice has a great effect on how fast you will achieve success.

As always please feel free to share this and comment. Till next Tuesday here is to your success.

PERSERVERENCE!!! PART OF THE LAW OF ATTRACTION

Good day and I hope you are having a great week.

The other day while waiting to fly out of the airport in San Diego, a gentleman got my attention and asked me “what class were you in?” I was deep in thought trying to figure out how to connect my iPad to their free internet. I asked “UCLA?” , but he pointed to my bag pack. Then I realized he was motioning to the Trident I have pinned to my bag pack. It was a gift from a friend a long time ago and I wear it on my bag as a proud and grateful American. I told him I was not in the teams, and it was gift. I asked him if he was in the teams? He replied retired Navy Chief in the SEALS.

We chatted about business and stuff around San Diego. He told me he had started 2 businesses, and worked with Veterans around the area. We discussed some cool stuff, and family and children, and then came the topic of Success.  We both agreed that of the people we knew who had left the military many had succeeded, and the ones in the Special Forces were the ones that adapted the best and succeeded on the outside.

That started me thinking about the topic of this blog. I have known very well that the SKILL of PERSEVERING in the face of failure is a major difference that separates the winners from those who do not pursue their dreams. I can use myself for an example. Many of the friends that I went to Medical School are now successful physicians in the UNITED STATES even though when we were all in those Foreign medical schools the odds seemed stacked against us. I choose to quit after a certain amount of time because it did not seem as important to me as it once was to become a surgeon. The friends that I have that succeeded had a bigger fire of desire that kept them going.

In the special forces like the U.S. Navy SEALS a small group of men are usually behind enemy lines without support for long period of times. They have no one but each other to depend on. When S&%@ Hits the fan they have to depend on each other to persevere no matter what is happening. Yes they are highly trained, and have the best of technological toys, but there is a good reason that 90% of their class voluntarily quits before earning their Trident. In their world if you quit you die, and there is a high likelihood that other members of your team will die as well because you quit.

No wonder when they join the civilian world they are highly successful. They do not know the meaning of the word quit. If they can endure the pressures of combat and not quit, there is little in daily business that will make them quit. They know mistakes, and temporary defeat are opportunities to learn and profit from. It does not matter if they are new to a task, or they are out of their comfort zone, they will persevere until the reach their goal. It is ingrained in their DNA.

I don’t know at what point in our lives we learn to quit, or that it is ok to quit for those of us who do not have the honor of serving in the military?  But it seems like it is more common than not specially as I have gotten older. It seems every generation has become more and more open to just quitting and moving on to something else. Our attention span has shortened.  I could be wrong, but in my father’s generation you did what you were told and get the job done. There was shame associated with quitting a task. It was ingrained by our parents that you do not give up. You give it your best, and if you fail you learn from your mistake and try again. Something akin to getting back on the horse that threw you.

When we move from task to task, or give up on goals and move on to new ones we are robbing the energy that has gone into those goals, desires etc. It is like  the example I mentioned in my book Road Map to Life about the kid who changes his mind about the kind of car he wants. Every time his dad goes to get a toy car, he changes his mind about the color, the make, the model. Concentrating on our goals and visualizing them adds power to the manifestation of them. By the same token when we take inspired action and are faced with a challenge and / or temporary defeat it is a feedback that either we are not on the right path, it is not in our best interest, or we need to learn something from this. By just quitting the task, we are essentially sending out the vibration that I am just playing here. I don’t really want to manifest anything. I just want to play around, and get things going and then move on to something else. We are not solidifying our desires to the point that they are real. How can anything we want manifest if we are not really having a burning desire for them?  Burning desire, hell we don’t even give it enough attention that we would give watching a good movie. That is what quitting and jumping  from goal to goal is doing. You need to focus. A laser beam can cut diamond. But the same amount of energy dispersed in a huge light can light up the sky but will not do much cutting.

You need to focus your concentration on things that you want. It is ok to want allot of things, but focus on one or two at a time when you visualize, and then go after them with relentless perseverance.  That is where the “why” in your desires matter. If you can just dump one goal for another,  ask yourself how bad did you really want it.  Really, if I say I want to make a website that has 200 views a day and makes me an extra $5000/ month, but then as soon as I try to make the website and I learn that I don’t know what Wordpress is or how to use optimizepress, and I quit what does that tell you about my desire? Desire is good, but it is only the first step. The Law of Attraction works, and works every time, and it gives me exactly what I say I want from a vibrational perspective. Words do not mean a thing. My thoughts and emotions are what fuels The Law of Attraction. The reason I would quit in the example above would have thoughts like “I don’t know how to do this”, “learning to use these tools is so hard”, “no one taught me how to build a website”, “I’ve never done this before”, you get the picture. Even though my words might be saying I want a website that makes this and that much money, it is the thoughts that are asking the Law of Attraction to manifest. What am I asking to manifest? More and more circumstances that make me feel like I am clueless, and lost. The Law of Attraction always gives me what I ask for with my thoughts and feelings.

Now take for example the fact that even though I have no idea how to use the wordpress, or optimizepress to create a website, I start asking around,  attend seminars,  go to the library, and learn and try, and try, and try again. Make modifications and try again. What are the thought patterns saying to the Law of Attraction here? “I can do this”, “this is no different than any other skill I learned”, “imagine how awesome it will be when my website is making me money while I sleep”, “I am learning new things every day and expanding my comfort zone”.  Can you feel yourself smiling at these thoughts? Well that is what the Law of Attraction will receive and give back to me more and more opportunities  so I can keep on feeling those feelings that bring a smile to my face. Is this making sense to you? Please make sure you leave me a comment by clicking the comment link bellow. Let me know if you agree or disagree. Let me know if you have helpful hints on persevering. Leave me examples of how you succeeded by not giving up and keep on going no matter how small. Let the readers get different perspectives. The more you share your experiences the more everyone benefits.

Remember that giving comes from abundance and when you  give you are telling the Universe and the Law of Attraction that you are abundant. So by law, more and more circumstances come to you to keep you feeling abundant.

Thanks for reading this post and as always feel free to share this with anyone who may enjoy and benefit from it. Till next Tuesday, here is to your success.