BAD FEELING ARE A BLESSING IN DISGUISE. LISTEN TO THEM!!

Good day everyone,
I am sitting in Madrid international airport waiting for a flight so I thought I would try to get ahead and write a post for future date. The past 3 days have been full of learning experiences for me. I share them here in the hopes that it may help someone in a similar situation.
On Friday when I returned from a business trip late in the evening, I was going through my mail for the week and noticed a letter from the IRS. Naturally I tore through it and noticed they had send me a bill for $14,000 for discrepancies in my 2009 1040. Not exactly the type of mail I was looking for during a weekend where I would be flying out of the country and had very little access to phone, Internet, customer service etc to deal with the matter. Normally I would have felt a pang of frustration that eventually would have lead to anger. But I guess writing on this blog finally has paid off and I instantly recognized the surge of uncomfortable feelings. I concentrated on trying to slowly turn it around. I knew I could not let it get out hand because my entire trip and the entire week were at risk not to mention the one day I had to spend with my family. It also helped that as I forced my face to smile and started reaching for thoughts to work towards feeling a little better, my wife commented that ¨"you are taking this really well". She always knows what to say and to help me come back to the path. I love her.

So slowly I started to rationalize that I have very competent tax advisor with whom I have been working for 7 years. I am sure he would be able to fix this situation. I send him an e-mail not really expecting to hear from him as it was a weekend and during off season they only work Monday through Thursday. I also kept on reaching for good feelings. I used logic to empower myself. I could take it step by step and figure out what is going on. As I was researching the letter, my tax advisor shot back an e-mail with guidance. The customer service was not available but on Monday I talked to them and it turned out to be a simple situation that needs doccumentation and will work itself out.

The important thing is that as I was flying out of San Diego on Sunday on my way to France, the flight was diverted to Los Angeles due to mechanical issue, and after 4 hours in the airport I was placed on British Airways instead of my original American Airlines. Well things could not have worked out better. The plane on British Airways had their own monitor so I saw 4 of the movies I have been wanting to see. Since I was on BA, I could use their lounge with my American Airlines status. Ironically if I was on American I could not use the admiral club because that is extra cost. Not only that since the entire trip now was on partner airlines, I was able to use the business lounges in London, and in Madrid. So I got to eat for free, use the internet for free, take a nap on a bed for free in the airport durring the layover. What could have been a huge disasterous weekend was one of the easiest trips I have taken internationally in a long time.

It is all in how I CHOSE TO LOOK AT THE SITUATION AND LISTEN TO MY GUIDANCE SYSTEM. My feelings as Jerry and Esther Hicks refer to is the guidance system. When I realized I was starting to feel bad I immediatly took control and reached for small steps towards feeling a little better. It was not easy. That first few hours after seeing the letter, took real effort and control to just keep neutral, but it did the trick. Slowly the frustration went to problem solving, to hope and optimism, to reaching for expert guidance, and to locially working the problem one step at time given what I had to deal with (i.e. weekend, and no access), and not worrying about what I could not do.

With practice this process gets easier. It does take effort but holly cow what a difference it made. I am certain that had I let that letter push me into the abyss of anger, the flight issue would have just unraveled me. It would have been so much more difficult to try to fix the barrage of things that the law of attraction was bringing to me, but by taking control and thinking thought that made me feel a little better one step at a time I used the Law of Attraction on purpose to bring more and more situations that were going to make me feel better instead of going on autopilot and being dictated to by default like most people allow.

So monitor your feelings. Bad feelings are a true blessing because they are telling you that you are heading off course and you need to make corrections. Listen to them and use them to head off any issue right at the beggining. With practice it will become second nature, and you will live your life by design.

I hope this helps. Best wishes for your success this week.

THE MASTERMIND GROUP. HOW TO GET ONE?

Good day,

Today I want to talk about a concept that is one of the 17 principles of success according to Napoleon Hill in his famous best seller Think and Grow Rich. That is the concept of a mastermind group. Many successful people site this principle as one of the keys to their success. In nutshell, Mastermind is group of advisers/friends that you surround yourself with as experts to help you achieve your goals . The principle of Mastermind rests on the idea of synergy and the  cooperation between many minds to help achieve success in a common goal, sooner and easier than a person could do on their own.

Jack Canfiled said that your wealth, and your level of success is directly proportional to the 5 closest people that you associate with. So you want to have people in your mastermind group that are above your level in their achievement and expertise. You want to associate with people that you want to be like. If you are the sharpest person in your mastermind group then you need to expand your box.

I am often asked by people how do I go about getting involved with a mastermind group, or how do I create a mastermind group if I am new in a field. How can I find people that are above my level. That is a great question. It was difficult for me to find the answer to this because I thought like most people that I have to be an expert to find a mastermind group. The truth is that most people who have achieved success are very open to helping people who are serious and committed and respectful. So the first step is to just ASK. Find a person that has achieved what you want and ask them how they got there?

Another really nice way of creating a mastermind that utilizes The Law of Attraction and visualization and has been talked about by Napoleon Hill himself is actually creating a mastermind group in your mind. Visualize people, dead or alive, that you want to immolate. Read as much as you can about them. Try to get to know what they did and what their philosophy and habits were. How they conducted themselves in business and in their personal lives. Then visualize having a roundtable discussion with them in your mind on a daily bases. Napoleon Hill mentions that in his mental mastermind he regularly had people like Abraham Lincoln, Napoleon Bonaparte, Henry Ford and other great minds of his time and of history.  On a nightly bases he would sit, concentrate, and have outright discussions with them.  After a while his confidence grew, because not only was he having discussions with his heroes, but he was the moderator of this group of advisers. It became so real to him that at times he had inspirations coming to him immediately.

This is a skill that you already have, but may have forgotten. If you think back to your childhood, remember those times when you were playing with your sports heroes on the playground. Did you have a basketball game all by yourself, but pretended to be playing against a  Michael Jordan, or a Magic Johnson. These are the skills you had when you were a child. We tend to loose the skills of visualization as we grow up because we think it is not acceptable by the society. But  those are powerful sources of your inspiration and you can tap into them.

The benefit of doing this type of exercise is that once your mind becomes focused on a particular principle through  these visualizations, you will start finding opportunities to meet people that will match the areas of success that you are striving for. They will come into your lives. You will see opportunities to expand a real mastermind group. That has to happen based on the Law of Attraction. Soon your imaginary mastermind group will turn into a real mastermind group.

I hope this is helpful. Here is to your success. Feel free to share this with anyone who could benefit.

TO MEDITATE OR NOT TO MEDITATE, THAT'S THE QUESTION?

We have discussed  the Law of Attraction and how Visualizing and having good feelings about those visualizations help bring goals into successful completion. We have also discussed that if you have resistance towards those goals it will delay or prevent the completion of your goals. In my previous posts you have heard me talk about the Sedona Method, or the Emotional Freedom Technique as tools to reduce and eliminate resistance. The process of meditation is another way to help you succeed.

When you are truly meditating and clearing your mind you are also eliminating resistance that is inherent in your subconscious.  Resistance comes about in response to thoughts. When you are clearing your thoughts you are eliminating resistance.  When you don’t have resistance all of those visualizations and the wants and your goals are now free to come to you.

Esther and Jerry Hicks in their books have a great analogy that I will use with permission here. They compare resistance as pushing a cork under water. The cork representing your  natural vibration. When resistance is removed the cork can pop up above the water. Because as they and many other Law of Attraction experts have pointed out, our natural vibration is to be happy and have what we want, i.e. for our cork to pop out of the water. It is only with negativity, either conscious or subconscious that we are holding our success back.  Meditation takes you to a place where you let go of the cork and let your natural vibration take over.

Before I go into how to meditate let me answer a question that comes up frequently when the topic of eliminating resistance is brought up. The question is this, “if I have had years and years of resistance building up and keeping me from reaching my success how is 10-15 minutes of meditation is going to erase all that negativity?” This is a very valid point and at first glance it actually seems logical, but the perception is faulty.  The reason the question seems logical at first glance is that most people are programed to think that if I want to get something good, and I have had lots of bad things, I have to first erase the bad things before I can go to the good. Sort of like mathematical equations. If I have negative then I have to first add enough positive to overcome the negative before I can get to positive.  I have good news for you. That IS NOT THE WAY THINGS WORK. This is not math. It is as concrete and as exact as the science of mathematics, but it is not linear.

YOU DO NOT NEED TO ERASE ALL THE BAD stuff. You only need to allow the good stuff. So to answer the question, you do not need to erase years of negativity. You just need to be positive and clear the resistance for few minutes at a time to ALLOW. That is not to say that one period of meditation will get you what you want if you have built up habits of resistance over the years, but with meditation you will be now perhaps for the first time in your life become aware of those bad habits and start replacing them. Do not be overwhelmed with thinking you have to now meditate for 20 years to overcome your past 20 years of negative thinking.  When you meditate 10-15 minutes a day, for that period you are not giving energy to your resistance. What that does based on the Law of Attraction, is that it will allow all the positivity and focus you have given to your goals to be in tune with your vibration and start coming towards you. For that period of time the good vibrations come to you and that shifts your energy. You cannot be negative and positive at the same time. So when you are meditating the lack of resistance naturally allows your cork to be at its natural positive vibration and more and more of things that will keep you positive will have to come to you because that is what the Law of Attraction dictates.  The more you practice the more you get into the positive vibration. The more you get into a positive vibration the more you allow. Combine that with the gratitude for the positivity and you are now exponentially moving towards your goals and success.  So do not try to erase bad, just concentrate on being good and more and more of good will come to you.

Now let’s concentrate on how to meditate. As human beings our mind naturally seeks things to concentrate on. That’s why it is so hard to “clear” your mind. So unless you have practiced meditation for many years, even lifetimes it is almost impossible to completely clear your mind. There are however, some simple ways to do this. The best way to meditate is to let your mind concentrate on thoughts that will NOT lead to other thoughts. For example concentrating on your breathing. Even counting your breathing helps keep your mind quite enough for the purpose of meditation. I have had different ways of doing this. You can count from 1-10 for each breath that you take in and out. You can combine the inhale and exhale as one count. Then you start over from 1. You will most often loose count and start thinking of other thoughts. If this happens do not get upset. Simply acknowledge that you have lost track and let go of the new thought by going back to counting your breaths. Another way to meditate is to count to 4 on the inhale, hold for a count of 7 and count to 8 on the exhale. This is more complex and therefore it is easier not get distracted by other thoughts. Yet another way to meditate is to repeat a short phrase over and over as you breath. That is how the proverbial ‘aahh uummm’ or “Bra Ma” or mantras like that come into play. The phrase can be anything you want as long as it does not sent you on other thoughts. Once again you will get distracted and other thoughts will come rushing in. Just make sure you do not get stressed. Let the thought go by going back to repeating your mantra and breathing. The most important thing is for this to be enjoyable otherwise you are just sending your vibration the other way and sabotaging your efforts.  Try the different methods and pick the one that feels most comfortable and the KEY HERE IS ENJOY YOURSELF.  

Start with doing 5 minutes every day for a week.  Then increase your time to 10 minutes. The more time you can devote to doing this per session the better the results, but if you do not have 10 minutes in one sitting, then do 2 five minutes sessions. Try to meditate early in the morning before you start your day. That way you have set up your vibration for the rest of the day.  The position is not important as long as you are comfortable and WILL NOT FALL SLEEP.

Play with this and see how much of an impact it will have on your success and the great side effect of this is that your health, your attitude, and your energy levels will also be positively impacted.

Enjoy and please feel free to share this with anyone that can enjoy and benefit from it.

A LESSON FROM CHRISTOPHER WESTRA

Good morning,
I got this e-mail from Christopher Westra. He is one of the people I have a newsletter subscription with and has a wealth of good information. I am sharing this with you because I think it is very important to think of your live as holographic and in the now. If you have not read the Holographic Universe, I highly recommend it. So with permission enjoy the e-mail in its entirety.

Here is an exercise that will help you live in Holographic Time,

It's called the Powerful Indivisible Sphere of the Present.

Living in Holographic Time is a key to being successful using Holographic Creation to manifest the events and things and emotional states you desire.

I came across the idea for this exercise by reading a book called Time and Free Will, back when I was in college.

This mind-blowing book explains how viewing time as linear makes our consciousness fragmented into past, present, and future.

When we are fragmented in this way, we actually lose some of our free will because we can't see things clearly.

By learning to live as a whole person in the present moment, we become free and powerful, as we are meant to be.

Here are some benefits from the exercise, and then we will present the exercise.

3 Main Benefits You'll Get from the Powerful Indivisible Sphere of the Present Exercise:

1.  See Life More Clearly.

You'll better remember the lessons you have learned from what you call your past.  You'll realize there is no past, and the lessons are here with you now.

2.  Reduce Your Fears.

You can stop imagining future negative scenarios.  These pictures of the future are the basis of fear.  They are not real.

3.  Experience More Free Will and Power.

When we fragment our consciousness into past, present, and future, we play "mind games" in order to "not see" the implications and consequences of our actions.

When we act from an unclear perspective, we often make dumb decisions that thwart us from achieving what we really want.

Now, here are the steps to the actual Powerful Indivisible Sphere of the Present Exercise.

Read through all the steps and then close your eyes and do it as best as you can.  If you need to open your eyes to peek at the instructions, that is OK.

Step 1.  Close your eyes.  Take a few deep breaths.  Say to yourself "My consciousness is one, and cannot be divided."

Step 2.  Visualize the past and present and future as a timeline.  This is easy because it's what we usually do!  We even create timelines of history.  This is what is known as "Linear" time, because it is modeled after a "Line".

Step 3.  Now, time really isn't a line.  In fact, time as we think about it doesn't exist at all.  This is what Henri Bergson taught. 

Tell yourself, "There is no past, present, and future - all laid out in a line."  It is our consciousness that we either experience holistically or in a holographic manner, or in a linear manner.

Step 4.  Starting with the "past" side of the line, picture the line being rolled up into a ball towards the present moment.  All the memories..

all the learning...  all the connections... still stay right with you now. 

They are present. 

If parts of the "line" represent stories that you have made up and no longer want - stories of resentment, or pain, or abandonment, or loneliness, then let these parts of the line just be "cut off" and float away.

Only roll up those parts of the "past" that you want to keep.  As you roll the line, the point of the present grows bigger and brighter as it forms into a sphere.  This sphere is the Powerful Indivisible Sphere of the Present!

Step 5.  Now take the "line" of the future, as you usually think of it, and start to "roll up" that line into the present moment also. 

Collect all the plans, all the goals and dreams, and all the meanings and hopes and desires and roll them right into the present.

You aren't affecting time - time doesn't exist.  What you are changing is your consciousness of time.  As the so-called future is also rolled up into the present, the sphere of the present becomes brighter and brighter.

Step 6.  Now see this sphere of the present pulsating and glowing with power and life.  This Powerful Indivisible Sphere of the Present is your new symbol for your consciousness.

OK - that's the end of the exercise.  You can open your eyes now.

Conclusion:  You will improve with practice.  As you go about your day, and your week, use this exercise whenever you need to regain the power of the present.

Fragmenting our consciousness has become a deep habit for most of us.  In fact, most of us really believe that reality is fragmented because that's how we were taught to experience it.

Learning to live in Holographic Consciousness will greatly improve your ability to Holographically Create or Manifest what you desire in your life.

Sincerely,

Christopher

P.S.  Some things I've got coming for you are another book by James Allen, this one called Daily Meditations, and some helps on ending procrastination in your life.

If you haven't watched the video yet, on the 9 Manifesting Practices for best success, see it below:

http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=9Ct1N&m=JPmba9_Gu9DX4n&b=6xtOABGkkV4ICBjXfJOQjQ

Remember also there are constant resources for you at the Free Mind Power Site below:

http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=9Ct1N&m=JPmba9_Gu9DX4n&b=GAlqn6qfZcnNFyj.YJ2chQ

Do the Powerful Indivisible Sphere of the Present exercise daily for a couple of weeks to get it into your consciousness.  It will make a difference in your life.

Get Super Manifesting Freebies below to EnRICH Your Life:

http://FreeMindPowerBooks.com

Please use the Support Desk below INSTEAD of replying to this email. (The Support Desk is easy).

http://ChristopherWestra.com/ (Support Desk) http://ICreatePower.com (Membership Site Benefits) http://LightisReal.com (Articles and Downloads) http://RoyaltiesUniversity.com (Royalties from Virtual Property) Christopher Westra, 6176 Haven Moor Cir, SLC, UT 84121, USA

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INTERVIEW WITH THE 2007 WORLD SERIES OF POKER CHAMP JERRY YANG part 3

Here is the last part of the interview with Jerry Yang. If you missed the first 2 parts please go to the last 2 weeks posts. Enjoy.

AJ: The other things that allot of successful people have in common is gratitude. I know after you won the championship you actually went back to Merced, California and you opened up your restaurant. Why go back to Merced? Why not live it up in Las Vegas? And I know you have allot of charity work that you do, so talk to us a little about why come back to the community, why the charity work, things like that?

JY: You know in regards to the Charity like I said earlier I had always been very poor, very hungry and hopeless as a little boy. When I went to the World Series in 2007 I made a pledge to God and in front of ESPN T.V.  I said if I win I would donate 10% of that mainly to the Make a Wish Foundation, The Ronald McDonald House and also to the Feed the Children. So that is exactly what I did. Immediately after my win I donated the money. For a few reasons: Number 1) you know I won $8.25 Million, you know that’s allot of money. I could spare a few bucks for other people who are in greater need than I am and that in itself is a privilege and a wonderful honor to be able to do something like that for people who are in need. Mainly because of what I have seen in my life, what I experienced in my life as a little boy, to be hopeless and to be hungry, so I want to give something back to the community that’s important to me. But going back to the community, I grew up In Fresno, and Merced is very close by, and I have friends and relative in Merced. I wanted to go back. I mean I can pretty much live anywhere in the world right now A.J. I could be in Hawaii right now, but why Merced or why Fresno? Because that’s my roots, that’s where my family is and my community. People that I grew up with. So I wanted to go back and be myself if you will. Be the true Jerry Yang and show people around me that hey you know what? he has not forgotten his roots, and that is why he is back here to support the community. Not just the community but if you have read and followed me I have done charities pretty much through the country. I have personally raised more than $800,000 mainly for under privileged kids across America and you know I intend to do even more in the future.

A.J.: God bless you. That is awesome. That is just amazing. That is basically what prompted me to approach you that day in your restaurant. I was just waiting that day for food and reading the articles and that is the inspiring story that I saw and I think the readers of my blog will totally relate and I think this is a really really good thing that you’re are doing.

JY: Thank you.

AJ: ok so now you won the championship. You mentioned allot of the people blow the money in a weekend, make lots of money in one week and blow it the other. What does it take to take the opportunity and the notoriety and convert it into a successful business like you have in your restaurants.

JY: You know I, even though I won the money in a very short time, a few weeks, it was hard work for me. And I treat every single dollar that I earned from the World Series as the last dollar that I have. The reason I went into business is because I want to instill some beliefs, in my children that you know what even though your father has allot of money, nothing comes easy. You still have to work. I used to tease my friends; there is no free lunch in America. And so you have to work hard for what you have. Just because you won allot of money doesn’t mean you’re gonna go and gamble with it or not to take good care of it. I never want my children to go through what I went through, and hopefully their children don’t have to go through what I went through. So I want to teach my children about working principles. Work ethics and hard work, and believing in yourself. And that nothing is free in this world. You’ve got to work hard for what you have.

AJ: What is your definition of success?

JY: My definition of success is being happy. Just being happy. And I guess the word happy is very broad, but I think if you are happy in every aspect of your life, you know weather it is your relationship, weather it is your religion, weather it is your career, weather it is your relationship with people around you, your children, your wife, your friends, you know and you live comfortably and you are happy in general to me that is success.

AJ: Well said. Many people believe that success and wealth is dependent on luck. Many believe it takes money to make money, or you have to have friends in the right places or be in the right place at the right time. What in your opinion does it take to become successful?

JY: I have to say hard work. In my country and in my culture people believe that your life is predestined. That means we believe that your life is actually been written down on a piece of paper. That there is nothing you can do. I wrote this in my book also. That your life has been written down. Every event in your life, weather bad or good you have no control of it. I disagree with that, and I have been getting allot of criticism (laughs) especially from my very own people. But I have to say hard work. And part of it like I said earlier you have to associate yourself with successful people. Especially people who have the same dreams, same career, same desires as you. By learning from them and become a master like them, that will help you get further even more and faster. But you need to work hard. I also believe in being in the right place at the right time too, and most people don’t believe in that like you, right, for example in 2007, I could have chosen to play day 1, day 2, or day 3, but I didn’t. I chose the last date which is July 7^th and maybe for some reason, that was, I did the right thing. I was at the right place at the right time so you know little things like that. But the bottom line is you need to work hard and you cannot let people discourage you. You got to really want what you are hoping to achieve, and do everything in your power to achieve that. And you are gonna fall, you’re gonna fall sometimes here and there, but so what? Everyone goes through that. And you are going to pick yourself up, and you keep on moving and you keep moving until you reach it. That to me is the true character of a successful person is not giving up.

AJ: That is huge. One of the things that we both have in common is working with children. What advice do you have for children today who are inundated with so much negativity, on television on the media, to make them realize that opportunity is everywhere and they can be successful no matter what their background is?

JY: You know you’re right. With internet, with T.V. with radio I mean you hear profanity everywhere. You hear it I mean people. I mean bad examples everywhere.  I can only speak for myself. Like I said I came from a very poor background. My father was working minimum wage putting food on the table. I didn’t give up and one thing I really want to stress is education. Whether or not you become a poker player, education will help you be a good poker player. The first thing to do is to pursue your education first. Education is the foundation of everything you do in life. You’ve got to know how to read and write. You’ve got to know how to communicate with people. So it does not matter what career you get into. Education is the first foundation that you got to have. Go for it. Like you said just do it.  Get an education and from there decide what you want to do. Nothing is impossible in this world if you work a little extra harder everything is possible.

AJ: Thank you. That is awesome. You mentioned you have a book coming out very soon. Can you tell us a little more about it?

JY: Yes my book is called From Refugee camp to poker champ. All In. The Jerry Yang Story. It’s just about my life as a little boy in Laos. You know it talks about my scape from my village to the Mekong River. Try to cross the Mekong River to Thailand. And surviving the refugee camp in Thailand for almost 5 years. And coming to America. The day that they called my father’s name to come to America A.J., that was the happiest day of my life. After I won the World Series and Norm and Chad and one of the commentators asked me you know how is this compare to any day of your life? And I said this day can never be compared to the day that they called my father’s name to come to America. So but to make a long story short when I flew over San Francisco and I saw the buildings and the cars, I mean everything. I thought America was heaven. And I said Wow I will never be hungry again. When we landed in Nashville, Tennessee, we were placed in one of the poorest projects in Nashville, Tennessee. And I realized wow, poverty exists everywhere. There were drugs. People doing drugs this and that. I mean gun shots. I mean I was shocked. I was sad. I said this can’t be America. I didn’t envision America to be like this. So again I went to school. And try my best and graduated from high school as a valedictorian in my class. And went to college and got my degree and got my graduate degree and so again going to the point I said earlier if you put your mind to it and work very hard you can do it.

AJ: fantastic, and if people want to get your book do they go to your website: www.pokerchampjerryyang.com ? Or is this going to be available on amazon and Barnes and Nobles and places like that?

JY: Yes it will be in bookstores in July. It should be in Barnes and Nobles and Borders but people can order from Amazon or they can go directly to my website www.pokerchampjerryyang.com

AJ: Is there anything else you want to add. I really appreciate you time, and that is all the questions I had.

JY: Not really I just want to thank you personally for giving me the opportunity to do an interview with you. I really want my story to be out there. So people know about who Jerry Yang really is. I also talk about my father who was also involved in the Vietnam War and was fighting along the U.S. soldiers. At one point his platoon actually rescued an American pilot.  In my book we’ll share a little bit about my father and how he helped the American soldiers at that time. So you know I want to thank you for giving me the opportunity to share my story and I look forward to seeing you again AJ.

AJ: Thank you for your time.

INTERVIEW WITH THE 2007 WORLD SERIES OF POKER CHAMP JERRY YANG part 2

Now we continue the interview with Jerry Yang. If you missed the first part go to last weeks post.

AJ: Right, I understand. That is a nice Segway into the principles of success. In studying the principles of success and the law of attraction, I noticed success is not an accident. It usually starts in the mind. It is a thought pattern backed by intense emotional desire. Can you tell me if you agree with that and how that factored in your winning the championship in 2007?

JY: Can you paraphrase that again, I’m sorry?

AJ: Yes, allot of people who have been very successful tell me that it usually starts with a thought in their mind. They visualize it. They constantly have this burning desire that keeps the thoughts in their mind, before they actually achieve any success. So what I wanted to see is if that was what you consciously did? Or if you knew you were going to win? And if it was the thoughts before the action that took place?

JY: At some point. I am assuming you are referring to 2007 when I won?

AJ: Yes sir. That whole 2007 where you now have the opportunity to sit at the big table. Was it something that I guess for the lack of a better word, were you just winging it, or was there a plan of action that was very well thought out, and you had this intense desire and the faith that you could win it I guess is my question?

JY: At some point. To be honest with you I came to the World Series in 2007, with no expectation to win what so ever. I was probably one of the least skilled players that year. I remember coming, I met Chris Ferguson (?) who was a poker idol for me and I admire the gentleman and I remember meeting him was really a dream come true for me already. Not just him, I met Spiderman Toby McGuire that same day. Just allot of celebrities. That actually was one of my goals to come to Vegas to meet some these celebrities and poker idols and I achieved that, and I would have gone home a happy man A.J. But to my surprise after day one, we started with $20,000 in chips back then, and after day one I got $99,700 and I thought wow I am really doing good, and I really need to stay a little more focused. And even then I did not expect to win. It was my first year at the World Series and I didn’t know what to expect. I didn’t know, and there were allot of pressures too, so to answer your question it wasn’t until we made it down to 36 players. That was when I started collecting notes on my opponents. I started to study them a little bit more closely. I knew I would be facing some of them at the final table if I happen to make it to the final table. At that point I knew I had a good shot of winning the whole thing. At that point I made a commitment to really studying the opponents more and to really stay focused and be determined to win. So you’re right, when you go to a game, or a poker game or a poker tournament you have to go in with the mentality of playing to win. With every desire, every pint of blood, ever drop of blood in your body you got to have the desire to win. You can’t have any distractions whether its from family or from wherever it is. You have to be 100% focused and it is really hard to do that sometimes. It is easier said than done. But the bottom line is yes you’ve got to play to win.

AJ: As long as we’re on that, can you kind of take us step by step through that last hand?

JY: Which one, oh the very last hand that I had?

AJ: Yes the very last one that …

JY: yeh at that point I had, I believe I had $104,000,000 in chips, and my last opponent from Canada had about $25,000,000 or so and I saw my pocket 8s. Pocket 8s had been very good to me that year. Every time I had pocket 8s I won that year. I saw pocket 8s and I said I had doubled him up earlier and I didn’t want to double up again so when I saw pocket 8s I said ah this is it. This could be it. So I rose to 2.3 million, and he went all in with these queens of diamond for about 25 million. And I thought about it and I made the call. The flop came queen, nine, and five. So he hit his queen and was way ahead. Fortunately the 7 came on the turn, and I was praying for a 6 or another 8, and the 6 came on the river so I won. 

Amazing isn’t it?

AJ: Yes it is amazing.

Getting back to success and business, Oh by the way Pocket 8s is the name of your restaurant right?

JY: That’s correct.

AJ: It’s a wonderful sushi place in Merced California, I love it. Every time I’m there I am at your restaurant. It is great great food, and wonderful service.

JY: Oh thank you so much AJ. And if you happen to be in the area again please stop by and the next time you come into my town lunch or dinner is on me.

AJ: That is very sweet. Thank you so much. Getting back to the business and success acumen, I wanted to see how much the principle of the mastermind group has played in your success. Allot of teachers state that if you want to be successful you have to surround yourself with people who are either better or more successful than you are. Do you agree with that statement and do you have a mastermind group in business or when you were playing poker?

JY: You know I totally agree with that. I think not just in poker, but in any business in the world, any industry, weather in education, weather in perusing your degree, or perusing a business career whatever it is you need to associate yourself with people who share common interest, people who are more knowledgeable than you are. There is a saying in my language that says “only the student will go to the teacher for help”. It is not the other way around. When you have a need, when you have a desire to learn you have to find a great teacher, and that is how you become better. So part of being successful is to hang around with successful people because unsuccessful people will not get you anywhere. So the same thing with poker, you’ve got to associate with greater player and hopefully they will have the kindness to guide you and to train you and to show you and to coach you , and I found out that allot of players out there are actually very generous. If you can only open your mouth and say I need help with this and that, and if schedule and time permits, they would do their best to help you. And that is how I learned poker. I remember there was a gentleman called Charlie at the Indian Casino where I started to play poker. I mean the guy was so good. I mean he could, he really fascinated me. He could tell pretty much what the other guy had. And that fascinated me so much and I became friends with him and I asked him for help and that is how I became a better player.  So I totally support the statement that you mentioned.THIS IS THE END OF PART 2.  VISIT NEXT WEEK FOR THE CONCLUSION OF THE INTERVIEW. Please visit Jerry's website at: www.pokerchampjerryyang.com

INTERVIEW WITH THE 2007 WORLD SERIES OF POKER CHAMP JERRY YANG part 1

 Good day all,
From time to time I meet people who in addition to being successful are doing things that inspire me. Jerry Yang is such a person. You have to hear his story of hardship and life threatening struggles to understand what I mean. In-spite of all the fame he has never forgotten his roots, and is constantly helping his community and charities around the country. He is truly an inspiration:

AJ: Let’s get started. Today I have the pleasure of interviewing Mr. Jerry Yang. He is the 2007 World Series of Poker Champion, and I wanted to go into how he has transformed that success into being a great business man, and also helping the community, doing Charity work, everything that you would expect from a great business man and a great person in general.

Thank you for giving me your time today Mr. Yang, let’s start with a little bit of background for people who are not familiar with the poker scene and may have some preconceived ideas of what makes a poker champ. They may think you come from a background of being born with a silver spoon in your mouth and all you do all day is just practice poker. That’s not really your background is it?

Jerry Yang (JY): No not all, in fact I grew up in a very poor family in Laos. As a little boy I was always, always hungry. With very little food I remember I didn’t have any shoes, I didn’t have any balls to play with. Basically no toys. As a little boy I was very poor. Even though my father was an accomplished hunter, there are years where Mother Nature can really do things to you and your family that there is nothing really that you can do. For example there was one year where a whole bunch of grasshoppers devoured our farm and our rice field. We were very hungry that year. I remember walking door to door with my grandmother to basically beg people for rice. In my country, and I think in any country when everybody is hungry it’s hard for you to go to somebody’s store to beg for food. I remember people were shutting doors in my face, and things like that. So even worse the communist invaded my country. My family attempted to scape to our neighboring country Thailand, and we got caught by the communist soldier. At one point I remember a communist soldier pointed his AK-47 right at my forehead. For a minute I thought I was going to be shot. Due to the grace of God we were let go and few weeks later we made it to Thailand. Living in the refugee camp in Thailand for almost 5 years, I witnessed my brother and my sister die. Just, just, in a nutshell no I didn’t come from a family with allot of wealth you know. My father had to work very hard just like any other low income family just to put food on the table. I was just fortunate to win. I won a satellite (competition) at an Indian casino in Southern California in 2007, and I had the option of taking the $10,000 home or take a seat in the World Series. It was a tough decision when you have 6 kids like me. It was a tough decision. Thank God I took the seat and I came to Vegas, and played in 2007 and won the whole thing. To answer your question, yes I came from a very poor background.

AJ: Let’s dig a little bit into your time at the refugee camp. I can’t even imagine what you went through. What was it that kept you going day in and day out?  What gave you the strength to keep going?

JY: You know I have to use the word Hope. (Emotional)  because you know in life if you don’t have hope you are not going to get anywhere. I gave my thanks to God and also you know to the American people, especially the government of this great country for giving  me and my family the opportunity to come to America and to really taste that freedom. That’s what I wanted.

AJ: I can hear the emotions coming through your voice. I am glad you mentioned that because most people who come and immigrate to this country have a greater appreciation for what we have than allot of the people that were born here. I can really hear the emotion coming through your voice, and if you need to take a few minutes please by all means just let me know.

JY: Thank you.

AJ: So as far as getting into the poker scene you mentioned you won a satellite championship at an Indian casino. How long did it take you as far as playing poker to reach that level to be offered a seat at the championship? Was it the first time you played poker, or was it something you were doing for a while.

JY: I discovered poker in 2005. One evening I was sitting on the sofa with my wife and I saw the year that Joe Hanson (?) won. Being a psychologist I watched the body gestures very closely and I watched how they you know play each other, not necessarily the cards, but the way they played each other mentally. That really fascinated me, and I remember pointing to the T.V. and telling my wife honey you know I can do that and if I win, I will use the money for good. So to make a long story short I discovered poker in 2005, and playing $25 buy in on the weekends you know the tournaments, and to my surprise I started winning and again I used some of the psychological skills that I have at the table. So in 2007 I won the satellite (tournament) with 225 participants. I beat 187 players that day so they gave me a seat at the World Series. So I took the seat instead of the $10,000 and came to Vegas and won the whole thing. So I have been playing since 2005.

AJ: Did you ever consider giving up?

JY: Oh no, not at all. You mean Poker?

AJ: Yes

JY: No not at all. Because Poker really fascinates me. I really love playing poker, and although when you have 6 kids you can’t really gamble your food money or your mortgage money or your car payment money. I made a promise to my wife I would only take 5% of my paycheck every month and play with that. I kept my promise to her and I communicated with her throughout my whole career as a poker player (laughs). Not really a career, but whatever I did back then I would open up to her and I would let her know what was going on. I think that is one point I want to make, I think it is very very important for people who are married to be honest with their spouse and to really disclose what ever winning or whatever loss that you have. That in itself will also improve your game because the less pressure, the less problems, the less hardship you have at home, the greater of a player you will become at the poker table. Because you don’t want all these stresses to go with you to the poker table and one way to eliminate those stresses is by being honest with your family and just be open with them. I think that is important.

AJ: Excellent, and having the discipline to stick with the rule of 5%. That is what usually gets people into trouble as far as gambling isn’t it?

JY: Oh absolutely. That is I mean, I know players now days, players, I am not going to name any names, but they win $250,000 in one week and then they lost $300,000 the next week. You know it’s just, I don’t think I can do that. You know it really takes discipline to really play the game that you love. You know sometimes, if you don’t practice discipline and patience you can lose all of it in one day. So I refuse to be like that.
THIS IS THE END OF 1ST PART OF THE INTERVIEW. JOIN US NEXT WEEK FOR THE 2ND PART. 
Be sure to visit Jerry's website at: www.pokerchampjerryyang.com