Prosperity – University of Retirement part two

In part one, I discussed a four-year college program that would cost no more than $1,000 per year.  You could actually do all four years for a total of $1,000 or less.  Additionally, the required study time would be no more than one hour per day.  Four years of a college education that you can do from your home for a total of $4,000 and approximately five hours/week can prepare you far better for your retirement than any other program currently on the market today.  I am including a Harvard MBA and PhD from Stanford or MIT (includes similar degrees and colleges).  MBA and PhD degrees will help you during your working life, but what you do with your ‘extra’ wealth will make a difference in your retirement years.  Is there hope for you if you don’t have an MBA or PhD?  The University of Retirement is the person with multiple advanced degrees or the person who never went to college. 

The University of Retirement is a four-year program that changes your mindset.  Your mindset is the key to your success.  Colleges and universities do not teach their students how to change or improve their mindset.  Your mindset has been defined before you became a teenager and is constantly reinforced everyday by every one you know and every thing you do.  Unless you are willing to make a change to your mindset, you will continue doing what you have always done and you will not be happy with your retirement years.

Let’s get back to the University of Retirement program.  This blog (part two) will discuss the first year.  The University of Retirement is a self-taught, self-paced program that you will do from the comfort and safety of your home.  There may be occasions that you might opt to go to a library; however, this program can be done primarily at home.  The first year is dedicated to understanding how you tick – what is important in your brain processing – and what you can do to change and improve that process. 

You will start with your self-image and gradually improve your self-image and self-esteem.  If you don’t change your self-image, you will never successfully achieve what you are capable of achieving – true success will be denied to you.  Your first year is focusing on your self-improvement – your personal development.  You will learn happiness, motivation, inspiration, success planning, goal setting and achievement, dreaming, etc. 

I mentioned earlier that the cost of your first year is no more than $1,000.  How did I arrive at that figure?  Easy – a self-help book can be bought (new or used) for $20 or less.  The University of Retirement requirement is that you buy or read twelve books – that’s one book a month.  $20 times 12 months equals $240.  Each year there is a requirement to buy or read 12 books.  4 years at $240 a year equals just less than $1,000.  However comma, you can spend more and read more – the choice is up to you.  Realistically, you could read or buy one book per week, which would put you at the $1,000 per year cost (assuming 50 weeks times $20 – yes, I am allowing a couple of weeks for vacation).

What do you read?  There are so many expert authors that it would difficult to list them all in this blog – and I’m sure I would leave quite a few out.  Let me list a dozen or so though (not in any particular order – just as they come to mind) – Tony Robbins, Brian Tracy, Robert Kiyosaki, Ben Franklin, James Allen, Dale Carnegie, Samuel Smiles, Napoleon Hill, Maxwell Maltz, Zig Ziglar, Steven Covey, Les Brown, Jim Rohn, John Maxwell, Denis Waitley, Og Mandino, etc.  Their books are available at a number of websites and can be checked out of your library. 

Let’s say for a moment that you are temporarily financially challenged and $20 a month is below the line on your budget for approved expenditures.  Go to YouTube, type their names in, and see what you can watch from these and other motivational and inspirational leaders.  Put ‘speaker’ with motivational, inspirational, self-improvement, self-help, success, etc.  You will get more than you can watch in an hour a day.  Everyone learns best by reading, watching or hearing.  If you know what your preferred style is – choose it as the basis of your learning.  One hour a day is required to develop an understanding of the material.

Another sources of free material from the above listed authors and more can be found on the Internet in the form of articles.  There are a number of article websites that categorize by ‘topic’ and have some very informative articles.  If you are interested in self-esteem or success, then type those key words into their ‘search’ block and choose.  YouTube is free.  Article websites are free.  You can also subscribe to newsletter from the authors or their companies.  The newsletters are free and it requires you to register to receive them.

Your first year at the University of Retirement is dedicated to building a solid base of educational knowledge about you – how you work, what makes you tick and what you can do to become better.  It concentrates on positive changes in your life.  One book a month (or week) and one hour a day (five days/wk) is all that is required to get started.

Choices have consequences.  Your Prosperity Professor, Red O’Laughlin

Prosperity – Does Technology Improvements Help or Hinder Achieving Your Personal Development?

I was thinking the other day about how things have changed because of technological improvements.  I was a fortunate kid because we had a television in our home in the early 50’s (yes that dates me a bit).  In order to enjoy color on our black and white set, my Dad placed a plastic screen over the television screen and the top was blue the bottom was green and the middle was yellow.  It enhanced a lot of shows back then, especially the westerns.  Dick Tracy was my favorite character in the Sunday comic section.  I remember him having a watch with a radio or telephone and television screen on it.  One of those things I thought I would never see – something only in the comic book environment.  Of course since then, man has been to the moon and we have, or will have, watches with the capability of 4G streaming video.  As thrilling as the landing on the moon was to me – I was in boot camp and the Drill Instructor got all of us up to watch the actual landing – the technology didn’t impress me – it was expected.  What did impress me was the America’s Cup Races in Perth, Australia in 1987.  I could watch live coverage around the world from the boats.

Computer processing has grown and continues to expand annually.  Access to the Internet around the world is relatively easy to find.  So, what does this have to do with your personal development?  In the old days, you had the option of reading a book, going to a conference or finding a mentor.  None of them guaranteed you prosperity, but they did provide a level of personal development.  As always, you actually have to take action to improve.  Today, the cost and access to the tools for personal development are astounding.  Most information is free – by using the Internet or through electronic newsletters or even on business radio stations.  I-pods allow you to record audio training so that you can take it with you anywhere in the world.  Mp4 capability allows you to see video training classes also.  Everything is literally at your fingertips.

The fact that so much stuff is available so easily makes it more difficult for some people.  They are overwhelmed with data.  I get that way every so often.  I read or listen to web designers, internet sales, product development, social networking, etc.  I find that at times I do nothing but read or listen and take notes and nothing happens because I have my next teleconference scheduled at 1500 today – and another one at 1900 tonight.  I don’t have time to do what I’m learning.  I have to actually shut down my learning process to absorb what I have and begin actually doing the lessons I learned.  I’m sure that is true for others.  We get overloaded with data and can’t figure out where to start.  I had a professor was an international finance course I took years ago.  He warned all of us that he did not want a ‘core dump’ when we answered his test questions – this was way before Bill O’Reilly’s request for ‘pithy’ comments.  My first opportunity to ‘show off’ the knowledge I learned in his class earned me a warning about approaching a core dump.  I didn’t appreciate his comment till years later when I was evaluating essay answers to test questions.

Technology provides you with easier access to the information.  You have to decide what you want; and, more importantly, how and when you are going to use it.  Think about what you to improve in your life – your own personal development plan.  There are lots of topics – self-esteem, goal setting, affirmations, visualizations, expectations, reprogramming your subconscious, time management, positive thinking, relationships, balance in life, etc.  Decide what you want to work on first and then begin looking at the free stuff available to you.  Internet searches are a good place to start.  Article sites provide a lot of information.  I recommend that people go to YouTube and do a search there.  A lot of people prefer to see and hear to learn.  I find that way acceptable, but I still like to read.

Technology helps because so many things are now available at our beck and call.  Technology hinders us because it overpowers us to a point that we defer to taking little or no action.  You have to take action to prove the knowledge you learned is of value to you.  It’s those mistakes and failures that actually make you a better person if you learn by them.  Technology can accelerate your race to prosperity, a better you and give you a better lifestyle if you plan in advance and take action on a regular basis.

Choices have consequences.  Your Prosperity Professor, Red O’Laughlin