This book goes into the mindset required for success, and some of the common views that people have that may be holding them back from achieving their goals and dreams. Eker then goes on to try and assist the reader in changing their thoughts to a new way of thinking that is more congruent with their desired success.

While this book contains a lot of insights for the new individual in relation to personal and financial success, I found that some of the content was very reminiscent of other books I have read (Ie: Rich Dad Poor Dad, Think and Grow Rich). One thing I did like was that Eker mentions there are four aspects to building wealth, namely:

1. Income (active and passive).
2. Savings.
3. Investment.
4. Simplification.

This imporessed me mainly due to the fact that a lot of authors preach wealth and success, but fail to mention that you achieve your desired results much faster by living a more simplified and humble life. This might mean not having a big house and a nice car (in the early years), but being financially independant much earlier. The benefits of being rich can come later if required.

Overall I would have to say this book is a nice, easy read and serves it purpose of sharing some of the mindset views required for aspiring to become a millionaire.

While I was there, a customer came in who has recently started a business himself. My contact said to this guy that the trick is not how much you make, but how much you don't spend.

This type of thinking has been around for some time (Robert Kiyosaki puts it as it's not how much you make but how much you keep). Personally, I believe that if you want to build your financial success both in your personal life and your business life, you need to focus on two sides of the equation.

The first side is to review your expenses. You look at all fixed expenses and variable expenses and determine what can be reduced without affecting the business. Could you move to a smaller office? Could you reduce staff working days or idle product?

In your personal life you might ask yourself questions such as:

• Could I sell my car and buy a smaller, more fuel efficient one?
• Can I buy less 'stuff'?
• Could I drink water when I go out instead of alcohol?

There are many more, but it is important to find and cut out any excess spending as much as possible. This will begin to create a position for you where you can either live on a lower income, or are able to save more of your current income, creating an increase in a savings account and investing it for higher returns.

The second aspect is to focus on increasing your income.

Essentially what you are trying to do is create a wide gap between income and expenses. The bigger the gap, the wealthier you will become.

Here is a personal example. This year I am doing my best to reduce my expenses in my personal life, and have gained employment and a pay raise at the end of last year, increasing my income over the government study payments.

I still live on about 75% of my study income and save as much as I can of the rest (albeit some expenses are taken out of it such as rego, insurance, etc). So far I have been able to save $2,460 and am well on track to achieving my goal of $15,000 saved by the end of the year.

The next plan is to begin to increase my income by building some sort of part-time business, and then to get extra hours at work or a second job once my study allowance cuts off (the second job would pay more than study allowance, but takes more time).

What can you do to increase your spread between income and expenses?
Do you want to improve your results in business and your personal financial lives? Then you need to begin to create a spread. The difference will begin to build your savings account, from which you can then pay off debt, invest and start other businesses to continue to build your income (thus increasing the spread further and repeating the cycle).

What could you do to reduce your expenses?

Is it possible for you to increase your income?

What would you have to do for both of these to occur?

How can networking be of a benefit to you? Here are some of my thoughts:

• Increase your reaches: You promote yourself better.
• Increase your employment: Job opportunities are mostly found through networks, and by networking you increase your chances of finding employment as required.
• Better support and assistance: Should you require help in some aspect of your life, a network can support you and provide help.
• Better promotion and branding: If you are in a business of your own, networking is a vital key to building your brand and reputation.

• Join a networking group (or a group and then network).
• Start a group.
• Give presentations and seminars at universities or businesses.
• Volunteer time and help in a charity, etc.
• Develop a business card, and hand it out to people you meet.
• Set up on social networking sites online.
• Start a blog.
• Continue to learn about networking, and act on what you learn.

Many people have heard the saying 'the things you own, end up owning you'. This is very true to an extent. Would you like to travel the world and be able to do whatever you want? It is a little more difficult when you have a house and a truck load of stuff that needs to be taken with you. On the other hand if you don't own much currently, have you ever thought about the possibility of being able to travel the world?

Quite regularly, the stuff we have tends to be more of a hindrance than a help. There are things that we need and things that we want. For example: to be able to undertake my work effectively, I need a computer. On the other hand, I might want a brand new and expensive Macbook, but the reality is I can settle for using a small, $500 computer. That is the difference between a want and a need (If you would like to see more about needs, Google Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs).

Another thing I find interesting is that this rich young ruler was only told to sell his possessions. Jesus did not tell this guy to give up his income, his family, his food, the clothing he needed, etc. but rather his possessions (interesting that the man left sad as he could not give up what he owned, so maybe his stuff owned him).

Contrary to what most people who usually have a lot of possessions (if we live in a country such as America, Australia or Europe, we have a lot of stuff), I don't think Jesus was encouraging this man to have a poorer life, but rather to be free to travel and live the life that this man eagerly desired.

Had he sold his stuff, he would have made a great contribution to the poor and needy of the area, building a legacy for himself. He would have then been free from belongings to travel, which would have allowed him to see and find new things, learn more, be opened to new (and possibly richer) possibilities, and he would have been able to help others in return for a fee by imparting the knowledge he had learned that had allowed him to become rich. He probably also would have had a lot more content in his.

I am not suggesting selling everything you own, but there is a huge number of benefits for living a life with less possessions. Some of them are:

• Less stress: With less stuff, you don't have to worry about loss or damage.
• Less misplacing: It is harder to lose something of value in amongst a few items than it is among several.
• Clearer space and thought: With less stuff in your house your rooms will appear to have more space, and with reduced clutter your mind will be clearer.
• Less overheads: Having less stuff saves you money in two ways; you don't have to pay ongoing costs for storage, electricity, etc. for those items and can reduce expenses by moving locations, and you save money by not purchasing additional unnecessary items. Additionally, you can make money by selling off items you no longer need, want or use either in a garage sale, on eBay or to friends.
• Ability to travel: You can travel more frequently and with less luggage if you have less. Makes traveling overseas all the more desirable.
• Less options: Rather than being undecided about what to wear or what things to take with you places, owning less frees you from options and makes decision making easier.
• Increased output: With a clearer mind and additional resources available, you can apply the extra time and money to get better results and output in your life.
• Increased happiness: I put this as the last point as happiness is a state of mind. Many people think that by having more 'stuff' they will be happier. No one person in the world has ever been able to have all the 'stuff' they want. Happiness comes from choosing to have less stuff and being content with what you have available to you while you live on this earth.

Whenever I speak to people about how their life is going, it seems as though that everyone wants to change one or more of the following aspects of their lives:

• Quit smoking
• Get a new job
• Quit drinking
• Save more money
• Pay off debt
• Get fit
• Lose weight
• Get outdoors more
• Buy a new car
• Increase their education.

These are all fantastic things to aspire to, but we need to be more specific about how they relate to us. For example: Not all of us are going to be able to hit the gym and come out looking like a Brad Pitt lookalike after a one hour session. The effort is usually harder than we anticipate, the results are less than we expect, and our motivation tends to hold us back. On the other side however, we can set a goal to lose 5 kilos and work towards that, then we begin to see achievement.

I remember when I was in year seven I wanted to be richer than Bill Gates. While my goals were ambitious, they were unrealistic at the time as I was not in a position to be able to turn these into a reality. How did I go about changing my goals? I now look at where I am today, where I would like to be in five years, and where I can realistically be tomorrow. If having a million in five years is the goal, but the best I can do is to save $100 today, then that is a great start as it is changing my comfort levels and taking action, regardless of how small a level of action it is.

Here is what I am doing with some of my goals at the moment:

1. Gym: Aiming to do weights at home 2-3 times a week (using the gym equipment I have), and then to do a small walk around the block the other days. From here I will build on my results.
2. Savings: Focusing on saving as much of my wage as possible each pay with a view to having $15,000 saved by the end of the year.
3. Education: Increasing my education by reading in some of my spare time, and by undertaking a second year of my degree full time, regardless of whether I am interested in the courses or not.
4. Work: Continuing to learn while looking for additional hours and extra employment to possibly increase my income while being a full time student.
   
5. Business: Looking as starting a small business part-time online with a view to making a passive income of $100 a month (from there I plan to build on my results to get $1,000 a month).
6. Spiritual: Increase my time for reflection, prayer and devotion.
7. Blogging: To post regularly 2-3 posts a week minimum.
   

The way to achieve goals is to develop a habit based on these goals. As it takes approximately 28 days to form a habit, the key is to focus on one goal at a time until it becomes a habit. If it has been a habit you have achieved before, it takes less time to re-acquaint yourself and get back into the routine.

What do you have that you would like to make a habit? What steps are you taking to ensure you persist and maintain the motivation required to reach your objective?

But how can we motivate ourselves on days like these? What can we do to ensure we get something done, even if it is not as much as we would like? I offer the following suggestions:

• Focus on your goals: Ensure that you continue to work towards them, even if today seems slow, things will pick up.
• Continue to complete tasks: Even if you are only responding to email and addressing new tasks, by completing some work you will still be progressing or remaining at a neutral work level, rather than slipping behind.
• Have a break: If you work for yourself, take some time off. It is sometimes better to spend some time clearing your head and coming back twice as hard.
• Rest: Go to bed early, watch some T.V. (Time Vanisher), whatever helps you unwind and clear you head and will help re-energize you to get motivated.
• Do It Now! Why wait until you tomorrow? Maybe the best way for you to get through your lack of motivation is to take action and watch the motivation follow through.

Exponential growth occurs overtime. One can see a great example in the power of compounding interest and the return on accumulated interest in a bank account over one hundred years. The problem however is, in the short term (1-2 years) the return on investment might not seem to be worthwhile.

If you are a blogger or a business owner out there and are not seeing the returns you would like to see, perhaps you need to consider the results of exponential growth. One blog post might not make you much return for your time invested, but one blog post every day for a year, combined with 2 posts/comments on other people's blogs may start to net a return in higher subscribers and site visits. If you want to reap the benefits of exponential growth, then you need to adhere to the following tips:

1. Be patient: don't expect returns to be dramatic (if at all) overnight.
2. Work with what you have available: Tim Ferriss recently completed a blog post here where he said in the video that he now has around 200 posts on his blog. His blog numbers have increased since the financial crisis hit, as has his number of offers for speaking and consulting. Why? Because he covers a lot of relevant information for businesses that want to increase their output while minimising/controlling input, and because he has been diligently posting and assisting people to date. People can now visit his blog knowing they will receive valuable information on a regular basis whether they subscribe, read or RSS, and his profits will be increasing as a result.
   
3. Be diligent: Most people have an energy spike where they produce dramatic results and burn out due to overload, only to end up disappointed. Don't do so much that you stop due to fatigue, rather continue in your chosen endeavours diligently taking one small step at a time. In a few short years, you will be able to look back and see the several milestones you have passed and that your effort was not in vein.
   

But how exactly do we go about getting more done? It is not as easy as it seems when you have an office desk overflowing with paper and tasks that need to be completed, and you have to continually fight off the incoming work in order to be able to tackle the bigger projects.

If you want to manage your time more effectively, I offer the following suggestions that I am implementing, and seem to allow me the ability to dramatically reduce my workload in all that I do:

Clear out your desk and organise your files and folders
This sometimes requires quite a bit of pain. In essence over the last few weeks I have gone through my desk, my house and my stuff and have started to eliminate anything that is not necessary or urgent. My desk now only has supplies in the drawers, and nothing on top of it (I put my laptop and compendium away at the end of each day to maintain a clear fresh workspace).

My computer screen only has the recycling bin on it, which I rarely use as I tend to delete or archive things straight away. The My Documents folder only has six folders in it, and the archive folder inside my personal folders is currently being reviewed (I have already done my work archive, and am looking at simplifying it further as time goes on).

Put all incoming tasks on a to do list and prioritise, eliminate and delegate
This is important for ensuring that the work you are doing is relevant and playing to your strengths. You can't do it all on your own and you simply do not have the time to do so. Eliminate the excess and then work the tasks in your to do list, focusing on the urgent tasks first and then on the important but not urgent tasks. Forget the unimportant tasks, as they seem to either sort themselves out or become important later on.

Organise your day
I am personally struggling to do this but I find there is two options that work; writing things down before starting in the morning or writing them down the night before. In my experience the night before seems to work best for some strange reason. When you write the tasks down, your day has more priority and is used more effectively, rather than being wasted with every request that comes across your desk or into your email.

Throw out the garbage
At the end of the day or the beginning of a new day, I always throw away unnecessary paperwork and delete any files/folders that are not needed on my computer. This improve efficiency and effectively prevents things from needing to be filed.

Archive
Gmail has the right idea. Rather than trying to organise emails and folders just archive them and undertake a search when you need to find something. You can do this on a computer and it seems to work well. If something is important and needs to be done later, star it in your inbox or put it in a folder on your computer.

One task at a time
I know this is hard for a lot of people to do, especially when multi-tasking is seen as a great skill, but it actually hinders your success in the long term. The best way to get more things done is to do one thing at a time, until completion or as far as you can get it before needing extra information. Then finish on that task and start another, remembering not to try and do more at once as then your focus is spread across too many tasks to be able to effectively complete any of them.

There are a number of tips a person can implement, but if you start by undertaking these small ideas they can make a profound improvement on how much you get done in a day.

Using anecdotal stories of the ancient Babylonians and the financial trouble some faced, this book provides a great deal of insight and wisdom into the building of wealth long term.

Written in the first half of the 1900's, George S Clason covers many topics which most of today's generation still do not implement, including:

1. Saving ten percent of your income.
2. Investing and reinvesting your returns.
3. Increasing you ability to earn.
4. Working for an income.
5. Learning to seek knowledge from those experienced in the right area.
6. Reducing your debt.

If you would like to improve your personal financial situation, then buy this book now! At such a low price and due to extreme simplicity, the content is quite regularly overlooked, but the information when applied in your life can be potentially worth thousands of dollars.

On a personal level, since implementing the content from this book I have managed to achieve a pay rise, have built my savings from nothing to $1,700 and rapidly climbing, and have begun to increase my revenue streams for my future. This book is in my top five recommendations!