Do you want to improve something in your life?  Whether it’s getting in shape, eating right or improving your finances, but you just can’t seem to do it.  You can’t find the time with having a job, school or family.  By the time you get home from work you are too tired.  You created a plan, got started, but after a few days, you went right back to your old habits.

Well I’m here to tell you, you are not alone.  You are the typical person.  So what’s the solution?  The solution to success is that you must first have the 3 rules of success!
 
The first rule to success is “DESIRE”. If you want to be a lawyer, an athlete, an entrepreneur, an actor/actress, a good mate, a good employee, a good parent, lose weight, improve your finances, or whatever, you first have to want it.  

If you don’t want to be a doctor, you will not become a doctor.  If you tell yourself, it would be nice to be a doctor, but you don’t pursue it, then you never wanted to be a doctor.  But if you have the “strong” desire to be a doctor, guess what, you will become a doctor.  You will do whatever it takes to become a doctor.

The initial reason why so many people fail at accomplishing their goals is because they don’t have a strong desire.  If the desire isn’t there, they will never become successful.  

The second rule of success is “DISCIPLINE”.  To be successful at anything takes discipline.  You have to do “it” day-in and day-out usually with a lot of effort and work.  You can’t do it for a few days and then stop.  Back to our doctor example. If you want to be a doctor, you can’t take a few courses and stop.  You can’t study for one exam and stop.  You can’t go to a few classes and stop. You have to hit the books, day-in and day-out for years to be a successful doctor.  

Discipline is needed to accomplish any goal you set.  Most goals require a long-term or permanent lifestyle change. As an example, you can’t diet and exercise for a few weeks or months then stop and go back to your old ways.  This is why diets don’t work.  Diets are temporary.  Many people, diet, lose weight, and then return to their old habits. Most of the times they gain back the weight they lost and more!

The third rule of success is “DETERMINATION”.  You have to be determined to never give up.  No matter what it takes, you will be successful.  Even when things look bleak, you never give up.  You realize that life is a series of events that have hills and valleys.  When you are going up the hill, appreciate it and enjoy it.  However, when you are going down the hill, you have the determination to ride until you hit bottom because you know that the upside will be coming.

The umbrella to DESIRE, DISCIPLINE and DETERMINATION is ATTITUDE.  You have to believe in yourself.  Research studies have shown that one trait that successful people have, after analyzing hundreds of people (success being whatever they wanted to be successful in) is that they all had a positive attitude, which meant they all had the DESIRE, DISCIPLINE and DETERMINATION to be successful.

So ask yourself, do I have the desire, discipline and determination to accomplish my goal?  If the answer is no, then your shouldn’t pursue the goal, until you truly acquire the 3 rules of success.  If the answer is yes, then go full steam ahead.

Forbes.com has a running list of layoffs since November 1, 2008, of the 500 largest public companies in the United States, which is measured by a composite ranking of sales, profits, assets and market value.

The layoff numbers includes layoffs at subsidiaries, joint ventures, and majority owned companies, which totals over 536,188 people.

Interestingly, the top 10 companies account for almost 50% of the total layoffs.  Below are the top 10 companies.

To see the complete list visit forbes.com.

Sometimes I feel brainwashed by society.  From birth I have been conditioned to go to kindergarten, elementary school, high school, college, graduate, get a job, get married, buy a house, have kid(s), invest in my 401k, plan for retirement, save for an emergency, go on vacation once per year, buy life insurance, buy medical insurance, follow the laws, pay taxes, exercise, eat right, clean my teeth every six months, get periodic medical checkups, practice safe sex, retire at 65, move to Florida, enjoy retirement, then die a comfortable death.  Many times I feel I’m playing this “playbook” right down the middle with no deviation!

The media teaches us how we should live our lives.  The media loves to highlight people who struggle by not following the rules.  Growing up, whenever, I saw these people; I paid attention and told myself I must follow the rules to stay out of trouble.  The problem with following the “rules” set by society is that I’ve grown to feel I have completely assimilated into society.  I’ve become a cog in the wheel.  I’ve become a Borg!

Remember the Borg on the TV shows, “The Next Generation” and “Star Trek: Voyager”? These shows were spin-offs of the Star Trek franchise.  The Borg is a fictional pseudo-race of cybernetic organisms that would go across the universe and get people to assimilate into their society.  Their tag line was “Resistance is Futile”, so you had better assimilate.  I have become a Borg because I have never resisted and I have completely assimilated into American society.  

Sometimes I feel like I want to make a detour, go a different route and no longer assimilate.  Sell everything, cash out, downgrade my lifestyle, live on the beach with my family, teach people how to scuba dive and that’s it.   But now I have a wife, a child and bills.  I have been conditioned by society that I must pay my mortgage on time, save for my child’s education, buy medical insurance, etc.  I better play it safe and not deviate because I could lose all these things that I must have to survive in this society.

At times I remind myself I shouldn’t complain.  I should be very happy and grateful for what I have. Society has created a very good lifestyle for me.  By following the rules, I live a fairly comfortable life.  I have access to good roads, highways, bridges, electricity, indoor plumbing, temperature controlled home, a good job, all the food I can eat, education, the best medical care the world (although expensive), police, fire station, 911, ambulance, cable TV, Internet, cell phones, gyms, vacations, clothes, relative safety, savings, money in a 401K, etc.  In all my life I’ve never gone to bed hungry or without shelter. I remind myself that many people in other countries don’t have access to these luxuries.  As an American I can easily travel to almost anywhere on the planet.  Many citizens of other countries can’t do that.

Nevertheless, sometimes I feel brainwashed by society.  Stepping out of the box to take a risk and live the true life I desire is risky because society has brainwashed me in believing I need to play by the rules to keep and maintain what I have. Oh well, I guess I’m a Borg!

Today General Motors and Segway unveiled an electric two-seat prototype vehicle with just two wheels, intended to navigate urban traffic.  The companies claim the vehicle could be used on college campuses and in gated communities as well as on city streets.

The GM-Segway prototype is called the PUMA, for “Personal Urban Mobility and Accessibility.” It can automatically balance itself fore and aft and can travel at up to 35 mph for up to 35 miles between recharges.

The question is; will the PUMA sell when introduced to the market?  The Segway has been on the market for years and hasn’t lived up to expectations.  Additionally, should GM be investing in a product that may not sell, especially in the United States?  The infrastructure isn’t here for these small death traps to drive in urban traffic.  The PUMA may do well in other countries that already use small vehicles (bicycles, motor-cycles, etc) in urban areas, such as in China and India.

Only time shall tell, it’s a prototype.  But I would not feel comfortable driving the PUMA in Manhattan, NYC going 35 miles per hour.  When I see such small vehicles on the road, I consider them coffins.  This is why I’ll never ride a motorcycle! 

What do you think?  Leave your comments below!

See more photo gallery of the PUMA at Newsday.com.

Video: The PUMA in Action

Several years ago I was in the market for a used car.  I had a company car but quit my job for a new one, so I needed a car.  The beauty of the company car was that I did not have a car note, so I was determined to keep this expense low with purchasing a car.

One day while driving by a used car lot, I spotted a fully loaded Nissan Sentra (sun roof, A/C, cruise control, power seats) with low millage and still under warranty.   The sticker price on the car was $16,900.   After a test drive, I offered $12,000 for the car and told the sales man I wouldn’t go one penny over.  I picked $12,000 out of the sky without doing any research, but it sounded like a great price for the car.  The sales man laughed at me and told me there was no way he could go that low.  I reiterated that I wasn’t going 1 penny over $12,000. 

As usual, the salesman went into the back room to speak to his manager.  A few minutes later he came back and said, “Wow, my manager was able to drop the price to $15,900”.  I said thank you for your time.  He said, “Hold on, let’s talk about it”.  I said “$12,000 is all I’m willing to spend.”  He then went back to speak to his manager and came back out after a few minutes.  He then said, “Ok, this is the best I can do and I can’t do any better than this.  We’ll give it to you for $13,900”.  Again, I was ready to walk out.  He then went back and spoke to his boss again.  He came back out and said, “Ok we’ll give it you for $12,000, but keep in mind we are making no money on the car”.  He then showed me on his computer that the dealership purchased the car for about $12,100.  I was amazed!  I then wondered what the Blue Book value of the car was.  So I told the sales man I had to run home and check something before I purchased the car.  I ran home and checked the Blue Book value and the car was valued at about $15,500.

I thought to myself, “Wow I’m getting a great deal!”  I immediately went back to the dealership and purchased the car.  About a month later, while driving by the same used car dealership I saw that the lot was empty and they had closed.  Then it hit me – they were going out of business and wanted to get rid of the cars.  My timing was great.

I was extremely happy that I stuck to my price and ended up getting a car that ran well for years.  I sold that same car about 5 years later by placing an ad on Yahoo for a sale price of $2,500.  The very next day a gentleman purchased the car in cash for $2,500 without inspecting it or negotiating.  He told me he was shipping the car to South America to sell it as a taxicab.  I then thought to myself, “Damn, I should have asked for more money, maybe $2,500 was too low!”

Related Articles:

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Many Americans are drowning in debt, which is becoming more apparent everyday with all the foreclosures. 

Many American families live from paycheck-to-paycheck and if there is a hiccup financially, such as losing jobs, things easily come falling down.

For many Americans to live their desired lifestyle, they must have access to credit cards and loans.  In many American households, the house, the cars, the furniture, the big screen TV are all purchased on credit.  We have become a society that even for families with dual incomes; the family must live on credit to attain their desired lifestyle.

Consider the following sobering statistics:

• The Federal Reserve Board reported that the size of total U.S. consumer debt grew from $824 billion in 1990 to nearly $2.2 trillion in 2005, almost five times in size.
•  Experian reported that in 2008 the average American had $16,635 in debt, not considering mortgages.
• ComScore reported that in 2008 55% of Americans maintained a running balance on their credit card accounts.
• Visa and MasterCard reported that in 2006 there were 984 million bank-issued Visa and MasterCard credit and debit card accounts in the U.S.
• Mail Monitor, a credit card direct mail tracking service, reported that almost 4.2 billion credit card offers were made to U.S. households in 2008.
• CardTrak.com reported (via an online poll) that the average rate for bank credit cards interest 19% in March 2007, up from 16.5% in 2003.

A few days ago I posted an article about why I never thought about creating Word Combination Locks.  Today I’m wondering why I never thought about dry-erase paint created by IdeaPaint.

IdeaPaint sells a paint that with a single-coat roller-applied makes any smooth surface into a dry-erase writing surface. What a neat idea! 

The paint is much cheaper than purchasing a dry erase board.  The paint cost $3.99 per sq. ft. and can be purchased at IdeaPaint’s website.  The paint can be used in conference rooms, creative spaces, classrooms, home offices, kid’s rooms, and playrooms.

IdeaPaint is environmentally friendly, which makes significant improvements in raw material utilization, energy consumption, and air quality.  See video below of IdeaPaint at Neocon.

For more information visit IdeaPaint.com.

Related Article:  Why Didn’t I think of This? – Word Combination Locks

Video: Neocon Idea Paint