When Comfortable Becomes Too Comfortable

Why is it that most people never end up living the life of their dreams?

Why is it that when life is so short and the time you have on this Earth is so limited, that most people don't do the things that are needed to go after their dreams?

I think it's because most of us are all comfortable just where we are. We've got a job that pays the bills, we've got a roof over their head and hopefully we've got a little money leftover during the week for entertainment.

Once you're in the comfort zone, it can be difficult to get out...there really isn't anything pushing you forward - after all, you have all the basics you need so why would you need to expand your horizons?

This is when comfortable becomes too comfortable - when all your broken dreams and broken promises to yourself die a slow death.

Why is it that so many self-made millionaires (whether they are singers, actors, or business tycoons) had next to nothing, sometimes even living on the street or living in their car before becoming who they were destined to be?

Well, it's simply because they were in dire situations and they had strong desires to get themselves out of it. No matter how many talent agents turned them down, no matter how many music companies rejected their demos, no matter how many times investors turned down their business proposals, they never gave up and their hard work and determination ultimately led them to the success that they all deservedly received.

So what about us?

We're not living on the streets and we don't have to think about where our next meal is coming from. So what's stopping us from obtaining the success that we all desire?

Sometimes we need to step out of our comfort zones to get to where we want to go. If you are not where you want to be in life, it may be time to do something different and to think outside the box.

About three years ago, I was in this same position - when comfortable became too comfortable for me. I had a regular 9-to-5 job and it was providing me with good income, but I wasn't happy with what I was doing.

I decided that enough was enough and that I didn't want to have any last regrets on my deathbed, so one day I just decided I wanted to do something different. I wanted to do something that I was in control of...something that didn't require me to work under someone...where I could essentially be my own boss.

I felt as though I just had to do something....to step outside of my comfort zone.

I then made the switch from a computer programming job to trading and I haven't looked back ever since. I took the risk and I can tell you that it was probably the greatest decision I've made.

But believe me, those first few weeks of being outside my comfort zone were indeed scary and often times I questioned myself as to whether I made a good decision or not. In the end, everything turned out just the way I had wanted it and I'm glad I had the courage to venture out into unknown territory.

So just remember this - going after the things you desire will require you to step outside of your zone of comfort and if you're not doing this, you're just standing still!

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Website Review - Zen Habits

Leo Babauta of Zen Habits has recently just begun living his dream. Zen Habits recently celebrated it's 1st birthday and it has definitely come a long way.

So what exactly has happened over the course of one year at Zen Habits?

First, you'd have to mention the quality of the posts at Zen Habits - you can learn a lot from every single post....from productivity to health to finances to happiness - it can all be found there.

Secondly, it has recently won "Best Overall Blog of 2007" - a great accomplishment which Leo greatly deserves.

Third, he's got a hoard of loyal readers - of course, none of that could have been accomplished without posting some excellent articles.

Fourth, Zen Habits was so successful, that Leo actually quit his full time job and is now blogging full time! The quality of his work has readers coming back and it goes to show you that if you have a passion for something, you can go places.

Fifth, since his success with Zen Habit, he recently launched a second blog called Write To Done and that too has quickly found success. It's a blog that publishes articles about writing and I was quick to subscribe to it via RSS.

Sixth, Leo also wrote a fantastic e-Book that has been selling very well called "Zen To Done".

Seventh, Leo also recently "uncopyrighted" all his material on his site, meaning that others can use his articles and republish them if they wanted to - a gutsy move that I think has helped him achieve his dreams.

Lastly, Leo recently landed a book deal and will soon be a published author, which happens to be Leo's dream job.

Can you imagine what it would be like to have your dreams come true all within a year?

Well Leo has done it and his writing is his advice on doing exactly what he has been able to accomplish - to follow and achieve your dreams!

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My 30 Minute Workout

Every day, I try to do a 30-minute workout, but it's not the type you think. This one doesn't require the flexing of any muscle, but it does involve exercising an important part of your body - the brain.

What I try to do is I set aside 30 minutes every day to work on myself - to try to improve upon something or to try to learn something new.

This can involve either reading inspiring books, brainstorming, analyzing, learning something new, thinking of ways to improve work, or even just to improve upon my relationship with my significant other. As long as it involves improving myself both as a person and the way I do things, I'll dedicate at least 30 minutes of my time every day to it.

I don't have a schedule telling me that Monday I need to read or that on Wednesdays I need to brainstorm - instead I just go with the flow and I think of what I'd like to work on on a particular day and do it.

If, on a particular day I don't feel like doing any of those, then I'll just try to spend some quality time with my wife - after all, life is about balance.

Of course, on most days, I'll probably spend more than 30 minutes on myself (sometimes in excess of several hours), but I tell myself it will be 30 minutes because when I think about it, 30 minutes doesn't seem too difficult a task to start and I'm more likely to do it.

Had I made it a one hour "workout", I'd feel as if it was more work than anything else and I would feel as though I would have to somehow fit it in my schedule somewhere. I'd then have to keep an eye on the time to make sure I don't start it too late otherwise I won't finish, etc, etc, etc.

All I need is for me to actually start my "workout" and once it has started, it feels much more easier to continue doing it, which is probably why my "workouts" sometimes goes on for hours.

At the end of the day, I just feel better knowing that I took the time to improve myself in some way - whether it was the learning of something new or the gaining of new insights or the gaining of new perspectives, I know it would have been for the benefit of not only myself, but for the others around me.

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5 Actions I'm Taking To Get The Law Of Attraction In Motion

Since learning of the Law of Attraction, I just seem more motivated to do certain things and I also have become so much more aware of the world around me.

The Law of Attraction states that in order for you to get what you want, you have to take action. For most people, this is where their dreams become "stuck" because either they don't take any action or they expect all their wishes and dreams to simply fall into their lap.

I don't know about you, but since watching "The Secret", I have sprung into action. Here are some of the "actions" I've been taking to reach all my goals and dreams.

1) Being More Proactive By Reviewing & Adjusting My Trading Strategy

When it comes to my job, I always seemed to wait until I get into a slump before I take action. If I had a good day, I usually didn't dwell too much upon it and if I had a bad day, I'd just mope around thinking that it was just the markets and not me.

But now, I seem to be more aware of where I want to go with it and as a result, I've been very diligent in reviewing my trades and identifying what went wrong and what went right every single day. I'm also more aware of the fact that I cannot grow unless I take extra steps towards reaching my trading goals and as a result, I've been very proactive when it comes to my trading.

2) Being More Aware Of The People Around Me And The Opportunities That May Present Themselves

In the past, if I met a new person, I wouldn't think twice about it as I figure I probably wouldn't ever see them again and I never strained myself to remember their names or what they did.

After watching "The Secret", I've had a totally different take on meeting new people and I have even been paying closer attention to the people around me (family and friends). This Universe isn't just going to hand me everything I desire...in most cases, I'll have to be actively trying to find ways to obtain it and a good network of people improves my chances.

This has another effect - it actually made me more interested in the goings on of the people around me.

3) Being More Courteous To Everyone

This is probably one of those things that have made me a better person. I'm not really too sure why this just sort of happened - I just find myself wanting to help out more often.

There have been several instances (since watching "The Secret") in which I helped mothers with their baby carriage down the steps, helped elderly folks move around, and actively tried to help others who appeared lost. When I found myself these situations, I just saw waves of people oblivious to the fact that these people needed help and simply walked by them as if they were a nuisance by slowing everyone down....and in the past I would have done the same.

Even when I'm around my wife, I just feel like helping out more around the house - and I know she greatly appreciates it and will sometimes go out of her way to let me know of her appreciation.

Again - this is one of those strange things that I don't know why I'm doing more of - maybe it's just some form of inspired action for me.

4) Taking More Time For Myself

Upon learning of the Law Of Attraction, I just have the need to take more time to myself. What I mean by this is that I'm doing more brainstorming, more thinking, and more reading than before.

Now whether it's because I'm looking for ideas or trying to learn about something that can help me obtain my goals, I'm not sure....but I will admit that I'm rather enjoying it.

Doing this has also improved my productivity and has had me doing things more efficiently as well. It also helps me to focus more on how and where I want to go in life.

5) Starting, Maintaining, and Updating This Site

Honestly, I don't know what came over me and I really don't know the reason why I decided to start this site. In any case, I'm really glad I did start this site up because by constantly writing about my goals and dreams, it just makes me want to take more action to try to get them.

Since I work on this site on a near-daily basis, you can say that I'm constantly adding fuel to the fire within me and working on this site helps me accelerate some of the things I intended on doing (had I kept them to myself).

This site also forces me to verbalize and to let out to the world what my intentions are and what my goals are. I believe that by doing this, there is more of a "push" for me to achieve them.

So there you have it - 5 actions I'm taking to achieving my goals and dreams. That being said, can you state at least 5 actions you are taking to get to where you want to go in life?

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List Of Lists For Week Of Jan 20, 2008

If you're like most people, you like to read articles or posts with lists in them. These kinds of posts are often quick and to the point and allows to reader to simply get at the main points without having to read the entire article.

So what I've decided to do is to compile a list of articles that were posted during the week from around the blogosphere that contain lists. I'll make this a weekly event and I'll post it up on Saturdays for your enjoyment over the weekend.

I'll try to concentrate on posts that conform to the theme of this site.

With that, here's this weeks list of lists:

• 5 Steps To Change Any Habit at Ezine Articles

• 5 Ways To Double Your Energy Without Caffeine At LifeHack.org

• 5 Essential Lessons On Making Difficult Decisions In Life at Life Optimizer

• 5 Actions You Can Take To Gain The Respect Of Others at Clearly Envision

• 40 Inspirational & Motivational Songs That'll Keep You Refreshed at Goal Setting College

• 14 Blogger Jobs That You Can Apply For Today at ProBlogger

• 10 Secrets To Success at Pick The Brain

• Top 10 Beachside Destinations at A Luxury Travel Blog

• 4 Keys To Making Your Dreams Come True at A Miracle A Day

• 21 Money-Saving Sites From Around The Web at Get Rich Slowly

• 3 Reasons To Diversify Your Reading And How To Do It at Life Optimizer

• 3 Simple Tips When Planning Is Not Possible at Middle Zone Musings

• 7 Powerful Steps To Overcoming Resistance And Actually Getting Stuff Done at ZenHabits

• 5 Great Things About Blogging at Slow Down Fast

• 12 Ways To Get Just About Anything You Want at Dumb Little Man

• 10 Ways To Develop A Prosperity Consciousness at Cultivate Greatness

• 32 Free Personal Finance eBooks at Personal Finance Management Guide

• 20 Simple Tips To Defeat Negative Thoughts at Life Optimizer

• 10 Great Quotes That Inspire Courage at Life Balanced

• 4 Simple Steps To Turn Persistence Into Habits at Cultivate Greatness

• 14 Ways To Stay Awake At School Or Work at Dumb Little Man

• 5 Tips For Living A Fulfilled, Complete Life at Dumb Little Man

Finally, let us not forget the list I posted previously on this site:

• 3 Things I Avoid When Using The Law Of Attraction

• 3 Reasons I Procrastinate And What I Do About It

• 10 Things I Do To Make More Time

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Don't Have Time To Visualize?

Visualizing the things you want is one of the important elements when it comes to the Law of Attraction. Some resources suggest 5-, 10-, or even 30-minutes a day of concentrated visualization of what you want for effective manifestation.

However, I know it can be hard to find the time and the place when you can do this comfortably. It's probably not that you don't have the time, but more likely there isn't a suitable time to do it when you can be by yourself undisturbed.

It could be that you have kids that won't leave you alone, or perhaps a dog that'll always try to get your attention, or simply because your significant other is up and about and you just don't feel comfortable visualizing when others are around.

For me, I have the pleasure of visualizing first thing in the morning when my wife is still upstairs (either getting ready or still asleep). I basically have the whole room to myself and early in the morning, there's hardly any traffic outside to distract me.

There is the odd time when I don't have time to do it - either it's a news-heavy trading day or I simply wake up too late and I have to play catch up.

So what is one to do when you don't have time to visualize?

You become a visualization zombie!

What do I mean by this?

Well, whenever you are doing something that doesn't require your 100% attention, just start visualizing in your mind the things you want to manifest. You don't need to close your eyes, but instead treat it more like a daydream.

You could do this while riding the train into work, while you're riding the elevator, while you walk to your favorite coffee place, even while taking a shower!

How I usually approach this is as follows - if I plan on visualizing my dream home, I just imagine what it would be like if I invited a bunch of family and friends over for a house warming party.

If I plan on visualizing my dream car, I just imagine myself driving around town at night with some great music and just cruising around town.

If I plan on visualizing money, I just visualize myself having a great day at my work and being presented with a big check for my efforts.

I'll do all that while heading into work and believe me, the commute to work gives me plenty of time to visualize all of that. The great thing about doing this is that I get the day started on a very good note, which usually sets the tone for the day.

If you think about it, I'll probably do about one hour's worth (or more) of visualizing during the day! About 5 minutes worth while in the shower, 15 minutes worth while on the subway to work, another 10 minutes while I walk into the office, then another 25 minutes while walking back to the subway and riding it back home, and probably another 5 minutes while preparing dinner.

So next time you are straining to find the time to visualize, just remember - you have more time than you think!

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Is Money And Wealth All I'm Interested In?

If you take a look at some of the past posts of this blog, you will notice that the recurring theme of this site is money and wealth. Money and wealth is needed to obtain some of the things I've written about - whether it's cars, travel, or fine dining and I'll be the first to admit that it is one of my primary goals.

You may be asking - is money and wealth all I'm interested in?

To be honest, I'm already doing some of the things that I write about and I'm pretty much on my way to where I want to go in life.

My wife and I own a house, we travel often, we are preparing for our future, and most importantly, we have each other - in essence, we are already happy.

The only thing we ask for is to be able to do more of the things we enjoy without worries of how much it'll set us back or whether we'll be able to schedule the amount of vacation time that is required.

It's great that both my wife and I are on the same page on this and we constantly encourage each other to do things to help us achieve our life goals. Both of us have taken extra strides because of this and I'm confident that we'll get to our destination sooner rather than later.

Another reason why many of my posts are about wealth, money and power is simply because talking about it, expressing it, and setting it out to the world adds more fuel to the fire. Besides, one of the key things that the Law of Attraction states is that when one talks or thinks more of a specific thing (in my case, wealth), the more you're likely you'll encounter it in life.

That being said, I'll continue to post things that I desire in life and hopefully they'll inspire you too!

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Three Things I Avoid When Using The Law Of Attraction

I've been using the Law Of Attraction extensively now for almost three months and I can definitely tell you it wasn't as easy to implement as I had originally thought. Not to say that it was hard, but there were some things that seem to work better than others and there were just some things that were difficult to get away from.

Below are three things that I avoid when applying the Law Of Attraction in my life.

1) Setting A Time Limit On Manifestations

Most books on the Law Of Attraction suggest that you place a time limit on your desires and I can understand why it's done. By setting a time limit, you are giving yourself a "push" to get things done - to take actions that will lead you to accomplish your goals.

BUT - the big question becomes: what happens when you've reached your time limit and you haven't been able to accomplish what you set out to do? What then?

Well what happens if your self-imposed time limit comes and goes two or three times in a row? I'd imagine that it would get quite frustrating for the person who is trying to manifest their desires and I'm sure after a certain number of "failed deadlines", they would probably be more apt to quit than to forge ahead.

This could be the number one reason why people say that the Law Of Attraction doesn't work - either people try to manifest something too difficult for them to obtain in a short period of time or they simply don't give their manifestations a realistic amount of time to work themselves out.

Instead what I do is try to make every day the best day it can possibly become. I'll also say to myself that this day (or month or year) will be the day (or month or year) that I will accomplish my goal and if not, than my efforts will at least take me closer to where I want to go.

2) Letting Emotions/Frustrations Get The Better Of You

There will be times when you'll encounter setbacks and even though you didn't want them to happen to you, they sometimes have a way of finding you. Or there may be times when you feel as though your desires are taking an awfully long time and frustrations begin to set in and you start getting emotional as you go through your daily life.

As an equities trader, no one know frustration like me. I've seen it, I've felt it and I am constantly surrounded by it on a daily basis (I really do believe that some of my colleagues are in a constant state of rage/frustration). But if you ask any of them if I am emotional, they'll all tell you that I am like a robot - emotionless and they can never tell if I'm winning or losing....and quite honestly, that's the way I like it.

You can think of it this way - when you encounter setbacks, it may be the Universes' way of telling you something or it could be that the Universe is telling you that what you're doing is not working and it's trying to point you in another direction. I've personally encountered this and in a previous post, I told you how I handled and approached the frustrations that dogged me for a week and a half and how I took it as a sign for me to do something.

Also think about this - if something is taking you longer than you expected to manifest and you begin to get all emotional and frustrated, it could be that the Universe is giving you a signal that you are not taking enough action to make your dreams a reality.

3) Negativity

Nothing has made me feel better about myself and about life than by eliminating negativity. When I say negativity, I mean things like snap judgments, snap emotions, and the little things that make you upset.

In the past, even small things like someone not giving you enough room on the sidewalk as you approach them, used to tick me off. Even things like people blocking the doorways on buses or subways when there is plenty of room on the vehicle would really get to me. I'd rant and rave and in my mind I'd be thinking "What a jerk" and sometimes I'd purposely bump them hard to give them the signal.

You can even ask my wife - in the past, I'd start getting real upset if someone were tailgating me or if someone cut me off. I would also blow my top whenever someone honked their horn at me. What I'd sometimes do is I'd either tap on the brakes (if someone were tailgating me), tailgate a vehicle (if someone cut me off), or I'd stop the car and proceed to get out of the car to confront the driver (if someone honked their horn at me).

When I was younger, I was never that kind of person and quite honestly I think I acted like the jerk sometimes. Some of this perhaps came about from my profession - again, I'm constantly surrounded by impatience, anger, and frustration at my place of work.

But now, I take a more Zen-like approach. Instead what I do is I bless those who tailgate or cut me off and hope they have a safe journey. I also wish for patience to those who honk their horn at me - after all it is a virtue. If someone doesn't give me enough room on the sidewalk, I'd hope that they are doing OK because they seem to have a lot on their mind.

In the past, I'd get upset or angry at these small insignificant things and it would set the tone and ultimately ruin the rest of the day.

Honestly, by eliminating negativity, I feel much happier the rest of the day and life has been happier in general.

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Book Review - The Pursuit Of Happyness

After watching the Will Smith movie "The Pursuit Of Happyness", a movie based on the real-life story of Chris Gardner, I just felt like I wanted to read more and learn more about him.

The book "The Pursuit Of Happyness" (from which the movie was based on) chronicles Chris Gardner's life and his remarkable journey to wealth and fame.

We start with Chris and his difficult childhood - how he was moved from home to home not really knowing who his real father was. For a time, his mother spent time in jail and Chris would eventually have to live life with a violent and abusive stepfather and would learn several important lessons along the way.

Having to rough it out in his tough neighborhood, Chris kept his head on straight for the most part, but occasionally got himself into trouble. As Chris grew older, he started a medical career and when things didn't pan out, he eventually found himself homeless with his son living on the streets of San Fransisco.

It wasn't until one day he happen to come across a business man in a Ferrari and upon learning that this business man was a stock broker, he set out to become one.

Despite having no knowledge in the field, he overcame countless challenges and his fierce determination finally got him where he wanted to go.

This is truly an inspiring and just goes to show you that with dogged determination, we can all be whatever we want to be.

Chris Gardner is now a very successful broker and founded a multi-million dollar brokerage firm.

If you read the book "The Pursuit Of Happyness", you'll quickly learn that the movie was heavily changed and a lot was modified from the book.

First things first, the reason I was really interested in both the movie and the book was because I thought it would chronicle more about how he made it as a broker, which interests me a lot since I am in the same field.

The movie does a pretty good job in showing how he did it, but I would say that only a quarter of the book was dedicated to describing his claim to fame.

Most of the book mainly describes his difficult childhood and rather difficult years as a young adult. I do understand that the book is more of a biography than anything else and by dedicating so much of the book on his difficult past definitely helps you feel just how far he came along to get to where he wanted to go.

But my main interest was his journey to get from living on the streets to multi-million dollar broker and unfortunately you won't find much in the book. In fact, the movie probably does a better job of showing the rags-to-riches transition than the book did.

Other than that, I thoroughly enjoyed the book and Chris is living proof that if you put your mind into anything, you can accomplish anything.

The Good

• One of those inspiring stories that just goes to show you that anything is possible
• For those who watched the movie, this book is like the DVD bonus in that it goes much deeper into just how difficult Chris's past really was

The Bad

• For those looking for a story that parallels the movie will be disappointed as it is very different from the movie
• Not for the faint of heart - there is quite a bit of profanity and it is also quite graphic as well

Overall Rating


6 Out Of 10

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How I Apply The Law Of Attraction During A Typical Day

On most days, my routine is more or less the same. I take some time to visualize the things I want to manifest and with every spare moment I have, I try to incorporate what I've learned about applying the Law Of Attraction into my daily life.

The first thing I do when I get up in the morning is I head down to my computer (usually around 5:45AM), put on some music, set a timer, and I do some visualizing for 15 minutes.

Usually the first few minutes of my visualizations consists of me saying out loud a few things that get my day going - my "daily mantra" if you will. They are things like:

• I am successful
• I am wealthy
• I am powerful
• I am confident
• I can buy anything I want

This is just a small sample of some of the things I say to myself with a passion.

Then I begin my visualizations. It changes from day to day and what I try to do is live a day in the life of what my future will look like. It could consist of me driving into work in my dream car, or it could be holding a party in my dream house. Sometimes it's just a really nice fancy dinner with my wife or attending some kind of black tie affair.

Other times I just visualize myself relaxing by my pool in the backyard or it could be of my wife and I enjoying the sights and sounds of some exotic destination.

I really do think that variety is key in your visualizations. When I first started to do visualizations, I kept visualizing the same thing over and over again. After a few days, I literally got bored and I was no longer visualizing with emotions or feelings.

Keep changing things up! That's why every day I visualize myself doing something new, but I also keep the things I want in my visualizations. I've already held summer barbeque's, birthdays and Christmas dinners in my dream home.

Another thing I sometimes do is I give a tour of my dream home to some new friends or to some visiting relatives in my visualizations.

Once my visualizations are done, I get down to work - researching and catching up on market news in preparation for my job.

While I brush my teeth, shower, and prepare for the day, I'll start thanking the Universe for all it has done for me and I also recite some lines of my "daily mantra".

While riding the subway into work and walking into the office, I'll do "mini-visualizations" where I visualize small scenes of my future. I can definitely tell you, it makes time pass very quickly and before I know it, I'm at the office already.

I also make it a point to look into my wallet and look at a check a wrote to myself (which you can get at The Secret website) - I only do this when I happen to ride the elevator alone. When I look at that check, I imagine that I'm going to the bank to deposit it.

What I love about doing that elevator routine is that even if I had a frustrating day, it always puts me in a better mood....and if I were having a good day, it puts me in an even better mood!

Once my work day is over, I do everything again in reverse....while I walk to the subway station and when I ride the subway, I do my mini-visualizations.

If I had a rough day at work, the first thing I do when I come home is I'll sit and meditate for 15 minutes just to clear my thoughts and clear my mind. Doing this puts me in a much better mood if my day didn't go as planned.

Finally in the evening when I'm about to go to bed, I'll try to repeat my "daily mantra" to myself.

This is a daily routine that I slowly integrated into my daily life and I'm always thinking of ways to tweak or improve them.

I'm always open to recommendations and I am always interested in reading how others integrate the Law Of Attraction in their lives so if you would like to share yours, you can leave them via comments.

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My Dream Portfolio - $1 Million In Savings & Investments

Money. We're all living our lives to get more of it - if not for the basic necessities of life, then for the simple pleasures it can get us.

The funny thing about money is that it has the ability to make more of itself and if you have enough of it and it's regenerative abilities can be enough to sustain a modest lifestyle.

Of course, I'm talking about investing money and at a typical 7% rate of return, on $1 million dollars, you'll get $70,000 annually, which is probably better than most jobs out there.

In the future, my dream portfolio will include investments that can provide a good monthly income and if not $1 million, then more. This will allow me to stop working and not have to worry about how I'm going to sustain myself.

This will take several years for me to accomplish, but I feel as though I'm well on my way to achieving this. This will be filed under 'Long-Term Manifests' in the right-most column...let's see if I will get there sooner rather than later shall we?

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Successfully Manifested....1000 Visitors To This Site

When I first started this site, I had a short term goal of having 1000 visitors visit this site in one month.

Well, sometime early yesterday evening, this site reached 1000 visitors in the month of January, thus accomplishing this short-term goal.

A little more than half of this month as gone by and I was pleasantly surprised that I was able to reach my target before months end.

My previous blog took several months before I was able to reach 1000 visits a month (of course, at the time, I didn't really try to promote it or tried to network) - but once I got the traffic going, it just grew from there (when I stopped updating it, I was getting about 18,000 visits per month).

Once we get to the end of this month, I'll see what the totals look like and I'll set my sights higher for my next target for this site.

I'd like to thank a number of people, blogs, and sites for directing traffic my way.

First, I'd like to thank Andrew over at Lyved for the link exchange and for the traffic he sends my way. If you haven't visited his site yet, you should - there are a lot of insightful posts and in Lyved's short life (it's not even a month old!) he already has had several popular posts that have made it big on the Internet (Digg, Stumble, etc).

Next I'd like to thank a couple of other bloggers and the carnivals they hold (for which I was fortunate to be a part of), and for the traffic those carnivals generated for this site.

Anna over there at Widow's Quest, who runs a great weekly Carnival of Positive Thinking.

Miguel over at Think Happy Thoughts and his weekly Carnival Of Happiness.

Lila at Positive And Successful Lifestyle Tips who holds the weekly Carnival Of Inspiration And Motivation.

Dereck who runs My Ten Thousand Friends and runs the weekly Carnival of Persistent Dream Chasers.

Pinkblocks for allowing me to participate in the weekly Carnival of Personal Power.

David at the Slow Down Fast blog for hosting the Personal Development & Happiness Carnival. I'd also like to thank David for initially Stumbling one of my posts (I didn't even know what StumbleUpon was until I got all the hits from it!).

Alex at The Next 45 Years who usually runs the Personal Development & Happiness Carnival.

Finally, Peter at I Will Change Your Life who runs the Personal Stories Of Change Carnival.

If you haven't had the chance to visit any of these sites yet, I'd highly recommend it. All of the listed sites have great informative posts that cover a wide variety of topics and can help you lead a better life.

Again, many thanks.

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10 Things I Do To Make More Time

Here is a list of 10 things I do to make more time during the day. Some of these things are no-brainers while others are more suited for me and may not necessarily work for you.

Here they are in no particular order:

1) Eat Dinner Early

My wife and I get home from work at around 4:30PM. By 5:30PM, we've already finished cooking, eating, and cleaning up.

So how does this help with time? Well if we go to bed at 10:30 PM, that gives us block of 5 whole hours to do whatever we please. Five hours is plenty of time to work on whatever projects you need to work on or to blaze through a number of things on your to-do list.

Had we scheduled dinner at 7:00PM, we wouldn't have that same freedom to schedule our time to do what we need to do. In other words, we end up having to work a schedule around dinner. You might be too tired as soon as you get back from work to do anything significant before dinner and after dinner, you may feel more drowsy after the meal and would probably be more inclined to relax.

Of course, having an early dinner will mean you'd feel a little hungry later on in the evening, but some light healthy snacks usually holds us over.

2) Waking Up Early

I usually wake up at around 5:45AM every morning. I don't have to leave to go to work until 8:30AM. That gives me 2 hours and 45 minutes to get whatever I have to do to prepare for the coming day.

If you added up the big block of time from the previous day with the block of time in the morning, you've practically got yourself a full day's worth of working hours!

I can tell you from experience that you can definitely get a lot done in that time. Over the course of a week, you've got yourself more or less the same amount of time you do working full-time.

3) Do Chores While We Sleep....Or While We Work

There are certain chores that take a long time to do and instead of waiting for them to complete, why not do them overnight?

I'm talking about things like laundry or running the dishwasher. You can set these before you go to bed and when you wake up, it's all done. Likewise we can do these kinds of chores while we are at work and when we come back, it's all ready to be put away.

What I usually like to do is to "clump" all these types of chores together - that way, I can get them all done in one pass and I won't have to break-up my other, larger "chunks" of time for these tasks.

4) Book Classes/Appointments For The First Thing In Morning

Anytime we have appointments or classes on the weekend, we've always booked them for the first thing in the morning. That way, you are not planning your day around your appointment but instead you are efficiently setting your day up.

Imagine you've booked an appointment for 2:00PM on a weekend. On that particular day, you now have to start thinking about: should you have lunch at home or go out, should you run some of your chores before or after the appointment, you can't go catch a matinee after the appointment because it'll be too late and you don't know what to do for dinner, if you have dinner at home then should you go home and prepare,etc, etc, etc.

Guess what - now you've got yourself planning your day around your appointment.

Get that appointment or class out of the way as early as you can in the day. You can then have the freedom to do whatever you wish and it will feel as though you still have the entire day to yourself.

5) Breakup Larger Tasks Into Smaller, Manageable Chunks

Whenever I'm confronted with something that will require a large amount of time that I cannot seem to fit into my schedule conveniently, I'll break it up into smaller chunks and do it over the course of several days.

An example for me is exercise. During the weekdays, I cannot conveniently fit a big block of time dedicated to exercise. If I do it on any one morning, I'll be straining for time to get my other tasks done. I cannot do it immediately after work (I'm cooking and eating dinner), and I dare not exercise too close to my usual bedtime.

So what do I do?

I do intense, concentrated exercises on two or three muscle groups everyday for 20 minutes in the morning, six days a week. That's it! I can easily spare 20 minutes in the morning, every morning for six days, which adds up to a 2-hour workout every week.

Doing this also saves me a whole morning (or afternoon) on the weekends since I no longer have to dedicate a whole 2-hour block of time exercising.

6) Bunch Small Tasks Together & Get Them Done In One Sitting

I have a bunch of smaller tasks that I usually to do all together in the morning. I like to bunch these tasks all together so that I can get them out of the way and I don't have to think about when to do them later on.

I also try to do them all back-to-back so that I make maximum use of my time and when I'm about ready to leave the house for work, it'll feel as though I have already accomplished so much and the day hasn't even started!

A brief list of small tasks I do in the morning are: check email, check overnight market news, do my visualizations, do all necessary prep work for the trading day, exercise, check of various blogs, and so on and so on.

7) Do Grocery Shopping During Weeknights

This tip is one of those things where you think to yourself "Why aren't more people doing this?". I can understand that maybe people don't have time or they are too tired after work, but with this list of 10 things, I personally find plenty of time to do it (not that it takes a lot of time).

In the past when we did our grocery shopping on weekends, we had to contend with lots of traffic, a full parking lot, crowded grocery aisles, on-sale items out of stock and long check-out lines. Then we'd go another specialty grocery store to pick up a few extra items and we'd have to contend with the same things there too.

Since then, we've changed and we now like to go grocery shopping on either Tuesday or Wednesday nights, usually around 7:00PM when all rush hour traffic is gone. Why?

Well, we get our pick of parking spots, the aisles in the grocery store are near empty, everything is fully stocked, and no lines at the check-out counter. Then we can zoom over to the specialty store and pickup whatever else we need.

By doing this, I'd say we cut our grocery shopping time by almost 1/2. What used to take a whole morning or afternoon now only takes us an hour to do.

8) Do All Prep Work The Night Before

Whatever prep work we can do for the next day, we'll try to do it the night before.

The main thing that we do the night before is to prepare everything we are going to have for the following evenings' dinner. This include cutting up the veggies, prepping any meats, and sorting out which ingredients will be cooked together.

How it works in our household is as follows - my wife preps all the ingredients the night before and separates them into the various dishes that we'll be having.

The following day as soon as I get home from work, all I have to do is open the fridge and cook them according to how they are separated. No prep work is needed on my part and 15 minutes later, dinner's ready when my wife gets home (which is usually shortly after I get home).

9) Just Grab A Cup Of Coffee And Get Off The Couch

My problem is that immediately after dinner, I have the need to just sit down for a few minutes to let my dinner settle, which then leads to drowsiness, which then makes me want to just be a couch potato (this is especially true if I've had a really heavy dinner).

My wife doesn't seem to have this problem, but for me, that sloth-like feeling after dinner not only affects my productivity, but it also eats up a lot of time.

What I do now is the following: since we finish dinner at around 5:30PM, if I'm unable to get myself out of that "sloth-like" state by 6:00PM, then I'll get up off the couch and get a cup of coffee.

Obviously this isn't going to help everyone out there, but for me, this works wonders. All I just need is something to kick start me up and if I cannot do this under my own power, then coffee always does the trick.

If I don't grab that cup of coffee and get up off the couch, I end up spending the entire evening watching mindless TV shows (I've been guilty of doing this a few times).

10) Learn To Speed Read

Do you know how many RSS feeds I have in my newsreader? As of today, I have 383 feeds.

You may be thinking "That's absurd" or "What the...". Or you may know someone with more.

Obviously some of the blogs I have in there are no longer working, but I can tell you that on a typical day, there will be over 1000 new posts from the various feeds that I look at.

Since my interests are so varied, I have many types of feeds in my newsreader - trading, self improvement, luxury, travel, real estate, blogging, technology, health, and news are just some of the varying topics.

Part of it is that I do selective reading and the other part is that I actively try to speed read most of the posts. I cannot afford the time to read every single new post on a daily basis, but learning to speed read has definitely been a time saver.

As you can also see, I'm also an avid reader of books (our library no longer has room for all the new books that keep coming in - until we move to a new house, all new books end up in boxes or on the floor) and the only thing that allows me to read as many books as I do is by speed reading.

There you have it - 10 things I do to make more time during my busy day!

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Profiles Of Success - Frank O'Dea

Who is Frank O'Dea?

He is the co-founder of one of Canada's largest coffee chains - Second Cup. With over 350 locations across Canada, The Second Cup has been a huge success...and hugely profitable.

Born in 1945 in Montreal, things weren't always so rosy for Frank O'Dea. With a troubled childhood, he soon found himself in the dumps. He started drinking in his early teens and found himself homeless and panhandling on the streets of Toronto.

Can you just imagine what life would be like in his situation? Every day was a struggle for him and he never knew where his next meal would come from, if at all.

Then, at 25, something inside himself prompted change. He answered an ad in the newspaper, cleaned himself up, and got a job as a salesman. This was where his life did a complete turnaround and he started down a path of success.

Within a few short years, he and his business partner Tom Culligan opened up the first Second Cup and today it continues to be a success. Frank later sold his stake in the company and has become a Canadian icon.

Frank has since founded other companies and several charities and is frequently requested as a guest speaker at various motivational events. He was also awarded the Order of Canada and has recently authored his biography called "When All You Have Is Hope" (pictured at left).

Frank is your classic rags-to-riches story and is a real inspiration to all and really make you wonder - if he could do all the things he did in his circumstances, couldn't we do the same?

For more information about Frank O'Dea:

Frank O'dea's Biography at his website FrankOdea.com
Frank O'dea entry at Wikipedia
Frank O'dea's Interview at The Hour
Frank O'dea's Profile at EventsEdge
Frank O'dea's Order Of Canada at the Governor General's website
When All You Have Is Hope at Amazon.ca
The Second Cup entry at Wikipedia
The Second Cup website

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3 Reasons I Procrastinate And What I Do About It

Like most people, sometimes when I have a whole list of tasks to do, I'll sometimes roll my eyes and sigh.

I know that what I have to do will eventually have to get done, but why is it so hard to get things in motion?

Well I don't know about you, but here are a few reasons why I believe I procrastinate and some of the things I'm doing to remedy it.

1) The Task At Hand Seems Like Work

Most of the time when I know I should be doing something, in the back of my mind, I'm thinking it's "work". In my mind, "work" implies having to provide a lot of effort to get done and hence tendency to procrastinate.

So what do I do about it? Well obviously there are things that I'd much rather be doing - I just think of the task at hand a sort of "warm up" to what I'd rather be doing.

For example, if I've got to do my nightly research for the next trading day (which to me feels like work), and if I'd rather be reading, then I'll just tell myself that my nightly research is just a precursor to my reading - so the faster I get it done, the faster I can get to reading.

Put it another way - I will reward myself with some reading once I get through my nightly research. Perhaps for you, it could be to reward yourself with some TV or with some net surfing.

2) The Task At Hand Seems Hard To Do

There have been many times I have put off doing something because I think it will be difficult to do or it will require me to figure things out. This would be especially true if it is something that I'm not 100% familiar with or things that would require me to do some investigating - doing my taxes is a classic example.

Another good example is this site. I'm not too familiar with HTML, CSS, and formatting website layouts and when it came time to work on this site, it always seemed like a struggle to get myself to do it.

But in the end, I did it. How? I just started small. If you have a task at hand, just try to accomplish something small and you'd be surprised at how easy it can sometimes be. What often will end up happening is that once you start (even if you had that initial small task in mind), how likely you are to continue working at the task and how much eventually gets accomplished.

For me and this site, it would usually start off with something like "Let's see if I can figure out how to center the widget within the second column" - but then 4 hours later, you'd see me still working on the site AND having accomplished so much more than that small menial task.

So again - just sit down, start the task, and accomplish something small - most of the time, the task ends up being easier than what we originally thought.

3) I'm Just Too Tired To Deal With The Task At Hand

Of all the reasons I procrastinate, I think that the "I'm just too tired" excuse is my number one reason I don't get things done. I understand that after a long day of work you just want to sit down and relax and you don't want to think about the other pressing tasks at hand.

Usually I feel this way immediately after dinner. If you're like me, after a meal (any meal), I start feeling a little drowsy and I feel like I just want to sit back and relax.

My solution to the problem? Either have a cup of coffee to get you going or get up and exercise for a few minutes (like go out for a walk for 15 minutes). The key thing here is just to get you up and about, to get the blood flowing so that your mind is wide awake and ready to accomplish what you have to do.

So there you have it - the top three reasons why I tend to procrastinate and what I'm doing about it. What are some of the reasons you procrastinate and what are you doing about it?

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Law Of Attraction & My Job

I absolutely love my job. In fact, I wouldn't really call it a job - it's more like a game I play everyday. As mentioned before, I work as a prop trader - I split whatever I make in the markets with a prop company (which supplies me with the capital to trade).

Obviously I wouldn't be saying this if I couldn't sustain a living doing it - if I weren't consistent, I'd probably hate it.

Honestly, nothing gives me more pleasure than to do what I currently do. I cannot even think of another occupation that would have me jump out of bed every morning, excited to get the day started. For me, weekends and holidays seem more like nuisances that get in the way of the market action.

For me, I know I will make money....it's just a question of how much money.

For sure, it can get stressful at times, but I truly believe that it can be stressful if you let it become stressful. Maybe if I were constantly losing money day in and day out, then the stress would probably get to me and probably force me to have to look for another job (believe me, I see this all the time where I work - the turnover rate is really high).

I also have the freedom to set my own schedule. I can come in at any time I want and I can leave whenever I please (obviously during market hours).

I can also go away on vacation for as long as I want and I can take as much vacation days as I want. If I don't feel like going in on a particular day - no problem...I don't even have to call or tell anyone I'm not coming in.

Not only that, breakfast and lunch is catered by the prop trading company and I've got unlimited access to water, juice, coffee, tea, and fruit (among other things).

If I gave myself the above job description five years ago, I would have probably said "That's my dream job!"....so in a way, I'm living my dream.

I also believe that my job is a prime candidate for using the Law Of Attraction and seeing it in action. Why?

Simply because my job has the possibility of an uncapped income and because I have complete control of how much I make on a monthly basis.

Not only that, but trading for a living requires you to constantly work and improve both your mind and body. Everything from emotional control to making necessary adjustments to your trading strategies (i.e. taking inspired action) to the changing markets are of the utmost importance for a job like this.

The ability to weather the storm and the ability to keep your eye on the prize has a profound effect on traders and will ultimately dictate who can make it in this industry...and who will fail.

There are a few out there who have excelled at doing what I do - there are several prop traders who make millions a year and though I'm not there yet, I will be very diligent in traversing that learning curve to get to where I want to be with this.

So you want to see the Law Of Attraction in action? So do I! Let's see where this journey takes us!

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Goldarth's Review Of My Dream Car

I found this fantastic review of my dream car - the Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren over at Goldarths Review. Lot of great photos and some videos of the car in action.

There were some facts that I didn't know about in the review, like back in 2003, only 3500 SLRs were going to be made and that it would be named the SLR McLaren Coupe. However, after about 1500 were made, they re-designed the Coupe and changed the vehicle that resulted in a drop in performance, but increased the desirability and the comfort of the ride .

Thus, the remaining 2000 vehicles would be named the SLR McLaren Roadster and will cost about 10% more. The review over at Goldarths covers these new features and points out the differences between the Coupe and the Roadster.

So go check out Goldarth's Review of the Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren Roadster!

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My Dream Portfolio - Real Estate Investments

I've always had an interest in real estate and in the future, I will be a big part of my assets.

My wife and I and both talked about how we are going to achieve this and it will go as follows:

Buy a property in a convenient location and live there for a few year (this has already been done).

Next, we'll save up for another down payment for another house while renting out our first property.

We'll continue with this a few times and eventually we'll get into multi-unit buildings.

Essentially we will have renters help pay the mortgage and after a certain amount of time, all mortgages will be paid off (without us having to use too much of our own capital) and from there, there should be a good income flow coming from these rental properties.

We may even hire a full-time superintendent for all properties once the income flow reaches a certain level.

OK - obviously I haven't got all the specifics down pat yet, but I know we are well on our way with our plan.

We currently reside in a 2-bedroom, 2-storey townhouse with a patio and there are several schools around the area and two shopping malls just walking distance away (one smaller mall and one big one).

Our current place of residence is in a very convenient location - 5 minute walk to the subway, bus stop literally at the front steps, and most amenities around the area are open 24 hours. It is also convenient for commuters, as it is located just off Toronto's main highway.

The area is very convenient for literally anyone who works in the city and/or going to school in the city - and with 24-hour bus service just steps away, it should be easily rentable once we are ready to move on to our second property.

Step one of our grand plan has been accomplished....we are currently working on the next step....

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Does More Money Really Mean More Happiness?

What are we all striving for? Of course, many people think we're all striving for more money because more money means more freedom, more choice. Many also think that this freedom and choice will ultimately lead to their happiness.

I recently came across this great 20 minute talk by psychologist and author Dan Gilbert entitled "Why Are We Happy? Why Aren't We Happy?".

What I find interesting are the result of some experiments mentioned in the talk concerning happiness. These experiments found that if given choices, people tend to be less happy about the choices they make. The experiments also found that people were happier when they weren't given the option of choice.

In the talk, there is also mention about how people who have obtained what they thought would make them happy, ultimately became disappointed because it did not make them as happy as they thought it would.

Having said this, could it be that having more money means having more choices which ultimately lead to more unhappiness?

So is more money really what everybody should be after? Having more freedom and more choices may not be as desirable as most people think.

Check out the video about this fascinating topic:

This video was from a great site I recently came across at TED - Ideas Worth Spreading and is worth checking out. The site is a collection of videos from TEDs annual conference in which 1000 of the world's greatest minds come together to share their ideas in 20 minutes or less.

At TED - Ideas Worth Spreading you can access all of the talks they've had in the last three years. You'll find a wide variety of talks from the likes of self-help gurus (like Tony Robbins), business leaders (like Jeff Bezos, Richard Branson), politicians (like Bill Clinton, Al Gore), along with other influential leaders from around the world....I highly recommend you check it out!

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Travel Destination - China

If you asked us 10 years ago if we'd like to go visit China, we would have probably said "no".

Asked us 5 years ago if we'd like to go visit China, we probably would have said "maybe".

If you asked us today if we'd like to visit China, we would probably answer "most definitely!".

So much as changed these last couple of years in China and there is just so much to see. There is so much of the ancient world to see that it'd take us forever to visit them all, but yet there is so much of the modern world, we'd also have a hard time seeing it all.

China is such a huge country that we'd probably have to take at least three weeks to visit all the places we want to visit on our future trip there. Accommodations in China are quite cheap - it not uncommon to find 5-star hotels to stay at for about $50 (Canadian/USD) a night and food can also be quite cheap as well.


We figure we'd start off in Beijing just to see the usual sights there - The Forbidden City, Tienanmen Square, and maybe a day trip out to The Great Wall. There are also many architectural wonders like temples and gardens in and around Beijing, so we figure we'd spend maybe 5 or 6 days exploring the city.


We'd then start heading south to Xian where we'd spend maybe 2 or 3 days checking out the Terra-cotta warriors and visit the Great Mosque they have in the Muslim quarter there. There are also a couple of interesting tombs and temples around Xian.

From there, we'd go a little further south to Chengdu where we'll spend the day at the Panda Institute (where they breed them). We'd also take in the wonderful landscape around the city. We will probably just spend 1 or 2 days there.


Next, we'll see if we can get a flight and go eastward towards Shanghai. Known as the "Pearl Of The Orient" this city has been so modernized that it's beginning to look almost like a scene right out of a futuristic movie. I've also heard that there are some districts in Shanghai that look so European that you probably couldn't tell you were in China.

We'll probably stay there for maybe 5 or 6 days, mainly checking out dining, shopping, and nightlife found there.

Next, we'll go to the next major hub of activity in China - Hong Kong. We'll spend another 4 or 5 days there to take in the sights and sounds of this bustling city. We'll take the tram up to the mountain top to get a fantastic view of the surrounding areas and we'll also visit the Po Lin monastery - the site of the largest Buddha in the world. Shopping and dining will also be on the agenda while we're here.

Finally, we'd wrap up our trip in Macau - the Las Vegas of Asia. The casinos there rival those found in Las Vegas! The Venetian in Macau is 3 times larger than the one in Vegas! The Sands Macau is now the world's largest game table operation! The MGM Grand Macau was just recently opened there.


But knowing us, we probably won't gamble - on our 4-day vacation to Las Vegas last year, we spent only $1 gambling (it was on a slot machine).

So there you have it - our future trip to China (which we are planning perhaps late 2008 after the Olympics or 2009).

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Book Review: The Law Of Attraction - The Basics Of The Teachings Of Abraham

This book was one of the first books I purchased after watching "The Secret" and hence is the first book I've read about the Law of Attraction.

I thought that this book would be an ideal one to start learning off of since it's author was one of the "teachers" featured in "The Secret".

First things first....

The author Ester Hicks claims that a non-physical presence (or spirit) can enter her body and can communicate through her. The name of this non-physical entity is Abraham, hence the "Teachings of Abraham" in the title of this book. "Abraham" is apparently quite knowledgeable about the Law of Attraction and was willing to teach all those interested.

Honestly, had I known this, I probably would have steered clear of this book as it sounded a little too far off the edge for me.

Second thing about this book is that it's contents is in the form of question and answer interview. The author's husband and co-author Jerry Hicks asks "Abraham" (remember, he's the spirit that inhabits the author) about using the Law of Attraction and how to apply it.

Now had I know that the entire book would be in an interview format, I would have definitely wouldn't have purchased this book.

If all this sounds like nonsense or hard to believe, you are not alone. Upon learning of the format and context in which this information is presented, I couldn't help but feel as though the credibility about the authors just fell through the floor and I began to have doubts about this book.

But I had an open mind and I diligently finished reading the book.

I had several problems with the book. The number one thing for me was that it didn't really feel as though this book had any structure. Trying to learn or understand something through an interview was a little difficult to grasp and I felt as though the answers to many of the questions posed by co-author were repetitive in nature.

Something that could have taken a page to explain was drawn out, repeated, and sometimes beaten to death in some chapters. In fact, there were many times when my mind began to wander while I was reading the book simply because of the repetitiveness of some of the concepts being presented.

In fact, I remember at least twice while reading the book thinking that I had already read a certain page, when in fact, I did not.

You know, I read a lot of books and you can give me an extremely boring book and my mind wouldn't wander as much as it did when I was reading this book. Again, maybe it's just me, but I just feel as though you cannot convey the same message in an interview-type format.

Another thing that bothered me somewhat was that the questions that co-author asks seemed very scripted and were posed in such a way that would allow "Abraham" to get out a specific concept. For me, I felt that this made the book appear to lack credibility.

Don't get me wrong - I was really into this book until maybe about 1/3 of the way through - that is until I noticed the repetitiveness and the somewhat scripted questions.

I will admit that this book does give you a more thorough understanding of the Law Of Attraction and some new concepts like "Segment Intending" and the "Art Of Allowing" were very helpful (and at least it made me feel as though I got something out of this book). "The Secret" just scratches the surface when it comes to the Law of Attraction, but this book delves deeper into the topic.

It also provides some good habits and exercises that can help you through your day and other ways you can apply the Law of Attraction.

Overall, I feel as though my first steps into exploring the Law Of Attraction has taken a shaky start with this book. If I had to do it over again, I probably wouldn't have started learning about the Law Of Attraction with this book. Don't get me wrong - it would appear as though hundreds of others really like this book and you might find it useful as well.

However I do not share the same enthusiasm about this title as most others and as a result, I would not recommend this book, especially to those who are somewhat skeptical about the topic (as this book will only push you over the edge).

The Good

• Provides some new topics of interest like "Segment Intending" and "Allowing"
• Provides some good examples/exercises one can do on a daily basis to attract what it is you want

The Bad

• I don't like the idea of the author being "possessed" by a spirit and that all the answers about the Law of Attraction is coming from this "spirit"
• Entire book is in a question and answer format
• Found it very repetitive - sometimes I felt as though 5 or 6 questions in a row were answered in the same way with a few words interchanged
• I also found that some of the questions the co-author asked seemed somewhat scripted and hence the author's credibility took a hit (in my opinion anyway)
  

Overall Rating

2 Out Of 10

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