Marcel Legros - Play the Game of Life

There is a simple rule for buying and selling products or services we must all know. It can be summarized with “Good, Cheap, and Fast.” The catch is, you can only pick two out of the three categories.

If you want something high in quality, and you want it quickly, you can’t buy or sell it cheaply. If you need to buy or sell cheaply, you can choose either high quality, or fast delivery, but not both.

There are only 3 possible combinations:

* Good quality, cheap price, but slow delivery.
* Cheap price, fast delivery, but low in quality.
* Fast delivery, good, quality, but expensive.

Whenever you decide to buy or sell goods or services, decide which two categories are most important to you and then make sure the other two categories are present. If you’re only getting one out of three, it’s a bad deal.

If you are lucky enough to find a product or service that is good, cheap, and fast, and it meets all your requirements, you know you’ve found a exceptional deal.

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When I go to a funeral, I listen to the music. The music we listen to is a reflection of the life we have lived.

I love music. Life without music is no life at all. We all have a theme song. We walk around every day, singing and humming our favorite tunes. Many times I’ve been stuck on a song I wished I could get out of my head, but couldn’t. These are the songs that define us.

I remember music in the car in the middle of the night, at my wedding, and in my head during the birth of my son.

What song do you want played at your funeral?

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On my way to meet with a customer, I pulled up to an intersection and had to stop for a moment. A few feet away, a young man was standing beside a hand written sign. The sign read, “Homeless and hungry. Please help. Will do anything for money, except work.” The man looked healthy, strong, and had boyish good looks. He was intently reading a book and had a small bag laying beside him, also filled with books. He obviously wasn’t illiterate.

Where I live today, there is a massive labour shortage. Unless you’re a mass murderer, you can get a job with good wages. If this man showered, shaved, and put on some clean clothes, he would have a job by the end of the day. I really wanted to ask him why he chose homelessness over work but my blood was boiling over the statement on the sign. I’m still angry that a person would choose to suffer for a few cents on a street corner.

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Aubrey de Grey of Cambridge University, predicts we will soon have the science to extend the healthy life-span of humans to 1000 years or longer. He believes at today’s rate of scientific discovery in genetics, the first person to live to 1000 may already be 50 to 60 years old. Not only will doctors have the ability to stop aging, but to reverse the process by repairing genetic damage within your cells.

Is Aubrey de Grey a wishful crackpot or is he really on to something? He looks like a crazed hippy, but his science is strong. He’s set up a non-profit group called the Methuselah Foundation in which scientists compete for cash prizes by extending the life-span of mice.

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The old boy scout motto “Be Prepared” is one of the most overused yet overlooked foundations of success. It’s amazing how a trite, two word statement can have such an impact on your present and your future. Here are a 8 ways you can “be prepared” for almost anything:

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“A person who is nice to you but rude to the waiter is not a nice person.” - Dave Barry

Do you know someone that fits this description? Be careful. This type of person is devious and manipulative. Here are the hallmark signs of Machiavellian behavior:

• They kiss your butt if they think you can help them achieve wealth, power, attention, or status. Think: gratuitous flattery.
• They belittle and intimidate you if they perceive you as a threat or obstacle to their success.
• If you can’t help them and aren’t a threat - they ignore you.

I often run into other salespeople that walk in the front door, ignore every employee, and head straight to the manager’s office for a business discussion. I cringe when I see this because it’s the worst thing you can do in business and in life. The guy washing dishes in the back should be just as important to you as the CEO of the company. It’s not about what that person can do for you or how much money they can put in your pocket. In fact, it’s not about you at all…

I remember as a 19 year-old kid, working for an electrical wholesaler as a shipper/receiver. My job was to receive deliveries from the couriers, put away stock, and ship goods to other customers. I was hidden away in the back for most of the day. Every day, a few sales reps would stroll in and usually ignore me - most of them didn’t even know my name. There were a few who made an effort to get to know me and talk for a while on each visit. As years progressed, I was promoted several times. Suddenly the same reps who didn’t have the time of day to talk to a warehouse person were bending over backward for my attention and business. They were wasting their time. I was giving my business to the thoughtful reps who had helped me learn along the way.

Kissing up to the owner or manager while ignoring the ‘little people’ is a recipe for professional and personal disaster. It speaks volumes about your character and whether you know it or not, people notice. Respect and learn from everyone you meet as an equal. (Kissing up to your wife however, can greatly increase the quality of your life.)

I learn from my wife, son, work colleagues, as well as from store clerks, and perfect strangers. They’re all different but each person has a story and experience that is unique and valuable. These connections and experiences enrich our lives. When you show genuine human kindness and care for everyone equally you acquire true wealth and lasting success.

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Here’s my current top 5 list of lies, schemes, ploys, and lingo that drive me nuts.
• “Low-fat foods, low-carb foods, and calorie reduced foods are healthy.” I accidentally purchased low-fat cheese once. It tasted like a combination of ear wax and vomit. Do you know how low-fat foods are made? The fat is replaced with sugar, chemical additives, gums, binders, and salt. Cigarettes and gasoline are low fat, but that doesn’t make them healthy either.
• “Think Outside the Box” - You might as well scream “I’m a twit!” This phrase usually comes from the least qualified person in a meeting with absolutely nothing new to say. The next time I hear you say “Think Outside the Box,” I’m going to set fire to it, and bury you in that damned box.
• “A New Paradigm” - “Think outside the box”, for mediocre, 50 year-old MBA’s.
• “Synergy” - When two or more groups come together and produce a combined result greater than the individual parts, it can be called a synergy. When big, slow corporations run out of steam, they resort to acquiring smaller, more dynamic companies. Then “synergy” means, “Give us your assets, your talent, your ideas, and you can keep your job. Give us time to improve your systems and crush your spirit.”
• Stock photos of happy business people shaking hands, leaping over bushes in three-piece suits, and sitting on the mountain tops while checking corporate email. What the hell are these people supposed to be doing? I’ve never checked email on a mountaintop and I certainly wouldn’t be jumping around in a suit either. Obviously someone is, because ad agencies keep buying junk like this.

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“Oops, I forgot to pick up the milk, and sign the permission slip for my son’s field trip!”

Why do we forget the little things? Simple - you only remember what is emotionally important to you.

Unless you’re already financially free or self-employed, I’ll bet you’ve been late to work at least once this year. What if I said; “Come to work at 4 am every morning for a year. If you’re on time every day, I’ll give you a million dollars?” I’m positive that 100% of you would show up on time every day. A million dollars is far more emotionally important to you than getting your beauty sleep. Your actions are always a reflection of what you value; they are driven by the emotional payoff you receive.

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I’ve learned a thing or two over the years when it comes to bad habits and addiction. Here’s the most important lesson I’ve learned; to change a bad habit over the long term, you must replace unhealthy patterns with healthy ones over the short term. There are two reasons for this:

1. If you don’t stay busy and active while withdrawing from an addiction, the inactivity will kill you. You’ll obsess about what you’re missing. The feeling of lack will lead you to overeating, moping, watching tv, and feeling miserable. Willpower isn’t a long-term solution. At some point you’ll cave in and all your efforts will have been for nothing.
2. Abstinence isn’t good enough. Adopting healthy replacements will speed your recovery process and give you the energy to keep you going in the right direction. If you feed you mind and body good things, the whole process becomes a lot easier.

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I just finished reading “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” by Robert T. Kiyosaki and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in creating wealth to achieve financial independence. It’s very accessible and entertaining as well as informative.

Like most people, I have struggled with saving enough money at the end of every month to meet my retirement goals. I want to be wealthy and free from the bonds of employment but I had no idea how people do it. Rich Dad, Poor Dad will not teach you what to invest in but rather, how to change your preconceptions that keep you stuck in the daily rat race. It motivates you to explore your potential.

Here are a few key ideas presented in the book:

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