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success principles: ever had one of those weeks?

Expert Perspective

May 242013

Reading time: 6 – 10 minutes

One thing after another…

That’s what this week has been for me.

Investment issues, business issues, brick walls (aka people), website trouble, computer freezes…it just didn’t stop.

We’ve all had days, weeks, even months like these.

It just feels like the whole world is against you.

At times like these it’s important to take a deep breath and do a little accounting. No, I’m not talking about money here, but an accounting of your life.

The thing is, we don’t react well to negative stimulus.

In the best-selling book, Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman, he talks about the power of “negatives” and that it takes 24 positives to nullify the power of just one negative.

Let’s put this in more concrete terms; let’s say your best 20 friends tell you you look attractive, then one jerk comes along and says you look hideous. Onlookers would realize that it’s 20 to 1 in your favor. Unfortunately, most of us don’t take it that way. We believe the latter.

It’s something hotwired within us — we believe negative over positive.

Ever wonder why Presidential campaigns today are so negative? Because they are so dang effective…sadly.

But I’m not here to talk about marketing or advertising but rather how we must all learn to deal with disappointment.

One interesting fact about business that you may, or may not, be aware of is that most people quit their jobs because they don’t feel appreciated. Can you believe that? It’s not money, it’s not hard work, it’s not overtime, it’s not even stress that really pushes people over the edge most of the time.

Let me tell you, it’s true.

Many years ago when I first came to Japan to work, I joined a small English school in the area that specialized in kids.

Now, you might not know this about me but I’m good with kids…why? Because I’m really just a big kid.

I love comics, movies, TV, yo-yos, magic, and sports. I suppose that’s part of the reason kids love me, because I can get inside their head and I can relate to them.

For whatever reason, so many adults forget what it feels like to be a kid.

It’s not easy.

Sure, they don’t have any responsibilities, their needs and wants are taken care of by their parents and they can sleep in till 12 on Sunday if they like but they do have their own things to deal with:

Biased teachers
Bullying
Lack of understanding
Opinion not appreciated
etc

That’s just part of life as a kid. I was bullied. I had stupid teachers that punished me unfairly. I was ignored. But adults forget all that stuff because they have much bigger issues to deal with, and you can’t really compare the two.

The problem is for kids they know nothing else. They have yet to experience the true nature of life and the hardships it brings (hopefully anyway).

We, as adults, need to understand that and think back to our childhood and start from there.

Anyway, so that’s where I’m coming from, now back to the small English school.

I had the most students out of any teacher within two years including my boss, and yet I was working less than nearly everyone. How did I accomplish this feat? Easy, I worked at it.

I put in the time, I put in the effort to become good.

I could read clock cards upside down without breaking stride, I could play games with my eyes closed, I came up with all sorts of variations on games to make them more appealing to kids. In a nutshell, I was good.

And yet, each time I raised my hand with a new idea it got slammed down…hard.

I heard things such as “He’s too young,” “he doesn’t get it,” and “get with the program” over and over. And yet when someone else came up with an inferior idea (I say so because there were a lot of problems caused from implementing them) they were accepted way too quickly despite my objections.

I even went as far as to explain what was wrong but to no avail.

I kept running into wall after wall. The worst part was they would use “intuition” as a comeback to my logic (one of the reasons hate me is I’m good at presenting things logically).

In the end, when they tried to take my holidays I had had enough.

I couldn’t take it.

I was insulted, ignored, lied to and worst of all, not appreciated.

Fast forward to this week and again, I find myself in a similar situation.

Great ideas falling on deaf ears. But there’s one big difference this time round — I’ve changed.

Sure I vented…but after I got it out of my system, as I said earlier, I took a deep breath and thought to one quote from the Bible, “This too shall pass.”

I then took a good look at my life and all that I have in it, and realized that this is just a blip on the screen called life as I have:

My dear son
My lovely wife
My health
My friends
My mother
My mentors
My work (online and off)
My knowledge (each day I am constantly learning and sharing to be better)
My investments
The Internet
TV
The freedom to choose how to live my life

In my youth I focused on the bad, much like we all do. Today I focus on the good.

I get it, it’s not always easy when you’re dealing with a bunch of problems that you didn’t cause but everyone blames you for…it’s not even fair.

But so what? Life isn’t meant to be easy. In fact, it’s my belief that if it’s so easy for you then you’re doing it wrong.

Life is about overcoming challenges. That’s where the growth is.

And that’s what I tell myself each time I have a week such as this one.

Seven years from now, it’s doubtful I’ll even remember what happened this week in May 2013.

As Brian Tracy says, “You cannot control what happens to you, but you can control your attitude toward what happens to you.”

I am proud to say, I am in control.

Adrian Shepherd

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time management: Facebook is one of the best kept secrets of time management

Expert Perspective

May 152013

Reading time: 4 – 7 minutes

“Time management is the best kept secret of the rich.”

That’s what my mentor, Jim Rohn, used to say.

A lot of people make the mistake of saying, “If I had more time…” when the fact of the matter is there is no more time.

24 hours. 1440 minutes. That’s it. No more, no less.

What separates the people that do from the people that don’t is how they invest their time.

Most people never give time a second thought. I know I didn’t.

I can’t count the amount of hours I used to spend just doing nothing…sigh, the mistakes we make when we are young.

Thankfully I was set straight before it was too late and now I do everything I can in my power to share ideas that make a difference in people’s lives.

Language study secrets, management tips, marketing ideas, investing, time management and even shopping advice for people’s next camera or computer.

I know that there are three things we must invest wisely:

Money (naturally)
Time
Effort

Unfortunately a great deal of people fail to ever learn how to invest these wisely and pay the price later on.

I could spend hours talking about investing but that’s reserved for my other site devoted to my other passion, finance. (*I’ll be updating the videos here within the next few weeks, so if you haven’t had a chance to check the present videos out please do so)

But today I’m here to talk about time management; a critical component of success which is why an entire chapter was devoted to it in my book, iSucceed.

Now a lot of people will disagree with me when I say that Facebook will save you time. Most people would say that it eats up your time.

The truth is Facebook can do either.

It’s really up to you.

For most people, I agree with the latter statement. With games, friends posts and all sorts of options it’s easy to spend hours there without getting anything done.

However, that’s not how I use it.

I use it as a tool to reduce my workload by leveraging its incredible power.

Here’s a few ways I use FB to save me time.

Sharing pics with your friends
Information gathering tool
Saves me reading the news.
Networking (on speed)

Let me explain. First off, sharing pictures on Facebook saves me attaching them individually in emails to my friends. I post them, they check them. Having my friends in my newsfeed allows me to share in my friends’ achievements, see their adventures and offer advice in their times of need.

It really is true, a picture is worth a thousand words.

Now for those of you concerned about privacy and not wanting to share pictures with the public, that’s easy. You can create groups with who to share what.

I do recommend creating a group just for family and friends for those special moments.

Tracking down information is a cinch – just join fanpages sharing information that you’re interested. Follow people you know have the information you’re looking for. Let them do the work for you and share the best of what they find.

There’s also no need to read Yahoo News! I remember hearing about the bombing in Norway via FB because a friend was just a few hundred feet away from the blast.

Remember, if it’s newsworthy it’ll pop up sooner or later on yr newsfeed. Someone will say something about the big events going on in the world. Count on it.

Let your friends become your news filter.

Then there’s networking. This is what social media is all about.

Now it’s easier than ever to reach out and touch people (no literally). The concept of 6 Degrees of Kevin Bacon (a game people used to play for fun linking famous actors and actresses through Kevin Bacon) has been replaced today with 2 Degrees of FB.

It’s simply amazing how easy it is to get in touch with stars in every profession. Email is so yesterday, today it’s all about FB.

I must admit that when I heard Mark Zuckerberg declare email was “dead,” I laughed.

The notion was so absurd to me at the time because email was such a big part of my life and the lifeblood of any business. Today I see things quite differently.

I must admit that I do most of my communication through FB.

My emails have dropped by more than half.

FB messaging is short and sweet.

In the end, Facebook is merely a tool. It can be your best kept secret or your most addictive habit. That, I leave up to you.

Adrian Shepherd

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success principles: the irony of it all

Expert Perspective

May 132013

Reading time: 5 – 8 minutes

Look around you…

Take a good look. Have you ever stopped to really think about just how weird and wonderful life really is?

Not a day goes by that I don’t find myself fascinated or frustrated in one way or another.

But that’s the best part of you.

We just never know what will happen next.

Just twenty short years ago had anyone told me we’d all be walking around with tiny portable computers with access to information from all over the world for next to nothing, I’d have thought you had a screw lose.

Smartphones have changed everything; from how we communicate with one another (remember when we used to call one another?!) to how we gather information and even shop.

Each year ushers in thousands of new products with incredible new technology and being somewhat of a geek myself I find myself in awe at just what is possible today.

I’m not telling you anything you don’t already know.

What is interesting and something most of us don’t take the time to really consider is just how technology is changing us. Obviously our world is speeding ahead into the great unknown but what about us?

The other day I sat down to ponder the world in which we live in and noticed something quite ironic.

In spite of all the incredible changes that have taken place, it seems that Newton’s Third Law of Motion seems to be in play in the sense that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.

Take a look:

The more technology, the stupidier we seem to become (Test scores are dropping, and students less ready for the business world.)
The more medicine, the sicker we are (Sharing is now banned at many schools because of allergy concerns. Yet as children it was one of the joys of life and I never heard of anyone getting sick.)
The more we try to protect kids, the weaker they become (Unable to handle the natural pain of life, don’t understand pain and failure.)
The more “dangerous” activities we take away from kids, the more dangerous things they end up doing (Don’t you remember doing dangerous stuff simply because there wasn’t anything to do?)
The smarter we become, the more danger we put ourselves in (In 1999 Internet stocks were hot and we supposedly had ushered in a new type of investment – one that doesn’t fail…shows how little we knew. Then just 8 years later we believed the notion that houses never went down in price which resulted in a $691 billion dollar company vanishing)
The wealthier we become, the more problems we have (People like to think that money solves all your problems. Believe me, it doesn’t. Your problems simply change. Personally I’d prefer the problems that come with being rich, but don’t make the mistake of thinking life is always easy if you have money.)
The more choices we have, the harder it is to choose (One mistake many companies make is offering too many services, as a result customers are unsure of what to buy. Keep things simple when selling any product.)
The more power we have, the greater the temptation to abuse it (I think of the many leaders the world over that have risen to power claiming they would help the people and in the end simply help themselves.)
The more we learn, the more we realize how little we know (Amazing how when we are young we think we have all the answers.)
The more we exercise, the less sleep we need (A good one to remember.)
The more freedom we have, the less equality there is (Which is why utopias of equality are doomed.)
The more we become, the less we need to say (“Simplicity is the ultimate form of sophistication.” ~Leonardo Da Vinci~)
The easier it is, the less we learn (Which is why we must always push ourselves to go where the competition is great.)
The more time we have, the slower things get done (When we have more time, the less pressure there is for us to achieve.)
The cheapest advice often times ends up being the most expensive (How many times have you followed free advice that cost you dearly? I’ve learned that it pays to pay well for advice and mentors.)
The more things change, the more they stay the same (A quick study of history will reveal just how little we have changed in spite of all the technological advances that have been made.)

The point is that there are two sides to every tale.

While things seem pretty clear cut growing up (ie. study hard get good grades), in business as in life, things aren’t always that simple and we must be aware of both sides. The good and the bad.

Who would have ever thought that the Internet and all the opportunity it brings would also bring so much competition at the same time.

Looking forward it is easy to see that the world will both advance rapidly but experience some setbacks along the way.

The opportunities excite me but the setbacks worry me. As we have seen time and time again, booms and busts are just part of the cycle and since 2008 we’ve had an incredible run up in nearly every sector, will it continue? That I can’t be sure of but what I can say with certainty is that somewhere in the future we will hit a rough patch which is precisely we need to educate ourselves — and see that which is unseen by most.

I have no doubt that during my lifetime great change will occur, faster than many of us might realize.

It’s up to us to be ready to take advantage of those opportunities and to protect ourselves from the dangers that are coming.

Adrian Shepherd

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success principles: simplicity is the ultimate form of sophistication

Expert Perspective

Apr 232013

Reading time: 5 – 8 minutes

Simplicity is underrated…

Take a look at some of the great success stories of the past decade. Google, Apple, Facebook…all making life simple.

Google redefined search, Apple developed the smartphone and FB took on social media.

Back in the early 90s life was simple.

And then the Internet went and changed all that.

Now me…I can’t get enough of it.

I love being able to turn on Apple TV and watch the latest shows halfway across the world.

I still marvel at being able to send emails to my mother in Thailand or chat with my friend in Ireland when I’m on a train heading to work here in Japan.

I whip out my iPad (for the presentation) and iPhone (to record it) when giving seminars.

However, I worry a little.

Something just doesn’t seem right.

People seem to have no time for anything these days.

Many people are so wired in that should the Internet go down they’d go through withdraw symptoms.

Online relationships are replacing actual friends.

I also worry that we’re becoming a little too smart for our own good.

It seems that we have forgotten some of the basic laws of life.

With what was going on in Europe last year my friend and I got into a healthy debate over what would happen.

I told him I didn’t see things ending well, and quite quickly I might add.

He didn’t agree but was quite curious as to how I had come to my conclusion.

I answered him with but a single word.

I guess my answer didn’t satisfy him because for the next hour or so he went on explaining all the intricate details of the European Union.

Very interesting ideas indeed, but no where had he addressed what I see as the underlying problem.

Just yesterday I was reading a book by Ayn Rand, “The Fountainhead,” and I came across this lovely quote, “All things are simple when you reduce them to fundamentals.”

Exactly.

Today I have a feeling that most people are like my friend, making the world more complicated than it needs to be and in doing so we run the risk of greater dangers.

Why do I say that?

I have been running a franchise for going on 12 years now. I have worked as a consultant for a few companies and I have studied my butt off the last few years.

What all that has taught me from a business perspective is that you MUST keep things simple.

Each level of complexity you add increases your risk of running into a big problem somewhere down the line by a factor of 2.

And that’s the problem with the world today.

No one seems to understand it.

We need lawyers to explain the laws. Accountants to organize our taxes. And now politicians and economists (like Ben Bernanke) to fix our economy.

The worst part is that the lawyers, accountants, politicians and economists can’t seem to agree on anything.

Errr, is it just me but doesn’t that make you worry?

History is filled with stories of great empires but one thing is clear, all empires fall as well.

Today we seem to think that we can continue our present path forever because we’re smart enough to get out of any situation.

That’s hubris.

Any time a country, a business or a person believes they can do no wrong, amazingly, something does go wrong.

Apple just a few months ago was being touted as the world’s first trillion dollar company and it was well on it’s way, and then suddenly, BAM…it went on to lose almost half of its value.

Einstein once said, “Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius — and a lot of courage — to move in the opposite direction.”

I’m sure you agree that our world today is bigger, more complex and also more violent.

Unfortunately, I don’t see anyone trying to move in the opposite direction.

It seems that every day I click on over to the news that there are new laws being added, new restrictions, new policies, new taxes, new programs…all with one intention, to make things better.

I don’t know about you but each time I hear we’ve added a new tax, it makes me cringe.

They say it’s to “help” us but all I know is that the politicians of the world seem to be doing just fine while so many people seem to be struggling.

There’s something to be said from the simple things in life. In fact, a lot to be said for them.

Trust, love, freedom, happiness, integrity…they’re simple…and they don’t need computer programs or geniuses to figure out.

They are the things that make us human, not blips on a screen.

So the next time someone proposes something that will complicate matters immensely, run…as fast as you can…in the opposite direction.

In today’s complicated world, it’s simplicity that comes out ahead.

Me, I still love my gadgets but will stick to reading good old-fashioned paperbacks and when my son turns 6, I’m going to have him learn the abacus.

Why you ask? Because though I know the world has changed, I know one inevitable truths — fundamentals won’t.

Adrian Shepherd

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success principles: all we need is a pen and a piece of paper to design our lives

Expert Perspective

Apr 182013

Reading time: 5 – 8 minutes

Youth…

The word alone creates many different images in our mind. Images of hope, strength, health, and speed. It is also associated with words such as inexperience, foolhardy, and naive.

I must admit that each day when I see my four-year-old son run off to play with his friends at school that I am quite envious.

Not a care in the world.

He lives life with reckless abandonment because he doesn’t know any better.

Half courageous, half silly, all fun.

That’s what life should be for a child – fun.

There’s only one problem, one day my son will wake up and find himself a man.

Life really is that fast.

It feels like just yesterday that I was back in the Philippines enjoying crystal clear waters with my mother and father.

As a child we have our whole lives ahead of us; uncharted waters, unlimited potential, all that is needed is guidance.

These days I’m honored to help young minds grow.

At present I help a quite a few clients who still aren’t old enough to drink. It’s quite a rush.

Being placed in a position to mold young minds is something I cherish because I know that our future lies with them.

The other day I sat across from one such mind. Listening to her talk about her daily life a simple concept occurred to me.

I stood up and walked over to the whiteboard, grabbed a marker and wrote the words “TODAY” in big bold letters.

Underneath that I put a bunch of little circles going straight down.

Then I asked her to tell me a list of the things she does on a regular basis.

She told me a few things, then I added a few more myself to prove a point.

The list looked something like this:

Saving money
Studying two hours a day
Watching movies
Dancing
Working part-time
Smoking (this is one I added)

I then asked her to look into her future. I started out by asking her how her life would change next week from doing each activity.

The answer was, unsurprisingly, “Not much.”

And she’s right, so what if you save $20 bucks this week, spend 10 hours studying something, or even smoking a few packs of cigarettes. It’s not going to have much effect on anything.

If we were to look at our entire life on a line over an 80-year period then a week would be a mere blip.

Then I asked her the same question only changing the time period. Instead of a week, I asked her how her life would change if she continued these activities for 20 years.

Hopefully you already know the answer.

We started with the first thing on the list – saving money. She told me that if she continued doing that for 20 years she might be able to buy a car or put a down payment down on a house. Good answer.

Studying two hours a day she’d likely have a good paying job. Another good answer.

Watching movies, well…not much to say here except that she’d know a lot of movies.

Then I asked her about smoking, she told me she might have trouble with her health. Maybe even cancer. A tad extreme but it’s possible.

The point is all we need do to see our future is look at our todays.

There’s only one problem, the good stuff is so much harder to do than the bad.

I mean, it’s easier to watch two hours of TV than to study a foreign language for 20 minutes.

Saving money is harder than spending it, but only one of them makes you rich.

Studying, saving, exercising…those are tough. Amazingly it is activities like these that are the leading cause of the deadly disease known as excusitis, which I was first made aware of in the fabulous book The Magic of Thinking Big by Dr. David Schwartz.

Jim Rohn was right when he said, “It’s easy to keep bad habits, it’s easy not to develop the disciplines, it’s easy not to do.”

The disciples of life aren’t easy, but they are worth it.

It’s easy to see but too often we choose to ignore the facts which is why making a list of activities that you do day in and day out can be so effective.

Once you’ve gotten them down on paper it’s there for you to see in black and white.

No more excuses.

You are responsible for your future. You design it purposely, or haphazardly…but you will create it one way or the other.

20 years will pass as sure as night follows day.

The only question is, where will you arrive?

Adrian Shepherd

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success principles: 9 financial tips from the man himself, Warren Buffet

Expert Perspective

Apr 102013

Reading time: 4 – 7 minutes

My son turns five in just a little over a month.

A few years ago he could barely walk and now he’s challenging my authority. How times have changed.

Soon, as he begins to better understand numbers and, more importantly, money, his real education will begin.

As he’ll attend a Japanese elementary school, his English learning is my responsibility and we’ve already got him enrolled in a Karate Dojo to teach him how to protect himself, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

One of the things I am keenly aware of is the importance of educating him financially, especially from a young age.

The sad truth is that so many adults get into financial trouble, in business as well as in their personal lives, because of bad decisions. Decisions that to a large extent can be avoided.

The problem is that financial problems don’t just stay financial, but manifest themselves in our daily lives. They affect how we talk, how we think, how we interact with our family and I don’t believe I’m out of line when I say that somewhere in the realm of 70% of problems in a marriage are in some way linked to money.

Now for most of my life I thought I understood money, I was wrong.

Five years ago I made the decision to educate myself on the financial markets it really opened my eyes.

So much so now that I have made it a mission of mine to help educate others in the form of the FFS, the Financial Future Seminar, as some of you may already be aware.

As a result of making finance important in my life I read pretty much everything I can get my hands on when it comes to money, just like success and marketing.

Just yesterday I came across an article by the world’s most successful investor, Warren Buffet, in which he talked about his new TV show for kids (Secret Millionaires Club) to help teach them financial education (something Robert Kiyosaki also strongly believes in).

In it he mentioned just a few of the lessons that children would be taught over the series.

Reading them I realized that a whole lot of people I know would benefit from learning these lessons so here I am. Let’s quickly go over the lessons and then I’ll share some insights afterwards.

The best investment you can make, is an investment in yourself.
The more you learn, the more you’ll earn.
Learn from your mistakes, and the mistakes of others.
Great partnerships make any job easier.
Fail to plan, plan to fail.
With business as in life, get to know people before you judge them.
Learn not to spend more than you have.
Save for the unexpected.
It’s never too early to start.

Some of these are pretty self-explanatory, but it’s amazing how easily we forget them.

For some reason, people are happy to fork over anywhere between $40,000 and $100,000 for college education, but not $2000 for a 3-day workshop with a living legend.

In fact, once people leave school people feel their education is over, but there’s a reason the final ceremony at college is called a “commencement” ceremony, because it’s really just the beginning of our education.

Let’s face it, whether we choose to study or not, life will teach us many lessons.

That’s why I spend, on average, $100 a month to purchase new books, audio lectures or DVD trainings (I usually have to save up for these) because I know that my success largely depends on who I become as a person, from studying then doing.

Education also directly links into the third lesson on the list which may be the most valuable.

Our mentors, whether they are in books or in person, are people who have “been there, done that.”

So when they share their mistakes with us, we should take notes…copious notes.

Naturally, we’ll make our own mistakes along the way no matter whose plan we follow, but mentors can help us sidestep some major land mines.

Knowing what NOT to do can often prove even more valuable than what to do.

I realize my son is only four, but often times what we learn at a young age is the foundation upon everything else is built.

School will take care of subjects such as Japanese, science and PE.

Money, love, success and life are up to us (my wife and I) though.

So many parents leave education up to the school system, but I think back to the words of my mentor, Jim Rohn, when he said, “Formal education will make you a living; self-education will make you a fortune.”

One day my son will have to choose his own path, but till that time I’m going to do my darndest to help him see the value of learning.

Wish me luck.

Adrian Shepherd

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success principles: 7 life lessons learned from a Europe concert

Expert Perspective

Apr 082013

Reading time: 7 – 11 minutes

“It’s the final countdown…”

One of my favorite rock songs from back in the day.

I believe it was 1991. At that time few musicians had Thailand on their tour schedule so when I heard that Europe (the group) was coming to perform in Bangkok I jumped at the chance to see a real life rock band.

Little did I know that rocking out at a concert would end up being so memorable.

I remember it like it was yesterday.

We arrived at the arena late because of traffic. The concert was supposed to begin at 6:30 and we arrived at 6:00.

I should have known that it was going to be an interesting day the minute we entered the stadium.

There was a sea of people between us and the stage.

We could barely make out the people on stage from the back but what could we do?

My best friend said something along the lines of, “Screw this…I’m going to the front.” I honestly didn’t see how the 12 of us would make it, but he was undeterred and proceeded to walk us all the way to what seemed to be the 12th row – I was impressed. Now you might be wondering why I said, “seemed to be.”

Well, unlike concerts in the US or Japan, there were no seats whatsoever.

Imagine an empty soccer field with no stands and you begin to understand what it looked like.

6:30 rolled around and nothing.

The sun set shortly afterwards and still nothing.

Around 7:30 things started happening.

A few stage lights were turned on and some people appeared to do what looked like a few last minute checks on stage.

Naturally, as the audience had been waiting for a while, the excitement started to build.

Then at 7:40 it began.

First the lights went off and a buzz started going around the stadium. Everyone got to their feet and within 30 seconds or so “Kaboom…” it had begun.

I forget which song they did first but what I don’t forget is what happened next.

A surge of people pushed to get closer to the stage.

With no seats in-between us, it became one big mess of people pushing in every which way.

I instantly became separated from my friends.

I didn’t know what to do so decided to make my way to the front, that way at least I’d enjoy the concert.

Within a minute I found myself in the second row, awesome right?!

Not really…I tried to put my hands in the air to jam but as soon as I did I became pinned between the man in front of me and the people behind me. The pressure was intense. I could hardly breathe.

I used my left forearm to create space for myself by placing it on the back of the man in front of me and was able to get back to jamming.

I can still remember the look on the man’s face when he turned around. His eyes said it all…fear.

The crowd had lost control.

He was terrified and was bracing himself against the stage with two hands.

Suddenly, what had been fun became very real.

I then heard a distinct, “Help” from somewhere behind me.

Now in 1991 I should mention that there were very few Westerners residing in Bangkok, especially those who would be found at a Europe concert. I would estimate a maximum of maybe 2,000 people in the entire city at the time.

I looked around and saw one of my best friends and, just like the man in front of me, his eyes told me everything I needed to know.

My friend loved to workout and he was quite strong but he no match for the awesome strength of the crowd.

It was like watching a drowning man scream for help.

He was about 15 rows back so I pushed and shoved my way to him. When I reached him, I found he was with two other girls from my school equally terrified.

I looked around and saw that the best option was to head back towards the stage and get out that way.

I grabbed them and started guiding them through the crowd.

On our way, we were pushed to the ground by the human wave and I knew we were in real danger. We had seconds.

I jumped to my feet immediately and pulled them up as fast as I could.

The next thing I knew we were at the stage. My friend and I helped push the girls onto the stage first, then I gave my friend a boost. All that was needed was for me to climb on stage and follow them.

I pulled myself up when all of a sudden, the nails holding the board in place came out and I fell back into the crowd.

Crash.

Thankfully I, nor anyone else was hurt by this.

I found myself alone.

The people I had helped had disappeared off stage. I had no idea where my original group of friends were. Me, myself and I.

While all of this took place, the concert had been stopped and the musicians taken off stage. The police were called in to take control of the situation.

Things finally calmed down.

People had stopped pushing so I made my way through the crowd easy enough. I was unsure of what to do; stay or leave.

By chance, I happened to run into my original group of friends and we proceeded to exchange stories of what had happened to us. Many of us had lost our watches. My best friend’s brother had lost both his shoes. It was crazy.

The concert was restarted a short time later and we decided to make the most out of our evening and enjoyed the rest of the concert.

It wasn’t until later that night that I really had time to analyze what had happened. And how truly dangerous it was.

I learned 7 lessons that fateful night:

Fresh air is not the same as heated air.
Our strength is directly related to the amount of air we have.
No one man’s strength can compare to that of a hundred or a thousand.
Height helps.
Danger can strike at any time.
Bravery is not something you plan for – you either do it or you don’t. There is no right or wrong. Some people panic, some don’t.
Panic can cost you seconds you don’t have.

The energy created from all the bodies moving together was intense and just a few inches separated fresh air from hot air. I’m not tall (about 6″) but at that stadium I was taller than 95% of the people there and that made all the difference.

It is my hope that you never find yourself in a similar situation but should you, remain calm at all costs.

Time is of the essence so take a deep breath and take action decisively.

Business crises are no different from life-threatening ones.

People follow someone with a plan.

I’m just grateful that mine worked out that night.

Funny, I never imagined that a Europe concert would have such a profound effect on my life.

Adrian Shepherd

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success principles: making the best out of bad situations

Expert Perspective

Apr 032013

Reading time: 5 – 8 minutes

When life gives you lemons make lemonade…

Great advice but as most wise expressions go, they’re easy to say…not quite as easy to live.

And unfortunately, there’s just no way of getting around the lemons of life.

Even the luckiest of us run into trouble every now and then.

Problems are unavoidable, but what we do with them will determine just how far we’ll go in life.

Ever since I can remember I’ve been interested in people’s lives…partly because I wanted to know, partly because I wanted to learn.

Add in my profession as an English teacher and my background in psychology and success principles and you’ve got a guy who loves what he does.

I’m paid to listen to people’s experiences, whether in business or in life, and offer advice.

And believe me, over the years I’ve heard it all.

Everything from broken bones to broken hearts…people somehow feel comfortable discussing such things with me because of two reasons:

I’ll give it to them straight
I’ve experienced a lot in my own life
I’ve traveled the world
I can keep a secret

Here are just a few of the things I’ve had to help people with:

Failed business
Broken arm
Bad customers
Loss of $250,000
Surgery
Failed presentation
TV broken
Near-death experience
Relationship breakup
Failed college entrance tests

As you can tell, some were more devastating than others.

But the goal here is to make the most out of these life lemons so here’s how I spun things.

When it came to the failed business venture, I asked my client to list all the lessons they learned from the experience. The exercise was invaluable for my client as he was able to see just how much he had grown from the experience and despite losing in the vicinity of $25,000 he earned an honorary MBA from the school of hard knocks. It also helped him reevaluate his future plans and today is much happier on the path he has chosen.

A broken arm is nothing drastic and is a short-term problem, but it most definitely can be a pain. But speaking from experience I can say that I studied more and was in better shape as I was forced to walk everywhere. More lemonade.

Bad customers are a fact of life. However, they do teach you valuable lessons and often give you insight into your own business that you overlooked. And there’s nothing like fixing a customer’s complaint to create a strong relationship. Out of bad customers can come new systems to minimize problems and all the while your negotiation techniques will be tested.

A loss of $250,000. This one was personal. Not me, but my father…and a devastating blow to us. I’m not sure how he recovered because I only learnt of it after his passing. However, what it did for me was that it made me realize I can’t rely on a financial advisor to protect my money. If a company worth $692 billion can go bankrupt (Lehman Brothers) then any business can.

Surgery can be scary. Especially the first time. The benefits (besides fixing whatever’s wrong) can be the push people need to change their eating habits, to get more exercise, to spend more time with their family, to cut back on work, to work harder…the list is endless.

It is said that people are more afraid of public speaking than death. I must admit it is scary to have all these eyeballs staring at you, judging your every word, looking for an excuse to leave…and often times our first presentations don’t go as well as we had imagined. At least, that was the case for me. However, knowing you failed can be the push you need to buckle down and never fail again.

What would we do without TV? Easy — more family interaction, more reading time, more creativity, more activities, more outside adventures.

A near death experience will make you question life itself. As Brendon Burchard says in his lectures, when he managed to pull himself from a wrecked car, he realized that sooner or later we always ask ourselves three questions:

Did I live?
Did I love?
Did I matter?

In doing so, we take stock of our lives and are given the opportunity to do what we were meant to do.

Heartache is a tough one. It’s all inside and no matter how much you tell people there are other fish in the sea, they just don’t want to hear it. But as I have learned, when it comes to relationships, if it’s meant to be, it is.

Being single can teach you a lot about yourself and your dreams and most importantly, it gives you the opportunity to find someone better.

When we’re young, failure can hit you hard. Especially for many young men and women whose dream it is to attend a certain university. The mistake many students make is that they think a college makes you who you are…when it’s the opposite, you make the college.

You will only get out of it, what you put into it. And it doesn’t make a difference whether that’s at an Ivy League school or not.

The greatest thing about any school is not the name, it’s the friendships you make. Only you can determine your effort…just because a teacher tells you to study one book doesn’t mean you can’t read 50.

In every problem, there exists opportunity. An opportunity to learn, to grow, to achieve.

The only question is whether you’ll take the time to look for it.

Always keep in mind — Lemonade, lemonade, lemonade.

Adrian Shepherd

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success principles: there is always a price to pay for success

Expert Perspective

Apr 012013

Reading time: 5 – 8 minutes

Helping people isn’t easy…

I’m amazed at how often people ignore good advice. Movies, gadgets, restaurants, relationship advice, or investments…people seem to have a built-in force field that prevents them from listening to good suggestions.

Just the other day as I jumped on the train, I happened to notice the young lady next to me studying English.

As is common here in Japan, she was using a word book so I asked her what she was studying. She replied she was studying for TOEIC which is a business English test.

I wished her good luck and then took a seat.

I started reading my own book when I remembered I had some flyers of my school in my bag.

I quickly jotted down my email in case she might want to contact me directly, then went back up to her and gave her the flyer.

Now, in all the years I have given out my card on the train, less then 10% of people ever bothered to contact me.

It doesn’t make a difference whether we talk about English, success or investing (my three main areas of expertise), 10%.

When I have gotten an email from someone, I am rather taken back.

This was one such time.

I got an email from her later that evening thanking me for the information.

I asked her why she wanted to learn English and she told me that her reasons were two-fold:

Improve her job opportunities
Make friends with people all over the world

She then asked me how she could improve. It was obvious from her writing that she was very much a beginner so I told her that the most realistic option was to find a good teacher.

I told her that word books and grammar study, although it being the de facto choice here in Japan, aren’t effective for most people for one simple reason — they are BORING.

Despite what we may have been taught to believe about studying, I’m here to tell you it can be fun.

A good teacher can make a difficult subject seem easy. A good teacher can make a dry subject interesting. A good teacher will keep challenging you to be better. And a great teacher can do all of that and more.

But as I’m used to hearing, I got an email from her saying…”But a good teacher isn’t cheap.”

I chuckled…because I have learned that in life, for whatever we want, we must be willing to pay the price for success.

The price can only be paid in three ways:

Money
Effort
Time

And you must pay in two ways. Let me explain.

If you spend money (access to quality education) and put in effort then your investment of time can be shortened.

If you spend money and time, you don’t have to invest that much effort.

If you put in a lot of effort and time, you can save money.

Many people try to get away with just paying one…no can do. Simply spending money on expensive courses won’t help if you don’t invest time or effort. Simply working hard for a short period of time without investing in quality training won’t get you very far. And simply investing time but not effort or money will result in slow progress, if any.

As one might expect, the fastest way to success is to pay with all three. Quality education, hard work and a lot of time invested in any task will pretty much guarantee your success.

Unfortunately, as we have other responsibilities and things to attend to, most of us can’t pay all three. It’s just too high a cost.

So what’s the best option?

The answer really depends on where you find yourself at this very moment.

You could be one of those unfortunate people who was downsized so you might be concerned about money; effort and time might be the right choice for you.

On the other hand, you might be a student and your parents are footing the bill. In this case, you might not be willing to work that hard. Thankfully, time is on your side.

Only you know which is the best option for you but if you’ll allow me, I’ll share mine with you.

Of these three though, only time is irreplaceable.

You can always make more money and you can control how much effort you put in, but time is what it is.

Therefore, to me, by choosing to pay success with money and effort will get you to where you want to go the fastest giving you plenty of time to enjoy it.

Don’t be cheap when it comes to success; in both money and effort.

Seek advice from the best out there…then go to work on the ideas you discover.

Success may come with a steep price tag, but it’s all worth it.

I only hope the lady on the train figures that out.

Adrian Shepherd

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success principles: living through interesting times

Expert Perspective

Mar 282013

Reading time: 5 – 8 minutes

A lot can happen in two weeks…

Two weeks ago few people outside of Europe had ever heard of the small island of Cyprus.

Today, it has taken center stage of the financial world.

A population of roughly a million people and a bailout of what is considered pocket change (10 billion euros) in today’s economics and people are waiting on edge to see what the fallout effect will be to the actions taken by the European Central Bank.

A democratic country confiscating part of their own citizens’ money to stabilize their banking system.

I never thought I’d see the day.

You may have heard me say it before but since the Internet blasted off back in the 90s the world has been undergoing incredible rapid change and we, as a civilization, are struggling to keep up.

The Internet has turned the world upside-down. It has evened the playing field.

Today everybody knows everything. Anyone with a smartphone has instant access to news halfway across the globe.

Countries like India, China and Russia which were pretty much non-existent just 20 years ago are beginning to shift the balance of power from West to East. We can all feel it.

I wonder what the world will be like in the years to come but I feel it’s a pretty safe bet that:

Our financial system is about to change
The education system is in desperate need of change
Our governmental system needs an overhaul
Technology will continue to revolutionize how we do everything

Now those are some pretty big statements but I stand by them. I have spent 5 years studying finance and have come to the conclusion that Lehman Brothers was a turning point which is why I set out to create a seminar to help educate people on what is to come – www.financialfutureseminar.com.

I also know that education is the key to succeed in the changing world.

We can no longer rest on our laurels.

Today you either keep up, or go the way of the dinosaurs.

Sadly, I feel that most people are not prepared for the changes that are coming our way which is why I created this site; to share ideas that will make a difference.

I’ve been an educator for going on 23 years now and believe I have a duty to my clients to prepare them as best I can.

I started out as an English teacher but now teach ideas to inspire using English.

As the great Jim Rohn often said at the beginning of his presentations, “A combination of things I hope you’ll find here today, ideas plus inspiration…” That’s what this site is all about.

All I want to do is do my part.

School used to prepare us for the workforce but while the world is undergoing incredible change, our education system is still plodding along as if nothing has changed.

One day, in the near future, people are going to begin asking questions as to the validity of the manner in which we study, in fact, it’s already begun.

Here in Japan, Tokyo University, the country’s leading college has begun to see the importance of requiring students learn how to not simply read and write English but rather actually being able to use it as a daily tool.

I applaud the change but wonder what took them so long.

The fact is our governments and schools have gotten so big that change is a four-letter word. And teachers who have only one skill to their name should be worried.

The 21st century I believe will center around four things:

Languages
Adaptability
Multiple Skills
Technology

In years past one skill was enough, in today’s world a single technological innovation can render people obsolete almost overnight. Machines that cost less, less trouble to deal with, more accurate and companies don’t have to worry about healthcare benefits.

I wonder if that by the time my son grows up, physical universities will no longer be the first choice for high school graduates instead opting for online lessons from the best teachers in the world (much like what Amazon did to bookstores) or small specialty schools with one single focus.

All this change might scare some people but if you’re reading this then you’re not “some” people.

You are someone who values education and is dedicated to the craft of learning.

Most people would rather spend the evening watching “Dancing with the Stars” than read a good book. Most people believe that once they finish school, they are done with learning. Most people would rather ignore what is happening right in front of them than face facts that something is different.

But the fact is change is coming.

Change has always been there but unlike generations before us in which change took decades, today it takes years.

And here’s the good news, there is still time…the question is whether you will take the time to prepare or wait for change to arrive.

Most people will choose the later.

I’m not and I hope you won’t either.

Yes, we are most certainly living through interesting times.

Adrian Shepherd

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