Rich Read A Lot by Ashok Jainani

“A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies, said Jojen. The man who never reads lives only one.” George RR Martin.

The rich and successful people in business and life read a lot. Money moguls such as Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, Elon Musk, Charlie Munger, Oprah Winfrey have one free-pastime in common: Reading. They read and study books to self-educate regularly. In this country of sadhus and spiritually oriented, score of successful businessmen also read Bhagavad Gita, which they like to always keep handy should they need a dose of inspirational education either at office or home. Books and Bhagavad Gita, the ultimate self-help guide for humans for over 5,000 years is what you will probably find rich people have next to their beds.

They devote a significant amount of time every day to reading books for self-improvement. Through reading, one learns what he does not know, what has passed and yet is forever present through print in books. Wryly, most of the 99 percenters spend huge amount on fashion, eating out, travel and various things but do not have book-shelf in their house.

Psychologically, there is a qualitatively vast difference between the consciousness level of the rich and poor. Rich read and watch (on television) successful people and try to emulate them to become themselves successful while the poor read and watch to emotionally identify themselves with virtual models and like to live their life only in dreams. Poor read and watch for entertainment which helps identify themselves with screen characters to strengthen their self-image and thus satisfy “unfulfilled desires” through fantasizing.

 

Toastmaster Ashok Jainani

“Action is what differentiates beings in terms of baseness and excellence,” Buddha said. Your daily habits dictate your financial and emotional success in life. The rich read books for self-improvement, biographies, books about successful people and the things like that. Rich and poor alike crack their spines but the key difference is that less financially successful people read for entertainment and pleasure, while the rich read constantly for self-improvement: To learn from other successful people to improve their own skills in various spheres of business and life and motivate their colleagues at the workplace.

The poor, in stark contrast, are not poor only in material terms but also do not read in the first place. If at all they do, they read for entertainment. A big majority, 79 per cent of the poor read for entertaining while only 11 per cent of the rich people read for entertainment.

When it comes to television viewing habits, the rich watch it for lesser amount of time than the poor who watch mostly entertainment for more than 2-3 hours a day. Two-thirds, 67 per cent of the rich watch television for one hour or less per day when they watch more of news and current affairs shows rather than entertainment. Just 23 per cent of the poor people keep their television viewing time under 60 minutes.

Thomas Corley, the author of “Rich Habits: The Daily Success Habits of Wealthy Individuals” also found that only 6 per cent of the wealthy watch reality shows, while a vast majority, 78 per cent, of the poor do watch reality shows on television. Another finding is that almost all the rich, 94 per cent, like to read news publications, blogs which only 11 per cent of poor people do.

The middle class people read novels, tabloids and entertainment magazines while a wealthy person is likely to have an extensive collection, if not a library, of books they use to educate and improve themselves on the way to success in whatever profession or business they may be engaged in. Though many of the most rich and successful people may have little formal education, meaning they may not have many formal degree courses but they do appreciate the power of learning, or rather to say virtues of continuous learning.

Seven Wonders of Life : By Sanjay Bhandari

17 Sept 2016, Sanjay Bhandari, Project 2

Let me start with an interesting story told by Joy Garrison, an English teacher in Indiana for over 30 years.  A group of students was asked to list what they thought were the “Seven Wonders of the World.” Though there were some disagreements, the final list comprised of all the monuments from Egypt’s Pyramid to Tajmahal. But the teacher noted that one girl had not finished her paper yet. So she asked the girl if she was having trouble with her list.

The girl replied, “Yes, a little. I couldn’t quite make up my mind because there are so many.”

The teacher said, “Well, tell us what you have, and maybe we can help.”

The girl hesitated, then read, “I think the ‘Seven Wonders of the World’ are:

1.    To see

2.    To hear

3.    To touch

4.    To taste

5.    To feel

6.    To laugh

7.    and to love.”

Toastmaster - Sanjay Bhandari

    The room was so quiet you could have heard a pin drop.

Let’s introspect our life and check how true the girl was. We believe that the seven wonders of the world are places or items. The true seven wonders of the world are a matter-o-fact, every day things, and by things I mean feelings, emotions, and senses.

We’re so busy looking for the big picture that we sometimes miss the little pictures that make it up. It’s true in all aspects of life, personal and professional. If I look at what’s important in our professional life, certainly a successful career is right up there, but how do these seven wonders get help us reach there? Let’s analyse one by one:

The first wonder of the world is to See.  

See, Observe, Focus and Stay Focussed. Staying focused while at work is a matter of building good habits. Set clear goals: Instead of saying, “I'm going to work a solid eight hours every day,” let’s make a list of our top priorities for the week. This helps us avoid reacting to every distraction that comes up and see our way to success…

The second wonder of the world is To Hear.

Not just to the outer world but start listening to our inner voice. Start following our heart. But how to do that. It’s simple, all we have to do is calm down and pay attention. Don’t be in a rush. Don’t try too hard, have fun. Notice how our inner voice works in making tough choices on our way to success.

The third wonder of the world is to Touch.

Touch the hearts. Even if we walk with the king, don’t loose the Common Touch. Think of walking out of the board meeting and thank the junior in the corridor for the way she kept the board room ready. Generally people are prepared to go extra mile for those who value them. When we have the common touch we will elicit respect and support which will always keep us in the leadership position on our way to success..

The fourth wonder of the world is to Taste.

Its lovely to taste the chocolate on Valentine’s day, isn’t it? But do we taste our words before we spit them out. Never ever make people feel "shitty" about themselves; it may be funny to us, but trust me, we won't be laughing long when we realize that we're the reason they cry themselves to sleep every night, we're the reason that they've developed depression, and that we're the reason they are no longer here. Let’s our words set our way to success..

The fifth wonder of the world is to Feel.

If we’re too ambitious, we’re bound to feel like a failure from time to time. Regardless of what we achieve, there’s always someone with more, and this can make us feel like we’re losing. There’s no sense in feeling like a failure just because we think we should have a better job, a bigger house, or a nicer car. Real success comes from the inside, so have a happy feeling on our own way to success.

The Sixth wonder of the word is to Laugh.

They say that "laughter is the best medicine," but we need to master the art of Lauching as per occasion. We need to Laugh it Loud while celebrating with friends and families at the same time if the occasion is a serious one, others may not appreciate our laughter. Let’s master the art of laughing on our way to success..

The seventh wonder of the world is To Love.

Love our work, love our people. Love is probably the best, which is why I have it as the last in my talk. For this one, I don’t have much to say. Because to love, is to live, and to live is the Eighth wonder of the world.

Let’s create awareness and ask ourselves, Can we see our way to success? Can we feel it? Can we taste it? Can we smell it? Is it calling to us? Will we have some fun getting there, and will we love what we do?

I invite all of you to do just that today.  Let’s explore how being aware about these seven wonders of our life can help us elevate in all walks of our life.

To summarise my talk, Touch someone's heart whenever you can, Taste all that life has to offer, Smell the roses, Hear the nice things that others have to say, See the beauty inside everyone.................and you will never fail in life.