How to become financially free

I made a special video for my videoblog from T Harv Eker Millionaire Mind seminar. If you're interested in building a lifestyle of your dreams you might want to check it out. 

How about living your dream life?

Some articles get me so excited. They just HIT ME -- BOOM! Right between the eyes.

Because when I go out in the net with a clear question in my mind -- and I find an exactly right article with the right answer in it -- then I don't just feel interested. No, I feel absolutely thrilled and so excited that I'm jumping on my chair (boy, I should show more of my excitement in the office -- gotta look into that:).

And I want to share that article with you and  few reasons why this got my brain cells dancing samba.

So today my question was -- what's my dream lifestyle?

And I'm talking about living the life of your dreams. A conscious lifestyle design, choosing what you really want, what fits to your personality and what gets this unique YOU clicking like a tick-tack-bomb.

The thing is -- I grew up in a normal family. Mom and dad went to work, I went to school, took guitar and ceramics classes, played with my brother, fought with my sister, studied well, met my boyfriend, got married, graduated from uni. You know -- totally OK story, everybody does that...up to a certain point when I said: "Hey, my dreams are dragging me towards something different, gotta go!"

Where? Well, where the gut asked me to go, without a goal, really -- just to keep moving and keep growing.

So I ended up in all the crazy sizzly-wizzly-buzzly adventure that contained the colorful lifestyle in AIESEC, traveling all across the Europe, meeting new mentors, making friends who inspire the mind out of me, divorcing my husband (who became a superstar in Estonia later on -- people, never let a relationship hold you back from your true potential:) and ending up in Kuala Lumpur, the job of my dreams.

This is all good, constant moving makes the Universe go WOW -- but heck, gotta move to the next level. Enough of rambling towards my goals based on the gut feeling -- going with the flow and KNOWING where you want the flow to go sounds Pretty Sweet.

So now the question -- what's my dream lifestyle?

By now you realize that I can't exactly go back to my past experiences to find a good answer. I love my family tremendously and I'm getting tons of them -- but I don't have to choose the same lifestyle as my family and peers have chosen. And to choose a different one you gotta seek for different experiences.

My question -- how are the super successful people living? What's normal for them and out-of-the-box for me? Gotta learn that, baby -- so I can actually expand my dreams and start seeing what else is possible.

So with that question in mind I stumbled across this article that I mentioned in the beginning -- from the Wordpress founder who describes the way he works. And what a brilliant article that is for anyone seeking new ideas for a dream lifestyle! Not to copy-paste, but to find at least one new idea to stick on your vision board.

I'm working on mine now, can't believe it took me 25 years to consciously design one :D

What to do with your Sundays

One thing that's crystal clear for me is this -- in order to stay competitive you have to learn new stuff all the time. Though I'm still far from perfect in using my time, I have some nerdish habits that help me to move ahead.

Here's an honest pick of them:

• reading a book when I go to the toilet
  
• carrying a pocket-format book with me in my bag -- you never know when you have 5 spare minutes
• listening to TED-talks before I go to sleep
• listening to audio podcasts when I'm cooking
• adding all the good blogs in my Google Reader, sorting them under different categories such as Marketing, Personal Development, Spiritual Lessons etc and checking my Google Readers at least once a week
• throwing a few question about the project I'm working on to my co-workers on casual lunch breaks or 5-min breaks to get quick, innovative feedback

Any useful habits you have that help you to integrate learning naturally and easily into your everyday life?

Anyway as it was Sunday today, I spent several hours on learning new stuff. Here my reading list from today:

1. 10 Golden Lessons from Steve Jobs -- if you would read only one thing today, this would be it. Life lessons from a guy who changed the world with his bold vision and flawless execution
   
2. Copyblogger.com -- an excellent resource about how to persuade through a written word, lot of guest blog posting and tips on how to improve your communication skills
3. Penelope Trunk on career choice, blogging and life -- the author "gets naked" and shares some of the very private insights from her own life, yet remains universal. Human, smart and enjoyable
   
4. Brilliant marketer Seth Godin on his experiment of hiring brilliant people, building interesting brands and standing out as a blogger
5. Presentation ZEN: Making presentations in TED style -- a wonderful guide for everyone in making a meaningful presentation or preparing for your once-in-a-lifetime TED-talk
6. Alex Mandossian: Why Multitasking Destroys Your Productivity (and other useful stuff -- just watch out for the sales pitch in many of the interviews -- or learn how to do it yourself for your own business:)

I'd be glad if you'd share your own suggestions in the comments!

Make up your mind, baby!

It's always good to get clear on things -- any decision is better than no decision at all. Indecisiveness is like an ultimate pain formula -- it freezes you in a state where you don't really want to be until you start believing there's no other way.

That's one of the biggest b....t-stories people tell themselves, the story of having only one option. There are always more, reality is just our version out of countless of opportunities, merely a perception. You don't have to look far for proof -- just think of someone else experiencing the exact same situation and you already have a new version of the reality.

If you can't make a decision you're actually choosing the miserable state that you're trying to avoid. You're so afraid of the outcomes of your new decision that you refuse of any improvement at all, just freeze, hoping that someone else will make a decision for you.

And they will, no doubt about it. People make decision for us all the time -- and if you haven't made up your mind what's your own desired outcome you will pretty much follow any decision that comes to your way.

Well, here's the news -- I don't think anyone else knows where exactly you want to go. I don't think they spend so much time as yourself of thinking what would be your best interests.

So it pretty much leaves you the only choice to DECIDE. And not to allow other people to make a decision for you, unless you're convinced they overlap with your own plans.

Why I'm inspired to write all of this? Because heck -- sometimes the decision is a tough one, something you don't really want to do. And every cell in your body is vibrating against it, longing to linger on in the moment. But if you're smart you'll always consider the long-term consequences of your decisions -- what might seem to be good now, might lead you to a long-term misery in the long run.

Eating too much. Sleeping too long. Procrastinating a task.

Or spending time with people who just use you.

Get clear on what you want and just do it. You will definitely need the extra self esteem in the future.

I Want to Read a Book About You

Your life is an amazing story. If you would write a book about your TODAY it would be an amazing reading. It would take my breath away, guaranteed. Yes, I mean your real day -- so real that at first you don't even notice it happened. Your true desires, the very real questions, the simple human expressions -- everything visible, hidden and buried that makes you the miraculous being that you are.

Yes, I wish I could read that book of your today, I would be so inspired.

How many wonderful things are happening to you every day? Some are so outstanding that you're literally swept off your feet, if you allow, of course. Some become serious relationships, some turn into spiritual journeys, some remain short affairs that bring a smile upon your face every time you think about it. Some are your secret desires or your sweet victories in the battlefield against your darker side.

Life is made of these moments -- do you still get the vibe when you think about the life you're living?

Savor the moment, celebrate your success. And remember the beautiful details of your experiences, your story was never supposed to be a 2-dimension black-and-white-movie. Tell a story that your grandchildren would love to hear. Remember your first, second, third and fourth love with the same inspiration. Get all excited when remembering THAT job interview. Sense the special electricity when you got your first passport. Remember the longing for this special person -- with a smile for all that you learned.

Give value to all your experiences. Remember the colors. Stay human. No regrets. A beautiful, full, rich life.

Love every piece of it.

I'd really love to read the true story of your today.

This commercial I found from Peep's blog is a perfect match with what I've written today.

Why it's so important to choose the right crowd

Have you been in a situation where you feel you just don't fit in the group? The jokes they make, stories they tell -- you just don't "click", have nothing to add?

Sucks, right?

Unless it was that you were sick or tired, you probably experienced some kind of a conflict between your values and the values of the group. 

The thing is that every group is sharing certain values, this is what keeps it together -- and if your values don't match you better do something about it.

1. Learn to be a better communicator and keep a different opinion without insulting the group members
   
2. Change your opinions
   
3. Leave and choose a better crowd
   
4. (add your own thought)

Just sitting around and feeling bad about yourself doesn't help anybody, least yourself.

The truth is that no matter how strong is your personality and how effective you are in communication -- the group always influences your opinions. Even a slight change in your opinion influences your internal values and the more you have to adjust, the more you become alike the group.

I'm not saying if it's good or bad, just that -- make sure you choose the right crowd. If you haven't recently been drawn to a conversation that inspires you or you haven't felt really INTO the group -- you probably gotta meet some new people.

And a hint about your values -- watch out for the things that you really, really like. Everything that makes you feel good says a great deal about your values. You shouldn't change these values that make you bloom, change only those that make you feel down.

Allright, gotta run on a dinner, talk later!

Another wonderful social experiment

Internet is amazing. I found this video where musicians from all around the world are playing the same song that comes together as one music video.

It's great, I love the idea. It's simple, innovative, meaningful and fun -- that's how executing powerful ideas should be. Not hard work, but a fun journey.

This video is actually part of an award-winning documentary "Playing For Change: Peace Through Music". Check out the whole story here.

What I dislike about church

Christian girl is back in church.

On our trip to Penang island I visited Malaysian biggest temple. Beautiful place, I love the atmosphere in churches and other religious places. They've gathered lot of good energy and hope, you can just feel it.

Though enjoying the vibe and the special connection with myself I did realize that institutionalized religion has left some unwanted influences in my brain. You see -- church wires you up in a certain way and you can trace the subconscious influences -- not always wanted and beneficial -- even years after moving on.

I was a Christian girl -- went to church half of my life, was raised in christian traditions, learned to follow and fight for values that I took from my church.

It took me years to rebuild my core values once I realized that church was not really holy nor working for my best interests. And now, while working in Malaysia, traveling around, building a new social network and being close to my learning edge I'm re-estimating with my core value system once again.

And I've discovered some belief systems coming straight from church -- which beg to be changed -- if I'm serious about becoming the person I was born being.

This is what church does to your brain.

1) it makes you believe the truth is black and white

2) it makes you not to question

3) it makes you to believe there's always a higher authority who already knows

4) that there are rules and you have to follow these rules

5) it makes you rely on others

I'm not against religion, really. I think it makes sense and has a lot of universal truths in it.

It's just the church, the institutionalized religion that I find dangerous for unprepared minds.

It's the hypocrisy together with the denial of true human potential that makes me dislike institutionalized religion. It leaves traces in your brain that you need to consciously remove to be successful in this world and to be fully connected with your natural being.

And I'm sorry if I've offended anyone with this posting. I know a lot of good people in church who have managed to maintain the purity of their practice. Yet majority of them are just followers, brains switched off and words far away from deeds.

I'm glad there's hope, though -- we can change if the need is burning enough for us.

So this one is for going through necessary transformations.

This posting is not about longing, but about appreciating

This is a random thought, but I really want to share this.

I think you are so lucky that you can be with the people who are around you today.

You are.

So whoever is around you give appreciation to them they truly deserve, just because they are there right now.

I do the same here, so that I don't have second thoughts once I change the space.

First find your question

Maru asked me in the morning if BWM-Ferrari is the fastest car in the world. Well, when it comes to cars I hold the record in knowing the least, but I do know that BMW and Ferrari are not the same brand. This said I didn't have much more to add -- except that it's certainly a GREAT QUESTION.

I'm honest with my kid -- if I don't know the answer, I tell him: "Google knows." And I save the day - together with my reputation - with a little Google search.

The ideal time to do this came today while sitting in a fish and chips restaurant and waiting for the -- fish and chips. With a little everyday-magic from Google we learned that the fastest car in the world is SSC Ultimate Aero that can develop a speed more than 415 km/h.

What happened then was my aha!-moment of the week. To host a decent conversation over the dinner I proposed a game: "Let's both ask a question about something we want to know. The one who has more questions is the winner."

And here's the aha! -- I realized that it's much harder to ask questions then to provide answers. That might seem a minor detail, but once you try the game you understand how HUGE impact it has on our lives.

You've been trained to answer, not to ask questions (at least I know I have). You feel a bit incompetent when you don't know the answer -- as if being on the spotlight back in school, grilled by a teacher in our least favorite subject. We're all pretty good in pretending we know, which also means that the effort that should go into focused learning goes pretty often in covering up our lacks.

Think about it -- what do you want to know? What's your question?

And then go for the answer. Not the other way around.

PS: You should try the game, it's fantastic.

PPS: Maru wanted to know how many people have been killed in wars, how many sharks are in the sea of Lithuania and who killed the chicken my mother kept a few years back. I wanted to know how to gain friends and influence people -- and I've already read the book. Bugger, what did I learn, actually?

If You Don't Know What You Want, You're Doing Something Wrong

"I can teach anybody how to get what they want out of life. The problem is that I can't find anybody who can tell me what they want."

Mark Twain

Do you remember the ease of dreaming?

Have you ever felt it's hard to tell what you really want? You've ever wondered why is that?

Time to stop finding excuses for not knowing what you want and find it out. And a good place to start is to unlearn some crap you've picked up and start dreaming again.

Dreaming is something you don't need to learn -- yet it sometimes seems that with every year added to our life account we're becoming crappier dreamers. As if growing older means you don't need to dream anymore, as you already know how things work.

Well, if that was true all the innovations would have been invented by 5 year olds.

If you feel that goal setting for you is a duty, something you do because you're:

- afraid to miss out something
- want to seem smart
- have heard it's useful
- thought you'll try it
- {add your own reason}

...then it's time to get back to the basics.

Dreaming is not hard, it's not a job, it's not taking any effort. It's just the most natural ability you have -- to imagine the unbelievable and non-existing things, a better you, an improved world, you making MAGIC and beating the dragons.

You know what I mean? Dreaming is something you've done since you were a child -- and I believe that what you used to dream about has much to do with who you are now and where your life has taken you.

Now think about it -- if those dreams you had as a child have taken you through the school, maybe through the university, gave the friends, sweethearts, trips and jobs that you have and have had, then imagine where your dreams would take you now when you know so much more about the world?

It's really great to know that you already know how to dream, without any training at all. Well, at least deep down you do, but on the surface you might have ran into a dead end. Maybe asking: "Is that possible?" "Is that reasonable?" "Is that what I really want?"

If you find it hard right now to say what you REALLY WANT, you probably need to unlearn some stuff you've picked up on your way here. Absolutely every person knows naturally what he wants -- if you don't anymore, you need to rediscover the ease of dreaming.

We've been much too often trained out of dreaming -- and we're trying to fill the gap with analyzing, thinking, being busy and worrying about it all. Nothing bad about thinking, but you can't really analyze the data that doesn't even exist yet. You see my point? You first need to dream the new possible reality and then make some reality check to start moving towards it.

I was observing my son the other day, he's a master dreamer. He described the future inventions he's gonna make, also the gifts he's gonna get from Santa this year (yeah, he plans that stuff 11,5 months in advance...). Obviously he was not questioning if the way he was dreaming was right or wrong, nor if it would produce the results what he wanted.

It was just fun -- no expectations, no limits.

Seeing this is refreshing. It reminds the fundamental of natural dreaming -- without worries and the anxiety about the outcome.

So dreaming is not merely setting goals. It's not even thinking. It's sensing what is already there and allowing it to come on the surface. It's easy, it's fun and it changes your life.

So before you start setting goals what you want to be 6 months from now or even before you write your daily to do list, make sure you're dreaming. Daily. It doesn't cost a thing, but it takes you forward so much faster.

If you want to know how dreaming has taken me to Malaysia and given me a dream job then check out the story from the recent video training I made for AIESEC Estonia. I believe dreaming is the necessary premise of setting goals, you need both sides of your brain to reach your highest potential. And if you're not a member of AIESEC Estonia, you can simply skip the final part of the video which is purely meant for AIESEC Estonia highly talented members (and I do think you all are).

Why I Can Never Have a 9-to-5 Job

PS: Yes, awesome is a clearly underused word -- that's the ONLY REASON why I'm overusing it in this video...

How To Accept Yourself and Find Opportunities Everywhere

There's no such thing as a normal world, normal family, normal career, normal relationship. Whatever your friends, parents, role models taught or showed you is most probably going to be different for you. So you might as well let go of all the definitions you have in your head and let your own reality open up in full beauty.

Yeah, seems that too many people are resisting their reality that wants to come. Their afraid of unconventional choices that are too far from mainstream -- though mainstream is nothing else than an illusion.

There's no such thing as a normal life. Just look at what's going on in the world, we can't keep up with stiff backbones trying to resist the change. World is changing anyway and if we try to keep it still with our solid expectations for jobs, relationships, lifestyles -- we're just always feeling we're not really getting what we wanted. Constantly missing out that something that could make us happy -- and constantly missing out opportunities that stay outside of our definitions of "normal".

Just accept the reality as it is. It's a freaking chaos, a crazy adventure, one opportunity opening up after the other, non-stop dance. Trying to control it with your expectations of "normal" and "right" is just crazy.

Go with it, flow with it. Let it come, whatever that is.

A girlfriend you didn't expect, boyfriend with a lousy car, a job opportunity that scares the hell out of you, a bold decision you should have taken a long time ago.

There's a reason why I'm not acting like any other single mom. In fact -- I think the term is misused most of the times, it tends to frame the reality in a certain way. It tells my story without me saying a word. Much too often it has a bit sad undertone, overloaded with historical negative data that sets expectations. "Oh, she must be boring." "Well, she might be good for fun, but I can't really consider a relationship with her." "Poor baby, she has been suffering so much."

This is only a perception, one way to interpret reality -- but not necessarily my interpretation.

And "single mom" is only one of the examples -- think of the terms you're being defined by or that you use to define the world. Do they help you or stop you from being happy? And is this the reality or just one perception?

I'm avoiding definitions that tie you to certain abnormalities, because the "abnormality" is often more normal than we think. World is full of unconventional stories and looking at the pace the world is changing -- stability is the last thing we can count on. Which makes me think that it's the last time to consider unconventional the new "normal".

Chaos is the most normal form of life and accepting it fully in your life allows you to fly with opportunities. So don't let the "voices" (whoever they might be) tell you otherwise.

Chaos is the new Order.

PS: Anger should be turned into constructive force to move forward. I can get angry when meeting narrow-mindedness and judgmental opinions -- probably more about meeting my own limits. This post is fully inspired from one recent occasion. All you get are lessons, I'm glad to keep learning and as crazy as it might sound -- to keep meeting difficulties.

Beware: This Music Makes You High

Can you get high on music and avoid all the bad side effects from coffee? Can music alert your brain waves so that you literally can focus better and get things done in half of the time?

I took a journey down the rabbit hole just a few days ago and the results have been so stunning that I decided to write a blog post about it.

It all started with a lunch with my colleague Hani who said she has something special I might want to try... (nope, she's not a drug dealer, you would get a death penalty for this here in Malaysia :).

She told me about music that works just like coffee -- you have more energy and you can focus better, but it doesn't have bad side effects. Just put in the headphones while you're working and enjoy the vibe!

Decided to try it and the effect was amazing! Just finished listening to one of the tracks and my brain literally vibrates.

It's a strange feeling of being high (yeah, like a bit drunk) and alert combined with focused and productive. The music is all about slowly accelerating your brainwaves, literally getting inside your head *I hope they haven't hidden any nasty sales messages into it...just kidding:)

I had my friends trying it out as well and surprisingly all of them had a slightly different effect -- but all felt high in one way or the other. Here's what one of them wrote me:

"When I started listening to is at first it didn't really do much, but when I was half way into the first part I started getting really hyper from it.

After I was done listening to all of it, I couldn't even stand still and it took me a while to calm down. I also had my friend listen to it and she said that the whole room started spinning when she was almost done listening to it."

Really cool stuff. I got so many questions about it, so I finally tracked down the company and discovered that you can actually try it for free. It's called BrainSync Brainwave Therapy and I was listening to a track called High Focus. I also tried Super Learning -- loved both of them. Not sure which tracks are offered for free on the website, but try it anyway, it also might be worth in investing a few bucks to buy the actual track.

Check it out here
-- and let me know how it worked for you.

Being lazy is not a bad thing. NO, not at all

It's freaking hot in my room. There seem to be something wrong with my air conditioner, just turned it to 14 degrees -- but nothing, I'm melting together with the mint chocolate I'm eating.

It's Friday evening and I'm at home with not a slightest desire to go out. I'm sorry for this random intro, btw, what do you expect -- I'm hot, sleepy and inspired at the same time.

Anyway I'm inspired by the new opportunities of technology. Just finished reading couple of cool blog postings and articles about brain research and gifted children -- some of the topics I'm really into these days.

What inspired me was the way how I found them. Not by browsing hundreds of Google sites, trying to track down the freshest and best quality content, but by having Google Alerts do all the work for me and just choosing the best articles from a list provided by this tool.

Google Alerts is an awesome tool to be updated with the freshest knowledge about whatever interests you. Just type in the keyword you're interested in -- and you start receiving daily or weekly updates with the materials that have been uploaded in internet the same day and that include these keywords.

It's amazing - you really stay on top of the field of your interest. You can also track what is being written about yourself or your company. Brilliant, just started to use it this week.

How to lose your personal power

Yeah, chose this time a negative headline - and for purpose. I really think it's so common to ignore and so easy to overlook that easy truth what I want to share, though it's making so many of us less as individuals -- and could be turned into a benefit so easily.

So here it is, one of the most powerful ideas I've recently picked up, this time from one of the great trainings from Mike, one of the owners of MindValley.

The law is simple -- each and every broken commitment decreases your personal power. 

The whole pile of things you know you should do, but are for whatever reason not doing makes you weak, it literally drains your personal power. All the broken commitments -- be them for others or for yourself -- decrease your personal power.

And it also works the other way around - the way to become a more powerful individual is to follow through. Simply said - by doing what you said you would do. Again - doesn't matter if you said it to yourself and nobody else knows -- or declared it you publicly, the effect is the same. You WILL become a more powerful person if you just keep doing the things that you are committed to do.

The bottom line here is -- choose your commitments carefully. Even the smallest promise -- I'll write to you, I'll send you these materials, I call you, I get it done -- tie you automatically with a source of energy. If you don't follow through -- you lose energy, if you do -- you gain more.

And don't misunderstand me here -- I don't think we should take on less tasks. Quite the opposite - we should at all costs strive for taking on more and more tasks, that's the true contribution to the world and the source of meaningful living. So the answer is not to isolate yourself from all the exciting opportunities in the world and become a bad friend who never returns a favor, but -- become a more productive person instead (isn't it simple:)?)

These are the reflections while "cleaning my own house" and removing the energy vampires from my own life. Kind of stupid to keep losing your personal power to really minor undone tasks -- better to clean the house quickly and keep growing.

It' really not an accident that Maru saw a sting ray....

After a small break I'm full of irresistible need to express myself (is it the coffee or the great Skype conversation I just had with Siim? Probably both...)

It's a quick story I want to share about creating your reality. Well - I'm a believer. I think we get everything we want. So there's nothing else more powerful than a thought -- it creates your moment.

And how often do we really recognise - wuuuhuu, it's exactly what I wanted? I am where I am now because I wanted it, would it be good or bad.

Well, recently I was walking a dirty street of Kuala Lumpur. Smelly, hot, crowded, colorful -- somehow messy. And I felt so comfortable, so alive. Why?

Because this is exactly what I wanted. Already when I was 10 years old, reading Jules Werne stories and dreaming about adventures. When I was 15 and dreamed about becoming a missionaire in Africa (yes, I come from a Christian family -- though have turned out as rather a spiritual person, not taking strong stand for nor against God, but striving for stronger connection with whatever higher powers we all have).

There's a pattern in everything we experience, reality is not an accident.

Another boost of dreams coming true was this weekend when me and my friends made a trip to Tioman, one of the Malaysian paradise islands. As part of the trip we went snorkeling around a small coral cliff. If some of you have seen an old movie "Blue Lagoon" with Brooke Shields then you might remember the scene where a little baby is swimming around in the blue water.

I didn't even know I had this image stuck in my subconscious mind till me and Maru got into the water and I just looked at this 5-year old kid swimming around in the blue sea, above beautiful corals and surrounded by colorful fishes (and one small sting ray down there...). It was beautiful, I was amazed and thrilled that this moment is truly real.

Snorkeling with my 5-year old son was not an accident. It was a thought coming true -- and when you think about it -- it's freaking powerful. I wanted that even before moving to Malaysia, before knowing that I'll be a mother that early and before thinking for a while that being a young single mother defines your reality more than your own thoughts.

It's beautiful and absolutely incredible to see how thoughts become your reality. I have a quote written on my wall: "Your dominant thought becomes your reality." Makes you responsible, doesn'it it? And confident that you really can get whatever you want - just keep stretching.

PS: A bunch of my close friends opened recently an ecotourism company, organizing unique trips for small groups to Kasakhstan and Croatia. They're having fun while travelling back to the countries they love and have created a huge network among locals -- and building a company in the process. Brilliant! Check it out if you're rather an adventure traveller and want to feel the country even without thorough preparation and spending too much time on the spot - http://reisidvabadusse.ee/

PPS: I promise to start posting again to my video blog -- latest next week. I was facing a small setback when my external drive didn't work and all my videos were gone -- but who cares, really? Yeah, I'll restarts, making videos is quite fun:)

PPPS: Estonians - you can read a small something about my everyday adventures in this article for Meie Maa. My Saaremaa identity never quite dies :)

Why walking the extra mile makes extra much sense

There’s no better inspiration for me than getting things done. And I mean - things done. Getting things done is not being busy, no, no. It means that you have a result in the end.

Result for me is an additional value to the world. In order to get something done you need to create something.

Some days are just busy. There’s a lot what needs to be done and so you do it. In my specific case - costumer support, facilitating communication, writing e-mails and at this point of time transitioning a business to a new person. None of it could be left undone.

Yet it doesn’t give me the real satisfaction - and it’s honestly quite strange how long it took me to come to this simple realization.

I’m simply NOT HAPPY when I’m busy with necessary things only, but yet don’t get things done. Because as I said - getting things done for me is creating an extra value.

This means I always need to know what’s the extra value I want to create. It can be some improvement in the business, innovation around the product, improving some concrete parts of my character, start building a new business -- whatever interests me.

The added value has to become a goal and only then I can be happy.

So in the busiest days I always have a sense of urgency in the back side of my brain that pushes me to get this done as fast as I can, because I can’t be happy before I haven’t taken - each and every single day - some time to create extra value to the world. Sometimes I even wake up in the middle of the night with this urgency in my head - damn, I didn’t really achieve anything today, I was just busy.

Last time was before one product launch - the whole day was just crazy busy that in the evening I dropped in the bed - so tired - that I fell asleep straight away. I woke up around midnight with a nagging feeling - I didn’t get done the most important thing I wanted to get done that day, which was sending out one e-mail to a newsletter. It took me 20 min to get it done and go to sleep peacefully. The next day this e-mail only brought in $ 30 000 -- and I felt I’ve achieved.

You know - there’s nothing compared to the feeling of success, this simply makes you fly and want even bigger things. So being busy doesn’t count a thing - as long as it’s just doing the things you need to do anyway.

And I don’t really want that. I simply want to be happy. And I believe we human are creators and we have a fundamental need to use this creative potential. Fooling us into being busy is just cutting us off from the real source of happiness.

After I chose to become more productive I’m still not productive enough. I’m still spending too much time on things that should take me 5 minutes. I’m simply overthinking some simple tasks that shouldn’t require too much of my brain potential -- so it doesn’t leave me enough time to innovate around the things that truly matter.

I’m determined to make the effort to speed up -- because I want to slow down. The only way to achieve your dreams is to walk the extra mile and be willing to get out of your laziness. I think being busy is an illusion we’re often creating us and lack of goals is the biggest barrier on the way to happiness.

So this posting is for living a rich and fulfilled life, let’s go:)

PS: I'm not quite sure what impression my quickly made videos really leave, so if you want to drop some comments - oh, really, I'd be happy:) Check out my Malaysia video-blog here my30daytrial.blogspot.com

Live In the Now

This is such a beautiful thought that I have to share it with you. Found it from my late time favorite daily inspirations in my mailbox - http://www.tut.com/notes/ - they have a pretty alternative approach on personal development, but the messages really work for me.

So here's the thought:

Worry and time have an inverse relationship. The more you have of one, the less you have of the other. Yet curiously, Marjam, both are suspended when you live in the now.

As you were,
The Universe

I 100% believe that you get everything you want if you put your thought on it. I usually get exactly those inspirational thoughts through a few mailing lists I'm signed up to that I need at this moment. It's pretty strange, actually, but if I have a question and I log in my personal mailbox, I often sense that the right inspiration might be in one of the mailings -- and it often is.

This one today clicked particularly well.

Wanna know why I'm shooting one video every day?

Yes, I've been recently making one video every day, from local gyms sauna, standing in the heavy rainfall to eating with my fingers. Why? Well, it all comes down to a 30-day challenge I gave myself (you can skip the rest and just check out the projects web page here my30daytrial.blogspot.com).

My quest this year is to increase my Productivity. Many times I'm not happy with how much time I'm spending on getting some things done. I feel I have more ideas than I'm able to execute and -- I want to speed up to get more of them done.

SPEED UP! Not by lowering standards, becoming a workaholic, living an unbalanced life.

No, I want it all -- the fulfilled life and fulfilled dreams -- and fulfilled potential.

Time to face the mirror and focus on some part of my path to get it aligned with my dreams.

Quite bluntly -- I feel I'm starting all over again every day. I'm a beginner, just learning to live, learning and learning and learning (called the beginners mind -- helps me to keep my mind fresh and notice opportunities).

I've come to the conclusion that self analysis isn't the most effective way for me to get results (it can rather become an paralysis of analysis), I need action to learn about myself -- and this is what I'm going to learn through.

Increasing your productivity is the key to live the life you desire. I'm looking for shortcuts, better methods, good mental practices, self discipline, knowledge -- everything I can find to increase the amount of things I get done every day.

And I told you -- I am in the beginning. The best people get things done with such a pace and ease that it blows me away. Some people in MindValley are just taking my breath away -- how the heck are they doing this? But then again - if they can, why can't I? Yes, indeed, why not...

To kick my ass about productivity I started a new blog where I'm sharing about my 30 day trials on productivity. The first trial is connecting my passion for different forms of communication and desire to deepen my learning experience in Malaysia -- I'm shooting one video every day with one lesson I learned that day. The bottom line, however is to get the video done, edit it and upload it in the blog with max 20 minutes. Right now it takes 30-40 minutes and I can do a lot to increase the quality, we'll see what's the state after 30 days.

So if you're interested in life in Malaysia and productivity in general check out my new blog my30daytrial.blogspot.com