Fabulous Fiber and Faster Weight Loss

"I do not eat salad. It is rabbit food!" I have to admit the first time I heard my uncle say this I was just a boy and found it amusing. Now that I have spent the last few years coaching people through to their weight loss goals I find the statement pitiful. Here was a man who was brilliant when it came to creating successful businesses and amassing a fortune but completely ignorant about maintaining a healthy body.

The rabbit food he held in such contempt was an excellent source of fiber and extremely important to his health. Why did my uncle need fiber and so do you?

Throughout the digestive process fibers act like sponges. Bran fibers can absorb four times their weight in liquids. Fruit fibers can absorb as much as three times. You will want to consider increasing your fiber intake for weight loss reasons. First reason is fibers can be used to stimulate the digestive juices. Combining the digestive juices with the expanding fibers and you end up with a "full" feeling without having consumed all the extra calories.

The other reason for increasing your fiber intake is that fibers are not digested and do not produce any weight gain. The fibers are merely eliminated through the intestines. There is a lot of wisdom in the old adage, "an apple a day will keep the doctor away." That same apple can keep the extra pounds and inches away too.

If you want more tips and advice on weight loss please visit us at http://www.weight-loss-recipes.com or if you have Type 2 Diabetes please go to http://www.solutions4type2diabetes.com

Results Not Typical

You have probably seen the disclaimer at the bottom of page or screen for weight loss products or programs stating, "Results not typical." The problem with having to show the disclaimer is that too many people immediately say to themselves, "I knew it was too good to be true. Most people are losing weight and getting those results!" Then they forget about the weightloss product or weight loss program without even giving it a try.

I do not look for typical people to market my weightloss programs to. The typical people the disclaimers are referring to are people who only put half-hearted attempts at sticking with a diet, exercise regime or following instructions. Do they fail at getting the results they said they wanted? Absolutely but not because of the products or programs. They failed because of their own typical apathetic approach.

One of my weightloss clients went on to lose 84 pounds and 55 inches in just over 8 months. Why was she successful at losing the weight? She was NOT typical! She committed herself to lose the weight and she accomplished her goal. She has kept the weight off for three years!

The next time you see the disclaimer that the results are not typical take heart. What the product testimonials are telling you that it is possible but you have to be better than typical in your efforts to enjoy the benefits.

Remember the weight loss success stories are typical among the winners.

Take pride in What You Show the World

The way you dress is like a billboard for the product you are offering to the world. Everything that you wear, the makeup that you put on or don’t put on, how you fashion your hair or shave it off, body piercing and tattoos are sending out a message to everyone else. Stop and look at your billboard. What is the message it’s sending?

Clothes don't make the man, but clothes have got many a man a good job.
--- Herbert Harold Vreeland

Do you dress like you care about where you are going in life and what you will be doing? There was one episode from the Seinfeld series that stuck with me. It featured George Castanza in a pair of track pants. I chuckle whenever I see someone out wearing them in a non-sporting environment like a shopping mall or the theatre. In the episode Jerry Seinfeld equates someone wearing sweat pants when they aren’t doing some form of sports or exercise to meaning they’ve given up. “They no longer believe they will attract a mate and now don’t take any pride in their appearance.”

Tell me if you have noticed this yourself. Someone will dress up all week for work but in the evenings or on weekends they dress down. I know men who don’t bother to shave on the weekends. What message are they sending to their partners? For coworkers and strangers they will attempt to look their best but for the people who are the most important to them, they can’t be bothered.

Your appearance should always be important to you. I’m not suggesting that you become a preening peacock and spend all your time primping but you should look presentable whenever possible. You’ve heard it a thousand times at least, “There is only one chance to make a good impression.” It is true. Hasn’t there been at least one time in your life when you wished you had worn something different?

Take the Best Don't Wait Like the Rest

Are you a passive Bottom Feeder in the world of job seekers or do you aggressively hunt like a Shark for the most desirable positions available? If you had to describe your method for finding great job opportunities, how would you describe it? Are you like the countless number of unemployed or underemployed who gather in large groups, most often unwittingly, and chase after the few jobs that are tossed out by companies that were forced to resort to advertising the position?

You are either unemployed or underemployed or you wouldn't be reading this article. What were the circumstances? Did technology change your world or were you downsized, restructured, adjusted, or any number of euphemisms used to soften the blow of your lost job? Don’t waste another minute of precious time or another unit of much needed energy rehashing about what got you to this place. You’re here. Deal with it.

Now before you get offended, I think that you show definite signs of having SHARK potential. A real Bottom Feeder would never have had the nerve or inclination to seek out information. Bottom Feeders are too quick to just accept their lot in life. Before you begin to pat yourself on the back too vigorously, I have to take this opportunity to tell you that it was your Bottom Feeder habits that created your current woes. If you had always utilized the SHARK Techniques you wouldn’t be sitting around reading material on finding another job.

Okay, that’s the last time I’m going to give you any more grief about past mistakes, unless you force me. As a Shark, you’re going to be in greater control over your employment situation. You will be the one to decide how long you stay and when you move on. As a Shark, you will glide through the waters of the work world with greater confidence and presence. The Bottom Feeders will be watching you pass them by and wonder why you’re so lucky at landing the choice positions. They will attribute it to luck but you and I will know that it was your SHARK Techniques that gave you the edge.

Fascinating But Worthless

I was first drawn to the idea of Duplication Marketing or Network Marketing when I read the book "Why Not Me" by Paul and Dan Monaghan. I was so impressed with it that I sought them out to join their organization. I'd like to tell you that I had phenomenal success with the company but it wouldn't be true. Unfortunately I ran into three problems, my products could be purchased at a lower cost from a better known supplier, none of the people in my circle of influence ever listened to personal and professional development tapes and I was clueless about marketing. The end result was all I had to show for my time in business were some alienated friends and a massive library of self-help tapes. The good news was that I got plenty of value from the motivational and education products because my day job was as a coach and facilitator of self-esteem and self-development workshops.

Even though I never made money from my first venture in a home-based business, I wasn't about to give up on the idea of creating exponential wealth. Well actually that wasn't really my first venture in network marketing. I had joined a company that marketed a magnetic water device that was supposed to take the hardness out of the water. It wasn't until several years later that I realized that it had been a network marketing company and there was a logical reason I was constantly being invited out to meetings. I tell you this so you won't be too surprised when you get people joining you who don't have a clue what they're joining. As Jim Rohn would say, "fascinating!"

The fascinating part is that not only did they not explore the opportunity enough to know what they were getting into but also the people doing the recruiting were not asking enough questions. There is little to gain by helping someone start their own business if in fact they do not realize that that is exactly what they are doing. They will not stick around long enough to help either of you. So get in the habit of qualify, qualify and qualify. My mentor trained me to build slow and stable. That is where the money is.

Sacrifice the Word That Stiffles Change

Confession time – I'm an avid reader. No scratch that, I'm an obsessive reader! If there are words printed I have to read them. This is one of the real reasons I gave up eating breakfast cereals and not the fact that they are loaded with sugar. I just got tired of reading the same box every day. So what do I read? Being a coach and facilitator of personal and professional growth workshops I spend 95% of my time reading and absorbing non-fiction, self-help, marketing and business development books.

There is a word I often see used in these "change your life" books. The word is 'sacrifice'. I cringe when I see it used in a specific context. Often motivational gurus will explain the simple process of success. They say you'll have to make sacrifices in your life to get the things you want. Let's look at what 'sacrifice' is typically portrayed. How many times have you see in movies where one of the characters 'sacrifices' his life for the others. They refer to it as 'making the ultimate sacrifice." Or what about the stories of primitive cultures sacrificing young maidens to appease the gods?

Yes I know I'm taking it to extremes. The words we use with our clients, pupils or audience will evoke a response. There are not many positive associations for the word 'sacrifice' that doesn't make people think they are going to lose out or lose big time. In reality the people aren't sacrificing they are trading. They aren't sacrificing their leisure time they are trading an hour of television time for a constructive activity that takes them closer to their desired goal. We've all traded before and the vast majority of the time we liked what we got in exchange.

When we go to the movies we don't think that we are sacrificing our money we think that we are trading it for something of equal or greater value. So drop the word 'sacrifice' and replace it with 'trade'. You'll accomplish more and so will those you coach or encourage.

Are You Broke Just Like Your Parents?

My good friend and financial mentor Ward Willison shared this me.

As the tree is bent so shall it grow. Unless you do something about it is my thought. While it is statistically true if your parents were broke you likely will be also. It is only true if you let it be that way. As most new millionaires came from poor families, it goes to show that you can change your past.
We are a product of our environment for many years of our lives. If your family is poor and you are 10 years old, there is little you can do about it. If you are 20 years old or older there is lots you can do about it. Once you reach a certain age where you can support yourself you then can go about designing your life, as you want it.
The trick is YOU must design it. If you just go along like you have always gone along, like your parents always went along then you would likely be broke. There is nothing wrong with being broke. I can just say from experience that I have more fun being wealthy man than when I was broke.
It is not about your parents having done it all wrong, you worry about what you are going to do and leave them alone. It is simply a matter of you taking alternative actions, that's all. You will need to do things differently and that is the hard part. Once you are an adult it seems to be difficult to change habits you have witnessed growing up and practiced as a younger person. You will need to watch carefully how you deal with money, looking for old patterns slipping back in. It is like tending a garden, it is not if a weed will grow it is only when and when it do you need to pluck it out.
Getting wealthy is really very simple, spend less than you make. Learn to invest in solid investments and repeat this until rich. The information to do those things is available from the library, Internet, bookstores, schools and people. You of course need to be careful whom you get this information from because several sources are less than honest about their information. Once you have been studying this stuff for a while you will be able to spot the tricksters fairly easily.
The best initial investment is in you. Get educated on the basics and branch out your knowledge base from there. Get good on one kind of investing and get going on it. Practice with ‘paper money’ or pretend to invest, that way you can see how it really works and make sure you have your facts straight.
The last key and most important ingredient to any millionaire is they have patience when they need it. The reason for that is, normally it will take you a lot longer than most get rich quick schemes suggest to amass a fortune. Sometimes it can 20 – 30 years and that is a long time to tend a garden but well worth it.

Your Days Are Numbered

When I was but a lad, somewhere in the last millennium, I was told that you could expect maybe four or five jobs in your chosen career. Today, the experts suggest, you will experience as many as nine full career changes. The average person changes jobs every three years whether they like it or not.

Like death and taxes, changing jobs will be a guaranteed event in your life. Finding your next job isn't always an easy task. Times have changed since the days of just walking in and filling out the application form and starting the next Monday. You'll need to know the basics of finding employment in the 21st century. That means learning how to network, writing a good resume and performing well in an interview. These are skills and like any skill, they must be learned.

Yes, anyone can write a resume. Just like anyone can pull out a tooth but in both cases if you want the job done well it pays to go to a professional. It's been said that for every 1,470 resumes an employer receives, one person gets hired. Do you want to guess who probably had the professional help with their resume?

Experts argue as to the length of time you can expect your job search to take. Michael Farr, in his book The Very Quick Job Search, claims the average job search takes 19 weeks. Martha Smith, the Director of Career Development at Huntingdon College advises that you can expect duration of 6 to 9 months. Another source suggested it would take one month for every $10,000 in salary you are seeking. Another source claimed that 70% of all statistics are made up! I suggest that you ignore the statistics and put all your energy into finding new employment.

Step One. Develop the skills that will make all the pessimistic predictions meaningless. Do yourself a favor and attend classes designed to teach you the most modern and effective methods for finding employment. A quick Internet search will turn up some government sponsored workshop to help you acquire the basic skills. If you're looking for a salary with at least six figures, then connect with a professional for the best promotional materials possible.

Step Two. Really understand how to make the numbers work for you instead of against you. Let's imagine your goal is to get three job offers. You've found out that the average person will do five interviews for every job offer. Simple math would tell you that you would have to generate fifteen interviews to get three job offers. We'll say that you are getting one interview for every ten resumes. (In my opinion, this is a clear sign that you need to talk to a professional to improve your resume.) This means that you will need to circulate 150 resumes to create three job offers. If you're committed to finding a great new job in three months then you know that you will have to contact 50 employers each month with your resume.

Step Three. Keep it all in perspective. Should you get frustrated or discouraged when you haven't tasted success after sending out your two targeted resumes today? No, because you know you are taking the steps that will get you a job offer. A week later you may have received three rejection letters, and no interviews. Are you discouraged? No, because you're on target. You're developing the quantity to get the quality. If you want a job in less time, then simply double the number of resumes you are sending out. You will experience less stress when you understand – it’s a game of numbers.

Where Interviewers Miss the Mark

Sales managers would never dream of sending a sales representative into the field without making sure they had acquired the basics on Product knowledge and customer benefits. What do professional interviewers complain about the most? It is the interviewee’s inability to communicate what they can do for the company. Their inability to explain the skills and abilities that would make them suitable for the position can leave the interviewer guessing. Bad news for the candidate is they’ll never guess in your favor. Before you can ever make a sale, you have to match your benefits with the needs of the employer. And before you can tell them about your benefits, you have to know what they are.

It’s about now that the neophyte job seeker or the prepared begins to turn pale and starts to stutter. Because they have never really thought about what benefits they bring to the workplace, they don’t know how to tell anyone about them. Don’t make that mistake. You need to have a clear idea of what you can do and what you could potentially do. Will it take some time to learn about what you have to offer an employer? Yes, but not nearly as long as you might think. It is this investment in yourself that will pay huge dividends as you cash in on bigger and better employment opportunities.

When you have a good grip on your strengths, weaknesses, and preferences, this will have an immense impact on your choice of career, how you handle yourself in an interview and your continued success in the workplace. Before you go to an interview you should be armed with five reasons based upon your strengths as to why you’re a great candidate for the position. Knowing these will build your confidence and keep your focus where it should be: on your strengths and why you’re right for the company.

Rinse Your Cottage Cheese

Disciplined, rigorous, dogged, determined, diligent, precise, fastidious, systematic, methodical, demanding, consistent, focused, accountable and responsible. How many of those words would be used to describe you?

A world-class athlete named Dave Scott won the Hawaiian Ironman Triathlon six times. In training, Scott would ride his bike 75 miles, swim 20,000 meters, and run 17 miles – on average, every single day. Dave Scott did not have a weight problem! Yet he believed that a low-fat, high-carbohydrate diet would give him an extra edge. So, Dave Scott – a man who burned at least 5,000 calories a day in training – would literally rinse his cottage cheese to get the extra fat off. Now there is no proof that he needed to rinse his cottage cheese to win the Ironman; that is not the point to the story. The point is that rinsing his cottage cheese was simply one more, small step that he believed would make him just that much better. One small step added to the other small steps to create a consistent program for achievement and progress. He had a plan and he stuck to it.

Do you know anyone who is overweight, out of shape or what is called a ‘couch potato’? They got that way using a program completely opposite to Dave Scott’s. They consumed more calories than they burned off, they sat around rather than being active and they chose foods based on taste than on fueling their bodies. Did they sit down and choose this health and fitness program? Probably not but they did follow it. The evidence is very clear.

What has being in debt have to do with a triathlete rinsing his cottage cheese? Whether you’re getting yourself out of debt or amassing your fortune you need to have a plan and stick with it. If you take a look at anyone who is saddled with a great deal of debt you can see they had a plan and they’ve stuck with it. They’re plan was to satisfy their wants immediately, live beyond their means and hope that it will all work out somehow. They weren’t conscious of their plan or ever sat down and chose this plan but it was their plan nevertheless.

Improving your money situation requires doing a lot of small things on a consistent basis. Simply become aware of every purchase, expense or vehicle for parting your from your money. Be smart, be wealthy.

How to Take the Fear Out of Interviewing

The more books and articles I read on how to conduct a great interview, the more my heart goes out to jobseekers. It's like asking an octopus for directions and getting eight different answers.

Some authors will go so far as to choose your wardrobe for you, tell you how to sit in an interview, and what jokes will guarantee you a huge guffaw (I'm not sure what that is but I think I saw one on the Crocodile Hunter.) Others provide a recipe or script and if followed to the letter, will maneuver the interviewer into offering the coveted job. The problem is that this gives the jobseeker the illusion that they can win any interview every time.

The one factor the books and articles tend to overlook is that your interviewer is human or at least a reasonable facsimile. That one factor means no one knows for sure what that particular interviewer looks for, appreciates, dislikes, is passionate about, or if their allergies will be plaguing them that day and you're going to be the closest target.

My point is to not get distracted with things you have no control over. Don't try to memorize the best answers to the "101 toughest questions ever asked." The answers won't feel or sound natural. The odds are that the question won't be handed to you in the same words as the book. You will get so focused on looking for the opportunity to deliver your memorized answer that you miss the fact that every question is an opportunity to sell your skills.

Don't try to be someone or something you're not. It would be extremely exhausting to maintain the role or have to recreate it if they call you back for multiple interviews. What do you plan to do if they offer the job based on the role you played? Get comfortable with whom you are and what you have to offer. Focusing on being you will free up the mental and physical energy to promote your skills, experience and knowledge.

My advice is simple. Focus on the things you can control. Recognize and be able to explain how you would be an asset to their business. Research the company to understand where you could fit in and why they need you. Relax and realize that it is just an interview. Treat every interview as a chance to meet employers and share information. That way you are guaranteed each interview will be successful.

Heaven or Hell?

Have you ever found yourself in the wrong job or career? I think it is fair to say that we have all had that experience. This is actually a good thing if you’re conscious of it.

I ran into a good friend of mine a few weeks ago. I’d remembered that she was going after a new position so I asked her if she’d gotten it. Her response, Yes, and I hate it! I asked her if it was just the typical fear that can come with a career change and the accompanying sharp learning curve as you develop the new skills. Apparently that wasn’t the problem because she found the job quite simple. As it turns out the very reason she went after the position is the reason she hates the job. Her previous job involved shift work and had grown tired of graveyard shifts so she went after a nice 8:00 am to 5:00 pm Monday to Friday job. It wasn’t until she found herself trapped inside a cubicle for the entire week that she realized how much she enjoyed the opportunities that came with the night shift. Whenever she’d had evenings or graveyard shifts she could go out for tea with her friends during the day.

I had quite a chuckle at her expense because this is the fourth career change that I’ve seen her make in the last 5 years and end up with the same results each time. She hates the new position more than the old one. Her problem has always been not being really clear on what it is she wants from her new positions. She thought she wanted to get away from working shifts and into a nice secure job with set hours. What she really wants is to have a job that offers her the autonomy to do what she wants with her days. What my friend needs to do before she embarks on her next career change is determine exactly what she wants from the job and why.

Below is a clarification exercise to help you determine what it is you want in the way of a job or career.

A) Take out a blank sheet of paper. On the top of the paper write Job from Heaven. Let your imagination run free. Design the world’s most perfect job. Create your own hours, your own activities, and your most desirable environment. The only limitation is this: it must be a job, not a life. That is, it has to have tasks in it, hours to keep, and some kind of remuneration. Include these categories: what, where and with whom?

1) What would you be doing all day? Would you be directing on a movie set, designing hairstyles or building skyscrapers or playing hockey or saving somebody’s life? Would you be singing before an audience or giving speeches to thousands of people?


2) Where would you be doing this job? Describe the environment. Inside a huge corporation, alone in your home office, on a ranch in Montana breeding horses or onboard a jetliner.


3) Who are you going to be with? Remember this is a job, so you need to imagine all the people you will be working with - your boss, coworker, employee, business partner, or key helper. Create whatever team you will need to make this a perfect job.


B) On a separate piece of paper, create the job from hell.

You know what you don’t want, in detail. If you had problems describing the job from Heaven then this will probably be very easy. Put in everything you hate about every job you ever had or can imagine. If the devil took the time to design a job that was guaranteed to make you miserable, what kind of a job would that be?


1) Include what kind of activity you’d be doing, where you’d be doing it, and with whom.


Flipping the Negative.

Take every detail of your Job from Hell - the hours, the activities, the environment, the attitudes of the coworkers, even the weather and the feelings they generate - and reverse them exactly. Find their exact opposites.


2) Take your Job From Hell and write down the exact opposite. If your job from hell had you working in a busy environment then put yourself in an isolated cottage. It stands to reason that if you hated something then doing the opposite should be more appealing.

They say we’ll probably make 7 to 9 career changes in our lives. Doesn’t it make sense to make them smart career changes based on what you really want?

Excuse Me Myth

Myths and realities, how does a job seeker tell them apart? Unfortunately for the unsuspecting job seeker, if he or she treats the myth as if it were a reality, they will waste precious time, money and energy heading in the wrong direction. Lets examine a few of the current myths concerning the mysterious world of looking for work.

Myth 1 – We are now entering a revolutionary period where we are witnessing the end of jobs. Reality is that jobs are here to stay. It is careers that are in jeopardy of disappearing. Many young people just entering the job market can expect to have many jobs before they reach retirement age that may or may not constitute what most of us would call a career.
Myth 2 – Anyone can find a job; all you need to know is how to find a job. Reality would say that there are a few flaws to this generality. We can show you some excellent techniques for uncovering job leads, putting together powerful resumes and cover letters and how to ace an interview. What we cannot do is make that job appear if it doesn’t exist. Just because you know how to look for something, doesn’t mean it is there to be found. Sometimes you will have to take your newfound work search skills and move to where the jobs are.
Myth 3 – Resumes are a thing of the past, the new way to find work is the Informational Interview. Reality flies right in the face of this idea. Open up any employment section of the classifieds and almost every ad will ask you to send a resume. The Internet is ripe with sites that specialize in posting your resume. Apparently the employers haven’t heard how passé resumes have become. Sure informational interviews can be very valuable in opening up opportunities but they are only one tool in your job seeker’s toolbox. Do your informational interviews but make sure your resume is tuned up and ready to go because they will ask for it.
Myth 4 – People over 40 have difficulty finding a good job; employers prefer hiring younger and less expensive workers. Reality would agree with you if what you are doing is applying for youth jobs. Conducting an organized job search where you are prepared to sell the employer on all the assets age can bring like maturity, experience and stability will eliminate it as a barrier.

How can you tell if something is a myth or a reality? Is it true for everyone? If even one person proves it can be done or it didn’t affect them, then it is a myth. One sure way to tell if something is a myth is to consider the source. I will guarantee it was told to you by someone who has failed and wants it not to be their fault. Just thank them for their input and go get the job.

Dead End Job or Dead End Attitude

"I won't get out of bed for less than $20 an hour" or why would I take a minimum wage job, they are a waste of time?"

Are you guilty of saying this or have you heard someone else say this? That is a clear sign of a Dead End Attitude. The amazing thing about people who defiantly state they won't work for less than $30 an hour or they should be making at least $50 per hour is that they usually have NEVER earned that kind of money. I have had people tell me that they believe a sales clerk in a convenience store or service station should be paid more than the going rate because that is what most decent jobs pay. These people have somehow missed the reality bus.

With a few exceptions I won't mention, most people are paid according to the difficulty of their positions. It is simple supply and demand. You would pay an engineer much more money than a gas attendant. There are far fewer people who can handle the responsibilities of an engineer than there are people who can pump gas. Naturally, when something is rare we are willing to pay more for it. So if you want to be paid $30 per hour, then develop skills that are worth $30 per hour.

As for a job being a dead end, that is often a matter of perception. A pub and nightclub owner told me of a young man who came to work for him about ten years ago. He was 17 and looked desperate. The young man asked for a job busing tables or washing dishes. The business owner told him that he would give him the opportunity but under one condition - that he stayed clean and sober at all times. He warned him that if he caught him using drugs or coming to work drunk, he would be fired immediately. The young man eagerly accepted the terms.

Nine years later, the young man treated the businessman and his family to a meal and drinks at the pub he now owned. He used this opportunity to thank the businessman for giving him the job and teaching him enough about the industry so that he was able to purchase his own pub.

Don't just look at what the job pays or what initial duties are. Focus on where this opportunity could take you and how it could be a steppingstone. It is only a dead end job if you decide it is.

Choose Your Ms Wisely

I could be wrong but I think a lot of our debt problems can be traced back to the fairy tales we were read as children. Story after story had someone becoming wealthy and successful without any real effort. This brings me to the first of the two Ms I want to talk about; Magic. The stories made heroes out of people like Jack of Jack and the Beanstalk or Ali of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves who were poor but became wealthy by taking what didn’t belong to them. There were scarcely any bedtime stories that focused on someone working hard and living within their means. Why, because it involves work and discipline. There are a whole slew of modern day fairy tales written and disguised as non-fiction books that encourage us to think that if we think the right thoughts and send out the right vibes that our financial problems will be taken care of by magical forces. The only ones improving their financial situations are the authors of those books. If you ever read one of the best books on personal and wealth development “Think and Grow Rich” you’ll see that everything comes back to taking some kind of action. The title of the book wasn’t “Think, Sit Back and Do Nothing to Grow Rich!”

The other, wiser of the Ms to focus your attention on is Meaningful as in meaningful effort in paying down your debt. The first step in taking meaningful effort in lowering your debt is to first establish what your net worth is and how much debt you have. Most people will resist this because they are afraid of what the results will be. As Susan Jeffers said in her book, “Feel the fear and do it anyway.” Keep in mind that it is only a number but we do need it as a starting point. Once you have come to as close to an exact figure as you can, make a chart. The chart doesn’t have to be elaborate. You can even convert a child’s growth chart to a Net Worth chart. Mark on the chart the amount of your current net worth. Your next step is to decide if you’re going to take your next net worth assessment daily, weekly, bi-weekly or monthly. I recommend that shorter intervals are more beneficial than longer gaps.

You will see movement in either direction- increased net worth or increased debt load. If your net worth has increased during that interval, congratulations you are making meaningful movement towards financial freedom and should continue with the new practices you’ve adopted. If your net worth has shrunk then you know you’re still focusing on the wrong M. There isn’t any kind of magic that will change your fortune. Stop clicking your heels together, rubbing strange looking lamps or racing to the other end of a rainbow and experience the real magic of meaningful effort.

Cheating the Taxman

Go on admit it, you’ve often contemplated what it would be like to keep most if not all of your paycheck instead of being fleeced by the Taxman. It doesn’t have to be just a daydream because there are many strategies and shelters for your hard earned money. Before you get sweaty palms and start looking over your shoulder to see if Big Brother was watching you read an article called Cheating the Taxman, understand it is only a figure of speech. I do NOT want you to cheat the Taxman. That is against the law and it is called Tax Evasion. What I’m talking about here is Tax Avoidance or Tax Deferment.

I know people who think that they are being better citizens by paying their full portion of their taxes. In my opinion this is both naïve and stupid. I’ve yet to meet anyone who has received a commendation from the government for sending them more than he or she had to. There are lots of tax shelters available to the public and our government put them there. It isn’t cheating the Taxman if you take advantage of a policy that was developed for your benefit. The wealthy in our country pay only what they’re required to pay and not a penny more. The poor or uninformed are constantly giving thousands of dollars in what amounts to be a donation to the Taxman.

If you have a home based business you can legitimately claim against your earnings from your regular job. By having a dedicated area for an office in your home you can claim a portion of the expenses that would go for such an office. This could include utilities, computer, internet, property taxes, mortgage or rent payments. If you use your vehicle you may be able to claim the portion of costs involved for your business. This could include loan or lease payments. By all means check with your accountant for all possible tax deductions.

Your children can also be useful in helping you hold on to your money. If you have the home-based business you can hire them as employees and claim against their wages. Obviously they have to be able to do work that is considered valuable to the business. You can also consider Registered Educational Savings Programs.

There are the good old stand-bys like Registered Retirement Savings Programs and contributing to a 401K to siphon off money before taxes. If you are an American citizen then you’ll want to check out the IRS Publication 502 for a full list of items that allow you to save on your taxes. These categories are designed for self-improvement and include things like prescribed weight-loss programs, stop-smoking classes, acupuncture, chiropractic care, therapy, braces, and eyeglasses just to name a few.

Not taking advantage of these strategies guarantees that someone will be cheated and that someone will be you.

Borrowing Your Way Out of Debt

Taking out a loan to pay off your debts makes as much sense as finding yourself in a deep hole and asking someone to throw down a bigger shovel. For many people this is the most appealing and most destructive course of action. But for a select group of the population taking out a debt loan can turn out to be a very wise strategy.

Most of the people I’ve met who are constantly up against the debt beast have tried the borrow until I’m out of debt strategy only to find themselves deeper in debt every time. Why does this not work for them? On the surface it made some sense. Take all your debts such as credit cards, department store cards and outstanding loans and role them all into one loan with a smaller monthly payment. For a moment and it is an extremely brief moment they can breath financially again and they even have a little cash flow happening in their lives. What do they do with the extra cash flow? They spend it. And typically on stuff that they don’t need, has no resale value or can’t afford. Now they are back to scraping by between paychecks, only with a debt load that has been stretched for a longer period of time resulting in a much higher payout for their creditors. It is the old story of short-term gain – long-term pain.

When does it make sense to take out a debt loan to get out of debt? When you can use it to build wealth as you are chipping away at your debt load. If a person took out a Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP) loan of $50,000 he/she could gain in a couple of different areas. First they would create a sizeable tax benefit and they’d also get the long-term growth potential. They could take their larger tax refund and put towards their debt. Another benefit is that the RRSP will probably earn a lot more in today’s market than the low rate of interest charged on the loan.

Another plus for the smart borrower is the boost to their self-confidence when they see their net worth actually growing instead of always being in the negative. This can spur him/her on to take other positive steps to reducing debt and building wealth.

Avoid the TEMPTATION

Why do you see so many advertisements for “debt consolidation” loans? They are a cash cow for the financial institutions. Their lure is almost intoxicating. They create an image of being able to reduce all your loans into one much more manageable payment that may even leave you with extra funds left over to continue living the life that got you into trouble in the first place. What a perfect solution to a nagging debt load!

What should attract your attention is that it typically finance companies and not the banks that are offering this seemingly generous solution. Its not that the banks don’t want to reap the rewards of these kinds of loans but they are likely the ones that hold your existing loans.

Typically the prime targets for “debt consolidation” loans are people carrying thousands of dollars in credit card debt, plus have substantial balances on department or big box store cards. These are the people who actually try to pay their Mastercard with their Visa.

On the surface the idea of combining all your payments into one smaller would seem like a great solution to their current debt problem, but it a recipe for disaster. Some instances will have the borrower having their monthly payments cut by as much as 50%. The finance companies count on the borrower’s short term thinking and desire to have their spending money back to blind them from the obvious drawbacks to this arrangement.

Yes, the borrower will experience the relief of seeing all his or her balances owed to the credit card companies or big box stores, wiped clean leaving only the one payment to the finance company. Unfortunately, the borrower will have likely signed a contract that could stretch for several years. You can be sure that the interest charged by the finance company will be much higher than the other lenders. Even if the rate is the same as the other financial institution, the addition of several years of payments will mean you are paying much more in the long run.

If it wasn’t bad enough that the borrower has just signed on to longer term debt, he or she now finds themselves with credit cards with no balances. Often, in record speed, they find themselves buried under a new layer of debt. One criteria for getting a “debt consolidation” loan should be that your credit cards are destroyed and any new purchases be paid for in cash!

A Slap in the Face

Do you remember in the old movies when a man would say something “fresh” or suggestive to a woman and she’d get angry and slap his face? These days she either doesn’t blink at the suggestion or takes much more severe action. Regardless of what actions the woman takes it is all considered feedback. What does this have to do with reducing or eliminating your debt? Your bank statement, credit card statement, credit ratings are forms of feedback in regards to how you handle or think about money. For some of us it would be better if when you opened the envelope the statements come in, a hand came out and slapped you across the face. That might get our attention.

Unless you did something incredibly foolish like betting everything you had on a racehorse, poker hand or spin of the roulette wheel you didn’t get into debt immediately. We get feedback concerning our finances everyday, Unfortunately, most of that feedback goes unnoticed. I’ve known people who’ve lost their homes or vehicles. I’m not suggesting they’d been careless and misplaced them. I’m saying that they missed making payments and the property was repossessed or they were forced to sell. This was not an overnight process. The vast majority of the time the lending institution does not want the property back. They just want their payment. They’re not in the repossession business they’re in the collecting interest business.

In these people’s situation the first form of feedback should have come from themselves. They should be the first people to know that they don’t have the funds to make the payment. In most cases, they should have known this critical piece of information well before the payment deadline. If you pay rent or a mortgage you know that it has to be paid every month. Being expected to pay it shouldn’t come as a surprise. If you missed your first form of feedback you can count on the second, which is a call or letter from the interested person or institution. This is generally followed by another notice until we get to the FINAL notice.

The reality for some of these people was that it took four months or more to get to the final slap in the face. What were they thinking? Were they hoping the Bill Paying Fairies would slip in during the night and stamp, “Paid” on their problems? I don’t know of any bill or problem that got smaller by ignoring it. In business we have what are referred to as gauges. Much like in a car where your gauges tell you your speed, amount of fuel and the situation with your coolants and batteries, gauges in your business tell you what’s going on at any given moment. You have to have gauges too. Keep a list of all your monthly expenses that have to be paid. Once you’ve put away enough money to cover one of the bills put a check mark beside it. You’ll know well in advance if you’ve got the funds to pay your bills and allows you to take productive steps if you look like you’re coming up short. This beats a ‘Slap in the Face’ every time!