Being A Good Receiver

During Millionaire Mind Intensive in Singapore, I learned that to be rich in every area of our lives, we also need to learn to be a good receiver.

I’ve heard the saying “It is better to give than to receive” over and over again for so long, . It is originated from a verse in the Bible “It is more blessed to give than to receive” Acts 20:35 (NIV). I’ve always believed it and I’ve never questioned it before.

Since it is more blessed to give, giving seems to be more superior than receiving, so we strive to give. We tend to look down on receivers and we feel guilty even ashamed when we receive. How can we be rich and wealthy if we feel guilty or ashamed for receiving money, blessing or help from others?

Sometimes when we receive something, we feel obligated to give back even more because we want to be the blessed one. We also want to return the favor as soon as possible so that we do not feel indebted. For example, when we receive a compliment “Wow, you look great”, instead of simply saying “Thank you”, we often return the compliment straight away saying “Hey, you look great too”. 

In the seminar, I learned that giving and receiving are two sides of the same coin. A giver needs a receiver and to be a receiver there must be a giver. A giver is not superior and a receiver is not inferior. We must learn to be both a generous giver and an excellent, grateful receiver.

Being a good receiver means that instead of feeling guilty when we receive something, we feel grateful. We let the giver feel the pleasure of giving and be thanked for their generosity. Next time, if someone gives you something, just say thank you gracefully and give thanks to God for the blessings. If you want to return the favor, do it at later time and be a generous giver expecting nothing in return.

Some cautions: since not everybody understands this concept of being a good receiver, you may encounter some awkward moments when you put this into practice. For example, if your spouse, boyfriend, or girlfriend says “Darling, I love you” and you simply say “Thank you” without saying “I love you” back…you can be in big trouble HAHAHA. In order to avoid this situation, please ask them to read this blog post :)

Thank you for reading.

Learn and Grow!

PS. Yesterday I received lunch blessing from friends at Atria, so thank you. This morning I received another breakfast blessing from Church friends at Soto Kirana, thank you to both of you. God bless.

Success Journal

In Millionaire Mind Intensive Seminar, T Harv Eker said that it was important to acknowledge your success. One way to acknowledge your success is by keeping a success journal.

Success journal is a special journal where you write all your successes and achievements. It is recommended to write at least five(5) successes of the day. They can be small things such as putting $1 in Financial Freedom Account Jar, waking up 30 min earlier, or they can be big things such as getting a promotion, winning prizes, and so on.

The most important thing is to keep your focus on success! Success breeds success. Success attracts more success. The success journal can also help you when the going gets tough. It reminds you of your strength and capability to overcome challenges in your life.

Journal Writing
 
This is a photo of my recent journals. Those are not moleskine. I wish they are.
I’ve been writing journal or diary since I was 16 years old. I started the habit when my English teacher in Perth, Judy asked me to write a diary everyday and show it to her. This was how I learned English, through writing diary. My first diary:

When I was in Beijing learning Mandarin, I also wrote my journal in Chinese. Writing a journal in Chinese really helped me to increase my vocabulary and memorize those Chinese characters.
Some benefits of journal writing for me:

• to record, explore, and clarify my thoughts and feelings,
• to write what I have learned from daily experiences,
• to help me learn a new language,
• to help me release emotional burdens,
• to help me remember great moments in my life,
• to explore creative ideas,
• to weigh alternatives when making an important decision,
• and many more

Do you keep a journal? If you do, please share your experience in the comments.
Acknowledge and celebrate your success!

Learn and Grow!

E-Pond and E-Fish at Changi Airport Singapore

I saw this at Changi Airport Singapore. It was so interesting and fun. I  even ran around on the carpet to chase the e-fish HAHAHA

It is amazing to see how far technology has gone. It will continue to move forward at a faster rate. Are we up to it? This generation is demanded to learn more and faster just to keep up. We cannot afford to stop learning and growing.

Learn and Grow!

Wood Block Print – Changi Airport

 

While waiting for my flight, I found this wood block print display at Changi Airport. There were several different wood block carvings. You took a piece of paper, put it on top of the wood block carving, then use crayons to rub…voila… wood block print. You can also use different colors to make it more interesting.

Money Management Jars

In the Millionaire Mind Intensive Seminar, we were taught a simple and effective money management method using six different jars. They are: Financial Freedom Account, Long Term Saving for Spending, Education, Necessities, Play and Give.

Although most of the money is kept in separate bank accounts. The actual jar serve as a visual reminder. The jars enable us to have a physical experience, to see, touch, hear even smell the money.

When we were at the seminar, they sold six-jar-set with labels for S$25. I prefer creating my own customized jars :) Hmm…more beautiful and cheaper too. These amazing jars cost me less than S$10. Awesome!

If you want to learn more about money management, I can help and coach you. You can email me at ingesantoso (at) hotmail.com

Awesome Recycle Bins - Singapore

I saw these recycle bins this morning at Changi Airport, Singapore. Compare those to the bins that I saw at Singapore Expo below. They are awesome, aren’t they?

The Millionaire Mind Intensive Singapore Day 3

I took this photo at the end of the course yesterday. When I was going to post this photo, I realized something very important that is really the essence of this training. It is that:

The secret of the millionaire mind is that your inner world creates your outer world.

It is also true for any area of your life that your inner world creates your outer world. What you have right now is the result of your beliefs, thoughts and feelings in the past. If you do not like what you see and you believe that you are capable of so much more, then start working on your inner world (mental, emotional and spiritual).

We often focus too much on changing the results by learning new skills and strategies, but we forget to work on our beliefs and values. It is like treating the symptoms of the disease rather than the cause.
On the other hand, It does not mean that you neglect learning new skills or strategies. There has to be a balance. You must work on both!

If you ask me about this seminar, I can tell you that it is awesome, fun, very useful and practical. In the last three days I had a lot of revelations, AHA moments, emotional release, as well as validations of what I did right. My inner landscape is being revamped and redesigned. I pulled the weeds out and sowed new seeds of success.

Since the method of the seminar is experiential learning, if you want to learn, you really have to experience it yourself. I can tell you what I learn but it will be superficial. You need to experience it to get the learning into your cell.

There will be another Millionaire Mind Intensive course in Singapore and Malaysia next year. If you are interested, I can help and guide you to get into the course. Please email me at: ingesantoso(at)hotmail.com

Learn and Grow!

The Millionaire Mind Intensive Singapore Day 2

The second day of the seminar is more interesting than the first one. There are more hands-on experience and application of what we have learned.

The most memorable moment for me was when we did a pattern interrupt. I had a negative belief about money that when my parents gave me money, I was going to lose it. Harv Eker asked us to visualize and reflect how these negative beliefs had cost us in life, then intensify the feeling…while we were doing it very seriously, he played a recording of people giggling and laughing. When I heard it, I actually started giggling, I even found it hard to stop laughing because other people also started laughing in waves. I could not hold the image in my mind anymore, the negative pattern was interrupted! Whenever I think about this negative belief, I just start to laugh all over again.

I’ve done pattern interruptions in other seminars before this one. This is by far the most effective!

I felt to so relieved to get rid of this one belief because it has haunted me for years. I used to feel so guilty when I ‘caused’ my parents to lose a large amount money in several investments in the past. I said ‘caused’ because my parents invested the money to help or support me. The ones that hurt the most was the FYI investment. Although they made the decision to invest by themselves, yet I felt guilty because if I were not a factor, then they would not have made that investment. There were other investments that I also felt guilty because I thought I had influenced them to start and I did not try hard enough to stop them when it did not work out. So much guilt and burden to carry around, but yesterday I finally released them. I feel so much lighter afterwards.

I believe that this feeling of guilt has stopped me from taking bigger responsibility and reaching my potential because I was afraid that it would happen again. The mixed emotions of guilt, fear and hurt had confined me in my comfort zone. No more! Now I am free!

Learn from my mistake and grow!
Inge Santoso

The Millionaire Mind Intensive Singapore Day 1

Yesterday I started to attend T Harv Eker’s seminar The Millionaire Mind Intensive.
What have I learned so far?

• I discovered my money blueprint and how it had held me back from achieving success and becoming wealthier
• Some negative beliefs that I have about money must be unlearned and replaced with more positive ones
• I understand money management better and I know how I can use it to improve my current system
• Money attracts money. Start creating your money magnet.
• Love and nurture your investment golden goose. Gather and grow your passive business income geese.

Learn and Grow!

Photo of the Day – A Dog and Its Shoes

When I was walking to the MRT station in Singapore, I saw this dog having a walk. From a distance I could see how the dog walked a bit funny, but when I got closer I was amazed to see that this dog wore shoes! The shoes were like black socks with rubber soles.

I am really curious about these shoes…are they worn for any health reasons or for cuteness sake?

“This or Something Better” Principle

Two days ago I went to Running Lab at Funan Digital Mall to find running shoes. The lady who served me there was very helpful and I found the shoes that fit me well. They were Asics Gel Evolution.

When I was going to pay for the shoes, I saw that there was a 20% discount for registered Standard Chartered Marathon 2008 runner. I told her that I was a registered runner and she told me to bring the confirmation slip to get the discount. I saw that there was a notebook computer next to the cash register, I asked whether it was connected to the internet. She said yes. I asked whether I could use it to retrieve the email containing the confirmation slip. She said that they had no printer, so I had to go back and print the slip myself and came back the next day to get the shoes. How inefficient! At the end, I left the store without buying the shoes.

At night I was browsing the internet and I found that Running Lab had another store at Velocity@Novena. I decided to check it out yesterday. I wanted to get a second opinion whether the shoes were really suitable for me. When I got there, the staff were busy helping other customers so I decided to see a New Balance store next door because I was attracted to it.

I told the staff at New Balance store that I was looking for running shoes that accommodate my flat feet. He did a detailed analysis. He asked me to stand and looked at the feet from every angle, then he also asked me to walk on the treadmill to analyze my gait. He also examined my old shoes to see the worn out pattern. He was definitely more thorough than the people at Running Lab. Finally he recommended dark pink New Balance 1224 shoes. When I tried the shoes, they did not fit well because size 8 were a bit too tight while 8.5 were too big. The shoes were also a bit too wide for my feet.

I said to him that I was sorry that the shoes did not fit well and I could not buy from him. He said it was alright and he even took me back to Running Lab. He told the staff at Running Lab the shoes that fit me well as well as the size. Basically he just gave them the prescription for my need. Then he gave me his SAFRA member card number to enable me getting 30% discount on the shoes. Wow…I was so grateful and happy. Thank you for your help, RM!

Finally I bought the same Asics shoes with 30% discount instead of 20% discount!

What can I learn from this experience?

• “This or something better” principle. Sometimes when you do not get what you want immediately, there is something better waiting for you,
• Trust and follow your instinct, especially when it seems to attract your attention,
• Close the sale fast by accommodating the customer’s need. If possible, do not let them walk out the store, ask them to return later.

Learn and Grow!

Marché Vivo City Singapore

One of my favorite eating place in Singapore, Marché  Vivo City.

I always have a Caesar salad when I go to Marché because it was the first place that I ever ate a Caesar salad years ago. It is amazing that we often come back to the place that brings us good memories and we want to relive the memorable experience again and again.

This time, I had a new experience with Marché’s Chococino. Chococino is a hot chocolate with espresso. Yummy! You should try it if you go to Marché.

Another reason that I love going to Marché is the atmosphere. It feels like in Europe with lots of bare wood decor, wood tables and benches, and Bavarian style lamp. I also love the fresh vegetables, fruits, other ingredients being beautifully displayed. Awesome!