What The Middle Class Doesn't Understand About Rich People by Steve Siebold - Business Insider

Few people in the middle class really understand the mindset of the richest people.

After all, if they did, they would be among the top earners as well. We’ve all heard the remarks: Rich people are lucky, rich people had an unfair advantage, rich people are crooks, rich people are selfish, etc. These are mostly empty statements with little proof to back them up.

Yes, the rich think and act differently from everyone else, and the differences are as extreme as they are numerous.

Here are five things you probably didn’t know about the wealthy.

1. The wealthy are comfortable being uncomfortable.

Most people just want to be comfortable. Physical, psychological, and emotional comfort is the primary goal of the middle-class mindset.

The wealthy, on the other hand, learn early on that becoming a millionaire isn’t easy, and the need for comfort can be devastating. They learn to be comfortable while operating in a state of ongoing uncertainty. The great ones know there’s a price to pay for getting rich, but if they have the mental toughness to endure temporary pain, they can reap the harvest of abundant wealth.

It’s not comfortable for a millionaire in the making to forge ahead when everyone around her is negative, cynical, and unsupportive, yet those who can push forward are rewarded with riches for the rest of their lives. Make a list of the five things you must do today that are uncomfortable but will help you build your financial fortune.

Flickr/DellWealthy people have goals and plans to meet those goals.

2. The wealthy dream about the future.

Most of us grew up listening to stories of the good old days, when the world was a kinder, gentler place. The music was better, athletes were tougher, and business people were honest. This tradition of the masses is handed down from generation to generation while its purveyors have no idea how insidious and destructive it is. People who believe their best days are behind them rarely get rich, and they often struggle with happiness and depression.

The wealthy are future-oriented and optimistic about what lies ahead. They appreciate and learn from the past while living in the present and dreaming of the future. Self-made millionaires get rich because they’re willing to bet on themselves and project their dreams, goals, and ideas into an unknown future. Much of their planning time is spent clarifying goals that won’t be realized for years, yet they patiently and painstakingly plan and dream of what their future will look and feel like.

Justin Sullivan/Getty ImagesWealthy people aren't arrogant. They're confident.

3. The wealthy are more confident.

The negative projections and derogatory labels placed on the rich are endless. One of the most common is that the rich are cocky, arrogant people who think they’re better than everyone else.

The truth is successful people are confident because they repeatedly bet on themselves and are rarely disappointed. Even when they fail, they’re confident in their ability to learn from the loss and come back stronger and richer than ever. This is not arrogance, but self-assuredness in its finest form.

The wealthy have an elevated and fearless consciousness that keeps them moving toward what they want, as opposed to moving away from what they don’t want. This often doubles or triples their net worth quickly because of the new efficiency in their thinking. Eventually they begin to believe they can accomplish anything, and this becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. As they move from success to success, they create a psychological tidal wave of momentum that gets stronger every day, catapulting their confidence to a level so high it is often interpreted as arrogance.

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How to Become Rich, and 24 Other Insights from Warren Buffett by Dan Dzombak / The Motley Fool - Time.com

The investing legend shares the secrets to his success.

Warren Buffett is a true genius as he is able to simplify complex ideas into quotes that will stand the test of time. Warren Buffett spent his life dispensing advice to all who would listen, earning him the nickname of the Oracle of Omaha. In the 1960s, this advice came about twice a year in letters to investors in his investment partnerships. Starting a few years later, Warren Buffett’s wisdom was distilled through the Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting and the annual shareholder letter, and in the past 20 years, Warren Buffett has become a household name through appearances on TV and interviews in magazines.

Read on for Warren Buffett’s best quotes on life, investing, and his top five insights.

On life

1. “You only have to do a very few things right in your life so long as you don’t do too many things wrong.”

2. “Should you find yourself in a chronically leaking boat, energy devoted to changing vessels is likely to be a more productive than energy devoted to patching leaks.”

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How to be the most productive person in your office — and still get home by 5:30 p.m by Eric Barker - The Week

Some days the to-do list seems bottomless. Just looking at it is exhausting.

We all want to know how to stop being lazy and get more done. I certainly want the answer.

So I decided to call a friend who manages to do this — and more.

Cal Newport impresses the heck out of me. Why? Well, I'm glad you asked. He's insanely productive:

1. He has a full-time job as a professor at Georgetown University, teaching classes and meeting with students.
2. He writes six (or more) peer-reviewed academic journal papers per year.
3. He's the author of four booksincluding the wonderful So Good They Can't Ignore You. And he's at work on a fifth.
4. He's married with a young child and handles all the responsibilities that come with being a husband and dad.
5. He blogs regularly about productivity and expert performance.

And yet he finishes work at 5:30 p.m. every day and rarely works weekends.

No, he does not have superpowers or a staff of 15. Okay, let's you and I both stop being jealous of his productivity for a second and learn something.

Below you'll get Cal's secrets on how you can better manage your time, stop being lazy, get more done — and be finished by 5:30. Let's get to work.

1) To-do lists are evil. Schedule everything.

To-do lists by themselves are useless. They're just the first step. You have to assign them time on your schedule. Why?

It makes you be realistic about what you can get done. It allows you to do tasks when it's efficient, not just because it's #4.

Until it's on your calendar and assigned an hour, it's just a list of wishful thinking.

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These 10 Peter Drucker Quotes May Change Your World - entrepreneur.com

My first college business professor was a fanatical Peter Drucker devotee.

He launched our course with a dissection of Drucker’s The Effective Executive and concluded with a thorough reading of The Practice of Management.

Through my professor's tireless evangelism, I developed a keen appetite for the timeless wisdom of this prescient thought leader.

Related: How the Advice of the Past Can Save Us Now

Young entrepreneurs unfamiliar with Drucker would do well to study his insightful commentary on the world of "management." Millennials mired inside a traditional corporate environment and people living life inside lean startups will find his thinking particularly spot on.

Even after all these years, 10 Peter Drucker quotes still bounce around in my head constantly:

1. “Doing the right thing is more important than doing the thing right.”

2. “If you want something new, you have to stop doing something old.”

3. “There is nothing quite so useless as doing with great efficiency something that should not be done at all.”

4. “What gets measured gets improved.”

5. “Results are gained by exploiting opportunities, not by solving problems.”

Related: Getting Diversity and Inclusion Right in Your Company

6. “So much of what we call management consists of making it difficult for people to work.”

7. “People who don't take risks generally make about two big mistakes a year. People who do take risks generally make about two big mistakes a year.”

8. “Meetings are by definition a concession to a deficient organization. For one either meets or one works. One cannot do both at the same time.”

9. “Long-range planning does not deal with the future decisions, but with the future of present decisions.”

10. "Management is doing things right. Leadership is doing the right things"

My cynical side (and my short attention span!) feels especially drawn to number eight on that list.

But the quotes that really excite and ignite my entrepreneurial imagination are numbers two and five.

Which quote resonates most deeply with you? Most importantly, which of Drucker's words will change your world?

Resource from entrepreneur.com

Accommodating diversity by Prof Shad Saleem Faruqi - The STAR

Sabah and Sarawak’s special position in our federation is based on compelling socio-political, economic, geographical and legal considerations.

THERE is no universal or single set of “best practices” or institutional and constitutional designs to manage conflicts arising out of ethnic, religious, linguistic and geographical diversity. Generally, however, a federal system of government is better suited than a unitary system for accommodating diversity in a plural and divided society.

The extent of autonomy and distinctiveness allowed to the various regions (provinces, states or cantons) varies from country to country. Much depends on what the goal of the dominant elites is: is it repression, exclusion, assimilation or integration?

Repression is done through genocide and ethnic cleansing as in former Yugoslavia. Exclusion involves marginalisation of minority groups and denial to them of any meaningful economic or political participation in society.

Assimilation involves strong pressures on minorities to abandon their values, cultures, beliefs and languages and submerge into the national main. Catalans in Spain, Bretons in France, Scots and Welsh in the United Kingdom and, increasingly, Muslim emigrants in Europe suffered or are suffering such melting pot pressures.

On the other hand, integration (or inclusion and empowerment) is based on the recognition of diversity as a defining characteristic of the polity. Malaya in 1957 and, even more so, Malaysia in 1963 were inspired by the inclusivist approach that each constituent group can preserve its language, culture and custom and yet participate fully in the nation’s political and economic processes.

In 1963 in recognition of the uniqueness of Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore, these states were offered terms far more favourable than what the peninsula states received in 1957. (See The Star, Sept 16).

However, fifty-one years down the road, such preferential treatment is arousing deeply opposing and partisan views. Some “nationalists” in the peninsula feel that five decades after Malaysia Day, distinctiveness must give way to more unity and uniformity on such issues as free travel and right to live and work throughout the federation.

They point to spectacular cases of over-assertiveness by Sabah and Sarawak of some of their special rights e.g. to refuse admission to and to deport Peninsular Malaysians legitimately seeking to enter these states. Some of these incidents indeed arouse constitutional concern. But all in all, Sabah’s and Sarawak’s special position in our federation is based on compelling socio-political, economic, geographical and legal considerations:

> Sabah and Sarawak were and are ethnically, culturally and religiously distinct from the peninsula.

> They bring huge territories to the federation. Their combined area of 198,069sq km exceeds Peninsular Malaysia’s 131,681sq km.

> Their combined coastline is 2,607km compared with the peninsula’s 2,068km.

> They have massive potential resources in fisheries, ports, forests, timber, petroleum, river waters, hydroelectric power and tourism.

> Despite these resources they have serious problems of poverty, illiteracy, lack of infrastructure and under-development.

> The 1963 pact between the Federation of Malaya, the UK, North Borneo, Sarawak and Singapore was drawn up after a lengthy process of bargaining and negotiations. The delegates of these states made very clear to the Inter-Governmental Committee (IGC) headed by Lord Lansdowne, with then deputy prime minister Tun Abdul Razak as the deputy chairman, that special treatment was a pre-condition for constituting Malaysia.

> The 1963 pact was not merely an internal arrangement but an international treaty.

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The familiar lamentations of Dr M by By Baradan Kuppusamy - The STAR

The former premier’s latest remarks about ‘lazy Malays’ cause a stir among Malaysians.

TUN Dr Mahathir Mohamad used to have only two upmarket bakery outlets known as The Loaf – one in the picturesque Telaga Harbour, where luxury yachts berth in Pulau Langkawi, and the other at Pavilion, Kuala Lumpur.

The number of his outlets, which sell breads and pastries using Japanese techniques, has grown to more than five. As such, he has to hire more staff.

A few months ago, a manager was caught stealing money from the cash register.

The suspicion began when the daily collection was not deposited into the bank. The Malay manager was caught red-handed and the incident infuriated Dr Mahathir.

“I am operating a bakery and have given many opportunities to Malays to hold management positions. Unfortunately, time and time again, honesty and integrity appear to be lacking as there have been staff who keep stealing money,” he said at the launch of the book Wahai Melayu: Allah Tak Akan Ubah Nasib Melayu Kalau Kita Tak Ubah Nasib Kita Sendiri by Anas Zubedy.

“They do not seem to understand that it is wrong to take what is not theirs; they do not think of the big picture or the long term,” he said.

The statesman repeated the criticism in an interview with Utusan Malaysia last Sunday.

That led to various interpretations, particularly on his criticism of the leadership, especially the current prime minister, especially at a time when the Umno general assembly is coming up.

But those present at the book launch believe that his remarks were in line with what he has consistently brought up, whenever the occasion suited it. They dismissed any suspicion of political conspiracy.

The book by Anas, a writer and speaker on motivation, is aimed at young Malay entrepreneurs. In the foreword, the author debunks the myth that the Malays are a lazy race who are only good in politics and the arts, but not in business.

“These are self-limiting artificial boundaries and we ought to break them,” he writes.

“What we need to do is to find the right motivation and inspiration for a specific culture like the Malays.”

But in his hard-hitting speech, Dr Mahathir spent 20 minutes arguing that Malays “lack honesty and inte­grity” and that they fail to “handle money properly” unlike the Chinese or even Myanmar nationals.

Ethnic Chinese, he said, were more honest compared to native Malays where money is concerned. He said these were the reasons for the Malays’ economic failures.

“We have to be trustworthy so people will give contracts to us. When we want to give contracts, we give to the Chinese instead because we know they will do their work properly. This is our weakness – not being trustworthy,” he added.

“If we fail, we should not blame anyone but ourselves. We have failed because we did not do what was right,” he said.

In the Utusan interview, Dr Maha­thir said Malay men were still lazy, citing the gender imbalance at institutions of higher learning, where the majority was women.

“They (the men) are not interested in studying and revising. If we go to the universities, 70% of the students are women. Where are the men?”

“They prefer to be Mat Rempit, that is why I said they are lazy.”

Dr Mahathir’s comments raised a storm, with some in social media suggesting that he should be arrested for sedition. The Selangor chapter of Malay rights group Perkasa, however, termed his remarks as “father­­ly advice”.

Veteran journalist Datuk Kadir Ja­­sin reportedly said people should not get upset or sulk over Dr Maha­thir’s remarks, especially with regards to the Malays being lazy, as there were those who were hardworking and excelled in whatever they did.

“Give them a crutch and they will turn it into a paddle and a pillar,” he said, adding that there were those from the community who had succeeded and made a name for themselves in the country and all over the world.

Citing legendary warrior Hang Tuah’s famous rallying cry that Malays would not vanish from the world, Kadir said the Malays were rulers and made up the bulk of the civil service, such as the police force, Customs and Immigration departments, and the teaching profession.

Not all Malaysians would agree with Dr Mahathir’s assessment, with some saying he is still caught up in racial stereotyping, even if it is aimed at his own community.

Nobody in his right mind would say Malays are lazy, Chinese are greedy, or Indians are disho­nest. In fact, few Malaysians, especially the younger ones, would link any race in Malaysia with any specific trait or even a vocation.

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Have A Meaningful Hari Malaysia - Today in The STAR

Tun Mohammad Fuad Stephens (1920-1976)

Bapa Malaysia dari Sabah and the first Huguan Siou or Paramount Leader of the Kadazandusun community

Back to basics: Both Hari Merdeka and Hari Malaysia are special and not in competition with each other. 

Hari Merdeka and Hari Malaysia are our special days.

We celebrate both days with joy, love, passion, and a really heavy dose of the muhibbah spirit. On Hari Merdeka, Semenanjung Tanah Melayu achieved independence in a peaceful way without sacrificing a single life.  This peaceful approach became our framework of engagement which is embedded in our DNA; always finding the best compromise in solving our challenges without having to resort to vulgarity or violence. 

On Hari Malaysia, the people of the Semenanjung, Sabah, and Sarawak reached out to each other and decided to form a larger family. In one stroke we melted our past, present, and future into one unique powerful and colourful alloy - MALAYSIA. This union of people from different cultures and backgrounds becomes the essence of humanity and a great historical achievement.

Sadly, there are some Malaysians who like to pit Hari Merdeka against Hari Malaysia and vice versa. Some say that Hari Merdeka has no significance to the Sabahans and Sarawakians and Hari Malaysia does not mean much to the people in Semenanjung. It is like saying a younger sibling cannot celebrate and share the joy of the birthday of an elder sibling and vice versa. This is unwise, shallow, and divisive.

We need to convince these brother and sister Malaysians otherwise; that we need to be more positive and always embrace Unity.

We at zubedy want to go further. Through our #SaySomethingNice Campaign we want to make the 17 days, beginning from Hari Merdeka to Hari Malaysia, as special days where we bring out the best of Malaysia, put aside our differences and see the better in each other. Say sorry when necessary and say thank you abundantly. Visit the link* provided below to know more about other ways to join the campaign and do something nice to fellow Malaysians and our country.

At zubedy, our programs draw strength from shared values and traditions. We believe that at heart, all Malaysians want good things for themselves and for their Malaysian brothers and sisters, simply because our nation cannot prosper as a whole if some of us are left behind.

* https://www.facebook.com/saysomethingnicecampaign 

Let us be, first and foremost, Malaysians.

Let us add value,

Have A Meaningful Hari Malaysia