I heard this story told to me a while ago, and I thought I would share it with you all. It really made me think about how much I really wanted certain things and what my priorities are in life.

The story goes:

A man came to Socrates and asked him for wisdom. Socrates quickly dismissed him, telling him to come back when he really wanted wisdom. This experience repeated itself several times, with the man coming back and asking for wisdom, until Socrates took the man down to a body of water and stuck his head under the water.

After holding him under for about 10 seconds Socrates pulls the man back up and asks ‘What do you want?’ To which the man replied, ‘ I want wisdom great teacher.’ Socrates put the mans head under the water again, this time holding him under for 30 seconds. Pulling the man up he asks again, ‘What is it that you want?’ The man once again replies, ‘I want wisdom great teacher.’ Socrates holds him under the water again this time for much longer.

The man began struggling, and choking, and gasping for air. At the point that he was about to fall unconscious, Socrates pulled him out of the water and asks one final time, ‘What is it that you want?’ This time all the man can scream is, ‘I want air, I want air!’ Socrates leaves the man saying, “when you want wisdom as much as you wanted air, you will find it.”

Now would be a great time to stop and think about whether we are that desperate for the things we want? I hear so many bloggers saying how much the want to be successful through blogging, to be successful through internet marketing or affiliate marketing - but can’t seem to work out how.

It makes me question - How much do they really want it? How much do YOU want to succeed?

I have been in my church’s youth band for years now playing keyboard and I really enjoy it, but tonight was our first night back for the year and I did something that I thought I would never do - sing on stage. It’s kind of weird. I king of got pushed into it, and it all started about the middle of last year.

It was about July last year and I had written my first song, and I must say I was really proud of it - I mean it was a pretty dodgy recording cause I did it at home, but it was the first song I had ever written. So what I did was burn a copy of it and gave it to the then band leader and friend of mine to listen too. A week goes by and I didn’t hear anything from him - so I figured it wasn’t that good. Then he comes to me a bit later and says, ‘Tom I didn’t know you had a good voice!’ To which I replied, ‘I don’t’ and then he said, ‘Don’t get me wrong, you can’t sing, but you could if you learn’t how.’

I didn’t know whether to take that as a pay out or a compliment - so I did the later! And started attending the singing workshops that our church put on. Started doing a bit of singing while playing keyboard in the kids band at church, and thought that was pretty much it.

Then Michael (our youth pastor) called me into his office a couple of weeks ago and told me that the old band leader as moving on to a new roll and all though there would be a new band leader, he also wanted like a core team for the band - which he wanted me on. I was a little bit surprised, cause I’m just a keyboard player. But then he told me that we only really had 2 male singers (and about 7 female singers) and he saw singing and eventually leading the band on some nights.

Me being me thought he was talking about in the future, and then the this months music roster comes out and I look down the keyboard column - my name is there only once! Thinking I was getting cut I checked the other columns and realised I had been put in the singing column 3 times.

And that brings me to tonight. I must say it was really different and freaked me out a little bit, but in the end I just had fun, jumped around and sang. It was so great after woods to have people come up to me and encourage me saying that I did good, and that it looked like I’d been doing it for ages. But the big thing for me is that I got pushed into an area where I was uncomfortable and I realised that you never know what things are like until you just step out and do them.

I guess this whole story was just to encourage you to step and and do things that you thought you never would. Do things that make you uncomfortable. Because it is these things that will stretch you and help you grow as a person, a business person or blogger.

So what is your story? Have you ever done something that you thought you never would? How did it go? Let me know by commenting below!

People seem to have the misconception that only a select few are able to unleash a steady flow of creative genius. That is not true at all. The fact is, creativity is very much like a muscle that needs to be exercised in order to consistently give out great results. If you don’t practice harnessing creative thinking, this skill will very much atrophy into inexistence. But keep working and this skill will soon come to you in a snap.

So how do you unleash your creative thinking? Well, the first thing is to become a human leech. No, we’re not talking about just sucking the blood out of every living being available, we’re saying that you should take in as much knowledge and learning you can find. Read everything available — good and bad, and keep your mind open to the infinite possibilities of the universe. The more you know, the more you’ll want to know, and the more your faculty of wonder will be exercised. Prepare to be amazed at little facts that add a bit of color into your life.

Focus on a creative activity everyday. Yes, it’s an effort. Even doodling is a creative activity. Don’t let anything hinder you. Mindlessness may be a creative activity, but for people who are just starting out to unleash a little bit of creative thinking in their lives, it is helpful and encouraging to have concrete evidence, that, “hey, what I’m doing is getting somewhere.” So why don’t you try it. Practice drawing for a couple of minutes each day. Bring out your old camera and start snapping photos like crazy. Keep a journal and make a point to write in it religiously. Another cool idea is to write by describing something with your five senses. Try to avoid vague adjectives like “marvelous,” “amazing,” and “delicious.” Before you know it, you’ll have built yourself a tiny portfolio, and you’ll be amazed at the growth you’ve undertaken after amassing all those works of art. Who knows, you might actually take to liking those things you do everyday. Pretty soon those things will become a part of you and you’ll be addicted to these creative exercises.

Think out of the box — or don’t. Sometimes, constraints are actually a good thing. Limitations discipline you to work within your means. It enables you to be more resourceful. Creative freedom is great, but limitations enforce discipline.

Try something new everyday and let your experiences broaden your perspective. Explore a new district in your neighborhood. Spend an afternoon in a museum to which you’ve never been before. Chat up someone on the bus. Open up to the people around you. As you thrust yourself out of your comfort zone more and more each day, your sense of adventure grows and so does your zest for life. Think about it. When was the last time you did something for the first time? If it’s been a while, I tell you, you’ve been missing out on a whole lot of experiences that could’ve added to your growth, emotionally, mentally, physically, or spiritually. Why don’t you try bungee jumping today? Not only will you learn, but you will also have plenty of stories to share, enabling you to practice your storytelling skills and making you the life of the party.

Embrace insanity. No, not to the point of practically admitting yourself into the mental ward. As John Russell once said, “Sanity calms, but madness is more interesting.” Exactly! Every creative thought was once deemed insanity by other “normal” people at one time or another. Luckily, that didn’t stop the creative geniuses from standing by them. The thing is, sanity or being normal confines people to think… well, normally. Withink limits. Creativity is essentially breaking through barriers. Yes, this includes the bizzarre and the downright strange. I’m not saying that you yourself should develop a creative personality. That might go haywire. An example of a creative personality would be George Washington, who often rode into battle naked, or James Joyce, who wrote “Dubliners” with beetle juice for an intense fear of ink, or Albert Einstein, who thought his cat was a spy sent by his rival. It’s important that your creativity doesn’t get you detached from the real world completely.

I hope this article has inspired you to start thinking beyond your “limits.” If you follow these steps pretty soon you’ll be living a life full of interesting adventures. Unleashing your creative thinking  will bring about a new zest for living life.

Seriously. Do you really want to succeed online or are you just happy to glide on by and be an average blogger or average internet marketer?

I finally had the chance to watch Will Smiths ‘The Pursuit of Happyness’ last night. It has been a movie that I have been wanting to see for ages because I am a big Will Smith fan, plus I love any movie that is based around investing. While I had been told it was good and expected just as much - I was blown away by the story that unfolded.

To see a person not only give up everything that he has, but also bring his son through the whole thing as well - with the hope of a better opportunity at the other end. I mean he wasn’t getting paid for 6 months and at the end of it he wasn’t guaranteed a job, yet he saw it as an way out of his current situation - and he had the determination to do whatever it would take to be the one at the end with a job at the stock broking firm.

To see how hard he worked, and everything he had to go through it made me think about how serious I was to succeed online. I mean, I have enough trouble focusing for a whole day to get all the things I need done for that day - let alone 6 months.

This movie really motivated me to really really pursue my dreams and goals with everything that I have. If you have not seen ‘The Pursuit of Happyness’ then I highly recommend that you watch it as soon as possible. You will thank me for it.

You probably think I am going to go on about how ours words have power and that what we say has an impact on others, so we should watch what we say so that we do not offend or hurt others.

Well you would be true - about the first part. I read this quote the other day and it really made me stop what I was doing and think about what I was doing. It went like this:

If the people around you were dependent on your words for nourishment, would they die of malnourishment?

Don’t just glance over it. If I were you, I would do exactly what I did and that is read over the quote a couple of times and get a grasp of what it is actually saying.

I thought about this blog. I thought about whether people relied on me to provide advice, support, encouragement, expertise or maybe even a dash of dry humour. I know a blog isn’t the end of the world but if I am not helping people or encouraging people to become better bloggers or to help them believe that they can be successful, then what is the point of me blogging.

So I guess all this Saturday night post is here to say is be the oasis in the middle of the desert. When a fellow blogger is dry and ready to give up, be the one who’s post brings refreshment.

I hear so many people that I meet on a day to day basis say things like:

‘I don’t Need to Be rich’

‘Money Isn’t everything’

‘I’m happy just working my 9-5′

‘More Money just causes more problems’

And each time I hear something to this affect, I just want to slap them!

These people think that they aren’t being greedy and just taking their place in life, but what they are really doing is just being selfish and lazy.

Lets take a look at these statements one by one, and find out whats wrong with them and what they are really saying.

1. I Don’t Need To Be Rich

What they are really saying:

I only care about myself
As long as I have enough, thats all that matters.

This statement is such a selfish one. It makes the person the center of their own universe - as long as they are comfortable that is all that matters.

Think about it for a second. If you are able to create an excess that means you will have more than you need - and allows you to be generous, and give to others who may need help at the moment.

I love reading articles about successful people giving large portions of their money to charities. So many people think:

‘Thats ok for them, $1million is nothing when you have $1billion’

But is it? Is it any easier for them to give their money away? I think it is only easier for them because they have been doing it the whole time - they gave when they had little and now there are just a couple more zeros on the end.
2. Money Isn’t Everything

Another variations: Money doesn’t bring happiness

What they are really saying:

I’m just jealous because I don’t have any money, so I’ll pretend it doesn’t matter

I’ll be the first to admit that I agree with this statement - money is not everything, but it sure can do a whole lot of good. There are so many people who are less fortunate than we are, usually of no fault of their own. What does being comforatable do to help them?

I think there is a lot of growth in the awareness of social justice in the younger generation, with young people getting behind projects like ‘Make Poverty History’ and ‘Live8′ but the thing we need to look as is are these young people going to be able to have the money and the time to actually make a difference?

3. I am Happy Working My 9-5

What they are really saying:

I am too scared to give up my job

I must make a point here. Some people do actually love their job, and are making a difference by the work that they do. But coming off the last point - a lot of people are not able to help others in the way that they want because they are too busy.

Personally I know for myself at the moment, I am working 8:30am - 5pm then I go home and have things on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday Nights most are to do with my involvement in my Church - but it is very hard to juggle my online marketing, my job, and my other commitments.

How much more time would we have to help others if we were able to remove the 9-5 of our job?

4. ‘More Money just causes more problems’

I think this is a big misconception.

People see the celebrities in the media wasting their lives away, and blame it on the fact that they have too much money. I don’t think that is the case at all. I think that the reason some (cause there are a lot of great celebrity role models - they just dont get the publicity) celebrities gain their money to easily, and there for have no respect for the power that it holds, so they get greedy and just spend, spend, spend - on them selves of course.

These people are just selfish. but think of good that you can do if you use your wealth wisely, and the satisfaction that you would receive from knowing that your money is being used for good, to help improved someone elses way of life.

Money isn’t the problem, love of money is the problem.