The school holidays are less than a month away and already my ‘I Am Gifted!’ programmes June holidays are filling up like crazy! Every week, we have hundreds of parents attending our seminars in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam to book their child a slot in the highly popular life transformational programme for students.

As a parent of two daughters myself, I can understand how stressful it can be when our children do not perform up to their highest potential. Deep down inside, we know that our kids are intelligent and have the potential to do so much better. The trouble is that sometimes, they may lack the self-confidence, motivation and right learning skills to score the distinctions that they deserve. It is truly amazing how much improvement children can make and how successful they can become once they learn the right mindsets and learning skills to make learning easy and fun.

Out of the many programmes that I teach (i.e. Leadership, Investing, business, NLP etc…), the one that I continue to enjoy the most is teaching students (aged 10-19) through my “I Am Gifted!” holiday programme and subsequently teaching their parents (through my Successful Parenting Workshops) to reinforce their learnings. The reason is because I have discovered that when children learn the powerful techniques of goal setting, time management, personal mastery, exam skills, speed reading etc…. at such a young age, it will give them a tremendous head start in life. It was these powerful ideas and super learning techniques that turned my life around 180 degrees 24 years ago when I was aged 13.

I thought I would share with you some powerful ideas that I deliver to parents through my ‘I Am Gifted!’ Introductory Workshops in the videos below. A big thank you to my corporate parter OCBC bank for sponsoring this talk. You can watch the entire session on youtube as well. Enjoy my friends!

I would like to salute and congratulate one of my most senior students Martin Sng who attended my Patterns of Excellence (NLP) training 5 years ago. At the time, Martin was bankrupt after he lent alot of money to his friends and stood as guarantor to many of their loans. He is a very nice man who was too obliging. In the end, when his friends could not pay their loans, Martin was left shouldering all the debt. Despite his huge challenges, Martin saved up enough to attend my course. During the program, he set his goal to get discharged from bankruptcy and become a millionaire.

Yesterday, he turned up at my new training centre for my Wealth Academy Introductory Seminar. He was so happy to share with me that he achieved his goal of paying off his debts and being discharged as a bankrupt. He has begun to save alot of money and wants to learn to build his wealth through the stock market. This is why he decided to sign up for my course with his newly saved money. What impresses me about Martin is that at age 64, he is still so passionate to learn and invest in himself. Instead of blaming his friends or blaming his bad luck (which most people do), he chose to take responsibility, upgrade himself and take massive action! Martin, you are truly an inspiration to all Singaporeans

A few weeks ago, I went to the Journey Concert in Singapore and had an amazing time! For those of you who grew up in the 1970s-1980s, you would know that Journey is a legendary Rock Band that has sold over 80 million Multi-Platinum albums with hits like ‘Faithfully’, ‘Open Arms’ and ‘Don’t Stop Believing’. The original lead Singer Steve Perry with his amazing voice was the one who brought Journey to International fame.

Then in 1998, after a falling out, Steve Perry left the band and Journey struggled to find a new lead Singer for the next 10 years unsuccessfully.

When they were just about to give up the search for a lead vocalist who could replace Steve Perry, lead guitarist Neil Schon stumbled across a video on Youtube featuring Filipino Singer Arnel Pineda in Manila. At the time, Arnel who was homeless and bankrupt not too long ago, was singing in bars and living from paycheck to paycheck. He was a huge fan of Journey himself.

When Neil listened to Arnel’s voice, he was amazed that he sounded almost like (even better) than Steve Perry and this powerful voice came from a small Asian man. When Neil sent Arnel an email asking him to come to the US to audition for the lead singer of Journey, Arnel thought that is was a hoax.

After being convinced by a friend, Arnel flew to the US, auditioned and immediately got the job. At first many people were skeptical that a short Asian man could lead a legendary American Rock Band. Some American racists even suggested that he had no right to even be in the band. However, Arnels’ soulful voice and energy proved his detractors wrong. Journey’s next album went on to become a multi-platinum album and Journey went on to perform an International sell-out tour. From obscurity and poverty, Arnel is now an International rock star!

No matter what challenges you are facing in your life right now, don’t stop believing in yourself! Arnel is truly living the lyrics of this song everyday

It seems that more and more people are contracting and dying of cancer these days. I have personally gone to over 6 funerals in the last 6 months (the latest being my beloved Grandmother) and many of them lost their lives from the different types of cancers. Is it the food we eat? The air we breathe? The genes we inherit? The thoughts we hold in our mind?

This interview I watched about Anita Moorjani (New York Times Best-selling author of ‘Dying To Be Me’) has answered many of these questions and truly confirmed what I have always believed in. In her book and interview, she also reinforces the importance of loving yourself, living your life with purpose and living without fear. She also provides a powerful glimpse into what happens after death.

Anita was diagnosed with Lymphoma cancer in 2002 and battled the disease for four years. Then in 2006, she fell into a coma. At the hospital, the Doctors told her family that there was no chance of recovery. She had tumors the size of lemons running from the base of her skull to her lower back. She had skin lesions all over her body. Many of her vital organs stopped functioning. She was kept alive by a feeding tube and a ventilator.

During the 36 hours she spent in her Coma, Anita experienced what it was like having her spirit leave her body and being able to feel and experience spirits of her dead relatives (her deceased father) as well as being aware of everyone who was around her- their thoughts and feelings.

It was at this time, that her spirit became clear about her true purpose in life and WHY she had contracted the cancer. The cancer was a culmination and manifestation of her fearful thoughts throughout her life. He fear of inadequacy, embarrassment, failure, letting others down had created tremendous negative emotions that manifested itself as cancer. Once she began to take responsibility for CREATING her cancer because of her THOUGHTS and EMOTIONS, she felt that she had a choice to reverse it.

In her spirit state, she had a choice of whether to die or to return to her body and awake. Although she wanted to die and move on into the wonderful spirit life, her father told her that it was ‘not her time’ and advised her to return to fulfill her destiny.

When she made the choice to return,she opened her eyes and knew with certainty that she had found her purpose in life and would never again live with fear. She also knew that without this fear, the cancer would soon be gone. Amazingly, within 4 days, her cancer had entirely disappeared and her organs were completely restored and she has remained cancer free for the last 7 years. Her case remains one of the most powerful medical miracles today, one that her doctors just cannot explain. She has written her entire experience in her book ‘Dying to be Me’ and it has become an International Best-Seller.

Whether you believe in the spirit world or simply the power of the human mind, you will be inspired and touched by her book and her interview.

Today, on the 9th of March 2013, my Paternal Grandmother Molly Khoo passed away peacefully at the age of 94. I will miss her dearly and will always remember her kindness, the values and lessons she passed on to me over the years. My Grandma was the one who raised me in my younger years as my parents spent most of their weekdays working to build their careers.

During my parent’s divorce, she was the one who took me in and gave me love and strength during those challenging years. When everyone called me lazy, stupid and naughty, my Grandma never said a single unkind or discouraging word. She was a tremendous positive thinker who listened and encouraged me to become the best I could be. She was the one who gave me hope at a time when everyone believed I was a hopeless kid. When I came out with the crazy idea of making money by running a disco at the age of 15, she was the one who lent me her house. Despite over 100+ teenagers trashing her house, she never scolded me or complained. Instead, she asked, ‘How much money did you make?’ and smiled and she cleaned up.

Next to her bedside was a picture of the time she attended my graduation ceremony from Officer Cadet School, one of the proudest moments in her life (and mine as well). A testament to the fact that when you believe and care for someone, you can mould a diamond out of coal.

My Grandma was really an amazingly intelligent, courageous and determined woman. When her husband (my paternal grandfather) died at the young age, she was left to raise her four sons alone (one of them, my dad). At that time, many people thought that she could never pull through and would even lose the house. She was a homemaker with little savings and no formal education.

Despite having no formal schooling, she spoke fluent English, Malay, Hokkien, Cantonese and was extremely resourceful and witty. She learnt how to became a horse betting bookie (illegal at the time), took in tenants into the family home and punted shares in the stock market. My Grandma learnt how to create multiple streams of income all by herself.

With her resourceful money making skills (which probably rubbed off on me), frugal habits, she put all her four sons through university (including my dad) and continued to play an active role in caring for us all the way to her 90s. Because of her, my dad, my three other uncles and many of my cousins lead an abundant life today. Thank you Grandma and I know you are in a much better place now.

The Secret of My Success

Many people have often asked me what has been the most important factor for my success. What has allowed me to achieve so much more than most of my peers. The answer is that I have always been a rebel who never liked to follow the rules and accept the status quo. I have always strived to challenge the status quo, improve life with my own rules and create change my live to make it the way I want. This attitude got me into a lot of trouble when I was in school (I got expelled in Primary 3, suspended in secondary school and made my JC principal’s blood boil  ). However, it has been this same attitude that has allowed me to achieve and create all that I have today- re-writing the rules of education, finance and NLP through my books and seminars.

When we are growing up, we are told that the world is the way it is.  We are told that we should learn to conform and live inside this world. This is what leads most people to lead a very limited life. Life can be a lot more exciting and powerful once you discover a powerful fact…

Everything around you that you call life, was made up by people who were no smarter than you. You have the power to change your life and the lives of the people around you. You can build your own world and your own rules for the betterment of mankind.  This is the attitude that drove people like Gandhi, Rosa Parks, Steve Jobs, Sergey Brin and Larry Page to change the world we know today. Remember that if you do not change the world, someone else will change it for you!

I love this quote by Adidas that goes “ Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live the world they have been given, rather than to explore the power they have to change it”.

I have also been extremely inspired by Steve Jobs who says it all in this short speech years ago. Check it out!

Steve Jobs: Secrets of Life

As I read the newspaper and forums daily, it seems that the majority of comments and news I read about is negative. People tend to spend more of their time complaining about how bad things are and focusing on what they don’t have rather than focusing on their blessings.

What many of these people do not realize is that they are actually sabotaging their happiness, health and future success. There is a powerful universal law in life that says that we attract whatever we focus on. By complaining and focusing on everything that is wrong (e.g. lousy government, too many foreigners, not enough money etc..), these people are actually attracting more poverty, ill health and unhappiness into their life.

When you don’t feel grateful for what you have, you are sending a message to God that you don’t deserve to get more of what life has to offer. When you are in a negative emotional and physical state, you will not have the passion and physical energy to notice and pursue the abundance of opportunities around you.

If we want more success, more happiness and a greater level of heath, we have to adopt the attitude of gratitude. Learning to be sincerely grateful for what you have and putting yourself in a state of ‘thankfulness’ increases your psychological as well as physical well-being.

When you focus on the blessings that you have, you put yourself into an emotional state of happiness. Not only does this make you feel good, it initiates a healing effect on your physical body. The left pre-frontal cortex of your brain is activated and positive hormones like Serotonin are secreted into your body. Serotonin is a ‘happy hormone’ that further boosts your mood. This natural ‘drug’ improves your physical health by strengthening your immune system!

Psychologists Dr. Robert Emmons of the University of California, Davis and Dr. Michael McCullough of the University of Miami, have found during their ongoing Research Project on Gratitude and Thankfulness that people who keep weekly gratitude journals had lesser health problems, had a more optimistic outlook on life, and were more likely to reach their goals.

Gratitude Attracts Greater Abundance

“Nothing new can come into your life until you are grateful for what you have.” 

Besides just making us feel good and positively improving our health, having an attitude of gratitude actually attracts greater success and abundance into our life. How does this work?

Every thought we have is a quantum of energy that vibrates at a particular frequency. Negative, pessimistic and unhappy thoughts vibrate at a much lower frequency as compared to positive, happy and optimistic thoughts.

Since all matter in the universe is actually made up of vibrating atoms at the quantum mechanical level, our thoughts actually attract and shape the kind of people, object and events we experience in our lives.

We tend to attract events and people that vibrate at the same frequency as our dominant thoughts. Simply put, if you constantly have positive, happy and grateful thoughts, you tend to attract even more happiness, abundance and positive circumstances into your life. You get more of what you focus on. This is a universal law of life. At the same time, if you always focus on lack and what you don’t have, you tend to attract more lack and more of what you do not want.

What Is There to Be Grateful For?

I once had a participant who attended my ‘Patterns of Excellence’ programme who was going through a really tough time in his life. He had recently been declared a bankrupt (he could not pay the debts from his failed business) and his marriage was in the final stages of divorce. He was potentially losing his kids and even his house. Nothing in his life seemed to be working. He felt as if the whole world was going against him.

“Gratitude is for people who already have a lot and want to achieve even more. What can I possibly be grateful for, with everything going downhill in my life?,” he said. At times, when we all go through rough patches, it may seem impossible to find something to be grateful for.

However, I believe that no matter how unfair or hopeless things may seem at times, there are many blessings that we can choose to focus on. Focusing on our blessings changes our energy from negative to positive and it is the first step we have to take if we want to turn the events in our life around. When we focus on what we have as compared to what we do not have, we draw the strength and the inspiration to turn our challenges into opportunities.

During the training, I got this man to start focusing on and writing down everything in his life that he was grateful for. While it certainly wasn’t easy, he gave it a shot and stretched himself to focus on his blessings. He began to realize how much he had to be happy about. He was in good health and had the knowledge, energy and experience to start all over again. He had a great network of friends who were there to support him and two children who loved him dearly. He began to realize that he had the chance to find someone new who would truly love him and stand by him should he go through tough times again.

He realized that he had the opportunity to learn from all the mistakes that he made with his former business partners and focus on starting a new business that he could own all by himself. Although he was temporarily broke, his reputation for honesty and connections would allow him to find investors for his new venture.

As he focused more on being grateful for he did have, you could see the excitement building up inside him again. His fear and depression faded away and the fire inside him was ignited once again. That is the power of gratitude!