This was one of the most challenging speeches in my career. Speaking to 10,000 Thai sales professionals in Bangkok where every sentences I said was translated immediately by a very good translator. One of my largest audiences in Asia!

Recently, Warren Buffett announced that US stocks were very cheap and that he was buying aggressively again. Should you as an investor blindly jump in and take the cue from the world’s greatest investor and one of the world’s richest man? Yes and no. It all depends.

First let me say that I am one of Warren Buffett’s biggest fans and admirers. Studying his strategy of buying high good quality companies at huge discounts to intrinsic value has made me a lot of money in the last 10 years. He is known as the world’s greatest investor and has achieved an amazing track record. However, I have found that following his strategy ALONE can be very dangerous to most small time investors. Let me explain.

When Warren Buffet invests in a stock, he only focuses on the company’s fundamentals. This means that he looks for companies with a good business model, consistent earnings growth, competitive advantage, low debt and good management. He buys as long as the company’s current stock price is selling BELOW the true value of the stock (intrinsic value). He does NOT study the price pattern on the stock chart at all (known as technical analysis). He also does NOT take into account macroeconomic data like interest rates employment and inflation data.

Why does he do this? The reason is because when Buffett buys a stock, his minimum holding period is 10 years. So he does not care about the short and medium term trends that you can see from a stock chart. However, by using technical analysis, we can see if the stock price is on a downtrend or on an uptrend. When a stock is on an uptrend, it means the market psychology is optimistic and prices tend to move higher (upward momentum). When a stock is on a downtrend, it means the market is pessimistic and prices tend to go lower (downward momentum). The danger is that when a stock is on a downtrend, you do not know how low it can go. A cheap stock can become EVEN CHEAPER. In a downtrend, ALL stocks go down, both good and bad companies. No matter how good or cheap a stock is, a downtrend will always send it lower.

Warren Buffett does not take this into account at all. Can you follow his style? Yes! However, you may buy a stock on a downtrend that goes 20%-50% lower before eventually rising years later. If you are prepared to hold for 10 years and not less, then no problem. However, if you want to achieve higher returns in months and not 10 years, it makes sense to combine Buffett’s fundamental investing methods with technical analysis strategies used by other gurus like George Soros & Victor Sperandeo. Technical analysis helps you to better time your entry. While technical analysis is not 100% full-proof and while you can never buy right at the bottom and sell right at the top, it certainly improves your chances to buy NEAR the bottom, at the beginning of an uptrend and to sell NEAR the top, at the beginning of a downtrend.

When I started combining technical analysis strategies with Buffett’s value investing approach, I found that I have been able to make more money in a shorter period of time. At the same time, when stocks went on a downtrend, I was able to get out earlier and not see my investments fall 20%-60% before it would come back years later!

Let me give an example with a stock that has made me alot of money… Goodpack, listed in Singapore. Goodpack is a very good company that passes all of Buffett’s investment criteria (consistent earnings, low debt, competitive advantage, good management). This stock has an intrinsic value of $2.20+. In Wealth Academy, I teach my students how to determine intrinsic value using a discounted cash flow method.

Look at Chart X below. If you just purely use Buffett’s method of value investing (buying a good company when it is undervalued), you may have invested at point A, when the price is $1.60. It is definitely undervalued. However, what happened? 6 months later, the stock price went to $0.60 because of continued bad market sentiment. A cheap stock became EVEN CHEAPER! As a pure buffett follower, you would just hold for the long term. Sure enough, 1.5 years later, the price went back to $1.60. You had to wait 1.5 years just to break even!!! 6 months later, you would have made a profit when the price went to $2.20 (the intrinsic value). There is nothing wrong with this method except that it takes too long to make money.

CHART X

Now, look at Chart Y below. Using technical analysis, you would know that you should never buy on a downtrend. You must always wait for the price trend to REVERSE into an uptrend before buying. When a stock is on a downtrend, you never know how low it can go. This is driven by emotional psychology of fear and greed. A stock is on a confirmed downtrend when it breaks below the 200 Day moving average (the red line) and confirms a reversal into an uptrend when it subsequently breaks above the same 200 Day moving average.

CHART Y

If you had known this, you would never have bought at $1.60 when it was on a downtrend. You would wait for the trend to reverse into an uptrend and buy at the NEW POINT A, when the price is $1. Immediately you would have ridden the uptrend all the way up to the top at $2.30. You would have locked in profits and sold when the price cut the 200 day MA & reversed back into a downtrend at $1.90 (NEW POINT B). This would have given you a 90% return in just 15 months!

This is why in my Wealth Academy boot camp, I do not just teach Warren Buffett’s value investing strategy. Instead, Conrad and I teach our students ALL THE INVESTMENT STRATEGIES used by top investors & traders like George Soros, Victor Sperandeo, William O Neil, Philip Fisher and John Paulson. To be a successful investor, you have to learn fundamental analysis, technical analysis, Macroeconomics and sector rotation. When you combine the very best strategies of many investment experts, you take their best ideas and leave out their individual shortcomings.

Just to give you another example of why you should not follow Buffett’s methods blindly. In October 2008, He announced to the press that he was buying American stocks. What he did not know was that stocks were STILL ON A DOWNTREND.

What happened? Stock prices continued to decline 30% over the next 5 months!

So, although Buffett is bravely buying stocks now (i.e. August 2011), I would suggest that you wait for the downtrend to reverse into an uptrend first before you enter the market. In my coming Wealth Academy programmes, this is exactly what I will be teaching my students. Although stocks ARE very cheap now (undervalued), they can become much much cheaper if the downtrend persists!

Another interesting point to note is that Buffett achieved his best stock market performance and made the majority of his money during the 1970s to 2000. At that time, the stock market was on a secular bull market with minor corrections along the way. See chart below.

However, over the last 10 years (and the time to come), stock markets have become extremely volatile, as recessions and crashes get shorter and shorter. Over the last 10 years, we went through the Dotcom crash, 911, Gulf War, Subprime mortgage crisis, Euro debt crisis, Japanese earthquake etc… Look at the chart from the last 10 years below.

Dow Jones 2000-2011

Merely buying and holding stocks may not maximize your returns. In Wealth Academy, Conrad and I teach our students how to use technical analysis to enter only at beginning of major uptrends and to exit at the beginning of major downtrends so they do not have to suffering and hold onto losing positions for years. In this way, they truly maximize their returns.

If you were to just buy and hold over the last 10 years WITHOUT paying attention to the stock chart trends, you would have made only 20% return over 10 years. See chart Z below.

Chart Z

However, if you had entered ONLY during uptrends and exited when downtrends began, you would have made a 55% return in 4 years and another 20% return in 1 year. See chart M below.

Chart M

From October 2007 to December 2008, stock markets around the world suffered their biggest fall since the great depression. The US Market (S&P 500 Index) fell 55%, Singapore and Malaysia fell 60%+ and China Stocks (Shanghai Composite Index) fell 70%. Stocks like UOB fell from $28 to $7 and Citigroup fell from $60 to less than $1. The collapse of subprime mortgage securities caused worldwide panic and the forced selling of billions of dollars worth of shares.

In January 2009, together with CNA reporter Ryan Huang and Millionaire Trader Conrad Lim, I launched the Book ‘Profit from the Panic- How to Make Your Fortune from the Greatest Financial Crisis Since the great depression’. I then went on Channel News Asia to inform people how cheap stocks were at current levels and that anybody who invested at these distressed price levels would leap great gains once markets recovered.

Within 2 months, the stock market boom began. The US market rallied 90%+ in 22 months while the Singapore STI jumped over 110% in that same period.

My book became a #1 best-seller at Borders and more importantly, my investments made me over $3 million+. More importantly, my students and readers who took action made their fortune as well.

It was NOT a prediction or a guess. It was plain common sense based on the study of the history of stock markets. Over the last 80 years of data has shown that every time stocks plunged from emotional panic, they will eventually recover to much higher levels. Every crisis will end. At the end of every crisis will pave the way for the next financial boom. People who invest in high quality companies at distressed prices would become millionaires when the boom came. “Recessions create millionaires”. In fact, during the last financial crisis, the number of millionaires in Singapore increased by 32.7% because of their investments.

The Panic is Happening Again

On 5 August, the S&P credit rating agency downgraded the US government’s debt and the fear of another recession has sent people to panic once again. In a week, US stocks have plunged 16%, Singapore stocks are down 19% and Hong Kong stocks are down 18%. This is despite the fact that companies earnings have posted record earnings growth. This sell off is purely driven by fear and presents another great investment opportunity to PROFIT from the PANIC AGAIN!

How Do You Profit from the Panic
Those that sell during these emotional panics and STAY OUT OF THE GAME will be the BIGGEST LOSERS. Those that do nothing will be the BIGGEST LOSERS. Those that hold onto stocks of LOUSY COMPANIES will never see them ever recover. Smart investors who buy the stocks of the RIGHT COMPANIES and AT THE RIGHT TIME will have the greatest opportunity to make huge profits when the markets recover.

To make your fortune from this market crash, you have to know…
1) How to choose stocks of high quality companies that will be the first to rebound when the market recovers?
2) Which markets to invest in and which to avoid. US? China? Hong Kong? Jakarta? Malaysia?
3) When is the safest time to get back in?

These are all the insights and strategies you are going to learn at the coming Singapore Wealth Academy Expo 2011 (August 20-21). We have got 9 investment strategist specializing in property, stocks, commodities, options and forex to guide you.

You can still grab your tickets for this must-attend event at www.waexpo2011.com. Tickets start at $99 only.

Be Responsible for Your Own Financial Destiny
I feel the most sorry for the elderly and the uneducated. They will be the ones who suffer the most in recessions and stock market crashes. However, if you are someone who is educated, you owe it to yourself to financially educate yourself. You have no excuse to lose money and to not make huge profits for yourself. I started teaching money skills 7 years ago because I feel it isn’t fair that only 10% of the population gets to become rich. I feel that it isn’t fair that the knowledge of money and investing lies in the hands of a few. All of us deserve to be rich and successful. However, it is up to you to take action and help yourself first. When you can help yourself, be sure to help the elderly and the uneducated with your donation of time, money and knowledge. They need to be helped as well.

I have some really exciting news. Coming 20-21 August 2011, I will be hosting the Famous Wealth Expo in Singapore. During this two days, I will be inviting down the region’s most successful investment experts who have personally made millions of dollars from stocks, business, commodities, options, forex and property.

Many of them are my personal friends and over two content rich days (9am-6pm), they will be sharing with you their secrets and strategies of how to make consistent profits as an entrepreneur, investor or trader. What makes these speakers exciting is that they have all created tremendous wealth and success starting from nothing. and they have done it in very different ways. Some of them made their fortune building online businesses while another made his fortune trading in the Forex markets. Some of them have achieved their success at a very young age (before 30), while some having become millionaires after the age of 40. Some of them have first class honours degrees from top universities while others dropped out of secondary school.

Collectively, they prove that ANYONE can achieve tremendous wealth and success, provided they follow these two powerful principles. #1: Decide and make the commitment that you want to be successful. #2. Be willing to learn and model the success strategies of those of have already succeeded. Of course, there is the third ingredient, which is to take MASSIVE and CONSISTENT ACTION. After all, there can be no sustainable results without hard work.

Remember that the most important skill to build a multi-million dollar net worth and become financially free is the skill of INVESTING, BUSINESS and MONEY MANAGEMENT. A person who earns $3,000 a month could end up much much richer than someone who earns $10,000 a month because the former knows how to save their money and make it grow exponentially.

These are the exciting topics that will be taught at Wealth Expo Singapore 2011

- Invest in the Booming Chinese Market the Safe Way
- Singapore Property Market: Can You Still Make A lot of Money From It?
- How To Spot & Grab Highly Profitable Properties At Bargain Prices In The Current Market!
- How to Find High Yielding Property Investments in Singapore
- US Debt Crisis? How to Protect Your Portfolio and Profit from This!
- Learn to Profit from the Appreciation of the Chinese Yuan (RMB)
- How to Select Winning Stocks for the Asian Recovery and Coming Boom
- How to Create Passive Income Online from the Comfort of Your Home
- How to Achieve Consistent Trading Profits, Even in a Volatile Market

I will be hosting this event and personally teaching you a system of how to select undervalued stocks that can help you make huge returns as the US and Asian markets enter their third year of the recovery phase. I will also be sharing with you how to take advantage of the undervalued Hong Kong and China Market and profit from the next stock market boom.

Let me introduce just a few of the speakers who will be at the Singapore Wealth Expo to you…

Yeo Keong Hee, CFA
Forex Strategist and Author of ‘Peak Performance Forex Trading

After achieving a first class honours degree from NUS (Engineering), Keong Hee started out working for the Government Investment Corporation (GIC) of Singapore as an analyst. At that time, he started out trading foreign exchange currencies (forex) as a hobby (with a capital of US$10,000) and as a way to make some side income. Within one year, he mastered the skill of trading and was making more money than his full time job. he had turned his US$10,000 capital into US$300,000. This guys now works a few hours a week from home and makes an average of US$15,000 to US$20,000 a month. At the age of 30+, he bought a huge piece of land and built a multi-million dollar bungalow where he trades at home from. Definitely, someone you want to learn from. find out more at www.keonghee.com. He is going to show you how anyone can learn to trade forex profitably in today’s uncertain financial markets.

Conrad Alvin Lim
Professional Online Trader & Author of ‘Secret Psychology of Millionaire Traders’

Conrad used to own a successful outdoor media company in Singapore in the 1990′s. In 2000, during the recession, his company went bust and he was declared a bankrupt. At the age close to 40, with an incomplete ‘O’ level certificate and a registered bankrupt, he could not find a job. To make ends meet, he became a self-employed videographer and photographer. Then, in 2004, he started to get interested in the stock market and began the process of learning how to become a professional stock trader. Starting with a capital of less than US$2,000, he started trading stock options from his home. From humbly making US$10 a day, he progressively honed his skills and made up enough to finally pay off his debts and was discharged from bankruptcy in March of 2007.

Within the next four years, he has become a millionaire once again as one of the most successful online traders in Asia. I have managed to convince him to come down and share his story and how anyone, with the right mindset and discipline can overcome any financial setbacks and achieve their financial freedom. He has a blog at www.conradalvinlim.com

Fabian Lim
CEO, Asia Internet Academy Pte Ltd
If you have ever wanted to capitalize on the booming online consumer market and make additional passive income running a home based business, Fabian Lim is the best person to teach you. Fabian started out as a management consultant at Deloitte Consulting until he decided to quit and become his own boss.

In 2002, he was intrigued by the idea of being able to make a living at home through the Internet and he devoted the next five years to mastering Internet marketing techniques by attending various online courses run by US experts. In 2005, he had his first breakthrough when he sold market research software online and it generated sales of US$200,000 over 20 months. In 2006, he launched his own instructional program that taught users how to utilise Google’s paid advertising system effectively. He achieved sales of US$100,000 in five days. To date, he has taught more than 5,000 people how to make a living by marketing Web products and services. He has become so successful that he recently bought his own private plane and just placed an order for his latest luxury helicopter.

Song Seng Wun
Executive Director & Regional Economist
CIMB Research Pte Ltd

Song Seng Wun is presently the Executive Director and Regional Economist in CIMB Research Pte Ltd
Seng Wun holds a Master of Arts in Econometrics from the University of Canterbury, New Zealand. He started his career as an economist in Malayan Banking Bhd. In the early 1990’s, he moved to Singapore and worked as a Regional Economist with various major multi-national financial institutions such as Merrill Lynch (formerly Smith Newcourt); Warburg Dillion Reed (formerly SB Warburg) as well as ABN Amro (formerly ABN Amro Hoare Govette). Seng Wun’s area of focus is in the economies of ASEAN-5. He is an icon in South Asia’s media as he regularly contributes his professional views on the regional financial markets.

Yeo Kee Yan
Vice President – Retail Market Strategist
DBS Vickers Research (Singapore)

Yeo Kee Yan has more than 10 years experience in equity research. He joined DBS Vickers Research as the Retail Market Strategist (Singapore equities) in 2007. At DBS, he identifies equity investment trends, themes and stocks for retail clients. He is known for making timing contrarian calls. In early 2009 for example, he urged clients to overcome their fear and buy stocks because he believed that equities would soon recover from the US credit crisis of 2008.

Kelvin Fong
CEO & Chief Trainer

Kelvin is a sought-after property consultant for investors interested in investing in Singapore properties. He counts some of the Who’s Who in the business world as his clients. He is known to help his clients minimise risks by leveraging on the most suitable loans available, while also maximising the profit potential of the investment. His expertise in analysing the market and the property investments has consistently translated huge profits for his clients. This is why when Kelvin shares his advice, his clients listen. In fact, new clients are constantly seeking him out for his advice.He has been featured as a property expert in numerous media including Channel NewsAsia, Channel U, 938LIVE, Radio 100.3, The Sunday Times, Fortune Times, Property Report Magazine, Success in Real Estate and others. He has also been a featured speaker in iProperty.com EXPO, PropNex Convention 2007 and 2009, MENSA society and other property related events.

What Is Your Investment for This Rare Learning Opportunity?

If you ask me, the years of experience and accumulated knowledge that these people have is worth millions to anyone willing to learn and apply their secrets. Even if you could learn from all these financial experts individually, it would probably costs you thousands of dollars. However, this event is heavily subsidized by our sponsors and these are the details of the ticket prices:

Date: 20th – 21st August 2011 (Sat – Sun)
Time: 9.00am – 7.00pm daily
Venue: Singapore EXPO, Hall 3

Ticket Prices

GENERAL TICKET: SGD 29 (sign up before 1st August for an early bird price of SGD 19)

VIP TICKET: SGD 99 (includes CD recording of event & Goodie Bag)
* Plus! Bring along your friend or loved one with you to the event for just an additional SGD1!

P.S. 930+ tickets have BEEN SOLD and 150 tickets are being snapped up daily, so reserve your tickets before they are all gone.

Register Your Interest and Purchase Tickets for Wealth Academy Expo 2011 by CALLING: +65 6881 8881 (office hours: 10am – 6pm), If our phone lines are jammed, then send an EMAIL TO: waexpo@akltg.com

See You There!

Adam Khoo

As human beings, all of us possess tremendous potential. We just do not make full use of our immense capabilities. Everybody has the ability to develop successful relationships, build a successful business, become the best in their field, make a million dollars etc… All it takes is learning the right strategies and taking massive action.

So, what stops most people from taking action and using their full potential? Whenever I ask this question, the same reasons seem to come up. Many people will admit that what stops them from taking action is ‘fear’, ‘uncertainty’, ‘doubt’, ‘depression’, ‘frustration’, ‘anger’, ‘laziness’ or ‘feelings of helplessness’. Many salespeople don’t succeed because they have the fear of getting rejected. Many people who have the desire to start a business never do so because of their self-doubt and fear of failure. Many people who experience adversity do not take the necessary actions to turn their life around because they feel too depressed or frustrated. In other words, NEGATIVE EMOTIONS are the main reason why people do not take action and realize their full potential.

Negative Emotions Serve a Positive Purpose. They are Signals that We Need to Change Something.
So, if negative emotions are so ‘bad’, why do we have them? Why do they exist? ! I believe that our creator did not give us negative emotions to limit us or to punish us. In fact, negative emotions serve a positive purpose. They are signals that tell us that we need to change something. They are giving us the message that we need to either change our perceptions or our actions!

The Positive Message of Fear
Throughout our lives, our minds will create the emotion of fear whenever we face something new or challenging. The salesperson experiences the fear of being rejected. The presenter experiences fear before going on stage. So, why does our mind create this feeling of fear? Fear is an emotion that signals to us that we need to ‘get better prepared’. This feeling is giving us a message that in order to deal with the challenge ahead, we need to gain more knowledge, skills and resources to succeed. That is a useful message, isn’t it?

Many people are surprised to know that I still feel fear before I go on stage to give a talk, despite having been a professional speaker for the last 15 years.

In fact, 3-4 days before any speaking engagement, I start feeling the fear that hundreds of people will be listening to me and judging me. I have the fear that I may not live up to their expectations. This fear signals to me that I have to get prepared. It motives me to plan way ahead. I spend hours doing research on my topic, writing a powerful speech and crafting my slides. This fear drives me to rehearse my speech in my mind over and over again until I know exactly what to say, how to say it and when to say it. The moment I am fully prepared to give my absolute best, my fear is at a minimal. I have made use of my fear to help me constantly deliver my best each and every time. I can imagine that if I had no fear, I would not have bothered to have prepared so hard and would probably have given a lousy speech.

So, it is perfectly normal to feel fear. Everybody gets scared, both ordinary and extraordinary people. The difference lies in how they deal with it. Unfortunately, most people allow their fears to limit them from taking action. They get the fear of public speaking so they avoid it completely. They will never dare to speak in public.

Frustration Signals to Us that We Have to Change Our Strategy
Another common negative emotion that many of us may experience is ‘frustration’. Frustration is an emotion we feel when we are not able to get the result we want despite repeated attempts. Most people allow the feeling of frustration to overwhelm them so much that they get angry and quit ever attempting it again. Haven’t you been so frustrated at something or someone and said to yourself, ‘whatever!’, threw your hands up in surrender and walk off?

Once again, Frustration is there to give us a message. It serves a useful purpose. When we feel frustrated, the signal is telling us that we have to change our strategy. We have to do something different, to get the results we want. One of my students is an insurance advisor (specializing in corporate insurance) that was getting so frustrated with her job that she felt like quitting after three months. She was getting frustrated that despite making hundreds of calls to prospects, she couldn’t even secure an appointment. She kept getting rejection after rejection.

When she attended my ‘Patterns of Excellence’ programme, I told her that as long as she did not listen to the message of her frustration, she would never reach her sales targets. Her frustration was a clear signal that she had to change her strategy in the way she engaged her prospects.

Upon reflection, she realized that whenever she said that she was offering ‘corporate insurance evaluation’, people closed their minds and immediately said that they weren’t interested. She decided to use a different strategy. She would call her prospects (bosses of companies) and say, ‘I am a corporate strategy advisor. Do you have the intention to list your company on the stock exchange?’ That statement immediately got their attention.

If their answer was no, she would say, ‘do you realize that if something happens to you, the shares you own in your company may become worthless? Your loved ones may not be able to sell the shares to extract its value. Could you spare a few minutes to learn how to assign a market value to your company so that it can be easily sold in the future?’ By using this unique approach, her appointment rate shot up and she increased her sales by 400% in just 6 months.

So, you can see that ‘negative emotions’ like fear, frustration, anger, depression and disappointment are not really bad at all. They can really help us to become much more successful. We just have to ensure that they serve us and not immobilize us from taking action. So, whenever you experience a negative emotion, listen to the message and act on it. Once you have heard the message, breakout of the negative emotion so you no longer feel bad about it.

This post is an excerpt from my upcoming book ‘Winning the Game of Life!’ Watch out for it!

Have you ever been in a situation where the odds seemed insurmountable against you? Have you ever felt that things were so hopeless and impossible that there was no point in fighting anymore? Well, here is a powerful lesson we can learn from a simple animal- a Zebra. In this documentary, the Zebra is caught by a lioness. The Lioness has bitten the Zebra on the neck and is choking the life out of it. There are multiple open wounds and the blood is gushing out. I guess most people in the Zebra’s position would simply give up and let fate take its course. What are the chances of a Zebra being able to over power a lioness and escape from its grasp?

What is so amazing and inspiring is that the Zebra refuses to give up without fighting to its very last breath. It refuses to cave in to impossible odds. It holds on to its life, masters up its last ounce of strength and flips the lioness on its back. The Zebra then uses all its might to hold the lioness down, attempting to drown it in the river. Out of breath and strength, the lioness relents and the Zebra kicks away and escapes. In the end, the stronger animal is the one that finally gives up the chase.

Sometimes in life and in business, it is not always the strongest or smartest who prevails in the end. It is the one who has more fighting spirit and more ‘heart’. In fact, a weakness that many successful people and companies have is that over time, they lose their hunger and become emotionally weak. So, if you are ever in a situation where your competitor seems to have all the advantage; more money, better looks, more resources, more experience etc… Do not count yourself out. As long as you have the most important ingredient; fighting spirit and heart, you will prevail in the end. If you want it more badly than they want it, you will get it. And if you happen to be the leader in your field, do not ever allow success drive you to complacency.

I remember that when I was a struggling first time author at the age of 24, no publisher or bookstores would give me a chance. Major bookstores would not display my book and international publishers would not invest in my book because they thought that I lacked the credibility, experience and talent. They preferred to market books by international authors with years of track record. I guess at the time, I felt like the Zebra in an industry of lions. Despite no body wanting to invest, distribute or even promote my book initially (i.e. my first book ‘I Am Gifted, So Are You!’), I hanged on to the dream that ONE DAY, I will be a best selling author. The one advantage I had amongst all the competing books was that I was HUNGRY for success and I would fight and do whatever it took to get my books on the best-sellers list.

With this ‘Never Say Die’ spirit, I went around the whole of Singapore doing free talks to promote my book at schools and bookshops like Borders, Kinokuniya, Popular, MPH etc… I remember myself doing 5-6 free talks every single week for 6 months. I believe I hold the record for an author doing the most number of talks. All that work paid off! in 6 months, my book was ranked #1 on the MPH best-sellers list and hit the National best-sellers list for 8 consecutive years. Have you got your own personal story about how you triumphed over a stronger opponent in your business, sports, relationships, career? Share it HERE!

What stops people from daring to set big goals and taking action is the fear of failure/rejection and the limiting belief that they do not have the resources to achieve the life they want. It is very easy to feel defeated and disheartened when things don’t go the way we want. It is easy to give up and think ‘impossible’ when obstacles/problems seem to make the task impossible. That is why 90% of people in life are so ordinary. They make the easy choice and quit. Remember that the Winners of the world (the top 10%) face just as many obstacles/problems as everyone else. In fact, in most cases, they face even greater obstacles. The difference is that they make the tougher choice of finding a way towards they goals REGARDLESS of how impossible it seems.

I recently watched a documentary about Aimee Mullins who is a true role model of the power of possibility. In times of our life, we always need to be reminded by people like Aimee that our problems are nothing compared to the problems of so many others out there. Yet despite their problems/obstacles they go for their goals because they refuse to accept anything less than an extraordinary life.

Aimee Mullins was born without fibula in both her legs and her parents made the painful decision of amputating both her legs when she was a baby. Despite being a double below-the-knee amputee, she set the goal of becoming an Olympic athlete, a catwalk model and a Hollywood actress. BY the age of 28, she had set world records in the 100m, 200m and Long Jump Para-Olympics. She became a catwalk model and was voted ‘The 50 Most Beautiful Women in the World’ by People Magazine. She has also become a Hollywood actress, staring in movies like ‘The World Trade Center’ in 2006. As someone who has the learnt the power of focusing on what is great in her life, she lives an extremely happy and fulfilling life dancing, roller blading, skiing and swimming. I hope the video inspires you as much as it has inspired me to keep going for my dreams despite the odds.