Secret, marketing, 4-hour workweek

Money, money! Success! There's no shortage of books, seminars and workshops to guide us, for  a fee of course. From Robert Kiyosaki's investment books (Rich dad, poor dad) to Timothy Ferriss' book 'The 4-hour Workweek', promises are made.

I have never read Timothy's book, but read what another reader has to say:
http://kclau.com/book-reviews/timothy-ferriss-first-chapter/

Timothy also recently came out with a book entitled "The 4-Hour Body: An Uncommon Guide to Rapid Fat-Loss, Incredible Sex, and Becoming Superhuman". In the book, he claims to have out on over 30 pounds of muscle in about one month... Hmm, sounds like some outlandish claim, unless you're using steroids! But if you check Timothy's website photo, he doesn't look that huge...
Read what Christian Finn, fitness expert, has to say:
http://www.thefactsaboutfitness.com/research/4-hour-body.htm

For those in the management and corporate world, there's no shortage too of "THE best" new technique to implement, etc... though it's perhaps fairer to call them fads, rather than hype. Think TQM, six sigma, change management, etc.
For a balanced view, read Robert Bacal's, psychology expert's comments:
http://work911.com/articles/mgmtfad.htm


Take home point - read books with a pinch of salt. To sell books, seminars and workshops, controversial headlines are needed and sometimes publicity stunts too... So buyer beware!

NLP - should you learn it?

We live in a live full of hype, no thanks to the world of marketing and advertising... where it's the norm to exaggerate, or even lie just to promote a product, person, college, service, etc. Sales and money has become the number one priority, at the expense of truth.

If you flip through newspapers in Malaysia, I'm sure you have seen advertisements for NLP workshops claiming you will be able to do this and that... Likewise for hypnosis workshops... NLP seems to be lacking in academic scrutiny - ie, no rigorous testing, experiments, etc to validate their claims. This is not to say that 'everything' in NLP is rubbish...

Read Michael Lovitch's blog here http://www.hypnosisnetwork.com/blog/recommends/should-you-learn-nlp/

Some 'discoveries' that have been promoted as NLP presentation skills techniques are not new... For example, telling a story within a story have been used by movie makers long before NLP made ehadway (just that NLP uses some jargon to name the technique). Likewise, the use of gestures and non-verbal expressions have been used by orators long before NLP came up with fancy terms.

Oh yeah... are you a robot? As humans, we have our ups and downs and associated feelings, emotions. Some NLP practitioners like to promote the idea of functioning in a 'peak state'. Nothing wrong with that... except that you need to think carefully - why do I need to work myself up? Lulls and down moments are part of life, and expecting 'high' moments (or manufacturing 'high' moments) all the time seems unnecessary, or evena rtificial.

Lose weight by eating chips and chocolate bars?

http://edition.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/11/08/twinkie.diet.professor/index.html

Read more about the infamous 'Twinkie diet'... a nutrition professor attempted to lose weight by eating junk snacks (chocolate bars, potato chips, etc). (Twinkie is a brand of cream cake in the US.)

What do you think?

>Offhand a few things come to mind:
-need to monitor results for longer period of time
-the junk snacks fill you up (sugar, fats) and you probably feel 'jelak' (don't feel like eating) due to the lingering taste (flavouring in chips? syrup?)... so your total calorie intake probably won't reach what it would if you ate your usual meal
-not healthy to eat like that (obvious, right :0

>Read Tom Venuto's response to this
http://www.burnthefatblog.com/archives/2010/11/the_twinkie_diet.php

Are you a people-pleaser?

Interesting read… Do click here to read Dr Sharon Melnick’s article…
what do you think?

http://sharonmelnick.com/site/successful-people-pleaser/

The Biggest Loser... lose weight?

Jillian Michaels must be one of the more popular trainers these days.. thanks to reality tv shows such as 'The Biggest Loser'. Take a look at The Yellow Team

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAAPKdQg9hk

Not denying the effectiveness of Jillian's routines, but perhaps a bit drastic for severely out-of-shape individuals... always weigh the suitability and risk for your ownself.

Peace of mind?

What is the secret to peace and hope? Countless books have been written (The Secret, Law of Attraction, etc)

Don't forget that health encompasses our body, mind, emotions, soul, etc. The late Bruce Lee exercised a lot and also read religious books, including those written by  Krishnamurti and tried meditation and also drugs. Eventually when Bruce died, there were traces of drugs in his body. Google and you will know what I mean (no need for mysterious explanations such as horoscope, bad luck). Or perhaps a more recent tragedy about a Malaysian surgeon... read http://www.bernama.com.my/bernama/v5/newsgeneral.php?id=598443

What is the secret to peace and hope? Or perhaps we want to avoid thinking about the low points in life, and therefore we manufacture our highs - drinking, sex, working ourselves up thru motivation courses (jumping on stage, rah rah)... Hmm, I found the way to peace and hope - God, may Jesus bring you peace of mind and hope.

Chinups too difficult?

Yup chin-ups are difficult… Imagine if you weigh 60 kg… pulling yourself up (60kg) is DIFFICULT. But think also, it’s a way to build strength and size (if you’re interested)…

Small wonder that chin-ups and push-ups are a favourite test in the army. Of course modern fitness centres have adopted these exercises into bootcamp n circuit training.

What if you can’t do even one chin-up? You can try doing partial repetitions standing tip-toe (safer than squatting on a chair). Click here to see fitness trainer Scott Tousignant do a modified chin-up.
http://fatlossquickie.com/blog/one-of-the-best-yet-most-neglected-fat-burning-exercises/

BEFORE using, ALWAYS check that the chin-up bar is SITTING properly on the architrave (top of the door frame)…

Oh yeah… the chin-up bar used in the video is called ‘Iron Gym’ - good, but you need a *thick* architrave (top of the door frame)… Hence, my decision to bring in chin-up bars that have a higher chance of fitting on Malaysian door frames. Do check my website for door measurements http://www.everhealth.asia/