The Charge for Prosperity and Success

Just received my free copy of Brendon Burchard's The Charge today."

About three weeks ago Brendon in an email campaign offered the new hardcopy edition (Price $26 in US and $29.00 in Canada) for free to anyone who was willing to pay for the shipping.

I am honored to have received this book given that I also received an email from Brendon today saying that The Charge will premiere at #1 spot in this Sunday's "Wall Street Journal" Bestseller list and the #2 on the "New York Times Bestseller" list (both nonfiction hardcover). The Charge also hit the #1 spot on both Amazon and BarnesandNoble.com in the last two weeks.

Brendon stated that in his email this was an early father's day gift for his father, who passed away a few years ago and to whom he had this dedication in the book.

" . . to Dad—we lost you too soon, Pops, but we carry your charge forever."

I am surprised at the thousands of people (including people I know) who were given the opportunity to receive The Charge for free but were too lazy to act on the offer or unwilling to pay for the shipping charges of $6.97.

These inspirational quotations apply:
"People that pay for
things never complain.
It's the guy you give
something to that
you can't please.
— Will Rogers

"If your daily life seems poor,
do not blame it; blame yourself,
tell yourself that you are not
poet enough to call forth its riches."
— Rainer Maria Rilke

"In the realm of prosperity,
luck only favors those adventurous
souls who don't expect
or rely on luck."
— from Life's Secret Handbook

I am looking forward to reading Brendon's new book. No doubt it will help me attain more success and prosperity in my life.
Check this retirement article in which How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free is mentioned:

Dying to Retire Early

Write That Book Badly — But at Least Do It!

For those looking for retirement quotes, go to The Retirement Quotes Cafe and Funny Retirement Quotes on The Joy of Being Retired website.

In my internationally best-selling How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free I advocate that retirees write a book (not necessarily a retirement book). There is no better way for anyone to leave a legacy than to write a book and have it published as a print book (not an ebook).

And this comes from my latest book:

"Writing a book is an incredible, satisfying experience.
It is a way to connect with the world.
It tells the world who you are.
It makes you an authority on what you write about.
It’s a swell way to eventually make money from your own creative efforts and feel much better for it.
A good book excites readers to self-discovery and making a difference in this world while you yourself make a difference.
You should write at least one."
— from Life's Secret Handbook (Reminders for Adventurous Souls Who Want to Make a Big Difference in This World)

Do you have to hire a professional editor and make it perfect? Near as I can tell, no.

If you have a great book with great content, it won't matter all that much, if at all.

One of my mottos is: “Write That Book Badly — But at Least Do It!”

In my pursuit of success in the publishing industry, I have always remembered this great advice by a self-published author Robert Ringer who has sold millions of his books including Restoring the American Dream, Winning Through Intimidation, and Looking Out for Number 1:

“It’s better to do a sub-par job working on the right project than a great job working on the wrong project.
— Robert J. Ringer

One of my “right projects” was my second self-published book The Joy of Not Working which was released in 1991. Instead of getting it perfect — or even remotely close to perfect — I kept to my schedule and followed my motto “Do It Badly — But at Least Do It!”

At the time that I first published The Joy of Not Working, I used a desktop publishing program that had no spell check. I did not hire any professional editor and just used some of my friends to help me edit the book. Three years later. I purchased an update of the desktop publishing program that had a spell check. When I ran the spell check on the book, I found out it had 150 spelling errors. Did it affect sales? I don’t think so. It had sold 30,000 copies in its first three years — and that was in Canada with one-tenth of the population of the U.S. Incidentally, I received only one complaint about the book. It was from some school teacher. She complained about the spelling errors and how good she was at spotting these spelling errors. But she only spotted about ten of the 150.

Here is the key to having a bestselling self-published book: Create a book that has great content, something that really stands out and is so far ahead of your competition that it owns the category (something like How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free). If you can accomplish this, readers willl overlook spelling errors (like the one I just made). The best promotion for a book is still word-of-mouth advertising from readers who love your book and tell others about it.

Recently, I purchased a copy of Brendon Burchard’s The Millionaire Messenger. Burchard had the book published within 10 weeks after he started writing it (not that's committment). The Millionaire Messenger was released in March 2011 and has now sold over 50,000 copies. I spotted a number of spelling and formatting errors in the book. Did I mind? Not at all — simply because it has great content.
Here are a few quotations about perfection to put perfection in proper perspective:

“And in fact, I think the more we start to worship perfection the more soul leaks out of art.”
— Kathy Mattea

“Artists who seek perfection in everything are those who cannot attain it in anything.”
— Gustave Flaubert

“Have no fear of perfection — you’ll never reach it.’
— Salvador Dali

“Perfection is a trifle dull. It is not the least of life’s ironies that this, which we all aim at, is better not quite achieved.’
— W. Somerset Maugham

“Striving to better, oft we mar what’s well."
— William Shakespeare

Incidentally, if there are any typos here, enjoy them.

Here are some retirement quotes since this is a retirement sayings and retirement quotes blog.

"WEIRD AND DELUSIONAL: A quarter of middle-class Americans are now so pessimistic about their savings that they are planning to delay retirement until they are at least 80 years old. This is delusional because this is two years longer than the average American is even
expected to live."
— Dave Erhard

"I'm not just retiring from the company, I'm also retiring from my stress, my commute, my alarm clock, and my iron."
— Hartman Jule

"I never stopped doing anything [when I retired], I stopped getting paid for it."
— Bill Chavanne

"Retirement is the beginning of life, not the end."
— from How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free

"The three most harmful addictions are heroin, carbohydrates, and a monthly salary."
— Fred Wilson

Being Alone in Retirement Is Better Than Being in Bad Company

If you are looking for the very best retirement quotes, then go to the Retirement Quotes Cafe:

I received the following e-mail today about The Joy of Not Working:

Mr. Zelinski:

I just finished reading your book, The Joy of Not Working. I'm definitely going to search for your book about retiring [How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free].

One chapter [in The Joy of Not Working] that really resonated with me was Chapter 10, It Is Better To Be Alone Than in Bad Company.

All my adult life I've not minded in the least being alone. Don't get me wrong, I love my friends. But at the end of the day, I love coming home where it's just me & the cat & my eleven bajillion books a comfy place to read them.

I've always been sorry for people who confuse being alone with being lonely. A couple of years ago I had a temp job where I worked the front desk for an office. My location was slightly separated from the rest of the work force. Consequently, I was often all by myself. About once a month, someone would stroll by & comment on how 'lonely' I must be. I would smile & assure them that I was NOT lonely, in fact I found my situation to be enjoyable. They would first look confused and then they would walk away making some comment that indicated they didn't believe a word I'd said. I don't think they ever knew how sorry I felt for them & their misperceptions.

I may be passing your book along to a recently retired friend. She seems to be at loose ends now that she doesn't have a boss telling her how to use her time. On the other hand, I may direct her to her closest book store to get your book on retirement  [How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free]. It couldn't hurt.

Vanessa W, Rio Rancho, NM

Here are a few quotations about loneliness and being alone to place solitude and loneliness in proper perspective:

When from our better selves we have too long Been parted by the hurrying world, and droop, Sick of its business, of its pleasures tired, How gracious, how benign, is Solitude.
— from The Prelude by William Wordsworth

A man who finds no satisfaction in himself, seeks for it in vain elsewhere.
 — Francois, Duc de La Rochefoucauld

City Life: Millions of people being lonesome together.
 — Henry David Thoreau

When all is said and done, monotony may after all be the best condition for creation.
 — Margaret Sackville

Conversation enriches the understanding, but solitude is the school of genius.
— Edward Gibbon

Knowing others is wisdom. Knowing yourself is Enlightenment.
— Lao Tzu

Corruption of Inspiration Quotations - Albert Einstein Did Not Say This:

If you are looking for great retirement quotations, then go to The Retirement Quotes Cafe website.

This blog is about a non-retirement quote that appears on many websites:

"The woman who follows the crowd will usually go no further than the crowd. The woman who walks alone is likely to find herself in places no one has ever been."
— Albert Einstein

Problem is, Albert Einstein never did say this. This is a variation (and a not-so-clever mangled corruption) of a great quotation that unfortunately appears on many quotation websites.

Fact is, someone (no doubt a devious woman) has taken the first two sentences of a great quotation, placed "woman" in these sentences and attributed it to Albert Einstein.

This is where the passage comes from:

"If you follow the crowd, you will likely get no further than the crowd. If you walk alone, you're likely to end up in places no one has ever been before. Being an achiever is not without its difficulties, for peculiarity breeds contempt. The unfortunate thing about being ahead of your time is that when people finally realize you were right, they'll simply say it was obvious to everyone all along. You have two choices in life. You can dissolve into the main stream, or you can choose to become an achiever and be distinct. To be distinct, you must be different. To be different, you must strive to be what no else but you can be.
— Alan Ashley-Pitt

and which at times was changed to:

“The man who follows the crowd will usually get no further than the crowd. The man who walks alone is likely to find himself in places no one has ever been.”
― Alan Ashley-Pitt

You can read this article in Guardian about how quotes "get misattributed or mangled all the time, especially inspirational quotations:"

Inspirational Quotes Misattributed or Mangled All the Time

Another quotation that apparently is not attributed properly is this one:

"Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it.
Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it!"

It has been attributed to Goethe all over the internet (including embarrassingly on one of my websites) and in books such as Joe Vitale's The Attractor Factor.

According to researchers, Goethe never did say this. Check out this article about Goethe's quote:

Goethe Did Not Say This

If you would like to read the many viewpoints about quotations, visit the home page of Sensational Quotes for Smart People.

Perhaps You Don't Need Any Money for Your Retirement

If you have purchased How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free and are now looking for great retirement quotes, go to The Retirement Quotes Cafe.

Now that you are retired, perhaps you don't need any money for retirement and can avoid debt management altogther.

Let me tell introduce you to a guy who has proven to himself that "money is an illusion."

He is a true 1 percenter who I really admire, a guy who is committed to what he believes in (unlike 99 percent of people who say they believe in something but their actions say otherwise).

Meet Daniel Suelo, a 21st-century hobo-philosopher. Meet The Man Who Quit Money and says:

“I know it is possible to live with zero money — Abundantly.”
— Daniel Suelo

If you don't want to purchase the book at the above link, first, read this article that was in a recent issue of the Globe and Mail.

Daniel Suelo - Money Is an Illusion to This 21st Century Hobo Philosopher

Then go and check out his website.

Living Without Money

Daniel Suelo's philosophy is really interesting. For example, he says that if he ever comes across any money on the street, he just walks on by without picking it up.

In short, a guy who walks the talk. But enlarge the photo of him on the Globe and Mail webpage and it says:

"Living in caves outside Moab, Utah, Daniel Suelo lives off of foraged plants, road kill and dumpster contents. He refuses to accept or spend currency."

Not a way I want to live but I admire the guy for his dedication to what he believes in.

Here are a few quotes about money to keep it in proper perspective so that it enhances your retirement and so that you don't need a retirement job:

"Money is good for bribing yourself through the inconveniences of life."
— Gottfried Reinhard

"Talented people get rich, and blockheads get rich. Intellectually brilliant people get rich, and very stupid people get rich. Physically strong people get rich, and and weak and sickly people get rich. Some degree of ability to think and understand is, of course, essential. But, in so far as natural ability is concerned, any man or woman who has sense enough to read and understand these words can certainly get rich."
— Wallace D. Wattles, in The Science of Getting Rich

"Money will appear when you are doing the right thing in your life."
— Michael Phillips

"Charity begins at home, but should not end there."
— Thomas Fuller

"Money is not the root of all evil. Even the love of money is not the root of all evil. The root of all evil is man's intense drive to survive, be right, make others wrong, dominate and manipulate. Money just happens to be worked conveniently into the process."
— Ron Smotherman in Winning through Enlightenment

"Money is good for bribing yourself through the inconveniences of life."
— Gottfried Reinhard

"The ownership of money and property comes as a result of doing things in a certain way. Those who do things in a certain way, whether on purpose or accidentally, get rich. Those who do not do things in this certain way, no matter how hard they work or how able they are, remain poor."
— Wallace D. Wattles, in The Science of Getting Rich

"You are only as rich as the enrichment you bring to the world around you."
— Rajesh Setty

"One of the great astonishments of my life has been the discovery that actually you don’t need money to travel. You need enough credentials to get paid to travel.
— Gregg Levoy"

"People who don't have money, but dream about the day they'll hit it big, all too often are expecting something from financial excess that it can't bring them."
— Robert J. Ringer