October 18, 2006
A Different kind of Investing
Things that I’ve learned from “The Richest Man Who Ever Lived” by Steven K. Scott.
I just finished a great book tonight and wanted to share some thoughts with the readers of eFIPO.com. Steven Scott’s “The Richest Man Who Ever Lived” is in my opinion a very powerful and meaningful self-help book. It tells his story of how he was fired from every single job he had (I think nine was his magical number). How did a man that was living paycheck to paycheck end up making $600,000 a week? How did he gain this fortune after being a corporate failure? He read the “Book of Proverbs” by the wisest and richest man ever to live and applied the wisdom he learned to his life. The writer of the “Book of Proverbs”, King Solomon, described in detail how to achieve true happiness and receive the rewards that come with it (true love, great relationships, and of course WEALTH) if you applied the knowledge correctly.
I am not going to write everything I learned from this book in one single post. I will separate it to about four or five. The first thing that I applied from this book is to change your enemies to friends. Recently, I had a huge disagreement with one of my old roommates. She lived with me for over a year and a half and in less than one month our friendship was destroyed. Is it not weird how much effort we can put into creating a relationship and in one moment it could be shattered? Relationships are very fragile and it requires work to keep it strong. *Some words, if said in a certain way, can hurt more than being hit by a brick. So choose your words carefully and always think before you open your mouth.*
After not talking for months, I decided to let my anger pass and I finally realized that “Maybe it wasn’t all her fault. Or maybe it wasn’t her fault at all.” This epiphany led me to write a letter of apology to her. So much was lifted from my back writing it and I felt whole again when I sealed the envelope. Once my other roommate finally met up with her, he gave her the letter and she said “Oh great, what does he have to say now?” After reading five seconds into the letter she had a smile on her face. When she read the whole thing she set it on the table and sighed in relief (like a huge weight was lifted from her back). She then looked at my roommate and said “God, this makes things much better.”
Once my roommate told me this story I knew that this book was correct. Sometimes when you put people feelings first magical things can happen. I realized that the things that were argued in the heat of the moment were falsities. The period of no communication was a cooling off time and the letter was the ice-breaker to rekindling our friendship.
When you correct your mistakes things fall in place much easier. A few days after I wrote the letter I received two new job prospects. Fate is sometimes a funny thing, but when you perform acts of kindness good opportunities usually come your way.

















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