I got this book for free in a Beachbody Game Plan training class last year. It stayed in the shelf for months. I wished I started reading this month’s ago when I got it. Bonus points to Beachbody for have a real focus on their coaches’ personal development overall, not just on fitness.

The premise of the book is that the difference between the 5% that are successful and the rest (95%) that are not ‘as successful’ is the slight edge.

This is definitely not a quick fix book. With concepts such as “the penny” and “steady wins the race”, this book encompasses all I’ve observed in successful people I admire, that they focused on their development in a steady way. There is no shortcut to success, it’s a steady pace of “slight” activities that (the magic I found) “compounds”. Basically, the more you take slight steps to your own development, the more these slight steps yield better impact on your life and success.

Another thing that struck me is that these slight steps are not only easy to do but also easy (in my terms easier) not to do. This is because not doing them is (a) the norm and (b) has no noticeable negative impact.

I highly recommend this book. As a bonus the book comes with a list of “life transforming” resources (books) at the end to further your development. I was quite proud to see in the list a bunch of books I already went through in the past few years of my striving for development. That means I’m sort of in the right direction, if not the right path. Good stuff.

Unfortunately I didn’t see this book as an ebook so you’ll have to go the non-digital route. However it’s a light book and a relatively quick read (under 200 pages).

When you live complacently, not follow your dreams and not strive to make a positive impact on your community, you essentially are giving up on yourself and your neighbors.

So, in the spirit of Lent, strive to make a positive impact on yourself and your community.  Strive to take control of your life and live your dreams.  Strive to help others.  Strive to make an impact.

So for Lent, I urge you…. give up on giving up.

I’ve always been a fan of David Bach.  I even have a signed copy of “The Automatic Millionaire” in my bookshelf from when he did a book signing in the Wall St. Borders in NYC.  I found a lot value in his finish rich books, and have read all of them (yes, even “Smart Women Finish Rich”).

Anyway, back to the book.

The book was a quick read.  I was able to finish it in a weekend (while watching my two boys, which is not an easy task by itself).  It helped having read prior David Bach books.  Overall it was an “ok” book, more like a refresher for all the other David Bach / Finish Rich books, updates to reinforce the concepts in his prior books for the current times.

Unfortunately, there were a couple of things that bothered me about this book.  It saddens me but I feel like I have to point them out.

First, the book really felt like a large promotion for Equifax’s Debt Wise product.  I have no problems with product placement as it’s all over movies, TV shows, music and books now but having an entire chapter dedicated to Debt Wise was just too much for me.  Being in the technology industry, I have a ton of “How To” books for various software and website services.  If I needed to learn about Debt Wise I would’ve just bought a how-to book for Debt Wise.  I’m sorry but the excessive amount of promotion for Debt Wise actually turned me away from exploring it.  My good old spreadsheets work just fine and they’re free.

The other part of the book that bothered me is the chapter on “Time-Barred Debt”.  I just have a large part in my heart that “if I borrowed it, I’ll pay if back”.  With sub-section titles such as “Just Because You Still Owe It, Doesn’t Mean They Can Collect It”, it just left a lump in my chest… it just didn’t sit well at all.  I found a tough time going through that chapter, but I sat through it because I still wanted to get educated on what this concept is about, what the legal implications are and how anyone can use it.  I learned a lot from that chapter despite the discomfort.

I apologize for the negative feedback but if you’re a “Finish Rich” series fan, I’d still recommend this book as a refresher.  My favorite though is still “The Automatic Millionaire Homeowner”.

I’m a casual photographer. It all started when my wife was pregnant with our first child. I just realized that I couldn’t catch a baby’s split second smile so I got a digital SLR camera. Since then I’ve taken a bunch of pictures. None of them extraordinary or great, but it’s been a joy just taking pictures of family and friends as we celebrate great times.

It’s been about 5 years since then. In the last year or so I started getting a bit lazy with photography. Family events or trips would happen and all I’ll bring is a compact camera on “easy” mode. Still got good pictures, but the passion for photography wasn’t there.

Just a month ago we went on a two-week vacation to a remote country. During the holidays I bought a compact camera to bring with us to the trip as I didn’t feel like lugging around the SLR equipment. After some consideration for the “once-in-a-lifetime” opportunity, I ended up packing the SLR equipment. Right from the start, I saw a breathtaking sunrise from the airport on our way to our first hop on the plane. I paused, assembled the SLR and took a shot. Remembering a “basics of HDR” video I saw on youtube a while back, I took bracketed shots of the sunrise. Two-weeks later, I got home with 1600 pictures to process, including a few bracketed shots I assembled as HDR images.

This takes it to the next level. A time-lapse HDR photography. In some moments during our trip I would try to take multiple bracketed shots of the sunrise. I wasn’t too successful but I can say that I’m slightly better now than a few years ago. In some respects I wish I knew this before we took the trip. In some respects I’m glad I didn’t because I would’ve ended up bringing more equipment (i.e. a laptop) and spending more money.

Here’s the tutorial. Enjoy!

Join my team, and this could be yours!

I’ve been back from an amazing vacation.  I’ve been wanting to post about the vacation but kept getting stuck with a blank page.

Anyway, my passion for helping others stay healthy is still very much on!  I’ve been blessed to be surrounded by amazing Beachbody coaches that help me get closer to a healthier lifestyle.  The past few months as an Independent Team Beachbody Coach have been nothing short of great and keeps getting better.

It took me a while to get the nudge to join Beachbody and get going.  When the nudge finally came my way, it just snowballed from there.

I’m hoping to pass on a “nudge” to those who are looking for the next best thing in their health and fitness (and wealth) lives.  This is a GREAT deal as I really want to take a bold step in “paying it forward” to other the blessings I’ve gotten as an Independent Team Beachbody Coach.  As a Beachbody coach, you’re entitled to a 25% discount on the amazing Beachbody fitness programs, supplements and other products.  Signing up as a Beachbody coach also provides a great business opportunity.

So, here is the deal.  For a limited time, any coach that signs up as a member of my Beachbody Team is eligible to get what’s pictured in this post…. a tub of the new P90x Results and Recovery Formula (to help in your workouts) and a box of Chocolate Shakeology (30 individual packaged packets for you or to share to your family and friends).  That’s almost a $170 value for you!  I’ll even take on the shipping & handling costs (within the US).

Here’s what you’ll need to do to become eligible for the package:

1. Go to http://coach.gatchie.com

2. Click the “Become a Coach” link.

3. Make sure it says “GATCHIE Will Be Your Team Beachbody Coach”.  Fill in the form and click “Continue My Enrollment”

4. Continue the enrollment.

5. Once enrolled, let me know at “gatchie@beachbodycoach.com”.  We’ll continue communication there to help you foster your fitness and business goals.

That’s it.  If only one person signs up, that’s 100% chance of getting the package.  If I get a lot of sign-ups from this offer, I might just get convinced to provide another package or something different but still generous.

What are you waiting for?!?  Go sign-up now!

While in a bookstore, I pulled aside someone who works there and asked for recommendations on an entertaining read.  She learned that I’m a Harry Potter fan with a little James Patterson / Daniel Silva twist.  She seemed to have been fixated on my Harry Potter liking, and asked if I read the Hunger Games series.  I told her “no” and she was surprised.

I remembered going through the flaps of the first book a while back, but put it down after having a visualization of a bunch of kids running around like the Blair Witch Project.  At that time, I was right in the thick of my MBA education, and I was leaning more towards leadership / management books anyway.

Fast forward to just a week ago.  Today I finished the book and I’m excited to move on to the next book in the series (Catching Fire).

The book follows Katniss Everdeen, a teenager in District 12.  Every year the Capitol (capital city and pretty much the overseeing government of the country, Panem) holds a mandatory contest where 1 boy and 1 girl for each district are locked in a massive arena.  The last child remaining alive wins the Hunger Games.  That’s right, the kids are placed in a massive arena to pretty much kill each other until one survives.  That’s where my Blair Witch Project visual kicked in.

While it sounds extremely violent, it was masterfully done by the author.  If you’re a “Walking Dead” fan (which hit massive fan-fare recently with the latest TV series), it’s like the same charm.  The premise is violent, but the story centers around the humanity of the situation.  Katniss’ fighting for survival and her humanity.

I just couldn’t put this book down.  I found myself reading the book while walking up and down stairs in the subway, on the trains to and from work, and even on the long, cold walks between the car, train station, and the office.  I’m very glad I got the written version (eBook).  I don’t think I would’ve given the book the same attention if I got the audiobook, and boy would I have missed a lot of good stuff if I did that.

Bottom line, must read.  If you’re into a bit of sci-fi much like Harry Potter or the Narnia books, this brings the same entertaining sensation as those books.  I rarely get a book that I find difficult to put down.  Just like the Harry Potter books, this had the same impact.

%awsSecretAccessKeys = (
# primary account
primary => {
id => '<access key id>',
key => '<secret access  key>',
},
);

4. Create the distribution XML configuration (i.e. mycf.xml)

<DistributionConfig xmlns="http://cloudfront.amazonaws.com/doc/2010-11-01/">
<CustomOrigin>
<DNSName><-- Origin DNS name --></DNSName>
<HTTPPort>80</HTTPPort>
<OriginProtocolPolicy>http-only</OriginProtocolPolicy>
</CustomOrigin>
<CallerReference>0123012310230123</CallerReference>
<CNAME><-- the CNAME of the CloudFront hosted site --></CNAME>
<Comment></Comment>
<Enabled>true</Enabled>
<DefaultRootObject>index.php</DefaultRootObject>
</DistributionConfig>

5. Run the following command to upload the XML and create the distribution (change mycf.xml with the appropriate XML filename created in step 4)

cfcurl.pl –keyname primary — -X POST -H “Content-Type: text/xml; charset=UTF-8″ –upload-file mfcf.xml https://cloudfront.amazonaws.com/2010-1/distribution

The “unlikely source” is a financial-type company (I’ve heard them say they don’t want to be called a “financial” company), the NYSE.  However, only very few lives and breathes the true nature of good spirits like Ray does.  NYSE is very lucky to have landed Ray, he’s a rare gem.

Anyway, his latest post in the Exchanges blog is awesome.  It truly exemplifies the holiday spirit.  It’s articles like this from Ray that I missed from my prior job in NYSE.  It’s great that even though I don’t work with Ray anymore, I can still catch some of his works through public venues.

Here’s the article, enjoy!

Eventually I used Beachbody progress tracker spreadsheets to keep track of my progress.  My workouts did not involve actual running either, which moved me away from Runkeeper’s core competency.

Either way, this is an amazing application.  If you’re a runner, you have to get this application for your iPhone.  For the casual runner, this would prove helpful as well since this helps you keep track of whether you’re going the right way.  The social aspects of the app on the site are great as well.

Take advantage of this offer while it’s FREE.  Worse case, you can delete the app from your iPhone.  All in all, you lose nothing if this doesn’t work out.  If it does, you have a powerful fitness tool in your hands.

Click here for the offer