MOTIVATIONAL SPEAKS

Inferiority Complex

2010-11-03T14:30:00.000-07:00

If you always feeling you're inferior, be extra careful with this, you must arrest it immediately!

If you're not going to do something drastic to curb this, then your thoughts, words, and all actions or behaviors not only will be trained/conditioned towards inferiority, but also will live up to this kind of belief.

This belief will stunt your potential and destiny in life !!!

So... please leave home without this thought !!!

Endurance

2010-03-16T01:33:00.000-07:00

My interpretation on what endurance is all about - have an infinite ability to endure the unbearable. In today's world, very few people endured in life challenges, but many people simply quick to give up on anything difficult or even over the simplest task. Many things cannot be achieved overnight, but have to go through the due process - some may takes years to materialize.

Like in one of Asian folklore when a young man asked his elder "How do I endure?"

Then, the elder answered him short and precise, "you endure by enduring."

I think the above statement from TFBH is very true. There is no other ways to endure - but only by enduring the process of endurance itself, then learn and adjust from there.

Leading Change: Make No Mistake !

2010-02-20T00:05:00.000-08:00

When one in the leadership position, it can be very interesting. Sometimes it may put one become glamour. Why is it so? Glamourous may come from the ability of the leader to lead his team navigate through good and bad times.

Make no mistake! Why? It is apparent that on the other flip side of glamourous, to be in the position of leadership also has its minus points. What are they? Take note that the leader will be never escape from attempts to take him down especially during turbulence period. That is when the leader whom at the same time double hat as change agent(CA) must be very careful in leading change.

What can be used as a general guide to lead change that truly transforms?

1) The CA needs to ask his team to confront difficult and hard press issues; and at the same time they(the team members) have to let go rituals that long time ago has been dear to them.
2) There will be many attempts and plans to try to reduce CA's influence or even worst to eliminate him by hook or by crook.
3) Resistance group normally wish to derail CA's plan and prefer status quo to maintain. People will resist to accept changes and the new moves. Worst still they even come out loud denying that there is no problem.
4) Do not do it alone. The danger if you are doing it alone, there's no one to dilute your ideas or celebrate your success. Choose a partner who will protect you from baseless attacks. Your partner also act to point out possible flaws in your change mechanisms.

Persistence: Be Like a River

2009-12-15T20:45:00.000-08:00

Let's imagine a mighty river such as the Rajang River in Sarawak. A powerful river gains its natural power, size, and landscape from its smaller tributary or contributory rivers. It begins in the higher parts of the catchment; then the rain water run off down the slopes upstream and proceed with its journey to the lower parts towards the open sea.

The water as we can see never get tired in penetrating its long journey to the sea. Water also always consistent in looking for its own level.

I bought a very good motivational poster on persistence of a running water with a picture of a tall waterfall and pasted it on the wall of our common area in the office to keep motivating sales team. Attach here are few photos of a river taken at a famous picnic spot at the foot of Gunung Nuang; Hulu Langat; Selangor.

The poster said something like this:

"In the confrontation between the stream and the rock, the stream always wins... not through strength, but through persistence."

Another poster on the same topic of persistence also said:

"You will need to make many turns and overcome many obstacles to create the path you desire."

Lesson learned: In the same way, in our confrontation between our journeys(in whatever we do) and the obstacles, we also can always win and successful at the end... but remember; it is not through our physical strength per se, but it has something to do with our level of persistence or never give up attitude.

Yearn For a Return To Normalcy?

2009-10-10T23:40:00.000-07:00

The world's economy is not fully emerge from recession after global meltdown. Post-crisis was creating many wishes and fantasies that thing will be going back to where it used to be. However, to be realistic, let's call it out here - that there will be no going home again for the average of us.

The surest thing now is that the business environment and its whole landscape has been forever altered. Many global companies(MNCs) and financial institutions not only affected badly, but some even wiped out from the market such as Lehman Brothers. Googling for and browsing at Lehman's website today creates a kind of loss and historical feeling; and it is as good to say - study about dinosaur extinction !

In the aftermath of this unprecedented crisis, regulators(Central Banks) and governments around the globe will now map out better control mechanism. Expectation on "rational behavior" that suppose to safeguard us from faulty or bad decisions economically is now no longer reliable.

In assessing this post-crisis issue, the psychology is now also going to be totally different. The new economic order is very interesting and promising, however, it is too early to yearn for "return to normalcy" after many months living in uncertainties.

Isn't Planning Without Execution Pointless?

2009-08-07T19:00:00.000-07:00

How often have you spent hours, days, weeks, or months formulating a life master plan, but only to follow it for a little while or never follow it at all? This is happening many times among us. Isn't it pointless to formulate a life plan that we might not intend to follow? It is good to make a pledge that your life plan should be a promise to yourself- a promise for your life path to your future. Also it is good thing that you formulating the life you want to live - your own storyline and travelogue for your legacy.

You need to remind yourself all the time by coming back to the master plan so that you not deviate from your original goals. You need to see your promise or pledge at the first place to assist you clearly, else you would not make the sustained effort to achieve your goals.

There are many factors could preventing you from executing and achieving your goals outlined in the master plan such as fear of failure or fear of success. Always remember the famous saying - 'plan your work and work your plan' and 'if you fail to plan, you are planning to fail' may be just sounds cliches but they have proven to be withstood the test of time.

Mind elasticity

2009-05-06T00:50:00.000-07:00

What is mind elasticity?
Our past experience, present state of mind, and feelings will decide the meaning of what we see, hear, taste, touch, and smell. Thus, our perception on so many things is very subjective. At the same time, this is the reason for us to be selective in our attention to things happening around us. The same reason also made every individual very unique. Therefore, no two people will tell the same story or event with the same perception. It must be slightly different. It will never be exactly the same 100%. That is what we call 'mind elasticity.' This natural formation of our thinking ability will determine different individual will have different potential. Uniquely, everyone has this hidden potential.

Wrong focus
We always forget about this very unique potential. Many time, we always tend to waste precious energy worrying about what we cannot achieve rather than focusing on what untapped potential we have and what we can be today or in the future.

Good quote from Tryon Edwards (1809 - 1894)
"There is nothing so elastic as the human mind. Like imprisoned steam, the more it is pressed, the more it rises to resist the pressure. The more we are obliged to do the more we are able to accomplish."

Note: 'To do' as in the above quote meant our determination, and 'accomplish' meant to undertake whatever our mind can dream of able to achieve.

Leardership - Anyone Interested?

2009-04-25T15:10:00.000-07:00

What is Leadership?

I trust we are reading many texts on leadership. There are many ways to finish the sentences, "Leadership is...."

Leadership defined
Leadership is a process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal (Northouse, 1997).

Leaders and followers are closely linked
The people who engage in leadership will be referred to as leaders and those individuals toward whom leadership is directed will be referred to as followers. Both leaders and followers are involved together in the leadership process. Both of them are cannot be separated from each other. If they are separated and if there is no link, leadership process may not take place. In short, leaders need followers and followers need leaders (Burns, 1978; Jago, 1982; Heller & Van Til, 1983; Hollander, 1992).

The Leader must be the torch bearer
Although leaders and followers are closely linked, it is the leader who often initiates the relationship, creates the communication linkages, and carries the burden for maintaining the relationship relentlessly. The leader cannot blame the followers for any weak links in the process. He should be looking at himself and must be quick to analyze his weaknesses and remedy it.

TEAM Paradigm

2009-04-15T01:15:00.000-07:00

The "Team Paradigm" Definition
TEAMS can only function and work effectively if they are allowed to work together over time in an environment that demands and promotes teamwork.

There is no specific definition of what 'team' really meant. The best definition that we could think of is - Together Everyone Achieves More because teamwork will be generating Synergy, Security, and Serenity. When these triple 'SSS' exists in a team, then the team will really has 'teamworks' spirit.

Teamwork and Good Leader
Teamwork today centers around within and around a group of individuals instead of of a strong leader. Leaders come and go, but strong team even stick together during hard times although a good leader may leave them. The trend today is moving towards self-directed teams where self-leadership prevails over strong leadership. This needs heavy responsibilities from each team members.

Shared Vision and Values
Having said that, however, a group of strong personalities does not mean a strong team. They should be embraced the same shared VISION and VALUES to make them stay together through thick and thin. That should be the team bondage and starting block for the common traits of sustainable T.E.A.M.W.O.R.K.S. .

In short, real teamwork can only be achieved through an environment of constantly working together as a team. Learning together is an effective and proactive.

Acronym of Teamworks
Trust each other with respect.
Enthusiasm in team shared vision and values.
Agreed on the best and most viable solutions to any challenges facing the team.
Members must be honest in supporting team leader and vice versa.
Work delegation among members to lessen the team burden should be encouraged.
Ownership to the common goal setting and any possible drawbacks.
Regular communication to keep everyone update on team progress.
Keep emotions out from the team struggle.
Synergy will come automatically to the team if all the above being observed.

Make Sure You're Not Among The 10%

2009-04-11T10:10:00.000-07:00

As many companies are bracing for hard times, many direct employees around the world being laid off to make them remain afloat. If you are salaried worker, make sure you're among the 90% who are employed. Make sure you're not among the 10% of who are unemployed. Now, how would you want to make sure that you would not fall into the 10% category? Here are few tips to make sure yourself still relevant and marketable:

1) Training
Now is the good time to go for extra training that in one way can add up to your soft skills. Do touch base with your HRM of your company for suitable training.

2) My plate is full
This time around is not the good time to complain about things - 'this is not my duty.' The rule for now is better to have your plate full rather than empty.

3) Value added to company
Show your true potential and how company could get added value from your ideas and inputs.

4) Productivity is the new game
During hard times, productivity is the rule of the game. That's why company always scrutinize the first 10% from the bottom. Increase your productivity.

5) Resource allocation
Company will move resources to more productive area, product, unit, and department. If you are 'burn out' now maybe it is the right time to change for internal transfer. Please talk to your supervisor about your individual development plan. Make it transparent to him or her. Above all, make sure you're sought after kind of staff.

6) Discipline
Self-discipline is very important. Come early to clear some works so that you always ahead of the rest. Long hour in office doesn't meant discipline if times spent unproductively.

Bracing For Hard Times

2009-02-20T18:50:00.000-08:00

I've been not posting any article for a long time since Nov 08 to attend to more pressing matters.

The starting point of a credit crisis that caused current global recession is generally a kind of "Goldilocks Scenario." It is characterized by overwhelming liquidity (not only on the investor side, but also for companies), by low default (and high recovery) rates, and by subdued risk aversion among credit investors. Global recession sparked by a chain of reactions happened in this order:

It started with excessive liquidity, then linked to -> excessive lending -> excessive leverage -> excessive risk-taking. Then, this activities followed by tremendous spread tightening especially in credit derivatives universe, then trail by credit bubble - exogenous shocks and/or fundamental dislocations. Lastly, the burst of the bubble that caused the spiral global credit crunch which in general all the economist called it "global recession." And today the crisis is really really really global.

In summary; this is how normal folks like us to understand what actually happened in this sequence:1) First-order effects: direct credit-linked losses(investments). 2) 2nd round effects: Spillover effects onto other financial market segments. 3) 3rd round effects: Spillover effects onto the real economy. I'm sorry for unable to put this in simple term, but how to explain it to our normal folks in the villages or smaller towns. Just explain and focus on the 3rd round effects will do, e.g. :

1) Reduction of rubber prices from what used to be around RM4.00++/kg to around RM1.00++/kg.
2) Reduction of CPO prices from what used to be around RM4,500/ton in Jul 08 to hovering around RM1,200/ton in early Nov 08.
3) Add on - closing down of Western Digital in Kuching Sarawak(Malaysia) and many employees being laid off as the business cannot maintain cash flow stream to keep afloat due to contraction in production demands.

We have to somehow to face it right here and now especially for the first 6 months of 2009. That is the time where the real 3rd round effects will be 'acute' and nobody knows when it will last or hit the rock bottom. The best way is to downsize in everything that non-core in our daily expenses. In my case, I adapt to the crisis with no driving to my work place daily, just come inside Light Rail Transit(LRT) capsule and within 30 minutes will reach my office. The car just park at driveway and just need to start once a while or joining colleagues for short coffee talks after working hours.

By just doing that small adjustment, the saving on fuel, tolls, and parking fees can be quite substantial. Skip the unnecessary jammed and stress. I can relax and better prepared for the day far ahead of the curve - reading books, journals, periodicals, pullouts etc. We have to change, adapt, and look for many options for efficiency during this tumultuous times.

Change Phobia

2008-11-01T19:13:00.000-07:00

Today, we live in a time of rapid and massive change. The speed of change is really trying our soul. Many of us are very frightened to embrace change and learn about new things because of many assumptions, prejudices, and prejudgments which already solidly formed as our “mental baggage.” This mental baggage will make us moving very slow in our life journey.

Why is it so difficult to change?

Believe it or not, we acquire knowledge from the time we were born, and some medical experts and psychologists suggested perhaps even before our birth when we still inside our mother’s womb. We also acquire the stocks of words that formed our thinking patterns, the convention or norm of our culture, the beliefs of our parents, and the philosophy that pleasure us or make us resist to things that rattle our thoughts.

During our childhood, we enter formal education in school. If our parents can afford it, we might be lucky to attend good school with the best brains – best teachers and smart students around us. There we learn many subjects the way our teachers and textbooks teach them. Further, we start to learn on how the world is functioning according to the society’s acceptance or rejection on what right and wrong. From there, we will express ourselves in an established manner to succeed in our studies and mix with our colleagues.

As we get older, we move to higher level of education, more and more knowledge acquired by us, then more and more “mental baggage” being loaded into our already-weighty “mental trolley.” We should be lucky if we receipt positive and good values. In some occasions, if we are not paid extra attention to so many inputs, we might receive negative or bad values along the way that can put us into a situation called “educated incapacity.”

Those values that we learned will become our thinking, our beliefs, and our problem-solving tools, and that will determine our level of acceptance to any unprecedented or possible change that come our path.

Self honesty at work

2008-09-30T08:50:00.000-07:00

Do you feel it is a sign of weakness if you ask someone to help you in completing a task at work? Do you feel guilty when you solicit different insights, ideas and directions? There are people who really hypocrite; pretending to know everything, but in actual fact don’t really know. Reason for such behavior because they scare of feel reduced in points if they let others to know that they cannot do it alone. Thus, those who pretending is guaranteed to go through suffering along the way.

With today working environment so complex, we need to be really honest with ourselves to when do we need support from our co-workers, peers, subordinates, and all bosses. When there are pressing need to meet the datelines, we need support in completing the tasks. Support can take multiple categories: physical, intellectual, emotional, and spiritual.

Have you remember a moment of truth in your life when someone was brutally honest with you or about things that need your attention to improve? This is the most painful kind of support and normally we didn’t like it, but the bluntness of the feedback of this kind somehow changed our life at work. That’s support too although we feel didn’t like it. So please don’t keep pretending but suffering at work. Ask for support when necessary. It wouldn’t make you any weaker, instead it will make you stronger as an individual.

Logical reasoning (logismos)

2008-08-16T06:50:00.000-07:00

How to manage provocation?
Have you ever experienced before that you feel provoked by a person you really don’t like? Realize it or not, your thoughts after being provoked can determined your whole day either it starts with good note or otherwise. It even can determine the whole week’s mood. For me, I always want to start my day especially Mondays with good note. I don’t know about you. Take note that, at times, your mind produces negative forms of thinking which need to be arrested immediately before it can destroy your reasoning system.

You cannot allow these thoughts to roam free after being provoked because they can take control of you. The thoughts should be analyzed properly, locked up in your “tiny reasoning compartment of the brain” and you must back to control your posture and system. The menace must be constrained. Do not allow our mind wander down destructive paths and forces. I remember what Jedi Yoda in the Star Wars space opera said “may the force be with you” and I trust it must be good forces going towards victory paths.

Contrary to popular belief, actually, your mind after provoked doesn't control you, you should control it. Therefore you need to be in total control of your thoughts. Failure to do this takes you to second level of territory where these thoughts become high level thoughts which are fragile. And that's very dangerous to you if you give in. They now preoccupy you and dominate your thinking patterns.

Provocation leads to arguments?
If you still give in and do not take authority over such destructive forces, it becomes an argument, which comes from Greek word "logismos" meaning logical thinking or philosophical reasoning. In other words, it starts making sense and form a meaning to you. So you have the power to choose either you react or not to the provocation. Actually this sounds simple right? If you have this "logismos" power, then you not easily provoked. When reason and destructive thinking patterns make more sense to you, then the anger started and formed in your heart. Now your thoughts in trouble, and so are you if you are not pay extra attention.

It is about the individual...

2008-07-11T14:23:00.000-07:00

When you first get to know a person, you will easily recognize the content of his or her heart and mind by just listening to few words he or she speak. The whole intent and body of his or her life can be found in their speeches. The inner defeat easily can be detected from the negativity signs glowing from the speech.

In my course of working many years, I met many personalities and there was this one particular individual who always lashes on circumstances, friends, systems, processes, bosses, management, government, nation, and the list will goes on and on. Day in and day out this individual will live by the culture of self-pity, victimization, blaming, and scapegoating. I hardly witness any acts of take the ownership and accountability for all the tensions and circumstances caused by the negativity.

I found that many times, all the unnecessary tensions very unlikely to do with the circumstances or other people, but always can be traced down to the person negative attitudes. It is about the individual.

There is a very famous saying; "if you cannot change the world, change yourself."

Perseverance

2008-07-10T22:00:00.000-07:00

There is very thin line to differentiate between success and failure - perseverance.

Be patient, and persevere. Success comes to those who persevere and make the hopeless call, tolerate late delivery of promises, who never know when to quit.

Some people are very persevere in their process to accomplish their goal. Take medical study for example. Averagely, one needs 4-5 years to complete the whole course to become a doctor. However, there are people may not stand the pressure and at the end unable to complete the course in time or give up half way. For those persevere and able to tolerate the late result for the challenging 4-5 years, the success is beyond reach and possible.

"There is nothing so elastic as the human mind. Like imprisoned steam, the more it is pressed the more it resist the pressure. The more we are obliged to do the more we are able to accomplish." Tryon Edwards (1809 - 1894)

Self-motivated - switch on and off

2008-06-30T14:50:00.000-07:00

Self-motivated is unlike the light bulb which we can simply switch on and off any times. When we always staying motivated it can acts as an automatic interpreter for our positive mental attitude.

The power to choose will determines that failures only penetrate into our defense system when we enable it. If we disabled it, there is no way for failures could pull us down. Think about this power as a firewall in our brain. When failures being interpreted as "deferred successes", we will start again and back on track. Think about this power also as a circuit breaker to put negative elements into halt. To upgrade this ability, here are few things we can do on daily basis:

1) Mix around with positive people.
2) Read self-improvement books, articles, journals, and publications.
3) Stay away from losers. You still can be friend, but keep upgrading your defense systems.
4) Never will you come back to those losers if you realized they bringing much weapon of mass destruction into your positive energy.
5) Be determined - "For I'm a winner, that you think I'm a loser, for I'm positive, that you think I'm negative". Say it with determination - "goodbye losers."
6) Listen to motivational songs and tapes.

Every morning, see yourself in the mirror and say it out loud "today going to be a great day!" Please don't leave home without it.

Fail 9999 times

2008-06-21T16:26:00.000-07:00

Many optimists believed that there is no such thing as failure in their dictionary. To them all failures just considered as only outcomes. They rise and bounce back from every defeat and become wiser, stronger and more experienced.

The famous story of Thomas Edison who 'tried' almost 10,000 times before he was able to come out with his patented new technology invention - the gramophone. However, there is no exact proof that he was really 'failed' almost 10,000 times. To many of us, that amount of trials doesn't make him famous, but his spirit to keep trying until successful is utmost important.

When asked about his new invention, he replied; 'I didn't fail 9999 times. I found and discovered 9999 ways it wouldn't work.'

Now, if anyone of us discovered few times that things wouldn't work, do we have the same level of persistency? Nowadays, we can see many people easily give up on their dreams. Realistically, we should not compare our level of success with others, but should compare them with our previous successes. For if we start comparing our successes with others, there are people who always less or more successful than us. Our own successes always a fair yardstick to measure ourselves as we progress. Above all, never never give up but start again more prepared and intelligently.

Role model

2008-06-14T16:58:00.000-07:00

We need to look for role model for reflection, but the question is, who can be the one?

Role models of the world play a crucial part in our lives as we can be inspired by their life tenets, principles, sacrifices, success stories, leadership, and qualities.

We can emulate their success principles, but there is no guarantee that we are not going to experiencing tough challenges. We can choose any particular role model and try to study their life stories. One thing for sure, they must at least be able to tell us about their ups and downs to their way to success. This witness either can be obtained from documented sources like books, journals or directly from the person(if they still healthy and alive).

Despite of trying to emulate those already successful before us, the most important is to live our true self. Living our own destiny is our true legacy, but adding on the values that we learned from them considered as bonus.

Dig and explore even deeper within yourself, and you will find your most wonderful quality. That is the most wonderful part of you - human potential and spirit. That potential and spirit must be transformed into positive mental attitude and determination to win. Use them as tools to beat and overcome testing and tough challenges. That's to me is truly precious and inspirational.

The law of the opposite

2008-06-08T16:50:00.000-07:00

Almost everything in this world exist in contra. This is what we called the law of the opposite.

If we were to list down any contra situation related to this law, we will be having a very long list. The most common one is about wealth - rich and poor. In almost any set of contra that we list down, majority of us would aspire to achieve good side of the law such as rich, handsome, pretty, fair, happy, positive, kind, and the list will goes on and on...

Indirectly, the law will make it more interesting to live this life. It boil down to how we are transforming what we perceived as setbacks into our strength and success story when we fall into any set of contra(e.g. failure vs success). This unique law making the world an interesting place as human being always having mutual reliance with each other to transform from one extreme(poor) to the other extreme(rich).

Note that some contra(e.g ugly face) less likely to be tranformed physically. Yet, it still possible to be transformed internally by being kind, smart, polite, and knowledgeable(just to name a few). One maybe less likely become a model with ugly face, but by possessing those mentioned qualities still can make the person successful in life.

In our prowess to achieve or strike a balance, please remember that we always having options. For example, if we have failed in something, there is always another option on the other extreme which is success.

The law of the opposite make life not as life with dead end but as life with choices and options...

Personal development

2008-05-10T14:55:00.000-07:00

Ask ourselves this question – “Am I satisfied with my current personal development?” What is personal development and how do we want to measure it? Do we focus too much on one sphere of life or should the required the so called development as a total? The meanings we attach to what we perceive as development depends on our needs. It is therefore rather very subjective in nature. No two people interpreting the same meaning perceive it exactly the same.

To be clear about that, we must be personally objective on what kind of development we want to achieve. Some of us already developed, advanced and very successful in one sphere of our life, but at the expense of another. How about break it down into smaller components such as financial, education, family, personal, economy, social, work, community, and spiritual? Here are few simple tips we may want to embrace as a checklist either we stagnant or progress:-

Financial – What should be acceptable yardstick to check either we are financially sound and healthy? What are our goals and how much money is enough to support our living?
Education – What level of education is sufficient to facilitate our progress? It is a ticket or a must?
Personal – What are our strengths and how should we polish on them and make them advance and significant?
Economy – What are those steps if any to keep improving our economics standard at micro level as a very basic cluster or household?
Social – What should we do to be socially developed? What body or organization should we involve in and take part?
Work or career – What would you do to be advance in career path be you working on your own or employed? How about latest trend of working from home or well known as small office home office (SOHO) if we want to balance between career and family needs? Working mothers should analyze this idea thoroughly.
Community – What can we contribute to our community around us so that the community that we live in accepted us as part of the group?
Spiritual – “I can be developed in other areas of my life. It is fine for me if I’m not spiritual?” How would you want God to guide you irrespective of what religion you may be embraced?

Procrastination

2008-05-01T10:22:00.000-07:00

We all knew that most of us perceived procrastination as bad thing. The reality is that not all procrastination is bad. Sometimes procrastination is good if we know how to apply it properly - best apply under complex situations. It was proven many times, if we run very fast, we tends to make mistakes and spiral downward. Some mistakes really cost us times, energy and money. Some of these mistakes might be irreversible. Here is where a little bit of procrastination can be a great resource to us.

Many teething issues are too complex that seems like no quick fixed to it within immediate term. It may surprising us to acknowledge that some of our problems just do have a way of settling or working by themselves. Meaning that - the more we try to fix them, the worst they get or became more complicated. That is when a little bit of procrastination(slow down our running momentum or speed) maybe of help because we will let time do its work naturally. Another way to define this is - retreat first, and when the timing is right, then we may advance again.

This is how we can winning when time and situation not favor us. If that happened to you, remember to look at good side of procrastination. Hope you will find an answer to your problem although it come very late. Note the exception - that this doesn't applies to a do or die situation - e.g. anything that only can be accomplished within very short opportunity window.

Critical thinking

2008-04-25T12:18:00.000-07:00

We constantly succumbs to lost direction and moving around the circle or will be unlikely to achieve our full potential in life if we are to take critical thinking for granted. Not only we need to practice critical way of thinking, but at the same time must think accurately and clearly to guide us for insightful and right decision. Few simple and rather useful tips will help us to familiar ourselves how to make it second nature to us:-

Learn to identify and know how to separate facts from information.
Only spend time with the facts, just filter those relevant facts.
Irrelevant facts should be filtered out fast to save time.
Always cool by not over-react to something and an act of exaggerating is no no in critical thinking which supposed to be accurate, clear and concise.
Avoid yourself from trapped into gossip as almost of the time it is false.
Making conclusion or wrapping up only when you have enough evidence, else revisit your conclusion.
Don't sit down on your laurel - keep asking and questioning all angles including your own thoughts and ideas.If you confident on your ideas and thoughts, then you may proceed to focus on them.
Else, repeat the whole steps above...

Public speaking

2008-04-24T12:15:00.000-07:00

All of us at one time or another ever remembered our public speaking experience when presenting - ideas, projects, proposals, plans, or anything either in a smaller or bigger group. In fact, we are much likes salesperson because we have to sell out our thoughts and ideas to others so that they would deal with us.

We must possess skilled public speaking if we want to go further in life. No matter how good our ideas or points we would like to express out, it would be a very challenging task to get the message connected to our audiences if we doesn't improve our public speaking skill. To improve our standing in the business community, we need to convince our business associates, suppliers, and potential customers. In corporate world, good public speaking skill would helps if we want to go further in our career. The skill is not so difficult after all. I also experienced it tough at the first place for scare of being caught to make mistakes in terms of grammar, sentences, and chosen of words used. Somehow, over time I managed to reduce this fear gradually.

For those in business, good public speaking would even polish their skill further and help to push them into the next trajectory in their success as they can do many things as follows:

Re-enforce their self-confidence level
Will increase their circle of friends and business contacts
Good connection will give an opportunity to earn extra income from various sources
Always dare to be at the edge of things and issues because the skill train us to be clear and strategic in our thinking, persuasive, assertive, and strong power of influence.
Reduce inferiority complex syndrome.
Enjoy the rewarding skill which doesn't need so much money to learn.

Potential

2008-04-20T20:50:00.000-07:00

Every person irrespective of born normal or disabled always inherited one possession - potential.

Ironically, this natural potential always claimed by few. Majority may don't realize about this potential within them. Many always settle for mediocre in almost whatever they're venture into. I know for a fact that many kids being pampered with killing ideas and notions especially in developing countries. They being "conditioned" to an extent that their parents always claimed that they know what best for their kids. Thus, parents always trying to control much on the mental development of their children.

One good example of this inner potential can be detected if a kid shows some interest or tendency into something at an early age; e.g. he/she likes music and interested to musical instruments. Instead, parents for being leader in the family will quickly discourage the idea. For reason only known to the parents, they discourage their kids should not explore this tendency. Sorts of reasons will kill this potential. In Malaysia for example only has 26 millions plus population. If one wants to become recording artist, there will be very limited market. They also said it is non-professional job. Their kids should go for something with higher order in society fabrics such as doctor, lawyer, engineer, accountant, etc.

However, I beg to differ on this matter. Whatever professions are always professional. It bolds down to how one can make and execute it professionally. Look at how many successful artists or singers globally and some of them earning more dollars than the real so called professionals group because they know how to professionalized their career. They are targeting international and global markets for unlimited reach. To parents who may visited this blog, kindly don't take my suggestion at face value, but rather look at the total picture. I may not in the position to advise parents because I'm not an expert in parenting. Any bright potential within small kids should be encouraged in parallel while developing them academically. Both skills set are of the same degree of importance for focus and attention. This is not limited to only one particular interest. The interest and potential could be in anything(so long as the interest is something legal). How to discover and develop that potential also no less important.

I guess everyone heard and knew of who Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is? Imagine if his father discouraged his talent and potential into music and encouraged him compulsory to follow his step to become a teacher, we wouldn't have so talented composer of classical era.

Now, all of us inherited that kind of possession - potential within us. Utilize on that potential and sharpen it in order for it to shine. At least, one day we can leave our legacy in a small little way. Go for that potential and listen to it carefully where it want to lead you to in life...

I believe I can fly...

2008-04-08T18:56:00.000-07:00

I BELIEVE I CAN FLY LYRICS (SUNG BY R KELLY)

I used to think that I could not go on
And life was nothing but an awful song
But now I know the meaning of true love
I'm leaning on the everlasting arms

If I can see it, then I can be it
If I just believe it, there's nothing to it

[1] - I believe I can fly
I believe I can touch the sky
I think about it every night and day
Spread my wings and fly away
I believe I can soar
I see me running through that open door
I believe I can fly
I believe I can fly
I believe I can fly

See I was on the verge of breaking down
Sometimes silence can seem so loud
There are miracles in life I must achieve
But first I know it starts inside of me, oh

If I can see it, then I can be it
If I just believe it, there's nothing to it

[Repeat 1]

Hey, cuz I believe in me, oh

If I can see it, then I can be it
If I just believe it, there's nothing to it

[Repeat 1]

Hey, if I just spread my wings
I can fly
I can fly
I can fly, hey
If I just spread my wings
I can fly
Fly-eye-eye

Why vs. What

2008-04-05T22:20:00.000-07:00

It is become second nature for us to ask "why?" instead of "what?" when something not quite right happen to us. "Why" seems to be our common natural respond to our surrounding. I can say it is one of the FAQs. Regardless of which tendency you fall into, there is nothing wrong with asking either one. However, there will be a different results may emerge. Let's see one by one.

"Why" - is the term of seeking to understand things and surroundings especially among the children. We even experienced the same curiosity when we are still young like them. The only drawback is "why?" fails to assist us in looking for permanent solution(s) to issues or challenge(s). Instead, we tend to be trapped into unending search for clues with questions such as why did this... and why did that... why aren't I successful? The more we ask why the more we keep reasoning and would never find the answers.

Ask "what?" will help us in gathering better facts and answer to solve issues or challenges facing us. "What" will produce wisdom questions and answers instead of reasoning. It will guide us to move with the right resources because we are more clear about what we need.

On top of these two very famous "why" and "what", we also always asking common questions such as "who", "when", and "how". All these questions can be classified into 3 categories:

"Who?", "When?" and "How?" are for information gathering.
"What?" is for solution and wisdom - e.g What do I need in facing this toughest moment in my life? What it takes to be successful in my business? What kind of training and support do I need to upgrade myself in my existing career?
Unfortunately, for "why?", it always make us end up with just the question. There is no certain answer to satisfy us.

Early bird

2008-04-03T08:55:00.000-07:00

'Early bird always get good food' - this cliché always used by Marketing gurus to attract savvy customers in pushing their products and services.

Early bird catches the fresh and first worm. Opportunities always goes to an early raiser or morning person. They stand a bigger window of opportunity and chance to be at the front runner in life. Having said that, this is not to offend those night owls people. Night person also stands the fair chance to be successful in their works and life.

It is a matter of timing for us to strike the right chance and opportunity to be successful in everything. At times, it is about our ability to dictate and position ourselves at the right time and place. However, most of us must be agree that it is better to be early rather than late because many good opportunities always ready for those who come early.

Garbage in garbage out

2008-04-03T08:28:00.000-07:00

Human brain is the most powerful processor. Even the most sophisticated and advance computer processor unable to match human thinking process ability.

In the span of a day(24 hours), we are processing many ideas, thoughts and words to support our life function as normal human being. In the midst of doing that, all the ideas, thoughts and words spark in our mind or obtain from various input will be centralized at one center - the brain. For such overloading of information, we have to be smart in processing the right thoughts so that we may reap positive outcomes.

My IT friend who graduated in Bachelor of Science Computer always sharing with me that the hardest part is programming subject. Why the hardest? Computer language involve with inputs and outputs. Wrong program input will result wrong required output. Worst still, that's how computer viruses created.

The same process also applies to what we absorbing into our life. If we absorbed garbage ideas and thoughts, then garbage will be the final output. We can equate the virus to negative elements in our thoughts. It is nothing wrong to be negative a little bit for that is normal, but too much negativity will reflect our inner defeat. Thus, be cautious on what "thoughts" we try to plant into our mind daily so that we always produce fruitful results and avoid unnecessary negative and bad outputs.

The power of feel good

2008-04-01T08:00:00.000-07:00

One of the most beautiful things about pet such as cats and dogs is they always live for affection for the owner. I believe many of us are very kind to animals. They are just lovely for us to take care of their simple needs without asking something in return. It doesn't matter either you just had a good or bad day at work, they will never fail to great and see you while you back at home. They always passionate about giving and receiving affection.

For a long time, dogs have earned the reputation as "man's best friend" be you in good or bad mood for the day. Dogs always the same - never ask for something in return and honestly never pretend to be good to try to bribe you. Similarly, we can learn a very good lesson from the dogs on how we connect with the people be at home, at work, or on the street. We must be glad to meet people. Not only we must be glad, but always make the person we met feel important. If you like to be treated in the same way people treated you so that you will feel good and important, please take note to always create good feeling to others around you.

Hibernating

2008-03-23T23:45:00.000-07:00

I have found this interesting news cutting from The Borneo Post - one of Sarawak's dailies, and think it is worth to share here. I found it motivational as far as topic on adaptation or survival is concerned.

LONDON: Scientists have found an Antarctic fish that hibernates to conserve energy during the long southern-winters. The cod Notothenia Coriiceps enters a dormant state, similar to hibernation in land animals like Hedgehogs, British scientists said. Researchers already knew Antarctic fish had antifreeze chemicals in their blood and their ability to effectively put themselves "on ice" is another remarkable adaptation to an extreme environtment. - Reuters
Deatils - url: http://filaman.ifm-geomar.de/Summary/SpeciesSummary.php?id=4702

How great is God creation!

Anger management

2008-03-07T07:10:00.000-08:00

Every normal human being must show some type of angry feeling at one point of time or another. This is normal as a platform to release some unbearable inner tension. However, it must be always under control for it will bring instability to the person if nothing done to avoid it from out of proportion.

Most importantly, we need to stop our raging anger at one point of chain instead of continuously passing it down to somebody else or innocent souls. Look at the most typical chain of anger in one organization(e.g Sales company) :-

1. Regional bosses would pass the buck down to the country management.
2. The leader would pass it down to 1 down or 2 down.
3. 1 down or 2 down would pass the buck to Sales Managers.
4. Sales Managers would pass down the buck to their subordinates.
5. Subordinates would pass down to their wife or husband, bf, gf, and families members.
6. Then they will pass down to their kids who enjoy watching TV (e.g Doraemon): "Today no more watching TV at 7pm, do your homework now please!!!". Worst still they would pass down the anger and stress to the poor cat/dog which is innocent. What a poor and pity...

The poor cat/dog used to the cuddle from the owner, suddenly one day the owner kick the poor creature when it greats him/her upon arrival at home because the person unable to control his/her anger brought from workplace.

So folks, please don't pass down your anger or stress to the wrong channels for every action, there is a reaction. Your reaction is crucial. Instead, please calm down, take a very deep breath few times, control your posture, relax, and come back to your true self before you want to erupt in an uncontrollable manner. Take yourself to Spa, massage, drink a cup of good coffee, or treat yourself with good holiday or personal retreat would be good idea.

A student's prayer

2008-03-07T06:45:00.000-08:00

Trust me that to face tough test or examination of any kind would produce tension feeling on almost all students.

Maybe I should share this general student's prayer here. This prayer always make me calm down and focus to what should be done instead to lose balance without direction.

To those students be it in elementary schools, high schools, colleges or tertiary levels, hope this simple prayer would be helpful.

A student's prayer

I ask for your help, Lord,
So that I will always know
How to be a better student
And make my knowledge grow.

Please give me understanding
So that I will clearly see
Which lessons are important
And reveal the truth to me.

May I have the time to study
And improve my memory
So I won't forget the answers
No matter what the test may be.

Let me always keep on learning
Even when the class is done
May I use my Knowledge wisely
So it works for everyone.

Author Unknown

" If..."

2008-02-22T07:38:00.000-08:00

The about short statement always very powerful, but depends on which direction you wish it to influent your life. I quoted this very famous quotes to proof it.

If you think you are beaten, you are;
If you think that you dare not, you don't;
If you'd like to win, but you think you can't,
It's almost certain you won't.

If you think you'll lose, you've lost;
For out in the world you'll find
Success begins with a fellow's will -
It's all in the state of mind.

If you think you are outclassed, you are;
You've got to think high to rise;
You've got to be sure of yourself before
You can ever win a prize.

Life's battles don't always go
To the stronger or faster man;
But soon or late the man who wins
Is the man who thinks he can."

(Unattributed)

The power of ' I '

2008-02-20T00:20:00.000-08:00

Have you ever asked yourself this question: What does improvement start with?

To a college student, he may ask: how could his studies be improved, obtained good mark, passed the exam and graduated? Possible answers could be:

Teachers or lecturers need to improve their teaching methods and materials for effective presentation and learning. No doubt, teachers or lecturers are not perfect and need to keep update their presentation so their classes will always interesting.
Need conducive and contributive environment where one can focus.

Another scenario could be in the office; be it in private sector or government. A sub-standard staff may ask the same question: how his productivity and performance can be improved? Possible answers could be:

“My boss must be supportive.”
The products or services must be competitive.

Again, no doubt that the boss is human being which still needs to improve his managerial and leadership skills. By improving the said skills, he will be able to make connection to the staff concern and will solve the issue at hand.

Actually, one doesn’t need to look very far to find the answer, because it is lies within oneself. Look at the word “improvement” itself. It is consists of 11 alphabets; namely: I.M.P.R.O.V.E.M.E.N.T. It starts with alphabet 'I'. Through enough and this is not coincident, but we only realize about it if we are passionate enough about what improvement is all about.

Yes, the improvement must start with 'I' or in another term refers to: Me, You, and each one of us. Thus, we need to put a stop for blaming others to everything that does not happen of how we want it to be. Normally we are looking for solutions far beyond us, but in reality some of the answers to the problems actually can be found from within us.

Have I improved myself first before expecting others to improve? Think about it…

What if ?

2008-01-25T01:08:00.000-08:00

The said self-doubt question sounds very familiar right? This type of fear appears to our mind whenever we became very scared to start anything - assignment, business idea, exam, interview, project, new changes, task, test, work, and so forth.

We always in a situation of insecure and lack of confidence that what we want to do might ends up half-way. Such fear no doubt will slow down our momentum to complete tasks at hand successfully. We think the process might mess up in between. Thus, we tends to be very reluctant to do little mistakes along the way.

It takes bold commitment and focus to avoid this feeling. To make it easier, I suggest that we must not focus on the "what if..." too much. Instead, we must channel our energy into the process of doing them. Simply put, don't worry too much on whatever the outcomes maybe, but we must enjoy the process. End results could be varies - from good, satisfactory to worst. Why worry about something which we don't have 100% control?

Next time, when this kind of self-talk appears, the following steps will facilitate:

The task may looks big on paper, but break it down into parts.
Pool all instruments, materials, references, and inputs to make things easier.
Ask for help should you stuck in between. That's doesn't means we are weak. It will make us more resourceful.
Last but not least, start the task or anything you want to accomplish.

The greatest risk is risks nothing - not start anything at all.

"Excusitis"

2008-01-21T07:00:00.000-08:00

Human being is self-doubt a lots and always coming out with some common types of excuse. In short, this act non other than to justify the low self-confident level and also can be considered as an easy form of escapism for not take charge in life.

Realize it or not that "excusitis" is a very dangerous and contagious form of non-biological disease. If nothing done to treat it in order to relieve the severity level, one can suffers from "excusitis paralysis" in the long run.
Some examples of "excusitis" : -

Too old
Too poor
Too young
No money
Not for me
You got to be kidding or joking!
Are you serious?

And the list is unending...

Note:

If you think that you can or you can't, you're right!

Bounce

2008-01-19T18:50:00.000-08:00

Have you ever played basketball before? This game offers something meaningful to life if you observative or watchful to the way ball bounce higher and higher the harder it being hit.

I admire any basketball players with good dribbling skills. This game requires not only your stamina and speed, but also ability to confuse opponents with your body movement before you can toss the ball into the opponent's basket within short window of opportunity. The game also has few rules and regulations to follow. One of the rules players need to follow all the time is to make the ball kept bouncing while do the dribbling.

This is not to discuss about descriptions of the game per se, but something equivalent we can observe and learn from the Physics Education perspective - the way the ball 'bounce'. Most importantly we can use it as an analogy to explain the meanings of recovery from any life setbacks or failures.

Set of the equivalents in no particular order of importance:

Basketball = human person.
Opponent's basket = targets or goals.
Basketball court = playing field or life stage.
Rules of game = set of rules and regulations of life.
Players' action = stress levels and life forces that influencing life directions.
Bouncy ball = our ability to recover and bounce back from any life setbacks.
The height of the bounce = speed of how fast one accepts reality and back to life.
Stamina, speed and dribbling skills = imply our patience in navigating ever bumpy road.

Note:

It is not about how hard and low you being hit, but how fast and high you can bounce back instead of wasting time and energy moaning at life setbacks.

Rush hour

2008-01-03T22:00:00.000-08:00

Traveling during rush hour in the morning and after work can be very frustrating if one don't know what to do. What can you do everyday if you are commuting within Kuala Lumpur bustling central business district? I'm referring to commuting by light-rail transit(Putra LRT), STAR, Monorail, KTM Komuter, and ERL. This is the time where people are rushing to reach their office and afterward back home after office hours.

Imagine if you are spending half an hour commuting to office and half an hour back home with total average of an hour daily. Multiply that with average number of working days, say 20 in a month, how many hours one could spend productively per year instead of just commuting but doing nothing.

1 hour x 5 working days x 4 weeks x 12 months = 240 hours
This translates into 10 days in a year.

Now, assume one starts working at age 25(Malaysian's average age of entry into work force after college) and retires at age 55, meaning working for 30 years. In total equivalent to 300 days(10 days x 30 years) might be just wasted if not use productively.

Ideal things to do to spend commuting time productively:

Reading a book in hand is a very good idea if one taking public transport to-and-fro to office and home while inside a capsule of this public metro networks.
Planning your schedules for the day - prioritize according to order of priority.
Listening to motivational tapes.
Relaxing by listening to soothing musics or songs.

Note:

Productivity.
Time management - one only had 24 hours daily. Time waits for no man.
The word capsule is used because LRT normally highly compact with commuters during rush hour.

Chameleon

2008-01-02T23:50:00.000-08:00

As we just started the first working day in 2008, today's tough challenge is: do we have to do things the same old ways in the past?

How could we do differently in 2008 to produce better results in all of our life spheres?

Personal life
Family life
Business/work/career life
Financial life
Community/global life
Spiritual life

Why do certain segments of people very successful in one or any combination of the above spheres year after year, and others just didn't made it?

What could be the differentiator between this two extremes?

Actually it was differentiated by a very thin line. The secret was the ability of the successful groups to accept changes, acclimatize, and camouflage themselves to any 'situational change' with new tactics and strategies to delibrately move on. The main problem with the unsuccessful groups was the resistance to change the way they had been doing things, and so they suffer the consequences which could lead to self-extinction!

One has to accept the fact that life itself is living. Nothing is stagnant - not even the planet earth and the whole universe. To live means need to change!

Ask yourself this question: How many instances when you refused change just because it was not compelling enough to you? If any, those were times when procrastination ruining your free right to unlimited success possibilities for fear of failure.

What kind of storyline you want to write for yourself if you knew that life could offers you with thousand unprecedented possibilities? It is about time that you start to envision your own destiny - a destiny to live by design and plan, but not by default and accident.

Note:

Be a chameleon.
How about dinosaur?
Change management.
When is your episode to succeed - could it be in 2008 or beyond?

Resolutions

2008-01-01T22:50:00.000-08:00

First day of 2008 has just begun. Now is the right time to flash back on what we had accomplished in 2007 and which areas and spheres of life we would like to improve when we navigate through 2008.

These are few focused agendas for this year; namely:

Give inspiration to close families and circle of friends and lift them up to achieve their full potential in life.
Read more latest titles as personal lifelong learning. Always asking yourself (what have you read lately?)
Not jump into the gun with "Impossible" but change it to "I'm possible."
Adding values to the world and give back to the community where I lives.
Travel to 3-5 foreign countries I've never went to to learn on how different people are motivated in different ways.
Publish website - this has been accomplished with the creation of this blog.

Note:

None of your resolution is too small to put into perspective and to make it start to take off.
Change "Impossible" to "I'm possible".

"Gung-ho"

2007-12-31T13:00:00.000-08:00

Have you ever experienced the moment you wanted to start new project, but kept thinking on how and where to start? This “gung-ho” and itchy feeling for motivational blogging has been started long time ago, way back to when internet just started in Malaysia during the early nineties, which at that time I was still in the university. Those ideas never documented at all, taken for granted, and always put into waste.

Thus, I place it as one of my new year’s resolutions for 2008 – to establish my own motivational blog. Therefore, the existence of this very blog is caters for development of this passion. My activities now include shared services and outsourcing, smartsourcing(beyond simple cost reduction), motivation, sales training, self-improvement, personal or mental grooming, and personal development.

Adding values in people - families, circle of closed friends, and co-workers already become very much part of me.

Note:

"Gung-ho" is a phrase taken from Mandarin Chinese meaning excessively enthusiastic or over passionate.