Resistance Breakthrough

It's been more than a year since I last write here. Resistance got hold of me and procrastination penetrates me relentlessly. However, today mark my first revolution against them and here's my way of showing 'Come At Me Bro!' :)

We all yearn for the ultimate secret towards success. The shortcut, easy to accomplish route. The superb industry where the products sell itself, no need for sales pitch, no competition and is easy to enter - your ideal world. Some people might be jumping from industry to industry or company to company or even country to country in search of this perfect world but you and I both know that it didn't exist. Yet, people never stop trying.

The energy wasted in such meaningless pursuit can be put off to better use. The basic block of success is built from showing up everyday and committed towards our current endeavor. Whether you like it or not, whether you had a morning flu or diarrhea, whether you had a late night party or slept early, it doesn't matter. Your responsibility is to show up and do the work. A simple commitment to show up every time and deliver makes all the difference.

Often we hear people saying that we have to get out of our comfort zone and comfort zone is a nice place to be. The idea of getting out of it completely may haunt a person into paralyzing fear. If it is as such, why not expand your comfort zone? Once upon a time, you do not know how to ride a bicycle. The idea of learning it is out of your comfort zone but you do it anyway because you want to hang out with your friends. The moment you successfully learn how to ride a bicycle, riding bicycle become WITHIN your comfort zone, thus your comfort zone expanded.

Similarly, applying it to our work, every day in every way, expand your comfort zone. Maybe it's doing follow up call to your KIVs, maybe it's getting all the documentations in order, there is something we can do that can expand our comfort zone on a daily basis. The plus point of things you can do within your comfort zone? Your Resistance won't be battling you and ask you not to do it. But Resistance will sure fight like hell when you just started to do it and Resistance never go away. It is a good thing actually, as those things that Resistance ask you not to do is exactly what you MUST do. 

How much do you worth?

You are what you think you are. This old age wisdom couldn't be much truer. And I would like to improvise, you are how much you think you worth.

I am not talking worthy in the sense of dollar and cents because then you would be blaring out that your dignity is so priceless that it cannot be matched by anything else in the world. I am talking about the way you bring up yourself in various situations.

Say for example, you are being interviewed and are asked on your expected salary, how would you reply? Grinning sheepishly and mumbling under your breath a figure? Then might as well you write in bold capital letter in your forehead 'I WANT XXX AMOUNT BUT I DON'T THINK I AM WORTH IT!'

Similar situations such as when you are increasing the rental for your condominium, when you are applying for a bank loan, when you are charging your consultancy fee to your clients, when you are presenting your idea across the board, when you are proposing to your fiance, etc; How do you response? Is your eyes staring at your shoes trying to catch a reflection of your pity self or do your face brims with such pride of ownership knowing deep down that you are delivering a value across?

Most normal executive class working people in Malaysia didn't carry this sense of pride and worthiness in them. When their clients voice out something, they dare not voice out their opinion. Heck, they are even scared to call up their clients when issues arises and work with them together to find a solutions.

All because they think they are not worthy enough. Deep down.

Compounding Factor

I believe you have heard of the power of compounding. Someone labeled it as the eighth wonders of the world, I forgotten who but I think it's Einstein. It's the accumulation of interest so subtle that you don't realize it at the beginning but as it gradually grows, soon its' effect seems to be exponential.

Of course you've seen it from one of the insurance presentation that your ex-primary schoolmate present to you. To add salt to the pain, she have not been in contact with you for 13 years and the first thing she comes and talk to you is that how she 'cares' for your retirement and wealth protection.

But other than insurance, in fact most of the things in our life also works on this compounding factor. Say for example; you hate your wife nagging at you, you hate people cutting queue in front of your car, you hate guy that covers his thin hair across his bald head and you hate waiter that brings you wrong order.

Each of this irritable behavior, standing alone doesn't carry much weight. Although it irritates you, you can tolerate. But if on the morning that you're about to go to work, you step on your kids toy and fell down spraining your back and your wife nags at your negligence followed by two idiot Malaysian driver cut your queue from both sides simultaneously; when you reach your breakfast spot, the new half bald waiter brings you a wrong order, I'm pretty sure he'll be screwed upside down by you. That's compounding factor at work.

I had a real experience today on the compounding factor. Normally my tolerance level is super high, but imagine the above description describes only my morning and I am being asserted by these situations 3 times a day for continuously 3 days. Would you blow? I did.

Sorry Michael, you're in the wrong place at the wrong time, that's why I FUCK-ED you. Anyway, you still suck BIG TIME!

Mentor

I've just read an interesting note on a mentor. Here it is....

If you examine any successful person they typically have one thing in common: a mentor.
Nearly every successful person in history had someone who they could confide in and
learn from when times were tough. To be successful in life it is very important to have
a mentor, a coach, someone with more experience than you, someone who is in a position
in life that you desire to be in the future.

Most people underestimate the value of a mentor and this is the biggest reasons for failure
in business and in life. A mentor offers valuable insight to things that only experience can teach
as well as a host of other things. They have fruit on their tree which shows they have paid the
price to be in a position to offer wisdom to you if you need it.

The following points will put into perspective the importance of having a good mentor and the
peace of mind that comes with knowing you have someone in your corner that is knowledgeable
about your business or life.

Encouragement
A mentor will encourage you when you are feeling low. The word encouragement literally means
"to give courage", and a good mentor will provide just that. This does not mean that other people
cannot offer you encouragement but when it is coming from someone who knows and understands
your business and life inside out it means a lot more. A good mentor will motivate you with a simple
statement that affirms you are on the right track even when things do not seem to be going well.
They have the ability to reassure you that everything is going as it should be because they have
been there before.

Reduce mistakes.
A mentor will help you prevent mistakes that you otherwise would have no way of avoiding. There
are only two ways to gain wisdom in life: making your own mistakes, or learning from others mistakes. If you're thinking about walking through a minefield, you probably won't follow the path where there's an empty set of boots lying on the ground. A mentor has already made all the mistakes for you so you don't have to do it all over again. So in other words experience is the best teacher IF it's not your own experience. Failure is only possible if you decide to figure out everything on your own. Here is the problem: you don't have enough time to make all the mistakes you need to make to be successful.

Eliminate weaknesses
A mentor will help you remove your weaknesses. This is usually the tougher aspect of a mentoring
relationship because it involves pruning off some of the things holding you back in life. If you have a good mentor understand that you are not always going to like them. Their primary role is to be your mentor and their secondary role is to be your friend. Your best friends see you as you are, your mentor see you for who you can be. Your friends will tolerate your weaknesses, but your mentor will remove them entirely. Your friends are comfortable with your past, but your mentor is more comfortable with your future. A good mentor will stretch you just by being in your presence because they know and understand you better than you understand yourself.

Bring out your strengths
Remember that Tiger Woods had a coach. Most people if asked if they had the option of being coached in golf by Tiger Woods or by Tiger's coach which person they would choose almost unanimously say they would choose Tiger Woods. The truth however is that it takes a certain type of person to bring out talent and ability undeveloped in people. Talent cannot be taught which is why coaches are more valuable than players. Without good coaches, talent would be useless. A good mentor will help bring out the best in you when you don't necessarily see the qualities you possess.

Honesty
A mentor will tell you the truth because their primary objective is to make sure you are successful.
Your friends will always tell you what you want to hear, but a mentor will tell you what you need to hear. This is not always easy to do because of ego issues especially in men. But a good mentor understands that a day of tension is better than a lifetime of regret and as such will always tell you the truth rather than let you believe you have arrived at your destination.

Congratulations if you finish this as you take this seriously. :) Now, what's the phone number of Barack Obama's coach?

Your truth or absolute truth?

Truth is really a matter of perception. Most of the time, your truth is not the absolute truth. Your truth is base on the accumulation of your culture, experience and exposure. These experiences creates your perception and judgment of what's the truth and what's not.

Even your truth changes over time, when you are a kid, you are afraid of the monster under your bed. As you grow older, you know that monster under the bed is not the truth, but the effect is so strong that sometimes you are still afraid of the dark.

Before Portugese Sailor, Ferdinand Magellan's expedition sail around the world during 1519-1522, people believe that the world is flat. That is the majority truth at the time, but still it is not the absolute truth.

Your truth believes that you are super busy now but the absolute truth is that you are too lazy to invest your time effectively. 10 years from now, you are going to moan that you're busier than ever, but still that is not the absolute truth.

Because someone told you so before, because it is done that way previously, because you seen it before, because everyone says so, because Blah Blah Blah; remember that it is still not the absolute truth. Don't be too fixated on your view, people or you yourself might prove that it's a false belief afterall.

We live in the greatest time in the world right now; open your eyes,ears and heart; satisfy your curiosity and find the absolute truth!

Chinese New Year

Maybe it's the strong publicity and products display at hypermarkets that creates the hype. Chinese New Year products has been on display as soon as Christmas is over! Or, is it before?

Maybe it's the knowledge that this Chinese New Year won't be as tight as pass 2 years. Like they say, money can't buy happiness but it sure buy things that make you happy.

Maybe it's the lightings, decorations and background music at Hailam Kopitiam where I'm writing this blog that triggers the feeling.

Maybe it's the Feng Shui Master from Indonesia who predicts that this coming year is my BIG AUSPICIOUS year where my career and love life will reach its' new high.

Whatever it is, I am so into Chinese New Year mood now! Gong Xi Fa Chai! :)

Victim vs. Owner

We have a rough idea when people say 'Victim Thinking'. Essentially, it means one who always play the victim character and the whole wide world is unjust towards him/her. He/she will blame, moan and bitch to all that would lend them ears and mostly the listener will be other victims who will say 'You think that's bad? Wait till you hear my story!' and they will go on and on.

The opposite of victim will be an owner. An owner owns his spirit and treats life as a wonderful journey. Instead of complaining, they look for solutions. They improvise and innovate their way throughout and they just keep getting better. An owner touches the soul of people around them through their words and actions. When you watch or listen to someone and you feel goose bumps in your heart, that's when you see an owner in action.

For example, a good singer may sing a song and hit all the notes perfectly but when we listen to it, it sounds good only. Nothing special. But, when an owner sings, we feel the spirit and inspirations that touches us. It's the moment when you unknowingly said 'WOW!' or the moment when tears start streaming down uncontrollably. These people take full ownership of the moment and perform something beyond our consciousness. It performs straight to our spirit.

Sportsman, artists, politicians, salesmen and even normal people like you and me experience this total ownership moments before. It seems like something bigger and greater than our normal self is in play and we totally owned it.

Be an owner and live the moment. Stop bitching and complaining.

Vice that brings out your true colour

If you want to know a person's true character and you had just know him/her for a short period of time, there's a short cut. And, no, it's not hiring a fortune teller. Just indulge them in these vices: escort services (that's for man only obviously), gambling and alcohol.

The presence of a beautiful lady in a close door can reveal a lot about a man. Maybe they will go all gooey pouring out their heart to them or their hands (and other body parts) get naughty or both. You'll get to see a whole new personality of him in split seconds. Of course, he mustn't know that you are peeping.

Gambling with real money and especially at significant stake can also brings out the inner personality of a particular person. Is he/she narrow minded? How important is money in their perception? Do they take losses gracefully? Most people don't and they will grumble and blame their 18th generation ancestor for that poor bet that they just lost.

But both the above methods, if realized, and with a small amount of self control, can still mask their true colour unless you are trained to read microexpressions on their face.

Therefore, alcohol consumption or what we call in layman term - hardcore drinking is the perfect vice to reveal one's true behavior. Of course, there are drugs but I am not experienced there, so we keep to the simple everyday vice. After a few shots down, you feel like people around you are your best friends, you keep babbling emotionally non-stop like the old hen's asshole. If you had suppressed emotions like anger, guilt, sadness, and so on; after more shots, you'll start to either cry, laugh uncontrollably, throwing out tantrums or being overtly aggressive. The suppressed emotion will pour out like an open water tap.

So, friendly advice to those that haven't indulge in these vices, either you don't do it at all for the rest of your life or you experience it in a safe environment and, recognize your limit and behaviors. Thereafter, when the unexpected occasion demands, you know how to handle yourself.

(p/s: Although I know my limits, my 'bad' behaviour when I'm high is chasing after drinks and challenge the whole wide world to 'kan pei' with me, so occasionally I am way off limits too; safer bet? Don't do it!)

Do you have attitude responsive problem?

Ever had something that you are requested to do or some questions that are asked to you which you don't feel like doing at all? Or how about an assignment that you had been given some time to do but because you hate doing it so much, you did not put any effort into thinking it, therefore when people asked you about it, you feel annoyed and irritated. How do you response?

First, you can try the silent treatment. Just assume that you never hear anything and keep looking busy.

Second, you can add silent treatment with a sulky face to scare off the people who are asking you about it.

Third, you can give a direct and cold 'NO!' and walking away either pretending to be so busy engaging in something or running away from the probing queries.

Forth, if you didn't think of a solution and while others are discussing on how to solve it, you can be the first one to reject the solutions blatantly but again choose either of the above three reactions when people ask for your own solution.

Fifth, you can always smile apolegitically and said that you never really give a thought on that as you hate to do it so much and try your very best to give full cooperation towards coming out with a better solution.

How do YOU response?

Do you like to take leave?

One of the trend of young adults in the corporate world nowadays is absentism. They juggle medical leave, emergency leave, personal leave, half-day leave, my-great-grandma-is-helping-the-cat-to-deliver-kittens leave and all sorts of leave just not to be present to work. And they taught they are the best of the best in what they do and they no need to work hard like other dumbass out there.

Lack of passion and motivation of work together with the allure of the late entertainment lifestyle in the city has prompt such behavior. Not to mention the internet and all those online games that sucks your time dry. With no proper sleep time, one gets sick (mentally and physically) and takes leave.

I read a lot. A lot of successful people share few key traits. One of such traits is their commitment to their work. They never take leave to be away from their work. They get tired and holiday moods too like us, but they go to work on a regular basis. Day in, day out; they set their schedule ahead and stick to it diligently.

That's the simple thing that we need to do disciplinely. Work on a regular basis. Not taking leave on Friday because Thursday is a ladies night special in the bar.

Successful or 'looking' successful?

Everyone wish to be a successful person and we use all kind of measures to determine whether one is a successful person or not. Far too often, we are so blinded by the commercial branding of success that we use material and appearance to judge a person whether he/she is successful or not.

If we see someone driving a Lamborghini Murcielago, we immediately have the perception that he is successful. But, is he successful because he drives a Lambo or, he drives a Lambo because he is successful?

Often, many fall into the trap of labeling and live beyond their means purchasing branded goods just to 'look' successful. That's the root of our credit card issue.  Carrying a LV bag doesn't make you successful. It's just that successful person carries LV bag.

The inner is always more important than the outer. Having a passionate desire to learn and excel is much more important than being admitted to Cambridge or Oxford University. You know, they have drop-out students too.

Fit In or Stand Out?

Since young, our environment and culture always nudges us towards being accepted by others. Others perception and view towards us are so important that it became part of our life.

You see, there are two ways to be accepted. You can fit in to the majority (meaning: another Joe Average standing in a long queue), doing things normally just because 'others do the same too' or 'others expect me to do that'. You might as well try fitting yourself in a small box and mail yourself away.

Or, you can stand out from the majority (meaning: being a leader or rock band superstar) and living your life graciously. Pursue your dream, do things that you love and be a source of inspiration for people around you.

You can either fir in or stand out. Not both!

Rising above the tide

We are often challenged by life circumstances no matter how old we are. At each stages of life, there will always be a certain lesson that we need to learn, sometimes learning it the hard way. Doesn't matter if you are 8 or 88 years old, life just have the perfect dosage of lesson to teach you.

The question is, are you someone who falls and cry when stumbled on a boulder? Or, you fall and pick yourself up, shake off the dirt and step on the boulder to climb a notch higher? Easier said than done right? I believe you can relate to that.

A true measure of success means that when the challenges are the biggest, the stronger and tougher you become. You keep rising above the challenges that came down crushing and you never complain. In fact, you understand that, that is the nature of life.

Imagine if everything is so smooth and there is NO challenges at all in your life. Will you be happy? Think about it seriously and deeply. After 3 months of 'nothingness' happens (since it's so smooth), will you get bored of your life?

So, do you drown?

Or, do you rise and thrive?

The End

With Internet and Facebook nowadays, information travel at light speed and gossips travel at 10 times light speed. Just like the recent case of someone posting in the Facebook of his suicidal moments.

The media and Internet have spread this issue like a wild fire and now the collateral damage is going to be seen. A lot of wannabes are posting on Facebook on when they are going to meet their end. And right now, they are just 'waiting for the end' like how Linkin Park sang it.

Haven't the media learn enough when Marilyn Monroe is found death by suicide, the suicidal rate jumps up more than 20%. Glorified media coverage on suicide issues will just enhance suicidal rate. Period.

But still, human like to make mistakes - understandable. However, repeated mistakes? That's just pure dumb.

So, no pictures. No more glorifying. Do you wanna trade your life for something new?

Transition Period

As time pass by, we go through various transition period.

When we are young babies, mummy and daddy are everything to us. That's the only place that we feel safe and totally comfortable. But when we reach teenagers age, it feels embarassing to have mummy kissing you while leaving you off to school. You fell head over heels to that irritating girl you used to make fun off when you are in kindergarden. That is a transition period.

Then we grow, tumbles, party, make mistakes and learn valuable lesson in the pursuit of our own path. Staying in a house is like a total waste of time. We are always in the move and going for activities after activities be it on day time or midnight. That irritating girl is now your ex. Every night is 'yamca' time. That is a transition period.

Soon, we learn the responsibility of being a young adult, we learn to plan our career and want to earn loads of money. Yet, we still make new friends and ventures. We upgrade our 'yamca' time to clubbing time. We settle down with 'the one' after 'n' experiences. We make more mistakes, we learn more to be a better person. That is a transition period.

Suddenly, the idea of clubbing seems to be a distant call, even a heavy burden. After work and on weekends, we just want to chill out in the comfort of our home. Weekend party is replaced with weekend property viewing. We start to think of family and having our own offspring. We shake our head in disbelief of how wild the teenagers and young adults are nowadays. That is a transition period.

It means you are in the 30s zone already and born around the 80s. I'm not sure how much transition period we are going to go through but you get the idea of how old I am right now.

How are you handling your transition period?

Fire

Fire is what you feel when you are so charged up and passionate towards your job that you go for meetings and appointments on Sunday. Best part is - on Saturday you down beers like there's no tomorrow.

Fire is what you feel when during that Sunday appointment, some lunatic bastards drive with a blindfold and knock into your car. Although he's clearly in the wrong (He apologized as soon as he get out of the car. You don't apologize if you are not wrong.), halfway through the compensation negotiation, with the help of his more lunatic and moron friends, he decided to play hard negotiation and tries to wiggle out another RM50 from you through a half an hour sarcastic talks.

Fire is what you think you have avoided when a friend calls you up and describe his night rampage with some lady which you introduced to him. Lucky you, for rejecting her so many times. You are starting up a family soon for God's sake!

Fire is what you feel when you had a dinner blast with loads of ginger and birds eye chilli (cili padi) soothing down your emotional torrent. Yeah, you are an emotional eater!

Fire is what you feel when after all this shit, you still diligently completed all your weekly reports in record time, write your blog and going off to another work meeting - ENTHUSIASTICALLY!

Some fire drives you like a burning desire, some fire burns you. Do not play with fire. Use fire wisely. Look into my eyes. What do you see?

Money vs Love

This is an old debate of mankind. When you are in a relationship or going into a relationship, is it money/material or love that is more important? In today's ever changing and fast paced environment, money or the possession of significant materials seems to get more and more important to all of us.

But, before we go any further, I think when we are choosing someone to be a life partner, shouldn't it be that we are looking for happiness? And on the pursuit of happiness, can money or love withstand the test of time?

I am an old sentimental. I opt for love in a relationship which I believe is a better shot in the pursuit of happiness. Even if you choose money today and slowly cultivate your love towards him/her later, all may works out well, until the day the business fails or natural disaster strucks where all the money is out in the drain and left you dry alone.

One can never know the future, you are rich today doesn't mean you will be rich forever. Vice versa, I believe money is always easy to earn so long as you put your brain into work and support it with action and faith. Besides, what happen when the money is gone, do you still love him/her? If not, then you'll be broke, unhappy, without love and stuck with 2 kids that thirst for milk.

So do you choose this?

Or this?

I know, the stack of USD is very very tempting right? :)

Fuck Crush Fetish

One of the characteristics of a sociopath and a psychopath is cruelty to animals. From young they start killing small animals and evolve into a serial killer on those worst case scenarios. Yeah, I watch too much Criminal Minds series...

But I think recently, most of us has seen in Facebook or YouTube, videos of pretty young girls in China killing small rabbits senselessly. It's rather disturbing. Initially, people had thought that it's a stand alone mentally distraught person but soon, investigations revealed that it is planned and organized by a group called Crush Fetish.

They did it for monetary gain purpose! I mean, how sick is the people in the world nowadays? And even more sickening is that they manage to rake in profits! Which means, generally, people buy this sadistic videos! It bothers me too much to place the video links but here are some pictures..

This sweet smiling girl later sit on a glass sandwiching the rabbit between the glass and the table.

I am not a religious guy but, GOD PLEASE SAVE THIS WORLD! And, Fuck You Crush Fetish!

Kuala Lumpur International Motorshow

Well, last saturday I went to KLIM at PWTC. And suffice to say that it does not live up to my expectation.

First, the carmakers that make its' debut is 'second class'. The world's best automaker are from Germany, Italy and most part of European country. Sweeden's car is famous for their safety standards and turbo engines - yeah, I mean Volvo and Saab, I am bias I admit! No Audi, Mercedes Benz, Porsche, Jaguar and BMW! Not even Alfa Romeo! Not to mention American brands under the General Motors or Ford flagship. I mean how international is that? Better name it as Kuala Lumpur Asia Motorshow!

Secondly, I'm expecting a full fledge of supermodels but some of them is really not fit. Luckily, I did focus on some of them who are fit...

This one looks a bit like Lim Shih-Eyong right? :)

Thank GOD! Now My RM20 is worth it... Car shots? Err... I forgotten where I save it....

Do you have what it takes?

Do you have what it takes to see through your creation?

All of us are creative and all of us at one time or another dreamt of doing or being something. We may have the 'silliest' inspiration to work on something or to create a new project but after the initial adrenalin rush of ideas, we mooted it off with 1001 excuses. We are not knowledgeable enough, rich enough, young enough, old enough, healthy enough, etc etc

Most of the people leave that 'silly' inspiration to it's initial form... thoughts. Thoughts which we rejected whole-heartedly with excuses.

Some people, act on it! They have 101% enthusiasm and energy at the initial stage to make that dream come true but then, as in all path, there will be challenges ahead. They then succumb to these challenges, unable to find solutions and drifting far away from their initial purpose. After numerous attempt and unable to find the breakthrough, they quit. Unfinished projects like this are all over the world.

Some, whose project has been running in their infant stage, cash out too soon. Victoria Secret is started by a man who wants to buy lingerie for his wife comfortably because he feel embarassed when walking in to other shops to purchase lingerie. After an initial run of success more than he ever had intended, he sold off the company for USD 2 Million. In 2 years time, Victoria Secret under the new management realize its' full potential and it is worth USD 500 Million! Like what Mark Zuckernberg the founder of Facebook says... Opportunities are hard to come by, but when we found one, we had this obligation to see it through to its' full potential no matter what! That is why Facebook is worth billions even though Friendster and MySpace has been in the internet for ages and they haven't even reach the billion dollar mark.

Make effort to think and act at the same time. Don't wait for muse to appear then only we start to think and take action... It doesn't work that way. Have critical thinking with you at all time and the muse that you've been searching will find you.