Category: Tips

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How I keep myself focused and positive?

“Be proud of who you are, and not ashamed of how someone else sees you.”

There are many triggers that will distract and affect me; i.e. the COVID-19 pandemic, world negativity, uncontrollable events, people and many others… where the outcome somehow condition my feelings, thoughts and emotions.

After going through some “rollercoaster” moments past few days… then it dawned upon me that I need to do something to overcome and feel better…

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One of the actions I am taking is to pen down my thoughts and transfer them into this blog, who knows in future, I may need to refer to it again. Also, with the intention to help those who read this blog… look forward to you being better, more focused and positive…

“If you’re searching for that one person that will change your life, take a look in the mirror.”

Let’s dive straight into the topic, “How I keep myself focused and positive?” There are more than one way to perform that and what I am going to share may not work for you. Well, at least they are working for me… and I know if I were to do it long enough, I will see results. Okay… please find the tips and sharing as below:

  1. Talk to friends – with technology and telecommunication devices, we are capable of contacting our loved ones, friends, coaches, mentors… and even the Befrienders line. Last week, I have a few Zoom meetings with my old school buddies and though they did not know what is going on in my mind (the challenges I am having), that few meetings, made me feel better. Talking does help. Who are you going to call?
  2. Continuous learning – attending workshops, learning new knowledge and skills can help. I believe when I am focused on learning, my mind shifted to learning mode and not self-pity mode. There are many online learning, e-learning portal, e-books, videos and materials available. What are your plans in learning new things today?
  3. Writing, journaling and blogging – like what I am doing currently, I will access my blog when I want to store my thoughts and ideas (for future access and usage), I have my diary that I am writing (expressing myself, like having a conversation with God…) and by writing my thoughts down, it helps to clarify and seeing from a third party point of view. I would like to recommend you to write if you have not experience it before… one does not have to write essays or stories… just thoughts and points. When would you like to start writing?
  4. Passion projects and hobbies – I have a few hobbies and the one that I do the most (passion) will be cooking. I do not know how to describe to you… when I start visualising cooking the dish… the ingredients, the methods, I can see the action clearly in my mind’s eyes and I will forget everything else… it is like a therapy for me to de-stress. Cooking also helps with planning, focusing and executing. What is your passion project / hobby?
  5. Physical activity, exercise, movement – as the saying goes, “an idle mind, is a devil’s workshop…” rings true to me… the moment I am not doing something important / learning, my mind will sway and that “little voice / inner whiner” will start playing tricks in my mind… what I normally do… stand up, go for a walk, do skipping or run around my house… it does help when I focus my steps and counting when I skip. What exercise will help you to be fitter?
  6. Listening to music, podcasts, audio books – I have my own playlists in Spotify, Apple Podcast and audio books (like Blinkist). The moment I start playing the podcast, the focus will be on the content from leadership, coaching, health and wellness topics… then my mind starts opening up with possibilities, ideas and lots of “A-HA” moments. What would you like to experiment?
  7. Traditional reading – nothing beats reading books, holding the physical copy, flipping pages, reading and imagining the content while reading… anticipating what the author is about to reveal and looking from the author’s perspectives… great enjoyment and visiting the author’s world. E-books do help, just that the satisfaction of holding and flipping the pages… hmmmm…. When are you going to start reading?
  8. Praying and meditation – it’s like my daily morning ritual now. Praying for wisdom, patience, courage, and guidance… focusing on my own breathing (deep breathing) and reading Bible verses helps. Combining devotion / quiet time music definitely helps. How are you practicing spiritual wellness?
  9. Tapping on my creative side – how I do this, is by doodling… in my diary, on a blank piece of paper… drawing and combining with words… I find it soothing and helps to transition my rigid thoughts to a bigger picture… I learned that when we are angry, we are actually focusing on our left hemisphere of our brain… we need to change the state by shifting our focus to the right hemisphere… you are welcome to do more research about this. How are you discovering your creative side?
  10. Enjoy your favourite beverages – My morning drink will be black coffee… once in a while, milk coffee or tea… When I look forward to making the coffee, it is like a ritual to focus and shift my mind to the positive, why? I know that the result of making the coffee… I can enjoy by drinking the fruit of my labour. What is your favourite drink?

“You are allowed to be both a masterpiece and a work in progress simultaneously.”

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In my opinion, and a disclaimer (haha), as we are still human, at times nothing helps and we feel miserable. Just do not let that feeling of being miserable be a habit… once you realise that the feeling or environment is not helping you, you need to do something about it. I am sure there are a lot of people who are there to help you, just need to voice out and ask for help. All the very best to you and God bless.

“Your habits, your future!”

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Time for Positive Reinforcements

“It always seems impossible until it’s done.” – Nelson Mandela

Who would have thought that the COVID-19 pandemic would last for this long (and nobody knows when it will end?). Our country has gone into another full lock down. For sure there will be lots of businesses affected by it. With such critical times, many people (including myself) will be feeling uneasy, anxious, uncertain and to some extend, frustrated.

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Past weeks, I have been working from home and it takes a lot of effort to balance work productivity and personal life all at the same location. Sounds easy and believe me, it is not. So, take a rest if you must and do your very best.

As a reminder to myself (and leaders out there who are reading this blog), learn to be kind, understanding and compassionate with your team members, colleagues, customers, partners, and your loved ones. The environment, situation and how they are handling their emotions are not easy. Why the need to add more negatives and problems to the people around us?

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Let us focus on the positives and encourage the people around us. Provide emotional support and let them know that we care for them. Most of the people (based on my observation, myself included) will be triggered easily, i.e., to think negative or having the thoughts that the job done is not good enough. Instead of letting the feeling of negative to go down the spiral, put a stop by acknowledging them that they are doing all right or provide some pointers on how we can help support them to do better… rather than criticizing that whatever that they are doing is not good enough (people will always fall short; depending on who you are comparing with).

Focus on their strength and let them do more on what they do best. Collaborate or discover who has the talent to perform based on your expectation – unless the expectation is extremely or ridiculously high (also this depends on the expectations and standards of comparison). What I am trying to share is… be kind, caring and seek to understand, not condemn, question nor telling them that they are not doing a good job. Like what my mentor shared with me… “Talk is cheap… opinion is free… and actions speaks louder than words…”

“Constant kindness can accomplish much. As the sun makes ice melt, kindness causes misunderstanding, mistrust, and hostility to evaporate.” – Albert Schweitzer

I really need to work on being kind to others, especially to my loved ones and the people who are working with me. I look forward to perform my best to be kind, caring and understanding. I pray that God will give me the wisdom, patience and discernment to be a better leader.

Let us all enjoy our journey in life and spread kindness.

“Your habits, your future!”

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Is feedback a gift?

“There is no failure. Only feedback.” – Robert Allen

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I am writing this article based on my own opinion and also as a reminder to myself, the next time I visit and read this article again.

In my life’s journey, I have come across a lot of feedback, I would prefer to cherish the positive ones and learn from the “not so positive ones”.

When we are the person who is giving the “constructive” feedback (and at times it sounded more like criticism), we tend to believe that we are doing something good and helping the person that we are giving the feedback to… and in our minds, we thought that the feedback is a gift to the recipient.

In my humble opinion, it depends on the the following:

  • how is our trust and relationship with the person?
  • how much does the person like us?
  • what is the level of respect from this person to us?
  • when are we giving the feedback? timing is everything!
  • how are we presenting the feedback to the person?
  • what is our level of expertise to provide the feedback?
  • what is the context of giving the feedback?

There is never one factor when taking action or giving feedback. The situation is normally more complicated then we think.

No matter how noble we think we are giving the feedback to the other person, he or she may not think otherwise…

“Strive for continuous improvement, instead of perfection.” – Kim Collins

I have received a lot of feedback to date and just the other day, when I was doing a project for a client, not sure what got into me… I was really affected by the feedback from one of my business partners (not that the feedback was really bad or serious)… I believe I got triggered NOT by the WHAT but by the HOW the feedback was delivered.

Can you imagine, how much effort and hard work I have put into this project and to wait for the day to run the session? And how difficult it was to run the session with high expectations and pressure to deliver?

Then suddenly, a message stating that the person is not happy with one thing… how about all the other good things and effort put in?

Then the experience had made me realised that, feedback is only a gift when the other person is ready to receive it… this is one of the surprise that the recipient is not looking forward to get!

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There is no perfect situation to provide feedback… ultimately, it boils down to the trust and relationship of the person with us. Even giving feedback to our loved ones, we will need to ensure they are in the right state of mind (mood) to hear what we have to say… Not forgetting to communicate with them our intention of providing the feedback, based on some facts and not just feelings.

No one is perfect and free of mistakes, we are all works in progress. At least for me, there is a need to work harder and strive for excellence.

“Knowledge rests not upon truth alone, but upon error also.” – Carl Jung

All the very best to you and enjoy life’s journey.

“Your habits, your future!”

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Questions to Ponder Part 2

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“A wise man can learn more from a foolish question than a fool can learn from a wise answer.” – Bruce Lee

Hello there! How have you been keeping lately? As we go through this interesting times, I would like to share the second part of the “Questions to Ponder” series.

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Here we go…

1) How are you spending your weekend?

Many of us will be looking forward to the weekend and the question is, how to make the most out of the weekend? Not sure about others, and as for me, I will be doing the activities that I love doing; going to the market (apart from buying groceries, it is a good place to observe all walks of life), have my cup of coffee, breakfast, relax, recharge and rejuvenate. Catch up with my reading, listening to podcasts and attend Sunday service. It is also a good time to plan for the coming week’s focus and priorities… then put that aside… drink some water and relax… slow down and get ready to speed up!

Everyone will have their own way to spend their weekend.

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2) How are you using technology to help you?

The use of technology is a part of our lives now, whether we like it or not. The other day, I experienced a crisis at home… what was the crisis about (apart from the COVID-19 pandemic)? The WIFI router decided to die on me and there was no connection to the internet. My kids and I, PANICKED! I was going to do my project assignment, and my kids, their homework and studies online… I was trying to troubleshoot the issue for half-a-day, I even went out to get a new WIFI router! But it did not work… Felt really helpless and stuck for not having any connectivity to the world. Anyhow, I have to resort to my phone’s data personal hotspot… slower speed but at least connected.

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Anyway, technology can help us in many ways, I use it for the following:

  • Online research for my assignments, projects and content ideas;
  • Online purchases (YAY! Shopping)
  • Order food and beverages
  • Make payments (utilities, bills, loans, transfers, etc.)
  • Virtual learning, workshops and coaching

How about you? What do you use it for?

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3) How do you plan to serve others?

Everyone has their own strengths (let’s not focus on the weaknesses), talents and passion. How will you be using your strengths, talents and passion to help and serve others.

Having to discover my life purpose; “Inspiring and Developing Leaders to reach their highest potential for God”, I have decided to use my strengths, talents and passion to help people (leaders) to discover their potential via learning and development engagements.

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Please do not underestimate yourself, we may think that our strengths are not significant, I am certain that to some people, they will need help in the area that you are good in. Let’s have an open mind and learn how we can serve / help people, so that our world can be a better place.

ONE DOES NOT SIMPLY START 10 NEW HABITS AT ONCE - One Does Not Simply | Make a Meme

4) What good habits do you want to form?

Haha, the meme above may seemed funny… however, the message may have some truth in it. We do not have to focus on cultivating a lot of habits all at one. Just focus on one main (key stone) habit (as per the learning from the book, “The Power of Habit” by Charles Duhigg) and you will be discovering the journey of changing habits (as one behaviour that you change may affect the other areas of your lives).

“And once you understand that habits can change, you have the freedom and the responsibility to remake them.” – Charles Duhigg

Some of the good habits you may be interested in to form:

  • Exercise, run, walk, sweat and move more than being sedentary
  • Plan, strategise, prioritize and take action
  • Read to add value on a daily basis
  • Sleep and have a good night’s rest
  • Eat right and in moderation
  • Be present and focus, not get distracted
  • Be kind, compassionate and practice empathy
  • Express yourself, via journal, blog, have a conversation
  • Invest, spend and do your own financial planning

and many more… let’s start with one first… when you get results, I believe you will be motivated.

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5) How do you rejuvenate and restore yourself?

In November 2018, I have shared a blog regarding the same topic… the title of the blog is, “Reboot” and “Refresh” Habits

You may click on the link and enjoy the article.

Should you have anything to add, please do not hesitate to put it in the comment section.

“We must always change, renew, rejuvenate ourselves; otherwise, we harden.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

There you go… the next five -(5) questions to ponder…

Stay Safe, Healthy and Strong!

God bless.

“Your habits, your future!”

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Questions to Ponder Part 1

“It is not the answer that enlightens, but the question.” – Eugene Ionesco

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During the month of June, my buddy and I have done the TIK4TIPs chit chat show based on the daily questions that I have for reflection purposes. In this blog (part 1), I will share five -(5) questions for this part as the show was from Monday to Friday and we did total of 25 shows for Season 1. It was a fulfilling and meaningful journey.

Now that I am not doing the Live Show, I will put down my thoughts and answers based on my reflection. Thank you for ready and I look forward to all of us who read to get some ideas / wisdom to help with our lives’ journey.

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Question #1:
What is new normal to you?

The new normal to me will be doing most of my work via online platform. Since March 2020 until recently (beginning July 2020), all face-to-face training sessions were cancelled; a few changed to online / virtual training and mostly postponed until further notice (most of the multi-nationals still prefer virtual training).

Another will be wearing mask when going out to public locations, practicing social distancing… people will not be able to see your smile and not able to shake hands when meeting.

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As a family, we used to eat out almost every weekend and with the movement control order (MCO), I cooked for my family for more than 90 days and have discovered new recipes, improved my cooking skills plus getting to know my family’s food preference better.

My wife also ventured into planting edible greens… our house porch area is full of pots and plants now… waiting to harvest and enjoy the produce of her labour, haha.

Question #2:
How do you move to the next level?

“The journey is never ending. There’s always gonna be growth, improvement, adversity; you just gotta take it all in and do what’s right, continue to grow, continue to live in the moment.” – Antonio Brown

What does next level mean to you?

To me, it simply means, better than yesterday. Have you improved, grown and being better that who you were before? Life is about continuous improvement journey and discovering what you are able to learn / do… a blessing!

It can be simply having better relationship with your loved ones or people close to you. A wider coverage of network; clients, partners, business contacts and opportunities.

Growing spiritually, understanding your own calling, serving the community, doing charity or helping people around you… do whatever that make you feel alive.

Depending on the priority of the individual, to some, next level could be the business / career, and to a few, it could be having the financial stability or overall wellness / lifestyle.

Which area in your life you would want to focus on right now to be better?

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Question #3:
What is your purpose in life?

“It’s not enough to have lived. We should be determined to live for something.” – Winston S. Churchill

In terms of purpose, it will be very subjective, different people will have different views and why they are living their lives.

I have discovered my purpose and it goes like this:

“My purpose is to inspire and develop leaders to reach their highest potential for God.” (I only discovered my purpose about 10 years ago when a good friend of mine were curious about my career, he sat down with me and started asking me a series of questions that triggered me, to realize my purpose in life).

Once I have decided and have clarity about my WHY, I am more willing to pay the price on the choices that I make (or will make). I truly believe that anything that is worthwhile pursuing, there will be a price to pay, when we are more willing to pay the price, the journey will be somewhat easier.

I would highly recommend for anyone to invest some time to reflect and find out the WHY?

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Question #4:
How do you free yourself from worry?

“Worry often gives a small thing a big shadow.” – Swedish Proverb

Just yesterday I had a conversation with a potential client (the client is looking for a life coach) and through our conversation, some how I mentioned that we worry and feel the pain due to we are alive to feel it. It’s part of our live journey and some will lead to more serious health issues (if not treated).

I used to be a worrier and I would be lying if I were to tell you that I am free of worry now. The difference now, I have ways to deal with my worries. Some of the methods I am using to be worry-free will be as below:

  • Write down my thoughts, all the issues and all that I am thinking off – that will help to clarify my thoughts. What are the resources needed to solve the issues? What are the priorities? If any of the issues are future related, what do I need to do to prepare for them? How can I prepare, to minimize the impact and get the expected outcome?
  • Have a chat / conversation with someone that I can trust, can be my loved ones, my coach or mentor… they may provide some insights and triggering questions. All that will be “gold nuggets” to me!
  • Pray and meditate… I believe that, when we are ready for something bigger, we will be presented with opportunities. We will have to accept the challenge and grab to opportunities – then the journey of discovery starts. Be thankful and practice the attitude of gratitude (instead of worry).

“Worry is like a rocking chair: it gives you something to do but never gets you anywhere” – Erma Bombeck

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Question #5:
What are you doing to develop yourself?

“Life is growth. If we stop growing, technically and spiritually, we are as good as dead.” – Morihei Ueshiba

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Everyday is a learning and we learn (experience) in different aspects of our lives. What are the areas you would like to focus on to develop?

In most of my leadership workshop sessions, I will share with the participants that the word, “LEADER” comes from two -(2) words; “LEARNER” and “READER“… a leader is a learner and reader… then ultimately, the leader becomes an “EARNER” – earning knowledge, skills and learning perspectives from the resources.

There are many great resources that we can learn from… below are some of them that I am utilizing:

  • Books and E-Books – library, buy my own, from contacts or internet. My recommendation is to buy own book as at different times of our lives, when we read the same book, we get different learning (as we mature and have grown in wisdom, thus the learning we seek will be different).
  • Internet – Google, YouTube, Social Media – all the good and bad will be available, it will be up to us to filter what we want to learn and prioritize.
  • People, contacts, networks – by having conversation, coaching or mentoring session.
  • Reflection or feedback – we can reflect on our own experience or feedback from the people that we trust and respect (in my humble opinion, not all feedback is relevant to us).
  • Media – magazines, TV, radio… we will need to filter in accordance to what we want to learn and whether it is positive or not.

There are many resources that we can learn from, it’s a matter of our preferences.

“The beautiful thing about learning is nobody can take it away from you.” – B. B. King

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Well, that is all for part 1 for now. Happy ready and let me know if you have any extras that you would like to share. I would like to learn from you too.

Stay healthy and safe.

Have a fruitful week ahead.

“Your habits, your future!”

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How am I keeping myself busy?

“Focus on being productive instead of busy.” – Tim Ferriss

It has been about 80 days since the day the Movement Control Order (MCO) started. I have to confess that business is badly affected and I thank God for providing me enough opportunities to date.

How have you all been keeping lately?

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This is me keeping myself busy, HAHA!

One of the reasons for me to have this blog site is to record relevant memories of my activities, and who knows, one day, some one would like to know about my life story…

“Productivity is being able to do things that you were never able to do before.” – Franz Kafka

5 Simple Principles From 5 Years Thinking About Productivity
Busy being busy… WOOHOO!

Below will be my activities in the past 80 days and not in any particular order:

Working with my partners on promoting some virtual / remote online training
I am blessed to have good partner friends who have included me into their digital marketing plan. Together with one of my good brother, we have presented to many clients and we have branded the programme as “Crash Course Series” which can be done in 60 – 90 minutes. An effective, straight to the point learning and application tools for people who attend the session. The learning here is for us to create our own opportunities and not everyone will buy-in to your ideas. We just have to keep going in this journey of our lives. As what Simon Sinek wrote in one of his books, “The Infinite Game”, it’s a continuous process of learning.

Delivering virtual / remote online training
Thank God for some great opportunities to provide learning sessions for clients and the overall feedback was good, some were even surprised that virtual training can be effective and engaging. I truly appreciate the feedback and encouragement. What I have learnt from the delivery, we have to put in extra (boost) of energy level and constantly engaging with the participants as they cannot feel your physical presence, thus we have to use various methods to create the engagement.

Getting news that some loss of business and cancellation of events
Every time during this period, receiving this kind of message is really not easy and it weighs down my heart (initially). As a professional trainer, coach that constantly preaching and selling the idea of being positive and motivated… now my actions will speak louder than my words. Like I say to most of my friends, we are now living in an interesting times. It’s a journey of learning discovery. Nil desperandum!

Chin Up GIFs | Tenor
Chin UP!

New Normal of doing things
The other day during dinner time, we had a conversation about the lock down and not being able to go out like we used to. In fact, we have not gone out to the supermarkets or malls as a family for leisure, not eating out at restaurants, watching movies and many more that we used to before. That is one of the new normal of lives. Coming back to training, I have also helped one of my partners to deliver a certification programme, the new normal was having leaders from different countries joining the session, borderless participation and learning. My good trainer friend and I had this conversation about using technology to deliver our training, never expected that this would come sooner than all of us thought it would.

Improved cooking and time to perfect the hobby
I have to confess that I used to tell people that I do not like to bake as baking was not for me… guess what? Because of this interesting times, I have ventured into baking breads, muffins and experimenting new recipes, making new dishes for my family (thank God that they liked it… HAHA!). Not only that, my wife had seriously ventured into edible gardening and soon, we will get to enjoy the fruits of her labour.

TIK4TIPs Chit Chat Time / Show

TIK4TIPs Chit Chat Time / Show
My good brother, partner and friend, Ravi had inspired and invited me to do a talk show with him, I am blessed and honoured to be collaborating with him. We want to leave our legacy behind by adding value to share our discussion / question of the day with people who tuned in. I will be posting the videos in my YouTube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCp7dGv9pxwNdM7Gf2CxE4gw?view_as=public

Learning and improving video creation skills
During this period, I have also received requests to provide short videos and digital content to clients. The only way to learn, is to do the work and by doing, I learn from mistakes. Also the need to do more research on tips and tricks in video creation. I am thankful for the requests that I get to learn more about video creation skills.

One of the videos created

“You will enrich your life immeasurably if you approach it with a sense of wonder and discovery, and always challenge yourself to try new things.” –Nate Berkus

WAYS TO KEEP YOURSELF BUSY DURING QUARANTINE - Paulette Magazine
Learn new things…

There are a lot of things to do and learn, what are the new things and skills you have obtained during this period? Do share with me in the comments. Looking forward to learning from you.

Stay healthy and safe.

“Your habits, your future!”

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What I have learnt from this pandemic event?

Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

“The beautiful thing about learning is that nobody
can take it away from you.” – B.B. King

This year is going to be an unforgettable year for many people, especially me… ever since January 2020, I was looking towards a busy and productive year focusing on what I am going to do. Then the inevitable happened… nobody expected it and it just happened. We are all in this together, no matter who we are and where we are. This event does not care and recognize who is who… and of course some who have more resources will weather through this easier than those who have not much.

The focus of this blog is not on the details of the event, it is just a sharing on what I have learnt so far… please message me should you have any comment or feedback. I do look forward to learning from you as well. Thank you and enjoy some perspectives from me.

“One who gains strength by overcoming obstacles possesses the only strength which can overcome adversity. “ – Albert Schweitzer

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What I can learn from this event (so far)?

HUMILITY
The virus do not care who you are and the news on suffering of others have made me realized that “life is short!” I need to be humble and ask myself, “how do I want people to remember me (should something were to happen to me)? With tools like social media, I can use it to “brag”, tell others about my achievements, how I am in certain activities and you know what I mean… or I can be doing more contemplation, reflecting on how I can lift others up, doing what I can to take care of people close to me and inspire others to focus on the positives?

“A great man is always willing to be little.” ― Ralph Waldo Emerson

CHOICE
I have a choice to be positive or negative. I can also choose to be bitter with what is happening or with some people who tends to trigger / upset me. I kept reminding myself that I need to choose to focus on the positive. One of my mentors have asked me once (when we were together and some one upset me), “How do you want the story to end?” Thank you for the question and I need to choose wisely. Anyhow, there is always a price to pay to whichever direction that you have decided upon. Are you willing to pay the pay? It will be easier if you are willing…

“In the end that was the choice you made, and it doesn’t matter how hard it was to make it. It matters that you did.” ― Cassandra Clare

CREATIVITY
In times like this, especially when the government has enforced the Movement Control Order (MCO), with my son who is active and who wants to play… I have to wear my “creative hat” and come up with some simple activities… one of them is to convert our dining table into table tennis… well it has been about 20 days for the MCO… so far we (including the mom) are enjoying playing the game of “modified” table tennis. There is definitely no end to a creative mind. What are you doing to be creative? Care to share some creative activities that you and your family have come up with?

“The sky is not the limit, the mind is…”

PATIENCE
Everyone is spending most of the time together at home and there will be some conversations that will test your patience. I have learnt to perfect practice patience to listen (with the intent to understand, rather than to answer), expecting less on the things I want people to do and negative postings in social media. Remember, we have a choice…

Patience Memes

FRIENDS
I also realized who are your good friends and the importance of having some close friends (that is good enough). How can we help to cheer our friends up and go through this journey together. I am sure one day when this is all over, there is much to share and laugh about!

“A real friend is one who walks in when the rest
of the world walks out.” – Walter Winchell

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How to cope with the event?

Below are the 10 -(ten) things you can do to cope with the event… I am sure there are more, let’s experiment some of these, to start with… all the best!

  1. FOCUS – make a choice to focus on the positives and do the things that will add value to your own self-development.
  2. QUIET TIME – have your own “ME” time, to do reflection, listen to relaxing music, journal, pray and meditate.
  3. COOK – good time for new cooks and great time for experience cooks to experiment new recipes.
  4. PLAY – make time to play, embark into your hobby and discover new games.
  5. COMMUNICATE – call your family members, friends and partners. There is so much to talk about and discuss; good old times or future opportunities or just a conversation.
  6. EXERCISE – keep yourself active, or you can be creative to play some indoor sports with your loved ones or even pets. There are a lot of good resources on-line that you can use as reference.
  7. FOOD – enjoy the fruit of your labour (from own cooking or as a test subject from new cooks). Think about those who are less fortunate, be glad that we still have food on our table.
  8. READ – reach for the books you have read before, I truly believe that if you read it again, you will gain different insights. There are also a lot of good on-line resources to learn from.
  9. ON-LINE ACTIVITY – e-learning courses, articles, shopping, videos, social media… so many positive things that we can get from the internet.
  10. TAKE ONE DAY AT A TIME – smile if you can wake up in the morning. A good practice to be having the attitude of gratitude…
Okay, It's happening! Everyone, stay calm! - Michael Scott yelling ...
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My prayer is for everyone to be safe and healthy. Keep going and there is so much to learn from this journey that we are embarking.

Thank you for your time!

“Your habits, your future!”

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What about wastage?

“I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them.” – Ian Fleming

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In this blog, I would like to share about wastage. When you do a search on wastage, there are a LOT, I mean a LOT of information about wastage. In fact, I will not be able to mention all of the wastage, I am only going to focus based on what I have learnt from Lean management; 7 wastes of Lean.

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I learnt from a professor friend (I once attended his class) who taught me a way to remember the 7 wastes of Lean based on the diagram created below:

Apart from the 7 wastes (based on the acronym “PIT WORM”), I added one extra waste, Human Potential. Please allow me to share some information and examples on the wastes. The examples will be based on real-life and not in manufacturing or services industry. Please write to me, should you have any thoughts or feedback to share. Thank you.

Here’s my sharing…

Processing
One of my mentors, a successful business woman once told me, “Dion, over thinking kills!” For me, over thinking is the processing that we are doing “Flexing our brain muscles…” to think, spending the time to design, putting the hours in planning. Hence the term, busy being busy. It will definitely be a waste when we only put our effort in thinking and planning with no action. Action speaks louder than words. What is stopping us from taking action? Let’s do what we can with the resources that we have… start doing and the results (big or small) will come.

“The ONLY impossible journey is the one you never begin.” – Tony Robbins

Inventory
In this time and age, there is a lot of marketing… digital marketing, social media, on-line shopping and many more. Whether we like it or not, we are constantly being bombarded by things to buy and own. When talking to some of my friends, they are buying a lot, especially during sales (offer) period; some examples are keeping stock of shampoo, toilet rolls, food stuffs and etc. Just yesterday, my wife cleared the pantry and discarded a lot of expired food (some are gifts from friends and family members); lesson learned, to give away and bless others than to keep until expire. Learn not to be a hoarder… my opinion… no point buying to keep as it will get old or spoiled and it’s a waste.

Transport
I will relate this to driving, especially when we keep our engine running waiting for our kids to dismiss from school or for someone buying something. The wastage will be on petrol / diesel and emission of carbon harming our earth. One case to share will be, last Saturday, I was supposed to meet my cousin sister from the train station (in the morning), I live in the island and the train station is situated in mainland. I received a call from her that due to not being able to purchase the ticket, she will be taking the next train and arriving the station that afternoon. Lesson learned from the case, when we did not do proper planning and scheduling, delay like this is unavoidable. Another example off my head will be road closures (when we are not in the know about it), because of that, we might be late and need to take a detour taking the longer way. Best is to just do some planning and prepare for any circumstances.

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Waiting
Experienced any long waiting time, queuing to get something done? Last week, I went to Touch “N” Go customer service office wanting to settle my expired cards and get my refund. The moment I walked in the office, the place were like “packed sardines” and I press the queue number, there were more than 15 people before my turn! Can you imagine the waiting time? At first I waited and the average time taken for one person to complete a transaction was about 10 minutes… after about two people done… I was looking around the office and something caught my eye. The refund can be done on-line, so I scanned the QR code and access the website, registered myself and got everything done (on-line) in less than 10 minutes. I passed my queue number to the person who walked through the entrance, smile and left the office. Another example will be on-line banking… it definitely helps to save some time than waiting for the staff to serve us.

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Overproduction
The example I would like to share on this will be something that I am passionate about… COOKING! At times when I am over excited about a new recipe, I tend to cook too much; especially food that may not taste good once keeping it overnight and best eat fresh. Apart from that, in my line of work… having the mentality to have spare copies of notes, handouts and materials… not planned properly leading to wastage. Another classic example when eating out… ordering too much because everything looks delicious and greedy wanting to try everything!!

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Rejects
When it comes to this topic on rejects, I would like to relate to making mistakes resulting to rejection. How does one make mistakes? Lacking of sleep, focus, planning, information and making assumptions, thinking that we know or having sufficient information to make that decision. When using the wrong tools or applying the wrong skills may lead to being rejected… not having the trust or rapport when working with others as well. The key to having minimal rejection will be preparation (perfect practicing the skills, obtaining enough information, rest well and focus.)

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Movement
Work hard or work smart? For me, initially, we have to master the work (knowing the steps) by working hard. Once we know the details, we can then analyse how we can improve the task. What are the steps that we can eliminate to save time and effort (not compromising quality)? Another sound advice given by one of my mentors is to ask for directions (or help) when you are not familiar, never assume. A simple example I can think of, preparing for the next day’s exercise clothing (to bring down with me when I wake up), to save some movement from going up to the room to take the clothing. Saving a bit of movement, here and there will lead to a LOT!

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Human Potential
In my opinion, human potential is endless. There will be lots of opportunities, provided if we want to put in the work to action. Of course, we have the talents that we would like to work on, just that I truly believe that when it comes to potential, “the sky is NOT the limit, our mind is…” we are our own biggest enemy. My own example that I can share is that I know every morning, I have the potential to run at least 5 kilometers or more (depending on the time that I am willing to put in)… and after running about 3 kilometers… I tend to tell myself that… “Hey! that is good enough… you have sweat and that’s it… stop and go home…” The potential is there and I have just limit myself once I think it’s good enough. Not sure about you… this is just one of the examples that I can share with you. How about you? What is stopping you from reaching your highest potential?

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“Your habits, your future!”

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Start living life to the fullest

” Life is short, and it is here to be lived.” – Kate Winslet

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Do the following phrases sound familiar to you?

Life is short… You only live once… You have only one life, live it… never regret your life… live as if you’ll die today… and many more.

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For the past two months, I have been receiving news about people passing… some acquaintances, friends, and family members. All the bad news on death… I do not mean to be rude or inconsiderate, we know that ultimately, we will leave this world… You and I know that, I believe. It’s inevitable and we are just temporary residents of the world.

And yet, the news somehow still affected me, subconsciously. Made me think the following thoughts…

– Appreciate those people around you.
– Spend quality time with your loved ones.
– Create memories.
– Live in the moment and experience the valuable time together.
– Never regret.
– Is today my last day in this world?
– What else do I need to do for my loved ones?
– What can I do to help people around me?
– How do I want people to remember me?

Well, what I can do now is to live my life with what I have, my purpose, dreams and journey with the people I want. Making choices that is worth paying the price for.

“Life is short, and it is up to you to make it sweet.” – Sarah Louise Delany

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No point worrying and thinking too much about things that are not within our control. We can just do our best and strive for excellence. Do what we can and let God do what we cannot.

The following points will be a reminder to myself and if you can benefit from them, please go ahead to perfect practice them. Let me know how it goes and share your success with me, so that I can inspire others with your story.

Are you ready? Here they are…

How to live life to the fullest…

Focus on what you want and what’s important to you. You are the captain to your own ship called “LIFE”… you decide which way you want to go. Ultimately, you make the choices and be responsible for the outcome of your choices.

No risks, no gain. Another phrase that really sounds familiar. I just need to remember to take the risks that I am able to be accountable for. Not taking just any risks blindly. It helps to have mentors and coaches who can bring out the best in you when making decisions.

Tell your loved ones that you love them. Hug them and create memories with them. How you want them to remember you? Start doing things together, while you still can.

Wise people learnt from own mistakes, wiser people learnt from other people’s mistakes… wisest people learnt from other people’s successes. Best to live in the present (NOW) than to live in the past or future. You can do something right now (based on what you learnt in the past) to get the results you want in the future. Right here, right NOW!

You cannot please everyone all the time. At the end of the day, by trying to please everyone, you please no one (especially yourself). Be true to yourself and you choose who you want to be with, to spend time with and to create precious memories with.

Be honest with yourself, live up to your own values. People who do not have the same values, sooner or later, they will not stick around. As what people say, “birds of the same feather, they flock together…” Better to have people with the same values to be part of your life. You can then be yourself, no need to pretend to be who you are.

Find happiness and meaning in life through serving others. By helping others, you are in fact, helping yourself (to find meaning and be happy). Have the abundance mentality, the more you help others, the more you gain in return. And expect nothing… whatever comes back, it’s a BONUS.

The mind is like the parachute… it only works when it is open. When you are open to learning, you will then learn new things and find meaning. Steve Jobs also mentioned… “Stay hungry, stay foolish…” Life is a journey of learning.

Action speaks louder than words. This is definitely a strong reminder for me to take (massive) action, if I want to achieve results that I set goal for and to solve the challenges that I am facing. Like what I have learnt, as leaders, we need to “walk our talk!”. Having integrity as our character will somehow be the personal brand. (How do you want people to remember you?).

“Life is short, and you have to have fun with it, you know?” – Fabio Lanzoni

What is stopping you from living your life to the fullest?

If there is a need to talk to someone, let the someone be me… call me and we can chat over coffee. Thank you for your time in reading this blog and all the very best in your life.

“Your habits, your future!”

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Health and Wellness

“Create healthy habits, not restrictions. “

How’s your new year 2020 so far? Before the end of 2019, I have had the chance to get some feedback from my friends and social media contributors on the above-mentioned topic. Thank you to those who have contributed and if you would like to share yours, please put in the comment below. I wish you all the very best in your health and wellness this year and beyond.

“Health is like money, we never have a true idea of its value until we lose it.”
– Josh Billings

By the way, the intention of this blog is for sharing and learning purposes… in my humble opinion, there is “NO RIGHT NOR WRONG…” Thank you.

  • Wake up early, exercise daily, eat moderately, fast alternately but most importantly is to do whatever you can do and spend time with your love ones full-hardheartedly. 
  • Have a 4-legged pet… Walk them morning n evening.
  • Understanding what u want, plan, execution and mostly, consistency.
  • Other than that… Happiness and Peace also important.
  • Take very good care on one own health and wellness, by eating healthily and exercise daily. Before you can take care of anyone else you love.
  • Its good that u have health awareness.. most people will only start to practice healthy lifestyle when they have bad result in health check
  • take care of yourself well physically (do exercises), mentally (reading and other brain triggered tasks), emotionally (positive interactions, meditation etc)…
  • Commit the day to God before starting the day and say thank you before ending the day.
  • recommended exercise is 30 mins x 3 a week… I’d say 5 days 30 mins will be better. without health, no money or family can do anything. also start giving more… like all your money to some one like me 🙂 
  • Spend time with yourself, God, family and friends. Exercise, do some charity work, eat moderately and do whatever makes you happy as long as it’s not against the law, it is not unethical and it doesn’t cause harm to others
  • Sure way to lose weight while able to eat anything… skip dinner
  • Realise what makes your soul happy & enjoy doing it.
  • I’ve recently shifted my new year resolutions to start on my birthday. It somehow gets better commitment and results.
  • Learn to bless every person you meet. The more you bless the more happiness you gain.
  • Have a positive mindset. You are what you think. Put God n faith in your lives daily, eating moderately, exercise healthily and live happily.

“Take care of your body. It’s the only place you have to live.” – Jim Rohn

There you go… some great sharing, ideas and learning. Found any one that you would like to start this year? If you do, please share with me. I would love to hear from you. All the very BEST!

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“Your habits, your future!”