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