Blogspot to Wordpress

Hello dear readers

19 November 2008 i celebrated my 48th birthday and in that moment i decided to bring my blog forward to elevate it to a higher platform. I have opened http://proenrichment.com to ensure that the people of the world get access to my blog. Please visit my blog and all newer post will be posted at proenrichment.com

Cheers
gazzali

How To Overcome Retrenchment?

Is the recession around the corner? Do not think about it. Companies do not want to expand because they fear the demand will fall further in the near future. All man on the street who is an employee fears that he or she might get retrenched.

Citigroup who has a global workforce of 370,000 intends to cut around 50,000 jobs worldwide. You can read this story here. The domino effect of the slowing of the world economy started from the big drop from the United States of America home prices.

Consumers got a 100 percent leverage of buying a home. Many made millions and when the bubble burst they became bankrupt and banks still absorbing the loss. With home prices and stock prices came crashing in Wall Street, it had a serious repercussion with the rest of the world. World trade affected with many companies cut staff strength. So if you are one of them do not worry but start living again.

Big Picture

De –leverage?

The important thing for the man on the street to see is not his self but the ‘big picture’. What is the ‘big picture’? Every citizen has a duty to fix the recession. The popular keyword is ‘de-leveraging’.

It means everyone borrows less. But when less money gets borrowed, less is spent. And when less is spent, the economic engine turns more slowly. Before you know it, you’ve got a recession.

Banks, on the other hand, had just written off the most bad debts in history. They are in no mood to go down that path again. Now it spontaneously turns away loan application with even a whiff of risk.

Do you think de-leveraging is a good idea? The minus point is it reduces borrowing, spending and makes recession more likely.

Learn a new skill?

If you are working in the bank and you get retrenched don’t sink to depression and cry about it. Naturally your employer will give you a ‘retrenchment benefit’ in the form of money and cash. Use it wisely by enrolling in learning a new skill.

You can choose any of the following new skills:

- take a taxi licence
- take a course on web designing
- take a pre entry test on child care
- if you have passion in painting learn that skill as you can paint quality paintings and sell them
- learn how to play a music instrument and teach others
- learn the skills of writing

Use the new skill to get a new job and be prepared mentally to adjust the ‘humble pie’ as normally the salary will be lower than your previous job.


Work 24 hours

Recently I met my friend who works as a full time music teacher and a part time security personnel. He is working 24 hours? No not really. As a full time music teacher he has to be around with the students and teachers. But at night working as a security officer he has many hours of doing nothing and uses that time to get his rest.

There are many other jobs in the country where you do not need that full hours of effort but has some lee way to get your rest. If you work 24 hours you can cover up the loss of income when you are working in a new field. In Singapore, Mustaffa Centre is a 24 hour shopping centre looking for night shift staff.

Your Picture

Re-budget?

Cover the fixed expenses – includes rent, utility charges, food expenses, mortgage payment etc
Terminate all insurance expenses – as insurance is paid to for the ‘anxiety trap’
Live Out of Credit
Take cheaper transport
Cut off all inessentials like hand-phone

Learn the basics of blogging

Tips On How To Have A Vision - Leadership 3

I always wanted to know how intelligence influences leadership qualities in a person. How is intelligence gauged? It is purely measured by academic qualification. This qualification can secure a good job but it cannot guarantee leadership quality in a person. In my previous post on leadership I have touched on two factors -being humble/have inspiration-which can make anyone leader. Being a visionary will bring your rank in leadership one step higher.

What is to be a visionary? If you have watched the movie ‘Jumper’ you will realise the meaning of a visionary. In jumper, the self is transported to another destination of choice without any mode of transportation. It is ‘teleportation’. It is the teleportation of a thought to an end which is favourable to the thinker and his surroundings. All leaders are leaders if they have visionary ‘talents’. There is no such thing as visionary leaders as all leaders are visionaries. There is a difference between management and visionaries: the former is concerned with smooth operation and the latter concentrates on the direction of their team, focused on people and goals. A leader with a vision hardly commands his team. A commander is only a manager.

Visionary cannot be labelled as a talent as it is a skill that can be learned and developed by anyone who follows the steps below:

Use Law Of Attraction

The secret is discovered. All leaders have one thing in common. They attract their own reality. You enrich your lives just by thinking. What you ask is what you get theory.

If you are a leading a team of staff in an organization and if you want to be a leader with a vision- think about how to improve the lives of your co workers. By such thoughts you will likely to attract circumstances some kind of vision for your team. In the end, your team will look upon you not as a manager but a visionary. Had it not been Mahatma Ghandi’s vision of freedom the history of India would have got a different route. An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind. Mahatma Ghandi taught India and the world at large how to attain freedom by non-violence.

The problem with accepting with the law of attraction is not the theory but the person who is applying this law. Logic of effort seemed illogical when there is effortless involved. The logic of the mind is just a mirage in a desert. It is not the reality. The logical questions might be something like this:

What happens when people put out conflicting intentions, like two people intending to get the same promotion when only one position is available?

Do children, babies, and/or animals put out intentions

If I intend for my relationship to improve, but my spouse doesn’t seem to care what will happen?

The theory states that you attract what you want. That is all. In the process of attracting if your mind plays logic with what you attract then it is a futile pursuit. The right word to use is not intent but attract.

The steps to this theory are three:

First step - attract your vision
Second step - focus your team (subject) and only attract your vision

If logic is played by the mind go to step one quickly.


Seek Disadvantage

The human mind seeks the negative or disadvantaged portion of a matter. If you find some bad behaviour in a person use it to your advantage. There has to be a starting point in thinking. Begin with disadvantage in mind and create an advantage from it.

The first city reservoir which was opened in Singapore recently is a good example for all the nations in the world. Singapore’s vulnerability of water dependence to country like Malaysia has made it into a water producer after twenty years of planning and execution of damming the mouth of Marina channel.

Give Energy to Your Brain

The brain represents 2% of the body weight. But it receives 15% of the cardiac output, 20% of total body oxygen consumption, and 25% of total body glucose utilization. In yoga the various position or asana is considered to improve muscle flexibility, tendon strength stamina and most importantly optimise function of respiratory system and circulatory system.

Morning

I recommend readers to do this simple position on the start of the day: prostration or Surya Namaskara or sun worship translated. It consists of two positions: stand upright first and then prostrate as shown here

Prior to having your breakfast drink honey with lukewarm water. Honey consists of:

Fructose (38.5%)
Glucose (31.0%)
Sucrose (1.0%)
Water (17.0%)

Afternoon

The health goodness of eating dates is being underrated. Eating dates will boost our brain activity. For every 100 g of date fruits you will receive 648 mg of potassium which is beneficial for neuron function. It is a good booster to the brain activity as most of us get a little tired in the afternoon.

Get your aura right

When I say aura I am saying the aura in a conscious state of the mind. To improve you vision you need a good sleep which produces lucid dreaming. Lucid dreaming is that dream where you can easily understand. Most of the discovery that we are enjoying are attributed to lucid dreaming. See how dreams affected the lives of some famous people here. To have a vision in your dream do the following steps:

Take a bath before sleeping
Fragrance your room with musk, sandalwood or other aroma
Apply some fragrance oils on your hands and chest

You need to sleep well and be able to remember what you dream about.

Stupid thinking

Isaac Newton wasted his time for the theory of gravity until an apple fell on his head while he was sitting under an apple tree. To have a vision we do not have wait for things to happen. We can use words or things to get an idea from it.

In giving a unique name to watches which are cheap but resembles the touch of Switzerland watches – swatch is created. The current financial crisis can be solved by just creating a word or by seeing a thing and infer a solution from it. If I use the word lines then I can infer having two lines in between two highs and lows. I will suggest pegging stock prices to a reasonable high and low indices. It means even if share prices drop if it drops further than the agreed index it will not be a valid price. The price has to move between two extremes. Perhaps economist can look into this as a possible solution.

Anyone can give a stupid idea which can become a vision.

Live Out Of Bad Credits

In Sydney, Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd (ANZ) –being the third biggest lender – said on Monday that it expected much higher bad debt provisions in the first half of fiscal 2008. This reflects difficult conditions facing Australian firms amid the global credit crunch. The provisions will be about A$975 million or a 72 percent increase from a year ago.

In the midst of the credit crunch, the many bank rescue plans established in many countries around the world would re establish the confidence needed between commercial banks to ensure smooth functioning of markets on which business credit depends.

Do not be part of bad credits. There is an opportunity here. Here are my tips on how to ride your credit horse wisely.


Use Credit Card to Buy Shares

If you possess a credit card use it to buy shares. For instance if the offer price is S3.50 per share 1 lot or 1000 shares will cost $3,500. If you can borrow up to 70 per cent of the value of the shares it means you have to fork out only $1,050 cash upfront. With your credit card you can borrow up to 100 percent of the share value.

Assuming your bank charges around $400 (inclusive of processing fee) monthly instalment for 12 months, you will be on save track provided you pay on time to avoid interest of over 20 percent. And then you can hope that your share price goes up. I think it will. Be realistic. Can we afford to buy everything from cash? But there is some sense to this. If you are borrowing for ‘an asset’ in this case shares it is an investment. Let me give some encouragement.

The second-richest American and perhaps the world’s most revered investor, Mr Warren Buffet says he is buying US stocks for his personal account. To him a simple rule dictates his decision in investment –‘Be fearful when others are greedy and be greedy when others are fearful’.


Hold on to that property if you can

Gone are the days where a house is just a ‘giver’ of shelter. It is an investment in today’s context. In Singapore, if you own a house it is a guaranteed asset value appreciation. If you have bought a flat in 1987 and sold it in 1998 you could have made a whopping cash-in savings. If you are on a bank loan try to lock in for one year and then opt for refinancing to seek for better interest in another bank.

A property is an asset. If you dwell in it or rent it –either way it is considered an asset. If you rent it then you have to stay somewhere. The middle path to cash in a property investment is to stay in and rent part of the house- perhaps a room. This is what I called value integrated. Find other uses of your property where it can ‘earn’ for you

By holding onto your property you will gain in the long run. Moreover, you will not be in the list of the bank’s bad credits.

Turn Bad Credits To Good Credits

The scenario in United States is entirely and unusually different. There is this thing as sub prime mortgage or lending. Borrowers who apply for such loan have a heightened perceived risk of default, such as those who have a history of loan delinquency or default, and those with a recorded bankruptcy. So when borrowers failed to make debt repayment it caused a domino effect to the banking system. The failure of the investment firms, mortgage companies and government sponsored enterprises which had invested heavily in subprime mortgages so called triggered the crisis.

So what is the solution for the people of America? It is simple. Take responsibility on your bad credits. The Americans have to look at the bigger picture. I know it is hard but you have to somehow manage your debt if you have committed one. The crisis is something they have to learn from. Success is not all about money. It is about reaching on what you set forth. It is about completing all actions. You have decided on a course of action to allocate the country’s resources. You have to take responsibility for that. Turn bad credits to good credits.

‘America asks not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country’

Tax Software

In the United States the Inland Revenue Department has noted that out of the federal revenue of 2409 billion dollars 345 billion dollars are not collected from tax payers. This tax gap is about 14 percent. This is partly due to the difficulty in preparing the tax return. In Singapore the use of electronic means has risen 88 percent in 2004.

Success is not only about formulating making a goal that you love to reach and reached it. It is not making money in the process thereby making your financial health in the pink. It is about giving to those who have less. It is also about how you find ways to work along the parameters of the laws. It is also about not falling into negligence in preparation of tax that to be given to the government as revenue. Tax evasion can be very costly affair to large corporations. You will lose substantial amount of money if you or company fall into evasion. You can read here on how to survive an audit by Inland Revenue Service.

"Under Singapore Income Tax Act, anyone found guilty of assisting another person to evade tax will similarly be liable to a penalty of three times the tax evade"

It is not ‘proenrichment’ to lose money as fines for evasion. In addition you will be portrayed as a corporate criminal. Why not pay your taxes correctly. As the burden of tax return preparation expands, we need tax software to lift up our burdens to have peace of mind. Make use of the ‘donkey’ to shift your burden. Under Singapore Income Tax Act, anyone found guilty of assisting another person to evade tax will similarly be liable to a penalty of three times the tax evaded. This story of tax evasion in Singapore can be deterrence for those who wants to enrich their lives. Pro enrichment is for Pro tax. In this context I will like to introduce some soft wares that can help in the preparation and submission of tax return.

The following three soft wares can be useful to readers.

Turbo Tax 2007

Whether you are a last minute filer, an avid stock trader or filing your first home purchase, Turbo Tax is an excellent tax preparation product. It has been awarded the ‘Top Ten Review Gold Award’: it has the best design and navigation; user friendly even for beginners; easy set up features.

Further reading about this product

Tax Act 2007
Apart from being awarded with ‘Top Ten Review Silver Award’ with excellent design, navigation and easy set features, this product is much cheaper that Turbo Tax 2007, it has an online tax consultant facility. No Live chats and forum facility for this product. It also has national averages comparison, year to year deduction comparison and joint vs separate filing options like Turbo Tax 2007.

Further reading about this product

H&R Block Tax Cut

This product price is on the high side despite having a mark less for its ‘user friendly features’ when compared to the other two products above. It is not facilitated with forum, national averages comparison, and year to year deduction comparison. It has live chat.

Further reading about this product

[software]
[tax]

How To Ward Off A Depression

I am no economist. But I cannot simply keep quiet and just watch what is going on around the financial market recently starting from the United States. I was not born yet in that turbulent time when the Great Depression took place in the 1930s. My mother was born in 1938. She escaped the greatest ordeal in the economics of the world. Do you know what is like to go through life in a depression?

Life just sucks. People lost their homes who only borrowed 10 percent of the purchase price. Now we are almost tied up with 90 percent loan for a shelter over our heads. Do you think you can just sit back and watch the show while the ‘economic tsunami’ washes all income and wealth? Do you still want to sit or participate in the war with the ‘devil’ called depression?

Whether the financial woes in America is God’s curse or not but it will meltdown the entire world if it is not corrected correctly. In Singapore, export falls for the fifth straight month in September 2008. At the macro level the various bailouts by the US, British and other nations’ governments are appropriate moves to sustain the respective banking systems.

But as an individual we need to participate in warding off an economic recession. The key factor is to make the demand side of the curve more or less stable. A stable demand is like a brick wall blocking the destructive waves of depression.

Live by your means

Spend only on essentials

Sometimes life’s vital guidelines can be learned from your mother. My mother every time teaches me on how to live a simple life- frugal living. I mean not stingy but prudent in what you spent-necessary spending. If your fingers get swollen beyond recognition it is going to be very painful. Try to cure the swell to escape the painful ordeal.

What are essentials? A telephone back in 1974 can be a luxury. Now a telephone in the house is essential. It can become dispensable when you can email or use a web cam via internet for communication purpose. What about hand-phones? Think about it. I am thinking of terminating my hand phone line when I have completed the 2 year plan.

The simple thing to do is to really list out what are essentials and what are not? This will be different for different people. You can say your lifestyle is different. But bear in mind that if you start prudent living now then you can withstand and survive if a great depression sets in. You have to get used to essential living.

What is essential living? I think living with a bare minimum can be classified as essential living: food, clothing and shelter. You can choose an inexpensive restaurant to eat and wear cheaper cloths. And remember to sell off that ‘asset’ called home if you cannot afford to repay your debt. Try to sell it and get a smaller house.

Live with essentials. I will always encourage my friends to do away with insurance policies. Insurance policy will not only take a big part of your disposable income and in most cases we are paying for our own anxiety trap in life.

Take for example, life insurance policy. The owner pays a constant premium for a number of years. But the sad part of it is that once you break before the maturity date in most insurance policy you will lose a great part of your ‘savings’. It is the fees for pessimistic thinking.


Pay only by cash

If you have the habit to buy everything on credit, change your mindset to pay the items you buy with cash. Always carry a cash amount for the day purchase. If you have some credit to settle to the bank try to settle it and terminate the credit line. It is always better to pay by cash.

It is deviant behaviour towards the basic economic principle that we have ‘limited means but unlimited wants’. Such consumer behaviour will eventually lead them to bubble their wealth by using credit. Live within means is a gospel which had been forgotten. To consciously belief in that statement is a panacea to greed. Do not listen to the ‘devil’ to get whatever you want and pay later by credit. If that happens then I think it is stupidity to pay 20 percent more at the end of the day.

Buy now and pay later theory is what set the American economy into danger zone. During the great depression the country’s total credit is totalled to about 6 billions of dollars.

Spend and Spend

Stay employed

The very core of the cause of the Great Depression was attributed to fall in demand for goods and services produced. The very basic index for any country to worry is the unemployment rate.

During the Great Depression the unemployment rate in America was 25 percent of the working population. Unemployment means a probable fall in demand. Things are produced and manufactured for consumption. As supply increases it will have a great impact on the price of goods and services. With shrinking demand any business can go bust.

At our very best we spend on those things we need and help the demand side of the ‘curve’ to maintain the business of economics. If you lose your job get ready to do any job to generate income for you to spend. A job is better than no job.


Don’t buy paper stocks buy food stocks

Investing your money in stocks and shares can be a good thing if it is done 10-90 rule. I mean if you have 100 dollars park the ten dollars in stocks and shares. If it is done the other way round then you become a gambler. The recent stock exchange news in the media is a lesson for every investor. Play safe.

Savings in the bank will be of little effect on the standard of living as the value of money will be very unpredictable when we enter the recession zone. It is better to keep food stocks as a potato was sold for a million dollars during the Great Depression.

Do you know a car was sold at 100 dollars during the Great Depression? So it is worth a while to stock up your closet with food stuff as food can become scarce during a recession. I mean really scarce.

During the Great Depression people had to queue for a simple meal and food was scarce. Starving children chewed their hands almost drawing blood. Disease was rampant and mortality rate rose. Life during the great depression was really miserable.

So do not just sit and watch the recession blows you lives and wealth away. Practice the above simple rules to get ready for the transition. I hope not.

[economic tsunami]
[great]
[depression]
[life during great depression]
[export falls]
[invest money stocks]

How To Have Inspiration - Leadership Course 2

In my earlier post on how to become a great leader, I have discussed about how a humble person is personified as a leader. In this part of the leadership episode I will want to share something that will leverage you to be noticed as a strong leader. If you can happen to see the many posts of leadership in the internet, I think they have touched on this point. Yes I am going to touch on the second most important point in any leadership quality – Inspiration.

Most bloggers have more or less gloss over this important point without a clear explanation on what exactly is inspiration and how it can change the ‘bad’ aura of a personality to a ‘good’ one. We are all humans. Even a leader’s inspiration meter fluctuates like the stocks and share market- Boom and slump-. In the process of knowing what is inspiration is all about the influence or impact it creates in a personality change is great. If we say two persons cannot be having the same personality, we are actually targeting their character rather than physical features.

What we want here is a behaviour change in an individual. Behaviour is the variable which can be altered to suit the environment we live in and it is mostly influenced by our thinking process. Thinking process can be altered by inspiration. Once you have understood this vital point then it is easy for you to inspire others – your children, spouse, staff or even your employer or the company you work in.


Understanding Inspiration

If I say that what you are doing is wrong then what I am doing is right. Technically there is no right and wrong in whatever we do. It is our minds that aspire certain ‘orthodox’ perception of life and we proceed to think along that line. I have the occasion to share my blogs with my ‘friends’ and these are the following answers :


‘hey you a lot of time to do that’

‘hey it will not get you anywhere’

‘what is the use of writing such blogs?’

‘simply waste of time’


Two kinds of Inspiration

What I am proposing is that there are two kinds of inspiration generated. One is expected from outside. If it is not possible to find an external inspiration then be ready to be self motivated. I will discuss about self motivation in future.

Inspiration happens when the subject thoughts and actions is touched upon, motivated, lifted up, accelerated, stimulated, provoked or encouraged with a multiplying effect.


Identify


(a) Subject likes & dislikes

You can built a strong observation of the things the subject ‘likes’ and ‘dislikes’. The person who is keen of growing rich financially can be inspired by showing successful people who have reached financial freedom. If you have observed around, this is the favourite aspiration among many people. That is why we have lots of blogs out there writing about personal development.

(b) Offer solutions

A simple way to identify what to inspire is to give solutions to the subject’s difficulty to a problem. It can be a work related or personal matter. If you happen to sense the subject has a problem- it is the opportunity for to offer a workable solution which can inspire for him to get around with his problem.


Communication

Right words

Communication is the tool for finding and giving inspiration. Words are the most powerful tool of any communication. Like what I am doing right now. If you are going to get inspired from this post all I have to do is to choose of right words to convey the message. In other words, in order for a subject to be inspired the person who wants to inspire has to communicate the right and corrects words to the subject.
It is not about eloquence but rather the appropriate words to elaborate.

Do not rush

It is very important that when the subject is targeted for an inspiration it is best to choose at a time when the subject is available. If the subject is not available there is no point of the whole exercise. The listener has other important things to do rather to hear you words of inspiration. It will not work when someone is busy.

Use analogy

This is an important part of communication. It will help the subject to visualise the part he is in compared to the entire environment. He is either the light bulb or the brake or the chain in a bicycle. Once the subject realise his position then he gets inspired.

Do it over lunch or coffee

The best time to inspire a person is when he is in the comfortable zone. Offer lunch to the subject and you will get his cooperation to listen to you.

5 Tips To Beat Anxiety

Anxiety symptoms can be easily recognised from a person’s face. A behaviour full of fear, apprehension, distress, uneasiness, tensed desire, agitated desire and so on. This is the person who is anxious, apprehensive, concerned, distraught, expectant, fraught, fretful, impatient and uneasy. A person enters an anxiety zone if the clumsy mind is not managed appropriately.

Anxiety can hit even the coolest person on earth. It is one of the major stumbling blocks to success. If it is not dealt or managed properly, the anxious person will portray a timid and non dynamic personality to the public. It prevents participation in social networking which is the major catapult for any success.

Never expect the negative

The mind presupposes an end to a momentum of an event in question. It expects a result. The mind is ‘trained’ to expect a result. Why I say this? What goes up must come down. This is common sense. If you throw a marble to the air it has to drop. That is the natural order of things. What happens if it just be static in the air? The next moment the press will be called to report the phenomena.

This very essence of the mind sets the subject to be in certain behaviour. If the thing expected is positive the behaviour is favourable. For example, a public speaker who expect that the audience will admire and love his speech in the end, will display enormous confident when he speaks. He will be full of smile and happy. He displays friendlier posture and aptitude. This behaviour sends a positive signal to the audience and he becomes a good public speaker.

Linguist Geoff Nunberg note on what makes Mr Obama a good speaker is that ‘if you come with the idea or hope of being engaged…it is engaging’. In other words, if the mind expects a good result the process will be positive.

Remember the last time you had an anxiety trap. Have you got in this kind of situation where you lost your voice during an interview or a presentation where you expected the worse? The next time you feel the same way, use this tactic to escape from such feeling.


Be Prepared In your own way

I have my own experience in this. I remember I was sitting for my mathematics examination in my secondary four finals. I somehow cannot grasp the way to solve a problem in mathematics. However I practice mathematics I got the wrong answer. I carried the belief that I cannot solve a mathematical problem to my examination day. I felt anxious throughout and whenever I sat for the examination. It was because no matter how I tried to solve a problem I could not get it right. I have never got a pass in my previous preliminary examination.

I find reasons to dislike mathematics. In order to find a correct method to solve a problem is like playing golf. One ball and a small hole in a vast open space! My peers told me that practice makes perfect. It is easy said. I knew this but I had to find an alternative way to prepare for this. Can I prepare this in my own way?

I found a way to study by learning worked solutions to a problem. I bought a ten year series on all the probable questions and worked solutions. I read all the probable questions and worked solutions over and over again. I covered this ten year series ten times before the big day. Guess what? I pass the final exam. Why I want to share this experience is that the majority cannot be the right answer.

If you have a task at hand which you think will make you anxious, my advice is to prepare the task in your own way. Once you know what to do then the rest fall in its place.

Do the hard job first; the easy job will take care of itself.


Your contribution is important

When anxiety traps a person to inaction the subject must interpret his participation as a contribution rather than a job. A job can be performed by anyone. When you give you are on the upper hand. Can an employee tell what to do to an employer? This is exactly how to place the mind when attacked by the feeling of anxiety.

In the first place you have been invited for the speech as your organisation thinks you can contribute to the company. Ask not what the listeners want to hear ask what you can contribute to the listener. A potential politician can be viewed as a future leader if the subject convinces listeners of his or her contribution to the country in general.

If the performer has a mindset that the performance is just a job anxiety might set in quickly. Doing just a job might get wrong. But a contribution is a gradient of information from the upper class to the lower end. A contributor feels that everyone is the same like the teeth of a comb. Even if you are standing in front of a media or giving a speech or presenting to the high ranking bureaucrats if you manage your mind into thinking that you are contributing you can have a balance like a ballet dancer. No one knows the topic than you do. Contribute and be cool


Control the situation

In most of the time you are not an anxious person. It is sometimes caused by outside elements.

I had the opportunity to talk about the facility in my estate to the media recently. Well the media representative requested me to give the small performance in Tamil language as earlier on I have given the piece of information in English.

My Tamil language is not as good as my English language and I hesitated initially. After much persuasion I accepted it as a challenge. The interview came and prior to the interview I did step 2 above. I prepared this in my own way. I did well and I was extraordinarily confident doing the interview in Tamil language.

When I stepped in front of the camera, the representative of the media told me to say a certain portion of the facility which I had missed during my English interview earlier. That is it. And I had to take a four times media shots. That made my mind ran into an anxiety trap. I have lost all my readiness for my Tamil interview. I was perspiring with anxiety. I stopped and think again to control the situation.

What I had said in English will be similar in any other languages. I requested the media representative to insert Tamil subtitles when the show runs on the air. She agreed.


Ask question

Have you seen people who ask many questions in a conversation? What they are doing is to get some piece of your mind about a topic in conversation. Once they get all that you have they prepare mentally how to defend their argument later on. You can apply the same tactic to your audience.

Ask them the question how they can add value to his contribution or how they can improve the existing situation. You can do this when anxiety strike you during your performance, presentation, interview or public speaking. This kind of question asking comes very handy during job interview. You can ask how the job you are applying arose in the first place. By asking question you are ‘killing two birds in one stone’ – adding some contribution from the listeners to your topic in question in which case actually make your presentation realistic. Very importantly you are actually diverting listeners’ attention away from you (as you are locked in an anxiety trap)

When John F Kennedy spoke ‘Ask not what your country can do for you but ask what you can do for your country’ what do you think he meant. He became an extraordinary public speaker. No President of the United States of America has had such confidence in front of public. Was his ‘anxious free’ public speaking bestowed by God? I do not think so.

John F Kennedy put the public in one corner that it was their responsibility of giving to the nation together with their leaders. The onus did not lie solely with the leaders who had been portrayed as ‘vote buyers’ and at the ‘servants’ of voters. ‘Can you contribute to the country? This historical question made by the late admirable John F Kennedy made him an ‘immortal’ confident speaker of all time.

Ask question like ‘what can you contribute to my contents?’

The next time you become anxious do not forget to try out the above tips to escape from the anxiety trap.

How being humble Makes You A Leader- Part 1

There is a correlation between the degree of leadership qualities and the degree of success. Strong leadership enforces success. Competent leaders can bring about the cementitious bond among friends, family, working colleagues, societies and nations. Leaders who govern a country can bring different people together to a common goal.The extreme quality of a leader can be inborn. But it is up to us to pick up the those qualities that ensure quality leadership.

If you want to be a quality leader you need to grasp the following tips and apply in whatever you want to do in life. If you want success you have to be a leader. If you pick up any of the following points and practice in you life I bet that people look up to you as a born leader.


Be Humble

Humility is the position we will be in when we think ourselves as equal to others. It is the recognition of oneself based on our character essence rather than on our status, wealth and possessions. When this happens, the degree of egoism falls and you will place others’ needs above yours. This one factor can propel any person to an influential quality leader.

Humility is not synonymous to shyness and quietness. It is not when the heart thinks about others’ mistakes and misjudgements. It is the ocean where we see ourselves as one conscious entity.

It is all about making others happy and promoting ourselves as one being. It builds team work rather than groups. Humility creates a sense of intimacy as opposed to arrogance and pride. If you hear someone complaints to you that he or she has no friends has an inherent defect of being arrogant or proud.

The world ethnic platform is ever changing. Whether in your work area or in your living environment the mix of different races has evolved. So in order to live in a extremely harmonious manner we need to come down to a level where we can interact with each other. Be humble enough to learn other peoples’ culture and do not always dwell in a ‘culture shock’.

You do not have to an arrogant authoritative dad to teach your kids on those things that you want them to adopt. You can let them know that you have passed through their ages and that you merely want them to reach success by adopting best behaviours and choices.

A favourite leader with quality is the one who forgets about his self and place others in the first place. The quality leader listens more to others’ problems and finds solutions. He delegates his job to his staff even though he can do himself. In this manner he get irrevocable reverence from this subordinates.

How To Be Humble

One major criteria all leaders possess is being humble. The extremely quality leader must possess and practice humility. There are many ways a leader can show his dependants of his humility :

Greet them with respect whenever you meet them

Praise at least one other person each day

Delegate small stuffs to
your dependant

Explore into their problems

Seek a
conscientious solution for your dependant

Talk on topics of
commonality

Say thank you even if it is their job to
do

If they had done a good job give your sincere
appraisal

Bring down all praises to your dependants or
subordinates

Find an opportunity to mingle with
them

Remember their birthday and wish them with all your
heart

Talk about their past experience and find interesting
points

Being humble pulls people to your side. It is a magnet that makes everyone to know about you. You can become a capable leader if only can impress upon your dependants or subordinates that you are humble. Do not brag about yourself and be caring human to another human.

[leadership]
[kids]
[culture shock]
[influencial]
[ego]
[wealth]

Happiness Purpose

Being happy is something that we cannot leave to chance. People who are not opportunity seeking are those people who look for a magic wand to build on their lives. You need a blueprint on how to be happy. You cannot rely on ‘throwing lots’ or reading horoscope to find happiness. Happiness, like opportunity, is all around us. But the only stumbling block to reach that happiness is the human mind. If you can drive it to a certain way of thinking I believe you can reach all happiness.

Have you woke up in the morning and be really be enthusiastic about that the day has arrived. For most of us the answer is a simple ‘no’. We do not have that job that we like to do. It is great to do something that you are passionate about. But in reality, everyone has had stumbled upon something that they are not passionate about.

Contentment

Most people I have met always felt that they could have done a little bit better. This feeling of regret is actually a ‘mirage’ image created by the mind. Contentment is a better state of mind sometimes.

One problem of the human mind is that it always craves an experience different from one it currently has. The mind wants more and more. It wants something different. But the problem with the mind is that it never gets satisfied until you command it so. Wanting more is one of the problems in economics and it is not the key for success.

The problem of consistency of doing something to reach the so called happiness purpose will have an ill effect if the participant drags all of his resources into that activity. These resources could have been diverted into something else especially to the third party.

If a gambler wins or loses a bet, he still goes on betting. Consistent gambling is a disease of the mind. In any game of chance, the probability of losing is infinity against the one person who wins. The money wasted could have been used to pay the utilities bill. It could have been saved for investment. The antidote is to cultivate contentment. Contentment is more or less true happiness.

If a guy seeks pleasure and happiness by being polygamous will find it a useless pursuit as he could give ample love to his loved ones. He has to find an alternative that is by getting a soulful relationship. He has to make effort to make someone to fall in love with him and maintain that relationship. Contentment will make way for his blissful life.

Contentment is the mirror of happiness. Be contented with what you are doing right now and balance your passion with the job or activity that gives you a pay check

Strike a balance

Have you seen how a performer in the circus who walks on a tightrope? He balances each step and seeks to reach the end of the rope.

A person who really loves to compose music will be making a mistake if he resigns his full time well paid job and getting into music business. He has to make music first during his leisure time and then finds a producer to buy his music. He has to participate in music contest and get known by the crowd. If he resigns the full time job and get into his passion is like throwing a seed on a barren land. There is opportunity in talent but it has to be stepped up at the right time.

You are successful if you have completed an action that you have planned. Happiness to the human mind is to get what it wants. There is no benefit to feel in that manner. Cultivate contentment and strike a balance in your pursuits. That will give you a reasonable happiness.

[happiness]
[purpose]

Are You Rich Dad?

What is the definition of being rich? In my earlier post titled ‘who is the richest in the world?’ I have explored very emotionally on the definition of being wealthy in monetary terms. But if we focus on others’ economic well being, we often fail to focus on our financial standing. What is our financial status at this point in time? Have you ever asked yourself this critical question? There can be only two reasons for not asking such a question.

Extreme contentment not only makes your mind sit in the comfort zone but it is the stumbling block to any success. The second factor can be the fear of reaching a plan or goal. There is nothing wrong to count your blessings but at the same time you need to check whether it is the ‘devil in disguise’.

If you had planned to reach you goal, you have face it fearlessly. If you can gauge your contention and be bold enough to take the necessary steps as planned, success will knock your several doors.

If your son ask you this question – “Dad are you rich?”- What can be your answer to him? Before you answer or ponder you need to know something about income and liability.

Income

If you have large amount of cash – you are definitely rich. Dad “A” earning a monthly income of $25,000 for his family of five (including him) is definitely richer than Dad “B” who earns only $2,500 per month other things remaining the same.

But then money is not earned for the sake of earning. It has to be spent on food, clothing, shelter, health and personal care. If Dad “A” spent ninety percentage of his income then he is actually poorer than Dad “B”. This is common sense.

In other words your earnings do not make you a rich or poor dad. But your expenditure does. If you can control your expenses, you come out rich.

Asset

In Singapore, you can become rich if you can go into oil or property business. A house is an asset. If a property brings income then it is an asset. If cash is used to pay for debt servicing I think it is wise to sell off the property. If you are holding onto the property hoping it will fetch a good price in the future then the property is an investment.

If you want to invest in gold or stocks be prepared to take risk as the market can be volatile.

Dad Are You Rich?

The answer is very simple. If the monthly cash inflow exceeds the expenditure, he is a rich dad. Expenditure can be divided further into essentials and non-essentials. Essentials are food, clothing and shelter and a little entertainment. Examples of non-essentials are as follows:

getting a hand phone for your son

buying gold or diamond for your wife

purchasing an inexpensive gift for a rich boss

chatting with cyber friends unnecessarily(wasting electricity)

paying the outstanding property loan by cash

eating out

watching television

taking frequent baths

making friends by entertainment

using of credit card when you can pay by cash – interest payment

driving a car in Singapore


The urge of getting everything we wanted is the root of all causes of financial troubles. Living within your means will actually place you in placid mind. A peaceful mind is needed for enriching your lives.

The definition of being rich is how well you apportion your income into expenditure and savings or investment. In expenses exceeds income then you are poor!

[rich dad]
[poor dad]

Lesson On Value

I cannot forget the 12 of July 2008. Not that it was my junior’s birthday but I learnt a lesson on value.

Last Saturday, after much persuasion from my junior I decided to get a hand phone for him at the Starhub outlet in Plaza Singapore. Well starhub is one of the three biggest mobile companies in Singapore.

As expected there was a large crowd and we finally decided to get a LG model KU990. We got the waiting ‘ticket’ number and we found out that we are behind 130 customers!

We waited for our turn for an hour. It went on to two hour. At that moment, I was telling to my son “We want to buy this phone and it is not cheap but we have to wait in a queue for a long time to get it…”.Wow!! The hand phone gives a magnetic value to people like my son.

What value you can give to customers is the best thing you can learn from business pundits. The innate value a hand phone can give to customers is the ease of communication with others. You can make a call to a friend who is miles away from where you are. You can make short messages with it. You can email with it. You can take a great picture with a 5 mega pixel LG KU990 phone. You can listen to music via Mp3. The ‘values’ has been integrated in that small piece of gadget.

No matter what you are in right now, if you can only if you can integrate values in anything you do, you come out as a winner. Integrated values in a good or service will have a favourable impact on its demand- you simply create demand.

Another example of integrated values is the new concept in building. It was announced that Dubai is going to build a revolutionary building whereby each storey and apartment units rotate with different speed creating a ‘twirling’ skyscraper. By this residents can have different scenic views all the time.

Bringing out values is going to be the new ‘religion’ of the human race. It is not how much you can give value to others but how much you can integrate intensively. The only obstacle to integrated values is again how customers accept them.

[value]
[religion]

Seeking Opportunity

Success is not having lots of money in your bank. Success is the preferred planned action that is completed. The goal you set out for is accomplished. You have completed the race. If the action completed gives an enormous value to others huge wealth is created.

Opportunity seeking precedes all goals. But real opportunity can be found if you can follow these simple points:

Be Original

Many people just go into the business because they want to join the ‘bandwagon’. When fierce competition builds up profit cannot be maximised and it will be no more lucrative in staying with that business. If everyone starts dancing and singing exactly like Michael Jackson, what is the value the competitors are giving to the audience. Copying works reversely in a success story.

Do not go into a business or trade just because it gives good profit. Be original in what you do. Originality is the function of having the ability to discover new things that can be valuable to others. Be a creator and not a competitor.

Time

In the success game time is important. By time it is not waiting for the ‘golden opportunity’ to fall on you. You need to know a little on what is happening around the world or in your country.

If for example, if you expect an increase of population about 2 million in the next 5 years, think about what kind of business you can get into to serve the demand. Housing, food, water and medical are all essential for them. If you expect baby boom in another 10 years, go into baby product business.

The crucial thing to note here is to be there before the trend starts. Look out for the trend!

Disadvantage to Advantage

The world’s disaster in a corner of the globe ignites a new demand for housing, medicine, food and water. Large part of the desert wasteland can be changed to ‘oasis tourist spot’ by shielding ‘hot’ desert spots by glass with air conditioned facility for an organised desert tour.

Seeking opportunity is simple. But to implement it needs conscious effort.

[seek][opportunity]

How To Disagree?

If you want to be a successful orator, you need to disagree without offending the other party’s proposition. Oratorical ability is one of the keys for successful leadership. It is the salt in the soup.

We need friends, colleagues, family, and many others. Life will be lonely if we do not have these relationships. Communication builds or breaks these relationships if we are not careful in what we transpire.

But then perfect agreement in a conversation is boring and impedes development of ideas. Total disagreement is the main factor for all conflicts. A middle path is chosen.

Disagree politely

In a conversation, do not disagree totally. Reading makes a man and so will his thoughts. The proposition can be disagreed partly and politely if you can use proper words and phrases. Use words like ‘suggestion’ rather than ‘opinion’. Use phrases like ‘If I may add some to your idea…’, ‘My suggestion is this…’

Try not to use the word ‘but’ as it give a signal of disagreement. Instead, use the word ‘and’. ‘You have all heard Mr George’s remarks and I will like to say something here…’

Conditions vary

A man walks holding a piece of wood in his hand. He drops it. What are the probabilities?

The wood falls
The wood floats
The wood rise up

The above probabilities vary with situations or in which conditions the man let go the wood. The wood falls if he is on earth – force of gravity. If he is outer space it floats. If he is under water – the wood rise up.

Therefore, if a proposition is put forward there must be an ‘environment’ which supports it. Remember, there is always an environment which supports a proposition. You need to see the other point of view.

Be less emotive

In any discussion or meeting, use much less emotion. Use more thinking ability in your suggestions. If your emotion can be managed, you can bring forward a better piece of picture in your ideas.

Man cannot live by bread alone. Currently, even man lives by internet he has to communicate in a subtle manner. If you need a business deal disagree with caution.
If you want that relationship, my suggestion is that you disagree partly and politely.

[disagree][leadership]

Passive Income

Passive income is the part of income that is coming in with minimum effort on your part. An example shall be as follows:

A fisherman goes out to the sea to for his morning ‘blessings’. He threw out his net and catches some fish. He also places 5 fishing lines across his ‘hotspot’. The 5 catch is his ‘passive income’.

In real estate, the senior manager will receive a small percentage of the sale’s commission when his realtor closes a deal as a passive income. A simple way to see an opportunity of creating a passive income is by integrated values. The art of discovering new methods of creating good values can enrich our lives.

Entrepreneurs have the opportunity to retain good staff by paying them a passive income from their total sales. All part time bloggers are on the road of securing passive income.

[income][estate]

BID IT!

The world is full of opportunity. You need to look onto the right direction. The saying ‘opportunity only knocks your door once’ might need to be rethought. Once you have spotted the opportunity zone, you need to look on to its bright side, dark side and the interesting side of it.

There is so much talk on the general increase in price of goods and services. Whatever the reason is, there is an opportunity in this scenario. Let me give you an example.

BID IT!

Suppose you are having a refuse disposal company. All your competitors are generally increasing the fees charged. This is an opportunity. I came to know that the fees consisted of three components: rental charges to clients for the compactor to be stationed in the estate; haulage charges; waste disposal fees. Waste disposal charges are fixed and the others are variable cost. I told a company to hold on to the variable charges as this might be attractive to customers who wants to opt for cheaper services.

How To Apply BID Theory

The bright side of it is that the business will be getting more clients. The dark side is relatively more capital need to be forked into the business. If the bright side (B) is more than the dark side (D) then the interesting side need some attention. The interesting point (I) is that company can become the biggest player in this business. BID for it!

B > D go to ‘I’

B < D go to ‘I’- but need to decide on I’s weightage.

The second scenario shall be no matter what happens I still want that beautiful girl. This part is quite tedious as the decision will be based on mostly emotion. The solution shall be then:

What will be the “Bs” and “Ds” of the “I” point.

Do not always take a decision based on emotion or impulse. Put in the ‘Bs’ and the ‘Ds’ and see the point that is interesting – a point that no one sees.

[dark side][bright side][interesting side]

Interpretation For Success

What is Interpretation? It is the mental representation of the meaning of something. But how this mental representation came about? It is all part of our thinking process.

As explained in How Your Mind Works, our brain has been ‘painted’ with a set of pattern which has resulted from our experiences. This pattern is a like an infrastructure whereby we can use it for our daily living. It helps us in bringing out certain behaviour. However, it is not always the right pattern to live with.

With our changing environment, it is necessary to ‘re draw’ the pattern by superimposing a new one. This is essential to effect a change in our behaviour. Behavorial change is one part of reaching our success.

For example, two friends visit a fruit shop. There they found variety of fruits being displayed on the shelf. One of them asked the other ‘Why the fruits are being dipped with water and placed on the shelf’

His friend answered ‘Oh yes, it gives more weight to the bunch of fruits and the shopkeeper can sell less fruit for the same price’

His friend responded that it might not be the case ‘I think it is to give a glossy outlook which can attract buyers’

Both can be right and wrong. That is not the point. The point is that what is the result of that interpretation? To one the fruit seller is a cheat. The other the fruit seller is an exceptional seller.

The sales manager recent remarks that his salesperson has not been updating the monthly sales record should be interpreted as the salesperson information is valued by the manager. The sales person should give him a fortnightly report if necessary.

If the fruit is tasteful then it is worth to buy. Interpretation should add value to behaviour. Otherwise find another way of interpreting.

[how do you interprete]

Do You Need To Hit Your Opponent?

Do you need to hit each other?

Despite given a fairly equal ability the successful people mostly come outstanding by hitting their counterparts hard. It is like the ‘tom and jerry’ cartoon where Tom hits Jerry. And, Jerry waiting for an opportunity to hit Tom.

Is this necessary for any success? When I say ability I mean the physical and mental abilities to perform the same kind of work. In this case even if you do not hit your ‘opponents’ down, it still makes your ‘rival’ less worthy as you have carried out the job well.

One fine day there is an email in your inbox from your senior saying that you have not sent him or her the report on time. But in fact you have done it so. You are a conscientious worker. After you have spoken to ‘boss’ over the telephone he or she still not convinced about your story. In that case you can provide evidences that you have faxed to him on time. Despite clarifications, the senior did not send you a fresh email to dilute the previous email by telling you how sorry he or she was in the misjudgement. But if there is no such reply, then you better hit him or her back as the first email was ‘cc ied’ to your head of department. Clear your good name.

In every Apprentice episode, the loser will walk away after being hit by so many people in the boardroom. In life you can become the sculptor or the statue. Either way you will win in the end.

[opponent][inbox][Tom and Jerry]

Can Fools Decide On Your Destination?

The recent result show of the American idol season 7, make me ponder of the tactics of success. What are the factors for success? Do you have a great goal? Do you have the strategy of reaching that perfect goal? If you have all that then why Mr Michael Johns got eliminated when Mr Simon Cowell somewhere in the show said that he had a potential star quality?

Michael Johns is a fascinating. interesting, exciting and a born singer who has all the original quality of a singer. The charismatic Michael Johns is not only gifted with a unique voice but he closely resembles the late legend of Hollywood star Mr Charlton Heston. But yet he was eliminated from the competition for only one reason.

It is the playful attitude of the American fools who thinks that they can affect a natural talent like Michael Johns to oblivion by simply pushing that ‘gadgets’ of voting. Michael Johns is a natural supply of extraordinary talent in music industry. But the Americans who voted for the other mediocre, dull and inferior singers have forgotten one thing. It is them who will ultimately suffer of producing inferior quality ‘artiste’ from this season 7.

Listen to Mr Michael Johns last song in American Idol here. We have a lesson to learn here for the tactics of success. You can have great goal, great plan to execute but ‘if someone turn the sun around’ it is cause for trouble. Of course, Mr Randy, Mr Simon or Ms Paula Abdul will ‘miss him’ in the next round but in the bottom of their good hearts they might have thought that Michael Johns elimination cannot be justifiable. Mr Michael Johns will definitely going to make some albums in future despite his success being stalled by the imbecile nature of America who misuse technology for their bad whim.

If a quality seed is thrown in an infertile ground, there is no sprout of new life.
If Michael Johns do cut an album, I have a song title for him - ‘Don’t sit around with fools’.

It is lesson learnt. Great goal and a strategy are not enough. It is time to rethink about this episode- will you then let fools decide on your destination?

Stay On Track

The thought process of reason varies with each individual. Faced with more or less a similar challenge each individual takes a different approach to it. The mechanism of the mind is different with each person. Simply it is because our mind is mapped based on our origin, our set of conditions we grow up with, experiences, education, and values and so on. Environmental factors may be possible to affect an entity even at ‘genetic’ level. Emily Singer says that there is interaction between a gene and environment.

All will end well in their place of choice if only we can learn how to manage our minds. ‘I will never die for my beliefs because I might be wrong’ says Bertrand Russell. Beliefs are the reservoir of the thought processes effected by outside stimuli or experience. The thinking process happening in a human mind is a self organized pattern, which has evolved on its own, by the forces of outside physical source. ‘Like father like son’ can no longer be applied here. The bond between a mother and a child varies with families as all mothers treat their babies differently. Playpen is not a popular feature anymore as a baby caring product as it impedes babies’ mental growth.

Success is therefore lies in our mind. Manage it and steer your thinking to your destination. What you think is what you are. But before you put on your thinking cap you need to train your mind on the course you want to take.

Be Contended and Happy

Be in a state of satisfaction does not mean you are riding in the path of a defeatist. It is a transient oasis where a traveler takes his time to rest to gain energy to reach his destination the next day. In whatever position you are in right now you have to stay happy.

But to be in a positive emotional state you need to make some effort to stay in that state of felicity. There is a checking system if your mood swings to the ‘negative’ track. If you ask anyone you know that whether are they happy in their life the answer in most cases will not be a strong yes. It is hard to find a person in a continuous elative state.

How many times in a day you really feel that you are happy? I believe you can count with your fingers. For one reason or another you will feel gloomy. You have to find an antidote to being happy. But why do you have to be happy?

All decision emanates from your emotion In that state of happiness a person makes a better decision. Music and mantras can only alleviate your emotions for a short while. You can try the tips from WikiHow to stay happy.


Plan

I have the habit of discussing the tactics of a successful and fulfilling life with my colleques and friends. In most of my discussion I will not get a specific goal from anyone. All I have heard is that ‘I want to have big house’ ‘I want to be successful’ and so on. No specific answer detected in those answers. Only when you have a specific goal you can draw out a plan to reach it.

A plan can be linear or a flow chart. The basic thing to do is to go backwards from the goal you set out. If your goal is to earn S$2 million dollars in the next ten years then you need to generate around S$16K in a month. That is not all. You need to goal subdivision to make that S$16K.

A goal without a plan is just a wish.


Stay Focused

Once you have made a goal or goal subdivision you need to stay focused. But how to stay focused till you reach your goal?

In the planning part of your goal you need to fragment your goals till you can manage the small pieces. An income of 40 dollars an hour will get you almost 16 thousand dollars in a month.

Write down what you need to do in a month, in a day and in an hour each day. By writing down your steps it is hard to forget them. In a specific moment what exactly the steps you have to take?

Find a companion who shares the same goal as you. By making friends who empower you as how I am empowering you now will make you land on your dreams. They might offer your good advice. Reading empowering books can be useful to stay focused.

Distraction is one major obstacle to stay on track. If you need to do a task at that specific moment – do it. You will lose the opportunity of time and dive into mismanagement if you use that specific time for other things which derails you from your goal. A student who always answers telephone calls during her study time is definitely tampering with her plan for success.

Other time wasters are reading emails, reading text messages and short message service. These are impersonal universes and most of the time not connected to your goals.

Wavering mind is a product of having no goals. Do not let your self organized mind to entrap you in the path of failure. Rearranging your thinking process is a skill that can be applied. If you want something in life – define it. Be specific and draw out a time table to reach it.

Stay On Track!