Neng Ding Unofficial

Year End WTH Exams

2011-11-15T21:41:00.001+08:00

Seriously, exams are coming again. I'm really sick and tired of it.

I recently said that this whole year, not any sickness can bring me down. I hardly remember when was the last time I get cough, flu, fever, or whatever that caused me to go see doctor or lie in bed for days. Even when I injured my two fingers during a soccer match, I still can rub it off, let the swell go off, and carry my heavy luggage to the China trip.

However, I concede to exams. LOL?

In the past, end-of-year exams used to be my best activity of the year. A time when I can score lots of 'A's, see my rankings in class, den maybe go around compare with friends. And of course, holidays after that!

Also at that time, I do not like group projects or project work. I find that it's waste of time, and I have to put in a lot of effort, while other people just slack and watch things go along. So I never liked graded group projects, but love year-end 'one-shot' exams.

But now its seriously the opposite.

Now in Uni, I fare better in all group projects than those year-end exams.

I just simply love group projects, even if its about writing 3000 word report or shooting a film, I've done it! And I enjoy the process a lot! Good buddies are made in the process too. But year-end exam in Uni? I seriously have no interest at all. It's just the same as JC studies - swallowing all that the teacher has passed to you, den you vomit it out during your exam. You clean your mouth, and submit the paper. You forget everything after that - cos you never swallow back your vomit what.

Why are we still doing that?

I grumble a lot that I hated my course, but I still take it into stride. No point complaining now, since I'm almost finishing the course already. What's surprise me most is that, whenever people ask me what's my major, i tell them its 'Math & Econs'.

Usual reply: "WOW, You're so smart! Double Degree?"

Me: "Not really, just a double major".

Yea, that's how most conversations go regarding my course.

You see, the course title is quite bombastic la. Kind of give you some bragging rights. But unless you take the course, you have no idea what's inside it. To me, its just another course, with a fancy name to con students to sign up. Period.

So I'm left with 7 days to revise for my first exam paper.

And I don't feel like revising it. But I got to force myself to do it, just like how many other students are forcing themselves to swallow too. But like most of them, I will also vomit out on the exam day.

Do I have a choice?

Blind leading the blind

2011-10-27T00:10:00.000+08:00

If the blind leads the blind, where will the blind lead the blind to?

I also don't know.

This can be a scary thing.

Sometimes, it's important to open your eyes and see things yourself,
instead of believing someone so religiously and that he might be leading
you to the grave without you knowing.

My Internship With EconomyWatch

2011-07-29T18:46:00.000+08:00

I would say it's really a good experience for me to intern at EconomyWatch.com. I don't think need to explain much what the site is about. A click there you will know.

But maybe I can share what I'm doing there. As EconomyWatch is a super-big website, with over 100,000 over pages of content, it is not easy to be managed by 1 person (unlike my blog). Haha. So first, is to get a team to manage this website, and i'm proud to be in this team!

And my job is simple, which I've always been doing as part of my online business.

To add content, promote content, connect with readers, drive readers back to site, attract more readers, form communities, allow readers to share opinions. While doing all these, the main focus is to Drive Traffic. That's all! And that's what i've been doing for my blogs and websites for the past year :)

On top of that, more challenging tasks for me would be writing economic articles, featured articles that will be published on the 1st page of the website! And yes, I wrote 2 articles that were published there! YAY! (2 Stars for me)!

Other than work, what i like here is the lifestyle and flexibility I have, and of course the helpful teammates i have who helped me a lot, especially in putting my articles up on time. :)
If I want to say more about the lifestyle, it would just means that I can work how i like to work, just like my home. Casual, relax, sometimes talk cock sing song. Haha.

Food wise, there's too much things to eat. I mean too much GOOD FOOD here! If you don't know what to eat at Maxwell, Amoy, tanjong pagar, tell me. I tell you all the food to eat :)

Will definitely miss EconomyWatch team, and hope if there's chance I will be back with the team again. By then, the website maybe one of the top sites in the world alongside WSJ, The Economists, TIME! :)

Now, it's time for me to bring what i have learned in EconomyWatch about writing Economic/Politics articles back to life, and use it in my work in school! That will be more meaningful to me and my life, than to just add another statement "Intern at EconomyWatch" at my resume.

Love it!

Talking about politics

2011-07-29T16:28:00.001+08:00

Politics is one of the 3 things that no matter what you say, you will alway make people unhappy. In other words, there's no right or wrong answer also. 

Politics get into my life from the Singapore General elections 2011, when read and know so much politics from the bright side, and the dark side. Of course, during this time, i also get into discussion with many people with different opinions. Some friends also become more politically-savvy after seeing so many of their friends getting more and more interested. 

However, one thing i can say that talking about politics is what everyone can do. I also love to talk. But coming to help ourselves in our lives, and helping others in their lives is another thing. I know government can be a very easy target for anything happen to us. Even if I got drenched in the rain, i can also blame govt why never build road shelter, or supply free umbrellas...or whatever. 

So sometimes,while we can say a lot of things about political issues, we also need to see if we are part of the problems, or part of the solution. 

I think for me, it has come to a point that talking is just a simple thing every one can talk about. I can keep on complaining about my lives, but I have decided that talking is just talking. What matters to me now is IF I'm Willing to do what it takes to change my own lives, and the lives of people around me :)

1 more new challenge

2011-06-17T15:29:00.001+08:00

After trying out as a model last weekend, this weekend I'm gonna lead a group of youths in a BOOT CAMP!

You know that kind of BOOT CAMP? where you gonna **** them upside them, test their endurance level, and can only say yes (and ONLY YES) to you, and do whatever you tell them to?

I don't think how I am able to it, as I'm someone who's very kind-hearted, and never really **** ppl upside down before. Hahaha. 

Anyway, new experience, and no risk (hope so!), so why not just try it! Maybe the youths will love it? :P

Fail in school, good for you.

2011-06-12T13:54:00.000+08:00

I wrote this post and about to publish it somewhere else. But since i wrote it, then I will just post here then :)

Failing in school is Good for you.

Just this week, I finally received my examination results after waiting about 1 month for it. To my surprise, I got an F grade for a subject. F in my result slip doesn't reflect Fantastic, Fabulous or First Class. F means fail. I stared at the F for a while, wondering how on earth can I see an F in my result slip? The last time I did see an F is about 10 years ago, when I get an F in secondary 1, for my Literature. :P

Like many other students, I just couldn't' accept the fact that I failed a subject in school. Who wants to fail? Failing means that we have to read the subject again, go for the same lectures again, and spend another 2 hours to go for the exam - again.

After feeling down for hours, a thought come to my mind. A failure is not that bad after all! In fact, failing in school is good for you. You may see that I might be joking here, or suffering from some post-examination stress that I come up with this illogical logic.

But after you reach the end of this article, you might think otherwise.

First of all, do you know we people fail everyday? We do fail to wake up the time when our alarm clock ring. We do fail to cook the half-boiled egg we want. And we do fail to obey our parents too. We can fail, however, we know that we have to face the consequence after that. We might end up late for classes, swallow our uncooked egg, or have a curfew set by our parents.

But failures in school does not seem to be that simple, like those failures mentioned above. We can accept all the consequences for failing those daily tasks, but the consequences of getting a fail grade in school might not be that acceptable by most of us (including me!).

The price to fail in school is far greater than those daily tasks. On top of just retaking the exam again, we might risk spending an additional year in school, we might be excluded from our scholarship, or worse, we might even drop out of school. So in a sense, failing is normal if we fail in those daily tasks, but becomes abnormal if it is about our school grades.

Unfortunately, many youths and students have decided to end their lives when they see failures in their school grades. This is an increasing trend, and not just in Singapore, but in other countries like China and United States too.

And some times it is not that these students have been failing terribly in school for years. It is just that they experience their first failure for the first time in their schooling years. Imagine seeing an F among all the As and Bs that you have achieved for the past 10 years of your school life. It can be a massive shock or disappointment to some students.

Nowadays, our youths have been conditioned to think that academic grades are the only decisive factor for success in life. It is either excellent grades, or a dark future. However, we all know of many great man and woman who succeeded in life even if they fail in school. Some of them even didn't go to college!

No, I'm not telling people not to go to school, or go drop out of school and then you'll be another Bill Gates or Steve Jobs, but let's learn how to handle failures in every aspect of our lives when it comes. We can overcome any failures or setback in our lives, as the saying goes, a setback is a setup for a comeback.

So as my article is titled 'Failing in school is Good for you', I want to tell you that if you fail in school, you have a failing experience that others don't have. If you overcome this failure, you have gained another experience of overcoming a failure, which others don't have! Failing is Okay! (But if you fail continuously, then it's not Okay, as it just means that you have not learn your lesson :P)

After writing this, it may seem that I write this article to encourage myself, or to justify why failing is good, and why getting too many As in school is not. But honestly, I'm still quite upset to see a F in my report card, when I'm used to seeing higher grades in it, but what's next for me is just to work harder next time.

Have you failed in something but haven't get out of it?

Come, let's accept it, and stand up again, together.

Fail A Uni Subject

2011-06-10T13:57:00.000+08:00

not a big deal. Just retake lor, rite?

Probably just time wasted to go lectures, and probably 2 hours to do the paper - again.

Anyway, i also didn't go for these (crappy)lectures last round, so I might just have to do those papers again.

And I finish it within 50 minutes.

Alright this time I will use 1 hour instead.

Ideas come Ideas go

2011-06-06T18:17:00.000+08:00

And ideas are cheap too.

But if you use it well, record it down, and make the idea happen, it will stay, and it will be valuable.

Too many ideas come to my mind today, because I'm focusing on a lot of problems! I'm not trying to be a problematic guy, but i chose to focus on problems when something happen now, instead of jumping straight to provide a solution. If i can make the problem bigger, the BETTER!

I can be crazy, or trying to be funny here, but i want to learn to think in a way that our school didn't teach us. When we do maths, we are taught to give a solution immediately, and failing to give, you won't get marks. But now, coming to this world, and if you're an entrepreneur to be, think of problems 1st. Think of it as big as you can. Don't solve it. (your mind will give you solutions right away, but dun accept it)

Go try it if you haven. :)

Reviving Nengding.blogspot.com

2011-06-05T18:24:00.000+08:00

Nengding.blogspot.com has been here since 2005, but I left it alone in mid 2010 and open up my professional blog at http://Ding-Neng.com . I write articles about blogging, personal development, entrepreneurship, social media, and online marketing stuffs over there.

However, nengding.blogspot.com is the place where I started blogging, and writing down my thoughts. Now while I have started to write more professionally, I'm thinking of reviving nengding.blogspot.com, by writing stuffs that couldn't fit into my professional blog http://Ding-Neng.com .

Thus far, I don't know what I would be writing, but I would continue to update this blog, with anything under the sun that I feel good about sharing it here. :) After all, this is my blog too!

Visitors wise, I'm sure a year of stagnation of this blog has give people the thought that this blog is abandoned. It's okay, cos I really abandoned it. :P. But reviving this blog is not really about getting lots of visitors. I got lots of them at my professional one. This is just like a simple online journal, just like you writing your own personal journal at home. Penning down my thoughts is more important than getting readers.

So this blog is up again.

See you next post!

Cristiano Ronaldo Going to Play in North Korea After Portugal Draw with North Korea In World Cup 2010

2010-06-26T16:51:00.000+08:00

Sorry guys who miss out on the video about North Korea beating Brazil and won the World Cup 2010. It has been removed by FIFA. Maybe they found out that it's a false news on North Korea winning the World Cup.

One week later after North Korea 'beaten' Brazil, They played Portugal. And now, watch the news about the match and What Cristiano Ronaldo had to say about North Korea after the match.

Watch it now! (before it got removed by FIFA again. :P)

Free Live Broadcast of World Cup 2010 Matches

2010-06-22T13:29:00.000+08:00

I'm hesitating to write this post. Because I've been watching world cup 2010 matches live without paying a single cent. If I'm paying, I'm just paying for the electricity which runs on my laptop. Why I hesitate? Because there are a lot of people out there paying $70 to $90 for Singtel or Starhub World Cup Packages, and I'm watching it free... :P

If you want to watch it free, I have 2 recommended places (online) to go to watch all matches free, with good quality resolution and hardly got disconnected.

1) Go to www.atdhe.net . It will give you all links to streaming of Live World Cup matches. Then Bookmark the page, and visit again before every match starts.

2) Download TVU Player. This player works on both Mac and Windows.
Start the player, Choose 'Sports' at the top, then select the Channel "CCTV-5-Sports"
Take a while for it to load... about a min or so.
CCTV-5 commentary is in Mandarin. Chinese commentary is quite interesting and sometimes, you may hear the commentators use Idioms, a.k.a 'Cheng Yu / 成语' in it. If you don't like it, you can just turn off the volume. :P

Some Disadvantages:

Your Streaming may be lagging behind by about 2-4 mins. Meaning while those who subscribed Singtel or Starhub shouted 'GOAL!', you will shout 'GOAL!' 2-4 mins later.

Under some circumstances, your streaming may 'jammed'. It may pissed you off when C.Ronaldo is taking a 30m shot, and the streaming jammed just when the ball is about to enter the goal post. You saw the goalkeeper diving. But you do not know if the ball is going into the net, saved by keeper or hit the post!!

If your internet connection is slow or is being shared by many other servers, then it is not advisable to stream online, because you'll be watching football in slow-motion. The goalkeeper may take 1 min to land on the ground after a dive.

Afterall, It's Free Live Broadcast. We shouldn't complain, and I'm lucky I'm not encountering a lot problems while streaming online:D

If you can't stream online, the best place I recommend is your neighbourhood kopitiam, pubs along Clark Quay, or some MacDonald restaurants (you may have to find it yourself).

Till then, enjoy World Cup 2010. Who will be the Runner-Up this year? Comment below! :D

North Korea won the 2010World Cup(before it ends)?

2010-06-18T13:39:00.001+08:00

Did you catch the news that North Korea had won the 2010 World Cup?

Yes! So happy that City Harvest Church and Kong Hee is Finally being PROBED!!

2010-06-04T12:51:00.002+08:00

On Sunday 30th May 2010, Asia Conference , a mega-conference which draws about 20,000 delegates from over 70 countries organised by City Harvest Church, and CGI, Church Growth International,
draw to a close.

On Monday 31st May 2010, the first news that appear online, is that 17 City Harvest Church members, including Senior Pastor and Founder Kong Hee are being investigated for the misuse of funds. CAD raided their houses and offices for evidences, and took away documents and computers.

From Tuesday onwards, many news websites like Straits Times, Yahoo! News, ChannelNewsAsia...
etc, gathered thousands of comments regarding the investigation of City Harvest Church. While there are encouraging comments to support Pastor Kong and City Harvest, there are also negative and nasty comments. Majority of the comments, up to 93%, are the negative ones.
......

Now, I'm here writing this post, is not going to counter the 93% of the negative comments, I'm also not going to prove City Harvest Church and Kong Hee 's innocence, I'm not going to gather a huge group of like-minded or unlike-minded fans to go for or against CHC in Facebook or in Speaker's corner.

The reason why City Harvest is being probed, and that why I'm so happy, because

They call for investigation after Asia Conference, which allows all the people to attend the full conference. It is a Mega-Church, which amassed a lot of funds. They must be probed. Let them be probed, so they can show the world if they are a trustworthy church with trustworthy leaders.

There are many church members who are very affected by the comments. It's normal when this kind of things happen. Because, it is the right time to test the faith of the church members.

Let's say in your family, your dad is being investigated of embezzlement of company's funds. If you know that your dad is a trustworthy dad, who saves and provides for the family and for you, and you personally know your dad, you will have faith in him that he will not embezzle the money.
If you do not know your dad well, or you don't trust him from young, you will say "No question, It's definitely him. What a disgraceful Dad." You will give him the sentence before the final verdict is out.

For me, I'm not at all affected by those negative comments, because up to 99.9% of those negative comments are based on emotions and not based on facts. Another 99.7% of those negative comments are made by people who

1) are not from City Harvest Church
2) do not attend a service of City Harvest Church
3) do know know who is Kong Hee, but mainly post their comments to show support of their negative friends
4) hate friends who are from Chc
5) are anti-Christians (this is different from non-Christians)
6) are young and naive and loves to gossip
7) have a mindset of a victim (btw, 95% of people in the world are victims)
8) are afraid that City Harvest will keep growing and become a Super-Mega Church, which will make them more jealous of its success
9) will like to see City Harvest crash, or see Kong Hee sent to jail, so that they are satisfied because members of City Harvest and Kong Hee will be like just a normal mediocre person like them
10) just complain about everything around them.

I know that people who are reading this post now, are not one of the 10 kinds of people listed above, because I believe you are a successful and mature person, and a successful and mature person will not do what is listed above.

My final words: This case is still under investigation. I don't see a point people from both sides accusing each other here and there.

If City Harvest and Kong Hee is proven innocent, and there is no misuse of funds, will the negative comments stop? Hardly, they might point the fingers at the police for not doing a thorough job, or say that Pastor Kong has some super powers...etc. Negative comments will be there no matter what.

If City Harvest and Kong Hee is proven guilty, and City Harvest is closed down, and Kong Hee sent to jail, i believe those true City Harvest members will not go back and criticise or insult those people who posted negative comments.

In whatever industry, be it in sports, education, information technology, health and wellness, automobile, financial services, medical services...etc, there are bound to be more negative comments than positive comments.

We can't stop the negative comments, but we can put 100% faith in what we believe.

Prevention is better than Cure. How true?

2010-05-20T16:43:00.002+08:00

We often hear the statement of Prevention is Better than Cure. This is especially true in the case of health.

Educated individuals in the 21st century are looking for Prevention of Diseases, than finding cures for disease when they get one.

They look for better ways of prevention of diseases, like eating healthily, exercise regularly, resting early, working intelligently...etc. Prevention of diseases also help them to live longer.

I'm working on my part towards prevention of dieases too. I'm still young, 21 years old to be exact, and that's it is the right time to start now. I think it is not very wise to start to eat and live healthily, when you are 40 years old, because your body maybe 45% damaged already.

Health wise, many people understand this concept of "Prevention is better than cure".

Now, let's take this statement, and use it in other aspects of life. See how true it can be.

On the road, we learn how to drive safely within speed limit to 'prevent' an accident, or we learn how to do a 173˚ turning and evading of cars to "cure" an near accident?

In school, we study well so we can get good grades, and "prevent" a FAIL grade, or we learn how to appeal and plea to our teachers to give us a little more marks to "cure" our FAIL grade?

In a relationship, we learn how to love and respect the relationship with your partners to "prevent" arguments, or we learn how to "cure" an argument by giving more gifts, sending more love messages to please the other party?

In a job, do we learn how to exceed job expectations and produce exceptional results to "prevent" us from dropping into a 'retrenchment list' when times are bad, or we learn how to write sweet and entertaining letters to bosses, superiors, or even ministers, to ask them to help you "cure" your impending retrenchment?

Here's a funny example:

You started talking to a guy, then you blabber vulgarities, telling the guy "You S88k!", "F888 U8!". Then the guy give you a 236 pound slap to your face. Then, you go look for a "cure" on how to heal your face. Can you "prevent" this instead by not saying all those words?

From what I see, I still think that "Prevention is better than Cure". Of course, there might be some examples where "Cure can be Prevention", which I may not know of.

Do you have a good example of "Cure is better than Prevention?"

Part 2 of my Hong Kong Trip in 2009!

2010-05-17T14:45:00.003+08:00

Enjoy the show!

If you missed the first video, you can view it here!

The Infamous Silviu Ionescu Arrested

2010-05-09T12:50:00.001+08:00

He is occupying headlines in Singapore newspapers, and probably Romania papers too. Silviu Ionescu, a former charge d'affaires in Singapore. He's been hogging headlines since last year, when he allegedly knocked down 3 pedestrians one midnight in Singapore. One of the 3 pedestrians died, and 2 suffered injuries.

The interesting part is not about the accident, but is about the story before the accident. I think a lot of people read about his infamous story already. Haha. And a lot of Singaporeans are following up his case too, if he is really coming back to face his sentence.

As a Singaporean, when you follow the news about him, you wonder if he, Silviu Ionescu, is really a person who can be a diplomat of Romania in Singapore. You read the news, you read about his comments, you see the reasons he gave, and his indifferent attitude towards the death and injuries of the victims, your blood will just boil!! haha.

There are a lot of groups created to call for the arrest of Silviu Ionescu, bring back to Singapore and face his sentences, including this facebook group , with over 4000 people in it.

What's the real problem here?

Is there problem with the Romanian govenment who chose to appoint him as the charge d'affaires in Singapore? Is there problem with the Audi car that hit the 3 pedestrians? Is there problem with the pedestrains who chose to cross the road that time?

NO!

The problem is with Siliu Ionescu, who do not have responsibility to face the music of what he has done!

He is arrested in Romania now. Let's see what happen next! :D

In Loving Memory of Melissa Toh

2010-05-01T01:14:00.001+08:00

I do not know who is Melissa Toh. I'm not her friend. She don't know me too. However, you may ask why I write about her when I don't even know her.

The first time I came across this girl who is called Melissa Toh, is when she has already left the world. She became popular in facebook, when many of my friends 'like' the group created for her, "In Loving Memory of Melissa Toh". I went to that group, and see what really happened. That facebook group didn't talk about how she left the world, but there are many lovely message left by his friends on the wall.

Only today, 30/4/2010, I read about the story of what really happened to her. I do not know if it's true, as I got it from news and other blogs too. Melissa Toh is from Temasek Poly, and she took her life on Wednesday morning. It is quoted that she has some relationship problems.

I do not know exactly what problems she is going through, and I do not want to speculate too. But I think she might have been thinking a lot a lot, which is why she took this decision. Committing suicide may seems like an easy act, but I can say that the decision to do it is very difficult. If given a choice, nobody wants to do it.

It's very saddening to see another person leave the world. If she is your friend, you would have been heart broken, and would be recalling all the sweet memories and fun you had with her. You would never have thought that a friend would leave you suddenly.

I once lost a very close friend of mine, who left because of a bike accident. Yea. When I heard that news, every moment I spent with him in the past, just became so fresh in my mind, but the sad thing is, you know all these will be memories, and it will never happen again.

If I want to say one thing, it would be to take the initiative and spend time with people we treasure most. It's hard to see them leave us, without we doing what we want to do for them.

Rest In Peace, Melissa Toh.

The Biggest Dilemma for Soon-To-Be Undergraduates Part-3

2010-04-13T23:54:00.003+08:00

And now to the 2nd Big Question!

2. Which undergraduate course should I apply?

There are all sorts of tertiary courses for students to apply in different universities. There are courses like business, accountancy, hospitality, tourism, marketing and management, law, medicine, nursing, engineering, building and construction, mathematics, sciences, IT, computing, social sciences, languages... from private and local universities.

Out of so many courses, how to determine which one to take up?

Usually, people make choices based on...

i) Grades
ii) Popularity
iii) Job Demand
iv) Interest
v) University

(P.S. Choices are not ranked...)

Let's look at each choice, one by one...

1. Grades

Different courses have different cut-off points or criteria for application. Those courses with only little slots, like medicine and law, require applicants to have excellent academic results, and required to pass several interviews. There are also some courses which have more slots than the number of applicants, hence, the cut-off points are not so high, or selection process is not that stringent.

Hence, grades can affect a person's choice for a course. If he can't apply for a particular course, e.g. Electrical Engineering, he may decide to go for another engineering course, or go for another course in a different field.

2. Popularity

Before you apply for any course, you ask what your friends in your class apply. You ask what your friends taking the same subjects as you apply. You ask what your best friends apply. You do a weighing of advantages and disadvantages, then decide if you should follow your friends.

You went to a school open house. You attend a talk which talks about the latest course offered in the school. The professor pitch that this is going to be the 'hottest' and 'most popular' course in the university right now, and probably the 'first ever course offered' in Singapore. He shows you statistics of how this course is going to be the 'most sought-after' course in Singapore, and how you can be a pioneer of this course, by applying for the course Today!

Popularity.

3. Job Demand

Most(not all) students think of getting their first job when they graduate. Before they apply for any course, they checked up websites and forums and ask 'What is the basic salary for a student with degree in (whatever the course is)?' They go to BrightSpark magazines, browse the sections which shows them the 'basic pay', 'average pay', 'highest pay', whatever salary data they can find about the job salary that the degree offers.

They use that data to determine which course they should pursue. Let's say, the data shows that a Bachelor of Accountancy earns more than a Bachelor of Business Administration, they will choose to pursue accountancy (without knowing the difference between accountancy and business admin in general).

If they see a Bachelor of Accountacy from SMU earns $5000/month, and a Bachelor of Accountancy from NTU earns $4000/month, they will go to SMU and pursue accountancy instead of NTU (without understanding the difference in curriculum between accountancy in SMU and NTU).

4. Interest

Different people have different interests. There are people who take up sciences degrees, all the way up to PhD level, may be because they like to do scientific research, and keen to invent something in the future. Some took business degrees to understand how businesses are run, how international businesses are run...etc. Some took up psychology may be because they are interested about how human thinks or how human brains works...etc

People who manage to study for a course they like, tend to do every well in those subjects. If someone is of interest to them, they will have the passion to find out more, read more, and may explore more than what the school will teach. To them, they are not studying the course. Instead, they are using the information learned from the course to fulfill their passion.

5. University

This method of choosing, is to choose the university first, then choose the course they want.

They may choose the university first, because they have good impression of it, near their house, did internships before, knew some good professors there, recommended by seniors, top in university rankings or being offered a scholarship there...etc

Or another case is, they want to get into a local university, but they can't get a course they want, so they try to squeeze into any course being offered to them.

Here are basically the 5 types of choices students ask themselves when they are applying for the course they want.

Which one do you use to choose the course you want?

However, I must say that there is A Very Important Question the student must ask, before they ask the above 5 choices. If you DID NOT ask yourself this question, I can say that the 5 choices you make later on Don't Mean Anything, aka Useless.

So What's the Important Question to Ask Yourself first?

That's what you will find out soon :D

The Biggest Dilemma for Soon-To-Be Undergraduates Part-2

2010-04-08T16:21:00.002+08:00

Now, Let's look at our 1st Big Question Undergraduates ask themselves.

"Should I choose a Local University or Private University for my tertiary education?"

Local university refers to NTU (Nanyang Technological University), NUS (National University of Singapore) and SMU (Singapore Management University). So far, there's only 3, and there will be more in upcoming years.

Private University refers to private institutions set up by companies in Singapore and provide degrees and education from overseas countries. For example, SIM offer degrees from RMIT, a university in Australia, University at Buffalo, USA. PSB offer degrees from UON, from Australia, and other countries too.

In my experience, this question came up for most people whose A level results are not up to their expectations, and they are unable to get a place in a particular course in a local university. Hence, they are deciding whether to pursue that particular course in a private university, or pursue another course(with lower demand) in a local university.

This seems like a choice which you have to give up one to get another:
- Go to a local university, and pursue a course which you don't like, but you manage to get it because of its low entry grades or low demand.
- Go to a private university, and pursue a course which you like, but you will not have the bragging rights of being in a local university (which many people want!).

What's the issue here?

I know of some friends who manage to study in a local university, but not in a course they like. People usually named these courses 'dumping ground', which means these courses are taken up by people who can't get the course of their choice. They go for the University they want.

I also have friends who can study in a local university, but did not choose it in the end, because they did not get the course of their choice. Hence, they choose a private university, and pursue the course of their choice instead. They go for the Course they want.

Look at this, which one is more important here?
The education at a local university or the education you want to get from the subject you like?

At a local university, the education you get can be of certain standard and quality. Some professors who are teaching there have vast academic experience and research experience. They come from renowned universities around the world too.

Secondly, some people chose a local university because they don't want to feel left-out in the crowd. They see many of their friends enter local uni, and feel that if they go private uni, they are regarded 'second-grade'. Hence, the reputation is not there. They try to squeeze into a local uni, regardless of whatever course they are offered.

Thirdly, people thinks that a degree from a local university will be more 'profitable' than private uni degrees. 'Profitable' meaning higher income. This may be true to a certain extent. But I can say a local degree is not a deciding factor whether someone is being paid more. We talk about that later.

That's bascally the 3 reasons for people choosing a local university than a private one.

Quality of Education:

It's true that local universities provide a certain standard of education to their students than private ones. The professors are certified, and most are experienced. Local uni also have good facilities like laboratories and computer labs for students to do research.

However, private institutions in Singapore are not as bad as what we think last time. They are also building big campuses soon. SIM can be regarded as a private university with high-class services too. They have their own professors, lecture and seminar rooms too.

However, 1 minor disadvantage for private university. As far as I know, private uni does not provide a very good environment for research to be done, especially sciences (Physics/Chemistry/Biology) research. They do not have million-dollar machines and devices in their schools, unlike local universities. That's why you notice private universities hardly provide degree courses in Sciences, which require research work. Most courses offered are 'not lab based', like Business, IT, Accountancy...etc.

Otherwise, private uni are not very far off, in terms of the quality of education both provides. Both type of universities have their good professors, and also their boring professors.

Reputation:
Of course, if you have a choice to study in a well-known, local university where the top 10% of students study there, why not? Everybody will grab that chance. You will feel smarter, being in a school where the 'top10%' are.

But does that mean those that did not make it, are not smart? Yes! They may not be so 'academic-smart' compared to those local uni students, but I can say many are more 'street-smart' than the local uni grads! However, I did not say private uni students are lousy in their grades, or local uni students are not 'street-smart' either.

When you get into a local uni, people will think that your future is gonna be bright, you must be a very clever student, you must be highly intelligent, you will be very successful one day. They praises you, and you feel good (people love praises!). If you are from a private uni, people will think that's because you're a lazy student who play too much, and didn't study hard enough, or someone who is not smart
enough to enter a local uni.

What I can say is, that's what other people thinking! And we should not make decision based on others' thinking! We choose what we want to have for dinner, because we want to have it, NOT because other think we should have it. "I want to eat vegetables for my lunch today, because I want to, not because you think I should be eating".

With that said, I want to say that people who try hard to squeeze into a local uni, just to accept any course thrown at them, are making a very unwise decision. They just want to feel known, feel recognized by being in a 'top10%' school by others. They don't care what if they like what they learn, or what they will be learning in the school. "You think I should eat meat for lunch today, that's why I eat meat. If I eat meat, I will make you feel good about me (probably only macho-man eat meat). I do not care if I dislike the meat, or if the meat is nice"

Profitable Degree:
The truth is, A local university degree is more profitable than a private univeristy degree.
The myth is, A local university degree is more profitable than a private univeristy degree.
(Eh? Isn't both sentences the same?)

Yes. It's a truth, and it's also a myth.

True, a local graduate can get a higher pay than a private graduate, but we have to look deeper into various aspects. In the public service, a local degree is more recognized than a private degree, and pay structure for public service is determined by the grades you have in your degree (First Class Honours...etc)

In the private sector, pay structure varies. Some may look at the grades you get in school to determine you pay, but I can say, MOST do not care about your grades once you join them.

I have talked to many people regarding this, from students who are graduating soon, people who have already graduated, people who have went for numerous interviews, people who are in the workforce looking out for talents.

They have one common reply to me.

"Grades don't matter!"

If you have been called up for interview, the interviewer will close your resume, and start asking you questions. And, they do not ask question about your grades! They do not care about your grades!

They are interested in what value you can provide to the company, what skills and expertise you have. Can you work with people? Have you worked in teams or large organizations before? Do you have experience in other companies/industries before? Are you active in the society, leaders of some communities or organization? What are your interests and hobbies, your strengths and weaknesses?

If you really think your future-bosses are very concerned about your results, you may want to ask some of your friends who went for numerous interviews. Ask them how many bosses actually ask them the As and Bs they get. :D

The most profitable job will be given to someone who shows and proves that he is valuable to the company. And this does not always refer to First Class Honours Students.

Share your comments with me. I would love to hear them :D

Next, we look at Question 2!

The Biggest Dilemma for Soon-To-Be Undergraduates Part-1

2010-04-06T01:41:00.001+08:00

I once had that biggest dilemma too. It gave me a headache sometimes.

This problem is faced every year by many 19 year olds who have received their A level results. In normal circumstances, Guys usually have 3 chances to make their final decision, and Girls have 1 chance to decide.

By now, for those who have been through, you know what I'm referring to.

For those who have passed their A levels, usually, they would look at the next level of education - tertiary/ university education. (I said usually, because not everybody will move on to university, even though they have good A level results...)

There are usually 2 Big question marks in the minds of the youngsters after they got their result.

i) Which Uni should I go? Local/Private U?
ii) Which undergraduate course should I take?

1. Local or Private University?
For students who have done well enough, many would prefer to enter a Singapore local university, namely NTU, NUS or SMU.
For students who may not do so well, there are other choices to pursue their university education, at reputable private universities in Singapore, like SIM and PSB, which offers overseas degree programs.
Some may decide to pursue their university education overseas too.

2. Which undergraduate course should I apply?
For those who have acheived the results they expected, they would have go on to apply for the courses they already have in mind before taking A level examinations.
However, there are also people who have also achieved exceptionally good results, but do not know what courses to apply to.
There are people who achieved 'not bad' results, but are unable to apply for their 'dream' course.
There are people who did not do that well to get their desired course, but trying hard to 'squeeze'
into the local U, by accepting any course thrown at them.
There are people who applied for a course in a Private U, because they wanted to pursue that course, which are not offered in local U, or the admission criteria in local U is too high.

I say that it is a Big Dilemma, because a wrong answer in either 1 of the questions, will determine the next 3-4 years of their lives. A good decision will let them enjoy the fun of studying in university. Wrong decision... it depends. Some people can force anything down their throat, even if they don't like it. Haha.

Alright.
Let's look into the issues of Question 1 in our next post! :D

7 Tips How NOT to Get A Sore Throat

2010-03-25T14:23:00.001+08:00

For the past 2 weeks, I can say Singapore's weather has been erratic, very unpredictable. You can have a strong sunshine in the morning, and heavy downpour in the afternoon. Then, the sun comes out again. Then, these 2 weeks, I also have quite a lot of friends, who are having sore throat. They are having sore throat together! But fortunately, I don't have it :D

This gets me into thinking, what's the real reason my friends are getting sore throat, one by one? Is it because of the weather? Is it because of daily habits? Is it because of diet?

Hmm... I'm not very sure too. But I know having sore throat is not somebody wants (unless the person is dying to get it, so he can stay away from work). Sore throat makes your voice more 'sexier', rough, hollow, and tends to cough. Sometimes, you may feel pain when swallowing food.

Alright, I'm not a doctor, so I do not prescribe medicine, or give you prescription to heal your throat. But we know we can get rid of our sore throat by taking some lozenges or fruit juice. Only when things got worse, then we might see the doctor.

Instead of thinking how to heal sore throat when you get it, why not we look at how we can NOT get a sore throat ? (a.k.a Prevention is Better than Cure)

Here are 7 tips to help you:

1) If you are taking Fried and Spicy Food, drink a lot, a lot of water after that. You may take other drinks (coke/coffee) while eating these foods, but remember to drink water after that. If you don't, your throat will dry up, your body will start to heat up. I will drink until I feel that I'm not feeling heaty and thirsty anymore.

2) If you're staying up late at night, try to drink water also. I do sleep late at night, around 1-2 am. But I keep a bottle beside me, so I can keep drinking. If you do stay up late, you'll notice that your mouth is very dry (even if you didn't talk to anyone). Moments later, you'll find that your throat is getting dry too. You may have difficulty talking. Yes. Your cells are already dying, and you need water!!

3) Of course, if possible, don't always stay up so late. It's not good for health either. :D

4) No matter what drinks you take, drink water to flush it down your throat. I noticed it myself. When you drink coffee, tea, fruit juice, tomato soup, mushroom soup... there will be some liquid of it left in your throat. It will stay there, unless you flush it down with water. And if it stays long enough, your throat will feel uncomfortable.

5) If you're someone who talks a lot (cheerful person), or have to talk alot (public speaker), drink a lot of water . Drink every 10-15 mins, just before your mouth dries up. I once talk for almost 2 hours in a car without drinking water ('cos I don't have it in the car), and I feel pain talking after that. Sore throat comes the next day. Haha!

6) If the weather is hot, keep drinking water, even if you need to go to the toilet 100 times, it's still better from suffering from dehydration. If weather is cold, do continue to drink too. Your body still needs water, to hydrate your body.

7) Take more liquid food, i.e. soup-based food, and less of dry food, i.e. biscuits. More liquid fruits like Watermelons, Papaya, and less heaty fruits, like durian, jackfruit...

* *Did you see I mention a lot about 'water'? Yes. I'm a huge fan of water, because I can't live without it, and so are you! Find out more about water here! (opens in new tab)

There you go! 7 tips to help you Not to get a sore throat.

Of course, make these tips your daily habits, so you wont have to worry about sore throat again.

Stay healthy guys!

Is Money The Problem With These Men?

2010-03-18T01:08:00.000+08:00

In recent months, 4 men appeared in headlines in almost all newspapers around the world.

From the sports scene, we have Tiger Woods, first got into a car accident, which slowly leads to the exposure of his extra-marital affair. And one woman after another keep popping up, claiming their share.

Then comes Chelsea captain John Terry, who got into a relationship with the ex-girlfriend of his ex-teammate, Wayne Bridge. Wayne Bridge and his former partner got a kid, and John Terry has a family too!

Then one more Chelsea player got involved. Defender Ashley Cole got kicked out of the house by his celebrity wife for his relationship with other women too.

And the most "HOT" scandal is Singapore's movie director Jack Neo, who got involved with a 22 years old model, who plays a role in his latest movie, "Being Human". Fortunately, his wife has forgiven him. But as news keep spreading, there are also more women coming up to claim their share too.

So there's a video from Yahoo! which features these 4 men. They find out from the public, Why Men Cheat?!

Here it is:

Yahoo! SEA finds out why men cheat @ Yahoo! Video

If you've watched the video, and listened to the people speak out, some says Why Men Cheat is because, they have acheived a certain level of success, and feels that they can do more things, so they try to take a step further. Or when men have fame and money, they tend to flirt around. When they have more money, they tend to spend it on younger girls. Or their wives are not attractive anymore..etc

Actually this is just a short 2min plus video, so it doesn't really gives the view of the whole general public, but just a few people on the streets that day.

With reference to the 4 men in headlines today, they have some similarity. They are wealthy, achieved a certain level of success regionally and internationally, and of course, they are famous too.

Some people said when men are rich, and famous, they tend to cheat.

Is it true?

I strongly say NO.

Money is not the reason. Fame is not the reason. If they are the reasons for men to cheat, then all male billionaires on Forbes list, pop stars and singers are all cheaters of their wives, since they are wealthy and famous.

Money and Fame can't be the root of the problem. How can they be?
They are just tools! They are dead objects!
To find out the root of the problem, find out from the source!

If someone rob the bank because of money, don't blame money. It's the person.
If someone uses a knife to kill, don't blame the knife. It's the person.
If someone uses the telephone to scam someone, don't blame the phone. It's the person.
If you got food poisoned from the rojak from a rojak stall, blame the rojak stall. Don't say that all rojaks are poisonous.

So if a man who has money and fame cheat, look at the man! Don't look at money and fame! If not, it will be very unfair to people who have money and fame!

In my opinion, there are a few reasons why men cheat.

1) They did not get enough love from the family/spouse.
Men are human beings too, and they need love and connection from the people they love. If men are being scolded by the wife every time they return home from work (why are you so late! why didn't you answer my call!...etc), they will feel disconnected from the family. They would not want to go back home and got scolded by their wives. (Men got Ego!) They would rather stay late in their office, and then find the love and connection they need from someone else.

2) Men would like an attractive wife.
Don't get me wrong here. I'm not saying that men must get young and attractive women when their wives are old. NO! What I mean is, men would want to go home and look at their attractive wife, who dresses well at home too. It is true that men are moved by what they see. In early stages of marriage, couples tend to dress well when dining, at home, or even on the bed. But as time goes by, dressing well is often neglected at home.

This can be worse for stay-at-home moms. Stay-at-home-moms seldom dress up themselves, since many thought that it's unnecessary to do so. But men would like to return home from work, looking at their beautiful wife (even in their golden years), and not a shabby-looking women. So dress up well, and welcome your tired husband back home after work everyday yea!

3) Irresponsibility and Ill-discipline
Men cheat because they lack discipline and irresponsibility. Actually, this applies to both sex too. They are going for short-term gratification, short-term pleasure. They want instant gratification, thrill, fun. But by doing that, they put their marriage at risk. They didn't think of the consequences that may come from getting these short-term enjoyment. They lack the discipline to control themselves. They can't resit the temptation. They 'go' for it, thinking if there's any problems after that, it's just a small problem, "no worries la!"

That's basically my 3 reasons (not money) why men cheat, but that's not the reasons why the 4 infamous men cheat. For the reason Why they cheat, I do not know, and I do not want to speculate. Instead, I would prefer the matter to rest, and move on.

Why Warren Buffett is not the Richest Man this year.

2010-03-14T01:42:00.023+08:00

For the first time in 15 years, the world's richest man is not an American. Not Billionaire Investor Warren Buffett, Microsoft founder Bill Gates. But is a guy named

Carlos Slim (1st time I heard of him).

However, even though Warren Buffett is not the richest guy on earth now, he doesn't really mind.

Watch the video and find out the answer:D

Yup.

Warren Buffett gives back to the society. He probably has too much money he could spend for the rest of his life. He uses his money to help others instead.

Let's all be rich, and gives back to the society to help others :D

It's Fashion In The Sky!

2010-03-05T18:40:00.001+08:00

Latest Video Update of Fashion In The Sky!

If You're still not sure what it's about, you can read the post here .

See you on This Sunday @ YMCA RoofTop!!

Statue and the Stone

2010-03-03T00:35:00.000+08:00

The Story of the Statue and the Stone

In a Art Museum in a Sunny Island, there are a lot of people who visits the museum everyday. Inside this museum, there is a special room which put a statue of a historic person. To ensure the cleanliness of the room, people are required to take off their shoes before they enter. To enter the room, visitors took off their shoes, and step on a stone at the door to enter the room. They appreciate the statue and took pictures of it.

One night, the Stone at the door cried out to the Statue. " God is so Unfair! We are both stones, but you are one that is appreciated by people everyday, but I'm the one who got stepped by people everyday!"

The Statue replied, "No! God is Fair. First, you cried once when the you are being chiseled once. When the chisel goes down one more time, you said its too unbearable for you. When the chisel goes down the 3rd time, you screamed you are about to Die! Since you are not willing to go through the pain, its best to put you lying on the ground flat as a stepping stone for others. "

The Statue continued, "However, I endured the pain of being chiselled a thousand times, and that's why I'm made the Statue."

The morale of the story:
If you can endure the pain, you will suffer for that moment. If you can't, you will suffer the rest of your life.

If you are not willing to work hard, take up new challenges when you are young, then when are you going to?

Today, you can't afford not to work hard, or challenge yourself. Because, everybody in the world is doing so. By not doing anything, you will be left behind, because everyone else is moving forward.

But if you choose to work hard, take risks, take new challenges, create your own success path, and
Pay The Price To Succeed, you will sacrifice a moment of your life, to enjoy the rest of your life.

Let me end off with this Chinese Quote,

"受得了苦，苦一阵子；受不了苦，苦一辈子"

You have 2 choices now:

1) Be a Stone being stepped by people

OR

2) Be a Statue being appreciated by people

Which one do you want to be?

What's up in March?

2010-02-26T01:44:00.004+08:00

In Feburary, we have our favorite Chinese New Year celebration. We have fun with friends, our family members and relatives. We collect red packets (or some give them out) during these 2 weeks.

Coming March, there are no public holidays. There are just weekends for you to rest.

But wait.

I'm sure you will want to rest on march weekends, but I'm sure you will not rest on your 1st Sunday of March (7th March 2010)!

It is because you will be at

FASHION IN THE SKY

What Fashion In the Sky?

It's a collaboration between blog shops and emerging artistes who come together to set up this one-of-a-kind Rooftop Runway show.

The event will see to a three-hour long program with live performances by rising local talents, blog shop bazaar sale, artworks from artists and photographers, as well as the fashion show - first of its own for the community!

Why Fashion In the Sky?

I know you may heard of brands such as Donna Karans and Gucci, but there's a new wave of noteworthy talent and enthralling collections by our own local blogshops owners! They will be setting up booths on the event itself so that you can get your hands on these ravishing clothings (instead of clicking them online)!

This unique runway will be raising funds for the Haiti Relief too! All proceedings from this event will be donated to help the people of Haiti. You can help the people in Haiti too by donating generously to World Vision via Give.sg.

When Fashion In the Sky?

This event will be held at YMCA Rooftop @ 1 Orchard Road on 7th March 2010. from 4pm to 7pm.

View Larger Map

Best of all, Admission is FREE!

If you have not confirmed your attendance, you can RSVP at our Facebook Event Page.

Till date, we have 200 confirmed guests. However, as you know, it is just a confirmation through facebook. There might be less then 200 people turning up, or more than 200 that day.

But wait.

Did you see this in 25th Feb Mandrin Newspaper 早报？

Our Event is being covered by ZaoBao, the Top Mandrin Newspaper in Singapore!

With that news report up, and being read by Chinese readers all over Singapore, I'm sure the number of people who will be there may not be just 200! It will be much much higher!

Fashion In the Sky is a unique once-in-a-lifetime event. We do not know when we will be organising it again (if any). We do not know if we could get the best blogshops with the best apparels to set up their booths there again. We do not know if we could get the best models for the Runway show in the future.

However, What we know is that you are going to enjoy the 3 hours at YMCA Rooftop with us, be entertained by the live performances of our rising local stars, picking up the best-fit apparels from the your favourite blogshops, watching a Live Fashion Runway show at the Top of a Building for the first time ever!

Enough said.

I will see you at YMCA Rooftop on 7th March 4pm :D

*P.S. I will be performing that day. Catch me Live!

Happy Chinese New Year 2010!

2010-02-18T18:46:00.008+08:00

Happy Chinese New Year to everyone, my friends, my family, my relatives, and anyone who visits my blog too.

This is the Year of Tiger, according to the chinese horoscope.

This year's celebration is kind of different from the past, because I will be celebrating with my sister-in-law! My family has a new member lo:D

We visited relatives homes, play card game, talk about life and enjoying good meals these few days. My mum and sister-in-law also made a lot of new year cookies like pineapple tarts. We had yusheng too. This is just a small picture i took while others are crazily flipping and throwing up the yusheng. LOL.You can see the picture here.

I have fun with my little cousins who are in their primary schools this year. Another thing which is different, is that my elder brother is giving out red packets for the first time this chinese new year! haha. He just got married last month.

And Valerie went to hong kong this new year to visit her friends and relatives over there. Haha. I wish i can be there. I may be there again when they go over for chinese new year celebration? It will be fun traveling around :D

I may be visiting more friends this coming weekend, to catch up with them this new year.

Chinese New Year celebration lasts for 15 days, and let's enjoy this time with everybody around us yea!:D

Catch'up with you guys on my next post!

The Current Infamous Pastor Rony Tan of Lighthouse Evangelism

2010-02-13T02:07:00.002+08:00

If you read Straits times from Monday 07.02.2010 onwards, you would have learnt of Pastor Rony Tan of Lighthouse Evangelism. He appeared on the front page of the news on Monday, and a long passage is written about him. Thereafter, there are news about him everyday, online and offline.

So what is the Hot news all about?

Pastor Rony Tan is being called up by the ISD (Internal Security Department) of Singapore, for his undesirable and controversial comments of other religions during his church services. He has committed an offense under the Sedition Act.

What's more, those services which feature his comments were recorded and uploaded online too. They are found on YouTube after his case featured on newspapers. And with today's technology, everybody in the world can watch these videos!

His comments are kind of controversial and put the harmony between different religious groups in Singapore at risk. He got present Christians who were ex-Buddhists and ex-Taoists from his church to share their experiences and testimonies during the service. Rony Tan also asked them questions to probe further about some practices of the other religions. Some of his comments had their audience laughing out loud.

I have watched those videos on YouTube, just before they were removed by the user the next day. After watching them, I can say that his comments are quite ridiculous, and it's more of an entertainment to the crowd. The crowd laugh to his 'jokes' made at other religious.

I find that it is very very inappropriate for him to do this. Singapore is well-known for its racial and religious harmony. Different people from different background and different faiths can live together harmoniously. As he ridiculed other religions, he has not put himself, and his church in good light too.

The fact that Singaporeans can live without the fear of racial and religious riots on the streets, is because we respect each other's race and religions. If people think that by putting down other religions will put their own religions in good light, then they are very very WRONG!

It's meaningless. It's the same as gossiping and laughing at others, and trying to gain support from your friends to show that you have done the right thing sneering at others. And when your friends laugh with you, you feel good, 'cause you feel that your friends are on your side too. You may feel that you are in good light, and the people you criticize are in 'bad' light. But you are in the 'bad' light too! Because you did not show respect for others!

So if Pastor Rony Tan believes that he can strengthened the faiths of his church members with his 'funny' comments on other faiths, then he is dead Wrong! Furthermore, he had shown his inadequacies of his knowledge of other faiths. He is just making false claims and assumptions of other religions, and make it seems like he knew a lot. Now, he looked helpless when these religions have clarify his ridiculous claims.

Currently, there are many raging groups set up to 'protest' against Rony Tan. There's a Facebook group created to anti-Rony Tan, to vent their anger at his criticisms, to gather more people to join forces against him... Even though I'm not supportive of his actions, I think that it is needless to set up this anti-group.

I do not know what they want to get out of this group, by anti-Rony Tan, and criticising him of his actions, 'shooting' him up down left right. I'm being asked to join this group, but I decline. This is not the way to solve a problem. It's just creating more problems.

This issue may not end that soon. So let's follow the news. :D

Cashflow101 Competition and Passive Income Streams

2010-02-09T15:06:00.007+08:00

Yes. I came in 9th out of 120 participants in the Cashflow101 Competition organized by NTU Investment Interactive Club. The first prize walk away with $500, as he finish the game within 15 mins. I took 30 mins. I got the consolation prize, for my first attempt in a Cashflow competition. (My first time playing the board game too!)

This game is created by the famous millionaire celebrity Robert Kiyosaki, on his principles of wealth creation. He has written many books, the most popular being "Rich Dad Poor Dad"(read upteen times), and has co-author with Donald Trump on a book "Why we want you to be rich". And many other (similar) books.

This game teach you "How to get out of the Rat Race". You don't win the game by having the largest amount of money in your hand. You win the game by building enough passive income to cover your expenses, which means, you have jumped out of the rat race. Passive income is income that you receive even when you are not physically there.

Let's compare...

E.g. 1) You love baking and you decided to open a bakery shop. You do the baking in your kitchen, and you hire a cashier at the shop. Yes, you start your own business, you open your own shop, you love making cakes and cookies, you have your own employees, but what you are receiving is not passive income. It's still active income. Your shop will not operate when you are not there, because there will not be anyone doing the baking. When your shop did not open, your income stream stops too.

E.g. 2) You love baking and you decided to open a bakery shop. However, instead of you doing the baking yourself, you hire 3 chefs to do the baking, 1 store manager to run the operation in the shop, and 2 assistants to help out with the cashier and cleaning of the shop. You wrote out the plan as how the business will be run. At the end of every month, you totalled up the shop's profits, distribute your workers' salary, pay other expenses, and you keep the rest. This is passive income. When you are overseas, or at home with your family, your shop will still open, because the shop can run without you! You have created a business system for your manager, chefs and assistants to follow. Your job may just be visiting the shop, helping out, doing supervisory checks...etc, but you are not bound to it.

Above is a short explanation of what passive income is.

Basically, passive income can be built using several methods. Here are a few...

i) Investments:
Investing 10 million dollars with 5% interest every year, ie $500,000 per year of passive income from interest.

ii) Businesses:
Starting businesses, buying business, owning businesses. You build a business that will run by itself, that will work with or without you. Just like the e.g. 2 of the bakery shop above. You can buy businesses which have been built by others too.

iii) Writing books:
You receive royalties from books you sell. In Robert Kiyosaki's example, I think he has received a lot of royalties from books. His Rich Dad's series, the iconic purple and black cover books, can be seen in most bookshops in Singapore, and worldwide too, in different languages.

iv) Music/ CDs:
Michael Jackson is dead, but his family is still receiving royalties from all the CDs sold in music shops. Same goes for Elvis Presly too. Money continue to flow in, without them being there. Many of our favourite singers, Jay Chou, Lady GaGa, they are also earning from royalties.

v) Property Investment:
You buy a house, but not for you to live in. You buy it and rent it out to others. You collect monthly rentals. The good thing is, your monthly rentals will pay for the house itself, and at the end of the day, you still have your house. And when your house is fully paid, you receive all the money from the rentals! (my dad has been doing that for 10 years!)

vi) Franchising your business:
You had a successful business plan, and instead of you using your own money to open up more shops, you allow others to franchise your business. This is an example of how MacDonalds, and other businesses expand. You teach these franchisees how your business is run. They will then run the business, employ their own employees, and You, as a franchisor, you collect royalties from them. But the Cash is the big problem here. If you want to open a MacDonald franchise, you need to have at least $250,000 before they are willing to talk to you. Yes. "Talk to you" only. Shop renovation, machines, employees...etc have not been discussed. As far as I know, at least 2 million dollars is needed.

vii) Internet Marketing:
This is one of the cheapest way to start building a passive income stream. It's the same as building a traditional business, just that instead of the 'bricks', you have the 'clicks'. It's way a lot cheaper, and suitable for most people now. You can make money online with or without a website, through selling of information products, selling advertising spaces...etc. If you wish to build an effective website, I can proudly say SBI is the choice. You can read more by clicking here.

There are a lot of other ways to create passive income, but it's just too many to write all out here. If you can think of any, feel free to post it here to share with others :D

Actually I'm not very surprised that there are not many people who heard of 'passive income', 'cashflow', 'Rich Dad Poor Dad' book...etc. I've talked to a few people to join me in the competition, but none joined me, till I bump into Jiawen and Jonathan (both formerly from TPJC) at the competition itself.

Anyway, I had so much fun playing the game with them, and it's nice to know many others who enjoy the game too. It's really fun if you play without the clock ticking. It's kind of stress when you have to fight against time to jump of the rat race. I have to thank the facilitators for helping out too, if you see how fast they are handing out
money to participants and supervising the game at the same time :P

I recommend that anyone who want to be happier in life, Play the Cashflow game. I would highly recommend it. You may not want to read the Rich Dad Poor Dad book, or other money strategies book, but you will definitely want to play this game!

I'm going to find ways to get this game set (it cost $200-$300/set), set up a mini-Cashflow club, and teach the people around me how to get out of the rat race!

Any Cashflow lovers out there? Would you like to join me to set up this game? Or Would you like to learn how to play it?

I'm done with the planning of the cashflow club, and I will make it as interesting and meaningful for everyone who attended and played the game! Look out for more details here!

Nicholas and Yanzi's BIG BIG Day

2010-02-01T21:47:00.001+08:00

Show you guys the pictures 1st!!

This is the BEST picture I think :D We rock yea!!

There are thousands over photos taken that day, many many thanks to my great choir buddies, Chin Soon and Fiona! The pictures they took are fantastic! One was holding a BIG Canon, another one was holding a BIG Nikon camera. They are really very hardworking. And it is always very fun having them around when shooting photos.

Chin soon and Fiona did not take pictures. They do not take photographs. They are capturing our emotions, our expressions, and most important of all, Wonderful Memories of my brother's wedding!
A picture says a thousand words. If there are 3000 pictures being shot that day, there are 3 million words being said! :D

I'm the Best Man for my brother that day. It's been great, exciting, and sometimes tiring too. But I'm feeling Good! Driving up and down places.

I'm feeling good too because it's the first FIRST time in almost 20 years(I think) my house has opened for friends and relatives (more than 10). Yea. Anyway, if you have been to my house in the past, you will understand. If you haven't been(or can't enter the door) to my house in the past, then, it's okay anyway. :D

My house will be more warming and crowded (with people, not objects) now, which I like it! Haha.
I have more reasons to stay at home, and invite my friends over too!!

The Wedding dinner is grand and splendid too. Food is nice, but didn't manage to have it all. My family and friends went up stage to shout "YUM SENG!!!" to congratulate my brother's marriage, and went over to more than 20 tables, and shout "Yum Seng!!". I ended up with sore throat for days. BUT I love the feeling!!!

It's a magnificent day for everybody. My brother is on to next stage of his life. I will wish him the Best!!

Did Your Mum Ask You to Drink Water?

2010-01-18T00:53:00.000+08:00

Drink Water. Drink More Water.

Whenever you left home, your mum will ask if you have brought your water bottle.

However, sometimes we are lazy, or sometimes we think that it's not 'cool' to carry a water bottle around (I look like a schoolkid with a water bottle).

This article I'm writing is not about carry water bottles around, or how to be 'cool' by carrying water bottles. It's not the bottle. It's the Water. Pure, Clean Water. (Not soft drinks/coffee/teas...)

Water is an incredible compound.

I never heard what's so wonderful about the water we drink, but I can tell you it really shock me after I learned how essential and powerful Water can improves our lives - just by drinking water.

When we are thirsty, we drink water. But do you know that by the time you felt thirsty, some of your cells have already died?

The human body is anywhere from 55% to 78% water depending on body size. And we need at least one to seven litres of water per day, depending on the temperature, humidity, activity and other factors.
Our body is made up close to 50 Trillion cells.

What is a trillion? It's 1000 billion, 1 million million, 1 billion thousand - 1,000,000,000,000. Okay, you know what is 50 trillion.

We have so many cells in our body, and they need water to live, to grow.

How often do you need to drink water?

You need to hydrate your body every 15 mins. Drink water every 15 mins.

Haha. I think I hear someone "Just drink every 15 mins will improve our lives? That's easy!"

True. It's really that easy.

But wait!

Did you see "every 15 mins?"

Ah! That may seem a challenge.

First, to do it, you need to have water with you every 15 mins. You can carry a water bottle with you whenever you go. Or you have a water cooler beside you whenever you go, or you can buy 1 bottle of water every 15 mins.

Second, you got to have the discipline to drink every 15 mins! I still remember in my school days, I can bring a bottle full of water out of home, and come home with the same water untouch. It's the past anyway :D

Constantly remind yourself to drink, before you felt thirsty.

I have developed this habit after I attended Anthony's Robbins' 4 day seminar last year, where he mentioned about the miraculous benefits of drinking water only.

What I did:
- Carry a bottle with me everywhere I go. In school, football games, shopping centers, seminars...etc
- Drink and Refill.
- If I run out of water, I will buy one, or get some from others :P

Benefits:
- Hardly fall sick
- No morning sighness
- Won't feel lethargic at the end of the day (I even feel more energitic at night!)
- Didn't doze off in lectures. Water keep me awake :D
- Less pimples growing!
- No Bad Breath (Lack of water causes it!)
- Less Constipation
- Lose weight!
- So far so good!

Wake up in the morning, drink lots of water to keep yourself hydrated, before you put starch (bread, rice, bee hoon, chicken pie...etc) into your mouth. Your 'sleepy' stomach is not ready to 'stir' the hard starch you put into it.

Before you start eating your meal, drink water first. Drinking water before you start eating, is to let your stomach get ready for digestion for any food that you eat later.

If you can, stay away from cold drinks. Especially if you are having an oily meal (Fish and Chips/Macdonalds,KFC,Popeyes...etc) don't take cold drinks. Cold drinks will cause oil to coagulate in our stomach. This would make it more difficult to break down. It will be stored in your body then!

When you feel that the more you sleep, the more tired you are, especially you have slept 14 hours and you are still tired. Go drink some water. You are probably dehydrated.

Sighness. You wake up sneezing. Your nose is running like a tap. You stuff it with tissue papers, and you breathe with your mouth. Your tissue is drenched, and you are feeling uncomfortable. You feel dizzy and don't feel like doing anything. Go drink water. drink more water, and rest.

How to know if you are dehydrated?

Okay. Everybody knows this. Your mum would have probably taught you when you are young.

Look at your pee. Drink more water, when your pee is yellow. (it stinks too! haha!)

Keep your pee clear, by drinking more water :D

Alright! That's my little tip on Water!

Take a 10 day challenge to drink water every 15 min.

Share your results here with everybody!

Hong Kong Trip in December '09

2010-01-05T23:29:00.000+08:00

I visited Hong Kong in December with Valerie :D

It's an amazing journey. I have a lot of pictures with me, and of course, there are videos too!

So I have decided to make a short clip about my Hong Kong trip!

Don't drool when you watch it!

:D

How's the video?

Would you like to make a guess then?

2010! New Year New Resolutions!!

2010-01-03T00:12:00.000+08:00

It's finally 2010. It's been a decade since 2000.

In year 2000, I'm still at primary 6. Waiting to take my PSLE at the end of the year.

2010. I'm at university.

10 years has passed. For me, more than 20 years has passed in my life.

Time really flies, don't you think so?

If we look back at the past 10 years of our lives, what are the things you feel happy that you have done them?

What are those that you feel that you should not have not in your last 10 years?

or What are the things that you wanted to do for the past 10 years, but have not yet done them, till today? *Losing weight is the most common one. hehe

If we look forward, we can comfort ourselves and say that we have 10 more years to acheive all these 'yet-to-accomplished' goals.

However, most of these goals will still be 'yet-to-accomplished' goals in 10 years time, if nothing is done to achieve them.

Every New Year, 1/1/XXXX, we love to write down new year resolutions.

We love to share with others what's our resolutions for this coming year.

We love to tell others that ''We want to have a better life this year" , "We want to lose weight this year", "I want to get promoted this year"... etc

But many times, we forget our resolutions on the 2/1/XXXX, 2nd day of new year. In fact, some of us can't remember what are the goals we set, when we approach December of that year.

Some of my friends say that, "Why set new year resolutions when you can't even remember them at the end of the year?'

And when you can't even recall your goals, you are not going to achieve them too!

Hence, I would like to share some reasons why many people can't achieve the goals they have set at the beginning of the year...

1) Vague, UnClear Goals. Not Specific enough.

Like the above-mentioned goals. People like to lose weight. People like to get promoted. People like to earn more money. These goals are too Vague!

When your goals are vague, you will not do anything to do it! Clarity is Power. When you know Specifically what you want to get, you will know How to get it.

If you want to lose weight, to be more specifically, 20 kg in 6 months, then you know that how much exercise you need, and how much excess food to cut down daily.

If you want to be promoted, to be more specifically, position of manager, then you know the demands required by the company for you to be promoted.

If you want to earn more, for example in sales, to be more specifically, $1000/month, then you know the amount of effort you have to put in to generate leads, no. of appointments/day...etc

Solution: Be Specific.

2) Lack of Consistent Focus

Many people 'talk' about new year resolutions when asked. When they are not asked, they won't talk about it. In fact, people talk about new year resolutions only on new year's days!

Or many write their resolutions down, and put it aside, and discover them at the end of the year, when they did some housekeeping.

What they lack is consistent focus on their goals. They are not reminded of their goals daily, and hence, they are not taking actions daily to achieve that goal.

After writing down a goal of losing weight, 20kg in 6 months, they may be fired up to run 5km per day, for the 1st week. However, when they are caught up with other things in life, they lost the focus of their goal, and went back to their usual habits.

Solution: The key is to stay focused with your goals everyday, by writing it down in paper, and put it in visible everyday. Read them out everyday, every morning, to remind yourself of the goals.

3) Just an Interest, Not a Commitment.

Many of us give new year resolutions for 'fun', since it's a new year, and we hope for something nice, something sweet, something good.

We 'like' to lose more weight, we 'hope' to earn more money, we 'hope' to strengthened our relationships...

We 'like', We 'hope'... so, even if we didn't achieve them, we will find some excuses to justify these promises. "Ah, I have a different body from others, and losing weight is exceptionally hard for me. Anyway, nobody knows that I want to lose weight this year"

Solution: Make a public commitment. Tell everybody you know, you see everyday, and share it everywhere you can too. On Facebook, Twitter, your blog, forums...etc. By making a public announcement, you have put yourself on the line! And this makes you very hard not to achieve your goal. (You don't want to look like a NATO (No-Action-Talk-Only) person to your friends yea).

Alright. We have started 2010. Let make our goals as exciting as we can, and hopefully you can share your goals here with all the readers on my blog (making a public commitment!!). We will cheer you on to achieve them!

*Of course, I will share my goals too in upcoming posts!

Self-Marketing Part 5 - Price

2009-12-31T10:36:00.001+08:00

This is going to be the last post for this series on Self-Marketing. And we will talk about the last P.

Price.

Price is an important factor in Marketing. Price of products will determines the amount of money that returns on your investment. If you have spent $50 to develop a product, you will want to mark-up the price to, let say $100. You will earn a profit of $50. You will hardly want to put the price below $50.

Price is the only P that money comes to you. Product, Place, Promotion require you to invest money into them to get them done. Hence, if Price is not correctly, amount of profits you receive on your investment will be affected too.

One reason why companies are not able to get their products sold and increase profits, is because is due to PRICE. Why Price?

If the Price of the product is too high, there are only people who are able to afford. And if your price is high, the quality of the product must match its price too! If customers feels that the money they pay for your product is much higher that what they receive from it, then your company will risk losing this customer. And unhappy comments spread too!

However, if Price is too low, it's a problem too! So, don't think that low prices will attract more buyers! Imagine going into a shopping mall, and you saw a LV bag on the shelf. You love it, and you are going to buy it. You opened the bag, check its quality, and you saw the price tag too. $50!! $50 for a Louis Vuitton Bag. What comes to your mind now?

Fake LV.

You may say that there are a lot of people carry fake LVs on streets too. But there are also a lot of people who don't want to associate themselves with fakes.

Wait! The LV bag can be a genuine one. But to a customer, a $50 LV bag, even though it's made of genuine material, it's fake!

You can't do it the other way round, selling a fake LV at $1000 to let people think that it is a genuine one. You may get to sell a few fake LVs at real price, but that's cheating. Not business. And buyers, especially LV bag lovers, they will know how to identify geniune bags. So, you may get exposed even before 1 bag is sold.

In this last P-Price, we see that it plays a very important role in your business. Your business can go bust, or bloom with price of your product. Set the right price!

Let's go into Self-Marketing. Price.

Since we are the product, we must set a price for the product(we) too.

How much do you want to be?

A $10,000(ten thousand)/year person, or $10,000,000(ten million)/ year person?

There are many people with many outstanding personal traits, but they are not fully utilizing them. They may worth $10 million/year, but they are doing work that are just worth $10,000/year.

They have very good personal traits. They are leaders in the society, they are winners in sport games, they can learn fast and adapt fast to any environment. They did all these during their school years. But when they graduate, they get behind-the-scene jobs. They are trapped in low-positions for years.

Sometimes, it is not their choice to be given these kind of jobs. They may be in a position they liked so much, meeting clients, travelling around..etc But there are unforseen circumstances such as Company Layoff, Retrenchment, Closing down of departments. Or worse, Merger and Acquisition.

When your company is 'eaten up' by the other one, there are way to many people competiting for positions in the company. So you're either kicked out of company, or kicked to other departments you don't like.

However, there are clever ones who will want to make good use of their talents, to do work that greatly benefits them and others too.

The 'not-so-clever' ones will persuade themselves that 'it's okay. Maybe I don't have the talent for it. It's right for company to put me in that position". Companies just like this people. Because they don't have to spend time persuading these people, as these people will persuade themselves. These 'not-so-clever' people, just lacked Self-Belief. They never belief they can do it.
When they wanted to do something, and one person tells them, "its impossible for you". And sure enough, they gave up. They talk themselves to it, "He's correct. It's impossible for me"

People with Self-Belief, and high Self-Esteem, will do the Impossible. Invent a Plane, Invent the Light Bulb, Invent the Telephone...etc

So, the Price-tag you want to carry. Is it determined by your boss? or by your friends? or by Yourself??

Set a price for youself, for your work, for your services. And it should not be determined by others. Not by your boss, not by your teachers, not by your friends, and not by me also!

I said you are worth $10 million/year, but why take the price i set? You can set it higher at 100 million/year!

Set your price, and take actions to prove that you're worth that price. Go and learn skills and input knowledge that will increase your Self-Worth.

Guys, we have come to the end of the Self-Marketing Series. We talked about the 4Ps of businesses, and our businesses (our lives!) too. Think about them, and put them to good use.
Hope you benefit from it, and leave your comments on Twitter/Chatbox/Comments...etc.

See you soon!

Self-Marketing Part 4 - Promotion

2009-12-30T15:00:00.002+08:00

I will talk about the Promotion Part on Marketing. If you missed out on Self-Marketing - Product and Self-Marketing - Place, read them first! It will help you a lot :D

Promotion in marketing, we usually mention about the ways to bring the product to the market. It can be done in many ways.

We can do it through advertising through the mass media, the radio, the TVs, newspaper ads.
Or it can be done through online advertisement, which we can see on Yahoo's Frontpage everyday.
Companies buy the online space of Yahoo.com, and ads will show up when people visit the site.

There are other methods like public relations, and direct marketing, which Dell and other companies have made good use of it to market their products. There is also IMC, Integrated Marketing Communication, a holistic approach to marketing communications. A combination of all or some marketing methods that company can use.

No matter what, companies are always looking for the best IMC, the best way of promotion mix to bring their products into the market.

When promotion is discussed, the amount of money required to promote the products is an issue to. Companies would like to have the highest Return On Investment on the money spent on promotion.

If a company spend $100,000 on marketing, they would like to have at least a sales volume of $100,000 , which means to cover the cost. But of course, companies would like to see higher returns! For example, $300,000, or $500,000. If not company will not be earning any money.

If ROI is lower than expectations, companies will review their IMC, and design another one, which may probably include one or more additional marketing methods. One example is Social Media.

Social Media wave is sweeping by, and many companies see the strength brought about by this wave. Many companies have used Social Media Platforms like Facebook and Twitter to reach out to their customers, to keep them with updates of their latest promotion and updates. This platform has proven its effectiveness, and does not cost much as compared to traditional advertising.

Overall, a company will implement IMC, and review its promotion mix to improve it further so that they reach their customers better, and in other words, increase the sales of the company.

So on to Self-Marketing part on Promotion.

We mention the product- We, Ourselves. Products need to be promoted, to make it known to others. For us, We must also promote ourselves, to make us known to others!

Coming to promoting ourselves, what should we promote? Of course, we will want to promote our Strengths, and hide our weaknesses from others. In your Resume, we will write our Best Achievements, our Best Records in schools, Best results, Best Experience...etc

When we are meeting new people, we are promoting ourselves. When we met up with old friends, we are promoting ourselves too. Our friends want to see how different are we, how much we have changed, are we becoming better persons after so many years?

When we have friends around us, do we help our friends by bringing out their strengths, and inform them about their weaknesses, so they can minimize them?

When we have a friend who get frustrated easily over little things, do we help them to think of bigger things, and ask them not to take it personally? or harm them by calling them 'petty' ?

When our friends met with difficulties, do we encourage them by giving our hands, or we just simply let them struggle themselves?

There are many more instances where we can always lend a hand and help our friends.

Helps others so people will help you.

See that again.

"Help others" comes first. "People will help you" comes second. Not vice-versa.

That's about the Promotion part of Self-Marketing!

Next up, the last P...

Self-Marketing Part 3 - Place

2009-12-24T22:42:00.005+08:00

Coming to the 2nd P. Place.

In business, when we mention place, we mean location, location, location.

In brick and mortar businesses, companies want their shops to be placed in front of huge crowds, the place where there is endless crowds of people.

In Singapore, we have Orchard Road.

In Taiwan, we have Xi Men Ting, 西门丁。

In Hong Kong, we have Causeway Bay, 铜锣湾。

Of course, the rental rates at these places are very expensive, since these are the popular places that draw huge number of crowds.

However, even though rental prices may be high, there are companies who are willing to pay them as it is part of their marketing plan.

You can hardly find a Louis Vuitton shop at a neighborhood market. You only find them in Big shopping plazas. Same goes with famous hotels, famous restaurants, famous hair saloons...etc

Self-marketing...

Place.

I will say, where do we find ourselves most of the time?

At home?

At shopping centers?

At clubs/bars?

At libraries?

At golf clubs?

Where we find ourselves, determine the people we will meet. It may sometimes determine our Price.

The famous saying goes, "Our Network, is our NetWorth".

What kind of person you wanna be, greatly depends on the people you spend time with :D

And that also means the places you go to, to find these people!

Next P=>Price!

Merry Christmas to all my friends, and all readers of my blog! Have a wonderful and enjoyable holiday season, and may all your Christmas wishes come true!!

Self-Marketing Part 2 - Product

2009-12-17T12:52:00.005+08:00

Let's go to the 4Ps, and let PRODUCT be the first P.

We all know that for any business to be in place, there must be a product or service. Bank sell their saving plans to you, MacDonald sell fast-food, Hair Saloon sell their hairstyling services, and maybe shampoos too. Universities sell their expertise to students.

All business have products or services.

For business to thrive, their products have to be unique, and is not easy to duplicate. This is very important. If your product is very easy to duplicate, easy to be copied, people can do the same, or even better than your product!

China is an expert in this field, and they can clone many things that seem so Complicated to us. iPhone & iClone. YouTube & YouKou. Paypal & AliPay...etc. and some of these clones are much better than the ones they copied from.

Hence, to allow ur business to survive in this competitve world, it has to be unique, or ur product have to compete on price and convenience, and will eventually went out of business.

Now, we look at the part on Self-Marketing .

The Product is Me=You=Ourselves!

We are the product.

This is about how we sell ourselves.

What is unique about us?

Everybody is created special & unique from others. However, time to time, we will slowly mould ourselves to look more like others.

This can be dangerous, but on the other hand, can be a good sign too, but that depends what kind of person we hang out with.

If we hang out with night clubbers who drink all night long, we will then follow, club and drink all night long.

If we hang out with scholars who study 24/7, we will become scholars sooner or later, studying 24/7.

If we hang out with sports person, we will become sporty, heathier, more active as time goes by.

If we hang out with goals achievers, positive and encouraging people, we will reach and achieve more of our goals.

So that's what I mean.

When you go for an interview, you(the product) are selling what you can provide for the company, and why the company will need your skills/expertise. If you are not unique, not valuable, the company will not see why you are urgently required by them, and they may 'keep looking' for other candidates first.

Hence, it's important to know our selling points!

Are you a good leader, are you a good influence around your friends, are you a good speaker, are you a really motivated person, are you an achiever, are you someone who talk the talk, walk the walk? ... etc

For Interviews, we are not only selling our certifications, our qualifications. Company may buy our high qualifications. First class honours. But what if there are 100 other first class honours? That's when the unique one will stand out!!

Talking to people, is part of selling ourselves too. Our GRC leaders, MPs, government officials are best at doing these. They are able to relate to people from all walks of life. They can communicate with little kids, students, working adults, professionals, CEOs, to retirees, aunties, grandmas...

What kind of person we want to be in front of others? Are we caring, helpful, responsible, trustworthy, or demanding, arragont, irritating to others?

Everybody have these positive and negative characteristics. But those who are able sell themselves well, are able to Present all the Positive ones to others, and at the same time, minimize all those negative characteristics.

Define our 'OWN' unique selling preposition today. Sell yourself well, and you can get whatever you want in life :D

Next up! The 2nd P = Place.

Self-Marketing Part 1

2009-12-11T14:29:00.006+08:00

Hi Guys,

How do you find the previous 2 posts on managing your money well, and the way to do it right?

I hope it has somehow given you an idea that people who managed their money well are always richer than those who doesn't know how to manage them. Of cos, this are not all that I have learned!

If you would like to know more, you can ask me, talk to me, or simply wait for me to post up another article next time (when the time is right!).

Today, I'm going on to my next topic which is very very very interesting, useful, valuable. Something which YOU have to know in order to be successful in anything you do.

I'm referring to Self-Marketing, ie, How to Market Yourself.

In this world, no matter what your previous thoughts are, what you have learned, the truth is,
People Buy People First. In other words, first impression counts!

I know we have learned Marketing modules in school, learning the 4Ps, learning how to target market, segmentation, strategic recommendations...etc.

We are learning this to know how companies are using marketing strategies to bring their products out to the customers. Increase sales, branding, positioning... etc

I do not know about you, you may be a future marketing director, or a manager in the marketing
department, or a boss of a company. No matter what, you can see that marketing is important.

But today, instead of learning how to do marketing for products, services, the brand of the company, why not learn to market Yourself?

Learn How to Create your own Personal Brand, Put a Personal Price, Position yourself well in the minds of other people...etc.

That's what I mean- Self-Marketing.

The number of friends we have today, is the result of how we market ourselves. If we have many good friends, it is because we have been trustworthy, reliable, caring, helpful to our friends. We market ourselves and people buy us because of our good qualities.

What if it's the other way round? You may find that you only have a few friends, is because you are selling your bad habits/bad character to others, and unless they like your bad character (which is highly unlikely), they may not find you again, and look for you again...

Hence, every company, every body, will like to hide and diminish their bad points, and sell their good points to others!

Since I have learned the principles of marketing, and some of you have studied it too, I guess you should know the 4Ps and STP of Marketing. Yes.

I will start writing the first P - Product.

So stay tuned!

Money Management Habits 2

2009-12-09T10:13:00.004+08:00

So now you know how to put your money in 6 different jars. You can recap the 6 Jars System here again. :D

Next up! How should you do it? When should you start putting in your money into these 6 jars?

The answer is...

Divide all your money up into these jars once you get them!

In other words...

PAY YOURSELF FIRST!

Once you get your pay/allowance, divide them into the 6 jars accordingly. 6 jars, and just divide them up.

Nothing is more important than yourself. Not your phone bills, not your latest gadget, not your monthly car loans/rentals... You are most Important!!

Why I say this.

I had a friend while I'm still serving national service in APD. He's a regular. And his monthly salary is about 2000+. He has to minus CPF contributions, so that left with around 1700+.

Whenever he got his money, he use it to pay his monthly bike installments, his bills, then upgrade his bike also. In the end, he is just left with around $500 for the entire month. He have not add in his daily expenses, petrol for his bike, his indulgences.

And so, he always complained that he has no money. Not enough money to use, no money to buy his stuffs, no money to save.

When I pop him this statement, "Pay Yourself First". He said he can't, 'cause he has too much loans/bills to clear, and he always left with $500 plus after the 2nd day, to spend for rest of the month.

And I told him what he can do. Set aside a sum of money for himself first when he get the money. And use the remainder to pay for his bills. However, he told me he don't have enough money in the end to pay his loans/installments.

Then, I told him, this is the time to force you to look into opportunities outside the world, to improve your income. If this income stream is not enough to supply water for your BIG POOL, you should create another stream so that more water can flow into your BIG POOL yea?

And it should not be the case where you lower down your means of living to pay off your bills/installments. Instead, look to increase your income bracket!! And that is the way to get more money, become Richer!!

So guys, Pay Yourself First. If your planned expenses is not enough to cover for your desired/actual expenses, Look to create another income stream, increase your income bracket, get more money IN!

And not lower down your living standards to pay for installments/loans/bills. You are more important than these banks/companies who are after your money.

:D

What do you think? Feel free to share with me!

Millionaire Money Management Tip 1

2009-12-07T09:53:00.004+08:00

OK!. Let's start with tip 1 on how you can become a millionaire by managing your money well.

Eh? You may ask, why this tip is not really about making more money, or methods on multiplying your money fast?

Alright, maybe this can come at later blogposts. But why most people are richer than the others, is not that they know how to make a lot more money, but they know HOW to manage their money better than others!

You can have a lot of money flowing in, from your job, from your business, from investments, from lucky draw, or whatever. But if it is not managed well, it will still flow out of your hands in no time :D.

First things First, let me tell you the 6 places you should place your money in. We call them your Money Jars. And how much money you should put inside these jars.

1. "Financial Freedom Account" Jar. (FFA) - 10%

Place 10% of your income, monthly salary, profits into this Jar. And money in this Jar must not be spent. It should be used for you to acquire passive income streams. Think of these as the golden goose that keep laying golden eggs. If you spend the money inside, it is like killing the mother goose that gives you golden eggs (your wealth). Start putting it, month by month, and you will see your goose become fatter (more money), and you can acquire more passive income streams to lay more eggs for you (money!).

Strictly speaking, the money in this jar MUST not be spent! In the future when you stop working, you can spend the eggs, but not the goose!

2. Long Term Saving/Spending Jar. (LTSS) - 10%

This jar is used for your long term expenditure, such as your end of year holiday, wedding dinner, house mortgages... etc. As it is 10%, you can also divide this 10% into small percentages, like 5% for holidays, 5% for my car... etc, if you have more expenditures.

3. Education. (EDU) - 10%

Save 10% of your money to learn. Equip yourself with latest knowledge, latest skills. Everybody needs to learn, and the world is changing really too fast. If we aren't learning new things, we are already behind others. And I mean NEW.

Take this money to buy books, audios/videos, attend courses, seminars, go for big events etc. Real education begins after academic education ends.
"Poor people stop learning once they graduate from school. Rich people start learning after they graduate."

4. Necessities (NEC) Jar - 55%

Let 55% of the money cover your necessary daily expenses. Food, transport, phone bills, house rents (if you have any). Many people tend to spend too much on this section, hence, they usually don't have any savings in the end. It's 55%. It may be lower than what you are currently spending.

If it's difficult to maintain at 55%, simplify your life. You don't have to eat at restaurants everyday yea? you don't have to spend so much on branded, or new stuffs so often too yea?

5. Play Jar - 10%

OK!! This is the Jar everybody is happy about. Erm, but it's not everybody also. Why you need the play jar?

There are people who spend too much time at their jobs, that they hardly have the time to play. They save up a lot , a lot, a lot of money, but they never get the chance to use it. Workaholics. This make their life severely unbalanced. This is not life!

On the other hand, this is the Jar that many people broke it on their first day they get their pay. They get their pay, and just spend it! but they still have another 30 days to go before their money come in again. Often or not, they spend more than their income.

So to keep everything in balance, keep 10% of ur income for play, and BLOW (spend) it every month. Spend it at a good restaurant, a short trip, have fun with it, to keep your life in balance. And only use the money in this Jar for your fun. Don't tap into other Jars for money .

6. Giving - 5%

Giving is you have to do, everybody have to do. Giving is a spiritual need for someone to grow.
Save at least 5% to give, give it to charities, give it to help others who are in need. If 5% is not enough, you can tap into your Necessity account for another 5%. So giving account-10%, Nec account- 50%. This is alright.

So this are the 6 Jars.

I've started putting the money I got in Nov into these 6 jars. Yup. So let's start doing it together yea! It's the simplest system to manage your money. Any queries, call me up, leave a message here, or email me.

Next! - The Secret Habits of Millionaire :D

Now is the time! It's Now!

2009-12-04T09:42:00.004+08:00

Now is the time! Why?

My Exams are over! And yes! It's time to do everything I want this season!!

Next up, I'm gonna to write posts on...

1) The Money Management lessons I learned from T.Harv Eker's Millionaire Mind Intensive Seminar.

2) Marketing Tips on Life - Based on Marketing Modules Learned School.

Then, I'm gonna write books too! I have written one on violin playing. Completed!
I'm gonna write 1 more! That's 2 books!

I'm gonna grow, and contribute more!

This is going to be the most productive time for me!!

End 2009 with a BANG!!

Next post, Millionaire Money Management Tip No. 1.

A Small Tip in Midst of my Exams

2009-11-23T21:50:00.005+08:00

Last Friday, I shared a short message about consistency and faith with my good buddies. It's my first time doing it, and I think I wanna do it again! and again! and again! And I wanna get better at doing it, improving each time I did it :D

And on Saturday Expo Svc, Rev Casey Treat shared the same thing! Consistency and Faith! Wow! Is it such coincidental? Haha. It may appear coincidental at first, but after few thoughts, it's not really that coincidental I think.

Just to recapitulate, I talked about doing things consistently, continuously, and not once and for all. For all the things in life we have achieved till now, we did it again and again and again, and then we finally achieved it. Don't you think so?

Students who get A in their subjects, don't study one whole chunk in a day before exam, but little bit by bit, everyday. People who got their slim body exercise everyday, and not exhaust the body in a day. Sounds like our National Service? Wake up so early in morning everyday? Why some people can live so healthily till such ripe age? They consume healthy foods and supplementation everyday, or start eating just before they are falling sick?

Ya. So basically, the answer is every(whatever). In fact, everyday is enough for most of us. For me too. For every action to become a habit, it takes 21 days (some say 28) of consistent actions. This goes the same for good habits, and bad habits. Bad habits are easier to form anyway :D
Ok! that's basically what I mentioned that day, and simplified of what Rev Casey said.

Why I wouldn't say it's coincidental for me to share the same message as him.

Because this is the truth! :D It is one of the factors for success! Hence, anyone who is sharing tips for success, to get what you want etc, will mention this. Doing simple things everyday. It is always these simple things that we neglected that will actually give us what we want. We always think that we need to do BIG, Difficult things in order to be successful. E.g. We need to run marathons to get fit. But simple runs of 30 mins everyday is enough. (everyday appears again -.-)

I get this tip of 'doing simple things everyday' not from a book, but from a successful person I know. We often complicate things, and often forget the simple stuffs to do. As things get complicated, we get confused, and in the end we won't get started.

Alright, so here's the little tips to kick start a great weekend to you guys :D. Do simple things everyday. Don't complicate matters.

I just completed my 3 papers in 1 day. Last being Marketing. It's open-book test. I brought in a handout, and a textbook, which I never opened before, but I brought it in, since it's allowed.

Even though I didn't read the Marketing textbook, I read many other books on marketing, ways to increase sales for companies, marketing ideas for free, and some super salesman books. In the end, I referred to the textbook once, to look for definition of 'Integrated Marketing Program', and that's all. For the rest of the paper, it asks you to give ideas on how to market this, market that. They want ideas and more ideas and suggestions from you!

Thank God I'm being exposed to these marketing books, if not I wouldn't have written down those suggestions. It's always good to read books other than textbooks. Especially for Marketing. Marketing is Living, and not Dead. In other words, knowing all marketing definitions and terms got no use. It is only useful when we know how to use it! And these marketing ideas are found in these marketing books! :D

*If your company needs you to market something, surely you are not going to define what is advertising/public relations/marketing mix/4Ps.. yea? Your boss only want creative ideas from you!

I had fun answering those questions like "discuss how can you market...", "if you are the manager, how would you...". I wished there are more just now. But it's okay, I'm tired of writing already :D. Marketing is in my blood, and I do it everyday, so I smile at every question just now :))

I love myself more everyday and night! :D

Pst Joel Osteen. Author of "Become a Better You"

2009-11-19T20:38:00.003+08:00

This Gentleman is interesting. Hope to hear him 'live' one day. He is Joel Osteen. I got to know him after I read his book, "Become a Better You". And then, I decided to look up online to know more about him.

He formed the biggest church in America, Lakewood Church, with a hall which can fill 18,000+ people. Wow. I looked up Youtube for more of him, and I found this interesting video! Enjoy it guys! You will sure enjoy his jokes :D

A brief Update from 29th Oct- 12th Oct

2009-11-14T01:05:00.004+08:00

A few Updates from Me :D

From 30th-1st Nov, I spend my 3 days in Taipei, Taiwan. Wow. It was really a wonderful 3 days in Taiwan. Our Taiwan friends were really friendly, heart-warming, fun, lovely... everything la. There are photos uploaded to my Facebook already. You can view it here: Taiwan 09 .

Of cos, other than just enjoying tasty food in Taiwan, my main objective to Taiwan this time is to attend DASH 2009, 成就未来. It's held in Taiwan World Trade Center, just beside Taiwan's Tallest Tower, Taipei 101.

I just got to know the best 臭豆腐，best 卤肉饭, best 卤味，best 花生冰, best 爱玉(a famous drink in Taiwan), best 蛇肉／蛇酒, from my fellow Taiwanese friends. They are just great people. People out there! If you're going Taiwan tell me, I give you all the places for good food, shopping, low room rentals, best attractions :D

Alright, coming back to school life, it's gonna end soon. :D yippee! Of cos, as usual, it gonna ends with the Examination! I'll end all the papers on 30th Nov. Still 10 days left for me :D. Studying is part of my time table since Sch starts, and I have to add in a bit more time for revision. However, no matter how much time I put in studies, I always use time for personal education a.k.a Self Improvement.

After cramming so much notes, which I can say only 60% of what I read is remembered, I took a rest. And, I picked up a book to read. And recently, I read the book, "Become a Better You" by Joel Osteen. Awesome book. Just when my energy has been used up in revising those 'dead' notes, reading just a page of two of Joel Osteen's book got my mind thinking, with thousands of thoughts & ideas flowing through, and I'm refreshed!

I feel that everybody Must invest time educating themselves to become a better person. This can be done through reading books, attending training seminars, listening to mentors, or at least, get tips from people who have skills you want to learn from (e.g. time management?)

I have some friends who told me they got a lot to study, so they study day and night, sacrificing sleeping time for study, but struggle in exams. I also have friends who told me that there are not much to study, and they continue their normal lifestyle, sleeping 8 hours/ day, and score well in exams. By the way, both groups are taking the same exams, but what's the difference?

Some says, they are born smart, thats why they don't have to study so much.
Some says, they have good A level results. So coming to uni, they don't have to study much.
Some says, they are lucky.
Some says, they come from TOP JCs. So its easy for them to do well w/o studying.

Oh really? When my friends gave me these answers, I don't believe any, and I squash them up. All these answers are Bullshit! By saying all these, we are pushing away our own responsibilities! We are not taking responsibility for our results. But instead, we are giving negative/jealous comments for those who do well.

In my opinion, it boils down to 1 word discipline. Talk is Cheap. Everybody, Anybody out there can say they have discipline. "I brush my teeth everyday, I bathe everyday..." Yup. These shows that you have discipline! :D However, do you know what's the most scariest thing to do that have frightened most people about Discipline?

The most scariest thing is to do it EVERYDAY. Doing the action is not a problem. But doing it EVERYDAY is a problem. Reading a book is not a problem, but doing it EVERYDAY may be a problem. Stop smoking for 1 day is possible. But stop it every single day? Running 2.4km is not a problem, but doing it EVERYDAY may be a problem. Standing in front for public speaking is not a problem, but dare to do it everyday? Haha.

When I learned it, it makes a lot of sense! Doesn't it? The reason why sometimes we stop doing something, is because we lack the discipline. And I'm guilty of that too. Haha. Hence, if you got a chance to know some successful people, ask them, talk to them. They will tell you that, they are successful, because they are doing things that bring them success, every single day, and it's been part of their lives!

Yup. So my friends here, hope that you have learn a little bit more about discipline :D. I'll elaborate more next time :D Still have some more tips to share here. Next time maybe? See yea!

T Harv Eker's Millionaire Mind Intensive Ticket Giveaway.

2009-11-03T13:14:00.004+08:00

T. Harv Eker's Millionaire Mind Intensive 3 day event will be held in Singapore Expo from 13th-15th November 2009. You can get a free ticket to attend this seminar , "A Weekend that will change your Financial Life Forever!". Just message me, email me, comment at this post, at the chatbox, whatever, to know how to get your free ticket :D

i

"I Need You" by Leann Rimes. Video is Up!

2009-10-26T23:35:00.003+08:00

Yes. As promised, the video of the recording is up! Enjoy it guys, and share with me your comments, like how I can improve, or any song you would like to hear in the future! Thank you guys, and I will put it up at the sidebar of my blog too :D

Wonderful Performance again!

2009-10-25T18:00:00.015+08:00

YES! Another wonderful performance on stage. But this time, there are 3 times more audience than the last time when I perform 'Viva La Vida'. Yesterday, I played in 2 songs this time round, in 'Kiss Goodbye', song by Wang LiHom, and 'I Need You', song by Leann Rimes. Andrew sang in 'Kiss Goodbye', and Maria in 'I Need You'.

It's Touch of Heaven 3, and probably the last episode of the year. And all performances did extremely well, till everyone don't want to leave in the end. Haha. It's a series of impressive performances, with singing, dancing by the 'Lady GaGas', Beat-boXing, etc.

Maybe the pictures can say more :D

Beat BoXing by Reynaldo

安静 by Royston

I'm Yours by Sean and Jag

The GaGas on stage!

The V-Girls! Val and Vanessa with their self-composed song :D

"Kiss Goodbye" Andrew singing, I'm on the violin, and Jeff on the Guitar.

Waiting to play.

"I Need You", sung by Maria.

John and Ryan with Bon Jovi's "I'll be there for You!"

Last but not least, the Fantastic Audience!!

There are a lot more pictures on my Facebook albums, and many other uploaded by others. I heard there are recordings of the performances too!! Haha. I'm gonna get it and uploaded it to YouTube so you guys can see. :D

For this mini-concert, I was only notified to be involved in it 7 days before it. Then, the song I was playing was only decided last Tuesday, 4 days before the concert. We had only 1 combined performance on Wed night, 3 days before concert. I transpose my piece 3 times into different keys, and was settled on Thursday, 2 days before concert. And we had a final run through 3 hours before concert. Despite all these last minutes, we did it with a BANG!! ( or Boomz if you want :P )

All these last minutes would not have been possible, without the help of guitar pros like John & Jeff & Jag, singing pro like Valerie, Vanessa, Royston, Maria, Andrew, Sean... :D

Lastly, no matter it is last minute or not,

If there's a will, there's a way :D

Yup.

Before I end, thanks Kenneth for his camera skills.

This picture is nice, and I love it! :D

A Meetup with Mr Tony.

2009-10-18T12:33:00.006+08:00

After 1 month, I met up with my mentor, Mr Tony again. He reached Sg from KL. Yes. It's always great to meet up with him, when my life will just be recharged again! :D Superb life-changing tips from him.

,
I met him in office around 5pm on Wednesday, and me and Bingyang talked with him till 2am the next day. Yea. But we are not talking only. We are exchanging ideas, and he shared a lot of tips with us, on time management, influence, world issues, relationships, peak performances, leaderships, communication and thinking skills, and persuasion skills. That's all i remembered now. I can say he's a supreme being, and he's the Chinese version of Anthony Robbins. Seriously.

He told us his life story, when he was in university like us. He was a Top student from TungHai University, one of the top universities in Taiwan. There, he studied computing or (computer engineering), which is one of the hottest topic for the future. It was 20 years then. 20 years ago, 1988-1989.. what are the computer we have? haha.

He was studying the designing of programs for computer, connecting network connections...etc, all those computer stuffs... he's in Taiwan Navy while serving their NS, and he's responsible for connecting the computers and networks in the Navy department. Then, 20 yrs ago, he told us, anyone who studies computer stuffs are considered geniuses...

He was approached by US university MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, top 10 university in the world now) to further his studies in computing, and sponsored by US Navy. He did not proceed then, and he told us why.

His senior, also a lieutenant in his Navy, graduated as a Top student from NTU(National Taiwan University). He then continued his study at MIT. He sent back letters to Mr Tony and his friends in the Navy, to tell them about the school life in MIT. However, after a few years, he stopped sending letters. They wondered if anything had happened to him. And they knew that he has become mentally unsound.

He suffered tremendous stress at MIT, and even though he was a Top Student from the Top University of Taiwan, he was just a nobody in MIT, where all the world computer geniuses gather. The point he was trying to make is...

"The best is yet to be, and there will always somebody who is better than you, when you think you are the best".

This is the quote by him:
"世界上没有 “最好”，只有 “更好”，没有 '最烂'，只有 '更烂' ”

And looking at the world now, computers are everywhere, even 2-3 year old kids know how to blog! Things are changing too fast, and he don't know what is he studying all those computer stuffs for...

I watched this video before, and since it has been recently brought up by many people on FB, let's watch it together yea...

If you have watched it, you would have think that the world is changing Super Fast, not just 'fast'. Everything we used 5 years ago have changed.(where is Facebook 5 years ago)? This is a reminder to us that everything is going to change, and if we are Unable to change, we will not be able to survive.

Another quote for you guys...

"It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change."
~Charles Darwin

Undoubtedly true.

Let's look at the whole wide world, and compare yourself to the world if you want, and not think that you're the best in Singapore( you're just 1 in 4 million people). Because in China, there are 325 people just like you. (1.3 billion / 4 million). Then, you are just the top 325 people...

There's no point comparing and fighting with these people. And if you're studying in NUS/NTU, you guys know better. And a lot more better!!, because you and me have first hand experience with them -.-

People who are smart, tap into areas where these Chinese geniuses have not excelled, and WE excelled in them, and NOT competing directly in areas where they have dominated, e.g. Engineering, (esp. EEE. Of the 10 Chinese student I know in NTU, 5 of them are PhD in EEE students -.-)

Discover new areas, tap into uncovered niches, before the Chinese and Indians came and dominate it.

So, this is just a very very short story of Mr Tony in his school life. I haven't even shared what he told us on how he excelled as No.1 for 4 years in his Uni, and his success in life.

Stay tuned guys!

Real life after midterms!!

2009-10-13T22:34:00.003+08:00

Yup! My midterms are over in just 1 day. They ended together on Saturday, and it's time to get back my real life! Tests wise, I'm satisfied with my performance that day, even though test results have not returned. Pass or fail, I will still take it:D

And next, my real life!!

Never waste your life studying away. Get a real life. Life is NEVER about waking up, going to Macs to find a seat, put on your ear phones, lay the table with all your assignment and papers, and start MUGGING!! This will shorten your life, and you will look back how much time you have sacrificed mugging.

Right after my tests, I create another video from my violin concert recording. I wrote up another page for my violin webby. I wrote up October's violin magazine for my subscribers on my violin site. I wrote up a page about my concert, everything about it. Click here to read it. I wrote up another draft for my site, just waiting to post it up.

Then I went out to find my friends! Talk, laugh, joke, eat, tell stories. These are basic needs of human beings. Connection with others. No matter how strong a person is, he cannot live alone. So when you guys mug, do take some time off during mugging too. Talk to someone, and watch some funny videos to relax your mind after forcing in so much information.

I also printed a list of scores I'm preparing to play on my violin again, with val on the piano!
Haha. I got a few pop songs with me(had a hard time finding scores). And I just printed out the songs I'm familiar, and available to me. I have "Bleeding Love", "Everything" by Michael Buble, "Speed of Sound" & "Yellow" by ColdPlay, "Reason" by Hoobastank(quite an out-dated song though:P).

Any songs you guys like to hear? post it in the chatbox or reply to this post, and I'll go find it! :D
I'm planning to put 1 up soon, while I still have the time! :D

I'm giving my 1st speech in Toastmasters this Thursday, and I'm planning to give an exciting one:D More details up next! :D

Enjoy your life my dear friends! See ya next post!

This Video makes me HIGH!!

2009-10-06T13:41:00.004+08:00

Watch this video.
You'll enjoy this even when you are feeling sleepy, down, sad... whatever negative feelings you have!

My violin concert has just ended, but violin performance is still burning hot in me. Just feel like playing and performing again!!. I'm addicted to playing the violin. :D

I wanna record and post more videos here on my blog and youtube to share with you guys:D
I will write up the post about my concert in the next post! :D

How do you find this video?

2009-10-02T20:47:00.006+08:00

Hi guys,

Watch the video clip I made below!:D(before you scroll down...)

How do you find it?

I created this video, on 1st October after my rehearsal practice. What you have just listened is a shortened version of a classical piece played during our practice. (the full piece lasted almost 7 mins).

I recorded it as a video, and edited it and post it here to share with my friends here.
I completed my creation at almost 4 am. And I'm proud of it! haha.

I'm helping my orchestra spreading the information about our concert, Journey '09, on 3rd October, at NAFA Lee Foundation Theater. And while some of my friends created facebook groups, calling and emailing, putting up posters on walls and websites, I decided to try out this method. Hope it works :D

It may be a last-minute effort promoting the concert, but I think it is still worth a try. The concert has not started yet anyway :D

Ever since I graduated from my primary school, I hardly have any chance to perform, much less in orchestra. I didn't join any secondary school, JC, or community orchestra. In almost 10 years, I had the chance to be a guest player in my violin teacher, Mr Wu's orchestra.

Orchestral experience is there, and I love playing in a team again. But there is just a bit of 'loneliness' within me, as most of the orchestra players are in their lower secondary (age <14), href="http://www.ntustringorchestra.com/">NTU String Orchestra. It's quite nicely done up:D

The day I went for my first rehearsal practice, I was told that a concert is coming up in 5 weeks time. Oh! I'm excited! Haha. I have the chance to play in a concert with my orchestra, right after I joined them.

However, I was being told of the heavy practice schedule before the concert. 23 practices in a span of 4 weeks. Many of them are on weekdays, and whole of Saturdays.
I decided to make the sacrifice. There are a lot of things I have to give up temporarily - not going home on Friday nights, and have to stay in room alone that night too, not able to go out with friends on Saturday evenings, fellowships, gatherings...etc

I want to perform well in this concert, and let the audience enjoy great music too. I'm not sure of any more concerts coming up after this. But I must make sure that every concert is performed at its best, and to always bring the best to the audience.

I'm very glad that I have friends who supported me and my orchestra in this concert :D Thank you guys:D. We won't disappoint you!

Check out my next post (after the concert!)

~Ding Neng

26th September 2009. 1 year anniversary.

2009-09-27T02:04:00.004+08:00

26th September 2009.

It has been 1 year. And I still miss you very much.

Time really flew.

Your departure has changed my life, everyone's life.

And it has been one year.

I had a lot of dreams about you in this 1 year.

I dream of you talking to me at your house. I dream of you cooking at your house. I dream of you bringing me out to walk. I dream of you holding my hand. I dream of you being taken away from me...

Even when I'm taking my afternoon nap in hostel, I dreamed of you waking me up for class.

I always dream of you, and sometimes I wake up hoping they are not dreams...

Every time I think of you, I just couldn't hold back my tears.

阿嬷, 我想念你。

Anothy Robbins Live Thoughts

2009-09-24T00:33:00.004+08:00

During the 2nd, 3rd and 4th day of the event, there are alot of lessons on Peak Performances. There are true reasons on why we are not using our fullest potential to work, why we are not maximising the energy of our body, and how our body is really working...

If we can make full use of our energy, and treat our body well with what we eat, we will be able to perform at our peak.

There are times when we feel so motivated to do something, the feeling is so great that we must get it done by hook or by crook, but everytime when we reach home, we just leave the thought behind, and 'I will do it tomorrow'...

The problem usually lies with the severity of the work to be done. People seldom do things, unless it has become an utmost importance, one that is "do-or-die"... then people start doing. We may have a project due in 1 month's time. But 1 month seems long. So we wait till 2 weeks later...

2 weeks later, we still have some time to spare, so may next week. However, time seems to travel faster than we think, and suddenly, deadline is just the next day. At that point, even though we are at our lowest energy level, we are able to stay up whole night, just to finish that project.

This goes the same for bad health habits like smoking. People know smoking can cause cancer, smoking can kill. But why they still smoke? It is because at that point of time when they smoke, they equate "Smoke=Pleasure". If I smoke, I'm happy, relaxed, energized. However, when the doctor has told them, "The next cigarette will really kill you!! " Then, they equate "Smoke=Death". That's when they stop and quit.

Another famous example. People go clubs and pubs and when they drink too much, they tend to vomit out. Then, they have severe headaches the next day, and keep vomiting... and they may even say " I'm not going to drink that much again, pain is killing me!!"

But you see them drinking as usual 1 week later. Why? You heard them saying they are not drinking that much again, but As usual, you see them get drunk, vomiting, fever...etc. Funny right? This is because the moment when they decide to drink again, there is No Pain! They have forgotten about the pain they had the past week when they are dead-drunk.

Everytime before we repeat those self-destruction process again, let's remind ourselves of the pain we had the previous time. This will really help us think twice/ thrice to do it again.

Our energy level is also a v great reflection of what we have been putting into our mouth. After this event, I knew that we have been putting in alot of Poisons into our body, and they greatly reduces our energy level in our body. There are also alot of myths on healthy eating and exercising which are not helping our body, but damage our body more!

With that, I had a 10-day challenge for myself. From 7th to 17th September, I followed a tight schedule and diet as stated in Anothny Robbins' book. Just a brief summary what I did these 10 days.

I exercised 3 times/week, for me, its mon, wed, fri. 7-10 mins of warm-up, 30 mins run, 7-10 mins cool down. Then I continued with push-ups, pushing myself to the limit, doing 5 more when my arm is shaking. Muscles don't grow when doing pushups from 1-20. They grow by 90% at the 21st onwards, when you are about to shout '' I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE!".

After my exercise, I took a pear for my breakfast, + water! No bread, no cakes, no coffee, no tea. breakfast is the time when our stomach just got warmed-up. And we should not force our stomach with pastries and creams early in the morning.

People say... 早餐吃得饱，午餐吃得好，晚餐吃得少。
" A Full Breakfast, A Good Lunch and have the least for Dinner."

Now, I only agree to the last part - 晚餐吃得少. True, we should not eat too much for dinner, as it is the time when we are going to sleep. Lunch, should be the time when we want to eat more! We still have a long way to go for the day, and that's only the time we are allowed to eat more.

We should also not focus mainly on these 3 main meals-Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner. It is recommended to eat light every 3 hours, instead of heavy eating during these 3 normal meals. Frequent intake of small amount of food gives us energy to work through the day, instead of heavy meals, which just made us sleep. XD

I drank more water per day than I used to. This is just to keep body hydrated, and it is recommended to drink water every 15-20 mins. We can't wait till we feel thirsty then drink water. By that time, cells are dead! And the simple way to test if your body is hydrated, I think everybody knows- look at your urine.

Maybe you guys can try out:D

I had a great 10 day challenge. Energy level is really different, and try it out you guys will know! :D

I'm gonna set another challenge soon! :D

Have fun guys :D

UPW - The FireWalk! You don't have to, but you will WANT TO!

2009-09-15T22:24:00.012+08:00

Day 1 of the 4 day Session...

Other than seeing Tony Robbins as a real person on stage talking for 7 hrs straight, the highlight is the

FIREWALK!! Yea!

"Walk on Fire?"

Yes! Walk on REAL Fire!

So let me tell you the experience and what this firewalk really means ( you don't just walk for fun, do you?) haha...

First in the day, we are given a briefing of what the whole 4 day session will be like, and
I get to see Tony Robbins for the 1st time!! after watching his videos and seeing him in books...

He is really a GIANT!! over 2m tall i think.lol

He Rocked the stage, Rawked the Audience, the even Rawked the Whole Expo Hall!

Time just flew, and the 1st time i checked my watch, it's 2pm....

2nd time, its 5pm...

3rd time... its 9 .30pm!!

Time for FirewalK! haha..

As what he said, if you do something you like, time really flies!!... e.g. Playing your favourite sport game, playing computer games, playing mahjong, watching football matches, being out there with your love ones... don't you think so? Time Really Disappears!

On the other hand, time seems to be dragging... in lectures, memorising textbooks... zzz...

Yup! Time for Firewalk!!

The RED HOT BURNING COALS are Ready!!

They are burning at the back of Expo Hall 2.

Look at the crowd!! haha. So many people are going to walk the Fire!! haha!! That's my Firewalk buddy from Indonesia (2 thumbs up!).

Yup!

I took my first step, all ready...

and next my partner,

then Val!

Yea! I'm opposite site taking picture :D The guy is spraying on people's feet to remove any hot coals stuck between toes...

And Yes! We 3 made it across the hot coals!
But me and my Indonesian friend went One more time!! haha. It's damm thrilling :D haha...

That's my foot, Bingyang's foot, and Val's foot. Nothing much u can see from here, haha. Our foot dint get burned to ashes after the walk, or become cooked meat either. haha. Maybe some of my leg hair got removed by the fire? haha...

That's the highlight of the evening, and probably the Whole event!

If you are given the chance, will you walk? haha... Maybe, maybe not...

It is really hard for someone to walk on hot coals, if they are not mentally prepared! This is true, and very very true.

Taking the first step out is the hardest step in doing everything, even the smallest thing, people will procrastinate... (Switch Off the TV to go do some exercise?) It's normal... for normal people.

People who are unable to control their mind can do everything. Everything is Possible...
But for someone who can't control their mind, everything is impossible...

If you can control what your mind is thinking, changing focus and physiology (done in a second), you can do the impossible! :D And that's what we do to prepare ourselves for the FIRE!!

Ya... You can say its crazy... won't your leg get burn? haha. Fyi, Firewalking has been done for hundreds of years in other countries and in some religious practices... and they are still walking on fire!

Firewalking can be done, if you know how to do it :D

Surely, you are NOT going to step on the hot coals and think...

"Oh shi*, I'm gonna die in this fire!!"

"My foot is burning!!"

"Will my leg get cooked?"

"I will never be able to walk again!!"

Haha... if that's what spinning in the mind, obviously you can't walk! haha...

It's the same; Before you start your car engine, you are thinking...

"Ah, My Engine gonna explode once I turned it on..."

"My tyres will burst once I move my car out..."

"I'm gonna meet an accident later..."

"OH NO!, I think I gonna die on the road!!"

Crazy it may seems, but these are the kind of funny ideas that came into our mind whenever we want to do something, so in the end, we do not do it. We know ourselves best, and we know what kind of excuses we give ourselves, lie to ourselves, so that we won't have to do it...

Nah, that's NOT the way to think!!

The best way to kill Procrastination is to TAKE ACTION!

Stop letting your mind find excuses to satisfy itself!

JUST DO IT!

Let ++++ Positives+++++ fill your mind instead!!

Yup, so for guys who have walked on the FIRE before, maybe it is the worst thing they have walked on so far in their lives...What can be worse than this?...

That's a great experience indeed. You guys should try, but not at HOME! haha.

Check out for next post! :D

Anothy Robbins Live in Singapore '09

2009-09-10T15:52:00.014+08:00

I'm gonna share something that may be one of the most valuable things I received till now in my life.

For 4 full days, from 4th-7th September, I committed 50 hrs of my weekend to learn something that will be very useful in our lives.

Its a whole 4 days course, from Friday morning, to Monday evening. Full days for Saturday and Sunday. The long hours seems to make people tired, but NO! You will never feel sleepy or tired or bored when Tony Robbins is there... the BIG GIANT will wake you UP! Haha...

4 days packed with events, games, laughter, lessons, joy, excitement, experiences.

Maybe you can see some more pictures 1st...

See the giant?

People filling in...

Giant on screen...

The course book...

Dance!!

The people behind the great light and sound effects...

Antidote to cure negative minds...

Alright,

I'm gonna share more of what's he has taught in the next few posts!!

Watch for the updates!

Can I say Michael Jackson is still ALIVE?

2009-09-02T16:58:00.005+08:00

Watch the video first!

Did you see Michael Jackson jumped out of the Coroner's van alive?
So is he still alive?
So do is he just faking his death?

Ok. That video may be a shock to you. It released a few weeks after news reporting his death. Ya! News has reported his death, and the whole world knew he's dead!

But who do you see in the video?
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Alright, the guy who jumped out is not Michael Jackson. The fact that Michael Jackson is dead, is True. And, this video is FAKE too!!

News have reported that this video is created by a company to see 'how easily people can be manipulated on the internet with hoax videos'. And indeed, there are really people who believe it!

And words just spread all over internet, with the video now watched by over a million people.

Information on the internet can be misleading, and one's proper judgment and analysis is important to deem if information is reliable.

Again, this video is fake, and share it with your friends if you want! (see what kind of response you'll receive! :D)

Kumar Drag Queen 3 parts

2009-08-22T16:50:00.006+08:00

Haha. Time for laughter again. Watch the 3 parts together! ( a bit of R-21...)

Review of my 9 month-old goals

2009-08-15T13:00:00.005+08:00

Hi guys Im back!

School has started for me, and I'm busying with alot of administrative stuffs. Yup. Let me continue what I have to say!

I did say that I wanted to look back at my Goals I set last time, all the way back in Nov last year, and had a deadline- the day my school starts. Yup. So its time to look at it again!

Let me post them here again...

1) Able to last a Cantonese conversation for at least 5 min b4 Dec 08'
and fluently b4 March '09

2) $20000 before Uni ( 9 months time )
3) Travel to at least 2 countries for Free&Easy Shopping b4 Uni
4) Improve Myself in terms of: - Communication- Confidence- Speaking- Personal Grooming- Motivation- Presentation- Financial IQ b4 Uni
5) Open up my Social Circle-know at least 300 more people b4 Uni

Yes... these are the ones which are due this week, the week my school started. Let me review it one by one..

1) Conversing in Cantonese.
Haha. This is due earlier this year, in March! Alright. I can't really speak fluently yet. Not very fluent as I wanted to. Conversation wise, I can understand more Cantonese words people use, at least 50% of the verbs and simple nouns used daily. Ya. words that are used daily in our lives.

I did understood questions or conversations in Cantonese, but I still had some way to go to answer or converse back in Cantonese. haha. You know, it's like some old school TV drama series... Someone speak Mandrin to an Ang Moh, but the Ang Moh replied in English, and surprisingly, Both understand each other, while conversing in different languages!!

ok. I gonna improve on that.

2) $20000 b4 Uni.
Ok, I dint go where near $20000. haha. Not even $10000. Amount I earned during these 9 months is just enough to cover my daily expenses, transportation fees, books, seminars, lessons, courses I've gone to. Yea. I can say there is not much in flow or out flow of cash. However, I did this w/o doing 8-5 jobs.

3) Travel to at least 2 countries for shopping
Hmm. I went to Hk, and Malaysia so far i think. Been to both countries, but not much of shopping, because I'm there not to shop. haha. Yea. So I think I didn't really achieve this goal. Let's make it happen again this year!

4) Improve Myself in terms of: - Communication- Confidence- Speaking- Personal Grooming- Motivation- Presentation- Financial IQ b4 Uni

Ok. I dare to say I achieve this.

Communication: I had seen myself communicating better with people around me. I'm not saying my vocabulary is getting more profound, my sentence structure is getting creative. No... What I mean here is, I can have a person talk to me, non-stop, and will never run out of topics. This include people who I don't know well..

Maybe this is nothing great to some people, but I can say, it's not easy for me at 1st. People tend to run out of topics to say!! and when this happen, the conversation becomes cold, and both parties have awkard feeling... thinking "damm, what can i say now..." Yup. I have somehow mastered this skill through extensive reading, and practicing.

Confidence: I learnt this, and have tried it. Here, I mean how to have people look at you as a person of confidence, someone who is not afraid of trying anything. This goes into communication too. Confidence in answering questions, objections, and speaking. I can say I need to improve a little bit more, and most importantly, applied what I have learnt more.

Speaking/Presentation: I can say this is more about public speaking, or speaking to more than 1 person. Regarding this, I have spoken to small groups of people, and I can say this is something I had not done this before. Not even when Im in my JC choir. It's really enjoyable to do it, if its done well.

Presentation wise, I did alot of presentations on different things, people whom I presented to should know. Haha. Some went quite smoothly, but some did not. Either way, I still learn to refine my presentation skills! After presenting different things to different people, I learn that presentation is not always about talking. It's about listening. Interesting? Remind me to share it here :D

Personal Grooming : Ok. For me, personal grooming here does not mean getting the Best Dressed award. To me, it just means dressing appropriately. Dress appropriately for events, for anything you go to. If going to a formal company meeting/ interview, dress formally. If going for a trishaw riders' gathering at a kopitiam, then just wear like what trishaw riders wear... and
probably bring a trishaw there too :D.

I just got a book on How to mix and match your clothings, so you won't look the same with the same clothes. :D

Motivation: I can say I really did alot of things these 9 months, and even though some are crazy, 'out-of-the-box' stuffs, it is not easy. Motivation is something that keeps me going. And often these are words from Above. So can i say I'm a super motivated guy? No!

Everybody has their Ups and Downs. There are people who can stay UP for a very long period of time, but there are people who stay DOWN and never go UP. It's just how they manage themselves. I wouldn't say I can stay UP for a super long period of time, but at least I can stay UP to finish something I want to finish:D

Financial IQ- Yup. I did manage my money well, calculating all inflow and outflow of cash. i also learn emotional control through the trading of Forex last time. However, my emotions still controlled me sometimes. haha. I spend what is needed to spend, invest what is needed to invest, and save what is needed to save.

However, I'm gonna improve more on this area!

5) Open up my Social Circle-know at least 300 more people b4 Uni
Ok. I had made a mistake in writing this goal down. There is no point in knowing 300 more people. There is no use in numbers. It's the PEOPLE whom I should know. But it's okay. I did not meet 300 people. But I met people who has influenced 300,3000, or even 30,000 people in their lives.

This is what that is important. Quality counts, not quantity. "It's not what you know, but who you know." This is important too, anywhere, everywhere, even in looking for jobs, or business ventures.

Some of the great people I know personally, includes the founder of Asia Speakers Bureau, founder of Netprofit Quest, a Property Investor who played Cashflow game with Robert Kiyosaki before, Millionaire mentors online and offline. It's really inspiring to talk to these people, they are Big Thinkers. They can really shape your life.

Alright. As you can see, I dint manage to achieve all the goals I written down. However, when a goal is not achieved, it just simply mean you have achieved another goal!

I will come to blog again!

Keep in touch!

Can we still laugh?

2009-08-05T13:32:00.004+08:00

Hey guys, current news on Financial Crisis, H1N1 virus, Passing of Famous People, Retrenchment of Big Companies, Worries about job employment and prospects... have made our days hard to live by...

But before you frown again,

Watch this.

Dream BIG Dream BIG!

2009-07-30T22:19:00.004+08:00

I'm back with my post! Fell sick for the 1st time in 3-4 years, and I can say it's not a very appropriate time to get fever, with the ongoing H1N1... But I've recovered! and thanks to my dear friends for their concerns and blessings!!

yup! so let me post again!

Let's ...

Dream BIG!!!

yup. How come I decide to post this?

This is because, it is something we do since young!

When we were little kids, our dreams are as big as universe. Our dreams are often becoming somebody Great and somebody powerful!

Little kids, and we are dreaming of becoming the World President, Becoming a Prime Minister speaking in Parliament, Becoming a 'Michael Jackson'-like pop singer, Becoming the Richest person on Earth, Wants to land on the Moon, Wants to own a Spaceship.... many many more...

Still remember yours?

I did remember mine. Whenever my dad brought me to Changi Beach to watch aeroplanes, my dream is to be a pilot of a plane. Whenever my dad drives to Malaysia 'GIANT' supermarket, I see myself building a supermarket BIGGER than 'GIANT' in the future...

So guys, what's yours? its interesting to think about it again:D

However, as we grow older, our BIG goals, BIG dreams, become small goals, small dreams.

From a World POP singer, we told ourselves its good enough to win our school's Talent-time contest.

From a Minister, we told ourselves its good enough to be once a School Student Council.

From the Richest person on Earth, we told ourselves its good enough to be able to survive in this competitive world, no need to have a lot of money...

yup... BIG dreams... become small dreams... and may become NO DREAMS.

Sometimes, we are even afraid to dream. YES! We do not Dare to Dream!

We stopped Dreaming. We told ourselves Dreaming is a Waste of Time! Because what we dreamt will never come true. So Why Dream?!? You see how we are lying to ourselves??

This is interesting... When people are asked if they ever lied, many say no. They never lie. However, they do not know that they are lying to themselves every minute, every second.

We keep giving ourselves reasons to support our inadequacies. yup! We lie to ourselves we can't do this , we can't do that. And we use some meaningless reasons to support these claims!!

And for this, We dare not dream!

We are afraid that when we dream, we are seen as somebody silly, somebody with crazy thoughts, somebody who are not being realistic and practical. So we are afraid of how people see us too, and so we don't want to be seen as someone with Great Dreams!

Let me share something...

There are two kind of Thinkers in the world...

BIG THINKERS vs small thinkers...

When you tell your dream to BIG THINKERS... let's see what kind of response you may get...

You: '' Hi Tom! I would like to own one Ferarri one day, like the one you are driving now!"

Tom:" Hey sure dude! You will be able to own it one day! How are you going to do it?''

...
small thinkers...

You: "Hi Bob! I would like to own a Ferarri one day, it's damm cool!!

Bob:"HAHAHA stop kidding dude. You drive the Ferarri??? hahahha.Stop lying to yourself. Look yourself at the mirror! You know it's impossible. Haha. Just ride your bike and be happy man!"
...

So what are the two BIG difference you see?

BIG THINKERS never laugh at people's dreams/goals. They take it with respect. For one thing, they have done it, and they know it's possible, and they would encourage someone to achieve it too!

small thinkers laugh at people's dreams/goals. They will tell them to stop dreaming, and its impossible. They will tell them to be Content with their present life, and stop wasting time aiming for higher things.

Do you see alot of small thinkers around you? Whenever you want to say something about yourself, they laughhhhhhh hahahaha at you. They may sometimes say .. "You are Crazy"...

And when there are too many small thinkers criticising your dreams/thoughts/goals, your dreams become smaller and smaller...and poof!

No more dreams...

So what can you do?

Share your dreams with BIG THINKERS! Share your dreams with people who have achieved what you want! Share your dreams with people who can show you the way to achieve it!
Share with them, and just not to small thinkers...

...

Talking about dreaming... there's nothing wrong about dreaming. Dreaming can give yourself a CLEAR vision of what you want to be.

However, how come most people still can't get what they want even after they have Dreamt?

Simply because, they just dream and dream and dream and dream and dream...

and never DO anything to their dreams....

Yes! A dream is still a dream. and ACTION is what makes a DREAM a REALITY.

Maybe I can say, Dreaming gives you the BLUEPRINT of what you want...

Then you have to put this BLUEPRINT into its Real Form.

How to do it? I share it again :D

So first, for all things to materialise, we have to DREAM! Let's not be afraid of DREAMING!

Maybe I can share some REAL examples here...

1) Founder of Microsoft, Bill Gates. He had a dream when he started out his company...

'' to place a personal computer in every home''. Some call him crazy, some say impossible.

But now we look again. Don't each of us has a PC at home, running on Windows( before, if you are using Apple now:P) ?

So has his dream come true?

2) The Wright Brothers who invented the aeroplanes. They are inventing something that can fly!

There are people who say '' how can it be? It can only fly if it's lighter than air"

So again... SIA / Jetstar / Tiger Airways / Cathay Pacific ... aren't they flying all over the world? lighter than air?? haha.

3) And lastly the Famous example of...

Martin Luther King Jr. 's speech of "I have a Dream."

Actually i blogged about this example in my previous posts. Click here to view it:D

So their dreams have come true!! And again, do they care how small thinkers think of them?

Hardly.

And what if they do care of those small thinkers?

We will still be taking ships to USA, taking months. Using a PC would not have been possible. USA Presidential history would not have changed.

So how about your dream?

Will your dream be a dream that change the world?

P.S. Their dreams come true, because they did something to their dreams! They do not leave it there alone:D

I did my goals last year when I finish my National Service , 11 Nov 2008.
It has been around 7-8 months since then.
I set my goals that time, by dreaming BIG, what I'm going to achieve in the next few months to a year.
Yup. I dare to say of the 5-6 goals i posted, I did not accomplish most of them. Ya.
I written it down, but I did not achieve all of them.
I will did a review of my goals next month!! :D

At least I wrote down that time, and I'm not afraid of people laughing at me at my failure to achieve them :D.

After reviewing it again, I will post new ones up again!

If I have done it, what about you?

Let's

DREAM BIG

and

make

DREAMS into REALITY!!

then, share them with BIG Thinkers!

See ya at next post! :D

Longest Total Solar Eclipse this century

2009-07-24T15:16:00.003+08:00

I didn't catch it!! Did you?

Success in 8 words, 3 minutes. Interesting Video.

2009-07-23T00:26:00.002+08:00

Think Big Think Big!

2009-07-14T11:45:00.004+08:00

What a July yea...

I recently read a book by Donald Trump, "Think Big".
It's a very good book. and it's worth reading. Humans need to think big. BIG.

I know a lot of us had heard of this "井底之蛙", or "Frog in a well". It simply says that the frog concludes that the sky is only as big as the size of the well. But when he finally came out of the well, he really see a big sky.

Reading into it deeper, many of us here are really a "Frog in a well", although many of us claimed we are not. I am one also. People like to generalise things too much. When they see something as it is, they will see it as it is. Like the frog, from the well he determine how big the sky is. And whenever another frog ask him "How big the sky is?", he will say,"as big as my well."

When people see others winning big money fast from 'Toto/4D', they think that it is easy to win money this way. Alright, they may won a few thousands. But they didn't count how much money they have put in, before they have won the money. Often or not, they usually pay more than they win.

Recent recession causes many banks to go bankrupt. Then, a journalist from Straits Time published a article, " Less students are applying for Local Uni Business Courses. " The journalist just did his job of reporting facts and statistics, probably from university applications. But what about the students applying? There are a lot of interesting quotes or comments from students...

"The banking industry is not secure anymore"
"My brother just graduated with a business degree from a local uni, and couldn't find a job."
"My parents say that the next hottest industry will be Hospitality & Tourism, as the IR is coming up next, and so I'm getting a degree on that."
"Science general degrees are still the best. With a general degree, I can choose to become a banker, or I can go and be a Maths teacher with MOE."

Hahahahahahahaha....

When I see these comments, I just can't stop laughing at how Naive, Short-sighted our young generation are. Let's analyse these comments one by one...

"Banking industry not secure anymore."

There are indeed many banks collapse during this recession, biggest being the Lehmann Brothers. However, this doesn't mean the whole industry is going bankrupt!. It is just these few companies who didn't handle their problems well. Remember the days when milk products from China contain melamine? It's the milk products from CHINA that has problems, and not the whole Milk Industry that is collapsing!. People like to look at failures to determine their opinions. China has problems with their milk, and all their factories are closed down. But other milk production companies are still doing well yea! That explains... Only the Fittest Survive.

"My brother just graduated with a business degree from a local uni, and couldn't find a job."

Ok. Your brother just graduated with a business degree. But that is just the sentence reported in the news. It did not state his grade, his attitude, his records, his overall GPA, his character, his soft-skills, such as leadership, his experience... many more! So who on earth know who your brother is, except you and your family? And so, people are using this 'example' as saying business degree students couldn't find a job. It would be very superficial, and naive to use this example to determine whether to take up a business course or not.

"My parents say that the next hottest industry will be Hospitality & Tourism, as the IR is coming up next, and so I'm getting a degree on that."

Yup. Singapore will be having an Integrated Resort, with 2 casinos. And people say there will be a very big market for this. So, what would be a better choice? Working in a very 'hot' industry, or invest in companies of the 'hot' industry? Alot of people see the next 'big thing' coming up, and so they want to work in there. But they do not see further. Working in 'Hotter' industry means higher demand for workers, means greater competition, means stiffer challenges. So when people work there, they need to be indespensible, if not they can get replaced anytime! Since everybody also want to get into the 'hot' industry. But as an investment, it's different! 'hot' industry will create higher demand for the products or services, and higher income flow, and hence more money generated in their pockets.

Another thing is listening to parents before making own decisions. I'm not saying parent's comments are useless, but I'm referring if valuable information are given. If his parents are some economic professors who have successfully predicted trends for the past 10-20 years, then ya!, their comments are very valuable. If not, it's hardly valuable.

"Science general degrees are still the best. With a general degree, I can choose to become a banker, or I can go and be a Maths teacher with MOE."

Hahaha... has anyone done that before? What do I say this... This person has no direction in mind what he want in his life. He make his decisions based on external factors. He's putting all his control of his life on external factors. So if he can he will become banker, if not he become teacher, if not... den what he become? He doesn't know what he want.

Example... this person is travelling out of Jurong. If the person wants to go Changi, he may have used the PIE. Because, he knows his destination will be at Changi, and PIE is faster. But if this person do not know where he is going, but just wan to get out of Jurong, he would have landed himself in many places. Even if he drive through PIE, he will have enter many exits, to the North, South, den enter some places, den back to PIE again, den enter some exits again... 'cause he doesn't know where he want to land at. By the time he has stopped, he realise he has wasted alot of time. The time can be short, a few years, or 10-20 years. When time is up, they dunno what they have done in their life. They can say they have alot of experience, maybe they have tried alot of industries...

Yup. Alot of people thought that generalisation is good. they know alot of things. But back to the end, "Jack of all trades, Master of none". On the other hand, Specialisation is the winner. How come?

Tiger Woods only plays golf, and he is the world no.1 golf player and the most famous player in the game. Roger Federer only plays tennis, and he is no.1 tennis player. Michael Jordan, only plays basketball, and the most famous in the game. Michael Jackson, famous for pop songs and dance. He does not go into performing musical or classical music. See it? They only need to be master of ONE thing, and they rocked the world.

Coming to specialisation here, I don't mean that anyone who specialise in anything will be good. NO!. Winners are only those who specialise in the correct things. What if someone is a specialist in fixing type-writers? What if someone a specialist in making casette tapes? What if someone is a specialist in fixing windows 98 OS? These ppl would have died 10 years ago...These are ppl who choose the wrong things to specialise in, even though they can be master in their field...

If you want to be a winner in specialisation... find a niche that will not change for years to come. Games of soccer, basketball, golf, their rules are still quite similar to, maybe 10-20 years ago, or just some adjustments to the rules. However, looking at technology...how fast they have changed, how fast they have improved, and how great they can be year after year. Look at the functions of Nokia 3310, and current iPhone. Vast differences.

Hence... I regard that newspaper report as a very invalid and inaccurate report, as it is written irresponsibility, and may have misinformed alot of people, especially students. It would be a killer, if someone accept everything what the report says.

My point in this passage, is just to bring the message of asking people to think big, bigger than their lives, because the brain can think as big as you want them to think. The brain is only limited by our own thinking.

Whenever we do something, let's see how far we can go, and if you can see where you want yourself to be. If you can't see yourself doing it in the future, so don't do it! If you can't see yourself standing in labs doing chemical works day to night, wearing masks, suits, gloves, and memorise scientific equations, formulas, so don't study science! Never say you will try to get interested when you start to work. This will never work.

Think Big. Look outside for what we really love doing, and do it. That's the real meaning of life. Get accurate information from people who have done it, and succeed in things that you want to do. Even if you want to learn how to rob, you should find a seasoned robber who has not been caught, and not a robber who has been nabbed by police in his first attempt! ok. this is just an example... not asking you ppl to do illegal things :P

Let's start thinking BIG yea!! :D

The Michael Jackson Video I love...

2009-07-09T00:12:00.005+08:00

He is a legend. You can just never get sick of watching him sing and dance!

Anyway, I enjoyed my 21st birthday, celebrated in a very very unique and special way, that I never thought of, and had far far far exceeded my expectations. It just can't be described with words. It's the feeling...

Thanks my dear :D

A Happy Lunch at Fish & Co.

2009-07-05T20:27:00.008+08:00

This Saturday is packed of activities, and it's quite an exciting though.
Firstly, I got a lunch for the celebration for mine, and KC's birthday at Changi Airport Fish & Co.
Got a good crowd though, and some nice dishes for our lunch. Alright, let's move on to the highlights.

Fish & Co. is known for its birthday celebration. yea. This is my second time there, and I stood up together with KC, and the staff do their Fish & Co cheer and dance. The first time I did on my 19th birthday, I was quite embarrassed. But I enjoyed quite a bit that day. Haha...

Then I got my present!

Presented to my by Francis! Yup.

And I opened it, it is a book! Yes! a book, and I love it. And when i look again, it is a book on the "Best-Sellers" shelves on major bookshops, like Times, Kinokuniya, Borders. I saw it before, but I just put it in my 'Going-to-read' list. But now, I got it! And I'm gonna read it :D

"Become a Better You" by Joel Osteen. 7 Keys to Improving Your Life Everyday. That's exactly what I'm looking for! Improving Everyday! A little improvement everyday, will snowball into a BIG improvement every month, every year!

To me, this is just the best of the BEST present someone can get!. A book.

I posted this on Facebook...

When you put your body to work, it will generate thousands for you.
When you put your brain to work, it will generate Millions for you!

Yup. I can say this book will generate my mind to generate millions for me:D Thanks guys! And I look forward to greater books to come! :D. After reading it, I'm going to pass it on to someone else, so that it will help them generate millions too!

Month of July, Time to GIVE!

2009-07-01T21:51:00.005+08:00

Hi guys,

We are at the month of July!

Time really really fly very fast. And when they fly, they never come back. Just last year, I was counting down to my ORD date. This month July, I'm going back to KINS unit for a 1 day briefing for my reservist. Time really flies.

For the month of June, I can say I receive quite a lot. And for the month of July, I can say it's my time to GIVE! I had learnt a lot of things, such as the little magic skills I learnt in Zoe Conference, the 'life-changing' words shared by Bro. Darren, 'mind-stimulating' words by many Wise people, and connecting with foreign friends in Facebook.

I just recently blogged about Bro's Darren words here:
1) Lesson 1: How long can you wait?
2) Lesson 2: Never judge a person by looking at his past...

Actually there are more lessons, I blogged it in later posts:D

I never afraid of information overload. I believe the more information I receive, the better
person I am. What I mean here is Good, Accurate, and Effective Information that will help someone change for the better.

Month of june, I came across a funny myth. I had a friend who called me 3 times on the phone in a matter of ard 3 weeks. To break-ice with me the first time, he asked where I stay, and where I am studying. I told him i stayed in Tampines, and going to NTU. Second week he called me, he asked me where I stay and where I study. I gave him the answer again, as i thought maybe he has forgotten.

THIRD week, he msged me in MSN, and asked the same 2 question!! I told him, "I thought I told you last time?" His reply was," Oh! I forgotten..." Alright, nevermind. Maybe he didn't hear properly last time. That same week, he called me again! He wanted to meet me for lunch, but I can't make it the last 3 weeks. I picked up his call, and he started saying..." How have you been..." and after 2 sentences of conversations...

He asked me "Where I stay?", "Where am I studying?". Wow. That really irritates me. I told him, "Hey, this is not the 1st time you asked me these 2 questions!!" He replied as "oh, I got a lot of friends to remember, you can't expect me to remember everyone's answers..."

Do you guys have such friends? It got me quite irritated, and maybe most of you guys, to repeat your answers for four times. Sometimes, I really wonder if this is a real friend, or just an acquintence. He told me he got poor memory, or alot of things to remember... My answer is BULLSHIT. Yes. It's just an excuse.

Let's see for example, If Johnny is an enthusiastic Arsenal Fan, and when Arsene Wenger, Manager of Arsenal, come to Singapore, and he gave you his contact no. and his time of arrival, and he wanted to meet Johnny and ask him to call him when he reach. You think Johnny will forget Arsene Wenger's number, and say, I got alot of friends' numbers to remember, and I can't remember yours? Haha. I think Johnny will even chant Wenger's number while he's sleeping...

What about Warren Buffett gave his number? Bill Gates? Brad Pitt?

And that's what I say, it's an excuse. Poor memory is an excuse. The reason is whether you have taken any effort to remember their number, and being interested in your friend. That's all. That's a poor communication skill, and it just irritates people :D

Last Sunday, 28/6/2009, I went to Johor, Malaysia for a Personal Development Course. So far, I have been to Two such courses. However, I will not say they are the same. Each has its own characteristics. The last course I've been to was back in November, a 2-day course. Last Sunday's was a one-whole day course.

I woke up at 5am, took the first train at 6am to Yio Chu Kang, and jump on to my friend's car, and reach Johor at around 8 am. The course is held in a hotel, and food and everything is provided. It started at around 9, and everything finished at 10.30pm. Reach back Singapore at around 11.20pm

To me, this is a very good course. This will really help you change for the better. However, I can say, not everybody who attend this course will change. This really depends on the 'attitude' you bring into that course. Attitude. If someone who is serious, he will learn and absorb more. If he's not, it's unlikely he will learn much, and hence, change much too:D

This goes for other Personal Development courses, not just this. It should be a course tat someone should attend it voluntarily, and willingly, not by begging or by force. It's useless. The person will not change.

For any guys out there, I would seriously recommend you guys go for at least 1 Personal Development Couse in your entire life. The earlier you go, the better for you. I am sure you do not want to realise you need a change in life at the age of 50-60 yea... And, it would be recommended to go for Good courses, conducted by Good Qualified and Well-known trainers. It will make your money worth-while too.

Yup! I can say money spent on one's self education is the wisest investment. A improvement in skills, change in thinking, change in mindset will reap more benefits than one can imagine, when actions are taken.

I'll come back with more posts! and kindly share your comments with me guys!. :D

Steve Jobs Speech to Standford University Graduates

2009-06-27T12:16:00.004+08:00

Hi Guys,

I found this inspirational video by Apple CEO Steve Jobs.

However, I would only recommend this video to people who are:

* Undergraduates, or going into a university soon
* Serious about their futures
* Ready to invest just 15mins of their time
* Open minded
* Having big dreams in their lives

Yes! I knew you are one of the great people I'm referring to, and I invite you to press the "Play" button, and invest 15min on it. This may change your life :D

Lesson 2-Never judge a person by looking at his past...

2009-06-24T23:25:00.005+08:00

Alright! After the last post on ' How long can you wait?', I got quite a few comments by some great people! So guys, if you miss that post, you can read it here! Come back again to lesson 2, which I will talk about

"Why we should never judge someone by looking at his past."

Yup. This is brought up by Bro. Darren too. He brought up during Zoe Conference, on 17/6/2009. It's a great conference which I learnt a lot, experience a lot, and will never want it to end, even though it lasted from late morning to night.

So the words...
Why we should never judge someone by looking at his past. I got to admit that. We do that often, and always too. I did that. When we got to know somebody, and when we know them better, we tend to judge that person, and we determine what kind of person he will be in the future.

So for e.g...
-We got a friend who has failed his PSLE , we somehow thinks that he will be a lowly-paid worker next time.
-We got a friend who has failed A levels , we somehow thinks that he will not be able to
enter a local university, and hence no good career prospects. Anyway, there's nothing much to show off how great a local university degree is. This post explains it. let's continue...
-We got a friend who goes polytechnic, instead of A levels, we somehow thinks that he has low chance of entering local university, and hence no good career prospects.
-We got a friend who fights in school, and we somehow thinks that he will be a great gangster, or a robber, or gang leader in the future.
-We have a friend who can't cook very well, we somehow thinks his husband will have a hard time eating her food in the future.

And so on... and so on...

Actually, that is what I did last time. I judge them on what they are in the present, and present a negative outlook on them. However, I'm not doing that anymore. I can say it's difficult, but it's another point of view I will need to see. And so when Bro. Darren brought this up, I can fully understand what he meant.

"We need to see people of what they will be in the Future"

That's the point of view we have to look at. However, I dare to say, it's hard to do it, even for me. But we Have to do it! There's one reason. We are only looking people at their surface, at their present. As we all know, people do change. And really, people do change.

I think in some time of our lives, we see these things we never thought we will see in life...

-the most stupid guy in your primary school whom you thought will never make it to university earns more than you...
-the laziest guy in your class whom you thought will never make it in life becomes your superior/supervisor...
-the most ugliest guy in your primary school whom you thought will never get a girlfriend got married earlier than you...
-the most quiet guy in your class whom you think will never stand on stage becomes a public speaker to a massive crowd...
... these are the things that shock us when we see them. Because, we never thought they would become so great, as we judge them based on what we see them years ago in school. What happen after we did not meet them, we do not know. And when we see them again, everything change.

However, things can turn out on the other side too!
-the most clever guy in your class whom you thought to be a CEO in the future, lost his job due to retrenchment...
-the most nerdy friend in your class whom you thought will be a nerd/'toot' forever in school, turn out to be a gang leader. By the way, I've got a friend who turn out this way...
-the smartest guy in your class whom you thought will excel in all subjects, got retained in school, and got kicked out in the end. I've got a friend who turn out this way too...

I guess all these may sound familiar to you guys too...

So what really makes these people turn out the way we never thought they will turn out to be??
The answer is simple...
" The actions they take will determine their route in the future..."

When you are taking the train towards the East, you will never reach the West.
Yes! So for the above few instances, the most stupid, weakest, lousiest, ugliest, fattest, or what ever negativity you can name, become the best, the strongest, the smartest, the fittest, the prettiest, because they DID something which change their life! So when the vice versa happens, they did something to change their life too!

Today, we all knew Barak Obama is the President of United States, and probably the World-Elected President too. However, by looking back to his childhood days, we found out that he lived in Indonesia. He stayed there for a few years, before he moved to the States. His parents divorced and re-married. There are also history of him taking marijuana, cocaine, alcohol during his childhood days too. Yup! Can we ever imagine a small boy like him, studied in Indonesia become a US president one day? Hardly.

However, things never happen just like that, if not people on the streets will think that taking marijuana or cocaine will become a president next time. No! things do not happen this way! What we need to look at what he did on his way to presidency.

First, he decided to leave Indonesia and return to USA, Hawaii. If he didn't do this, he would not be where he is today.And, if he chose to continue taking marijuana and cocaine his whole life, he also would not be where he is today, maybe at some drug rehabilitation center.

So guys, have we decided the route we are taking? Have we drew out the roadmap that we will want to walk in the next 40-50 years of our lives? If we do not like the path we are going, do we still walk on it, or change the route? If we decide to change, do we have the belief and perseverance to change the course?

Yes. And that brings me back to the point. Let's not judge a person by what he will become by looking at his past. You never know when they will change, and become somebody you will never expect them to become.

Then, we turn the eyes and look at ourselves too! So let's not judge ourselves, by looking at our past! We may have failed PSLE/O lvl/A lvl/University, or used to be the most quiet, naughtiest, lousiest, lowest in class... So what? As long as we stand up, stop walking that path, and Change the route we are walking, we will change ourselves, and you will be the one who shock your friends, not vice versa.

Everyone knows who is Adam Khoo, the CEO of Adam Khoo Learning Technologies Group, a millionaire at age 26, authors of multiple books, an Asian Success Coach, a public speaker... but in the past, he was a kid who failed in school, who can't do maths and science, who play computer games all day and night, who did poorly for his PSLE and ended by in a lousy secondary school... So what really change him? What did he really do? He did alot alot of things, and it's interestig to read his life story.

So what if we stutter in class when we read out a comprehension page, we may be a great speaker, or a world leader in the future?
So what if we are quiet and shy in class, we may be someone who is very influencial to many people?
So what if we are the lowest in class, fail multiple subjects before, didn't get into top schools or college, we may be someone who earns more than those uni grads, or even, be the boss of these people!

And again, before you have to achieve all that, you need to Change your road, Walk on a different path towards a Different direction. You will reach there in the end. *but if nothing changes, then, everything will stays the same, and you can really predict your own future. :D

So before i log off, let's look around us, our friends and family. See them once again, and lead them to the correct path they should take. See them as someone great in the future!

Share your comments!

Lesson 1-How Long Can You Wait?

2009-06-21T00:07:00.006+08:00

Alright guys, I'm back for my posts!. As promised, this post is going to be a Powerful one!. But wait, I should say this is not the only post. I should say 'A Series' of posts will make it Powerful.

I shall name it lesson by lesson, as I learned all of these in different days, and I'm putting them altogether. So let's start!

Lesson 1 - How Long Can You Wait?

On 30th May 2009, It's a day of my Sundown Marathon. However, that event is at night. In the afternoon, I went to Riverwalk, for a Zone meeting, by Brother Darren. It has been so many months since the Zone gather again. Bro Darren shared a lot a lot with us. And that is what I want to share with you guys.

Before he started saying anything, he said that what he will share will be a turning point in our lives, sound something great yea. To me, Bro Darren is a great speaker, an interacting speaker on stage, someone who is enjoyable to be with. I always love and remember what he says, as I can say his words can Really change a person's life. He has spoken in prisons too.

That day, he spoke about this...

On August 28, 1963, Martin Luther King Jr spoke in Washington D.C. and his speech titled,

"I have a Dream..."

This is a world-renowned speech as he is speaking in front of thousands and thousands of people. And in his speech, there's a famous quote from him...

"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."

A few years later in 1968, he was assassinated. America in that era is prejudiced against the blacks, and there were a lot of discrimination of the blacks. They were mistreated, they were not given the same respect as the whites. However, after 46 years Martin Luther King Jr made that speech, history changed. And his Dream come true.

On January 20 2009, Barack Obama, America's first black President sworn in as the 44th President of the United States of America. He has made history. Martin Luther King Jr's dream came through after 46 years, after he had made that speech.

So here's a question...

If you are given a chance, to stand in front of thousand and thousands of people, in front of the world camera, to give a speech of just 10 mins. yup. 10 mins will do. What will you say? What can you say to change the world, to change the lives of the people? An interesting food for thought...

Looking at today's era, people are becoming more and more oblivious of what is happening around the world. When Facebook changes its layout, many groups have been formed there to appeal against the changing of layout. These groups have gathered almost hundred thousands of people, to appeal against the changing of the layout. But what happen in the end? Facebook didn't change its layout. So what are these people doing? Is there a need for this? Another food for thought...

So what would you say? ... ...

Next, he mentioned about a research study that has been done.

"It has been studied that a person requires 17 years to become World-Class"

Yup. Tiger Woods started playing golf at the age of 2, and he turned professional in 1996, at age of 21 years old. It took him around 20 years, I would say, to be world-class, when he became world number one in 1997. 20 years, and he became world-class.

What everybody see, is his No.1 ranking, his titles, his almost-perfect golf swings, his happy marriage, the multi-million dollar endorsements he had signed... But who has seen what he has really gone through all these 20 years? Who has seen how much training he has gone through before he can become professional? Who has seen how many golf balls he has to hit a day? Who has seen how much pressure he has to undertake, the stress of becoming world no.1? Only a handful, probably his coaches has seen them all...

Life's like that, many people admire the success of others, love to be on the world stage one day, love to win titles, be world no.1, win endorsements, appear in world advertisements... but only few people are willing to do what it takes to get there.

Bro Darren talked about 17 years to become the world best. I would like to add something to it.

Maybe you would not like to be world best. So, 14 years to become best in your continent (Asia/Africa/Europe...) ? Alright, maybe you would not like to be your continent best. So I say, 10 years to become best in your region(Middle East, North Asia, SouthEast Asia...) ? Alright! maybe you would not like to be your region best, you just want to be your country best. 7 years? or your city best.5 years? or become your school/club/company best? Is 4 years enough?

So I have somehow shortened the number of years, to just 4 years. Yup. 4 years to be your company best or best in your school, or I just say achieve your dreams. 4 years. How many of us are willing to strive for 4 years to achieve what we wanted? If Tiger Woods can strive hard for 20 years, why can't we, just for 4 years?...

While achieving our dreams, we will definitely meet a lot of dream breakers. It's normal!

When you want to be a singer, someone will pop up and say you sound like a frog.
When you want to be a dancer, someone will pop up and say you are too fat for it.
When you want to be an artist, someone will say you are not artistic enough.
When you want to be a basketball player, someone will say you are too short for it.
When you want to be the next top model, people say you don't have the figure.
When you want to do whatever you want to do, there will always be a dream breaker.

No doubt, dream breakers are there. The point is, how should we react to these dream breakers? Let's see some examples...

-What if someone tells Barack Obama that he will lose the 44th Presidential Election, because he is a black, he is young, he has a strong opponent who is a white, with so much more experience than him, and there has never been a black president is the whole history of United States of America? If Obama listen to his 'someone', he would not have become the President.

-What if someone tells our Minister Mentor Lee Kwan Yew that, he has no point building up Singapore, as Singapore has a very small population, limited talents, and could not compete with many bigger countries around her? What if someone tells MM Lee that Singapore has many laws to follow, restricted many things, like chewing gums, protests, movements, riots and that will make Singapore a very 'Fine' country to live in? What if someone tells MM Lee that Singapore children had to study a lot of subjects, especially two languages, makes them very stressed, and he would not bring his students to Singapore to get 'stressed' by the education system?

If MM Lee listen to all these 'someones', Singapore would not have been one of the best liveable cities in Asia and in the World. If MM Lee did not set laws to restrict demonstrations, protests, and chewing gums, Singaporeans would not be a clean city, as compared to our neighbours. If MM Lee listens to people saying studying two languages is useless, Singapore would not have been a multi-racial country, which attracted many investors from big countries, like India and China. And if not for Singapore's bilingual policy, US multi-billionaire and commodity trader, Jim Rogers would not have moved to Singapore to settle, and allowed her daughter to grow up here and learn Chinese.

I hope this two examples speak alot about themselves. For one reason, they think of the Masses. They are focused on their dreams. They never let the 'someone' destroy their dreams. Obama plead for a Change in US, and he is not affected by what race he is, what his opponent is, and what other say about him being young, inexperienced or whatsoever. He kept his focus, and he did it.

MM Lee never care so much what other people talk of him. We Singaporeans know that there are many good things said about us, as much as bad things. Many overseas professors have often critised LKY of his ruling tatics, his control over the country, and the strict law and order. However, MM Lee onced said this, '' if you can't change a third world country to a first world county, you'd better....." That's roughly the sentence. What right has this professors got to say about what LKY is doing, when they themselves, only study a lot, but did not do what he has done.

To guys out there, if you have a dream, go achieve it. I would dare to say, many of the dream breakers are mostly your close ones, your family members, or good friends. If they are open-minded enough, they will allow you, or even support you along the way. But sadly, as you guys know, this does not happen often. We tend to let them 'pour the cold water' on us, and let them 'break our dreams'. In the end, for what they claim to 'protect' us from hurting, or choosing the wrong dream, we do what we don't like, and never achieve what we always wanted.

We live a life we want, and not a life what others want. YES! A life you want. We live for ourselves, we don't live for others. If you think something is right, is your passion, and you want to go for it, Just Do It! Why care so much about what other people say about you? Why care so much how people look at you? Remember, it's a life we live, for ourselves. We choose the path we want to walk, and with belief and faith, we walk all the way, and never let anyone, or obstacles hinder us from reaching our destiny.

Giving up? Oh! this should not have been one of your thoughts! People with beliefs and faiths of what they are doing, go all the way. 4 years to achieve what you wanted. Maybe, you would want to give up... but before you do that... let's read below...

- When Thomas Edison invented the light bulb, he failed 10,000 times, before he got it. 10,000 times, and he didn't give up. Why must you give up? How many times have you tried? 10? 100? 1000?. Remember. Thomas Edison- 10,000 times.

- When Donald Trump, from a billionaire to a bankrupt, with almost 900 million in debt, he didn't gave up. A few years later, he made a comeback, and he become a billionaire again. Bankrupt with over 900 million in debt, and he did not gave up. How much did you lose? $100?$1000?$10,000? $1 million? Remember, Donald Trump, $900 million.

-Colonel Sanders, the old man who created the receipe for Kentucky Fried Chicken, got his receipes rejected by many restaurants initially. However, he never lose faith in his receipe. He knew his fried chickens are the best. In 1955, at age of 65, he expanded his chicken franchise business. 10 years later at age of 75, he had more than 600 KFC franchises. Look, at age 75, he is still working hard to fulfill his dream.

-Sam Walton, opened his first Wal-mart supermarket at age of 44 years old. At age of 67, he became world richest man. His family occupies few of the top 10 places of the Forbes Rich List. At 67, he achieved his dream. So let's see. How old are you to give up? Colonel Sanders and Sam Walton never gave up, even though they can retire many years ago, but they continue to go for their dream. MM Lee is still building the country, at the ripe old age of 85, going 86 this year. He never gave up, how can we say 'give up'?

So before we ever thought of giving up our dreams, let's remind ourselves of the noble people above. They never gave up their dreams, why must we?

Just a last note... No one can say you are defeated, unless you give the permission.

So guys, give ourselves a time period to achieve our dreams. Wait for your efforts to bear fruits. Never gave up till the end.

Look out for lesson 2! :D

Sorry for the wait...

2009-06-20T01:28:00.002+08:00

Hey guys!

I've been idle for a while. Busy with some stuffs..

But...

Watch out for my Next Post!. I can say it gonna be Powerful! :D

Achmed the Dead Terrorist

2009-06-17T00:27:00.004+08:00

Haha. I think some of you guys have watched this video. I just came across this funny video by chance, and it's still funny even if you watched it many times. It got 90 million views, and that shows how Social Media brings a person to fame!. Jeff Dunham :D

I got a local U degree. What am I afraid of?

2009-06-09T23:39:00.005+08:00

What am I afraid of ?

Wow. The people who give me this answer somehow tell me that their degree is quite Big, quite Powerful ah! I got some friends who tell me this. They are from the local University. They think that with local university degree, they are untouchable in the future.

Nope. I'm not saying all local university undergrads are that proud and arrogant. Nope. I have friends, who are in local uni, and I always enjoyed talking to them openly, with their open minds. We share views and always talk it out whatever there are in our minds. However, it's the small number of 'arrogant' friends I dislike. They become proud when they are able to get into a course when their friends can't get in. They try to be arrogant, asking people, 'What kind of scholarship should I get? This $20,000 one, or overseas one?'' or '' Should I take Law only, or a Double Degree with Law and others?'' etc... when others can't get even in.

Wow. I think everybody got these kind of friends. Sometimes we just smile back, or just give a cool answer like ''I think this is better... If I were you, I would...", just to entertain their arrogance. I once did that too. But I got a different approach now:D

So What? So what you have a local U degree? So what you have a scholarship? So what?
Their reason is with a local U degree, they have good job prospects, they can get good jobs. With a scholarship, they are secured a job after graduation, they can get promoted, and get pay rise.
I agree with that 2 years ago, when I just finished my A level education. But now, not anymore.

After this Greatest Crisis that hit almost every country, especially the world's biggest economies which includes USA, Japan, China, I came to realise how 'valuable' a degree is. When the crisis hit, there are news of scholarship being canceled by companies. There are also news of fresh graduates not able to get jobs. There are also news of graduates being hit the most. People said this is the worst year to graduate! JUST GO GRAB ANY JOB!!

Wow. this sounds scary yea! That's the answer! So what you have a Local U degree?

Poop! another objection appears.
'' Yes! But Im still studying now, and by the time I graduated, the economy has recovered and I can get my dream job! and my scholarship won't get canceled. So even if the ecomony is bad now, by the time I graduate, it will be booming!''

I agree with that objection, but to certain extent. Yes. You will get your dream job, you will get higher pay, as the economy has recovered, and maybe its booming. But my answer, So What?
In Economics, after every recession, there's a boom, and after every boom, there's a recession. It just goes on and on. It's a cycle! Looking at previous records, a recession happens in every 8-10
years.

So what you are still studying now? So what you have not graduated? So what by the time you graduated is a boom, and able to get high salary?

Are you able to guarantee there will not be a recession happening in 8-10 years time? Are you prepared to face the recession when it happens? But the scary thing is this...

During the boom, you ask for a pay rise, you can get high salary. You are doing well, and may have been promoted a few times during this boom. However, when recession happens, who do you think the boss will ask to 'Go' first?

Of cause is the one who gets paid the most!. He will do a bonus cut first, then salary cut, then if things get worse, the highest paid needs to go. Why? Because he can always get someone to do the same job at a lower pay, and not so demanding too, as economy will be bad that time. He can use foreign talents, from China and India, when their pay demands are not so high as locals.

And when these talents come in, where do Singaporeans stand? Stand by the side lo. Then when they still got their degrees to show off, what happen? They got to fight with fresh graduates who enter the job market! Bosses prefer fresh graduates during bad times, as fresh graduates are always asked not to be demanding, take whatever offer they are given, and just do the job.

HaHa. What about the Singaporeans who are retrenched, but with Big Local U degrees they show off when they are studying? Will bosses choose them? Depends. They have higher demands of pay, especially they have worked before. They got local U degrees! But when did they got the degree? 5 years ago? 10 years ago?

Every bosses know that things that are taught in University becomes Obselete by the time they graduate. Yes. Its useless, or irrelevant by the time they graduate. Worse, their degrees are 10 yrs old degrees. If you are the boss, which kind of knowledge do you need? The latest knowledge, or the knowledge 10 years ago?

When you see what windows 98 is, and what apple software "Snow Leopard" is now, you will know how big the difference is.

However, no matter how much is being said, these people are still living in their own world. They never believe this kind of things will happen to them, even though it had really happened!! (Just look at how many jobs are lost, or how many people got retrenched in this crisis. I doubt these people read the news too. They are in their own world.). They only believe it, when they got it themselves. And when that happens, why will blame the boss, blame the economy, blame the company, blame the wrong job, blame the wrong major they study, blame the wrong university they went to, blame ''Why Nobody tells him recession will occur once every 8-10 years!!".
Oops. They forget to blame themselves.

Notice in what i wrote here, I keep mention 'Local U'. Why so? It's just a simple reason. I can't stand people who are in local U, look down at people who are in private University! What's the problem with studying in private U? or the problem of NOT studying in a University? I just can't stand all those smart arrogant people from Local Uni, laughing at people from Private University.

And let me state again. I'm referring to people from local Uni, who are proud and arrogant and look down people from private uni. If even if you are from local Uni, but you are not proud and arrogant and doesn't look down people from private uni, I'm not referring to you. :D

If getting a local degree is so great to be arrogant about, a secured job, a secured career, high pay, fast promotions, think again, and maybe think twice. The world richest man in the world now, Bill Gates, didn't even finish his Harvard Education. What's makes these people so arrogant about, and just a local U degree?

Again, I'm not saying there's no point to get a local U degree. What I'm saying here is not to show off and be arrogant about just a local degree you have.

This phrase came from ACJC : "The best is yet to be". When you think you are the best, there are always people better than you out there." Arrogance will bring you no where:D

And to all my friends or people studying in private universities, Be proud that you are in that university! Never get looked down by arrogant people from local Unis anymore! I mean arrogant friends only, when they try to bring you down with their local U degrees. Don't tell it to all your friends, you will be seen arrogant instead. Haha.

I never look down people from private U, and students from private U should be proud of themselves too! Whenever I see how graduates from private U succeed in life, or business, I always like to see their stories, and tell those to my friends. Arrogant ones. Haha.

That's a long post from me. Share your comments!:D

Andre Rieu & 3 year old violinist, Akim Camara 2005

2009-06-05T11:56:00.004+08:00

Hey guys, I stumbled upon this interesting video, and I'm sure you will enjoy this!
Take a look :D

Check out 5:20. It's cute!!

2009-06-03T12:54:00.003+08:00

This is a cute short clip, but read the meaning within:D

I don't think you want to live such a simple and straightforward life. Hehe. Enjoy and comment! :D

Have you found yours?

2009-05-31T23:54:00.004+08:00

Hey guys,

I have an interesting story to share.

Once upon a time, there lived a 70 years old man, who lived alone in a small village. For 50 years, he has been working hard, just to get by a living. He has nothing in mind, and just wish he would get rich one day. And he waited for 50 years...

On one fine day, he went out to his land. He wanted to plant a tree. He brought a spade, and started digging the ground. Dig dig dig and dig... and suddenly...

He found something...

He was surprised!!

He never saw that before!!!

He doesn't know what it was!

He took a closer look at it, observe it, touch it, feel it, smell it... And he was SOO happy!

He discovered that it was....

Oil!

There was oil in his ground!

He immediately stop digging, and abandoned his plan to plant that tree. Oil was just flowing out from the ground!! He was sooo excited!

He called up the town's oil company, and informed them about the oil he found underground his house. The oil company came to his house the next day, and pumped out barrels and barrels of oil. The company paid him 10 million of the oil found under the ground of his land.

He was made a millionaire! His wish had finally come true!

He became a millionaire at the age of 70!. not bad yea. At least his dream came true.

but Wait!

Is he really a millionaire at 70 years old?

or 50 years ago?

YES. he was already a millionaire the day he lived on the village on the land with the oil underground. He has been sitting on this potential 'gold mine' for 50 years. And he only discovered this 'gold mine' 50 years later.

* This is just a story. Don't take it too seriously. Don't go and dig the ground at your backyard, and expect oil to spill out. Don't come and tell me that this is impossible, as oil cannot be discovered so easily. This is Just a story. Read the meaning, not the words.

So what do i mean from this story?

Everyone has his/her own inner potential. Everybody has his/her own hidden talent.

Your potential maybe at speaking, dancing, doing sports, leading, music, joking, singing... Anything!!

However, have you found yours?

If you have not, dun worry. You will find yours one day. However, don't wait it until 50 years later. Look for opportunities to show off your talents. Don't wait for opportunities to come and find you. They may come, but you may need to wait for 50 years also. But if you look for them, you may just find them the next day.

Many times, especially in the workplace, office, people always complain and complain, that their bosses never give them opportunities. Boss never send them to workshops, boss never give me a team to lead, boss never this never that...

However, if the boss gives him the chance to lead a team of 100 people, are you ready? if his boss gives him a project that worth $10 million dollars, is he ready to take it up?

I think hardly, cos he complains all the day, about not given opportunities. He never prepares himself, he never improves himself, he never learn new skills, to take on these opportunities when they come. He never give HIMSELF opportunities!...

Hey guys, I know you are not this kind of person. Always be prepared when opportunities arise, and Grab them! If you don't grab them, others will. "You think the boss will wait until he go and hone his leadership skill before he pass him 100 people to manage?'' Haha. Everyone knows this doesn't happen. Unless your dad/mum is the boss. HAHA

So guys who found their talent, use it, don't waste it, and don't let it suppressed by others.

For those who haven't, you will find yours one day. I believe, your talent lies in your passion. Love what you do, go do it, and it will be your talent:D

* I love marathons, do you? :P

Getting 'As' in school doesn't mean you can get an 'A' in life

2009-05-28T22:45:00.004+08:00

Hey guys, below is a Must-read post by a 12th grader. He had just put all my ideas and thoughts about how schools are training us to become. It is an insightful post, and one that you MUST read. And i emphasize again, MUST READ.

Read it here.

So what if you have scored straight As from primary school to Sec sch to A levels to Bachelor to Masters to PhD? So what you have not? So What??

You must read this post. You will find the answer within.

That's the real meaning about life.

:D

First H1N1 case in Singapore

2009-05-27T23:37:00.003+08:00

And finally. It has arrived. The H1N1 virus.

Who's prepared? Who's not?

After spreading for a few months around the world, Singapore has finally announced its first H1N1 flu victim. However, based on Singapore's government precautionary measures, the person is quickly quarantined, to prevent the spread.

The government is prepared. But how prepared are the people? Do we wear masks to cover out mouth when we are not feeling well?

Recent reports on ways to prevent spreading of viruses. In Japan and Hongkong, there's a common practice among its people to wear masks when they are not feeling well. They would wear it out to streets, on the trains, everywhere they go, until they reach their home.Why?
So they won't spread their viruses to other people.

Singapore? Nah. No one really wear masks. Reason... I look weird when I wear a mask on the streets. People may think that I'm very special, 'scared', feel outcast. ok. But what about covering own mouth, nose when coughing and sneezing? It's just a simple practice yea...

But not many people are doing that. That's most disgusting and most unhygienic, especially people cough out Loud in a packed bus or in a squeezy mrt cabin. What to do? I think unless you have a strong immune system, it is highly possible to get it.

Generally, we may think that the person is just coughing, nothing much. But this may not always be that simple cough, or sneeze we thought. They will spread. So...be responsible. Take care of yourselves guys:D

H1N1 won't stay for long, if everyone is responsible enough for their own actions:D

The Movie that will change your life...

2009-05-27T11:46:00.003+08:00

Hi guys!

I hoped you guys like the insightful movie of "What the Wealthy, Middle Class and the Poor buys on Payday".

For those who have not watched it, get your ticket fast! The movie won't be shown here for long. It will be removed after 3 weeks. Get your ticket and enjoy it. I am 100% you will learn something different:D

Get your tickets here:

What the Wealthy Buy on Pay Day (English)

It won't be sold out. So don't worry:D

But the movie may just stopped for viewing after 3 weeks:D

Enjoy and catch up with you guys after the movie!

Contact me for problems of viewing, or sharing of opinions too:D

Who don't want Money?

2009-05-25T13:35:00.009+08:00

Money Money Money...

Who don't want money...

I think everybody heard of the chinese/hokkien song...

"What if I have 1 million?''

so the song includes.. I will take aeroplane, stay big house, buy big car... and so on.. alot of things they want to get. True.. everybody wants to get that...if they have 1 million

However, after reading books and thinking back.. I came to a conclusion too...

'Money doesn't make somebody rich, Financial Intelligence does'

So what if Uncle ABC, with no financial intelligence, has alot alot alot of money, but he don't know how to manage it?...

Research and studies have shown, and everybody knows... People who get big money from windfall, lotto, lucky draw, lottery... lose that 'big' money as fast as they get it.

so when Uncle ABC won $1 million from lottery, he will want to get alot of things, even those he may not even need. How long can his wealth stays?

Money is a tool, and a financial intelligence is the toolbox. If you have high financial intelligence, meaning bigger toolbox, you can handle big amount of money. If you have low financial intelligence, ie smaller toolbox, you can't handle big amt of money.

So what happens? Your toolbox can only fit in the largest tool it can fit in. So what about the rest of the tools? It will be at other places.

Coming to back to a more realistic example, Uncle ABC has only earned $2000/month, and maybe keeping a regular saving of $500/month. He does not manage big money before, and the most he may see is his few tens of thousands in his bank, for e.g. And 1 day, he won $1 million!
He never see so much money in his life before. And so.. you guys noe wat he will do...
After..let say a few years, he found his bank back to normal... then what he do next?

He sees that $1 million can just come with just a lottery ticket of..let say $10. WOW. so what if I buy more tickets? I can win more millions! I can get higher chances of winning! And so he continue to buy and buy..and he hit!, sometimes $100. So he will tell himself.'' Oh! my luck is coming!! I think I should buy more tickets, higher bets.'' Then he buy and buy...

However, he dint see it coming, not even the little ones. But he want to win back all that he has put in!! What to do... what to do...

For this is an example for low financial intelligence, and its normal

Why normal? School never teach what... So we learn from our surroundings, the society... anything we think its right... and maybe from the media too...

Why media? I think you guys have watched news or seen on chinese newspapers..with headline...

"Who will be the Next Millionaire tonight?''
Story would continue saying many people are queing at XYZ 4D branches, because these are the branches that has always won the top prizes..and has made alot of people Millionaires. And that's why alot of people are queing, and hoping they would be the one tonight!

Stories like that always makes people think millionaires are created this way.

Eh brother!! If millionaires are made this way, why aren't they on the FORBES millionaire lists?
If millionaires are be made this way, why can't I find this on the list...

.. Bill Gates, Mircosoft, Software
.. Warren Buffet, Berkshire Hathaway, Investing
..
.
.
.
.. Uncle ABC, 4D/To-to, Lottery?!?!?!

haha. interesting isn't it?.haha.

Millionaires are not created this way. Millionaires are calculated on accumulated wealth, and net worth. And so you see... everybody wants money..no doubt, who doesn't want.. but how many of them are taking the correct route to getting them. The slow and steady, and not the fast and easy route?

And by saying that, it all boils down to Financial Education, to increase Financial Intelligence.

From the old, historic, best-selling book by Napolean Hill's "Think and Grow Rich"...

" Money without brains is dangerous"

Yes. This quote just explains everything.

So how to increase my Financial Intelligence?

You can always read business books, e.g. Rich Dad Poor Dad, Think and Grow Rich...
to increase your Financial IQ. However, most people seldom does these... they always got an excuse '' Read so much for what...''

It's normal. However, I've got a short movie to teach about MONEY. It saves you the time you need to finish a book.

''What the Wealthy, Middle Class, and Poor buy on Payday"

Click here to view What the Wealthy Buy on Pay Day (English)

Enter name and email address to get your FREE ticket! Rest assured your email would not be shared and given away.
I will put the link on my right sidebar, so you can get your free ticket anytime you want to. :D

If watching this video will 'waste' your time, and think its 'useless', I recommend that its better to press the "Back" button on the top left hand corner of your browser... and continue to look for BIG prize lotteries!!

Till then :D

I love failures. Do you?

2009-05-21T23:46:00.002+08:00

Fail. It seems to be scary word.

Remember in school, no students like to see this word on their work, especially exams. When you see tat, you will think of "What's next" to come...

Parents scold?

Meet the parent session?

Countless times of correction?

Worse! Retain ?? Repeat another year??!?!?

haha. everybody've been through that..
and to prevent that from happening, we studied hard, do what we are supposed to do, so we would get all those...
and we will get...

Awards in Prize giving day!!

Awards by GRC!! money given out too!

Recognition in school! ( that's a math expert!)

Love by teachers

Name on School's ''Hall of Fame''

A holiday trip to the furthest country from Singapore

Yes!. thats all what we want right? Crazy. who don't want all that rewards and prize money.

I used to be someone aiming high up for honours also. I always want to get the highest in class. ( cos teacher will read out your name, and your friends will 'WOW'). I always want to get straight As for my major exams. Ha. I dint achieve all these though, but my standard is still somewhere there :P

All these targets in academic achievements are always what the parents would like their child to get in school. When their child get these, they feel proud among other parents too. They feel good, and everyone in the family feel good too:D

However, after years of aiming for high academic excellence, i noticed a pattern in those high achievers of academic success.

Yes. High achievers of ACADEMIC success.

There is one word that is never in their 'dictionary'. The word is

FAILURE.

yea. They are born to win. They have set targets for themselves to top, top, and only top the class, the cohort, the school, the country. Nothing wrong. They are driven to success. They aim high and exceed expectations. However, there is one thing I also notice in them...

They never allow themselves to fail.Never. If they fail, they will fall behind others, and will lose all those recognition, all those 'WOW' they get. They don't like it. Hence, they don't like failures.

And they get academic success! they get straight As. They get into top schools. They get top scholarships. That's in school.

However, life is never a simple route to walk. You always go through lots of obstacles. There are always challenges. There are always problems that sometimes you never expect to face. So what to do?

In school, when you do not know a topic, you can search a textbook. you can ask your teacher. you can study more about that topic, understand it, and solve that question. you can go for tuition or supplementary class. Then you master it, and know that question for exam.

However, what about life problems?
What happens when they fail a subject? What happens when they dint get what they expect?(7 distinctions out of 6 distinctions) What happens when they got rejected for a scholarship?

Most often, if they are able to accept these failures, they will stand up, and try again, take failure as feedback, and start again. They learn from their mistakes, and accept failures as part of the game of life. After the failures, they learn their mistakes and come back stronger.

However, what if they can't accept these failures?
I think you guys know the answers too.

Some solutions include breaking down, giving up on life, changing from bad to worse as a person, seek revenge, or worse, and easiest...

Seek death.

Yea. I think alot of us saw these examples reported in news.

Students commit sucide because cant get into the top school they want. Students commit suicide because they dint do well in PSLE. Students break down because they dint get the result they have aimed for.(6 distinction instead of 7). And the latest, NTU student commited suicide.

Regarding the NTU, i prefer not to comment too much, as much investigation is on the way to find out the real cause.

But WHAT? 6 distinctions out of 7. And the student broke down, cry and cry for days? Maybe for us normal students, 6 distinctions to us seems like a godly gift and would even celebrate it for months. For that top student, it is a failure, as she dint get straight As for all her subjects.

The education system has indirectly cultivate the habit of elitism. If you are not among the elites, you are OUT!. If you cant get into top school, cant get straight As, cant get into TOP universities, cant get into TOP courses, you are OUT!. that's all the belief by singapore parents.

But what kind of children have they produced? Their children are taught to score 90marks and above, 89 not accepted. They are caned when they fail. They are reprimanded when they play. They are scolded if they dint do well in tests. Trained Elites.

What if they cant get their dersired job after graduation? Don't tell me they go and complain to the boss.
What if they cant get government scholarship because someone else get it? Don't tell me they go and complain to parliament.
What if they don't get a promotion after years of working? Don't tell me they go and kill the boss.
Accepting those as failures and try again? Hardly.

I used to have an elitist personality too. I aimed to get the best. I get the feeling of being the best when I top my class for my first time in Sec4. i got the "WOW". People look at me as their mentor. You get to showboat your skills.

Up to JC, I aimed for academic and CCA excellence too. I manage my time, study and play, and get quite good grades too. As usual, I got that "WOW" from my class. Always called me when they got problems. I will help them, so i get more "WOW".Haha. My form teacher buzz ard my academic success, and even my choir teacher knew it. I feel good.

I aim to do more things, taking up 2 CCAs, soccer and choir, and other activities to make my future resume looks good. With all these, I aim to get the "STUDENT of the YEAR" award. Its quite easy for me actually, considered I have done alot in CCA. Just left for my A levels to get 3As.

In the end, I dint get. I get 2As. I felt disappointed. i let down the teachers who have high expectations on me. I felt I could have done better. I went to the College day to get CCA award, but dint feel good, as the "Student of the year" award doesnt belong to me. It hit me, and I was quite lost that time. I dint get what I had aimed for. But I dint think much tat time, as I was in NS.

So into NS, I wanted to achieve more, to make up for the awards I missed in JC. As an A level holder, I am expected to be promoted to 'SGT'. Yes. Expected.

But Unexpectedly, I dint get. I was denied a promotion. As an elitist, I couldn't accept it! How to accept this shit? All my qualified A lvl friends get Sgt, with a $300 increase in pay. Those who are so damm lazy during trainee days also get. I, who dint get any MCs, and never miss any workdays, never came late... not promoted. What is this? How to accept?

That was the lowest point in my life. I was damm down. I wanted to 'do something' to tat guy who denied me. Whenever I met up with old squadmates, they always asked "Why you never promote?'. This kind of question, I just have to swallow my guts and answer. Its embarrassing, its demotivating, its intimidating. My friends just got to probe and probe. Cos they never see this thing happen b4.

From then on, I begin to see true life of corporate world. Your life is determined by someone above you. He has control over your life. Its not ur results, not ur performance, not ur behaviour. If he doesnt like you, he can say anything to you, and That's iT!. He just don't like you, and even if u r perfect, he will find faults in you. Can't find faults, create them.

My elitism takes a hit. I cant get Sgt like my friends. Im a lower rank than them. And until then, when Im at the lowest point of NS, I picked up that Adam Khoo's 'Master your mind, Design your destiny' book.(I talked about this book alot of times already.LOL. Read previous posts to find out more:D) From there on, I got my new life. And so on...

I don't favour elitism anymore. I don't go for high IQ. I go for high EQ instead. So what you get an super high Mensa IQ? Does tat mean that you are a people-person? Does that mean that your boss will like you? Does that mean that your boss will put you on the Promotion List 1st?

If these people think so, they can spend their next 10 years and try. No matter what, they have no control of the promotion, unless the promotion is based on RESULTS and PERFORMANCE, which seldoms happens. Policticking has to be a criterion too.

Politicking? It just a nicer word for suck up, carry balls ...etc.. you guys noe better.LOL

Now I don't favour elitism, high IQ. I like failures instead. I like people who have failed in their school, faced multiple setbacks, and survive in life. I'm not being a racist, but I can see malays, even though many of them dint not go JC, they have far far far far more EQ than those JC freaks.

I worked with them at airport. Im impressed with how they connect with the public so easily. They aren't afraid of shyness, aren't afraid of how people look at them when they handle case. They made alot of friends in workplace and outside, and they are never lonely. I like to work with them. They helped their friends alot, and are never selfish. These are people who will survive in the game of LIFE.

Elistists, they think they are superior than others. They think they are so educated that only people of their standard can talk to them. They speak their own language. They can hardly connect with the public. They have few friends, who are also elitists in their class. They think for themselves, just like how they are tuned to top the school, no matter what.

Haiz. I feel good leaving the class of elistism. It jus feel so great. There are alot of things to achieve other than academic success. Success in school, doesnt mean you will achieve success in life too. Game of Life is full of obstacles, challenges that some will fail. Elitists don't like. They like to go for things they are 100% sure they won't fail. And that is why...
you see many of the elitists are professors in school. They love studying and achieving good grades in school, cos thats what they are good at. They hardly fail, and they mostly win.

To conclude this, as this is quite a long post...

I love failures, and I hope you too. You have to learn to fall from a bicycle, before you can be a cyclist. You have to struggle in the pool, b4 u become a swimmer. You have to cook multiple dishes of tasteless food, before you make a great one. You have to fail before you attain success.
But sad enough, school doesn't teach you how to fail. Life does.

Have something to say? Comment it:D

Treasure your friends

2009-05-11T18:25:00.009+08:00

The month of may..
its still early, but there are alot of things happening already.
There are happy things happening, as much as sad ones..really sad ones.. that have somehow related me...

on Friday, 8/5/2009,
In the morning when i just woke up to a super heavy big rain, i received a call from Daanesh, my police friend. I thought he must have something good to me, as always when he called me. I picked up, and his tone sounds funny. Its not his usual happy and joyus tone.

He ask me if i noe Faruk, a police teammate from APD also. Of cos i noe. He's from TPJC, same soccer team for 1 yr, same police 126th intake, same division. We were once teamed together on standby at airport for some ASEAN Summit Event in 2008. I asked what happened.

He told me he passed away this morning.

I say haha. He told me its real, and not a joke. From there on, i started to listen more to him. He met a bike accident that morning, and was sent to the hospital. He died on that day early morning. He told me he saw Xiwei, another of my police friend, started posting comments on faruk's facebook.

I went to see his profile.

Its real, its true. He really moved on that morning. I told Daanesh we will meet at his house void deck, where his other friends are. My heart sank. I have just lost a friend. He's well-liked by everybody and i still can remember all the days when im working at aiport as a partol officer, and he as a admin officer. We always joked whenever we met, about police, sentry, A.ng, Oc pat, anyone..

And when back to TPJC sch days, we played 'A' division soccer together, even though he just played a few games in midfield. We also made fun of Nordin's accents, while talking.. syedzz, ding nengzz, ayukzz..every word with 'zz' behind.HAHA.

When I met up with Daanesh, there are also other of his friends, esp from airport and TPJC. And its quite sad when people gather in this manner. Only gather when something bad happen. Not for good times..

When his body arrive, i could recognise his curly brown hair. He's an arab, and ppl like to play with his race. But he doesnt mind, and thats why we enjoyed with him ard. I went up to his house to see him for the last time. I could still recognise him, with a few bruises and injures on his face. It's a very sad scene.

I can feel it. The pain of losing a good friend. There are alot of memories with him in airport and school. And much much much more his family and friends have too.

I have this photo for him. He's just the best no.17.

I still couldn't accept that he was gone. I dont think his friends can, let alone his family.

Thats on 8/05/09.
Rest in peace Ayuk.

Today, just.just.

I received a sms from timothy tan, my police squadmate from NS03/07, APD, and who used to sleep next to my bed. In feb, he left for australia, University of Melbourne for his tertiary education.

When i received his sms, which i thought at 1st was from aust, im quite surprised. But i read on..

He told me his dad has passed away on saturday...

Ouch. I saw him online and talked to him. He just came back from australia. This is very sad. He was in Australia then when he recieved the news. I will be meeting him at his dad's wake...

This May.

just 10 days passed, and in a matter of few days, bad news after bad news. When this happen.. Im thinking what's next only. What's next to come..

Life's fragile. When my grandma passed away, and when i saw so many people appear, i came to that thought. I think i have blogged tat b4...

Why must there be a funeral, or something happen, then everybody can gather together? This includes Long lost friends, your old neighbours, long distant relative, and many u have lost contact for many years. Why must wait for something to happen, den can gather n meet up? Why not on a more frequent basis, dun say everyday, but once every year is not too difficult rite?

At my grandma's wake, so many of my parents friends, their primary sch buddies, their secondary sch classmates, who never contact for 20+ years appear. Some had even lost contact, but received the news from friends of friends. Some of my ah ma old neighbours back at the old chai chee kampong appear. My ah ma's brothers and sisters also turn up, who i saw them when im in primary school. Why only now...

Many times, we took things for granted. I took things for granted also. We always thought everything, everybody will be there for us. We only think of the beautiful memories we had, once we lost it. We seldom treasure relationships with friends and family.

Sometimes, you always thought that you could have done more b4 the person left. but when u start thinking, Its too late... Then we start to regret. I did. And alot of people did.

It's good to start treasure your dearests ard us now, and do all the things we want to do for them, and have beautiful memories of them. We always want to leave beautiful and fun memories behind, and not regrets. Can we?

As it says: Yesterday is history, Today is a gift, Tomorrow is a Mystery.

...

March trip to HK!

2009-05-07T00:14:00.005+08:00

Its May time!:D

Alright, before i go on, i missed out an important post in my previous previous post (that super long post).

There is a point i left out!. It's a post I went to Hong Kong in March for 3 days!

Yes! 3 days may seem short, but its a wonderful 3 days!. Anyway, being out of singapore for a holiday is the best, no matter how many days or where u go. LOL.

Back to hongkong 3 times! in 2 years. past 2 trips in dec 2007 and dec 2008, now in early march 2009, for a BIG BIG BIG event!. haha

Val's brother is getting married! and she will have a sister-in-law lo:D

Yes. I went to their wedding ceremony, from the church, to restaurant, to hotel, to everywhere. We followed everywhere the bride n bridegroom go. I took alot of pictures too, but not using my camera.HAHA. photos are from val and her dad's camera. All pictures can be found on FACEBOOK:D ya..ps ah, i dint post it here. They are all over there:D

I stayed at Val's aunt house too, with her aunt and her cousin. They are friendly people, and its nice talking to them, esp her cousin. Haha. 1st time talk so much to him. Dint really talk much past 2 times i went. ok la. we converse in english + abit of small canto.LOL. Their house is at 18th floor, nice view high up there. downstairs is a stadium and shopping complex, a bus interchange. Damm shiok. alright. i think u guys need pictures to visualise, but i dun think i remember to take them.haa. i try to find 1st..

The wedding night is very grand, and filled with happiness and joy, as seen in many people's faces, the bride and bridegroom family members and friends. Another couple tied the knot! Parents must be happy when their children got married. I think tats wat every parent want to see. Because this also means a promotion for them! They will be 'grand' parents next!

After this holiday, i came back to sg, n just wished i can be there longer.haha. nvm, i will be back again!. its just a nice place i must say:D I got to explore more abt that wonderful country:D

Alright. Im going 21 soon. Im planning to get married by 26. 26 is a good age. 1 year earlier or later also can, but definitely not over 30.haa.a bit old ah. not healthy also.LOL
So what's u guys ideal marriage age? Just say it out. Don't care u are attached now or not.
Attached now or not doesnt affect ur marriage age:D everybody is still young i think:D

Its May time! Start a new month fresh and get more out of this month!:D

ill be back soon!. yes. soon!!!

Laughter the best medicine

2009-04-27T01:45:00.006+08:00

Hi guys, im back again.
After tat long post, i think its better to blog more regularly.Ha. But i dun mind writing long posts though. its quite fun actually:D

Finally, My friends have ORD-ed from NS. all of whom i knew enter in year 2007. Good Good! All of us have got back our much awaited freedom!. Even though im the 1st few to ORD, there's nothing much i can do, as almost 1/2 of my frens still waiting to ORD. So its not so good to ord early rite?.lol. alright. Enough of NS. its kinda sick to talk NS again.lol

So for tat, we had a celebration at Kenny house, to celebrate his FREEDOM from the force. We ate quite a lot, played quite a lot, laughed a lot. Its fun to have all the ORD-ed guys back again.LOL. Its just a tweak of the eye. and its gone:D. For guys going NS.. dont think too much. your time will come:D

So while Kenny ORd-ed, my brother got enlisted, on that same fateful day. haha. And its my first time taking a ferry to Pulau Tekong. I feel quite shiok:D . Got the feeling of going to Macau by ferry last december too. Funny thing before boarding, the NS clerk thought im the enlistee, just because i dress like the enlistees (t-shirt + jeans).

LOL. should have shouted ORD at him man. alright. Arrived at tekong, its a kinda Cool Island! I think its cool la, cos i enter as a Visitor, not an enlistee.HAHA. I don't think guys knowing they are posted to tekong, think tekong is COOL at 1st sight.Haha. For me, i can say im quite lucky la. hehehe.

My brother got enlisted to S coy, a coy i heard from fren tat its very good!. lol. so its quite lucky for him also:D so he will be back home on may 8th. 2 weeks inside. POC in june. He will make it, cos he's the 3rd one after me n my big bro to enter NS. Ohya, btw, my big bro going back tekong for Re-course after his Uni graduation in july, cos he yet to finish BMT during NS. sad for him man..

Alright, I have alot of fun with my friends this week, and i just love to hang out with ppl like them. Simple reason. I make them laugh, they make me laugh. And when laughter is around, you never feel bored, and never feel you are alone. Laughter breaks coldness between too. And I always love laughter, and always love to bring laughter to others. No matter how lame u can call me, I just love to see ppl laugh, cos when they laugh, i laugh, and everyone is happy:D
Laughter is still the best medicine:D

Ok its late. I will come back again soon with my new thoughts!

What Im up to for 3 months!

2009-04-18T03:20:00.003+08:00

Hi guys! it has been quite a long long time since i blogged. I dint blog monthly as what i said last time. But im back here now.. and i promise a long post here today:D

Last post, January 30th . Today April 17th. Almost 3 months of absence. I make sure i write 3 months of content here yea:D

Let me start by saying what im busy/doing with these few months.

1) Meetings, meetings, meetings
2) Constant self-education
3) Online Business
4) Receiving valuable life lessons from love experts
5) Stopped Forex trading
6) Gym sessions
7) March Hk Trip
8) Planning my future

Lets start...

1) Meetings meetings meetings.
Yea. What am I meeting for? I go to my office at bukit merah , at least thrice per week to meet up with my business partners. 3-4 times per week, to and fro, from bukit merah and tampines. Spending at least 5-8 hrs in the office, $6 meals, $4 transportation everyday. 8 hrs in the office? Yea. 8 hrs in the office having discussions, meetings, exchanging of views. Pay? nope. No pay? Yes. no pay. Simple reason. We are in the office discussing business plans, strategies, problems, discussions... I'm not working for a baisc pay/ hourly-pay. You may ask me why am i doing all these w/o getting paid? Company using you/cheat you/take advantage of you? NAh. None of these answers. Simple reason. I'm not working for money. I'm doing all these not for money.

'' Wah, i worked 8 hrs/day and im getting paid 7/hr, $1000+/month, and you worked 8hrs and not getting paid. HAhA''

I'm not working, so Im not asking for money. We are in a business project. In a business, money is secondary. If money is the primary factor anyone go into business, the business will not succeed. Serious. The primary goal of a business is to make someone else's life better. In the process of making someone else's life better, money is earned. People pay for something which makes their lives better. Money is a tool, and never a goal.

It can be a great test for me, surviving on savings from NS after i ord. However, I have my own reasons for doing this. I dint not get a job immediately after i ord, because I want to get back the freedom i lost in NS. I dun wan to get tied down again, called back to work, applied for leave, answer to bosses, play politics. I have it all in NS, and its enough. LOL. The 2 week holiday at Macau/HK during december is just so great that I have got back all my freedom!!

I am not wasting time either! Not earning money doesnt mean I am wasting time. What I learn from all these meetings are more valuable than money, and I can say, priceless. And, I have a vision in mind for our business. I have in mind what our business will be in the future. I have confidence in it, if not I wouldn't have started doing it :D

All these while in the office, i get out alot from the meetings, discussions. I see that it is not easy to have your ideas accepted by the others sometimes. What you say may be good, but people may not see it directly. And here, you need your communication skills to sell your ideas across. Not easy, but can be done. I learn to make cold calls. (eh, not as easy as people think). Making cold calls, since its cold, you have to break the ice. (no pun intended). However, it's a skill which can be trained and learnt. Talking to people from cold market may be difficult at first. You will sound robotic while talking (memorising scripts). But the more you make, the more natural you are, as the scripts have become your vocabulary. As what Brian Tracy says, do what you fear, and you will remove your fear eventually.

I tend to speak more openly now about my objections and concerns, and not holding back, afraid that i may hurt people's feelings if people don't buy their ideas. I learnt that there is no point hiding if you have serious concerns and objections. Furthermore, it is better for objections to surface during meetings, so that everyone can solve it together. No point hiding away from it. It has to be solved sooner or later. It wont be nice to pointed out by others in the future. It just reflects badly on the management team. While doing this, I thought of my NS days. Then, people who give objections were criticised. They are seen as 'acting clever' or not accepting the other's ideas.

E.g.: Very often, you will see that your supervisor is telling the team to do this do that/ not to do this do that. While giving his ideas, objections are bound to surface. However, most of my team dare not voice out their concerns! What is this? What's so scarying about voicing out your concerns if you are not agreeing with the orders! Common answers: ' you dare you say lar!' this answers spreads around, people pushing responsibilities to one another, waiting for 1 brave soul to stand up for the rest of them. Me and my friend, Daanesh, just stood up and said our concerns.

What happens? The supervisor see us as not respectful to him, not obeying him, we as arrogant fellas, bla bla bla. He labelled us as 'bad apples', cos we make our concerns and objections known. Who wins? The supervisor (cos he don't want to lose. He don't want to accept ideas from someone of lower rank than him). The rest of the team thought they win too.(They kept quiet and hence they are still the 'good apples' of the team.) Both of us lost.

However, the fact is, only the supervisor wins. The rest lost. They have to do what the supervisor says, and even it was wrong/against their wishes, they still do it. Just because, they do not want to be in their supervisor's bad books. This is very normal in coporate organisations. And often, it results in back-stabbing, ball-carrying. Nicely said, politicking. Alright, enough of NS :D

2) Constant Self education
After finishing my first ever book in 19 years, I have a great passion for reading. Yes! Reading! but not storybooks. They are self-improvement books, sales books, business books. I have invested in audio CDs too. No offence to fiction book lovers, but its just self-improvement books/business books that interest me.heh

The Best Investment for anybody is to invest in himself/herself. Not stocks, not commodities, not foreign currencies, not real estate. It's investment in self-education.

After my first ever book-'Master Your Mind, Design your Destiny' by Adam Khoo, I have gone to read other books.

-Secrets of Self-Made Millionaires by Adam Khoo
-Tony Buzan' Increase your Memory Skills
-Think and Grow Rich, Napolean Hill
-Creating Wealth, Robert Allen
-What I learnt on my way to the TOP, Zig Ziglar
-How to talk to anyone 92 ways
-Rich Dad Poor Dad
-Rich Dad Increase your financial IQ, Robert Kiyosaki
-Trade for a living
-Swing trading the currencies, Kathy Lein & Borris
-Secret Psychology of Millionaire Traders
-Gureilla Marketing for Free, Jay Conrad Levinson
-The Art of Closing a sale, Brian Tracy
-Write to sell, the Ultimate guide to copywriting

Audio CDs include 'Little Voice Management', 'Psychology of selling' by Brian Tracy, and some highly rated CDs to improve my communication skills.

Other than the 1st 3 books that i borrowed, I bought the rest. The rest cost over a hundred dollars. Expensive? Yea. To me, it is expensive to buy a book that cost around $25-$30. However, that's in the past before i started reading. I used to think, ''How on earn can a few hundred pieces of paper cost $30??!!'' The price of printing the book is just a few dollars, and they sold it for $30, and some even at $40-$100++!! With $30, i can watch 4 movies, eat a good meal at crystal jade, or a buffet at sakae sushi/ Lao Beijing/Nihon Mura.(every non-book lovers think of that too..)

BUT not after I have bought my first book!! Even before i bought that book (which pulled me to Times over and over again just to browse it for free...), I hesitated alot. I am not sure if that book is worth my $30. However, when val saw me going back to Times, time after time, she told me ''Just get that book, Not that you can't spare $30.'' I still hesitated. I never liked reading before, and Much more, I never bought a book before in my past 19 years(2008).

And Poof! I bought that book! not at $30, but at $24, after a Times 20% discount. What a breakthrough yea? LOL. After reading it, i dont think it costs $30. not $24...
It cost much much much much more than that. It changed me as a person.
-I let go of my hatred in NS against that An.g
-I looked ahead of my NS life
-I see NS life as a challenge, not as a work.
-I see the importance of not wasting anymore time in NS
-I see the importance of fully utilizing my time in NS, improve myself, and not wasting time playing politics in the team.
-I learnt how to control my mind, not being controlled by it (NLP)
-I learn how to think and act like successful people
-I gained back my self-confidence after going through a hard time in NS
-Most Important, it gives me a whole new meaning in reading books. It let me understand the true meaning of books, and not just the few dollars cost of printing that book. Its the information.

Im wondering what kind of person would I be now, if I did not pick up that book that time, which has an great impact on my life. Would I still be playing politics with An.g? Would I still be someone who hated reading books, less buying it? Would I still be the one loving to waste time gossiping about people? Would I still be someone who has no clear future path in mind? Would I still be someone who dare not step out of comfort zone to achieve something? Would I still be someone who is very hesitant in making important decisions? Would I still be someone who never look or think out of the box for real opportunities other than following what everybody does?

Answer: Yes, if I have not picked my first book, and went on to read more self-improvement books. On top of that, i got a true real buddy, Seng BY, who got the same interest of constant self-improvement. Without his constant 'bugging me to follow him to borders', i would not have read more books highly rated by Amazn.com

Bottomline: Invest in yourself. Not just through academic education. I have wasted 19 years of my life not reading, and wonder what could i have learnt more, if i had started reading earlier.
Guys who never read self-improvement books, start now. You still have a great future to mould. After reading this, and you still think that reading is a waste of time, then i got nothing more to say. People only take action when something is taken away from them. That happened to me, and that's why I made a breakthrough today. :D

3) Online Business

This came to my mind after reading Secrets of Self Made Millionaire by Adam Khoo. Btw, I bought his Audio CDs at $147, along with all the bonuses. Waste money? nah, its an investment.
This open my mind! I came to understand that, there are alot of ways to make money, not just by working for someone else in a part-time job. Working in a job wont make u rich. It just allow you to survive. He discussed numerous ways to create multiple streams of income- and that's what make people rich!

From there, it discuss about making money online, which everybody thought its impossible. ( i thought that too, internet is just for surfing the information, play games...) But no! He opened up my immature mind! Its possible to make money online, and alot of people are doing that already! There are gurus like Ewen Chia, Adam Khoo himself, Stuart Tan, the lucky bastard AdamWong, Mark Joyner, Ken Evoy, Jeff Derick, Edmund Loh, Dylan Loh, Mike Filsaime, Mike G, Derek Gehl, Alvin phang... and alot more! you know what? i subscribed to the newsletters of the above Internet Gurus.

Its a whole new world now. Money can be made online. However, there are alot of online scams which people have to be careful too. These are just the spoilers in the internet marketing industry, just like any other industry where you can find scammers. But that does not mean making money online is impossible!

Now, im starting to build a new website, be an infoprenuer. I paid for it. Yes, money for investment again. Im gonna build a website to make money. Read again, it's build, not buy. Sometimes, you can buy a website , a ready made website from some internet marketers. Some claim just that website can make you $#&$*!#& of money within &$& days. Its not that easy like they claim. You need to put in effort too. Making money online is easy, but not without effort!! If you are serious about doing an online business, do it seriously. Invest the time and money required.

Looking for get-rich-quick schemes wont make you rich. It just scammmmms you!

4) Receiving valuable Love lessons from love experts.

yea. the love expert im referring to is Pastor Kong Hee from CHC. He is no doubt a great expert in love n relationships. I dun think i can learn it somewhere else. He talked about the top 5 needs of Men and Women. yea. What are these needs? i blog about them next time:D

Why do I listen to him?

Simply because, he is someone who has been there, done that, and succeeded at it!!

In life, there are 3 kinds of people.

No.1 - People who had read alot about the subject, but had never do what they says before.
No.2- People who had done it, but had failed
No.3- People who had been there, done that, and SUCCEEDED at it!!

Pastor Kong is No.3 He is a married guy, with a family and kids, a busy businessman, but with time to spend with his family and maintaining a good relationship with his wife. It is wise to listen to him!

Listen to No.1? an example would be someone who has read alot about love and relationships, seen alot of break ups in friends, and thought they knew all the reasons for break down of relationships... but they themselves never been in a relationship before.
Listen to them? HAHA...

Listen to No.2? an example would be someone who had a failed relationship, and come to help you solve your problems with your boy/girlfriend. He recommends you to break up, and he tells you that breakup can give u alot of freedom, give you a chance to play girls again... bla bla bla..
Why he tell you to break up since you got a problem? Because he had broken up himself, since he cant manage his relationship problem. If you succeed at maintaining your relationship with your boy/girlfriend, it only show No.2's inadequacy in managing his own relationship.
Usually, No.2 will say that ' he is trying to protect you' , but in fact, he dun wan you to succeed, if not, you have proved his inadequacies.

However, in life, most of the people listen to No.1 & No.2 in their decision makings..

5) Stopped Forex Trading

yea. I stopped forex trading. But that doesnt mean i gave up on trading. Even though i lost money in forex trading, i never say making money through trading is impossible, and tell others not to follow my footsteps to trade forex. ( sounds like a No.2 ? lol) Nah. Forex trading will give you financial freedom, only if you trade it properly. So here, I'm not discouraging people not to trade forex as i have lost money. But i just wan to say that proper training and discipline of the mind is important to achieve success in forex trading.

Forex trading is never easy. and its not difficult too. Why i stopped? I have too many commitments. I have a business plan on the way, self-improvement commitments, and an online business to build. I dont want to overload myself with too much stress. I look forward to accomplish a task, before taking up another, instead of taking all at once. Giving up 1 stream of income will allow me to concentrate on another 2 streams of income.

Trading Real money has made me learnt the importance of psychology in trading. Trading with emotions is not trading. Its just gambling. I have not reached that stage where i can sit still and trade. But i never say controlling psychology is impossible. It can be done, through discipline and training. This is one aspect which you cant learn just by trading with virtual points. However, i must admit i made a mistake of trading real money too early, before i have a strong foundation in forex trading.

No worries, once im done with my online & offline business, I will come back to forex trading to create that stream of income.

6) Gym Sessions

Going to gym. I never go to a gym more than once per month. But these few months, i went at least 5 times per month. Simply because, I paid for a membership. A commitment i gave to make me exercise, train, do weights. And with the money factor in, you will want to go to the gym as many times, to make your membership fees valuable.

Make a commitment. Im referring to people who always want to get desired body shape, but never do anything abt it, or people who set it as their New year Resolutions, but remain the same at the end of year. Make a commitment, by paying for a membership fee (like me) , or tell all your friends you want a new body( makes u embarrassed if u fail to do it) , or an extreme one- clear all the clothes in your room, n buy new shirts with 2 sizes smaller. :P

7) Planning my future

It has started. I know what my future will be like, what will i do, what will i not do in the future. I have planned and this is the best time to plan. Never start planning after you graduate. Never start planning when there's a recession.

See the news? Almost 55% of undergraduates graduating this year do not know if they got a job after graduation, due to the financial crisis. Ok la. Part of it due to the financial crisis. What abt the other part? blame economy also? LOL. why not blame themselves for not planning ahead 3/4 years back? Why wait for economy downturn then start planning? If there's no economy downturn, no need to plan?

There's still a small % of graduation, who are not afraid of the recession. Why? They have planned! Some had started their own business during sch years, making a living from their business, which means, they may not need a job that urgently like others!. I admire them. These people look forward to the future, and always have a vision of their lives.

Plan Plan Plan. Fail to plan , plan to fail. simple

Don't be too shortsighted or superficial. Nvm, i used to be one too. If i can look far, so can you, so can anyone. It just depends on you whether you wan to take action and start to plan, look out and far for your future, or stay in your comfort zone and wait for something to happen. take action, stop procrastinating!

Alright! its time for me to end this post. I startef writing at 11pm.. now its 3.20am. Wow. 4 hrs plus yea. But its ok la. i promised a 3-month content and here i deliver it :D If you guys think it shld be longer, just write it in the comment box, or in the chatbox. I write a longer one next time:D Feel free to give comments too!

Time to sleep! good night :D

How much are you willing to sell your time?

2009-01-30T16:20:00.005+08:00

Oh!.

Chinese New Year is over..

its quite early, and ended quite fast too.. at least for me.ha

Lets celebrate again next year..

2009.
Jan will soon be over.

Actually quite recently, i received an email from adam khoo.( just subscribe to his blog and u will receive it)..

He talked abt..

How much are we willing our time for?. 5 years , 10 years , 20 years of our time?..
If you sell 10 years of ur time, ur age will fast forward to 10 yrs later ( 20 yr old-> 30 yr old)
So how much are you selling for?..
P.S. You have to sell..no matter wat. You have to give a price. You cant say priceless.HAHA

For his e.g., he say his friend is selling 10 yrs of his life for 10 million, so by doing calculations, its $114/hr , $1.90/min. Yea. If we really give such a great value for our time, are we doing things tat are worth that much?.. yea. thats a good qn to ponder over yeaa..haa

There are still ard 6-7 months b4 i start sch.
Quite a long time for me to accomplish some things.
I know what's there for me to achieve already..
And I will make sure I achieve it b4 School opens:D

For 2 months, I get to know the game of Forex( foreign exchange ). Its a game, but not exactly a game. It depends how u see it. If you know how to play this game, you will win handsomely. If you lose, it will be game over. And it is really GAME OVER!.

By saying this, people think its very risky. Some say its just like gambling. People who dun understand, of cos say its gambling!:D. Risk? It's contextual.

Everywhere you go, there's risk.
Doctor will tell you, probably of u getting stroke, is the same as probabilty of u getting knocked down by car on the road. So when you get a stroke, you cant blame the doctor!!. Because..he has told u the probabilty, and the risk already!. tats what happen to my grandma.

anyway, risk is defined as not knowing what you are doing.

Eating Fishball for you is risky?. LOL. Not for you. But for a 3 month-old baby w/o teeth, it is.
Swimming is risky?. LOL. Not for a lifeguard. But for someone who cant swim, it is
Driving is risky?. LOL. Not for someone who is a seasoned driver. Buf if he is drunk, it is. Because..
He doesn't know what he is doing!!.
So u can see what is the true meaning of risk?

We always watch tv, say people who play stocks, got their hands 'burnt'. So stocks are risky.
Have u guys wonder who these ppl are? Its the same as the buyers of Lehmann Brothers MiniBonds. I really pity those ppl. It's not tat they want to buy, they r being convinced by the bank relationship managers to buy those. How on earth can those aunties uncles read and understand and sign those contracts?

I have seen how ppl went thru terms n conditions with customers. You will always be presented with a few pages of Terms and Conditions. Then, the customer service guy, will Circle out the so called 'IMPORTANT' terms which u need to take note. Sounds famaliar?
Then, if u dun understand, they will explain to you the so-called 'IMPORTANT' ones.
Then, they will cross the underlined part, for ur signature, n say if u have no problems, u can sign. SO FAMiliar yea?

I get this before. I wanted to read n understand it myself. But he told me others not so impt, so he will ask me to take note some of the 'more-impt' ones. The 'more impt' ones are '' You must be 18 years old.' , ' You must declare that you only provide the truth..' .

When i read it again myself, there are alot of things he dint cover. They are the ' refund policy..' ' company not held accountable if wat wat wat..'' '' company not responsible if wat wat wat happends..'' They dint explain this. So arent they important?. LOL.
Thats wat happend to the aunties uncles who bought Minibonds. Contract stated there may be risk of not getting capital back. But you think the bank managers will say it?. LOL. they will just explain the high interest returns, building dreams for uncles aunties. Because, if they explain money may be gone, aunties n uncles will be FRIGHTENED!, so they wont buy the bonds!, and so...
no commission for the relationship managers!.
anyway, this is a sale tactic.:D

Sry for digressing.haha.

Forex can be risky, and can be not too. Its all about how to minimize risk. Its not gambling. For gambling, you cant minimize its risk. can you?. In gambling, the chances of winning is 50-50. However, in forex trading, its on finding high-probablity events. When probabilities of winning is high, the risk is greatly reduced, and sometimes, there may not be risk too. Gambling!. When people thought there are high-probablity events, and when they think of 'sure-win', sometimes, they lose all. Soccer gambling. Some may say..'' man u vs 'some stupid club' ''.. ppl bet 'SHOW HAND' man u will win. sometimes it draws, or even lose.

However, markets moves based on mass psychology. the saying goes ' the trend is your friend'. If u follow him, you benefit. Dont follow is ok, but dont go against it. haha.

Forex is not for everybody. It's not for you, if you r one who cant accept failures, You are one who must WIN all the time, You are one who cries when u score 7 'A' out of 8 subjects in A lvls, cos u miss out 1 A, You are one who gets everything you want, You are one who never let go, AND, you are one who always hope.
Rationale behind it is simple.

Dont believe?. Haha, you can ask any of ur friends, who fits the above criteria, and try trading. Any trading will do, options, forex, stocks, futures..anything. you will see:D

Alright. Talk soon!

Happy New Year! 2009

2009-01-03T13:20:00.006+08:00

Hi guys

First and Foremost, a Happy New Year to Everyone Out there:D

its a brand new year again.2009

looking back, i started my NS in 2007, finished in 2008 nov. I have completed an obstacle which every guy has to go through in S'pore.

2008, even though there are successful things, happy moments, but overall, I still rate it a BAD year for me. For just 1 reason.

I lost my dearest grandma.

No matter how much I achieved this year, no matter how many happy moments i had this year,
the saddest moment which i wouldnt have wanted to happen, happened.

This year chinese new year, I would be missing out alot of things. Its not the money and red packets.Its the enjoyment of helping ahma to tidy her hse, putting decorations, filling up fridge with drinks, helping her carrying mandrin oranges from market, putting biscuits and sweets on tables. I will also miss out the smiles on her face, when all her sons(my uncles) gather at hse, with grandsons playing and running ard the hse, making her hse very lively. I will miss out the time she join us playing 'blackjack' and shouting together, laughing together. The chinese new year meals, with the tradition of eating the 'new yr fishes' that she will cook every chinese new yr and to serve relatives who come over..

All these will go into memory, and i am very sure nothing of this will happen in my life again, not again till im a father.

Alright,

I have also finished my NS, and have also reached my target of MCs. I can say for my police NS, i dint not learn any leadership, planning, or wat not from it. All i can say, there is nothing to learn.LOL. And all I learn is about working as a team, helping each other out, instead of back-stabbing. Other than that, nothing much. Hence sometimes u can see, esp regulars who work for long, they cant blend into the society, with others, most of their working styles are different from outside.

When i know abt this, i decided to spend my Time in more Productive stuffs. Stuffs which will be useful in my life, which is more beneficial to me than to keep on wasting time. I started reading, which i have not done in almost the past 18 yrs, and I FINISHED my 1st ever Book!.HAHA.

I have also met alot of different people, from differnt background, n also people with like-minded minds. Its sometimes a different experience talking to these people, and its not easy to talk to them too, as although same age, they know more things than us. This brings me to the mind of our current 'undergraduates to be' . Anyway, in my last post, I talked abt a friend of mine, who doesnt know and doesnt care abt current issues, current situations in the world, and just thinks with a University Cert, he can be at the top. This, i can say, applies to most undergraduates, who only think of hostels, night suppers with friends, skipping lectures, gossiping about lecturers, partying.... anyways, refer to my previous post ba:D

Alright, I might post my plans for 2009 in my next post:D

Good luck to everyone out there.
Make 2009 an unforgettable year:D

The world of 2008. Do you care?

2008-12-15T18:02:00.005+08:00

Oh hi guys,

We are coming to an end of the year. 2008. How do you see 2008?. Ups and downs. More Ups or Down?

I think lets come back to look at it when we are in 2009 :D

Recent news about the world has somehow affected some of us. It really helps if someone is interested about what is going on around the world. However, as far as i noe, I dun see alot of ppl ard me really concerned about what is really happening.

Their answers will be like ..'' Don't know and Dont care''

It's quite sad to hear these kind of answers though. It just shows how well we know about the world. These ppl are just more concerned wat courses they are studying in the university, how well they want to do to go up dean list. But do they know what they are studying in university, may become OBSELETE when they graduate?

They will argue, '' once i noe I am the best in the subject, I noe i can get a job anywhere''

There's nothing wrong with the answer, and its is a very good answer. But the question is, how sure are you that the subject you studying wont become OBSELETE when you graduate?

We are all living in a different environment everyday. We dont know which bank may collapse tomorrow. We dont know which company will call for bankruptcy tomorrow. We dont know which company or industry will go into the history books. So many things happen everyday, and ppl are apathetic about it. They just know it's good to study university, and they are safe:D

I think many of you guys out there have seen friends regret the courses they have chosen to study for 4 yrs in uni. 4 yrs later, they say they should have studied '' ...'' , ''...'' . This is jus wasting of time. 4 yrs can do alot of things. However, they just have to accept the consequences.

Many a time, people chose subjects to study , with the wind. When the wind is blowing Life Science, all go life science, w/o fully what is lifescience to them.When the wind is blowing Business!, all follow Business! when they think business jobs can earn alot!. But when they went thru exams, they dont understand much abt it, they dont like it, they regret.

Just remember: Dont be led blindly.

Ultimately, all these comes down to how much you know abt ur surroundings, abt the world issues, abt ur region. If you dont know, you will just be led blindly. Information is priceless.

These goes to the same for our health.

If ppl ard you are apathetic abt current credit crunch, recession, it's still acceptable, as these wont kill them YET. However, if they are apathetic abt their health, and health issues, seriously, we got to wake them up.

If ppl are stil living in their own world, they will know that all milk are healthy products and shld be taken everyday, despite news told them abt melamime being contained in milk products. Not knowing wat is happening, they just continue picking same old milk products, and maybe they doesnt know wat melamime is.

If ppl are unaware of their country health problem, they may continue eating chickens, when they duno that 1/2 of their country's chickens have been killed becos of H5N1.

Most people, usually, does not really bother much abt anything, until something happens to them or somebody close to them.

When ppl know that wat they are studying will be useless in the society, they will start to panic and find a solution, and really go into deep thoughts wat they shld do next.

When ppl know that they have contacted some diseases/ illnesses because of their unhealthy eating habits, then they panic and quickly read up more on the illness, and finding cures to them.

However, do we know that sometimes it can be too late to realise it?

By the time you want to change your course of study, you are already in ur final yr. When you decide to change course again, study again, you may have lacked your friends by at least 3 more yrs. AND, how sure are you that your new subject wont be obselete/useless like your 1st subject that you have given up?

By the time you know you have cancer, do you think there is a 100% cure for it? Cancer is not caused by cancer itself. Cancer is just a symptom of the illness. When you have it, you read up more abt the illness, and then START taking precaution of ur eating habits. Do you think it has already been too late to watch your diet now?

People say '' Prevention is always better than Cure''

Agree. But how many ppl really follow this?

It's easier said than done.

Somethings have happened to me, and now i taking all the precaution to prevent it. Because I knew I have it, and I do not want to wait till that day to say '' I shld have..'' Its too late then.

I hope guys out there do the same too. Watch out for your health before its too late....

If you say you will fail, you definitely will!

2008-11-19T14:22:00.006+08:00

Yea. I can say my cantonese has improved slightly. I can say from lvl 1 to lvl 1.1. yea. even though a small improvement only, at least i improved:)

At least i moved from 1 to 1.1, so i can proceed to lvl 2 soon!.

I did take time n effort out to learn how to connect sentences, any maybe new vocabulary.

It can be quite difficult at 1st, ppl may joke ur pronounciation, you may get stuck saying 1/2 way, people may look at you reading 'learning cantonese books' on busses or mrts, you may think you sound funny while saying it... alot alot of things that you are not used to.

However, Why I care so much abt ppl looking at me?. I learn for myself. Not For them?. Who cares abt the ppl on mrts looking at what im reading.LOL. I used to think alot of how people look at me when im doing things, but think again, what matters most is how u look at yourself.

If you think you are a failure, You confirm will be a failure.

No matter how others try to push you, motivate you, encourage you, YOu will still fail.

BEcos You think SO!.

Alot of people know this logic. However, you can see alot of people still doing it!.

e.g.

Looking back at sch days, how many ppl you noe, esp during O n A lvls, when they havent even tried to take the paper, they have given up hope on themselves, by SKIPPING the paper?

Its not that they cant do the paper, they choose not to do the paper. They give themselves way TOOO many excuses. i can quote some ''I dun wan to have a U grade on my cert, not nice'' ,

'' I want to concentrate on other subjects'' '' this subject not needed in my university admission''

'' I dunwan to waste time taking the paper''.. and alot more... you guys can see it urself.

They surrender before a war started..

If you can see, and u check with your friends.. How many of them can score alot more better in other subjects by dropping subjects? ohya, im not talking abt people who can afford to drop subjects. I m talking about those who cant drop subjects, but still chose to drop it. E.g. 3 A lvl subjects-> they just aim for 2 A lvl passes, so they drop one.

They are way concerned how other people look at them. They scared people may look at their 'U' grade, however, they they prefer a ' Ab' grade=> absent. tell me wat's the difference?

There's ALOT OF difference!.

A 'U' grade tells you how much you have learnt so far abt that topic, and how much you have not learnt. It shows you how unprepared you are, and how little prepared you are. It may show you your true weakness in certain topics which you have to work harder on, should you decide to re-take it again.

'Ab' grade?. shows that you are absent. It shows that you are afraid to take the test. It shows that your confidence level is low. It shows that you are unwilling to tackle difficulties ahead of you. It shows your true character : Give up easily.

So which one will you choose?

'U' tells u abt wat u really need to improve, and shld u choose to retake your subject, it will help you. Then you will concentrate more on subjects you are weak in, so you can work harder towards it, and certainly you will do better.

'Ab' tells you abt ur true character, your personality, more about yourself than your subjects.

Good!. not bad wat. you can see ur true self. BUT!. isit worth it?. You spend 1 whole year of study just to see ur personality? You pay examination fees of $100+ just to test yourself? Its not just $100 you are wasting. Its the TIME!. lets just calculate from the minimum..

Let's say you work in Macdonals!.

1 hr $4 ( i calculate the minimum)

1 day 10 hrs = 10 x $4 = $40

1 month= 28 days ( 3 days off) = 28 x $40= $1120

12 months= 12 x 1120 = $13440!!

And wait!.. You are working for just $4/hr.. and im sure you can get more than tat outside..

Other than this!. You are also wasting alot of other's people time!. and alot more. And, If you wan to really test your self, your character, u can go courses, go play games, or just go FACEBOOK!. alot of apps. for you to test.LOL

Hence, people out there, Before you give up on yourself, think of all these things 1st.

Seriously. 1 simple action of giving up is easy to do. Anyone can do. Just think of You are a failure, you will fail, and you will give up alr. Easy rite? this is power of ur subconscious mind:)

I ll end here 1st.

ORd-oh:D

A life-changing course

2008-11-12T15:43:00.005+08:00

Hey guys!.

Just last weekend, 8/11, 9/11, I attended a course. A life-changing course. A course which show you your path to success. A course which brings out the true you. A course which show you what kind of person you are for the past 20 yrs.

anyway, I ord-ed on 8/11. I shall not talk abt Ord 1st. Im not so much interested abt Ord, and alot of my close friends have not even smell Ord yet. Its not very applicable to talk it now:)

Through this course, I have realised What a person I am so far in my life. and All i can say, I am don't have a big heart in accepting people's mistakes. A heart just not enough to forgive all people.

I am also not very serious in some things i do. And that's why i dint achieve what I wanted to achieve, and sometimes I took longer than others to achieve it. E.g. learning Cantonese. From last yr till this yr, I said I will learn it well, so it will be easy for me to converse in Hk, and it's good to learn too. People tell me its easy, since I know chinese words. However, I dint really make effort to learn it or talk abt it, since i think its easy. So till noW! Nov, i think i have just increased my Cantonese level, from lvl 1 to lvl 2 only. I can pick up canto words easier, and maybe understand more words. However, I still cant last a canto conversation more than 3 lines.

I am quite self-fish sometimes too, meaning think more of myself..than others. Others mean ppl i do not really noe, or my cold friends. I think more for myself, then my close n good frens then others. I tend to make win-lose situations than win-win situations. And from this course, i have learnt more abt it.

Above all these, there are alot more things I have learnt. alot alot more. I can say this course is way better than other courses outside. AND... its costs way less than others too. Its OverValued, and UnderPriced.

And now, learning so many things, its time to put it to good use. And everything has just started, not ended. Its time to start anew, and create my route to success. I shall not wait any longer, as time shall not wait for me.

From now, I Am On My Route to Success!!