Lessons and wisdom from a CEO

I recently had the opportunity to sit down with the CEO of my company’s group of companies, Mr. Harald Weinbrecht, for lunch and managed to get some interesting tips on leadership and management. As he was conversing with my other colleagues, I decided to watch and observe him and get a feel of the person. 

As the top brass, what I managed to see in this man was a friendly, down to earth and most animated character. He was a jovial fellow who was quite straight with his answers and some good humor based on first impressions. 

When I finally managed to pluck enough courage to speak to him, I already knew that I had to make the best of it as possible. Since my responsibilities lie with managing my team, I decided to find out what sort of simple advice I could use in my daily operations.

If there is a special mention, there was one part where he was getting to know everybody and decided to ask me a question, “So, I guess you are the brains behind all the operations being run here?” To be honest, I was caught somewhat unprepared as he was flattering me and I knew that if I did not answer properly, I could get off on the wrong foot (not something you want to do when you are in front of your boss’s boss). 

I quickly retreated to my humble and modest personality and instead answered back, “Oh no! I just coordinate stuff and make sure everything runs smoothly. If anybody deserves credit, it’s my team since I have got smart people working for me so I have less to worry about.” You can bet I was very surprised by him as his immediate response was giving me a hearty laugh and responding with “I LIKE THAT ANSWER!” 

As it turns out, I was following one of his principals which he shared with me later during lunch. As a summary of the lunch interview, I have listed below what I managed to obtain during that precious hour or two and also added in some of my own conclusions and wisdom into the mix.

• Don’t be afraid to talk to anybody. Even though they may be the CEO, treat that person just like how you would treat the next guy. I am serious, he actually said that (probably from the various shyness radiating from my other colleagues around me and probably a bit from myself). Ask questions and take a genuine interest in other people since this will build rapport.
• Find out what you like to do or your passion and continue to do that until you succeed. You will not last long when you are doing something that you do not like. As I have discovered time and time again, through books, articles, seminars and talks with people, passion is the one key ingredient or that fire in the belly that takes people from being average to being awesome. I am not surprised to find that repeated again here during this encounter.
• A leader points his people in a direction. It does not have to be the right direction all the time but a leader has to be confident enough to know that leadership is about pointing out a path where none had existed before. This inspires trust and allows people to rally and get something or anything done at all. While the path may turn out to be a wrong one, it is the duty of the leader to learn from that mistake and move on. At least in a time where nobody rises to the challenge, a leader shows the way. 
• Consider leadership like an inverse pyramid. It is the leaders serving the people under them, not the typical traditional hierarchy where it is the other way around. The questions that the leader should ask are such as “What can I (as management) do for you (workers)?” and “How can I make your job better and allow you to perform to the best of your potential?” This advice is very enlightening as I have read about it before but not really heard them from the mouth of a CEO. Rather than the staff working for the benefit of the boss, this concept flips it on its head literally so that it’s the bosses working for their staff. While this may sound idealistic and probably is, it is nonetheless a good ideal to strive for.
• Definition of leadership – One who takes all the blame and none of the credit. While it may sound crude to those looking for an ego boost every time they climb the ladder, it makes a lot of sense since as you progress higher, you have less work to do but you have more responsibility to ensure that it all works out. So the ones that really working their sweat are your subordinates and thus deserve the praise should everything goes well. As a leader, you take all the flak and make sure that your team looks good. 
• Growing is about getting out of the comfort zone. I once heard a more coarse way of putting it, “Either you are growing or you are dying” and this holds somewhat true. When you are comfortable, you tend to get complacent. When you are growing, you will go through many rough patches and learn more from your mistakes and that’s what makes a great man. The great man is the man who experiences more of the unknown than the one who is not testing the boundaries of his own capabilities. 
• Don’t overestimate or underestimate your capabilities, get a system to track it so you know exactly what you can or cannot do. He tells me that he has seen people tend to be arrogant and overconfident of their abilities just to find themselves short when it is time to perform. There are also the others who can do so much more with their abilities but tend to downplay them because they think they are not up to the challenge and thus selling themselves short. He calls it a waste of resources for either case. 
• Good old fashion hard work. Just as everything else in life, nothing replaces blood, sweat and tears when getting it down to completing a tasks whatever it may be. As long as you have your direction, its all about solid hard work to turn a plan into reality. 
• Success is when opportunity meets preparation. Opportunity is always available around you but tends to be lost when you are not prepared to receive it. When you have planned and prepared for it either through the acquisition of knowledge, experience, hard work and wisdom, only then with a bit of luck, you will be greeted with success. Don’t worry too much about not being able to get opportunities, prepare yourself well first and let opportunity find you instead.

Wise Sayings to Remember From the Elderly

I thought I would help compile a list of some wise saying that I have come across which I find to be very meaningful and hopefully enlightening to be passed around. Sometimes, our parents or aged relatives share some good advice from time to time when there is a meet up. How often do we actually commit these to memory and how many actually practice on a daily basis?

Wise sayings to be remembered as you go through life:

• Do not hold bitterness in your heart especially to those who have wronged you in anyway. Do not expect anybody to treat you well. This is not about having a low opinion of others but to be prepared and expect that everybody else will be looking out for themselves first and foremost since the first human instinct is self-preservation. However, for those people who treat you well, family or friends or even total strangers (if it is possible in this day and age), you have to be grateful that life has given you a helping hand and cherish it but always be careful since everybody has a purpose in their dealings with you.
• Everyone and everything in the world is impermanent which includes any want or need. In the Buddhist philosophy, this is the paramount realization of enlightenment and by understanding this alone, you can start to live an uncomplicated life and taking things as they come since eventually at a certain point, they or it will leave you. This applies to relationships, materialistic things and even yourself.
• Life is too short to doing something that does not mean a lot to you. Don’t waste your life doing something you don’t love or have interest in doing. The earlier you realize that and what you are passionate about, the better you will enjoy what life has to offer you.
• The greatest emotion of love is simply a fleeting feeling. Again, this relates to the concept of impermanence where nothing in the world or the universe will last forever. Love with all its sweetness and bitterness are merely a strong emotional feeling which will pass with the passage of time. The only way it survives is what sort of additional assistance it receives from you to keep it burning. By understanding this, you will be able to love freely and be able to withstand the harshness that love comes with.
• You don’t have to receive good education in order to be successful in life (a lot of successful people made it without it) BUT that does not mean you can emulate their footsteps since for these people, a combination of determination, passion, preparation and a bit of luck happened to converge some point in their life which enabled them to be successful. The only way to prepare for success is to be ready with the right knowledge at the right time and that is where whatever knowledge you managed to learn before can help propel you to greater heights.
• Always honor your promises but never always expect others to keep theirs. You have the ability to choose to be good to other people but you don’t have control over whether they will return the favor. It is a blessing since you will be able to sleep easier knowing that you honored your side of the bargain and if they do return the favor, it is icing on the cake and a bonus to you.
• There is no such thing as a free lunch. You probably will have to earn your keep and work to the best of your abilities and just grind your teeth when the going gets rough. If you were hoping to make a fast buck gambling, the probability and odds are greatly stacked against you. Striking it rich through the lottery is just like hoping to be struck by lightning. The only way you can guarantee 100 percent that you will get a free lunch is when you work for it and you can call it your own.

How to make a difference in your career

Are you worried that you might lose your job? Or perhaps wondering if you are on the right track? I have sometimes also wondered to myself if that is the case. My previous work experiences tell me that that should not be the primary concern if you have been putting in the right consistent effort and your goals are aligned with those of the company. If you have these two things going for you already then you are somewhat 50 percent there. However, these days, keeping the job you have is a task in itself and requires additional thought and effort to sustain a progressive and positive growth. I have kept a few additional pointers below to stay ahead of the game.

Keeping fit and healthy
This is extremely critical especially in our fast paced world where a person burning out happens more frequently than the computers they are working on. I would even venture as far as to say that without your health, all the wealth in the world would mean nothing. It is not just having higher levels of tolerance to stress as well but a mind that is sharp and an energy level to match. It is paramount that everybody focused on obtaining this first and foremost before applying the rest of the principals stated here.

Going the extra mile
Sometimes, employers are looking out for talents who are willing to roll up their sleeves and get down to work when the company needs them most. The Chinese character for crisis is also the inverse of opportunity and this is the time to shine. Having worked in two smaller organizations, I know this for a fact since there is never enough hands rowing the oars. It also pays to be somewhat of a jack of all trades in this respect. At the end of the day, it all comes to getting the job done and if you are recognized for that fact, you definitely have a better bargaining chip with management when the right time comes around. Even if the situation doesn’t appear, keep a record of your own accomplishments that stand out as having gone above and beyond the call of duty so that it can be flaunted (at specific strategic times) during appraisals or the occasional banter with the boss or better still at the new job you are aiming for.

Be a motivator or cheerleader in your workplace
Nobody likes people who are negative in the workplace as it is a sure way to bring morale down. If you ever had somebody pour cold water on your ideas and opinions, you will probably get my drift. Turn that situation around and be a supporter of the people around you. Get them to speak their mind and share their thoughts. Encourage them and even go as far to participate in realizing their ideas will definitely get you some brownie points in the office while making you look as a team player. Your enthusiasm will also be contagious and the word will spread that you are wonderful company to work with. Don’t be surprised when people will also start admiring you and will reciprocate by supporting your causes as well. Perhaps your next promotion will be due to the collective voices and hands which are supporting you from the side, above and below you.

Show gratitude when due and shower praise for others
We all need somebody to appreciate our efforts no matter how little it is or how often it is dismissed by those trying to be modest. Deep down inside, we are all longing for a sense of appreciation for our efforts. You may be the CEO of the company or a lowly janitor but each individual in the organization has a part to play and therefore stand equal in terms of importance to the healthy functioning of the company. The same way our parents taught us the significance of a simple “Thank You” or even congratulating us on the accomplishments of our youth from academic or extracurricular achievements, these also apply to your career or everyday work.

Be aware and always on the lookout
Keep in mind that your objectives and goals that you have set for yourself and your career. Always, always remember that you are looking out for yourself first and foremost. While it is true that employers are always doing their best to keep their employees satisfied or working for them, that doesn’t mean you should stay on if it does not meet your long term objectives whether it may be climbing up the corporate ladder or starting your own business or whatever for that matter. Look to create value and hone your skills in alignment with your future self that you want to be. You owe it to yourself to stay true to yourself above all.

How to calm your mind and find inner peace

If there is one thing that I believe very strongly in is that the our physical manifestation on this plane of existence is a combined harmony between both the mind and the body. Today, I would like to delve into the mind since represents our projection of our mental and also our physical well being. It is extremely imperative and important that we take better care of it than even your spouse. That is not to say that your spouse is not important but if you can't even handle your own mind, I would suggest not trying to handle two minds in that case.

I have come up with some ideas on some strategies on how we can obtain some peace of mind. Now, use as many or as little from the list below and find what you are most comfortable with. Not all of them will work immediately and some need the right timing or direction in order to see some results. But never, never give up searching for a peaceful mind since without it, you may be setting yourself up for a mental breakdown.

• Listen to calming music. My recommendation is to listen to music from the baroque era or from Mozart which has a steady tempo of 60 beats a minute which helps calm the mind and regulate the body thus giving improved concentration.
• Selecting calming colors to surround you with. There are some areas where you spend alot of time in such as your room, study or workplace. Fill it up with soothing images, pictures or relaxing colors that is either green, blue, purple, lavender or violet.
• Pick out some favorite calming quotes. I stumbled across one quote recently and let me share it with you: "A man is not rightly conditioned until he is a happy, healthy, and prosperous being; and happiness, health, and prosperity are the result of a harmonious adjustment of the inner with the outer of the man with his surroundings." ~ James Allen
• Try some natural herbs. Look out for some of these to promote calmness but not as something to get addicted to. Among the known herbs are such as Roman chamomile, lavender, skullcap, passionflower and valerian.
• Eat foods with lots of anti-oxidants. Certain foods contain vitamins that help repair and revitalizes the body and these normally fall into the category of vegetables, grains and fruit. Some examples are such as sprouts, bananas, kiwifruit, beans, lentils, nuts and oats. Or you can go vegetarian for a whole day to really reduce the stress.
• A good long hot shower to soak away the stress. The Japanese people are famous for their "onsen" which is a culture unlike any other. They consider bathing in a bath full of hot water (or hot spring water) as spa and relaxation. They even have more than 3000 resorts set up thoughout the country just to cater to this national pastime.
• Find solitude in your room or somewhere like a park. When you are alone, some good things to do during this period is to consider meditation or simple reflection of the past week or actions taken.
• Getting sufficient exercise. You can start working out preferably somewhere closer to nature like taking a stroll or a jog in the park. Getting your adrenaline pumping is a great way to help you sleep better as well while keeping your body fit and in shape as well.

3 Simple Ways of Achieving Your Dreams

Dreams can be a very complex thing and I will not start going into the details since it differs from one person to another. Normally, I would rate dreams as something that can be hard to obtain since we can only picture it successful in the mind. Bringing it forth into reality is like trying to build castles in the sky without the materials or the expertise. I would like to turn that around by saying that we DO have castles in the sky, it’s just that the naked eye can’t see it. What I am referring to is the International Space Station or ISS. Now, you may say that it’s not really a castle and not medieval enough but think about it, the person (long ago) who coined the proverb must have meant it as the impossible but now with the skills and technology we have, we are actually taking our first steps in colonizing space, the so called final frontier.


In this article, I would to pay tribute to Muhammad Ali (and his quotes which I will be sharing), a real dream achiever, who like all the champions who came before and after him and share some of his quotes. At the same time, I also would like to share how each of our dreams can be accomplished no matter how large or small they are. However, like anybody who aspires to reach it, I would like to keep it as simple as possible. In fact, there is only 3 simple steps (but application is of these will be the determinator) of how well a person achieves it or fall short of obtaining it. So let’s get to business:


Steady Unwavering Focus. The one most important thing that we all could use in our daily lives with the advent of technology, we are bombarded with concepts, ideas, advertisements, books, people, the Internet and everything in between that strives and demands our attention. I pray that we will not encounter an age where it would like the Minority Report and have holograph advertisements popping out of nowhere trying to demand my attention. If we all did this one thing which is to focus on one goal at a time and just ignore the distractions taking us away from our goal, I think we would be able to achieve almost anything we set our mind to.

“Champions aren't made in gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them - a desire, a dream, a vision. They have to have last-minute stamina, they have to be a little faster, they have to have the skill and the will. But the will must be stronger than the skill”

~Muhammad Ali


Break Your Dream Down to the Achievable Portions. “Failing to plan is planning to fail”, a cliché and often overused proverb but planning is not good enough. Sometimes a plan is still just a general idea of where you want to go and is an outline. If you can break this plan (or elephant) down into tiny chunks which you sincerely BELIEVE that you can accomplish, your plan will never take off. Dreams are like the final destination or the end product of what you would like to see in your life, but it’s the little steps that take you there is real meaning behind all the imagination and separates those who continue to see it in ethereal form or those who are daring enough to form reality with it.

"I hated every minute of training, but I said, ''Don't quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.''

~Muhammad Ali


Consistent Action on the Achieving Those Portions. Ahhhh, the final piece of the puzzle. Action, action, action. Most of us would probably give up at the first step, many more will ignore the second and perhaps only a handful who are courageous enough to take this final step will even at some time falter along the way. But never fear, as long as the dream is worthy enough of those willing to undertake the challenge, they will always return and seek to rectify their actions. Consistency, perseverance and persistence are the long standing traits of any successful dreamer cum reality bringer. Again, as mentioned in the previous point, the little steps are the ones that make up the journey. Sure, you can cheat along the way and be flexible with taking or not taking the steps but it will prolong or even detract you from seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.

“He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life.”

~Muhammad Ali


So I wish you all good luck and skill in achieving all that you were meant to be, want to be or need to be. May your dreams come true!

Why are Questions are Important in Decision Making?

Sometimes, I am overwhelmed by the number of decisions that we have to make on a daily basis. And this sometimes equals to stress since there is a feeling that there is nothing we can do about it. However, being the organized person I am, would like to outline some ways we can help make this process a little easier to manage. But first let's see what 3rd party decision making or delayed decision making can potentially do to us:


Issues with not making a decision

When faced with some difficult decisions, normally what would happen is:

• We would then either leave the decision making to another person, so we won't have to do it ourselves but this method allows the party who is deciding for you to take whatever measures they want in perhaps their own best interest. This may not necessarily bode well for us since we are no longer in control of the decision.
• Or we might just leave the decision to be decided at a later date. The problem with this is it lingers and camps out in the back of your mind and it can be an irritating feeling that you still have not taken the right steps. The guilt from not being able to move can also paralyze you in functioning in other areas (depending on the seriousness of the decision which you are about to undertake).

However, I feel that most of the times, we don't necessarily have all the answers to the questions. Since we are not seeing the entire picture, we become confused and are uncertain in making a decision. And that is why we should be asking intelligent questions.

My suggestion is to question it till we have an answer. Just like my previous entry on having a productive day, once we have the questions answered, we have in fact in the process of finding our solution. Most of the times, we do not have all the facts with us and tend to make poor decisions or none at all since we cannot see the entire picture. While doing this does not always guarantee that you would have made the right decision, it does at least put things in perspective. Here are some steps that can help you get started right away:

1. What is the problem at hand?
2. What is the cause to this particular problem?
3. What are the available measures or solutions to this problem?
4. What is the most effective and efficient way to solve this problem based from the identified solutions?
5. Immediately take action!
6. Review and learn from the result that takes place.
7. Rinse and repeat until problem is solved.

Another tip is to get a sounding board or boards. Sometimes, you need to hear your thoughts aloud and get another person to listen to you. You also may get some good feedback from the other person. So it may be important to even select the right kind of person you do this with.

To be more accurate, the above questions is simply a guideline and in fact, we should be asking a whole lot more questions since sometimes even questions can be layered and the actual answer hidden by human emotion, secrets and whatnot. As long as your objective is clear, ask any question till you get to the root of the issue and potentially the solution. Hopefully, this simple decision making process combined with external input will give you less headaches when the time comes around to make another decision.

How to Effortlessly Get Anything and Everything you Want from Life

Have I got your attention? Now, before I start spilling the secrets, you will need to be as open to the suggestions I am about to share or you might as well stop reading now. The results from the application of the techniques differ from person to person and I will state very clearly that there is effort involved but you will find it easier as you continue to let it sink into you. I have tried it out a few key instances in my life and by golly, it does work. So if you are still reading this and willing to proceed, then let’s get started.

So, what exactly is this incredible method to finally get the anything and everything? Well, it is a combination of auto-suggestion, The Secret and spiritual guidance. As there are religions in the world and animism that is still being practiced, humans have always believed in a higher power or some sort of infinite intelligence that somehow shapes our fate. It also represents a source of comfort and dependence that humans can relate to when they cannot turn to each other for help or to put it in another way, the appropriate phrase is a "miracle".

If I told you that that "miracle", starts and ends with you, would you believe me? To put it simply, you are the "miracle", we all are. You are the conduit to the infinite intelligence that is out there in the universe. By tapping into the incredible reservoir of potential energy stored in each of us, we can possibly attain whatever your mind sets itself up to do. So, how do we go about it?

I wish to share with you 4 simple steps of achieving this state of transcendental consciousness which I have practiced in my own life:

1. Determine what it is you want and why. It is always important to determine the exact thing you desire and why you need it. Give yourself as many reasons as you can to achieve it.
2. Simply believe that you will get it, don't question how you will get it. Whenever possible, picture exactly in your mind what you will be getting.
3. Repetition of your belief. Do it at least once a day or if possible, as many times in a day so your sub-concious mind accepts it as a natural extension of your body.
4. Absolute blind faith. If you want or need it that badly then you will find that this step will be a piece of cake. As you continue to believe and repeat to yourself, you will find yourself drawn to the things that bring about the success of wish.

I was originally skeptical about the steps above and did not believe them on the onset. However, at one point where I really wanted to get a distinction with honors on my degree, I went full out since I thought that I could and should use anything within my capabilities to attain it. I will say this much, I did use this technique and may I add, lots and lots of effort to get it. I would like to say that effort was the key to getting my 1st Class Honors (I am not trying to brag but just stating a fact) but sometimes there were factors beyond my control and this added boost somehow did the trick in getting my way. There were too many instances that things that could turn out worse somehow went smoothly before me.

Before I contradict myself on having an effortless method, I would like to clarify that sometimes in order to ensure you achieve your ultimate desire you are looking for, you just can't afford to chance it. So that's another lesson, even if you are using auto-suggestion, never leave any stone unturned even in the best of times until you achieve whatever you are looking for.

3 Keys to Achieving your Goals (whether big or small)

If there is any one thing that I would like to mention at least once in this blog is perhaps what drives some people to achieve their goals while others fail. I will definitely revisit this topic again but for now, let's start with something simple. For example, if we were to use this blog as a sample scenario, to me it was a goal of mine to share my wisdom perhaps to my future self and children given a chance and also at the same time help others learn from my experiences. While I may come off sounding cheesy and trying to be a wannabe know-it-all, I also believe that the teacher or preacher in my case, will learn more when he is sharing it with others. So don't mistake me being entirely self-sacrificing. I am doing it for myself first and helping anybody else along the way. Going back to the topic, after doing some reflection these days, I have come to the conclusion that what started me to write this blog on a frequent basis is a few key factors which helped this sustain momentum. To put it simply in the 3 steps I have highlighted below:

Initial and subsequent planning on achieving your goals

I do think this primary step is a given since without it I wouldn't have thought about what my goals were, what I intended to achieve, how long it was going to take, and so forth. Ask any successful person worth their salt and they will probably tell you that success is planned not a fluke since you must be able to recreate the successful situation on a consistent basis. Only then, will you be motivated to move on to the next goal and duplicate the process. Identifying the criteria, limitations and parameters for a successful outcome allows you to be aware of the current situation without allowing emotion or factors not within our control to dictate where our goals are headed. However, do not fall into the trap of planning but not taking the actions once the steps have been outlined. Once you prioritize your goals and direction, the next step is to take...

Quick decisive action

I have to emphasize on the words "quick" and "decisive" since people habitually catch on a procrastinator bug which can be self-defeating if it lingers too long. When it is within your capabilities, always make sure you check that you are meeting your standards that you have set for yourself and just swiftly act on it if the decision is clear as day. If there is a crossroad where a decision must be made, take enough time to think about it but not too long. Once the decision is made, move forward rapidly to act upon it so that a result can be achieved from there. Better to have act than not done anything since you are able to decide whether it was a success or a failure rather than leaving it up in the air. Don't ever regret what you did do, only regret what you knew but did not do.

The ability to see it through to the end

Really, you may be a good planner or even a fantastic executor of action but all of that goes to waste if you falter when the road gets bumpy. A secret to this is really finding out what is the deep seated motivation driving you to accomplish this goal. Call it passion or an interest in whatever it is, this will be the final key in unlocking that treasure trove of goals. Reviewing your actions and coming up with new preparation to suit the situation also goes a long way to ensure your goals come to fruition.


And if all else fails, this may sound corny, but you just have to have faith and believe in your own ability, planning, decisions, action and interest is the right way and just wait it out till the winds blow in your direction. Sometimes, it really is luck when preparation meets opportunity.

8 tips on creating more happiness in our life

As promised, do find below a list I managed to whip up together after getting my excitement bubbling and hopes high after posting my last entry. I know I said its going to be a micro but when I started, I just couldn't stop and now it looks like a macro post. Anyway, without further ado, let's get started:

1. Have a grand or great vision of your own self. To be wise is to dream of the amazing things that we cannot do but somehow see it in the future and actually take the steps necessary to reach it. It makes you a greater person even if you have not arrived at your destination
2. Imagine more. As kids, we used to dream and imagine when playing by ourselves or with other kids. However, as we grew up, we slowly discarded this wonderful ability to imagine and thus become another cog in society. One of the secrets in being wise in obtaining happiness is to imagine or dream of what others could not.
3. Find practical usage of your imaginations. Imagining and dreaming is good but using it every day in your daily life or with interactions with other people helps bring it to fruition and helps to cement in your mind that things imagined can be done. And you may even try even more creative ways to use your imagination and thus appear to be wiser (or in this case creative) than most.
4. Positive image of self and the world around you. It goes without saying that a wise person is above the petty grievances that surrounds them. He or she is always optimistic of what the future brings since intrinsically, they have their priorities and values aligned correctly.
5. Be polite, kind, sincere; mind your manners and have a sense of empathy. If you let it, everything and everybody is out to get you. A wise person knows that he gets more done when he applies proper manners when reaching his objective. Have you ever seen a wise person as a rude, obnoxious, arrogant or self-centered? Why pour more fuel into the fire by making the world worse than it already is? Why not BE that person to make somebody else’s day a brighter one? Humans are by far the most civilized of creatures on the planet, we are able to invent and invest time to build complex social systems of proper manners and etiquette. It would be a waste to let our most precious resource of our culture dissipate.
6. Follow your heart and dreams. Without something to drive you internally, death would be a better option. What is freedom of choice if we do not utilize it to be who we want to be and who we are at the core? Without the desire to be true to ourselves and search for our identities and actually live it, how can we live to face our dreams as kids? The world would be a much better place if we all were followed our hearts and chased or live our dreams. To know this fact alone, you are already miles ahead of somebody who doesn’t.
7. Have a sense of integrity and ethics. Warren Buffet once said that you can destroy 20 years of reputation in a matter of a few minutes and he is right. It probably took him his entire life to learn about it the hard way and that’s why he is one of the world’s richest men, not only in money but in mind. What kind of people would we be if we did not have a sense of moral principles to guide us in our daily dealings? Each of us possesses an internal compass which guides our thoughts and actions and using this helps us maintain a balance in our life with the relations with other people.
8. Help somebody else find their happiness. It is easy enough to get caught up with each of our own happiness but sometimes helping another person achieve their goals and dreams also helps to increase and magnify our own happiness. If you believe in fate and affinity, we are all here not as individual fragments but a part of a bigger whole. We each have the capability to increase and probably meant to make a difference in somebody else life. We could definitely appreciate the world a whole lot better if help arrived not because you asked for it but because somebody thought about you and provided it to you without even being asked.

This now concludes my epic reflection on the attaining a more peaceful and happy life. I guess now I have got to go think more about more topics to write about. Look forward to the next entry.

4th Fundamental Thought – Happiness in Daily Living

Finally, we are coming to an end of our mini-series and it has been an enlightening one even for me. As I started to think about each of these topics through before writing them, I would start to think of more and more ideas which I normally not come to realize. I guess reflection or proper thought put into context and a medium could well affect the mind of a person and in a strange way allows me to be happy as well. Here is my definition of happiness; I will not say that I have found the answer to happiness but I believe that happiness is:

1. What you make of it in life and;
2. A combination of various happiness factors combined

The former point being that if you decide to make the best of what life deals to you and if you persist long enough, whatever your happiness is, it will somehow come to you. Happiness is a state of mind rather than something that is not within our control. To put it in an optimistic way, we were all born with happiness intrinsically built inside and it’s just a matter of finding a way to unlock that treasure chest and let it burst forth. I would like to borrow a quote from Zig Ziglar to illustrate this point, “Whether you believe you are right or wrong, you are RIGHT!”

As for the latter point, I stand by the principal that life is to be lived in a holistic way and the more factors that is going right in your life, the more wonderful it will be. I would consider each factor that adds on in your life becomes something like a force multiplier which in turn helps to amplify the happiness in your life. I also would like to think that by adding more happiness factors in life would be akin to developing more passive income streams but in this case its passive “happiness” income streams. So that just in case if a certain “happiness” stream goes downhill, you still have other happiness factors to back you up. I know from personal experience that when the mind is in a funk, it is much harder to get out of it than when you are at your peak. There was a statistic going around that for each bad news you receive; you would need SEVEN good news to keep you happy. I am already starting to build warehouses of “happiness” streams to keep me going and hopefully aid me and others when the time comes around. I am currently working out a list of things to put in as happiness factors based on this article. Call it a micro-article on happiness. Look forward to it tomorrow. Ciao, gotta go set it up!

3rd Fundamental Thought - The Path of Wisdom

Good day people! We have arrived at our 3 part of this mini-series on having the right mindset to approach the 22nd century and beyond. If you have read my previous posts on Health and Wealth, you will probably know or guess that the next topic will be about Wisdom which involves understanding and the correct use of knowledge to further benefit oneself and society. It also involves something of common sense and the ability to tell true from false as well as the courage to act in accordance with the right way. It also can be said it is a combination of one’s principles, reasoning, knowledge and experience to be able to make wise choices or take the right paths in life for oneself and for others as well. Wisdom would also cover living life in moderation and allowing the flow of life to help in one’s endeavors rather than against.

There is a saying that goes if a man was given an axe to cut down a tree, the foolish would start immediately and take 6 hours to complete the task while the wise would spend 3 hours sharpening the axe and 1 hour to cut the tree down. That would be the personification of becoming a wise person. This too combines with spiritual factors and a little bit of luck. Before I go into the action steps that we can take as a measure to increase our wisdom, let me leave you with a prayer that we could all use in our daily life (taken from the Serenity Prayer by Reinhold Niebuhr):

“God, grant me the serenity;

To accept the things I cannot change;

Courage to change the things I can;

And Wisdom to know the difference”

Where or how to find Wisdom?

• Fail, and fail again. Better to have tried and failed than not tried at all. A wise person has probably gone through more failures and learnt from each experience than those who are even afraid to try or fail.
• Be humble in your successes and proud of your failures
• Realize of the natural order of things. There is no such thing as a permanent situation. Things come and go; live and die.
• Read a lot of books and don’t stop learning. Leverage of the authors and writers who have already gone through their path and discovered the secrets of their field
• Meet more people and tap into their experiences. As one person living their life, you are only limited to one perspective; get out there and socialize and see the world in a different light!
• Live life simply and enjoy the small pleasures that surround us. It takes an awareness just to slow down to appreciate life that is surrounding us and brought us here in the first place
• Appreciate what or who you have with you. Family, friends, relatives and even the stranger on the bus. Sometimes we should not take things for granted especially with our loved ones
• Look at the big picture. It is easy to fall into the trap of looking out of our individual perspectives but seeing how your perspective fits with the rest of the world allows you to gain insights where those who do not
• Reflect and review yourself often. How often we stop to think about how our actions align with our overall purpose in life can represent an indicator of wisdom. Those who rush headlong without taking time to correct the course are heading into disaster or a road that goes on aimlessly.
• Be polite, kind, sincere; mind your manners and have a sense of empathy. If you let it, everything and everybody is out to get you. A wise person knows that he gets more done when he applies proper manners when reaching his objective. Have you ever seen a wise person as a rude, obnoxious, arrogant or self-centered?

I hope you have found the information as inspiring as much as I had when compiling it. As a parting message to those reading these lines, “may you find and be blessed with wisdom in your life.”

2nd Fundamental Thought - Wealthy Living

In this second part on facing the 22nd century is one of the most sought after and most thought about thing a person can imagine of. It can drive people mad and it can also bring joy. What exactly am I talking about? Well, that would be simple; it is the age old thought of Wealth. Everybody, and I mean everybody at any age or era, race or religion, from kings to paupers have at least thought of it at least once in their lifetime if not more (definitely a whole lot more than once). Ever since humans have developed commerce to allow the very first barter trade to the modern age credit card, each one of us is plagues or blessed with the lack of or the abundance of wealth. Now, I think every person is entitled to be wealthy but to their each personal level. There is a tipping point where once there is enough money to go around, people will be satisfied to live their lives the way they see fit. However, greed and envy, has always been the negative factors which pulls down successful people while they are still at the top.

In my opinion, every person with a good head on their shoulders should have a plan (no matter how basic it is) to escape being a slave to the possession of wealth (or too much of it). It is simple to be dragged along with the consumerist mindset and spend like there is no tomorrow when in fact we can live on very little but the bare essentials. Another thing about wealth is that everybody wants it quick but if there is a shortcut, there is also bound to be a higher amount risk. And this works out to be vice-versa. If you are like me, I would walk the middle lane and come out trying to get the best of both worlds. I want to be sufficiently free from the constraints of worrying about money without taking too much risk but also biding my time and moving when it is right not when it is dictated by somebody else. So at the end of the day…

What do we do about Wealth?

• Monitor daily spending habits. Being aware is the first step to identifying alternatives and methods to handle wealth
• Break it down in smaller sections and categorize it accordingly; For example: expenses – must spend, entertainment – wants or investment – future retirement
• Focus on the bare essentials and if possible, discard or at least reduce the excess wants or non-essentials
• Have a savings plan to keep a portion of wages, salary or whatever is feeding you preferably 10 percent or even more aside for investment
• Research the types of investment available; once you have a regular savings plan going, the money will be put to better use when it is being put to work in mutual funds, stocks, property investment or other investment engines
• Re-invest the investment; at a later stage, you will begin seeing the returns on your previous investment and this is a good to re-invest the amount in the same or some other investment engine (you may take out a small portion to enjoy the fruits of your labor if you feel inclined)
• Along the way, we also want to create more sources of income (preferably passive income) which will minimize risk to your monetary warehouse by diversifying sufficiently enough that it is now a hands off (or most of it) revenue generating system to put you safely into retirement or at least a way to start preparing for your passions or dreams to pursue in your later years

1st Fundamental Thought - Healthy Living

I was thinking to myself while sitting in the train that day what article should I write about in my blog and thought that since I included in my blog a name called Compass, it should also incorporate the ideas that made me decide the name of the blog in the first place. Anyway, back to the topic at hand, I needed to keep a journal or a memoir on the ideas that I believe would survive time immemorial throughout human history. I believe I am looking for a sort of compass to guide myself and if I may say humanity’s search for meaning in this very physical existence. Since the ideas itself is on four main factors that drives human reason, logic and behavior, I have decided to break it into four portions to give each one ample space to be reflected upon. Call it a 4 part mini-series on what would be considered as important ideas to keep in mind when facing this new millennium. Without further introductions, let’s get started.

The first of which I consider the utmost important is definitely Health. Without a healthy body which is the engine to drive your thoughts forward and into action, you might as well forget the other 3 other major thoughts. You might as well focus on regaining your health or else you would be too sick or weak to move to greener pastures. While a majority of people may insist that your mind is the more important portion of the equation, your mind is still attached to your body and your body to your health. Just as the Buddha discovered that by fasting in excess and not taking care of your body well enough or in proportion (as in participating in the extremes rather than the Middle Way), he could not have found enlightenment. It has also dawned on me that in order to think creatively or perform extraordinarily in any endeavors, I would still have to be in great shape. I was sick not too long ago and the feeling during that period can be described as just horrible. Being fed with antibiotics and plastered with medication that makes you feel sleepy or lethargic is not a situation that anybody wants to be in especially for long stretches.

What’s the solution?

• By feeding your body the right kind of foods or proper nutrition
• Taking the appropriate supplements (like vitamins)
• Preferably continuous 7 to 8 hour sleep cycles
• Daily exercise (yes, daily) or at a bare minimum 3 to 4 times a week for 30 minutes or more
• A daily dose of sunlight
• Self-massage or get somebody to do it for you
• Maintaining proper hygiene and sanitary practice

Remember to keep this as top priority before any other thoughts since this alone may determine whether you literally live your life the way you meant to live or put yourself into an early grave.

Saving your life when strangers are around but nobody is helping

Living in a 3rd world developing country, I was taken aback many a time when I would notice people crowding around the site of an accident hoping to see what is going on but not actually helping. I was ever since appalled at the behavior of my fellow countrymen and still am. How could so many people look on at the victims of a car accident (surviving no less but requiring urgent medical attention) but not do a single thing to assist whether it may be calling the ambulance or getting the police. However, after reading an article the other day, I discovered that in order to increase your probability of survival in a car accident, you can't expect or should never expect a good Samaritan to come to your aid. This is not a Hollywood movie where things will go your way. Instead of depending on somebody else to hopefully understand the predicament that you are in, the suggestion here is to take control of the situation yourself (you have to be aware first that you are in need of help) by directing the people around you to help you out. You have got to identify the person you need help from and instruct them to call the police, get an ambulance or just assist you. This snaps them out of observer mode and into action. Hopefully by example, the people around the area will start to take note and join in to help out. So the lesson here is, "If you want to be saved, don't wait for somebody. Help yourself by being aware and taking control of the situation". Just like everything else in life...

How I Overcome Procrastination to Start a Blog

Once upon a time in a land far far away, there was a guy who was always procrastinating on when he will be able to set up a blog and get started with Internet revolution. In fact, it started a long time ago but I am like a dinosaur trying to learn to use roller skates when it is beginning to get out of fashion. So what is it that drives me to do it now? Why start blogging now when you could have done it ages ago? Well, it came boiling down to one video while surfing on the Web. So I guess I overcame an obstacle and that is my mind and boy, ain't it liberating. After seeing all that could be possible and all the opportunities that could probably exist out there without my minuscule worries. I should be like what Kirk should be doing on Star Trek and go boldly where no man (or in this case, myself) has gone before. And what video is so grand enough to get me moving, well it was a Carl Sagan's Pale Blue Dot.

If there is another thing I have learn is that sometimes you just got to start doing it no matter what seems to be in your way. You may drag your feet or protest but once you get cracking, you just do it. And there is no substitution to that. Let your actions dictate your mind. Hopefully this inspires you to do what you need to do if you have not done it as well.