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!