How "Not Thinking" Can Do Us Good

The title may sound a bit weird. Since young, we have been taught to think, plan, and analyze every single factor before we decide to do anything. 

Being able to analyze and plan before we do anything is a good thing, but sometimes for many people this kind of habit might become a hindrance. 

Many of us are experts in analyzing and planning, but not all of us are able to take action.

Over thinking things might leave to procrastination, which is the biggest obstacle to success for most of us. 

Personally I'm struggling to overcome this problem. There are many opportunities available out there, but I have not been able to fully utilize them due to one single reason. I tend to think to much. 

In alphabet, S is located between R and T. So is SUCCESS, which is somewhere between being RECKLESS and THINKING too much. 

Result = Plan x Action 

If an action is not well planned, it will result in nothing. Same thing happens to people who plan properly but never take any actions.

The question now is "how to prevent this from happening?"

Arrange a goal and a timeline

Meaning that we must try to set a specific goal and how long will it take for us to do it.

The goal must be something achievable.  By setting up a specific goal, it can provide us with the extra motivation that we may need to immediately take action.

Second danger that may arise from thinking too much is fear.

Some people tends to be pessimistic when they are facing conditions where they are not too familiar with. This pessimism creates fear. Fear is something natural, meaning that every single living person may feel this when they are facing the unknown. Great people are those who can view the "unknown" as opportunity. 

This kind of people possess the mental strength and the optimism to be able to step out of their comfort zone and embrace the unknown. Mental strength refers to how much stress you can handle and tolerate. While optimism refers to how you view things.

Mental strength is naturally different from one and another. But even for those with weaker mentality, there is still a solution, which is by accumulating experience. We may not be able to control what will happen to us, but we can control how we will react. By continuously pushing ourselves to the limit and always try our best, we can actually train up our mental strength.

For my case, by learning to take rejections and disappointment, I have slowly build up my tolerance to failure. 

Optimism is a state of mind. Being optimistic means being able to see the silver lining in every single black cloud that we may face. 

Many amazing success stories out there tells us that simply by being positive, we can reallyovercome everything that comes along our way.

~~~Success is 35% Ideas, 60% Sweat, and 5% Luck~~~

Note: By writing this stuff, I tend to learn more things about myself and the direction I should take. Currently struggling to motivate myself more and more every single day. >_<

"AFTER 6 PM" Rule

Most of us are working or planning to work in a company. As we all know, in a company we received a thing called "salary". For most of you, you are receiving a fixed amount of money every month. (unless you are receiving a commission based pay structure>> like me). Meaning that the company is the one who decides how much are you going to be paid. 

So when we mention about being successful and earning more than other people can earn, it can't be done simply by sitting down and work every single day. 

That's where the "After 6 PM" rule comes to play. 

After 6 PM rule basically mentions that how successful we can be, all depends on what we do after 6 PM (after our normal working hour). If we simply follow the normal path, it's hard to be extremely successful. Climbing the corporate ladder takes decades, and it also requires the person above us to move away from his/her seat. 

Meaning that most of the billionaires out there did not build their wealth by working for someone else. I'm not saying that it is wrong to work for your company. It is good to learn through the corporate way, but the final goal should always be to start something on our own.

The second reason to apply the After 6 PM rule is the illusion of job security. Some people feels that they are safe working in a company, but this recession is a wake up call for many. Many of my friends who were very comfortable working in a corporate line have just experienced what is called retrenchment. There are no such thing as job security as long as we are still working for other people. That is the reason why we should do things to create a true security for ourselves.

Now the question is how to apply After 6 PM rule ?

Before that, we should know how rich people make their money. 

There are 2 main paths in reaching financial stability.

1. Business>> Basically a sustainable business which gives constant stream of income. This is how rich people acquire their wealth from. 

Business = Opportunity (Creative Ideas) +  Skill + Resource + Trustworthy Partner

Trustworthy partner is an optional. Most of us who wants to start a business from nothing sometimes requires a partner to work together with. Meaning that we dont have to be able to do everything from A-Z. We just have to find a brilliant idea and outsource the right people to assist us to start something.

2. Investment>> This part is a bit tricky, in the sense that for some people, investment is a powerful money generating tool. For others, it is a place where you place your money in, and nothing comes out. 

Bottom line, lack of knowledge can kill you.

Investment can be divided into 3 main types.

A. Equities Market (Not suitable for moody and easily stressed people)

Equities is a double edged sword. Meaning it can help you or kill you. It comprises of shares, derivatives, commodities trading, etc. Be careful not to play in the equity market with minimum knowledge.

B. Properties (Location.. Location.. Location..)

Property is something that is used by the world richest people in growing their wealth. Although most of them requires big amount of money to be invested in, some are actually quite affordable such as Land Banking and REITS.

  

C. Exotic Investments (Quite interesting to learn about these)

Some of you might have heard of these few "unique" investments such as wine investment, stamp collection, old currencies collection, etc.

After knowing what the rich are doing, the next thing to do is to find the things that we can start doing during our "After 6 PM" time.

Few suggestions based on what I've seen and learn from people and what I'm currently doing:

1. Trading (Equities Market) 

Trading is a skill. It is hard to master, but once we have mastered it, it can provide us with sustainable income. Meaning that even if you're retrenched, you won't go hungry. Furthermore the equities market is something that will never go bankrupt or close down.  

Note that trading is different than investing. Trading refers to a way to make money in a shorter time line, from a few minutes to months. (Depends on the type of trading we are doing) 

2. Internet Marketing

Internet marketing is a growing trend. There are a few ways in doing internet marketing. The main ways are these 2. SEO and PPC.

SEO-> Search Engine Optimization

PPC-> Pay per Click

Internet Marketing is quite similar to trading. Meaning that it requires time to polish up the skill, but it can generate a sustainable income for you.

3. Exploring Side-Line Business

Side-line business refers to doing extra work in a job field other than your main job. In return commission is usually given out to them. For instance, some people are working full time and also act as a property agent during weekends to earn extra bucks. Or in my case, there are few people working under me in bringing prospective clients to me.

4. Doing Proper Investment

In Investing, few things to note is to first Identify your Risk Appetite, remind yourself Not to be Greedy. Learn about the investment tool. Know about the Risk and Opportunity before you decided to go in. Know how to put the "Eggs" in different baskets.  Feel free to ask me as I'm working in this line. =)

5. Starting a Business

The last and the most important one. This should be something that is embedded in our mind. Opening our mind and thinking out of the box is a crucial step in looking for a good opportunities and ideas to start our business. Strong businessman can immediately spot opportunities that comes along their way. The way to train this is to open up our perspective by reading or learning as much as possible from people who has managed to make it big.

Out of the 5 points above, number 1 to 3 is Optional. Meaning that only do it if you have any interest on the particular subject. 

For instance me, I have been intensively learning about trading for the past few months. After getting the necessary skill and information, I started doing paper trading for 2 months before I finally trade with actual money. But for internet marketing wise, i am not doing it. The concept is interesting, but I have no passion in pursuing it seriously.

No 4 and 5 on the other hand is something that needs to be done for all of us. Proper investment is necessary in order to grow our wealth. Why work hard for money when we can make our money work for us? And as I have mentioned earlier, starting a business should be made into our goal. Don't get too comfortable in our comfort zone and miss out all the great opportunities out there.

Taking a Hit ~ Winning the Match

In a boxing game, both boxers experience what it feels to be punched. The only difference is how they react after taking the hit. The winners are those who are strong enough to stand up and fight back. While the losers just give up and stay down until the count is over.

Failure happens in life. Not a single person in this world walked through their path of life without failing. Some people might fall into frustration and lose their initial ambition or passion. Some people climb up from the fall and emerge stronger than before.

I've seen some people who was very hardworking. But when they fell, they became hopeless and pessimistic. Different people have different mental tolerant. When someone encounters bigger problem than what they can take, it sometimes result to trauma.

Here are some of my thoughts on what should be done to overcome the pain of getting hit and move forward.

1. Take Ownership

The first step is to take ownership of what happened. Meaning that we must keep in our mind that we are responsible for everthing that has happened. Don't try to blame others or give out excuses. Learn to take the result as something that we have produced due to our own actions. Winners don't make excuses. ( I'm still trying to master this one =p )

It's easy to pass the blame to someone else. But in order to move forward, we must acknowledge that there was something wrong in what we did. If we can't even acknowledge and identify the mistake, we will keep on repeating the same mistake over and over again.

2. Managing Disappointment

Adjust a positive mindset. Positive mindset helps us recover from a fall. The way to do it is to implant positive thoughts in our mind. 

" Every successful people has experienced failure in their life before they make it. Meaning that I'm still on track!"

" As long as I managed to learn something from the mistake, the whole process is worth it."

" I have the potential to succeed because I try harder than everyone else."

" I know I can make it because I believe so."

Just remember that failing is completely normal, but giving up is for losers.

3. Reflecting

After getting through all the heartache and disappointment, what needs to be done is self reflection.

Reflection means learning from past mistakes. Try to think of all the things we can take as a lesson from the incident. Come up with solutions to prevent similar problem from occuring in the future.

4. Push and Pull Factor

Mastering the push and pull factor enables us to be able to take a hit and use it as a motivation to be better in what we do.

Push factor is something that we use to drive us forward. Usually it refers to past disappointment, suffering, and other negative things that happened in the past. Push factor makes us move forward and not be complacent in order to avoid experiencing similar feeling.

Pull factor refers to a reward or a short term goal that we use in order to motivate us. By properly setting short term achievable goals, we can force ourselves to perform better in everthing that we do. 

"In the end of the day, the winner is not the one who throw the most number of punches. A winner is the one who is able to take the most number of hits and still be standing at the end of the match."

The Art of Pushing Your Boundaries

Here are some of my thoughts on how we should push ourselves and move forward in life.

1. Boundary of Comfort Zone.

Some people say that our comfort zone equals to our money zone. Meaning that the amount of success you can obtain is proportionate with how much you are willing to push yourself.

We often listen to stories about great people who started out from a difficult background. If we think it through, maybe the reason why they became successful is that they have experienced hardship in their life.

"Things that does not kill you will only make you stronger"

Human has a natural instinct for survival. That is the reason why people who are pushed to the limit may sometimes be able to do things beyond his limit.

The key to push our boundaries is to set our mind to always place ourselves in a do or die situation. By having this kind of mindset, we are pushed to perform up to our maximum standard.

The second step is consistency. By always giving our best in every single thing that we do, we are able to push our limit higher and higher.

When you are struggling, use your hope to pull you forward. When you have achieved success, use your past failures and sufferings to remind you not to be complacent.

2. Boundary of Mind

The second boundary that often hinders our growth is our own mind.

There are tons of books out there stating how powerful Human mind is. We can see throughout history how human mind managed to produce creation and destruction.

Different upbringing creates different boundaries in people's mind. What we need to do is to explore our own mind and identify incorrect mindsets that always limit our potential.

For example, I was always taught that just by being a morally good person is more than enough. Money is an extra. As long as you are happy, it may not be necessary. This caused me over 18 years of life spent with no ambition and motivation to put in my best in what I do. Luckily I just came to realize how harsh the real world is. Since then, I tried to push myself harder to be successful. Because I believe that money is a tool for me to make a difference in my life and other people's life. I don't worship money, but I believe you can't make a difference if you can't even control your own life.

The first step in achieving success is adjusting our mindset. Having a correct mindset is like having a compass. We may walk through different paths in life, but as long as the compass is pointing to the right direction, we will still arrive at the destination (achieve our final goal). 

This is the reason why great people can repeat their success over and over again even if they fall. Success is a result. Ability to become successful is a skill. It can be learned. Once we master it, it stays with us for the rest of our lives.

Great people are not created as perfect beings. They equip themselves with the ability to get up when they fall, to endure when they are suffering, and to look forward when they are far behind.

Handling Difficult People

There are times in life where you meet few "bastards" who just seem to make life difficult for you for no apparent reason. Either it's your boss, your colleagues, or even some random people you just met. Here are a few tips in handling them.

1. Prevent. Sometimes a scam is not done intentionally. But when you give people chance to do it, even the most trustworthy one might do the unexpected. If possible, it is better to try to prevent the accident before it happen rather than to heal the wound inflicted by it.

2. Stand up for yourself. I notice that the only reason some kids get bullied at school is because they never stand up for themselves. Either it is due to low in confidence or they are just too afraid to speak out.

3. Find out the reason. There is always an underlying concern or problem. Try to put yourself in their shoe in order to try to read their concerns.

4. Be positive. Don't let it get to you. It helps to cushion the blow by being positive and optimistic. But too much of positivity sometimes clouds you from looking at reality, making you accept everything that comes your way without even trying to achieve something more.

5. Be creative. Simply try to find a solution to handle this kind of people. Think out of the box. Sometimes these people are not as bad as they appeared to be.

6. Ignore. Finally, when all cannot seem to work, just simply ignore them. If you really cannot take it anymore, find your way away from these people. Ignorance is bliss.

Jumping to Different Train

We all lead different paths in our life. Some of us walk along the path that we decide on our own. Some others are walking along paths determined by others (parents, teachers, etc.) 

Well sometimes along the way, some people realize that the path they are walking on is not the one for them. That's where some people decides to jump to a different "train".

Jumping to different direction usually takes a lot of courage. It is never easy to step out of your comfort zone, because usually it requires some things to be sacrificed.

>>For my case, I jumped from an engineering to a financial path. Not easy to do. Faced a lot of resistance from my parents and relatives. But I believe my interest lies here. So I dont mind jumping now rather than going through something that I dont like for the next 20 or 30 years before finally having the courage to switch direction.

>>A more extreme one comes from one of my friends from engineering path who found his passion in entertainment and creative industry. He believes that he can do something meaningful and change lives through this line. For him the path is slightly tougher, because he would have to start crawling from the bottom in order to go into the desired industry.

>>The third example happenned recently. My friend who is pursuing his PhD in NTU suddenly decided to stop and jump into teaching. I guess he just finally realized where his desire truly is. 

In the end of the day, salute to all my friends who has courageously taken their "leap of faith".

At least even if we fail, we will fail with no regrets. Because we determine the path that we took. Furthermore, failure does not mean that it's the end. As long as the passion is there, the drive to move forward will not dissapear. 

Balancing Life ~ Managing Expectations

One of the most difficult thing in pursuing your career is to be able to balance your life and manage expectations. Each and everyone of us are guided by a different set of values unique only to us. This makes the composition of a "balanced life" different from one another. 

The wheel above shows different aspects to consider in our life. I can seperate them in 3 categories: physical, emotional and spiritual. 

Physical aspect of our life mainly deals with the fulfilling the basic necessities such as food, clothing and shelter. 

Emotional aspect on the other hand, envelopes all that we strive to achieve, for example: Working hard to buy an expensive sports car is not a physical need. It is an act based on the emotional aspect, which is to fulfill the sense of pride. Trying to spend more time for the family is a way of fulfilling our need in giving affection to others. 

Spiritual aspect is something that in neglected by many people. Spiritual aspect provides stronger constitution for the mental state of each and everyone.

The second part of the problem is Managing Expectations. Most people have no difficulties in balancing their life, but hit the bottle neck on trying to meet everyone's expectations. 

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A salaryman is struggling to balance his life and trying to please everyone. The wife always complains that he never spend enough time with his family. His boss always pushes him to work harder and take longer hours. His parents are not happy with what he is earning and ask him to change his career. He himself wants to be successful in order to achieve a sense of fulfillment. But the problem is, it is impossible for him to do every single thing that he is asked to.

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A sample case from the passage above happens to many people. The problem arises because the man is trying to make everyone happy. 

I attended a seminar by T Harv Eker few months ago. Although it was not so great and full of hard selling, but he did come out with a few interesting points. One of the things he mentioned is this. "Do not try to make everyone happy, because it is impossible to do so." 

We are all adults with our own judgement. The thing that we should do is to choose the direction in life as what we see fit and strive to pursue it. 

One thing that my boss taught me is that people only sees the end result. We can work our ass off or even beg on the streets, but once we become successful, people wont say anything about it. But if we ended up as a failure, that's where the badmouthing starts. 

I'm still young, lots of chance to try, fail, and try again. I believe I can make it in life. 

How about you?

Climbing the Ladder

You may wonder why I decided to name my blog "climbing the ladder".

 

Basically in life, people strives to achieve a greater height. 

Be it in terms of financial strength or emotional maturity. 

Well, in this case I'm trying to be better in both aspects of my life.

One thing for sure, it won't be an easy process.

But I believe that I'm on my way up right now.

How about you?

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When life becomes meaningless

Just recently, my junior committed something atrocious. Tried to murder his professor and committed suicide. 

Although I'm not that close to him, but this kind of events leave you thinking.. What the hell happened to him?

What would cause a bright student with good future to waste his life just like that. Is life so meaningless for us to throw it away just like that?? Is the furthest we can get is to be the headline of a newspaper? It seems like he just suddenly lost his willingness to live. Which makes us think... What drives us to live? What motivates us to be persistent and do our best. Everyone has a reason to live. It's the thing called HOPE. Without it people fall into despair, and everything seems meaningless. People have different objective in life, and in achieving it, it's never easy. The thing to remember is to always keep the fire burning and not to lose hope. 

The question people ask is who to blame for this?

Is it the proffessor who didnt do his job properly? Who disregard the emotional well being of his student.

Or the parents who didnt prepare and raise his emotional level well enough to withstand the test of life. 

Or is it his own fault for not being strong enough.

Noone can answer. Even if we know who to blame, what's the point?

A life has been lost, a dream has been shattered. 

"Learn from the Past, Live in the Present, and Hope for the Future"

----Tribute to Tera_Majin----

First Post

This new blog is for me to write down my life's events and to express some of my thoughts.

Enjoy.