Living in an ultra World

Fire Garden: The First Blog That I Created in 2006

2018-06-07T16:23:00.000+08:00

I started this blog back in 2006. When I looked back, my last post was in 2014.

Why did I create this blog in the first place?

2016 was the final year of my engineering degree. And after 5 years studying, I became worried that I have a bad command in English. I can't speak well, my grammar was broken, and I don't have a medium for me to express my thoughts. During my foundation studies in MMU, I got C for all 3 English subjects. And if I can't communicate in English, I might be losing the opportunity to have a good career.

Looking back at my 2006 post, that was the year that I actively updated my blog. I just don't know the theme of the blog, but I just wrote it because I wanted to improve my English. I maintain it as a public blog so that when I was to write something, I keep myself conscious that I need to write the best that I can because the world will be reading it. And I made the decision to only write in English to support my primary objectives. Yes, until today, I believe it was written in English and it has served that purpose.

My English now is much better as compared to myself 12 years ago. Not even near perfect, but I believe it is much better. And I credited to so many events that happened in my life. But to me, writing is one of the ways for me to articulate my idea, get clarity of my thoughts and a way to express myself. Nowadays, I use Facebook as my main medium of writing (to the public) and I use Malay, as many people would appreciate my posting if I write in Malay as compared to English.

Today I have many ways of practicing my English. I have many friends internationally that forced me to speak 100% English without a mixture of Malay at all. I have platforms for me to speak, been in so many associations, Toastmasters, also networking with other races. And I am in training business, I just couldn't believe myself that I can deliver a keynote in English and conduct a 2-day programme in English.

I am not sure if I will still be active on this blog, as I have created another blog of www.johanirwan.com which also have not been updated for quite sometimes. But this blog I believe is for me to write about my thoughts without too much intelligent aspect of it or any professional point of view. It is just about me, my life and the thoughts that came to my mind.

Hopefully, even after I passed away, someone will read this blog and look back at my past. They will know that I am terrible at writing with hundred of grammatical error, yet, I am able to speak on an international stage.

Opportunities

2014-10-07T09:39:00.000+08:00

Opportunities are everywhere. But just because an opportunity is good for someone doesn't mean it is good for everyone.

I know one takaful agent earn RM150,000 a month. He is the top producer for a takaful brand. That was great business, wasn't it? But i also know thousand others who quit. Doesn't make money, in fact losing money. The key is not about the business. It is about being the best in the things you choose to do. And the one that earn RM150k is not that many, but only the best out of many others.

Who said employee cannot be multi millionaire? One of GLC was paying the GCEO RM9M in 2013 alone. (Read Malaysian Business Megazine to find out who). And this is on top of other benefits as an employee. Again this is the best performer in the industry. And again not many were paid this kind of amount.

Only the best will earn lots of money. And the secret to be the best is to love what you do.

Do you love what you do? Because only those who love what they do will persist.

Feng-shui dan Azizi Ali

2014-09-07T19:17:00.003+08:00

1. Saya teringat semasa membaca salah satu buku pelaburan hartanah oleh Azizi Ali bertahun-tahun sudah. Beliau menyentuh sedikit berkenaan Feng-shui.

2. Kata beliau, bukan isu sama ada kita percaya atau tidak berkenaan Feng Shui. Tetapi ianya penting dalam pelaburan hartanah.

3. Bagaimana ianya penting? Kerana hartanah yang kita beli, kita mahu sewakan atau jualkan untung mendapatkan pulangan pendapatan. Orang yang menyewa berkemungkinan mengamalkan Feng-shui dan ia sedikit sebanyak mempengaruhi harga pasaran atas dasar market demand.

4. Oleh yang demikian, kita perlu tahu sedikit sebanyak berkenaan feng-shui untuk memaksimakan pulangan pelaburan.

5. Begitu juga kisahnya dengan rahsia tarikh lahir. Semasa saya mempelajarinya kali pertama dalam seminar rahsia tarikh lahir kendalian Dr. Azizan Osman pada tahun 2010, ramai yang mengkritik tentang kaedah penggunaan tarikh lahir kerana ia mungkin berkait dengan kepercayaan dan tilik nasib.

6. Saya tidak pula mempercayainya secara taksub. Walaubagaimanapun saya mengambil keputusan untuk tidak mendalami ilmu tersebut kerana kontroversi yang mungkin bakal tercetus. Dalam masa yang sama, saya tidak menolak seratus peratus perkara tersebut.

7. Pada bulan lepas, saya dibawa oleh seorang rakan niaga bertemu dengan seorang Dato' untuk diperkenalkan sebagai penceramah.

8. Pertemuan diatur. Saya membentangkan kelayakan serta profil saya sebagai jurulatih, pengalaman lepas, serta beberapa idea tentang kandungan kursus.

9. Setelah mendapat persetujuan tentang beberapa perkara, saya ditanya berkenaan tarikh lahir. Hasil daripada kiraan, saya dikatakan mempunyai bakat tentang komunikasi kerana terdapat tiga kombinasi nombor yang mengatakan antara kekuatan saya adalah pada komunikasi.

10. Dato' tersebut juga mengesyorkan saya untuk fokus pada bidang ini, dan tidak perlu untuk mengeksplorasi bidang-bidang yang lain. Katanya "oil and gas ke apa ke, tak payah. Fokus pada bidang komunikasi."

11. Hasil daripada keputusan tarikh lahir ini, ia lebih meyakinkan Dato' yang membuat keputusan. Surat lantikan juga dikeluarkan dalam beberapa hari. Dan beberapa program bersiri sudah pun dijalankan.

12. Bukan isu sama ada kita percaya atau tidak. Tetapi orang lain mungkin menggunakan beberapa 'tools' untuk menilai kita sebelum memberikan projek, atau mungkin majikan menggunakannya untuk mengambil kita sebagai pekerja.

13. Seperti juga kata Azizi Ali dengan pandangan beliau mengenai Feng Shui.

Syed Mokhtar Albukhary

2012-12-29T00:52:00.001+08:00

I have a high Growth Emotional Need. It is typical me to buy so many books because I might think that I can benefits from the content. However, I hardly finish reading book because of so many reasons (or excuses). Yesterday, I bought a book - a biography of Malaysian tycoon, the only bumiputera that makes into the list of top 10 riches man in Malaysia (according to Forbes) for more than a decades. He ranked no. 6 in Malaysia and no. 344 of riches man in the world from the latest Forbes list. This book really interest me and for the first time I managed to read the whole book, cover-to-cover in less than 18 hours.

This book really reveal how Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar started the trading business after skipped his SPM examination because the family could not afford to pay for the examination fees. He is really a genius in doing business and there are some strategies that he used which most of people wont. He did not become rich overnight. He really did it step-by-step from a sole-proprietorship. He has his own principle of doing business since the beginning of his venture.

"It was based on the idea that every business needs two key figures who must work together to succeed: one to run the business, another to manage the finances."

He never do business by his own and always have a partner that will complement. And this principle is true if you look at other giant corporations in the world, most of them started by 2 co-founders.

He went to ups and downs especially during the economic crisis where he lost almost 80% of his net worth.

"The Asian Economic Crisis of 1997 came down hard on me. I was hit by the economic downturn, and it was made worse because I refused to relinquish my own companies as well as those acquired as a bumiputera to settle my debts. It was a question of pride, and I struggled to maintain the dignity of the Malays by not letting go especially of strategic assets. And this cost me RM2.4 billion."

He puts his interest aside and always think about other people, especially the Malays, the country and the less fortunate. There are a lot of moves that he did which is not financially strategic, but in order maintain the equity of the bumiputera and protecting the assets. He did not trade stocks and make profits when the price when up. But he holds it and add value so that the price will go up which will benefits the other stakeholders.

Syed Mokhtar has a magic touch, even in heavily diversified industries, he always take over the companies that is sick and turn it around to make the companies run in profit. He has done this over-and-over again especially on the 3 corporations that he took over starting from the MMC, PERNAS and DRB-Hicom. He made many of strategic moves which was not advised by his financial advisor, but he made the decision when he look at it as a whole group benefits, instead of only financial aspect. And this move is actually proven in the long run. It is interesting to see the Proton next moves after DRB-Hicom took over. And I wonder what will happened if he took over Malaysian Airlines.

Ali Alabbar once asked: "Your business is so huge, so why are you working so hard?"
Syed Mokhtar answered: "We all need to be strong and successful so we have the ability to help other."
Being a philanthropist, he contribute so much and just enjoyed to do so.

"Whenever I do charity, my heart moves. It is not about corporate social responsibility. It is about caring, something that comes from the heart. My wish is that people with money will help those less fortunate so that the world is more just and fair to all."

All and all, I felt truly inspired to achieve more success with the leadership, humility and achievement shown by Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar after reading this book.

When was the last time you feel inspired?

Marrying at the age of 25

2012-12-10T00:03:00.003+08:00

When I give talk about Law of Attraction, I will always give an example of my marriage. When I was 17 or 16, I always made a claim that I am going to marry at the age of 25. While I set the target, I never have any candidate for my future wife in my mind. Why 25? I am not sure, but I justify; because our prophet get married when he was 25. And I am sure that is the best age to fit marriage, at least for male.

My wedding in June 2007

Guess what happened when I turn 25? I got married. And at that time, most of my friend was not married yet while some percentage married earlier than me. It does not mean good or bad, but the point is, the Law of Attraction work.

Recently we have a chit-chat with my good friends, Syazly, Jack (Safwan) and BHN participant from Indonesia, Wahyu about marriage. Than I recall back one of my conversation with 1 of my friend. Back then, I was 18 or 19 year-old. I told my friend, Azmil, we should get married at 25 while his opinion 30 should be better. Then I started to argue my point.

"If we get married at 25, the next year we got our first child. And the first child married at 25, most probability we will be having our first grandchildren at the age of 52. If we got married at 30 and our first child married also at the age of 30, most probably by the age of 62 only we will have the chance to see our first grandchildren. And that assume that the baby born the next year after marriage. And by then, we will be too old and we might not able to see the 5th or 6th grandchildren."

I still remember the reply from Azmil "It's ok if they don't meet me, as long as they know that their grandfather is a Rockstar." (Azmil is our drummer at that time, and he is really talented when it comes to music. And btw, Azmil married at the age of 25, almost the same date with me).

But as I recall the story, it gives some impact to our conversation, especially to Safwan. He started to realize that he needs to prepare on getting married from now.

While there is no right and wrong answer to this. It depends on every individual value. Some really appreciate their next generation as they are going to continue our legacy. Some might think that they need to achieve 'something' first before getting married. Some might think that it is better to be matured enough before getting married. If the marriage fails, then there is no point of getting marry at early age. However, my advise is to look things at broader perspective and consider the long term impact to us.

Butterflies and Hurricanes

2012-12-04T22:40:00.001+08:00

Songs can motivate people. Especially when the lyrics gives some meaning. Different people likes different kind of song, and we need to respect that.

This song provide very good lyrics:

Change everything you are, and everything you were
Your number has been called

Fight the battle has begun, revenge will surely come
Your hardtime are ahead

Best You've got to be the best, you've got to change the world
And use this chance to be heard
Your time is now!

Working With Different Colored Brain

2012-10-28T06:41:00.001+08:00

In my life, as an employee I have some difficulties to work with people. Especially my superior. Once in a while, I have a good idea. For example, working in a company where training is part of our bread and butter, I do think that to upgrade the HRDF status of the company is important. We were at class C at that time. What stopping us to upgrade to class B was the TTT. Being a subsidiary of a University, we don't have trainer that parked under our payroll, which is one of the requirement of class B and of course to upgrade to class A we need to have 2 trainers.

Since we don't have any trainers inside the company (we outsource from our parent company most of the time), I proposed to my CEO to send me to the TTT course. I begin to explain why we need this to him. The result - he don't agreed. It is a five days course and there bound to be some problem if I leave the company for 5 days (and I realized how important I am to the company).

Frustrated, I just went back into my room and start talking to other colleagues. They were all agreed with me but somehow the boss just couldn't see.

One day, we have a new head coming onboard. After convincing the same idea to her, she started to see the CEO. Interestingly, the CEO agreed to send me for the 5 days HRDF-TTT course. I was quite surprise. Is it because our new head is a female; easily convinced the male CEO or because of she is a great influencer?

Today we studied Colored Brain. And I noticed that my CEO is a Purple Brained. He just look things into details and always try to find ways to reject our first submission especially on documentation. By knowing this characteristic, I know that he needs a lot of information before he can proceed with any decision. While being a Green Brain, I always talk thing without any structure and jumping here and there. This results to my communication did not match with what his brain is trying to process.

Moving forward - the next time if I were to submit a proposal or asking an approval, I might need to spend more time to feed him with more details and information before asking him to make any decision. This way, it fits to his way of communicating and this can help him to make a decision.

And by the way, from this writing I noticed that I am Green Brained. Do you noticed that?
What is your Boss Brain Color? Call me and I can help you to identify that.

Training: A month full of training activities!

2012-10-16T00:59:00.002+08:00

Being in training line is something that I am passionate about. Training can educate people and add value to their live. However, the most important thing is that I have seen people changes from a single training session. It is a changing point to some people's life.

Working in my current company, MMU Cnergy, as a training provider have so many advantages. Nonetheless, I see a lot of point to be improved. We are constantly making change for the better!

Talking about training, I thing this two months are an interesting period. These are some list of training that I will be joining in the next few days:

1. Teaming for Quantum Growth by Lawrence Walter Seminar. I have been working with Dr Lawrence and from testimonial from other people, his training is a total transformation. Using active NLP technique, Dr Lawrence Walter has the unique ability to touch human heart and made the transformation really happened. It does not only change the participants, it also changes the whole culture of the organization. And I am really excited for this training. Training will be on 17th and 18th October 2012.

2. Colored Brain Train-the-trainer certification. I have invested some amount of money to be certified as colored brain practitioner and trainer. Developed by Arthur F. Carmazzi, it is an interesting topic that talk about your brain. How your brain process information and how to communicate with different types of brain color so that we can communicate better. I will elaborate more when I am certified to talk about this. Training will be on 26th - 28th October. (and this is during the Eid celebration)

3. Training Needs Analysis - by PSMB. This is a free subsidized training by HRDF and they are meant for SMEs. SMEs don't have sufficient fund in their HRDF. It is an initiative by PSMB to conduct some free training and without any hesitation I signed up because it can greatly benefit my current job function and my career as well. TNA will actually provide some tools to evaluate whether the training is really needed by an organization or an individual. As you might aware, training require some investment in terms of money and time. And to make sure this two most valuable items is not wasted, a proper TNA will help to identify whether which training should be conducted to minimize competency gap. The training will be on 7th - 8th November 2012.

That were the list of trainings that I am going to attend. Some training that we are organizing and happening this month are:
1. Winnable Relationship and High Impact Presentation (with Dale Carnegie) for TM Government. (8 - 10 October)
2. Talent Assessment (with Leaderonomics) for Malaysian Airports Holdings Berhad. (11 - 12 October)
3. Creative and Critical Thinking for AUO Crystal. (19 - 20 October)
4. Instructional Design Training for University Tun Hussein Onn. (31 Oct - 2 Nov)

These does not count our MMU Toastmasters meeting - which is also part of development programme.

It was an interesting journey in the training business and I am looking forward to have more achievement in this near future!

Hopefully, everybody will be benefited from all of these training programme.

10-20-30 Rule

2012-08-09T17:15:00.001+08:00

This is the rule if you are going for a pitching - requesting for a funder to fund your business idea. But might also be good for sales presentations.

In summary:
10 - Prepare your slides not more than 10 slides.
20 - Present your presentation within 20 minutes.
30 - Use the minimum of 30 points for font size.

Simple video but I thing this is important when you do business pitching.

Positive Thinking

2012-08-07T07:58:00.000+08:00

What are the positive things that you are thinking today?

Let's list down positive things that wish to have and look at it happening today!

"How to be Successful" by Steve Vai

2012-07-06T13:07:00.003+08:00

Is it a coincidence that Steve Vai talk about success? He sounds like a success guru or personal development expert.
I have been a big fan of Steve Vai - if you reckoned in so many of my previous post. I am not a big fan of Yngwie Malmsteen, Joe Satriani or Petrucci. Now, I am soo into this personal development stuff, talking about success and stuff.

It is about the attraction - like attract like. That's the law.
Anyhow, enjoy whatever he said. Because whatever he said does not have contradiction at all with other personal development book and Steve Vai is the living proof of successful people in his field concentrating in things that he is passionate the most. Same goes to Steve Jobs (another coincidence that all of my idols named Steve).

Steve do talk about imagine that you able to play the difficult part of the music. This is again law of attraction. And LoA is the area that I have interest in.

All and all, I have viewed this video again-and-again with the hope that whatever he said, stuck into my brain!

Thank you

Cancer Information

2012-05-03T12:28:00.004+08:00

I found something that probably useful. However, the content is not verified by expert. If you are an expert and if you could contribute in verifying this information, please comment on the article.

LATEST CANCER INFORMATION

AFTER YEARS OF TELLING PEOPLE CHEMOTHERAPY IS THE ONLY WAY TO TRY AND ELIMINATE CANCER, JOHNS HOPKINS IS FINALLY STARTING TO TELL YOU THERE IS AN ALTERNATIVE WAY …

[Cancer Update from Johns Hopkins ]

1. Every person has cancer cells in the body. These cancer cells do not show up in the standard tests until they have multiplied to a few billion. When doctors tell cancer patients that there are no more cancer cells in their bodies after treatment, it just means the tests are unable to detect the cancer cells because they have not reached the detectable size.

2. Cancer cells occur between 6 to more than 10 times in a person's lifetime.

3. When the person's immune system is strong the cancer cells will be destroyed and prevented from multiplying and forming tumors.

4. When a person has cancer it indicates the person has multiple nutritional deficiencies. These could be due to genetic, environmental, food and lifestyle factors.

5. To overcome the multiple nutritional deficiencies, changing diet and including supplements will strengthen the immune system.

6. Chemotherapy involves poisoning the rapidly-growing cancer cells and also destroys rapidly-growing healthy cells in the bone marrow, gastro-intestinal tract etc, and can cause organ damage, like liver, kidneys, heart, lungs etc.

7. Radiation while destroying cancer cells also burns, scars and damages healthy cells, tissues and organs.

8. Initial treatment with chemotherapy and radiation will often reduce tumor size. However prolonged use of chemotherapy and radiation do not result in more tumor destruction.

9. When the body has too much toxic burden from chemotherapy and radiation the immune system is either compromised or destroyed, hence the person can succumb to various kinds of infections and complications.

10. Chemotherapy and radiation can cause cancer cells to mutate and become resistant and difficult to destroy. Surgery can also cause cancer cells to spread to other sites.

11. An effective way to battle cancer is to STARVE the cancer cells by not feeding it with foods it needs to multiple.

What cancer cells feed on:

a. Sugar is a cancer-feeder. By cutting off sugar it cuts off one important food supply to the cancer cells. Note: Sugar substitutes like NutraSweet, Equal, Spoonful, etc are made with Aspartame and it is harmful. A better natural substitute would be Manuka honey or molasses but only in very small amounts. Table salt has a chemical added to make it white in colour. Better alternative is Bragg's aminos or sea salt.

b. Milk causes the body to produce mucus, especially in the gastro-intestinal tract. Cancer feeds on mucus. By cutting off milk and substituting with unsweetened soy milk, cancer cells will starved.

c. Cancer cells thrive in an acid environment. A meat-based diet is acidic and it is best to eat fish, and a little chicken rather than beef or pork. Meat also contains livestock antibiotics, growth hormones and parasites, which are all harmful, especially to people with cancer.

d. A diet made of 80% fresh vegetables and juice, whole grains, seeds, nuts and a little fruits help put the body into an alkaline environment. About 20% can be from cooked food including beans. Fresh vegetable juices provide live enzymes that are easily absorbed and reach down to cellular levels within 15 minutes t o nourish and enhance growth of healthy cells.

To obtain live enzymes for building healthy cells try and drink fresh vegetable juice (most vegetables including bean sprouts) and eat some raw vegetables 2 or 3 times a day. Enzymes are destroyed at temperatures of 104 degrees F (40 degrees C).

e. Avoid coffee, tea, and chocolate, which have high caffeine. Green tea is a better alternative and has cancer-fighting properties. Water--best to drink purified water, or filtered, to avoid known toxins and heavy metals in tap water. Distilled water is acidic, avoid it.

12. Meat protein is difficult to digest and requires a lot of digestive enzymes. Undigested meat remaining in the intestines will become putrified and leads to more toxic buildup.

13. Cancer cell walls have a tough protein covering. By refraining from or eating less meat it frees more enzymes to attack the protein walls of cancer cells and allows the body's killer cells to destroy the cancer cells.

14. Some supplements build up the immune system (IP6, Flor-ssence, Essiac, anti-oxidants, vitamins, minerals, EFAs etc.) to enable the body's own killer cells to destroy cancer cells. Other supplements like vitamin E are known to cause apoptosis, or programmed cell death, the body's normal method of disposing of damaged, unwanted, or unneeded cells.

15. Cancer is a disease of the mind, body, and spirit. A proactive and positive spirit will help the cancer warrior be a survivor.

Anger, unforgiving and bitterness put the body into a stressful and acidic environment. Learn to have a loving and forgiving spirit. Learn to relax and enjoy life.

16. Cancer cells cannot thrive in an oxygenated environment. Exercising daily, and deep breathing help to get more oxygen down to the cellular level. Oxygen therapy is another means employed to destroy cancer cells.

Lesson from CEO of JP Morgan

2012-03-29T00:25:00.001+08:00

I found an interesting article which was shared by one of my friend in Facebook.

Even though I am not sure whether it is a true story or just something make-up, but I think the lesson was there.

Read it through and the analysis in business point of view really make sense.

Hope you learn something from it!

A reply from CEO of J.P. Morgan to a pretty girl seeking a rich husband

A young and pretty lady posted this on a popular forum:

Title: What should I do to marry a rich guy?

I'm going to be honest of what I'm going to say here.

I'm 25 this year. I'm very pretty, have style and good taste. I wish to marry a guy with $500k annual salary or above.

You might say that I'm greedy, but an annual salary of $1M is considered only as middle class in New York.

My requirement is not high. Is there anyone in this forum who has an income of $500k annual salary? Are you all married?

I wanted to ask: what should I do to marry rich persons like you?

Among those I've dated, the richest is $250k annual income, and it seems that this is my upper limit.

If someone is going to move into high cost residential area on the west of New York City Garden(?), $250k annual income is not enough.

I'm here humbly to ask a few questions:
1) Where do most rich bachelors hang out? (Please list down the names and addresses of bars, restaurant, gym)
2) Which age group should I target?
3) Why most wives of the riches are only average-looking? I've met a few girls who don't have looks and are not interesting, but they are able to marry rich guys.

4) How do you decide who can be your wife, and who can only be your girlfriend? (my target now is to get married)

Ms. Pretty

A philosophical reply from CEO of J.P. Morgan:

Dear Ms. Pretty,
I have read your post with great interest. Guess there are lots of girls out there who have similar questions like yours. Please allow me to analyse your situation as a professional investor.

My annual income is more than $500k, which meets your requirement, so I hope everyone believes that I'm not wasting time here.

From the standpoint of a business person, it is a bad decision to marry you. The answer is very simple, so let me explain.

Put the details aside, what you're trying to do is an exchange of "beauty" and "money" : Person A provides beauty, and Person B pays for it, fair and square.

However, there's a deadly problem here, your beauty will fade, but my money will not be gone without any good reason. The fact is, my income might increase from year to year, but you can't be prettier year after year.

Hence from the viewpoint of economics, I am an appreciation asset, and you are a depreciation asset. It's not just normal depreciation, but exponential depreciation. If that is your only asset, your value will be much worse 10 years later.

By the terms we use in Wall Street, every trading has a position, dating with you is also a "trading position".
If the trade value dropped we will sell it and it is not a good idea to keep it for long term - same goes with the marriage that you wanted. It might be cruel to say this, but in order to make a wiser decision any assets with great depreciation value will be sold or "leased".

Anyone with over $500k annual income is not a fool; we would only date you, but will not marry you. I would advice that you forget looking for any clues to marry a rich guy. And by the way, you could make yourself to become a rich person with $500k annual income.This has better chance than finding a rich fool.

Hope this reply helps.

signed,
J.P. Morgan CEO

A Dollar and Some Ambition: Jim Rohn

2012-01-31T09:14:00.004+08:00

Capital in your business isn't what matters. It isn't the money that buys you a future; it's your skills that buy you a future. Money and no skills, I'm telling you, you are still poor. Money and no ambition, where are you? Money and no courage, you're broke. A little bit of money and a whole lot of courage is all we need.

When looking for people, don't always look for the ones with money; money doesn't matter. What matters is somebody's willingness, somebody's ingenuity, somebody's willingness to try. If they have a dollar to invest, that's plenty for me. A dollar and some ambition and I can show you how to get rich and it will be one of the classic stories of the company. When recruiting somebody and they would say, "I don't have any money," I'd say, "I've been looking for you for six months! Let me show you how to do it without any money."

Because here are the rules of capitalism: you can either buy and sell or, if you are in certain circumstances, you can sell and buy. That is, if you've got ambition. Now if you haven't got ambition we can't cure that and money can't cure it—lack of ambition. But if you have a dollar and some ambition I will show you how to get rich. Even if you don't have a dollar I will show you how to get rich, because you can sell and buy. Somebody says, "As soon as the product arrives I'll sell it." No, no, you don't understand. You don't understand the magic of fortune if you say “I have to wait till the product gets here.” And you probably don't understand the value of your own story.

By selling and buying you are simply sharing from your own excitement and belief about the product and the opportunity. Once the customer says yes, ask for the money and then go get the product. After doing that three or four times you will be able to buy and sell, but never let money keep you from an opportunity when you have in its place true ambition, faith and courage.

Makanan Kegemaran Nabi

2012-01-06T07:06:00.000+08:00

MAKANAN KEGEMARAN RASULULAH S.A.W

1. Barli – Bagus untuk demam jika dibuat sup.
2. Kurma – Nabi berkata rumah yang tidak mempunyai kurma adalah sepert rumah yang tidak ada makanan.
3. Buah Tin – Buah dari syurga. Boleh mengubati buasir.
4. Anggur – Nabi suka buah anggur. Ia membersihkan darah, menguatkan buah pinggang, membersihkan perut
5. Madu – Ia adalah makanan segala makanan, minuman segala minuman, ubat segala ubat. Mengubati cirit birit jika dibancuh dengan air panas, membuka selera, menguatkan perut, membuang kahak. Elok diminun waktu pagi dengan air suam.
6. Tembikai (Segala Jenis) – Nabi berkata wanita mengandung tidak akan gagal melahirkan anak yang baik dari segi karater dan wajahnya.
7. Susu – Nabi berkata susu baik untuk membuang panas badan seperti tangan membuang peluh dari dahi. Menguatkan belakang, memperbaiki otak memperbaharui pandangan mata, membuang kelupaan.
8. Cendawan – Baik untuk mata, perancang keluarga.
9. Minyak Zaitun – Rawatan kulit dan rambut. Melambatkan penuaan, merawat radang perut.
10. Delima – Membersihkan tubuh dari syaitan & bisikan syaitan selama 40 hari.
11. Cuka – Nabi selalu meminum dengan minyak zaitun (Trend yang popular di restoran Itali)
12. Air – Minuman terbaik. Jika dahaga hendaklah disedut perlahan-lahan. Jangan diteguk. Mudah mendapat sakit pada hati. Ilmu yang bermanfaat harus dikongsikan.

Should we skip college?

2011-12-19T22:08:00.000+08:00

Billionaire to Pay Kids to Skip College

If you have an idea while you are in college, what normally people will advice? Focus on finishing your study first. Then you can do everything that you wanted to do.

Unfortunately this mantra doesn't work anymore, or at least it won't be the wisest thing to do. In today's society, everything is moving super fast and most people are moving at the super fast speed. If you wait until you complete your study, somebody else might come out with the similar idea and your idea might be no longer relevant.

A billionaire is willing to pay people to skip college. If billionaire is willing to do so, what is the message that they are trying to convey?

Most self-made millionaire or even billionaire is dropped-out of college. If they did that and make tonnes of money, which steps should we follow?

Copycat to Success

2011-11-22T11:57:00.001+08:00

This is a write-up which I will use for my Toastmaster project speech #10 - Inspire Your Audience. Yes, it should be a motivational speech - however, I would try to deliver it differently by explaining people on How we can succeed through Copying.

Copycat To Success

We Live in a World of Copycats.

As part of human being, we are naturally the creature of copycat. We copy from the Cradle to the Grave! Copycatting starts the day we were born. We copy the language we speak, the food we eat, the hairstyle, the way we walk and the way we dress. When we were in primary school, we were taught to copy alphabets. When we get older, we copy how others drive a car. When in Rome, we Do as the Romans Do.

James Baldwin once said "Children have never been very good at listening to their elders. But they have never failed to imitate them."

If copycat is part of our nature, then,

Why we are not good at Copying?
It is our education system, they don't call it copying - they called it Plagiarism. It is consider a form of cheating and those who are caught will be punished. During examinations we are not allowed to use notes, to refer to friends and to have any form of reference.
But do you think in current ICT era, this still applied? Later on when we have a job, we still refer to the website, to our friends and books.
Because of this plagiarism concept, most of us think that copycat is wrong and originality is the best thing to do! So we try to create something by our own starting from scratch. I was once a student - as most of you were. In one particular assignment I tried to do it by my own. But the result, my friends who are copying 100% gets higher marks than me. The next time I did my assignment, I tried to find some 'source' first, from there I improvise whatever answer script to the assignment, and amazingly my marks always get higher compared to the 'source' that I refer to. Isn't copycatting works?

Innovation Start From Copying

Every innovation starts from an idea then combined with another idea. Everybody here knows that China is the greatest copycat in the world. They copy almost everything in this world aren't they? There is one chinese lady in Shanghai, who work with IDEO the leading creativity consultant in the world. She said "You westerners, you obses with innovation. Innovation means that you come out with something new. You consumed by copyright. She said it is not about copyright. You know copyright here, copyright there. It is not. It is about COPYING IT RIGHT! and this is absolutely brilliant.

One day a guy name Fredrik Haren was in a conference in China called INNOVATIVE CHINA. There was head of Motorola in China, head of Nokia in China, head of Ericsson in China and he's sitting next. And the moderator asked "So how can China become an Innovative Country?"
Then the guy from Ericsson said "If China wants to become innovative, you need to stop copying!" Then the guy from Nokia said "If you want to become innovative, you need to stop copying!" Then the guy from Motorola said "If you want to become innovative, you need to stop copying!" And then Fredrik look at them and asked "Excuse me, for the three guys who are talking about doing things different, you guys sound very much the same." And then he looked at them back and asked "Excuse me, which one of you who invented the mobile phone?? Bacause the other two must have copy it!" Who invented the mobile phone??? Motorola... Motorola invented the first mobile phone. And Ericsson made the first mobile phone system. Because without the system, mobile phone is pretty much useless, isn't it? And Nokia made it a global product so that everybody could afford. So, who invented the mobile phone? All of them... It is almost impossible to invent anything without copying!

The greatest creative human that ever live, perhaps, is Pablo Picasso. Famous for being different right. What does he said? "Good artist copy. Great artist steal!"

It is not about copying blindly, but we need to take the best of the things that we see and combined it and create something new and make it better!

J. Paul Getty said in a quote "If you want to get rich, just find someone making lots of money and do what he's doing!"

One of the great business in the world is McDonalds! McDonalds have been very successful business not because of they make a better burger than anybody else. But they invent a great system, and they allow people to copy it. And they called it "Franchise!"

One of the owner of McDonalds, Max Cooper who own 45 McDonalds franchises said:
"I've always felt that I don't have to be an originator - just a good duplicator"

Even in corporate business, the successful companies copied one another.
Look at the product. Doesn't they copied from the competitor?

And the question is not about who copied who. The question always come out is which one is better?

And a company who copied a successful companies, chances are, they are going to succeed. Just look at this two companies. Aren't the logo as much or less the same. With white font moving up and red colour as the background.

Even the website also look pretty much similar.

And if you are familiar with this guy, he is quite famous with his appearance in TV and Billboard. He creates a huge success in his motivation seminar. Do you think he invent himself? No, in one of the seminar "Marketing & U" he mentioned that the success of his company is actually because of he duplicate another company based in Canada, the Peak Potentials created by T. Harv Eker, the author of The Secrets of Millionaire Mind. Look at the image below! How he positioned the finger pointing to the mind!

So, as a conclusion, aren't you think that copying is great. Burke Hedge said in his book - "If there's one thing, every single person in this world is good at - it's copycatting!" You all are actually good at it. The only thing you need to learn is to copy the right thing and the right way! So let us copycat ourselves to success!

Influencing Your Boss

2011-11-16T01:30:00.001+08:00

I have been working in 4 different types of organizations. When I say 4 different, it does not only different organization names, but the industry, the size, the background, country of origin, and so-on. What makes this unique is I have learned different organizations have different direction, management style and disciplines.

However, the fundamentals are much less the same. To survive in all of these organizations, the fundamentals to succeed is still the same, the ability to communicate and influence people. Either working with low-level or higher-executives levels, it gives different outcome from the communication ability.

As influencing other people is importnat, influencing our own boss is more critical! In some cases, some might say 'bodek' or what-ever terms that they wanted to use, but for me, if you can influence your boss, and bring you up to a level, that is consider an achievement. But what other people does not like about these 'kaki-bodek' is not how they influence the bosses, but how they are getting trusted by bosses when they can't perform the duty at least at par. But if we can learn how to 'bodek', apply it right and get our duty above par, wouldn't it be better - rather than we are doing an excellent job but heading nowhere because the boss aren't seeing anything from us?

Today I just would love to share some tips from Al Colemen and Anita Attridge on How To Win Over Your Boss. (Articles source: Forbes website)

1. DO YOUR JOB, AND DO IT WELL. - This is fundamental. Before we start to do anything else, we need to make sure this on covers up.

2. REALLY GET TO KNOW YOUR BOSS. - This is much of rapport. The theory is, if we need to maintain a rapport, we need to get into 'their' world. It would be easier to handle a person when we are 'inside' their world. Don't complain, just go along with their preferences. For example, if they like face-to-face communication, instead of phone call or e-mail method, then we should communicate in that manner.

3. ASSIST AND SUPPORT THE BOSS'S PROFESSIONAL GOALS. - One of the reason we are being paid is to make our boss life easier. See how we can help our boss to accomplish their goals and they will be happy to assist us in making our life easier.

4. BE LOYAL TO YOUR BOSS. - Nobody is perfect. So did our boss. When something went wrong, try as much not to talk around especially with colleagues, or worst outsiders. Once this rule have been broken, then there will be a lot of unwanted words spread around and the boss will become the next 'Hosni Mubarak'. And if you were Mubarak's staff, can you imagine what will happened to you and your career?

5. MAKE YOUR BOSS'S PRIORITY YOUR PRIORITY. - In an organization, everything need to be accomplished in a team effort basis. In every team, there must be a lead. Even if we does not consider some task as priority, once the boss declare it as priority, automatically it will become a priority.

6. TAKE THE INITIATIVES WITH PROJECTS AND ASSIGNMENTS. - Taking initiative is always the thing, not just your boss, your colleagues, even your competitor will salute you especially when it provides result. However, don't overload with too many initiatives. The best is something that you can deliver without too many guidance and supervision from your boss - especially they will share the credits without having extra trouble.

7. SEEK SOLUTIONS TO PROBLEMS. - The normal thing people do is to asked the solutions from the boss especially when things goes wrong. We don't want to be normal don't we? Finding a solutions to a problem will make our boss happy because they don't have to hustle to think on solving problems. Your boss have other problems to solves.

8. SHOW AN INTEREST IN AN ACTIVITY YOUR BOSS IS PASSIONATE ABOUT. - It's true that work is work, life is life. But a successful businessman will normally go beyond the 'business' to get the business. They play golf even when they don't like it. If we can copy what the successful businessman do, don't you think we will be getting the same result?

9. DEMONSTRATE A LONG-TERM INTEREST IN YOUR ORGANIZATION. - Think long-term always pay. Even for the gen-Y, normally they don't want to stay long in a company, but it should not stop us from thinking long term aren't we? Like Tun Mahathir, he does not even know he's going to live in the year 2020. But he did plan something, for the benefits of others. You can do the same, even you are thinking to resign another 24 hours. If your can think long-term for the organization, don't you think your boss will think long-term for your career and remember you when you are now longer his boss?

Above is some key-points and my version of elaborations. It is a reminder to me as well, in my journey of continuos improvement of my personal development.

The Power of Gratitude

2011-11-11T07:42:00.000+08:00

Imagine, one day you are complaining about your country:

1. The public transportation isn't efficient enough!

2. I drive a second hand car! I can't afford good car because the government is taxing heavily on cars.

3. The weather is too hot!

4. We got dirty toilets!

5. The broadband are too expensive! and SLOW!

What did you get when you are complaining? You feel that here is not the place that best suit you, isn't it?

The thing is, you are complaining to the wrong person. When you talk to your friends, you brothers/sisters , or even talking to yourself, what did you get? Nothing but the feel of frustration and worst you are focusing on it! You are actually attracting crap to your life.

If you understand the Law of Attraction, you will understand that your mind is like a magnet. When you read all the above statement, do you feel like Malaysia is not a good place to stay? If you do, simply because you agree with the statements and you are focusing about how bad it is.

TURN IT AROUND!

Stop thinking about bad things, start focus on the good thing! Why? Focusing on good thing, even a small simple thing, will allow us to expand the good thing!

"The truth is it takes much more courage to appreciate what we’ve got—no matter how little it may seem—than it is to surrender to the scarcity model and let ourselves off the hook for taking action because something isn’t enough." - T. Harv Eker

How can I turn it around?

The simple method is to use - "AT LEAST" after the word you are complaining, see things from different perspective, or compare with the cons of the other alternatives.

1. The public transportation isn't efficient enough! - At least I can arrive safely on-time. If I live in some countries, I would take 3 hours extra to travel within the same distance.

2. I drive a second hand car! I can't afford good car because the government is taxing heavily on cars.- At least I can drive and arrive at my destination. Some countries, having motorcycle is considered luxury.

3. The weather is too hot! - At least we don't have earthquake or Tsunami here.

4. We got dirty toilets! - At least nobody pee around the staircase. And I can settle my what I intent to.

5. The broadband are too expensive! and SLOW! - At least I can access to the internet. If I am out of coverage that would be worst.

If you were to complain, make sure you are complaining to the right authority!

COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS!
You will feel much better when you count your blessing, instead of complaining. Focusing on what you have:
1. I have a great family, that always support me! I have wife, and kids that keeps me happy!
2. I have a car that can bring me around!
3. I have a good stable job with good benefits!
4. I have good friends that always encourage me to be successful.
5. I have a good looking face and good brain, that is my biggest assets!

"If we want to look young, we must be happy. The happiness of being in love is very noticeable. It is difficult of course to be happy all the time. But if you count your blessings every morning, you will feel happy." - Tun Mahathir, Memoirs Tun M. pg 584

Sebenarnya dalam Islam, kita diajar untuk bersyukur. Dan janji Allah, sekiranya kita bersyukur,

"Jika kamu bersyukur pasti akan aku tambah (nikmat-Ku) untukmu dan jika kamu kufur maka sesungguhnya siksa-Ku amat pedih". Ibrahim (14): 7

"Maka ingatlah kamu kepada-Ku niscaya Aku ingat pula kepadamu, dan bersyukurlah kepada-Ku dan janganlah kamu mengingkari (nikmat)-Ku" (Al-Baqarah (2): 152)

Perkara ini telah diajar oleh Allah dan Nabi. Namun kadangkala kita kurang mengamalkan, kerana kurangnya peringatan kepada kita. Mungkin peringatan diberikan tetapi dalam keadaan yang tidak menarik minat dan perhatian kita.

Mari kita kupas, dengan apa yang telah disampaikan oleh 'pakar2' dari barat, dan relate-kan kembali dengan apa yang diajar oleh Al-Quran lebih 1400 tahun dahulu.
Jika kita syukur, nikmat akan datang lebih. Bila kita fokus pada kelebihan kita, kelebihan itu akan bertambah.
Jika kita kufur - seksa Allah beri itu amat pedih. Dalam konteks ini, jika kita kufur, tidak bersyukur atau kita complain - kita fokus pada benda tidak elok, maka perkara yang tidak elok itu akan bertambah. Contohnya: "pendapatan saya kurang..." - Maka pendapatan kita akan bertambah kurang. Tidakkah pedih sekiranya pendapatan kita bertambah kurang?
TURN IT AROUND - "Syukur, dengan pendapatan ini saya dapat memberi nafkah pada keluarga, belanja rakan2, pergi melancong, membeli gadget terkini dan melabur." Fokus kita terus berubah dan Insya-Allah, nikmat kita akan bertambah!

Jom, marilah kita panjatkan kesyukuran kita terhadap segala yang telah dikurniakan! Semoga kita beroleh rahmat!

6 Levels of Entrepreneurs with Brad Sugars

2011-11-10T18:53:00.001+08:00

Are you an entrepreneur? Doesn't metter if you are still employee, you are in the process of 6 levels of entrepreneur as mentioned by Brad Sugar - but in one condition, you must learn as much as possible during this stage.

The second stage is self-employed. It is where you are the see-saw. The third level and above is on my way. I am getting information about it and I will reach the top level of entrepreneur. The sooner, the better. To understand more on the levels, play the video.

Brad Sugar is the founder of ActionCoach - the fastest growing business coaching franchise in the world. If you have a business, and you don't see your business is heading anywhere, hire ActionCoach. They will align you to the right direction and gives you tonnes of money as the result!

Prejudice

2011-11-04T07:30:00.000+08:00

Loan / Financing payments are accepted without prejudice to any recovery action, pending or contemplated, for the full outstanding amount(s).

(Pembayaran pinjaman / pembiayaan diterima tanpa prasangka terhadap apa-apa tindakan untuk mendapatkan semula jumlah keseluruhan pinjaman / pembiayaan tertunggak, sama ada sedang dijalankan atau dalam perancangan.)

I have no idea why everytime I pay the loan, this message will appear. Why is the word prejudice is always appearing, either I am paying it on time, or late payment. Anybody would want to give some thought on this?

Frustration , dissatisfaction, disappointment, and discontent

2011-11-03T22:18:00.001+08:00

I believe frustration, dissatisfaction, disappointment, and discontent are good things in the face of mediocrity. Man normally transform when they face frustration - and transformation is indeed a good thing. Living in an Ultra World, things aren't always easy. If things are easy, we will always be living inside our comfort zone. There's a saying by Robert Allen - "Everything you want is just outside your comfort zone."

While the frustration, dissatisfaction, disappointment, and discontent is something un-comfort; facing it smartly will slowly move one outside the comfort zone. It does not feels good when you are facing it, but when the thing is over, you will smile back - looking at your past - and express your gratitude that the thing happened brings you where you are now!

So, be grateful because everything happens is always with a good reason. You just need to focus on what good in it. Of course, this is a reminder for me, and those who are facing challenge right now!

Tribute to Steve Jobs

2011-10-06T09:09:00.002+08:00

Steve Jobs has inspired many people. He was not only a great innovator, he was also a great presenter, a great leader, and a great human being. He always has the 10-year ahead vision and doing things people would never think off and widely accepted by the people.

He has gone through the ups and downs of the technology business, created the first Apple Macintosh, been sacked by the people he hired, founded another company, Next, founded Pixar and produce Toy Story, and again bringing the Apple to the top. Ever since he took over back Apple Inc. the shares fold more than 100 times (imagine if you bought the stock that day).

Watch this video on his documentary.

Lesson from Steve

Steve has never been graduated from college. Yet he spoke to a graduation ceremony of Standford. Watch this video to learn some lesson - to follow your heart and about connecting dots in your life.

Making life “easy” for children usually makes life “hard” for them in adulthood.

2011-10-05T18:08:00.001+08:00

Del Smith, the millionaire founder and chairman of Evergreen International Aviation, has often said, "Thank God I was born poor; I learned how to work." Like many others who made it to the top on their own, Smith believes that the greatest gift that can be given to a child is to teach him or her the value of work. It is a gift that can never be lost or stolen. It's a natural desire of parents to give their children material things they didn't have as children. Such generosity, however, often deprives children of the greatest gift you can give them: confidence in their ability to take care of themselves. When you make life "hard" for your children by requiring them to learn the value of work, they will have a far greater likelihood of success as adults.

Taken from Napoleon Hill Foundation
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device via Vodafone-Celcom Mobile.

Your View Matters

2011-09-09T03:07:00.000+08:00

As I grow older (ok, I am not that old enough), I noticed that a lot of people are arguing with each other on small issues that most of the time does not really makes any senses. Statements can produce a whole lot of argument and this will create bigger things; quarrels, fightings or even bad mouthing. The reason is very simple - the quotes below explains everything.

"People are not disturbed by things, but by the view they take of them." ~Epictetus

Politics are heavily influence by this. In everything, there are always a lot of angles one can view. And whatever one might say, they are probably right depending on which view they are looking at. Currently the issue Mat Saby saying that Mat Indera, the pro-communist guy was the hero of the country has created a nationwide issue with everybody saying things to justify their view is the correct ones.

Previously, the Bersih 2.0 issue also was the nationwide issue. I do believe it is a political influence- or if you did not agree, you just simply have a different view with me. Once a statement is out, everybody is debating based on their view they take of them.

Whatever you view is, my advise is to make sure to always look at the positive side angle and always think about what benefits you can derive from the view that you have given.