Build Life, Not Resume

"once you enter the corporate world its like being a hamster on the wheel and your speed is determined by the speed of the wheel and not your own choice..." 

Priya Sachdev, 2016

Been a reaaaalllllllyyyy looong while since I last made a time to write here.
There are lots, tonnes, millions of ideas & lines & topics stream through my mind everyday while driving or doing anything, but never really got to sit in front of this keyboard and knock the letters I should.

Well.. 2016 on its edge. While already been looking forward for 2017 since past few days, it is always good to start (DO) now.

This article below is coming from one of my reading source:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/build-life-resume-priya-sachdev

Easier said then done because once you enter the corporate world its like being a hamster on the wheel and your speed is determined by the speed of the wheel and not your own choice! Something we all know, yet we love to blame it to the world around us. Performance pressure, pressure to get promoted every year, to get increments, to achieve your incentives, qualify to get rewards and recognition. All these so called motivators are focused on moving up the so called corporate ladder but what about the dilemma of work life balance? The ability to choose what to do, when to do and how much to do. How are we ever going to balance this?
Many feel that the only way to achieve this is to work very hard for few years of your life and then retire to a life style of choice. While this could be a good strategy, many never survive to get to the point of retirement and the ones who do get so bored because they got used to working hard, that their retirement activities put more pressure on them than what work did! Some work hard and then take a sabbatical to renew themselves and go back later and then find when they go back that they are competing for their jobs with younger contenders.
So what is the easy answer? Wish I had it because this may be the million dollar question of our times. However, if I look around some happy and successful people I see their focus was not to build a resume though incidentally that did happen as well. Their focus was to find something in life that makes them happy, makes them jump out of bed every morning and makes them dance and celebrate every small success.
I remember Steve Jobs address at Stanford specially the part where he says, “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?” And whenever the answer has been “No” for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something. This could be about building a life because this question is more powerful than will I get my incentive this quarter?
Some of you reading this may feel, its easy to think like this when you are Steve Jobs and while I do agree to that I am sure it is this question that made him Steve Jobs.
Let me share insights from my dear friend and a personal hero Navin Gulia who once told me that he believes disability is never in the body but in the mind, because if you decide you can, you can achieve anything. And he is living proof of this ideology because being on the wheel chair has not stopped him from traveling the world or scaling the peaks driving himself in his own customized car. He has build his life and his own brand working with the ones who need him the most. Corporations and institutions invite him to talk to their people about motivation and that by the way is a good resume too!
As another year comes to an end let’s invest in some of these thoughts for ourselves. Let’s all build a life and make this world worth living.

Well. This is one good & direct point to ponder, that I feel everyone should consider. I will try to put more times elaborating this condition in longer post, covering more perspective in more details. About LIFE. About what we forgot. About how LOST we have been.

Till next post. Get a life.

Robert Kiyosaki's Top 2

Before we talked about cashflow quadrant, I would like to share a story about Robert Kiyosaki’s book, “Rich Dad, Poor Dad”.

This book was a huge success with millions of copies being sold worldwide. In this book, Robert Kiyosaki had two dads, one is his biological dad tagged as “poor dad” and one is his friend’s dad tagged as “rich dad.” Both dads taught Robert Kiyosaki how to reach his financial goals and achieve success but with different approaches.

His poor dad spent so much time in school earning him a doctorate degree landing on a high paying job but ended with a lot of bills left unpaid  while his rich dad did not finish school but ended up owning a business empire. How did this happen? Just look at the contrasting ideas each dad have:

His poor dad says: “I CAN’T AFFORD IT!” while his rich dad says: “HOW CAN I AFFORD IT?”

His poor dad says: “MONEY IS THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL!” while his rich dad says: “LACK OF MONEY IS THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL!”

By viewing these two contrasting ideas, his poor dad’s brain stopped working when he said those, killing his initiative and promoting negativity while his rich dad’s brain kept on thinking on ways creating initiative and promoting optimism. Which one is best? Of course, undeniably, it’s rich dad’s ideas! Here are some more comparison of how does a Rich dad’s thinking and Poor dad’s thinking.

Robert Kiyosaki continued and coined the term RAT RACE. This is the race of our lifetime INCOME and SPEND. We receive our income regularly from our paychecks yet we spend the same to pay bills and satisfy our wants. We are now trapped in this rat race. We live our lives to pay our everyday bills! Now, how can we escape from this rat race trap? By understanding the Rich Dad’s CASHFLOW Quadrant: Rich Dad’s Guide to Financial Freedom

This is understanding where our income flows. It was divided into two main sections. The left side called “Active Income” and right side called “Passive Income.” What’s the difference? Active Income says “You Work For Money” while Passive Income says “Money Works For You.”

It is then further subdivided into four quadrants. Quadrant 1 is the so-called Employees. Quadrant 2 is the so-called Self-Employed. Qudrant 3 is the so-called Big Business Owners. Quadrant 4 is the so-called Investors. Where do you belong to these four quadrants? Let’s examine it one by one:

Quadrant 1 – EMPLOYEES. I do think that most of us belongs here. We have a job. We have to work hard, follow instructions from our bosses and superiors and get paid. We don’t own our time. These are people who love security or tenure. They will work hard to climb up the corporate ladder. The higher they climbed the ladder, the higher they pay is. Sad to say, the higher their pay is, the higher also their taxes. And it’s not them getting rich, it’s their bosses, it’s their company. Time will come, they will get tired. Their body will collapse because of age. And when they stopped working, they will also stop receiving income.

Quadrant 2 – SELF EMPLOYED – They work for themselves. The difference with the employees is that self-employed own their time since they don’t have superiors. They can decide for themselves. These are people who loves to be independent. They don’t want to work for others, instead they want to work for themselves. These are doctors, lawyers, and small business owners. But still, they are an employee of themselves. And if they stopped working, they will also stop receiving income.

Quadrant 3 – BIG BUSINESS OWNERS – They love delegating tasks. They concentrate their efforts more on activities which produces most profits. They hire people who are more intelligent than them to do the work for them. They have built a solid system and they own it. They have built their resources to make this possible. And so they can leave for vacation and can leave work for some time but still earns money because there were people working for them. Examples of this are the taipans and tycoons and some franchisers who have built a solid business.

Quadrant 4 – INVESTORS – These are people who have built their assets and are not working for money anymore. Instead, the assets they have accumulated works for them providing them constant income even if they don’t work. These are people who are called “living on interests”. They are living thru the interests of their assets and investments. Money works for them. They have invested their money to have more money. They can differentiate which one is an asset and which one is a liability. Examples of these are investors in the stock market, real estate, etc.

Did you see the difference? The only way to escape from the rat race is by travelling from active income to passive income, from employee or self-employed to becoming a big business owner or investor. And this is the challenge that Robert Kiyosaki left to us readers.

As a final note, I’m leaving this quote from Mr. Kiyosaki.

“The rich buy assets. The poor only have expenses. The middle class buys liabilities they think are assets. The poor and the middle class work for money. The rich have money work for them.”

Syukur Setiap Saat....

Wang syiling jatuh di hadapan seorang lelaki yg sedang asyik mambancuh simen. Melihat logam kecil itu , tangan lelaki itu terhenti melakukan kerja. Tidak menunggu lama , tangannya segera mengutip syiling itu dan dimasukkan ke dalam poketnya. Dia menyambung semula kerjanya.
Sekali lagi lelaki itu terpandang duit syiling tidak jauh dari sisinya . Lelaki itu menoleh ke kiri ,kanan dan sekelilingnya.Tiada siapa yang berdekatan dengannya . Sekali lagi dia terus mengambil syiling itu dan menyimpan dalam koceknya.
Tidak lama kemudian, lelaki itu ternampak lagi duit syiling berdekatan dengannya . Pun sama , dia mengambil dan menyimpannya .
"Rezeki aku !" Kata lelaki itu dalam hati.
Lelaki itu tidak sedar , logam syiling itu sebenarnya dicampakkan oleh ketuanya dari aras lapan bangunan separuh siap yang mereka bina itu.
Sebenarnya, ketuanya mahu memanggilnya. Puas ketuanya menjerit daripada aras lapan , cuba memanggil lelaki itu yg berada pada aras paling bawah. Namun, jeritan itu tidak mampu mengalahkan pelbagai bunyian mesin pembinaan di kawasan tersebut. Dek kerana itulah, ketuanya itu mencampakkan syilingnya dengan harapan lelaki itu akan mendongak melihatnya di atas. Mudah-mudahan dapatlah dia menyampaikan pesanannya kepada pekerjanya itu.
Sayangnya, sehingga habis wang syilingnya dibaling ke bawah, lelaki itu masih belum jugak mendongak ke atas.
Lantas , ketuanya itu mengumpulkan serpihan batu kecil yg terdapat di lantai. Satu persatu batu kecil itu dibaling ke bawah. Beberapa kali batu itu mengenai badan lelaki itu . Setelah merasa sakit , lelaki itu mendongak ke atas, melihat dari mana datangnya batu-batu kecil yang menyerang tadi.
Barulah dia ternampak kelibat ketuanya yang sejak tadi cuba mencuri perhatiannya bagi menyampaikan pesanan.
Sahabat sekalian, Allah sering menjatuhkan rezeki (syiling ) , rahmat atau kesenangan yg tidak terkira banyak kepada kita. Tuhan menjatuhkan 'syiling' itu sebagai satu panggilan agar kita sentiasa mendongak ke atas utk mengingati dan bersyukur dengan kurniaanNya. Tetapi , acap kali kita lalai utk 'mendongak' ke atas, sebaliknya terus menikmati pemberian-Nya tanpa ucapan syukur.
Seperti kisah ketua dan pekerja tadi , apabila jatuhan syiling tidak berjaya menarik perhatian, lalu dia jatuhkan pula 'batu' yg berupa musibah, kegagalan, keperitan dan pengalaman yg menyakitkan. Dan hanya setelah kita merasa kesakitan itu , barulah kita teringat utk mendongak, menadah tangan utk bersyukur mengingati Yang Maha Pencipta kita.
(Renungan kita bersama) dipetik dari FB https://www.facebook.com/muhammadridzuan.riz

Procrastination

Procrastination. It is bad. It is negative. It is evil. It fails you. It got you no where. It stops you.
In Malay, it is berlengah-lengah. Or Bertangguh-tangguh.
“Biarlah dulu.”
“Nanti lah saya buat”
“Sekejap lagi lah”
“Esok lah”
“Maybe next time”
“Not now”
“Hmmm tengoklah”
Semua ayat ini digunakan untuk procrastinate. And I am not surprised I am using them a lot. Yes. LOTSSSS of time in my life. It was done by the subconscious mind. Minda luar kawal. It became habit. You don’t realise you are VERY good at practising procrastination. You are great procrastinator. Amazing!!!
And recall back to that point, I’d just noticed I’ve been delayed, or been behind schedule for 2 years plus. Yes 2 years. By who? By me. Yes, me!
The last time I consciously decide to get it done now, was when I decided to get married. Yup. After that mission accomplished, I unconsciously did not do anything much in my life anymore. I went with the flow. Few things missed out. Opportunities passed by.
Of course married life is great. But it could have been better if I took charge MORE in OTHER ASPECT of the life. But that was again, unconsciously ignored.

Back to the title. What is behind this habit called procrastinate?
There are always excuses. Yes, excuses to not do it NOW. Do it later. Somewhen that is not now. Whenever as long as not now.
Lazy is closely related to procrastinate. And half of the time is part of the excuse.
“ah I’m lazy lah now”
“malas la sekarang”
“tunggu la aku rajin”
There are more excuses, but I will elaborate more about excuses in post named “excuses” itself.
So?? Do it now. If you are not sure how, go ask NOW how. No one to ask, JUST DO IT.

Speaking of just do it, detail people argue that this act means the doer has no plan. Thus, there is another excuse, it is not planned yet. I will do it once I’ve planned it.
Well you are being unfair to yourself, cruelly put yourself stagnant at a point less worth staying. When you are procrastinator, waiting for a plan – usually for a PERFECT (which is impossible) plan- will forever be your excuse. And this excuse repeats itself forever because perfect is impossible. When you are procrastinator, you don’t need plan. you just need ACT. Go do it. Because procrastinator only have one plan, plan to delay. Yes it is so true.
Plan less, act more, you’ll fine tune the plan along the way.

Allah menegur umat manusia tentang masa dalam Al-Quran...

surah Al-Asr,

Demi Masa! Sesungguhnya manusia itu dalam kerugian - Kecuali orang-orang yang beriman dan beramal soleh, dan mereka pula berpesan-pesan dengan kebenaran serta berpesan-pesan dengan kesabaran.

True Stone & Rock in Stallone's Rocky

This is one of the SADDEST stories ever told in Hollywood. His name is Sylvestar Stallone. One of the BIGGEST and Most famous American Movie superstars. Back in the day,Stallone was a struggling actor in every definition. At some point,he got so broke that he stole his wife's jewellery and sold it. Things got so bad that he even ended up homeless. Yes,he slept at the New York bus station for 3 days. Unable to pay rent or afford food. His lowest point came when he tried to sell his dog at the liquor store to any stranger. He didnt have money to feed the dog anymore. He sold it at $25 only. He says he walked away crying.

Two weeks later,he saw a boxing match between Mohammed Ali and Chuck Wepner and that match gave him the inspiration to write the script for the famous movie,ROCKY. He wrote the script for 20 hours!

He tried to sell it and got an offer for $125,000 for the script. But he had just ONE REQUEST. He wanted to STAR in the movie. He wanted to be the MAIN ACTOR. Rocky himself. But the studio said NO. They wanted a REAL STAR. They said he "Looked funny and talked funny". He left with his script. Afew weeks later,the studio offered him $250,000 for the script. He refused. They even offered $350,000. He still refused. They wanted his movie. But NOT him. He said NO. He had to be IN THAT MOVIE.

After a while,the studio agreed,gave him $35,000 for the script and let him star in it! The rest is history! The movie won Best Picture,Best Directing and Best Film Editing at the prestigious Oscar Awards. He was even nominated for BEST ACTOR! The Movie ROCKY was even inducted into the American National Film Registry as one of the greatest movies ever!

And do You know the first thing he bought with the $35,000? THE DOG HE SOLD. Yes,Stallone LOVED HIS DOG SO MUCH that he stood at the liquor store for 3 days waiting for the man he sold his dog to. And on the 3rd day,he saw the man coming with the dog. Stallone explained why he sold the dog and begged for the dog back. The man refused. Stallone offered him $100. The man refused. He offered him $500. And the guy refused. Yes,he refused even $1000. And,Believe it or Not,Stallone had to pay $15,000 for the same,same dog he sold at $25 only! And he finally got his dog back!

And today,the same Stallone who slept in the streets and sold his dog JUST BECAUSE he couldnt even feed it anymore,is one of the GREATEST Movie Stars who ever walked the Earth!

Being broke is BAD. Really BAD. Have You ever had a dream? A wonderful dream? But You are too broke to implement it? Too tiny to do it? Too small to accomplish it? Damn! I've been there too many times!

Life is tough. Opportunities will pass you by,just because you are a NOBODY. People will want your products but NOT YOU. Its a tough world. If you aint already famous,or rich or "connected",You will find it rough. Doors will be shut on You. People will steal your glory and crash your hopes.You will push and push. And yet NOTHING WILL HAPPEN. And then your hopes will be crashed.You will be broke. Damn broke. You will do odd jobs for survival. You will be unable to feed yourself. And Yes,you may end up sleeping in the streets. It happens. Yes,it does.

BUT NEVER LET THEM CRUSH THAT DREAM. Whatever happens to You,Keep Dreaming. Even when they crush your hopes,Keep Dreaming. Even when they turn you away,Keep Dreaming. Even when they shut you down,Keep Dreaming.

NO ONE KNOWS WHAT YOU ARE CAPABLE OF EXCEPT YOURSELF! People will judge You by HOW you look. And by WHAT You have. But please,Fight on! Fight for Your place in history. Fight for your glory. NEVER EVER GIVE UP! Even if it means selling all your clothes and sleeping with the dogs,ITS OKAY! But AS LONG AS YOU ARE STILL ALIVE,Your STORY IS NOT OVER. TRUST ME. Keep Up the Fight. Keep your dreams and hope alive. Go gerrit. Like and share if inspired. Lovely day