Right now, I am reading the 8th Habit by Dr Steven Covey. What’s differentiates this book from the 7habits is that is goes back to the fundamentals of why you were created at all? The premise that each one of us is born for a purpose. And what’s that? To each his own.

The Voice is the life’s significance of seeing something that seemingly is insurmountable and overcoming the prejudices and the culture that builds around it and pertuates the mistakes through the centuries… poverty or orphan mindset!

Mohammad Yunus, a professor who saw the plights of his country folks were condemned to the lowly jobs to make a living, liberated them with a new found strength of trust… and provided all the women folks with small capital (US$20) to start their biz and because they were trustworthy, the system grew and today Grammen Bank is a world wide phenomenon.

Sometimes, when we see a problem and we may say to ourselves, its not my problem! I care for my own kind and family… Jesus said in HIS 2nd Commandment. “Love thy neighbor as you love thyself.” And have the parable of the good samaritan to teach us this concept. – care for everyone and the environement so that everyone can DESERVE to enjoy the happiness of living.. isn’t it the ultimate goal of the rich or poor, smart or not so etc. Yes, if we live according to the moral law and not the law of the jungle, everyone in this world will have sufficient to eat and live.

Look at the poverty around, we human perpetuate most of it, calamities are caused by shoddy and shrewd salespersons and businessmen that innocent lives are lost. Their souls will cry from the ground for vengence and the Lord will certainly do so to even their descendents.

Well, there will be more on the subject the 8th habit. 

I will be speaking again on the 21st of this month and the subject is Time is running out… and there is a difference between the first one in that this is skewed towards the businesses.

I will blog here on what’s happening on the 21 at the Suntec City at the Gift Fair

Part of our life is to keep time, spend it wisely for two things in life is limited, one is money and the other is time. My accounting lecturer told me so many years ago. Each one of us has exactly 86,400 secs per day. What we do with it is important! Helen Keller, Gandhi, Mr. Lee Kwan Yew, Yunos Mohammad, Bill Gates and all the important, rich and famous all share the same time frame. What makes them different from us is their power to make their secs worth more than ours.

Its called the PURPOSE of life. They have. Do you? (when i say do you, means me too) So if we want to spend our time wisely, we will need to audit where our time has gone to… I guess many hours are wasted.

Actually, once your purpose is determined through knowing yourself (Peter Drucker said, Know Thyself) then we can know what we want to spend the rest of our lives doing our Embeded Lifelong Interests (ELI) things… that will make a difference to many people’s lives (hopefully) and then leaving you and me a legacy!

Easy said than done. I think we must have a way of thinking where we want to go otherwise any road will lead you to ROAM and not ROME.

Sometimes, we seriously want to do the lifelong interests but fate cuts it short. Why? Randy Pausch also discovered that his journey is going to be cut short because he is suffering from pancreatic cancer.  (http://www.randypausch.com) and althought people are sad about leaving the world, Randy took it in his stride and delivered his last lecture… what a moving time when he thank his wife for all the support she had given him. Of course, now he will spend quality time with his family and doing projects that matters to his legacy as he fights for funding from the congress to research into this form of cancer.

Life is short and so we need to ask ourselves the following questions…

 

1. Why do we run out of time?

We will look at some of the key problems esp. those who makes this a habit.

Why do we run out of time?

This could be due to the following reasons which are:

1.     Culture: – It’s either a symptom of the people whereby they have plenty of time. In Bangkok, it’s common to be late for meeting. Some people here also have the habit to do that to familiar people whereby they do not accord the importance to that meeting so arriving late is okay. However, when you are late, as my friend, Joshua said, you are not showing respect to the person. Additionally, everyone’s schedule has to be pushed back. Think of one event in Singapore that we are perpetually late. Yes… you are right. Chinese wedding dinner. Invitation card states 7.00 pm sharp and people starts streaking in at 8.00pm. Normally, the dinner begins around 8.30pm

2.     Poor Planning: If you do not have a habit to plan out your day what you are going to do, then time will just escape you. In Singapore, with the rising ERP prices, one other thing is the discipline to plan your journey; otherwise you will end up paying more. For example, if you are planning for a holiday, if you are on free and easy, you could do well to plan every thing in advance rather than arriving at the destination and not knowing who to call and what to do.

3.     Some of us are optimistic people and over commit our schedule. And sometimes, we end up having to work doubly hard into the night to complete the task. This is especially true in project works that involves many parties

4.     Serving too many portfolios. Besides over ambitious, we may at times hold many portfolios. I’ve heard from friends that some companies freeze the head count and jobs that used to be done by two is done by one and if no hiring will mean more work load. So, this can create a bit of problem in stress related illness unless we can find ways to automate routine work

5.     Environmental/Regulatory issue: In situations where there are changes to the route or passport issues could cause our plans to be scuttled

6.     Emergencies like jams, forgetfulness we should have planned for more hours or provide checklist

 

 

 

 

2. What is the definition of Time Management?

Yes. There are many great quotes on time management providing us with the insights of each area and how successful people see it.

Thus, it’s important to look at this commodity that we take for granted. My accounting teacher told the class, two things in life is limited, Time and Money. But Time can be made to earn money, like what are your charges per hour the ability to earn per day? So let’s look at the VALUE of TIME… time is money as they say. The ROI

 

·        Take time to work, it is the price of success

·        Take time to think, it is the source of power

·        Take time to play, it is the source of youth

·        Take time to read, it is the source of wisdom

·        Take time to love, it is the privilege of Gods

·        Take time to serve, it is the purpose of life

·        Take time to laugh, it is the music of soul

 

How important is the time for each of these people? To some, they have time to kill, to some people in their occupation, every sec counts and especially so in a competitive environment.

 

·        Tell it to a farmer planting crops

·        Tell it to NBA final match when they have only 20 secs to go

·        Tell it to an Olympic runner in a photo finish

·        Tell it to Lewis Hamilton on winning a grand prix by 5 secs

·        Tell it to the one who just avoided a major accident by just a second.

 

I think the one that is important is the accident that one has avoided by being there a second early

 

So, now let’s check whether we have all Time Management 101.

How many of you know or have these (a show of hands)

 

·        Do you know we have 86,400 secs a day? 

 

·        Do you plan by marking “A’s” to “D’s”?

 

·        Do we wait for things to happen and not Conquering Procrastination?

 

·        Do we have a Time Management system?

 

• Do we have an Electronic or desk Planner?

 

What are your expectations in a day and in life in work, life, friends and family?

         

 

Oh yes, going back in times, even Solomon the wisest person on earth, looks at life and time and this is what he has to say…

 

 1To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

 2 A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;

 3 A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;

 4 A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance

 5 A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

 6 A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

 7 A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

 8 A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace

 

So much for the frivolity of time!

Now by looking at what professionals think of time? We can see from their quotes what’s they can share in Managing Time.

 

What attributes must we have in order that we can also have the same success!

 

·        Time is the most valuable thing a man can spend.   –Theophrastus

·        The time is always right to do what is right. Martin Luther King, Jr.

 ·        Time Management is in fact the measurement of effectiveness of time used. Drucker

 

·        Two resources in life are limited, one is Money and the other is Time.

 ·        Control your life by controlling your time. By Hyrum Smith

 ·        The secret of a person’s success is discovered in his daily agenda Dr. John C Maxwell

 

 

 

 

 

 

I Met God in the Morning

Everyone wants to manage Time but each time let it slipped by…  I believe its the most important asset each one of us has… Whether we are a prince or pauper, we are given exactly the same time, 84,400 secs per day. What we do with it to make it turn into a productive value depends on how we can use the time effectively.

According to Randy Pausch who made it on the cover of Time Magazine looks at Time Management with good humor even though he has only 6-9 months more to live…. as he is strickened with pancreatic cancer.

Take a look at this video interview with Time Magazine.

Well, I have something from God…..

I met God in the morning,
When my day was at its best
nd His presence came like sunrise,
Like a glory in my breast.

All day long the Presence lingered;
All day long He stayed with me;
And we sailed in perfect calmness
O’er a very troubled sea.

Other ships were blown and battered,
Other ships were sore distressed,
But the winds that seemed to drive them
Brought to us a peace and rest.

Then I thought of other mornings,
With a keen remorse of mind.
When I too had loosed the moorings
With the Presence left behind.

So, I think I know the secret,
Learned from many a troubled way;
You must seek Him in the morning
If you want Him through the day.

Author Unknown

 After reading through these peom, I thought its great to share with you all who are looking for successful time management system. Anyway, this is not complete yet… if you have any system, let me know. Many gurus said that there is no such thing as Time Management but rather management successfully the activities… yes for increased productivity for time is money….

 

Here are some of Time Management Quotations.

• Solutions to execessive stress usually boil down to eating right, getting enough sleep, and managing your time effectively. Organization is time management and time management is one part of stress management.” Lucy H Hedrick “Five Days to an Organized Life
• Time Management is only a set of skills and tools to help us more efficiently control the events of our lives
• Doing a better job managing our time is meaningless unless we are managing it to accomplish those things that are of greatest importance in our lives.” Hyrum Somth – creator of Franklin Day Planner.
• Remember that time is money… Ben Frankin 1748 Advice to a young tradesman

 Success Quotient Intelligence accreditation

 

What lies in you is greater than what lies ahead of you. Indeed as the classic art of war Tsun Tsi mentioned that in order to be a conqueror, one has to know of the “you” first. This is to take note of your strengths and weaknesses and through this will help you succeed in your battles. And the tool to discover what’s within you is this tool called Success Quotient Intelligence SQI.

The Success Quotient Intelligence SQI Tool can help you uncover your potential and be a perennial success in working and living.

The best balance in life is incongruent with your inner beliefs.  

I was at the accreditation training at iHub today in which Dr. Frederick Cheng, the inventor, was there to provide first hand how his tool can help uncover my blindspots so that I feel more confident in decision making. I also know who I can work with esp. in a team setting environment after knowing other team members’ preferences of their behaviour in varying situations. The premise of this tool is that though we have our own self beliefs, we need to vary adjust to the various demands in the work situations 

In this latest researched discovery based on intensive practical derivative understanding and many past academic research developments conducted by other scientists, psychologist and behaviorists, Dr Fredercik had put together a more comprehensive, realistic and yet succinct system to bring about the awareness and application of the Human Potentials, Human Capability and Human Achievement possibilities. With SQI, it is hoped that  this will provide us with a clearer, a more consistent and simpler practical application process on identifying individual potential awareness, discovery and specific application for Success; focusing on the person, as a highly performing and effective professional and as valuable corporate leaders. Success Quotient Intelligence SQI™ thus is paramount for both the person as well as organization in the pursuit of excellence through the growing and development the Human potentials and realizing the optimum capability through desirable competencies discovery and application for all areas of success.

1)      Personality

2)      Matching Personalities and Jobs

3)      Challenges concerning personality testing tools for web application.

4)      Why use Success Quotient Intelligence System (SQI)?

5)      The Research underlying the SQI system?

6)      How Success Quotient Intelligence System Work?

 

In order to know your true self, you may like to visit this website and find out your true calling.

http://www.sqisystem.com 

Here is Dr Frederick in action…. just click here to watch..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Begin With The End in Mind The covey’s book has made it big around the world. True, have an end in mind before you start is important, otherwise, your road will be zig zag all over. This reminds me of the Moses – who got lost in his walk from Eygpt to the Promised Land. Where is it? God did not show him exactly. But God did tell him to have confidence in his promise – so faith and trust (that is the 8th habit) is imperative. Moses apparently lost the plot and wandered in the wilderness for 40 years. (You know it takes you less than 4 days drive from Egypt to Jerusalem and that man took 40 years!!! So if you don’t know, shut up and follow orders..but back to this Japanese story.. here is a bit of what he spoke about in his company.as he told them about the covey experience…. I was asked to lead the voice training session today because lately we have been doing it using the titles for the chapters in Stephen R. Covey’s book, “Seven Habits of Highly Effective People”. : 1) Be Proactive. 2) Begin with the end in mind, etc. and end after we finish habit 7) OK? Here we go… OK, now I would like to do “Keiei Nana Kajo” (Seven Theories for Successful Business). Here we go… Now, that one had much more spirit than the first one. Let’s try Seven Habits again and this time say it with as much spirit as “Keiei Nanakajo”. Here we go…. That was much better, don’t you think? Thanks. Covey talks about seven habits that we need to internalize in order to become a truly effective person in life. I haven’t read the entire book yet, it isn’t an easy thing to do, but I am still working on the Private Victories . I find the second habit, “Begin with the end in mind” to be a very interesting idea. Begin with the end in mind…. Begin with the end in mind…. What does that mean? Well, according to the Japanese translation of “Seven Habits” it means “Start with a Purpose” That is true, but there is more to it than just that. Most people have a purpose or reason for why they are doing something. Very few people just begin a project and not know why they are doing it. “Begin with the end in mind” has to do with “purposes” but it also has a great deal to do with visualization and prior planning; complete planning. As I said, most people have a purpose but very few people actually plan the entire project from start to finish before it has even begun. And even fewer people try to imagine all of the problems that they may run into along the way and then come up with solutions to all of those potential problems. What do I mean? Here is an extreme example from the book: Let’s say you go to a funeral and all of your friends and relatives are there. As you walk by the body, you turn to see that it is you in the casket. You have died! You are at your own funeral. There are people giving speeches and talks about you and your life. What do they say? What do you hope they say? How do you want to be remembered? If you can imagine what these people say about you at your own funeral, then you have probably come up with the principles in your life that you think are very important. You have started on a plan of your life’s ideals and goals (not fame or fortune but deeper principles), of the principles that you believe in. These principles are how people will remember you. Were you a loving, caring parent? Did you help a lot of people? Were you strong when people needed your strength? Were people able to depend on you? Did you work hard? Did you take time away from work to enjoy your family life? These are the principles that you truly feel are important in your life. Now that you know that, it is up to you to take the next step and assure that the acts you perform in your lifetime follow the paths that will lead to achieving the principles that you find so important. OK, it may be hard to imagine your own funeral, so here is an example that I think everyone can participate in here and now and relate to. I would like everyone to close their eyes …(don’t fall asleep or you may miss something important here)… and imagine something about your job that you are weak at; something that makes you sweat. It could be sales/cold calls, it could be the class, it could be a problem you have with one of your coworkers, it could be the dreaded meetings with the president or anything that you worry about. Think about it in great detail; what are you wearing? how is the weather? did you get a good night’s sleep? who is the person you are dealing with? what do they look like? are they wearing an apron? is it before or after lunch? Imagine it down to the very last detail. This is important because you have to make it as real as possible in your mind; you have to visualize it as if it is really happening. Take a minute to do this…. Keep your eyes closed and just listen to what I am saying… Now I want you to think about how you would like to approach the problem at hand so that you are in command. You are strong, you are sure of yourself, you are going to solve your problem here and now. You are going to be successful and in control. Create as much detail as you can; visualize everything as if it is really happening and achieve what you want to do. Achieve what you set out to do. Do it now for a minute…. OK. Open your eyes again. What happened? How did you solve your problem? How were you successful at achieving your goal? In your mind you planned the entire thing from start to finish. You just “began with the end in mind”. Now, the important thing is that you have to use what you learned today about yourself and your weak point the next time you encounter the situation that you just imagined. And you know what? Since you already succeeded once, you will succeed again. Nothing breeds success better than previous success. Yesterday I sat down in a quiet room and imagined myself giving you this speech. I imagined the brown tables where everyone was sitting at; the microphone in front of me and the blackboard behind me; the lights over me and the air conditioner blowing. I imagined all of you sitting there watching me, wondering what I was going to say. I imagined what we were going to have for lunch. I even imagined myself sweating and feeling nervous. But I also imagined myself taking charge of the situation, smiling, walking around and telling you what I have to say today with confidence and with style. And since I did it once already, I was able to do it again right now for the second time and be successful. This is a good book. I think we can all learn something about ourselves and how we can use our resources to be much more successful in our life, both at and away from work. That is all I wanted to say. Begin with the end in mind. As soon as this meeting is over, and you go home, begin your life again by imagining deeply how your life occurred. “Begin with the end in mind.” So now even without this book the chinese also had a saying to know what you want out of it or having the outcome known in discussion s

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As a christian for long time, I have not seen “blind men can see and crippled can walk miracles” taking place. It does not mean my faith of knowing that Jesus is Lord evaporates! I trusted HIM and that all the things written in the bible, aka ”manual of life” is indeed true. Recently, my pastor Gerry wrote to us about this revival taking place in Florida with this huge man of God. ”literally” too. His name is Todd Bently, a man with tatoo all over his body but still used by God mightly. (website: http://www.freshfire.ca ) There is so much that this man is doing for the glory of God, really having an end in mind for God’s work. And God having an end in mind to save mankind. Well thought this little entre of how he healed this blind man testifies the power and grace of God. He still looks for the “lost sheep”……  now you may like to catch this video on “blind man can see miracle” Hallelujah!

There is only one person in this world that can play the guitar in a sitar manner with the drums integrated in the guitar. I met Benny about 4 years ago and I did not know that he could play so differently and beautiful. He had played before presidents and in concerts in over 100 countries in his mission…. just click here and see for yourselves what I mean, it sounds great and read his testimony. Really powerful. I can’t begin to think that if you focus, God can grant the desire of the heart. Everything is possible! http://www.bennyprasad.com/

Just click here to see how the Guitar is being played

 

Hi Socially Concerned Entreprenuer « Begin with An End in Mind

In today’s world, we need everyone to play a role. A small activist in your own home or office. Habits of waste need to change to habits of savings. The 2 most important things the world is suffering from are:

1. Water – a lack of it because of global warming effect. The indiscriminate damming of rivers for their hydro-electric use has devasting consequences for people downstreams. For example, the Yang Zi Kiang River or the 5 gorges dam already produces effects to people living along the river. The peoples of Thailand and Laos faced economic hardship when the rivers of Chao Phraya kind of dried up in certain areas. The fishes which used to be in large quantity shrunked. The fishermen now have to look for alternative employement etc.  

2. Pollution:- The rivers are now so polluted! I used to lived in Bangkok and I dared not take the river boats at the Chao Phraya because of the blackish water. I know the fishes cannot survive there! This river needs cleaning up. The peoples living along the river used this river as a place of conveniences, everything ends up here! (you know what it is)

Well, there are many others……… I know you can supply. Please do…

Hi Socially Concerned Entreprenuer « Begin with an End in Mind

Doing Business without a social consciousness for the peoples of the land and its environment will not be sustainable. We must plow back the profits to improve the living standards of the peoples and ensuring that they have a hope in their lives. I believe God created all of us as equal but somehow the selfish attitudes get better of us and that is the reason why there are the super rich and the super poor.

With high commodity prices such as rice, maize, flour, cooking oil that hits new records (similar to oil) we are in big trouble to solve the world’s poor plight in getting 1 decent meals per day…..  see how we can help.. any ideas?

What does Success means to me? I oftentimes asked myself this question. What the world wants of me and what I want of myself is sometimes so different. The world says to be successful is to be a millionaire, CEO and some would say, own a luxurious brand name  limousine preferably chaffeur driven, dressed in designers clothings, travel widely by first class have a large condominium (or the 5Cs). Some would say, attain spiritual blissfulness. In the country of Bhutan, they measure success as no capital infused distraction to their happiness, so they came out with the Gross Domestic Happiness (GDH).

So to each his own. Right?  

The question I would pose is what is my purpose of living here; i.e. on this planet earth? Why am I here? to enrich someone or seek my final destination in eternity. So, in the words of Jesus, He said

“No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.” Matthew 6:24 (NIV)

So are we in a dilemna as Christian? I don’t think so, afterall, work is a part of life, otherwise, who is going to pay the bills?. Neither should we be as poor as the church mouse. But I think it’s having an end in mind of what do you want the money to do for you… for it is said that the love of money is the problem.. could lead to self destruction! Because it has led many people to lie and cheat because the value system like ethics would change.

So keep in check.. have in mind what is the meaning of success living on earth? and I believe is where you would like to land in eternity? in heaven or hell?   What do you say?