Habits

Psychologist say that 90% of our behaviour is habitual. The way we think and the things that we do over a period of time will develop into our habits, and subsequently, these habits will determine how well every area of our life works. In other words, whatever habits we currently have established are producing our current level of results. If we want to create higher levels of success, we will have to drop some of our old habits and replace them with more productive habits.

Good or bad, habits always deliver results.

"Principle #23 - Develop Four New Success Habits A Year"

Think about this, if we apply this principle over a 5-year period, we would have 20 new success habits that could bring us the level of success and achievement that we desire.

• Start by listing four new habits you would like to establish in the next year.
• Work on one new habit every quarter.
• Research shows that if you repeat a behaviour for 13 weeks, it will develop into a habit for life.
• One powerful technique is to partner up with someone, keep score and hold each other accountable. This will keep you right on track.

"In truth, the only difference between those who have failed and those who have succeeded lies in the difference of their habits. Good habits are the key to all success. Bad habits are the unlocked door to failure. Thus, the first law I will obey, which preceedeth all others is - I will form good habits and become their slaves." ~ Og Mandino

A Letter from a Father to His Son in the Year 2030

June 21, 2030

Dear Son,

Congratulations on your baby-to-be! I remember the feeling your mom and I had when we discovered you would be born, way back in 1992. I know, I know—it was another century. But I remember the anticipation and the angst we felt knowing we were about to introduce another child into this world.

I’ve intended to say something to you for a long time but never found the words. I guess it’s easier for me to write them than to say them to your face. I know it sounds cliché, but you’ll be raising your child in such a different world than the one you grew up in. Everything’s changed. In your early years, life seemed so easy; you were on top of the world. We hovered over you, intending to pave the way for your college and your career. We wanted you to know we believed in you; that you were special and could do anything you set your mind to. We wanted your self-esteem and self-confidence to be rock solid.

Looking back, I realize that in our efforts to help you, we actually hurt you. Please know, we meant well. As I ponder your situation now, with your marriage contract ending this month, I can see you’re in a difficult spot. What’s more, because we let you move back home with us after college, you weren’t prepared for the world that awaited you. We just didn’t know what to do. You depended on the meds to get you through each week, you lacked a realistic plan (what with the economy in 2014), and you were as addicted to video games then as you are today. We couldn’t seem to find a way to prepare you for the future you now face. Now it’s too late to change things.

Son, I feel I have failed you. With all the help your mother and I tried to give you, we ended up doing just the opposite. We hindered you from becoming the best version of you possible.

All of this hit me like a ton of bricks last night. I watched a documentary on culture change, and I was shocked to see the impact my generation (parents, teachers, coaches, youth workers, retailers, and employers) has had on yours. The program painted an all-too-familiar picture of you and so many of your friends:

• Adults living in isolation because they can’t stick with their marriage contracts – even those short-term contracts that have become so popular.

• Social media junkies with little to no emotional intelligence or people skills.

• Obese adults who are stressed and don’t have the discipline to eat right and exercise.

• Nearly an entire generation addicted to “happy pills” because of chronic anxiety and depression.

• A generation of adults we allowed to pass through school without really learning.

• People confused about their gender and identity because of the BPA you all consumed.

• Midlife adults who are in a “love you hate you” relationship with their parents. (I keep wondering if that’s true of us.)

All this saddens me because it’s so unnecessary. With the baby coming, now it’s your turn to lead, and I fear you aren’t ready. We let you down.

What scares me most is the violence today. In 2010, we all began to read about the youth bulge. Your generation worldwide is huge. Remember what I told you then? When a nation’s population of young people is over 30%, violence almost always follows. I’m afraid the terrorism you’ve seen in the last twenty years will only get worse due to the sheer size of your generation.

Son, I hope you can forgive me—forgive us—for not leading you better. But more important, I hope you can somehow make up for our mistakes. You’re about to become a dad and make me a granddad. Please lead this little one well. Do better than we did in raising the next generation. It may be our only chance to save our future.

I love you,

Dad

Source: http://www.savetheirfuturenow.com/pdf/generation_iy_book_excerpt.pdf

Accomplish or Do Not Begin

Have you ever felt that your life keeps getting heavier and heavier with every new task that you take up? One possible reason is that you have been carrying some "old baggages" together with you.

This can be explained with "Principle #22 - Clean Up Your Messes and Your Incompleteness":

The Cycle of Completion above shows the six steps which are required to succeed at anything, to get a desired result, to finish. Yet how many of us never complete? We somehow would tend to leave one last thing undone in our way towards the finishing stage. When you don't complete the past, you can't be free to fully embrace the present.

"If a cluttered desk is the sign of a cluttered mind, what is the significance of a clean desk?" ~ Laurence J. Peter

Getting into completion consciousness, do you agree that "20 things completed have more power than 50 things half completed"?

One way to keep us in completion consciousness is to apply the "Four D's of Completion":

• Do it - if you can take care of it within 10 minutes, do it immediately.
• Delegate it - if you can't do it yourself or don't want to take the time, delegate it to someone you trust to accomplish the task.
• Delay it - if you have to take care of it yourself, but know it will take longer, delay it by filing it in a folder of things to do later.
• Dump it - if you have decided that you'll never going to do anything with it, then dump it.

By driving things to completion, you'll be free of the mental burden of having to deal with clutters, and thus freeing up attention units to take up something new.

Accomplish or do not begin. It's time for some "housekeeping"!

Blinded by Ego

I used to be a curious child. I always wondered how things work. I would always ask her questions.
But these were the usual answers that I would get:

"I'm busy. Go ask someone else."

"If you really want to know, go find out yourself."

So I grew up learning how to find the answers to my questions. And I am forever grateful for this.


I used to be a careless child. Sometimes when I made mistakes, she would yell at me:

"Such a simple thing, and yet you get it wrong. Stupid!"

"Where is your brain?"

So I grew up learning how to be more thoughtful and attentive. And I am forever grateful for this.


I used to be a timid and over-protected child. When I was confronting my fears, she would say these to me:

"At your age, your cousins were already good at socializing with adults and strangers."

"Look at how independent your cousins are."

So I grew up learning how to seek inspiration to motivate myself. And I am forever grateful for this.


Nowadays, sometimes I would still hear yellings from her, but the context has changed:

"All of you are useless. I just wanted to know how to do this but none of you can teach me."

"Just do it for me. I'm lazy to read the manuals. Don't ask me to think."

"You have wings now. Everything you say is right."

As much as being thankful for her upbringing, I'm also saddened and feeling helpless for her "blindness" which has been caused by years of ego and self-ignorance.

Just when you think you're at the top of the league or at the forefront of technology, do remember that time flies and one day you'll be back among the chasing pack if you don't stay humble and diligently upgrade yourself.

When your ego swells so huge inside your head, it blocks you from seeing and thinking ahead clearly.

When your glass is full, whatever being poured into it will just spill out.

Watch your ego.

25 Lessons I Learnt from LEGO

I have grown up playing LEGO, but only today I got to learn about the remarkable history which is both insightful and inspiring.

Here are 25 lessons which I have learned from the LEGO Story:

1. Opportunity presents itself during adversity, only if you have not given up.
2. When you hold yourself accountable to others, knowing that their good fate lies in your hands, you're more likely to persevere through the toughest of adversities.
3. Imagination without action is still just an idea.
4. Some of the things that you have brought from your past could serve as valuable assets for your future.
5. The core of success in any business is to have a die hard determination to deliver the highest quality products and services even during testing times.
6. Sometimes just when you think you have finally come to the end of your hard times and start to taste the fruits of your effort, life will throw you another huge blow or challenge to test your resolve.
7. There is no point comtemplating on your bad luck or blaming others for your circumstances during adversity because it will only drag you down into the pool of self pity. Instead, step forward and take ownership of your own fate, because you are the captain of your own life.
8. When you are taking charge of your life, you will always find ways to get over your weaknesses and move ahead.
9. Sometimes life showers you with little drops of favour, only for you to make those favour count.
10. Keep going, don't settle. Successful people always look for ways to improve and upgrade themselves.
11. You can lose money in business, but never trust and integrity.
12. Every detail matters. Only the best is good enough.
13. Inspiration can come your own hope, or the hope others put on you.
14. Successful people see opportunities when others don't.
15. Successful people always challenge the norms, make no excuse and swim against the tide.
16. Your spouse and children should be the reason for you succeed, not the excuse for you to remain in your comfort zone.
17. Every business needs an idea to begin with and a sytem built around it to become sustainable.
18. The people you serve don't just look for a ready made solution which make them feel dumb. They like to feel empowered by the products or services that you deliver to them.
19. A building made of bricks stacking up without cement would easily fall apart. The same goes for an organization. An organization (building) needs common/compatible values (cement) to hold its people (bricks) together.
20. With its simple modules and system, one can build virtually anything out of his imagination with endless possibilities using LEGO. The same applies to success. With success principles (modules) and learning programme (system), one can build virtually any size and form of success with endless possibilities, over and over again.
21. Only organizations which are built on right principles and values will survive the test of time.
22. You need to get the best out of any situation and never give up.
23. Successful entrepreneurs always think ahead and focus on their core competencies.
24. Your achievements can only be as big as your imagination.
25. Successful people leave behind their legacies in the form of principles and spirit which will continue to inspire and build their next generations.

Share this story and inspire others  :)

Meet the Generation iY

Some of us are wondering how the future world will be like.

Here’s a hypothetical scenario which clearly spells out the potential issues facing the future generation. This is very relevant to all of us here who will still be alive in year 2030 – as parents, employers, teachers, etc.

Take some time to read this article titled “Mini-Novel: Class of 2030 High School Reunion”
Link: http://www.savetheirfuturenow.com/2030

A better future starts today.

The Importance of Having Right Association

"You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with." ~ Jim Rohn

Do you realise that your more successful friends/relatives rarely spend time with your less successful friends/relatives?

The answer is found in "Principle #21 - Surround Yourself with Successful People":

John Assaraf was a street kid who had been entangled in the world of drugs and gangs. When he landed a job working in the gym at the Jewish community center across the street from his apartment in Montreal, his life was changed by the powerful principle that you become like the people you spend the most time with. In addition to earning $1.65 an hour, he received access to the men's health club. John recounts that he got his early education in business in the men's sauna. Every night after work, from 9:15 to 10pm, you'd find him in the steamy hot room listening to successful businessmen tell their tales of success and failure.

Read his full story here: http://johnassaraf.com/about

Another interesting read that I found was a remarkable quote by one of the most powerful persons in the world during the last decade:

"The less you associate with some people, the more your life will improve. Any time you tolerate mediocrity in others, it increases your mediocrity. An important attribute in successful people is their impatience with negative thinking and negative acting people. As you grow, your associates will change. Some of your friends will not want you to go on. They will want you to stay where they are. Friends that don't help you climb will want you to crawl. Your friends will stretch your vision or choke your dream. Those that don't increase you will eventually decrease you.

Consider this: Never receive counsel from unproductive people. Never discuss your problems with someone incapable of contributing to the solution, because those who never succeed themselves are always first to tell you how. Not everyone has a right to speak into your life. You are certain to get the worst of the bargain when you exchange ideas with the wrong person. Don't follow anyone who's not going anywhere.

With some people you spend an evening: with others you invest it. Be careful where you stop to inquire for directions along the road of life. Wise is the person who fortifies his life with the right friendships. If you run with wolves, you will learn how to howl. But, if you associate with eagles, you will learn how to soar to great heights.

"A mirror reflects a man's face, but what he is really like is shown by the kind of friends he chooses."

The simple but true fact of life is that you become like those with whom you closely associate - for the good and the bad.

Note: Be not mistaken. This is applicable to family as well as friends. Yes...do love, appreciate and be thankful for your family, for they will always be your family no matter what. Just know that they are human first and though they are family to you, they may be a friend to someone else and will fit somewhere in the criteria above.

"In Prosperity Our Friends Know Us. In Adversity We Know Our friends."

"Never make someone a priority when you are only an option for them."

"If you are going to achieve excellence in big things,you develop the habit in little matters. Excellence is not an exception, it is a prevailing attitude." ~ Colin Powell

Do you have friends who constantly attempt to bring you back down to their level? If so, it's time to consider having some new friends!