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	Wednesday, January 19, 2005

Its Just Focus    ( on life) The last 4 weeks I lost 8 pounds.  Finally. For most of  my life, I have always been weight challenged.  I always joke when I eat a little bit less that I am on diet.  When friends asked me since when I had been dieting, I would smile and say, "since thirty years ago". Indeed, almost every year, I swore I would  take off a few pounds, but every year, it seems that resolution went out of the window  ( I would safely bet that now three weeks after new year, half of most people's new years' resolutions are already conveniently forgotten or abandoned). Is it that hard to lose weight? Not really.  We all know how.  The reason it never happens is that I never got down to focusing on it.  Something always come in ( great food, busyness, lazyness,  etc) that oftens distracts and interferes with this goal. I have always been able to accomplish my educational and business goals.  Because I focus on it.  But I guess the weight loss objective have always been like many people's business and professional goal.  They want to be rich, but their way of accomplishing it is by way of a vague, "maybe I will hit it in the lottery, or maybe I will meet a rich financier or uncle that will take a gamble with my talents." sort of thing.  Nothing concrete, nothing focused, just one of those dozen things that you hope will happen to you.  Like maybe some great drug company will invent a drug that will allow you to lose weight without any exercise or diet....  sort of thing. And that is where we fail. Do we know the way to wealth?  the way to happiness?  Yes, we all know the way -- we just don't have the focus and discipline to travel it. It has been said that the sun has been shining over the earth for millions of years but has never burned anything.  Yet focus a little bit of these sun's rays using a magnifying lens, and in minutes, you can muster enough heat to start a fire. Are you accomplishing your goals? If not, its probably JUST FOCUS.   8:08:10 PM     comment []   trackback []

	Tuesday, January 11, 2005

Big Money Will Not Come In   ( on life) This is part 2 of my blog " A Sense of Entitlement". In this blog, I noted that there are people that displays a false sense of entitlement, and proceeded to make an example of a person in the developed world.  I am inclined however,  to agree with the comments of Ana that this is by no means a behavior of people who have more in life, but is actually an issue also for people actually who have less in life. In many developing countries, you see people who have less, but are not motivated to move on to get an education, and expects the government for doleouts every step of the way. It is not their fault, but unfortunately, illiteracy also brings the disadvantage of their not realizing the fundamental principle of life --  that you reap what you sow, that you have to give in order to receive.  They have no sufficient confidence also that they have the means to help themselves, and therefore looks at others to better their station in life. I am inclined therefore to agree with a discussion that I had earlier in an online network Ecademy where we talked that poverty is not the absence of assets, but actually can be a state of mind, and it can also indicate an absence of education, confidence, motivation, expertise, focus, and willpower.  In fact, one added eloquently that "Wealth is what you're left with when all the money is taken away from you. " Therefore, for all those businessmen who seek wealth or people who seek happiness, I leave you with an old chinese proverb, "If small money do not go out, big money will not come in. "   1:28:22 PM     comment []   trackback []

	Saturday, January 08, 2005

A Sense of Entitlement   ( on life) On the course of everyday life, we get to meet many people.  Some we like.  Some we don't.  Some we immediately feel a sense of affability, some at the start, we immediately feel that they are odious or obnoxious. There are a lot of reasons why we dislike people -- maybe they are discourteous, maybe we don't like the way they dress or look, maybe they rub us the wrong way, or maybe we are just having a bad day.  There is not much you can do if people dislike you because they don't like your face, but there is something you certainly can do if people start to avoid you because of the way you behave. And I believe that a lot of how we bounce off others, either positively or negatively,  have a lot to do with each of our sense of entitlement vis a vis theirs.  As a citizen of this world, we give and then we receive.  And just like in business, where we are expected to pay a fair price for the products and services that we choose to enjoy, there is also a hidden ledger in life where people expect you to be fair -- you get in proportion to what you have given. Of course, just like in business, there is always an attempt to get more than you give.  The results, sometimes can strike us as not fair. Others have given much but believe they have not gotten something back in proportion.  Then there are people who are born with silver spoons in their mouth -- they have received much and endowed with much ( good looks, rich parents, incredible talent) but have given back nil. I howeer, believe that this hidden ledger keeps a fair share -- people who have gotten much without giving much try to enjoy everything they can but deep down feel a certain degree of unhappiness.  It is the sense of entitlement that nags you deep down. They feel they don't really deserve what they got, not having work for it, and therefore feel some unworthiness which prevents them from enjoying life at the fullest. But the people who probably are the most odious are those that display a warped sense of entitlement.  These are the people who thinks they are entitled to get without giving, simply because of their station in life.  When they are together with other people, they felt they are entitled to better attention, and better food.  They believe that they should get certain perks in life that others don't deserve.  It is well if they have given something to deserve it, but many haven't.  There is for instance, an unemployed bum in a developed country who is protesting that 1,200 dollars a month unemployment benefit is plainly not enough and not considering that there are many more hardworking and deserving people in developing countries working 12 hours a day and subsisting on 40 dollars. Thus, some people go around in life thinking that the world owes them a living, their associates owe them respect ( even if they have not earn it), and their parents owes them to give them every hard earned dollar without their raising a finger.  They get what they can without thinking what to give.  Have you meet this kind of people? Do you like them? I'd like to end this by quoting Winston Churchill who said, "we make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give. "  I hope this can be your food for thought for the day.  And to quote another great person Woodrow Wilson, who upon being conferred an award, said, "I'd like to believe that honor is felt not because of what I got, but because of what I had given. " Wouldn't this be a much happier world if everybody can be more conscientious that they at least give back the same measure ( if it cannot be more)  as they have received? 4:22:46 PM     comment []   trackback []