If you're gonna do it - Do Properly!

Hey guys, sorry about the long absence of new posts on this blog. I guess time has proven that updating this blog hasn't been as frequent as the blog address suggest! Nonetheless, here I am again. Attempting to live up to the grand idea I had for this site.

I have spent the last few months busy at work. One thing has led to another and it looks like next year will mark the start up of yet another company for me. I'm extremely excited about it but before I jump into the wonderful process of starting a fresh new business I find myself busy delegating my current responsibilities at the training and consultancy firm I run and setting up systems and processes so that I can withdraw from it and dedicate more of myself to something new next year.

As I think about the new year I also question what I've done for this year and whether I have achieved my goals for 2009.

One my many New Year Resolutions for 2009 was to do my best at everything I did. This meant that if I decided to undertake a role / task, then I would commit to do my very best at it.

Out of all my 2009 resolutions this particular resolution has stuck and made a difference in my life. I find myself applying this simple 'principle' in all my daily activities - whether it's at work or at home. And I'm happy to say that it has led to fruitful results over the year.

I find myself applying myself to my responsibilities. While in the past I just did what was expected of me - now I try to go beyond - I go as far as I can go and do the best that I can do!

Pushing myself this way has naturally forced me to learn and develop myself. I'm proud to say that I'm better this year than I was last year.

I guess I'm writing this to humbly suggest that you try the same principle for yourself as well. Like I always say - if it works for you - Great! If it doesn't just chuck it aside and look for something that does!

Let me know how it goes...

To my Hindu friends - Happy Diwali!

I'll be back with a new post! Soon - I Hope :)

The Story of 2 Monks

If you've been holding a grudge against someone or if you know someone who needs some advice on how to forgive and forget then here's a story that'll tickle your fancy.

There were once 2 monks that decided to travel to a neigbouring monastry to meditate together. Their trip would take 7 days long so they decided to take a pledge of silence so that they would be able to reflect on life and on their throughts.

They made it through the first 2 days with ease, in total silence and with peace on their minds. But on the third day something unexpected happened. As they were walking they came across a small river. As they got ready to cross the river a super hot young girl turned up. She was wearing the shortest skirt and the highest heels. She smiled at the monks and politely asked if one of them would carry her across the river as she was afraid to make the crossing alone.

The two monks looked at each other fully aware that the young girl was asking for something that was against their believes. They weren't suppose to make physical contact with a member of the opposite sex let alone, a super hot young girl.

But as they fussed, the young girl persisted and finally the younger of the two monks picked up the girl and carried her across the river. As all three of them reached the other side, the monks parted ways with the young girl.

However, the older of the two monks was furious that the younger monk had gone against their believes by carrying the young girl across the river and in the process touching her skin. It just wasn't right. But since he had taken a pledge of silence, he kept quite and didn't vent his anger.

A few more days passed and the older monk was still angry. Finally on the sixth day of their journey, his anger got the better of him and he broke his pledge!

"How could you carry that young girl across the river!" he shouted. "Her skin touched yours. That is not allowed!"

The younger monk looked shocked.

He looked innocently at the older monk and said...

"Yes, I carried that young girl across the river". "But... you have been carrying her with you for 3 days now..."

Whatever it is that you're angry or upset at - let it go. There's no point harping on the past. Focus on the now.

Analytic Meditation

I'm in the midst of reading a book titled 'Happiness at Work'. It's based on a conversation between an American psychologist and the Dalai Lama and it talks about how you can be happier at work.

The book is pretty cool but one particular concept caught my attention and I'd like to share it with you today.

The psychologist tells the Dalai Lama that many people in the US are unhappy at work because they feel they are unfairly treated by their bosses. They are overworked and underpaid. On top of that there seems to be favoritism at the work place because they seem to be missing out on promotions to the boss's pet. This leads many people to become jealous and vengeful at work. Hence, their unhappiness.

The Dalai Lama's answer to this is Analytic Meditation. Analytic meditation is simply you asking yourself - What are the consequences of my actions? If you feel you have been mistreated at work or for that matter anywhere else - ask yourself what are the consequences of your RE-Action. Will being vengeful and jealous take you somewhere productive or will it just add to your unhappiness? Analyse your RE-Action to your unfair situation and you will find that you yourself know the right action to take that will take you somewhere positive.

Most of the time - we indulge in letting our emotions run amok without actually thinking about what feelings or actions will serve us best. Analytic Meditation allows us to slow down and to choose our feelings and emotions towards our circumstances.

The concept behind Analytic Meditation is that we know for ourselves what's good for us. If only we'd slow down and think about it!

Saving vs. MSI

Hey guys, sorry I've been missing from action over the past few days. Been really busy making arrangements to move into my new office. I just woke up and realized that I finally have some free time to myself. So here I am.

Have you guys noticed how expensive things are nowadays? I've been struggling to control my expenditure to keep it within my monthly budget but it's been getting really tough. So I've been working really hard to reduce my spending. I've reduced my starbucks coffees, fancy dinners and other luxury indulgences.

But this got me thinking about something I heard at a talk a few years ago. The speaker was talking about Multiple Streams of Income (MSI) and said that instead of working really hard to reduce spending work really hard to increase your income.

Instead of stinging on the tiny luxuries like fancy dinners or expensive coffee, he said it would be more effective to find ways of earning a little extra. And we're not talking about much. For instance, look for a way to earn just 10% of your current income.

If you're earning RM 3,000, find a way to earn an extra RM 300. If you have a hobby you are really passionate about that may be an avenue to make a little bit more. Look for part time, freelance jobs that you'd really enjoy. If you have a particular skill, you could teach it to others. If you haven't got a skill, just scan the part time jobs available on the web and see if anything catches your fancy.

For those of you who have big dreams of starting your own business, this would be a good time to see how you could slowly move towards starting that business. If you've been wanting to sell that awesome cupcake you're so good at baking, maybe you could sell it on a small scale during the weekends.

Let your imagination go wild and you'd be surprised at the ideas you get!

The ERRC Model

A continuation from yesterday...

So if you've been asking how you can value innovate in your organization to create more value for your customers while reducing the operational cost of your business unit, you can use the ERRC Model from the Blue Ocean Strategy.

The ERRC Model is a simple 4 step model to help you identify potential ideas to value innovate in your organization. Here are the 4 Steps in it's simplest form:

1. Eliminate

Ask yourself if there's anything in your current organization which you can do without. Most often blue ocean strategists review the systems and processes being applied in the organization and question whether they are really serving a purpose or not. Another good place to question what you can eliminate is to ask what the customer can do without. Most of the time we load the customer with plenty of benefits, most of which they don't want or need yet end up paying for. 

2. Reduce

Sometimes you don't have to eliminate. Instead you can reduce. Question what it is you can reduce in your organization to reduce the cost for your organization and for the customer. By elminating and reducing unnecessary benefits, systems and processes you instantaneously create a more price competitive product while also simplifying the product / service offering.

4. Raise

Once you've questioned what you can eliminate and reduce ask what you can increase. You should focus on increasing aspects of your product / service offering that customers highly value. Focus on giving your customers what they like. 

5. Create

Now here's where your creativity kicks in. If you have an idea you would like to add to your business here's where it comes in. But make sure you focus on creating benefits that customers actually want. 

The four step ERRC Model can set you on your way to value innovate. It'll help provide a framework to work with and it applies to everybody. I suppose it's easy to see how this model applies to busienss owners but the truth is its also applicable to any individual who works in an organization. If you don't deal directly with customers your focus should be on how you can value innovate to offer better value to your colleagues (who are your internal customers).

For more information on the blue ocean strategy simply google it!

Value Innovation

If you're working in a large organization, running your own business or thinking of starting a career you might as well familiarize yourself with the concept of Value Innovation. You will find this concept heavily discussed in the best selling book - Blue Ocean Strategy. But for the sake of simplicity here's a quick intro to Value Innovation and how it can set you apart from your competition.

We've all heard about 'Adding Value' to the customer. Nowadays, customer satisfaction is an expectation. Organizations and individuals are expected to go beyond by giving customers added value! But the problem is significant 'Added Value' most of the time means ADDED COST! If you're trying to add value at your job, you're most probably getting frustrated because you're ideas are being shot down even before they're allowed to take flight. And that's simply because your ideas are busting the budget and that's a big NO NO in today's ecnomy!

Value Innovation talks about adding value while reducing cost! But how do you do that?

By being INNOVATIVE of course!

Value innovation talks about finding innovative ideas to add value while reducing cost and the concept isn't new. There have been plenty of businesses that have become overnight success stories simply because they Value Innovated.

A classic example would be the low cost airline industry. These jokers take away all the luxuries of flying, dump us in what seems to be a flying bus and even make us book our tickets online. But the genius is in the fact that they reduce the cost of flying. They reduce it so significantly, that even with the lack of luxuries, questionable aircrafts and inconvenient  booking, they have created value for us. It's so cheap that it has become so valuable to fly even without the traditional luxuries of flying.

Value Innovation is applicable to all ranks of employees. No matter what your position is in your organization you have an opportunity to value innovate. In fact, with the recent economic recession, value innovation might be a necessity for you if you wish to hold on to your job. If you're looking for a way to stand out from the crowd and to gain a sustainable competitive advantage over your peers, Value Innovation is definitely a great first step to take.

Of course, there is a guide available to help you value innovate. But I'll be talking about that tomorrow. In the mean time, just brew on possible innovative ideas you may have on how you can reduce cost at the work place while adding value to your customers at the same time!

A video to quit complaining!

I know I've spoken about how people tend to complain and bitch about their lives when instead they should be taking responsibility for their circumstances. The people who move forward are the ones who ask "What can I do to move forward?".

So to re-enforce my point, I've posted a video clip from the movie "The Pursuit of Happiness". The movie is about a down on his luck character (played by Will Smith). Due to a few bad decisions in the past - his wife has left him and he has been evicted from his home. He loves his son to death and has to send his son to a day care center while he works. He's the kind of guy that needs a break but hasn't got it.

So he decides to join a stock broking firm that promises some serious money if he comes out top as the best sales person among his peers. The competition is tough and he is handicapped because he has to leave early to pick his kid up from day care on time.

So check out what he does to make up for the time he loses and pay specific attention to how he doesn't complain about his circumstances. It may seem like he's hard work isn't paying off but if you watch the full movie - you'll see that he turns out pretty ok. Very ok in fact :)

Enjoy!

I'm BACK!

Apologies for not updating the blog for the past 5 days. I've been facilitating training programs at Penang. Tiring stuff but the truth is it's a good excuse to slack off a bit. And that's what I've been doing. Guilty as charged!

When I first started this blog I hesitated to call it DAILYnavin coz it was a committment to update the blog daily. I wanted to do it but even then at my highest motivation level I doubted myself and hesitated. So going ahead and naming the blog DailyNavin was an indirect way of shouting out my goal - which was to maintain a blog that helped individuals stay empowered on a daily basis.

So now that I've failed to keep a smooth record of daily updating my blog I'm at a very familiar situation in my life. Very often I set a bold goal - get motivated - do it for a while and then abandon it when the first acceptable excuse crops up. I'm either too busy at work, have other committments or justify that I'll do it next time when the time is right.

However, in some rare circumstances - I persevere - even after failing - and even when I'm blessed with good excuses. And not surprisingly these rare circumstances go on to become some of my biggest achievements. As I look back, the few times I've truly been successful was when I persevered through. I didn't indulge in excuses and justifications and accepted my failed attempts as learning experiences. 

I also realize that I persevered because I had other people cheering me on and supporting me. Reminding me of my goal and what it meant to me.

So in an effort to make this blog a true success and to achieve it's true objective I am going to persevere. I'm not sure how many of you actually read this blog but that's only secondary to the primary objective of having the discipline to update it on a daily basis. Maybe if I achieve it's primary objective it's secondary objective will fall in place too!

I would also like to ask you for your help to keep me committed. If you have empowering messages which you think could benefit others do share it with us on this blog. It could be a posting from another blog, a video, an online article or simply a personal thought of yours.

It would be a great help to keeping this blog alive and kicking :)

So do come back to share and comment and I promise that I'll do my best to make it worth your while!

la la la

Hey guys. I'm sitting here on the balcony of my hotel room which over looks the straits of melacca and am enjoying the cool breeze that I'm deprieved off in hot and hazy KL. Sorry I haven't got a motivational post for today. I guess it's a great chance for you to review earlier posts. 

I hope you're having a great day so far.

If there's anyone in Penang - feel free to join me for the huge Nasi Kandar lunch I've planned for myself today :)

Haha.

Love the journey

I'm off to penang today for 4 days of training. But before I leave I want to leave you with something to think about.

Everybody has their own goals and dreams. Everyone has that special something that they know is right for them. And like everyone, I'm sure you have YOUR dream and your goal.

The problem is, most of the time life seems to wanna stop us from achieving our dreams. It seems to keep us trapped in a job we dislike, with parents who don't agree or with circumstances that hold us back!

I just wanted to tell you that if it was any easier to achieve your goal - it wouldn't be worth achieving. People tend to forget that the journey makes the destination worthwhile! So if you're bitching about how tough life is - don't forget that if it was any easier it wouldn't be worth your time. The challenges we face enrich our lives and helps us experience our stronger and better side! The tests we face allow us to push ourselves to our limits. 

It forces us to grow!

So start loving the journey and embrace the challenges!

Money money money

I spent the whole of last year thinking I was making lots of money from my growing business. I told myself I'd save half of it and spend half of it. Naturally, I had big dreams of investing my money in a condo or maybe the stock market. After all I did major in finance! I KNEW I had to save. 

I also thought it would be a piece of cake. All I needed was discipline. And that was one thing I had - or at least I thought I did!

Here's what happened...

As I followed my GRAND plan to save, a new gym opened up near my house. It only made sense to sign myself up. After all they were cheaper than the other blood sucking fitness centers. So I dipped into the savings a bit. Hey - no big deal! It was only RM 1,000! And I'll definitely use the gym!

Guilty from investing in the gym, I spent the next few months working really hard! And because I worked so hard - a holiday was well deserved wasn't it? And how often do I go on holidays after all? So I figured I'd SPLURGE a bit! Stay in a nice hotel with a nice few. After all I had money in my savings right? Ka Ching! There went another RM 3,000!

I figured I'd stop there. No more spending. But before I knew it - there were the birthdays, the extravagant dinners for special occasions, the one day trips and not to forget the NECESSARY re-decoration of my room. I somehow lost control of my grand savings plan and started losing track of my money.

At the end of 2008 this was what I found:

Planned Savings : RM 12,000

Total Saving : RM 1,750

Quite clearly I'm not as disciplined as I think I am! I realize I really sucked at planning for my expenses! I was so naive to think that all I had to spend on was my weekly expenses when in fact there were so many hidden costs in my life! I never really saw how 5 'special' dinners was equivalent to a month's savings! My bad planning and lack of knowledge on what my daily expenses were led me to make ill informed decisions when it came to money. So I failed to save! But I didn't fail to learn!

This year - things are gonna change! 

I sat down a few days ago and reviewed my expenses from last year and planned for similar expenses this year. I created a budget for my weekly expenses, for my gym, my holidays and my savings.

And to make sure I'm disciplined, I opened a savings account today at my local bank and linked it to my current account. So every month, I'm transfering part of my salary into a savings account which I promise I won't dip into.

I've got a whole excel sheet projecting my monthly income and my monthly expenses to help me keep a close eye on what comes in and goes out.

And just because I don't trust myself after my dismal performance last year, I decided that I'll only get paid my commission at the end of the year - so that I don't go spending it during the year.

Hey - I'm not saying it's a full proof way that'll work - but it's a start!

I hope you're doing better off than me :)

Remind Yourself

My day can get really hectic. (I'm about to leave for Perak in 30 mins to facilitate a talk!) So it's not surprising that sometimes when I'm stressing about one particular task I very quickly forget why the hell I even started doing it. If you're like me and find yourself asking "why the hell am i doing this?" - try this - it works for me.

When you wake up in the morning try to take 30 secs to look at the pic of your goals and to tell yourself your positive affirmation. If you are practicing the lemon technique, hold your lemon and visualize your goal. just do something to remind yourself of your goal. It'll be great if you had an inspiring picture or motivational personal statement. That should give you a sense of direction and purpose for the day. If you're stuck in a 9 to 5 job that isn't necessary going to lead you to your goal then this constant reminder will motivated you to make a little bit of time during the day to pursue your goal. You'll be doing something small everyday towards achieving your life goals.

Try and carry your reminder around with you through out the day. Maybe it's a pic on your mobile phone or something in your wallet. When you get stressed look at it and take a few seconds to motivate yourself.

Have a great day guys :)

Tony Robbins

My personal hero when it comes to speaking on stage has to be Anthony Robbins. The guy has a presence and he's got a truck load of information to share. It might be why he himself looks like a truck! The guy is huge and he uses it well to command his stage.

So here's a link to his talk at TED - a world class conference that hosts the world's brightest thinkers. He talks about why we do what we do and how we can do it better. It's a gret talk so take a few minutes and watch the video.

Tony at TED

Your Own Learning Plan

Regardless of whether you're still studying or working, you're always going to be learning. You can't run away from it and quite honestly you shouldn't. Of course what you learn and how you learn it varies according to your own personal background.

More often than not, we don't take responsibility for what we learn. Our parents, teachers and employers determine what and when we learn. We think it ends at school but quite honestly it continues at work as well. Our employes send us for training that THEY think is important for us.

So the question is - do you want to be responsible for what you learn over the next year? If you just leave it to your employers or educational institutions, then you'll be learning what 'they' want you to learn and not necessarily what YOU want to learn.

I know some of you didn't choose to study the degree you're pursuing or don't want to be working at the job you're working at. So instead of bitching about it, it's time we did something to change all that.

Ask yourself what it is you need to learn to better equip yourself to achieve your goals. Are there books you need to read, seminars you need to attend or people you need to meet? Try drawing out a learning plan for yourself.

Here's what corporate organizations do to determine their million dollar training plans. I have simplified it for you.

1. Determine the skill sets you need.

Determine for yourself what skills you will need to stand out from the crowd or to achieve your goals. Try not to focus on technical skills because you'll probable learn that from your uni or job. Focus on skills your job or uni aren't focusing on. Maybe it's people skills, leadership skills, creative thinking skills, communication skills or even presentation skills.

2. Determine your Gaps

Determine how far behind you are in each skill set that you identified earlier. This will indicate the amount of learning you need to do for each skill.

3. Determine the methods of learning available

Determine the learning resources you have. Traditionally this would mean books and seminars but don't underestimate youtube and the internet. I do most of my learning there :)

4. Create a learning plan

Here's where you pen down your learning plan for the next 6 to 12 months. Determine the books you're gonna read, seminars you're gonna attend and topics you're gonna explore. Don't over plan. Make it easy to achieve!

Once you have your plan. Try and stick with it. Even if you don't think you're disciplined enough to follow a plan go ahead and complete the 4 steps above. It will get your mind thinking about what you need to learn!

Staying ahead of the competition

I gave a talk a few weeks ago and when it came to the Q&A Session someone asked me "What does it take to stay ahead of the competition when you start working for someone?". Unfortunately, 'hard work' just  doesn't cut it anymore. Neither will technical knowledge know how. Those are expectations employers have of their employees. If you don't have either one you better be worried.

But let's assume that you are a hard worker and you are a really smart cookie. How do you stay ahead? 

In my  line of work, I meet with HR managers and speak to them about what they want to achieve from their employees. And not surprisingly, most HR managers want their employees to be able to interact better with each other.

SO - the answer is simple -  you gotta be a people's person! You got to be someone people like to deal with. This also applies to would be doctors and professionals who will end up owning their own practices. You need to know how to interact with others to stay competitive.

And don't mistake this for licking ass or anything like that.

It's gotta do with being able to manage your relationships with others and how to be aware of their emotions and yours. That's what employers are looking for out there. They already have smart people. They need people people.

So how do you become a people's person? Well that's a huge topic that will take a few more blog posts. Google EQ, leadership styles abd interpersonal skills. That should give you a head start.

If you're a leader then focus on what makes a good leader. If you're part of a team then focus on EQ skills and how it applies at the work place.

That's how you stand out.

Quick Review

I haven't refered to positive thinking for a while now but I've been practicing my positive thinking techniques for the past few weeks and things are starting to move forward. I'm playing with new ideas, learning more about myself and having fun with the possibility of new opportunities.

I hope you guys have got your positive posters and positive affirmations with you all the time! Just keep it close and ignore it if you don't wanna to show it any attention. It still works!

If you wanna take it up a notch try visualization! Just close your eyes and imagine yourself enjoying your goals like you've already achieved them. Simple stuff that makes huge diffferences. If you do it right - you'll be smiling to yourself like a maniac.

I hope you guys are having a great Sunday so far!

For a review of the positive poster and statements refere to the link below:

http://dailynavin.blogspot.com/2009/04/eveidence-of-law-of-attraction.html

http://dailynavin.blogspot.com/2009/04/finding-right-words.html

Apply yourself

Thanks to Sash and her love for shoes, over the past few months I must have entered at least about 50 shoe shops. She has educated me on how to pick the right shoe, what color matches your outfit, what's in style and most importantly what you should pay for a decent pair of footwear (or babies as she refers to them).

As I entered this particular shoe shop I often heard a GROAN from the shop assistant. It was always a 'AAAAOOOOOO'. To me, the girl looked like a pudgy little monster, so at first I thought that the groans were simply the sound of her breathing. But as I observed her more, I realized her groans were directed directly at me. Very often she would smile too, but the groans were the same! So I set out to find out what those groans actually meant and to my surprise...

the pudgy monster was saying Hello!

She had been trained to greet visitors and so she was simply doing as she was told.  As long as she sounded like she was saying hello she had done her job! So she didn't care how the customer heard it - that wasn't part of her job. she took no pride in even saying hello!

As usual  - this got me thinking. Why would somebody who was perfectly capable of pronouncing HELLO - groan it instead?

And I can only think of one reason. That pudgy monster didn't like the job she was working at. She believed she was made for better things. She probably worked there just for the money so she could make ends meet. And the truth is many of us go through this stage in our life. We take on a job to make ends meet or as a means to an end!

And as we work at our job we just do a job! We refuse to apply ourselves because we believe we're made for better things. We think we don't deserve to be doing such a low level job or that we're being unappreciated!

The problem is - that attitude will take us nowhere in life. True successes apply themselves at everything they do. No matter how big or small their job is - they give it their all. They add value, make things easier and experiences more pleasant! They do more than what they're being paid for!

As I complain about the pudgy monster I'm asking myself if I could apply myself more too. And the answer is always yes. We can always complain less and do more.

So the question is - Are you giving your job your ALL? Or are you just doing a job?

The Power of Music

Took the day off today and decided that I'd work on a side project I've been pursuing. And as I sat at Starbucks waiting for inspiration I got frustrated as inspiritation clearly was showing up!

So I took out my earphones, opened my Hippity Hop playlist and BAMN - Inspiration shows up. I don't know what it is about music - but it works. It gets your creative juices churning and relaxes the mind. The right music dulls your senses yet keeps the mind awake.

Of course, what you listen to really depends on what you relate with.

Turn up the volume today and try it for yourself :)

PS: Sorry the post is so short today. Kinda tipsy from the triple sec i added to my gatorade. That's something you should try too. Haha :)

Are You Happy?

I hope you're HAPPY doing exactly what you're doing right now. And if you're not, then I hope you're asking yourself - WHY?

If you're dreading going to work, hating the degree your studying or dreading the relationship you're in - I hope you have the guts to ask yourself why? Why are you unhappy?

More often than not - if not always - we become unhappy when we are forced to do something we don't want to do. We become unhappy when we realize the job we're working at isn't taking us anywhere, the degree we're pursuing isn't really what we're interested in or the partner we're with just isn't the ONE!

And when we realize we're unhappy we BLAME, GIVE EXCUSES, JUSTIFY AND COMPLAIN. That's human nature. That's how we've been programmed.

So I'm not gonna ramble on about what you shouldn't do. I'm gonna share with you what I do when I find myself in an unhappy position.

I ask myself - Why am I here? And  What can I do - NOW?

Asking myself - Why am I here? - always makes me realize that I chose to be here. At some point of time I ALLOWED someone to put me in this unhappy position or I volunteered for this position hoping for something else that clearly didn't manifest.

And when I ask myself what can I do NOW - I Give myself the POWER to do something about my unhappiness. Regardless of your environment and circumstances there is ALWAYS something you can do to take yourself out of your UNHAPPINESS. You just have to put yourself in the right state of mind. Once you understand that you have the POWER to change your environment - NOW - then you start to see things differently. Opportunities that were never there suddenly surface right in front of your eyes.

So if you catch yourself even slight UNhappy...

Ask yourself - Why am I here? and What can I do?

The Heat!

It's 12.43am and I'm sitting here reflecting on yesterday trying to think of what I would have done differently. I know one thing for sure...

It was HOT! I was driving my car today and I swear I could feel my skin burn! It felt like an oven. There's something about sweating right after a cool shower that just ticks me off. You know the feeling when you're all clean and you step out only to sweat and get sticky again? Or when you sit in your car, blast the aircond and yet feel the beads of sweat running down your back?

Sweat aside, what I realized is - the heat messed my whole day up. I had so much of trouble trying to control my emotions that I spent a good half of my day being grumpy, short tempered, unfriendly and generally pissed off. I didn't wanna speak to anybody, complained a lot and had a constant frown on my face.

All my positive thinking went out the window and I was just stuck being grumpy.

So today, when i wake in approximately 6 hours I'm gonna have to do something to try and handle the heat. I'll guess I'll have to accept the sweat, stock up on my Ice Tea, and stay under the fan.

Coz one thing's for sure. 

The heat's not gonna change. In fact it'll probably get worse.

The only thing I can change is - MYSELF!

No use complaining and bitching about it!

breathe

God I hate accounts...

The due date to submit my company accounts is almost up so I'm working like a dog to get it all sorted. Spent yesterday trying to make sense of my ledgers and ended up stressed and bitchy as hell! Started snapping at the people around me, drove my car wrecklessly, wolfed down my meals, eye balled crying babies and was a general pain to be around.

So half way through the monstrosity I decided that this couldn't go on. I mean - i was acting like a real bitch. The accounts had taken over and I had no control over myself. So I tried something I had read in this meditation book.

I put the accounts aside for five minutes, locked myself up in my room, closed my eyes, leant back in my chair and....

I took a Deeeeeep breath.

and exhaled slowlyyyyy.

After a few deep breaths and long exhalations, I suddenly felt my limbs relax, my neck wasn't so tense and my eyes felt lighter.

I realized that breathing had a huge impact on the way I felt. And now that I think about it when I'm pissed I take short breaths and when I'm relaxed I take deep long breaths.

So I did my breathing exercise for a good one minute and what do ya know - I felt like a champ after it!

Try it for yourself the next time something stresses you out! :)

One Good Deed Per Day!

I know that another week has started and we're all gonna be busy busy bees! But while you're going about your business this week try something new that'll help you feel proud and good about yourself.

Make it a point to do one good deed for a total stranger today and for each day that follows this week. Hold an elevator open for someone who's rushing in, buy a homeless guy lunch or help a friend carry her stack of files to her car. It can be anything at all, as long as it adds value to someone's life. The more value you add the better.

Why should you bother? Simply because it'll make you feel so damn good! We underestimate the power of helping others and how good it can make us feel! Making lots of money and achieving your goals is not the only way to feel good about yourself. You'll be surprised how a small smile on a strangers face or a kind thank you from a friend can make you feel.  

Try it for yourself today and you'll know exactly what i mean. In the event that you don't feel anything at least you'll be doing someone else some good :)

Spread the love!

Action vs. RE-Action

Our Actions determine our Results!

I think most of us can agree with the above statement. When faced with a decision, choice or circumstance, the action we choose determines our future outcome. It determines whether or not we live a life of happiness or one of struggle and sorrow.

Life is about choosing actions. It's about making decisions and experiencing the outcomes for ourselves. It's about exploring ourselves and what we're capable of doing. Without actions there would be no life. Even choosing not to do anything at all is an Action by itself!

Now, our society, religion, friends and family have taught us what actions to choose to ensure we end up happy. They have generously offered their advice after learning from their personal experiences and from the experiences of generations before us. Study hard, get a good job, start a family, work hard, be loyal, be careful and pray.Those are just some of the actions we've been taught to adopt.

Study this, pursue that, do this, think like that. 

In many cases the actions we've been taught to choose do serve us well. As promised, they make us happier and bring us joy. However, my question is this.

If we adopt the actions that were adopted by our elders and the generations before us, is that not simply a RE-ACTION? It's not really your original action is it?

Is it your action when you allow yourself to be forced to do something you personally don't want to do? Is it your action when you're doing it for the sake of your parents? Is it truly your own action if you just follow what others tell you to do blindly?

If you're simply acting the way you've been taught by the loving people around you, is that really your action or are you just RE-DOING what millions of other people have been acting?

If you do not question or critically think about what your action is and simply do as others are doing - that's RE-ACTING!

If life really is about you choosing your actions and experiencing its results and if it really is about exploring yourself, then RE-Acting would be you giving up your power to choose your own ACTION. RE-Acting would be you giving the power to choose and decide to the people around you.

Don't be quick to blame because the blame lies in us. Parents, society and religion have always been there to guide us and the truth is we need guidance. We have somehow mistaken their guidance for strict orders. Our parents and society never stole the power to ACT from us. We gave it to them when we stopped making an effort to fight for what we believed in. We gave it to them when we stopped bothering about what actions we chose. We gave it to them when we stepped back when instead we should have stepped forward to be bold and different.

The question remains, are you RE-Acting or are your Actions really YOUR ACTIONS?

Are you simply doing as others have done or are you doing as you want?

One thing is for sure. If you RE-ACT you will most probably achieve the results that the average have been achieving. And what's worst you will forever feel disempowered and victimized by your circumstances.

On the other hand, if you choose to ACT and be the person behind the wheel then there's really no guarantee that you will be better off than the others. But you will definitely feel more powerful and in control than you have ever felt before.

Personally - POWER sounds more fun :)

Chilling on a holiday..

Since, it's a holiday weekend I figured we'll take it easy today. Try spending some time by yourselve at your neighbourhood starbucks or mamak and just think about your life and what you want from it. You'd be surprised how petty daily chores that stress us throughout the week distract us from actually thinking about the more important things in life.

Today's a great chance for you to sit down by yourself and question what you're doing with your life and whether or not you're on the right path to achieve your goals! Give yourself a chance to review the decisions you have made over the past few months and judge for yourself whether or not the choices you have made are working in your favour. 

Ask yourself if there are changes you would like to make but are unable to explore because you're so bogged down with your daily activities.

Let your imagination go wild and plan what you wanna do in the next few months. Make sure your plans are fun and inspiring! Make sure they make you happy :)

CHEATING Your Way to Success

If you've been reading the earlier posts you should KNOW by now that you need UNSHAKABLE BELIEVE to achieve your goals. If you already believe you have your goal - the universe will deliver the experince of having it! Unfortunately, that's easier said than done. You can't buy new believes from TESCO - you have to think postive and do all these positive things! Yes, your positive poster and positive statements will help, but that takes time. What if you need results NOW? What if your goal can't wait?

So here's the LEMON TECHNIQUE! - Your 'CHEAT' to success! 

All of us have a very strong reaction towards the common lemon. Even as I'm writing this I can feel my mouth salivating, i can feel the sourness on my tongue and I can imagine the brightness of its yellow! Over the years we have developed a natural affiliation with the LEMON. We know how it tastes, how it smells and how it looks. 

So here's what we're gonna do.

Since our affiliation with the lemon is so strong, we're gonna replace the lemon with our goal! Whenever you see something that reminds you of a lemon you have to think of your goal instead!

I know it sounds crazy but hear me out. 

From now onwards the Lemon is no longer a Lemon. It's your goal! We're gonna replace your affiliation with the lemon with a goal that you really want to achieve badly! The reason we do this is because we want to ride on the strong affiliation you currently have with lemons and use it to create a new positive believe about your goal!

So the first thing you need to do is to fix a goal! Make sure it's a small but challenging goal. Realistic yet uncertain! It should be a goal you can achieve over the next 6 months. For instance, it could that you want to make RM 5,000 over the next 6 months. Or maybe you weigh 80kgs now and want to weigh 70kgs in 3 months. It has to be realistic and achievable within a few months. But don't make it too easy! Got it?

Great!

Now you have to create a positive statement. This shouldn't be so hard. Just insert your goal behind this line...

I AM SO HAPPY ... (Your Goal)

Now, whenever you see something that reminds you of a lemon - you think of your goal! Say your positive statement out loud! 

When you see something that's yellow - what do you think of?- YOUR GOAL! 

When you see lemon chicken on the menu - what do you think of? - YOUR GOAL! 

When you order Ice Lemon Tea - what do you think of? - YOUR GOAL!

Lemons don't exists in your world anymore - it's been replaced with your GOAL!

And don't just think of your goal, feel your goal. Feel the pride and joy that you'll feel once you've achieved it!

Now, this all sounds crazy but like I always say you need to be a bit crazy to achieve CRAZINESS!

When you replace the lemon with your goal - you bombard your subconscious mind with a new believe of having your goal! When your subconscious mind believes you have your goal - all your thoughts become positive - and when you put out positive thoughts - The Law of Attraction attracts your desired results! It's kinda like taking the short cut to success!

So here's what you can do to really make the lemon technique work.

1. Cut out Yellow Posters in the shape of a lemon and write your goal on it - stick it on your wall!

2. Always choose lemony things when eating / drinking!

3.  Be on the lookout for all lemony things - yellow lights, yellow clothes, anything yellow :)

4. GET YOURSELF A LEMON! - Go out and buy one now! And when you look at it, when you hold it, when you smell it - YOU THINK OF YOUR GOAL!

If you have any doubts about whether it'll work rest assured that I never post up anything that hasn't been proven before! In the case of the lemon technique - the results have been AMAZING! The last time I practiced it was about 6 years ago when I was struggling to fill seminar rooms with people. When I first started I used to get about 12 people in the room. So I decided to practice the Lemon Technique and my goal was for 30 people! 3 months later - I got 34 people!

My sales team is practicing it right now and the results they have had is out of this world! I'll dedicate 2moro's post to sharing with you how it has worked for them!

As for now - go out there and get yourself a lemon and start switching from lemon to your GOAL!!!

PUSHMORE!

I look around and see many rich people. I see many fit people too. BUT I don't see many FIT rich people. It seems that while we work hard to achieve our millions we tend to let ourselves go when it comes to keeping fit! Let's face it  - it's not often you find a fit billionaire! The most common excuses are - NO TIME or NO MONEY!

It's time we got serious about our physical health and made working out a priority as well. No more excuses. If you have a sport that you enjoy, make it a point to play that sport as often as you think you need to - to get into shape. If you've tried sports but they don't give you the results you want then check out PUSHMORE. 

Pushmore is a gym with a difference. I joined them a year ago - lost 6 kgs in a blink of an eye and got fitter, faster and stronger. So I strongly suggest you guys check it out. They're really affordable and best of all the workouts only take about 15 mins!

Here's a before and after pic of me.

www.pushmore.com.my

pushmore.blogspot.com

Craziness isn't so bad!

"I AM SO HAPPY I EMPOWER MILLIONS OF PEOPLE"

When people hear me say that out loud they look at me like i'm CRAZY! 

And the reason they think i'm crazy is because they think that you shouldn't shout out your goal like you've ALREADY achieved it unless of course you have already achieved it! It just doesn't make sense... That's what we've been taught haven't we? Say it as it is!

So instead of saying it like we've already got it we say... I WANT TO EARN A MILLION DOLLARS!

But saying it as it is - DOESN'T WORK. You gotta be a bit crazy to achieve what others think is crazy!

The reason I say it like I've already got it is simply because the Law of Attraction LITERALLY gives you what your thought focuses on. If your thought is focused on WANTING your goal then your thought attracts the experience of WANTING! NOT HAVING! You think it makes sense to ask for something (politely) coz that's what you've been taught at school. But the universe couldn't give a rat's ass if you are polite or not. It literally gives you what your mind focuses on. Which means that as long as you keep saying you want something the Universe will make sure you experience the wanting. It will never fully give you your goal because that would not allow you to experience wanting your goal!

On the other hand, if you say it like you ALREADY HAVE it then your thought is focused on HAVING your goal. Since your thoughts attract your results, the Universe works very quickly to give you the experience of HAVING your goal! It works it magic as illustrated by the law of attraction to give you the experience of having!

It may sound confusing but it's actually quite straight forward.

The thoughts you focus on create the results you experience.

Focus on wanting - you'll experience wanting.

Focus on having - you'll experience HAVING!

So it's up to you whether you wanna risk acting a bit loco or if you wanna be like everybody else who spend most of their life wanting what's theirs for the taking!

The next time you think positive - don't say you want anything - say you HAVE EVERYTHING!

Stop Worrying!

If you're worrying about whether or not you're going to achieve all those inspiring goals you've set for yourself - STOP WORRYING!

Many of us think we may be making a mistake with our lives. We look at the jobs we're working at and we think it's the wrong job. We look at our lifestyle and we think it's the wrong lifestyle. We look at the results we get from our hard work and we think it's the wrong results. This naturally leads us to worry about whether or not we're actually going to achieve the goals we've set for ourselves.

The truth is...

Worrying won't get you anywhere! Worrying is literally you doubting your future. It's you fearing about your future. And although you  think you have good reason to worry - the truth is all the worrying in the world won't get you anywhere!

Instead, you need to focus on NOW! Focus on what you can do RIGHT NOW to help you achieve your goals. Focus on the thoughts and feelings you are experiencing right now and think about what you want to change in your PRESENT environment! 

You can't do anything about your past (I'm sure you've heard that before!) and the future isn't here yet! Worrying is literally you saying "I'm not sure I can achieve my goals!"

And if you keep worrying - you keep telling yourself "I'm NOT SURE, I'm NOT SURE, I'm NOT SURE!"

So stop worrying and start focusing on more positive thoughts. Focus on the baby steps you can take to change your life. Small things like a positive poster and positive statements can help. When I start to worry I usually start to plan what I'm gonna do over the next few weeks to help me achieve my goals. More often than not, my plan just involves small baby steps but at least it's one baby step closer to my goal!

What's your baby step?

Find what works...

As you read this blog and as you surf other self help websites and read books that offer advice on how you can improve your life, you might find yourself thinking that some of it is really just rubbish!

I know I spent a good deal of last week writing about The Law of Attraction and The Secret. I must have sounded like a cheer leader for The Secret but the truth is I'm not its biggest fan! For one - I haven't got the short skirt and pom-poms! But just to prove that I'm not a lil girl who started a blog because she was infatuated by a book, I ended my week by looking for articles that criticised The Secret and which disagreed with a lot of what was preached in the book. I found a few blogs that thought The Secret was more a money making machine than it was a self help message. Some critics questioned the bold claims made in the book and said it was all made up. I must admit I do agree that some of the facts of the book were quite dodgy and yes - I too think that some of the stuff must have been made up!

However instead of just abandoning my pom-poms, I came to a realization that I would like to share with you...

We will come across many new concepts and theories on our path towards self awareness. The key is not to follow the judgement of others on whether or not something is RIGHT or WRONG. Instead, we need to develop the ability to observe new information and to judge for ourselves whether or not it WORKS for us. We need to learn to look beyond the labels of 'right' and 'wrong' and to see whether or not something may work specifically for us. For instance, The Secret may have contained some dodgy information and there are people out there who can prove parts of the book which are untrue. However, I have observed it's core message which is The Law of Attraction and I have seen it work for me in my life so I gladly choose to apply it for myself. 

Challenge the new information you learn and you'll find that you will start to have a deeper sense of believe for the new knowledge you acquire. You yourself will be able to determine whether something is right or wrong FOR YOU! You will start to develop your own set of believes that work specifically for you. 

If there's one thing I've learnt it is that one advice can't work for everyone. Different people need different solutions and the only way for you to find your solution is to determine for yourself what works for you. If you follow what's been labeled right or wrong then you'll just end up like everyone else!

The next time someone shares new knowledge that challenges your current belief system, have the strength and maturity to ask yourself if that new knowledge may be the little bit of change you were looking for in your life. If it isn't - then move on. If it is - then adopt it and look for more. Don't wait for what your parents, teachers or society think of it. Decide for yourself if it works!

Here's a link for one of the blogs that criticised The Secret. I really enjoyed reading it. Read for yourself and decide whether or not The Law of Attraction works for you :)

http://positivesharing.com/2007/03/the-law-of-attraction-is-real-the-movie-the-secret-is-fake/

Let it be, let it be...

If you think you've got it bad and life isn't cutting you any slack you might be wrong. Very often we ourselves don't know what is right or wrong for us. We don't really know if we're working in the right jobs or working at the right relationships. We judge our circumstances the same way others judge it. Sometimes it's best to just let things be and to see how they turn out for themselves. If you're putting positive thoughts out then the Universe has it's own way of giving you what's best for you :) Don't be so quick to judge!

Here's a story I found on the web that proves that we may not know whats good or bad for us.

This classic positive Taoist story is the tale of the fortunate farmer.


As the story goes, one day this farmer's horse ran away. His neighbor hears of his bad news and comes over to commiserate. "I hear that you lost your horse. That is bad news and bad luck."

"Well, who knows?" said the farmer, "Maybe it is and maybe it isn't."

Well, the next day the farmer's horse returns to his stable, but it has brought along a drove of wild horses it has befriended and who make themselves at home.

The neighbor across the way can't believe what he hears about his friend. He decides to come over and congratulate him.

"This is such goodness," he says. "Well, who knows," said the farmer, "Maybe it is and maybe it isn't."

The next day the farmer's son decided to ride one of the new wild horses, to break it in. As luck would have it, the son was thrown from the horse and broke his leg.

Of course, upon hearing this sad news, their neighbor came over to offer condolences. "This is such sad thing," he said. "Your son has broken his leg. This is bad news." "Well, who knows," said the farmer. "Maybe it is and maybe it isn't."

There were more well wishes and commiseration from his neighbor. The farmer offers this Taoist wisdom, "Who knows what is good and bad?"

On the following day soldiers came by commandeering and army. They took sons from most of the surrounding farms, but because the farmer's son had a broken leg, he could not go and was spared. And well, maybe it was good news and maybe it wasn't.

Give a lil'

When you're sitting at the mamak this weekend and the blind pak cik comes by with his 20cents tissue paper, be sure to give him a dollar or two!

Most of us guard our money with out lives and shoo off anybody who might want a bit of it because we don't believe we have enough to give away. We believe we DON'T HAVE ENOUGH MONEY!

And what does the law of attraction say? - Believe in ABUNDANCE! Think ABUNDANCE!

When you give something to someone - you send very strong vibrations into the universe that you have lots of what you're giving out. Rich people donate because they believe they have an abundance of money, poor people don't because they believe they have very little money. Rich people send out thoughts of abundance and those thoughts attract more abundance to them. Poor people send out thoughts of scarcity and those thoughts attract scarcity to them!

The rich get richer, the poor get poorer!

The best part is, even though you're only giving that blind pak cik a dollar, you're emotions and thoughts when you donate that dollar is very much the same to the emotions or thoughts you would have if you were donating 10 dollars! It doesn't matter how much of money you donate - instead it matters the emotions and feelings involved when you donate that dollar! If you're thinking - "Oh God, I'm only donating this because I have nothing in the bank. I hope I get something back through the Law of Attraction..." then however much you donate won't matter because the underlying thought that contributes to the donation is that of fear and scarcity.

On the other hand, if you donate and think "Money is in abundance, this dollar is nothing!" then the underlying thought is of abundance and that's what you'll be sending out into the Universe :)

So go crazy and give your one dollars away! Everytime you see a donation box - DONATE - because hey... MONEY IS IN ABUNDANCE RIGHT? 

Try it - you'll be doing both the needy and yourselve a BIG favour!

So what if I'm an ASS?

I spent yesterday morning giving a career talk to the students of my old boarding school, KTJ. I was asked to focus on talking about technical career stuff but in true 'Navin Style' the talk ended up being a wannabe motivational talk with me sweating like a pig at the end of it. There's something I said in that talk that I wanted to share with you guys today...

As I spoke to the 50 odd students about what they needed to do to start a business of their own I myself came to realize something that has made a huge difference in my life. That something is the fact that - I've always been mighty proud of my goals. While most people hid their goals from the people around them, I've always shouted mine out loud,  knowing that I could very well make a fool of myself if I didn't achieve it.

For instance 4 years ago I decided that I was going to write a book. I told everyone I knew about my big dreams to become an author and I was very well aware that if I didn't write that book - I would look like a complete ass for dreaming so big. True enough it's been 4 years and I'm without a book. 

But the truth is - I don't care! I don't care if people think I'm the wannabe author / personal development guy who couldn't even write his own book! It's still my goal and I'll still shout it out to anyone who will hear me.

I know that no matter what anyone else has to say - WE have to believe in our goals! We need to be proud of our goals. There must be no doubt at all that we'll achieve our goals because when we have BELIEVE that strong - the thoughts we release into the Universe will definitely be positive thoughts that will in turn attract positive results!

Besides, what do we care what other people think of us? The only way to be different is to BE DIFFERENT! Normal people fear shouting out their goals and curb themselves from fully believing in their goals because they FEAR what others might think of them. The people who are DIFFERENT couldn't care less what others think of them. 

There are some who say - "I don't care what others think of me BUT why do I have to tell everyone about my goal? It's so egoistic for god's sake". My answer is simple. When you shout out your goal and tell everyone about it - you allow people to help you achieve your goal. By sharing your goal with others you cast a bigger net to catch onto opportunities that others might be able to offer to help you achieve your goal!

Doubting your goal is you doubting yourselve. It's you putting negative energy out into the universe. Hiding your goal may be and very often is - a sign of self doubt!

I suppose in the end you really have to ask yourselve... Would you rather be the few that dared to dream or would you rather be part of the mass of people that were too chicken to?

I EMPOWER MILLIONS OF PEOPLE! -that's for all the world to know and for me to risk looking like an ass- :)