Size Matters?

Do you believe that size matters? The bigger the better? Or the smaller the better?

I guess you realise that it all depends. On what?

You heard the story about the lady on her wedding night who thought she was going to get a big one? And the gentleman thought he was going to get a small one? Both were disappointed ... hehehe! Next time, just remember the saying, "To avoid the pain of lost illusions, have none!" ... Comprende? ... hehehe!

I prefer a petite lady ... like Tweety! So a model like Twiggy (I know ... you got to go to Wikipedia to find out who this person is ... thank you for your patience ... anyway, she was famous in the last century), would turn my head.

A friend of mine prefers his lady to be big ... like in 'elephant'! In fact, before their marriage, his wife referred to herself as an elephant (size). But that is precisely what turns him on!

Well, some men prefer birds. Some prefer elephants. To each, his own.

But there is one arena in which SIZE REALLY MATTERS! It's critical that you know why bigger is better in this arena.

Do you agree that the simplest (or easiest) way to live is to not do anything? Not to take risks? Not to take challenges?

Whether in your personal life. Or your working life. Or your volunteer work life.

When you have a personal problem, isn't it that the the easiest way, is to avoid or run away from the problem?

At the office, isn't it best not to rock the boat? Just do the same old things, when there is a problem? Don't take any new actions or consider new proposals which you are not familiar with? Your company do not need to implement the Suggestion System, because many other companies have failed in implementing it? (Even though Japanese companies implement it successfully).

Do the same things and expect different results!?! That is one definition of insanity.

I was observing the happenings in a voluntary organisation. When you are in a voluntary organisation, isn't the inertia even greater? You don't get paid for your time (it's a voluntary organisation, for heaven's sake, that's why ... ), is the common excuse.

So when there is a challenge, such as organising an international training program, where the number of expected participants falls short of the minimum required, you take the easy step - you cancel it!

Your excuse/justification? "We don't want to lose money". Convenient rationale? You feel good that you are saving the organisation money?

Yuhoooo!!! No need to do further work. No need to think about how to get more participants. No need to think of other possibilities to make the program financially viable. No need to contact speakers. No need to follow-up on other matters.

Just relax until next year, when you can offer it again. Just talk at the monthly meetings. Soon, you become a member of NATO (No Action Talk Only). Will your non-profit organisation make progress? There will be progress, yes ... but only in finger-pointing, at the end of the year, or before the Annual General Meeting.

If you want success, you need to be bigger. Bigger than your problems!

How can you become bigger? You grow yourself.

Take problems as challenges. Do not blame anyone (your boss? ... your colleague?...your wife? ...your cat?) or anything (the fricking economy? ... the fricking political situation?) for your problem. You take action to improve the situation. Just like Japanese Kaizen - continuous improvement.

What if, after taking action, you fail? Take it as a learning experience. To make you grow bigger. To make you wiser. To make your organisation better. To be able to handle a similar situation in future, better.

The moral of the story? When you want to be a winner, you need to be bigger. Bigger than the losers.

When you want to be a leader, you need to be bigger. Bigger than your followers.

When you say,"I want to follow what you (the majority) decide upon", you are a follower, not a leader. A leader has to lead, not follow. That's why you have to be bigger than your followers. Otherwise, you become just like your followers - a sheep. You want to be the Lion King, if you want to be a leader.

T Harv Eker said, "If you have a big problem in your life, all that means is that you are a small person ... Your outer world is merely a reflection of your inner world. If you want to make a permanent change, stop focusing on the size of the problems and start focusing on the size of you".

So, you know what to do now? Go! Go make yourself bigger!

I wish you Success in your undertakings and Good Health and Wealth to you and your family. Take care!

Why Must You Have Continuous Improvement?

"Kaizen" is the Japanese word for 'improvement'. It pertains to continuous improvement, whether in personal life, home life, social life or working life. Kaizen has even been credited as the key to Japan's competitive success.

How important is continuous improvement to you in your personal life? Should you aim to be a better person, day by day, at the rate of 1% a day? Or just on one special day in a year, you increase your ability by 100%?

Which do you think is easier - 1% a day improvement for 365 days? Or 365% on 31st December (so that you can relax and 'enjoy' life the rest of the previous 364 days?).

When you improve yourself by 1% everyday, don't you think you will be awesome after a year? When you make 'improvement' a habit, will it become more difficult or easier for you, as time goes on?

I attended a 4-day business seminar (conducted by a multi-millionaire), in Singapore in June 2008 at the Singapore Exposition Centre. About 2,000 participants from Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Hong Kong, Philippines, Taiwan, Australia, India and Maldives attended.

At the seminar, I met two millionaires - one from Maldives and the other from Singapore. I asked them why they were attending a business seminar, when they are already successful in their businesses. Both replied that they were looking for new ideas that could improve their business results. If millionaires are willing to attend training programs to improve their knowledge (to improve their results), shouldn't you also?

In organisations with enlightened Human Resource Management departments, continuous training is critical to their organisations' continuous drive for excellence. Formalised (out of the office) training, usually at least 5 days in a year, is planned for all staff. Informal (on the job) training is provided by constant job rotation (i.e. on average, two years in one job, before being assigned another job). An accountant could be trasferred to the Information Technology department for two years on a project. An engineer could be assigned to the Human Resource department for two years, to be in-charge of training (of engineers).

On an individual or personal level, you must continuously give more value to your organisation that you are working for. How? By becoming more efficient, perhaps by doing things faster. By becoming more effective, perhaps by getting new ideas from books, or using what you learned in formal training.

On an organisational level, the products or services that you deliver must have "use-value" which is more than "cash-value". This could be done by continuouosly improving product quality. Research and Development (R&D) is therefore critical in regard to this product quality aspect.

The moral of the story? As the saying goes, "If you are not growing, then you are dying". Wallace D Wattles aptly wrote, " Every living thing is under this necessity for continuous advancement; where increase of life ceases, dissolution and death set in at once." Abraham Lincoln said, "I don't think much of a man who is not wiser today than he was yesterday."

Are You ready to take action to become a Better You? An "Improved You" Model?

I wish you Success in your undertakings, and Good Health and Wealth to you and your family. Take care!

Comfort Zone

We are satisfied. We sit on our a_s_, and watch the world go by. We are in our COMFORT ZONE .

Then ... a few years down the road. We wonder "What happened?" Why are we still sitting in our chair (or rocking chair, if we are rockers)? Others have flown from country to country, from one exciting adventure to another, from one level of achievement to the next, from one financial level (struggling) to a higher level (jet-setting).

It's true that adversity is the mother of invention. So how do you get out of the Comfort Zone? Into the Adversity Zone? You can only do it if you have a higher aim in life. Only if you want to continuously improve. Only if you continuously set your target higher. The Japanese call it KAIZEN.

VISION. The ability to see ... ideally far ahead. Two men were in a mud hole, one saw the mud, the other saw the sky. Who do you think will go farther?

In High School, I knew a boy who's vision/ambition was to be an engineer. However, because it was an elite school, his academic grades (in science and mathematics) were below median (amongst his peers there). He thus was not admitted (streamed is the term they use) into the science class, which is a pre-requisite if you want to do engineering (four years down the road). He therefore explained his predicament to the School Principal. Imagine that you were the Principal, and the boy asked that you admit him into the science class, what would you do?

Everything starts with a Dream. Sounds like a Multi Level Marketing (MLM) jingle. Some people are allergic to MLM. Those who are non-allergic to MLM have been known to make millions, and able to contribute generously to charities and society. Anyway, whatever field or industry we are in, the potential rewards are enormous if we are THE EXPERT in that field.

Once we have the vision, our direction is set. If we are on the right track, with our Kaizen ATTITUDE we can move. But we need ACTION to get results. MASSIVE ACTION to get MASSIVE RESULTS. So, what are you waiting for? MOVE! Pronto!

Moral of the story: Adopt a Kaizen mentality to get out of our Comfort Zone. Having a vision of what you want to be, or do, the HOW will automatically be revealed to you (sooner or sometimes...later...so be patient). Take massive action if you want massive results!

I wish you Success in your undertakings, and Good Health and Wealth to you and your family. Take care!

P.S. The boy who wanted to be an engineer won a scholarship to read engineering at a university in the United Kingdom. The Power of a Dream!