When You're Thrown a CURVEBALL

When You're Thrown a CURVEBALL

Curveballs in life, that we experience over and over again infinitely.  These are the unexpected things that just pop-up, sometimes throwing a monkey wrench on your situation that very moment.  It could be surprises that could be positive and pleasant as it may present opportunities for you but unless you handle it well enough, you won't get to be aware that there was indeed an 'opportunity' in that curveball.  There are just one too many curveballs in our lives.  Imagine you were so pumped-up for that long-drive only to find that there is a kilometric-long jam just at the entry point to the highway.  How will you handle that ?  Will you do a U-turn?

Getting into curveball situations is very tricky.  It's not just the rightness of your countermeasure that very moment but what's equally a priority is your quickness to make swift and sound decisions.  A right decision made one or two minutes late could go wrong because it was late for a minute or two.  Two Sundays ago, we woke up early for an early market schedule but  towards the market, there was a long traffic snarl that early morning.  

Pronto, we made a U-turn and went to another market instead, much smaller with fewer options and prices slightly higher.  But the fact we're off early morning to market on a Sunday meant that we valued time more than anything so that quick reflex  for the U-turn necessitated figuring out the difference between the prices and the price point.

Surely in your lives you were thrown with curveballs but you were just too oblivious and less discerning.  Imagine this scripted dialogue with LIFE that finally you felt happy.  BUT don't speak prematurely because LIFE will tell you 'LOL, wait a sec', and i'll spring another surprise for you.  That's when things begin to whirl and twirl all over again.  But curveballs are not something we need to be averse because a lot of those 'curveball' situations will sublimely come knocking with a window of opportunity slightly opening for you to grab.

Sorry folks, this is NOT Flowcharting 101 but simply sharing with you the ideal way for us to validate your decision-making process.  BTW, some decisions require a thorough and incisive approach because sometimes, things can never be more complex than what you have at hand.  And if NEGATIVITY prevails over you [with that 2-horned creature whispering through your ears] because you thought we're making a mountain out of a molehill with this flowcharting, no sirs, this is as basic as ABC and 123.

And as this poster goes, 'THROW ME TO THE WOLVES AND I'LL RETURN LEADING THE PACK'.  Well said.  Just too picture-perfect but this is the way to go, remain positive, get motivated, continue to be self-driven, never waiver, never wither and remain consistently FOCUSED with what your goal and keep a close tab with your game plan so you don't get waylaid when you hit the crossroads from time to time.  And what better way to self-motivate you than aiming to be at the top of the totem pole, spearheading your group with your trailblazing efforts every step of the way.  Any disrupted focus, any reduced effort will result you to falling short of leading the pack, a position that will offer you multifarious opportunities because you'll catch the prey ahead.

Going back to our school academics for a minute, can we revisit this equation:  WHAT YOU WANT TO DO IS EQUALS TO THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN WHO YOU ARE AND WHO YOU WANT TO BE.  Where's the pitfall here ?  If you dunno WHO YOU WANT TO BE then that is a sorry state of affairs because it's only you can decide on that.  PROXY DECISIONS are untenable in life because it's you and not any one else will live your life except YOU.📌📌📌

Of Post Mortems and Retrospectives

 Of Post Mortems and Retrospectives

Yeheyyy, happy weekend !  How time flies, indeed.  It used to be, when we wrongly hit something, we paused and would go back to what got hit.  When we committed a faux pas, we will pause and ponder how did we end up with that mess.  Problem is, these days, the surface is hardly scratched when it comes to post mortems & retrospectives.

In the old school, once you commit slip-ups, you will be berated no end by your boss, sometimes to your chagrin, in front your colleagues and peers.  That doesn't work these days with millennials.  With the millennials and Gen Z, things will surely boomerang on you, frankly.

To quote Francis Kong, learning from 'a mistake is MORE IMPORTANT than the mistake itself'.  BUT are we really learning from our mistakes ?  I'm afraid not.  WHY?  Probably we veered away just because we are all in a 'rat race'?  That continuing the fastbreak after a bad pass is the only tempo to go ?  But that's in a hoop's game.

But hey, even in a fast-paced hoops game, the coach won't waste time for a time-out after a recent boo-boo and to recoup from that, the coach will plot a countermeasure to estop the opposing team's momentum.  So, whether it's your own life or you're in a team play [at work], never lay by the wayside the value of these quick timeouts.

So what do we need ?  hmmmp, do paste these post-it-notes within your eye-view no less because you gotta take a balance relook at things, both the right things and the not-so-right things you did and ask yourself, how could you do this right because either the game is not yet over or this may recur in the future.

Oh, this pic may look sooo boring but bear with me because we just need to improve our retrospectives.  BTW, you don't initiate a retrospective a year after the game is over.  In fact, agile retrospective tells us that we should initiate this even for what's ongoing, to tweak things even things are going right but who knows we can further improve our efficiency or productivity ?

What tools do we need then to initiate a post-mortem or a retrospective ?  Nothing as in NADA.  WHY ?  Because by then you have all the data, all the hard facts as to what made you reach where you're standing now.  So, c'mon, let's not be too tied up with the 'up tempo' pace in our lives because what matters most is not just reaching the finish line but reaching it way ahead of the competition ✅✅✅

WHAT IF You're Not Prepared for 'WHAT IF'

WHAT IF You're Not Prepared for 'WHAT IF' 

Lines are everywhere.  How I wish all are straight lines, if only to make like simpler. Too bad, there are just one too many WHAT IFs.  From the wavy, to the curvy, to the punch line, to the broken line and that's even skipping diagonals, horizontals, name it. That saga about lines is just analogous to our life because instead of a straight path, quite often, we end up in various turns.

Which brings us back full circle to the chess game.  Inevitable indeed to go back to the chessboard because life has as much iterations as the chess game itself.  Without going into the seeming complexities in chess, we gotta realize that life is ten-fold much more complex than chess.  Why ?  Because ours are real life scenarios where sometimes we are bordering between success or failure, walking that fine line.  

Question for us:  are we prepared without preparing for the WHAT IF scenarios ?  Surely we'll fall flat when such exceptions do happen.  Why ?  Because you get caught flat-footed.  Because you didn't provide for contingencies.  Because you were just living on a single dimension, that is, a single assumption that things will go your way.

In any 'unknown' that pops-up, the ramifications will be dependent in the way you handle things during those 'pop ups'.  Worst, if you were not in control during those moments, whatever chaos prevailing that time might end up in pandemonium.  Not because the 'unknown' evolved but it's because we didn't run a 'damage control' to contain the impact that eventually hit us.

To quote Bruce Bochy, the famous French-American  baseball player: "if you're not prepared, it's not pressure you feel, it's fear".  Exactly, and fear is worst unknown because when fear creeps in, even our judgment gets impacted.  And as the dominos get tipped, panic creeps in.  God knows what happens next.  LESSON HERE ?  Be prepared for all possible WHAT IFs.

MAKE SURE You Add a Cherry on Top !

MAKE SURE You Add a Cherry on Top !

Prior to this pandemic, every add-on you wanted means you got to fork more $$$.  With more than a year with this pandemic when businesses are severely hit, businessmen have become innovative in their come-ons.  Those milk teas ?  They will now offer Xtra pearls for free ?  Other add-ons, you can get it for a song.  Why things can become this so enticing ? 

It's because it's 'crunch time', man.  During the hard, difficult times, things get tighter, roads get narrower, belts need to be tightened, loose ends need to be tied up.  And if you need to take risk to recoup the lost financial opportunities, you won't think twice to throw your lot.  And if someone offers you an opportunity based on a contract that, even on paper, looks so onerous, surely you would grab it without the slightest alacrity.  Humans behave exactly that way.  When you are in dire straits, all you want is to survive.

And since you've got fuel in your tank, that's all that is left on your deck of cards and if you have to ace things up, surely you're willing to empty the tank if it leads you for a homerun.  That's the QUID PRO QUO, that give and take in life.

In real life, a QUID PRO QUO is simply a give and take.  I'll scratch your back if you scratch mine.  I'll part off with whatever is left in my pockets if I can expect something in return.  And that's fine.  And that's ethical and morally correct as well especially when you're in SURVIVAL mode.  And getting into this nerve-wracking pandemic when anxiety and mental health is getting into our skin, if it takes to GIVE and TAKE, go for it.  Sure, I can scratch your back as long as you scratch mine too.  When it is survival time, if you have to be shrewd, so be it.

When things become dicey, kinda go for broke, that's when all hell will break lose.  Those will be the trying times that will separate the men from the boys and for the men left still eking it out, it will be the last man standing.  And even in a worst case scenario, you end up with a fumbling act, that's just fine because you will end up fighting with your teeth down to the very buzzer of the game with your head unbowed. ✅✅✅

How Motivated Are You in Life ?

 How Motivated Are You in Life ?

Ask any Tom, Dick and Harry.  Is he motivated ?  Absolutely you will hear a chorused response of 'OF COURSE'.  And I just won't doubt the truthfulness of such responses because by nature, we humans are motivated.  And frankly, even the 'lazy dogs' are motivated.  Motivated ?  Yesirreee, even 'lazy dogs' are motivated to be 'lazy dogs'.  So, let's not get caught with a roundabout discussion whether one is motivated or not because everyone is.  Instead, let's dissect this motivation further.

But c'mon, flip the calendar because the next day is a Monday.  Monday ? Oh c'mon.  suddenly, temps go down, energy levels simmer down, the adrenalin suddenly evaporates in thin air.  What is wrong with Monday for temp levels and energy levels all go down ?  Let's blame the calendar because Monday means it's the start of another week-long 'calvary'.  Oh really ?

Yes, either you need to catch that elusive motivation or that will just elude you no end.  It is that tricky because many of us just take this in stride, taking it that motivation is just there, off-the-shelf.  But it's not there

Take this motivation by FEAR.  Anywhere between 10-80% at any given time, FEAR motivates us to whatever it takes.  And studies have shown that motivation by FEAR is damn effective at 80%.  The 20% shortfall is attributed to the inferior outcome a.k.a. quality defects.  So, the damning question is, why can't we just implement MOTIVATION by FEAR across the spectrum? No way, Jose.  Not for the long-run, not for the long haul.  Because motivation by FEAR 'kills'.  It 'kills' the health, it kills the kindred soul.  No takers for MOTIVATION by FEAR.

And how is MOTIVATION by INCENTIVE? Oh, i luv it, luv it, luv it because that's $$$.  And studies have proven that motivating via incentives have achieved a 90% hit rate but where is it now.  Oh no, it badly hits the P&L.  Finance was not buying into this.  It's hitting hard the books and no amount of accounting window-dressing can cover-up the extent of financial incentives dangled just to motivate 'lazy dogs'.  Finance folks were all in a consensus that MOTIVATION by INCENTIVE is NOT the way to go, not by a long shot either.

So, what works ?  It is MOTIVATION by ATTITUDE.  And I can attest to this proven formula whenever I remember that test of a barracuda in an aquarium.  Once we get motivated by our attitude, getting into 'auto pilot' mode becomes a no-brainer.  Why ?  Since you are self-driven, the effort comes out instantaneously and once you achieve the result, you tend to get that sense of fulfillment, that sense of achievement.  C'mon, let's get MOTIVATED by ATTITUDE ❗❗❗

A Tale of Two Countries

A Tale of Two Countries

Singapore and Malaysia are two countries I quite know like the palm of my hands simply because of my 9 years residing in Singapore which brings me to the next point.  Once you're a Singapore resident, it's as good as you live in Malaysia too, at least that side of Johor Bahru [where I recall I'll cross the Causeway [that short bridge linking the two countries] just to go for grocery at GIANT before I go for that UNLI sumptuous lunch for half the price had I taken my lunch in Singapore].

Other than their distinct flags and respective government structures, everything else between Singapore and Malaysia is kinda 'mix and match', just one too many commonalities.  Their cross-cultural environments, the way they manage their infrastructure with a long-view [unlike in other third world countries where the government's infra projects are more catch-up and reactive rather than proactive & forward-looking.

Without becoming an interventionist in the domestic affairs of either countries, as someone looking in from the outside, the past months, it may not be apparent unless you are a darn political student of international affairs because what shaped up in their political landscapes are the real real real colors of their key leaders, namely Malaysia PM Muhyiddin Yassin and Singapore Deputy PM Heng Swee Keat.

Few days back, Singapore DPM Heng dropped a bombshell by advising PM Lee that he was shying away from where he stands now, a breath away from taking over the PM's reins once PM Lee walks off.  Reason ?  He admitted that he's got a short runway ahead, not enough to prepare him for the rigors of a PM's job.

 As the pandemic exacerbated, here comes PM Yassin who eked out the approval from Agong, the Malaysia King to suspend the Dekan Rakyat [Parliament] sessions. all because of this pandemic.  With the rising tide of opposition, the UMNO-controlled Barisan Nasional Coalition has declared their withdrawal of support in the upcoming GE 15 [15th General Elections]. Which means, PM Yassin is now clutching on straws.

Here's the apples-to-apples:  While Singapore DPM Heng requested PM Lee to remove him from Singapore's succession plan, over in Malaysia, the government of PM Yassin, who's parliament majority is now seriously questioned and doubted, by invoking the emergency laws, he suspended Parliament Sessions to avert a no-confidence vote.  

Going back to our lives, it is imperative that, day-in day-out, we are accepted and embraced by our families and our workmates, which includes your bosses.  If there a dissenting view across them, it behooves that you work hard and earn their trust and confidence in you.  It cannot be demanded.  It has to be earned.  But there's a challenge in life.  Sometimes, it is damn hard to understand once we rejected unless we re-examine and soul-search ourselves.  That is on the assumption that we, you, are willing to re-examine ourselves in good faith and if and where it is needed, to reboot and reset your life.  When we loose our foothold, let us recoup our losses in life.  Not all is lost.

What lessons we learnt from this tale of 2 countries ?  Whilst in Singapore we witnessed selflessness by its leader, in Malaysia, what we're witnessing is the utter greed for power.  Let us pray that eventually that our human greed will dissipate, insyaallah.

The Circle of Life

The Circle of Life

Happy Safe Sunday.  It's another Sunday that's supposedly a lazy day but we can't be lazy enough, what with this pandemic hounding us for more than a year now.  And this brings me to this [overdue] realization that, indeed, there's this CIRCLE OF LIFE, that inevitability that everything in our life comes around full circle.  You could be at the height of your success and power but, as in physics, when you're up, there's no way to go but down.  Conversely, if you hit rock bottom, there's no way to go but up.  The $64 question is what else should we be doing if this is the inevitability we will all face in life anyway.  We can't lose by default simply because of this given.

Question is, is there anything else we can and should do ?  A lot, a hell lot in fact.  Let's paint this scenario when we are at the zenith of our lives, enjoying all the fruits of our labor.  Obviously, we should enjoy those moments, even with cheers and kampai.  But not for long though.  Do put a cap to all the kampai's.  It can't go nonstop and UNLI.  Why ?  Hmmm, we got to prepare come the rainy days.  Even if you've readied your 'raincoats and umb rellas' in life, preparing for the rainy day is more than just that.

And, unfortunately, preparing for the upcoming rainy days in life can't be that just effortless.  You gotta put your focus in it, plotting not just Plan A and Plan B but even a Plan C [at the very least].  Why ?  Ummp, we gotta hue over to Murphy's Law which says 'anything that can go wrong will go wrong'.  In a nutshell, always inject that 'WHAT IF' condition in our lives.

And as we lord it over when everything in life is good, let's learn the rudiments of 'contingency'.  WHAT IF a heavy rain suddenly pours ?  WHAT IF a strong typhoon comes ?  WHAT IF your very own location gets hit by the 'eye of the storm' ?  How can you kick-in your contingency plan if there's very little wiggle room for you to flex your muscles ?  These are perplexing real-life scenarios which we'd rather prepare for [even when the 'sun is still shining']. Heard of people stranded waist-deep in the middle of unabated floods even if precipitated by just a sudden downpour? That happens in our life too.

Not to forget that we are most energized and endlessly motivated when we're 'UP THERE' savoring our success or at least the good things in life.  So, you better GRAB that window of opportunity for you to plot your Plan A, B and C.  And DON'T ever forget we need that 'long rope' to which we will cling to when the strong typhoon ravages our life.  To BE PREPARED is to BE READY for whatever comes into our life.  There are no excuses for us to fail ✅✅✅

Will You OR Won't You ?

 Will You OR Won't You ?

Good morning and have a weekend keeping our families shielded from this pandemic.  Oh, I love this 'stairway to heaven' because behind the caricature, it shows us the obvious, that is, how we humans can turn simple things that compleXXX.  This should be just akin to tossing a coin, simply a heads or tail thing but because of our propensity to complicate things, the more we get befuddled.

We could nothing but one task on hand or we could be having ten, eleven tasks all in one go.  But does that matter ?  At the end of the day, it is simply getting things done but if you want to be tough to yourself, then take that 'staircase' decision-making and I'll bet.  You will likely vacillate between 'I want to do it' versus BUT 'How do I do it?'.

Fact of life is, there are many corners to turn along the way and your decision at those crossroads can just either veer you away from the path or it assures that you will 'stay the course'.  To 'stay the course', it seems like a no-brainer but it's not.  A lot of us get off-tracked in those junctions but the challenge here is that you won't be aware that you are already off-tracked, not until you get hit by the consequences of that 'off-track' decision.  By that time, it's just too late in the day to change course.

So, how can we avert getting off-tracked? We might sing the usual hossanah like getting your priorities right BUT isn't it almost all of us do have our respective priorities ?  Yet we still end off-tracked.  So, what's the trick in here ?  Everything is hidden in the 5-letter trick spelled which is F-O-C-U-S.  That's all.  Looks simple BUT it's not.  Why ?  Because getting focused to your priorities needs you to beckon all your self-discipline and consistency.  Worse, you got to shield yourself from all distractions in this very disruptive topsy-turvy world.

And while eagles stand out as they are proven to have the best excellent long-distance vision, we humans shouldn't harp on our vision as an excuse because that just doesn't matter.  What matters is our F-O-C-U-S.  As long as it doesn't get snapped or distracted, you remain glued to your priorities and that helps you to 'stay the course'.

Yes dude, you got it.  You got the grits to grind and get focused but until you hit the finish line and reap the honors you deserve, even when you 'stay the course', you gotta eke it out, dude.  It won't be a 'walk in the park'.  You got to earn your spurs and 'kick and kick your ass damn hard' till you deliver the goods.  Get tough on you because you can do it.

Just Ignore Any Chatter and Noise

Just Ignore Any Chatter and Noise

The world we live in is a totally chaotic cacophonous topsy-turvy world and any less disciplined soul can quickly get drowned by all those chatter and noise.  Caveman's days are way back pre-historic era.  Silo's are Post-war relics.  Lighthouses are the seafarer's navigational aids more than anything else.  Everyone else ?  We live in     

a dissonant, deafening and discordant global community where decibels of chatter and noise are way beyond thresholds.  So, what's next for us ?  Well, we gotta be discerning and precise to filter what is the valid noise versus the invalid noise.  BTW, even if you congregate with your best friends, not all the chatter and noise will be valid. Gotta filter it

Not to advertise Qualcomm but this is one palpable explanation why we need to filter things out in life.  Noise cancelling and reduction technologies are all over the market precisely because chatter and noise has just gotten way out of hand.  No one can just handle it anymore.  So technology intervenes.  But in our lives ?  I'm sorry, we cannot leverage on technology for our lives to filter the chatter and noise.  Like when you reconvene in a mini-reunion with your classmates from way back, many interchanges will be valid ones BUT there will be an equal number of unnecessary chatter and noise.

It's a given that clutter increases anxiety.  And if we're talking about cluttered noise and chatter, that equally raises anxiety as well.  To complicate things, factor-in social media.  And the end-result is ?  It's bedlam and chaos of untold proportions.  And there's no quick fix but prior to fixing it, we gotta recognize and acknowledge that such chatter and noise does exist.

Think of that irony when you want to reconnect with your long lost friends or your classmates from yesteryears but by the time the team does meet up, what do we see ?  Everyone is so damn busy with their gadgets, whew !  Isn't this too ironic? These days, we don't distribute soundbites to create a reaction, right ?  But thing about how intrusive and disruptive social media is.  So please, do ignore all these CHATTER and NOISE, at least, until the dust settles down ❗❗❗