If You're Not FIRST, You're LAST

If You're Not FIRST, You're LAST

Would you agree that if You're Not FIRST, You're LAST ?  Of course, most of us will beg to disagree as that seems a convoluted thought process.  BUT, here's the BUT.  Think about it though.  In case you're not the FIRST, are you likely playing second fiddle ?  Likely NOT, right ?  It is even more likely that at best, you're in the 'middle pack' and worse, you're one of the laggards in the rat race.  This thread could open the floodgates for arguments for and against and I won't mince words that I'm ready to stand my ground as I remain vociferous that to aim for the TOP PLUM should always be the given although in reality, the probability of us bagging it would be quite low versus aiming for a lower result.

We might be challenged if indeed everyone is entitled to aim for the TOP PLUM ?  But of course, because we have a level playing field.  Why do millionaires become multi-mills? Why do billionaires become multi-bill's ?  Plain and simple.  They NEVER STOP aiming to be the FIRST [and not even a second fiddle].  In school, why do we see some students to be so bemedalled such that during the awards ceremony, tons of medals get heaped on them !  In professional sports,  why do we see runaway winners of multiple championships ?  Last month, Kyle Lowry, a top-tier NBA player was asked last week as to why he left the Toronto Raptors ballclub where he helped it win its first-ever championship in 2019 ?  He gave a pointed reply:  IF YOU'RE NOT PLAYING FOR THE CHAMPIONSHIP, WHAT ARE YOU PLAYING FOR ?

The late Pat Summitt, one of America's most successful basketball coach, blurted a mouthful "WINNING IS FUN...BUT WINNING IS NOT THE POINT.  WANTING TO WIN IS THE POINT.  NOT GIVING UP IS THE POINT. NEVER LETTING UP IS THE POINT.  NEVER BEING SATISFIED WITH WHAT YOU'VE DONE IS THE POINT".  Oh my, indeed, this is a mouthful but to me, it's the best motivational 'hurrahhh' I ever came across.  It accentuates the fact that we should never settle for less than the TOP PLUM because anything less than that is unacceptable, plain and simple.

What's our message here ?  DON'T just be a part of the crowd. Be apart from the crowd.  STAND OUT.  How ?  Figure it out. ASK YOURSELF what's your unique differentiator ?  CHALLENGE YOURSELF why can't you AIM for the TOP PLUM ?  QUESTION YOURSELF, what is it others are now capable which you are not capable to HONE and LEARN ?

Now, how important is the STARTING LINE ?  Of course it is that important but nothing can be more important than the FINISH LINE where the final results matter.  In track and field, tracksters would literally throw their body just to be the first to hit the FINISH LINE.  What better way to motivate ourselves if we can keep reminding ourselves that IF YOU'RE NOT THE FIRST, YOU'RE THE LAST.✅✅✅

When The Chicken is in the Pot, 'COOK IT'

When The Chicken is in the Pot, 'COOK IT'

Sorry to confuse my readership, this piece is not related to the culinary arts.  Instead, we'd like to look at that 'CHICKEN IN THE POT' as those opportunities and blessings which we have had in our lives, whether blessings we worked hard for or blessings we received pro bono courtesy of the kindness of our spouse/partner, loved ones and even our bosses at work.  And regardless whose life we will randomly pick as a sample, I'm sure that everyone had tons and tons of opportunities and blessings till to date.

So, I hope we can all proclaim in unison that all of us were fortunate enough to have those opportunities and blessings in life.  BUT here's the tough question: HOW OFTEN DID WE WASTE opportunities and blessings that were right there for us ? And BTW, opportunities come in multifarious ways and forms as not all opportunities are tangible and concrete enough.

More often, opportunities in life don't even come by calling.  Instead, they are there handed to you on a silver platter for your taking.  The best example of that 'CHICKEN IN THE POT' opportunities are our relationships with our loved ones, our spouse/partner.  How far and how much did we value it to the point when we fully and wholly treasured it ?

Similar travails we will hear if we have our life either in the academe or in a work environment.  At work, there you are given tons and tons of opportunities.  UNFORTUNATELY though, such opportunities are NOT tagged as opportunities but instead as work responsibilities.  What's the common refrain we hear around ?  THAT'S NOT IN MY JOB SCOPE, I DON'T HAVE THE BANDWIDTH and tons of similar reaction.  If you were the boss, will he still take care of you the way you shoved away those opportunities DISGUISED AS WORK ?

In a nutshell, our life is peppered with opportunity zones.  It's for our picking and if you shy away from it, who will pull you back into the loop when you have lost those opportunities by default.  If you're into business, be sharp enough to leverage on the smallest opening leading to an opportunity [and just DONT BUNGLE those opportunities].  I have witnessed a burgeoning startup business ready to lord it over within its target market.  The sad part, while the CHICKEN WAS IN THE POT, the owner didn't bother to COOK it the way it should have been 📌📌📌 

Watch Like a HAWK

Watch Like a HAWK

Hawks may not be one of those ordinary species we see around anytime but why are they much revered to the extent we often here sage advices that we better 'WATCH LIKE A HAWK'.  Not to misread our intentions though because we're not inciting folks to live their life like the birds of prey in hawks.  Instead, it is their stinging and cutting edge eye for detail which we want to replicate across us.  From 100 feet up, they can nosedive in a 120 mph speed to simply catch their prey.

What's the fuss then with binocular vision ?  It is because this gives that visual focus on an object with the pair of eyes creating a single visual image.  Without that binocular vision, we will experience that distortion in depth perception.  And that's where we envy the hawk because they have this capability that even exceeds what we humans are capable of.

Much as we want to match the hawk's visual capabilities, translating that capability in real life becomes much more daunting because in life, to 'WATCH LIKE A HAWK' needs to be translated from various dimensions in our life.  The expectation is that we just don't see things literally but having that innate ability to visualize something that does not literally show up is what we need most in our life.

And that exactly what we want to instill within us, LOOKING BEYOND OBVIOUS, seeing things from vantage points with multifarious dimensions.  Unfortunately in life, we do have numerous misses [and I can attest that I myself, I had numerous misses in life from way back].  And what does it cost us when we have those misses ?

Quite often, we miss things that are already staring right in our face.  Remember when in a frayed relationship, one of the parties was subtly reaching out but we missed that ?  Or in business, our revenues were about to spike if only we ramped up our raw materials ? Or at work, we would have gone up the corporate ladder had we read that cue ?  So, it's never late for us to 'WATCH LIKE A HAWH' because as the cliche goes, OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS ONLY ONCE.  This can never be farther from the truth❗❗❗

DON'T Rub Salt on the Wound

DON'T Rub Salt on the Wound

How often do we get into conflicts in life ?  Surely, we all went through various forms and severity of conflicts in life so we know how it is to get inflicted with wounds which may be taken either literally or figuratively.  And it's not to be ashamed if at various points, indeed we were licking those wounds.  The pain we had to endure with those wounds may be superficial or deep-seated but what matters more in this piece is that when those inflicted wounds seemed to have exacerbated and worsened not because of the wounds itself but when either of the protagonists may have rubbed salt on the wound with actions that could not help improve the conflict.

Common trigger of salt getting rubbed to the wounds, it is our emotions, when we get controlled by it instead of us controlling our emotions.  Studies have shown that 98% of personal conflicts went from bad to worse all because the emotional layers of us humans lorded it all over the conflict.  And this has been proven 99% of the times.  Emotions are hardly a help to fix conflicts.

Conflicts 101 does tell us go through this:

• Get a DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE
• Get a SECOND OPINION
• Get hold of your EMOTIONS
• DON'T see yourself as the VICTIM outright
• DON'T blame or shame others
• TALK IT OUT

From the long list of DOs and DONTs, you're right, the last trick does the trick.  TALKING IT OUT devoid of all the emotions will be the first concrete step back towards having a constructive and positive approach in a conflict that will otherwise circle back to you.  Have we experienced that ?  When you may seem blameless yet after all the hullabaloo, fingers end up pointing back to you ?

Yes, all is well when things end well but that's the end result of a long ordeal both protagonists need to grapple with.  Worse is, the situation will turn from bad to worse before it improves even by an inch.  And where an intervention may be of help, seek it out because in a fierce deadlock of a conflict when neither party would budge, it's the intervening help of a NEUTRAL PARTY that will pave around.  Do note that that party has to be NEUTRAL, else that worse situation will just spiral to be the WORST❗❗❗

When Your Life is 'ON THE ROPES'

When Your Life is 'ON THE ROPES'

How often have we experienced this situation of the boxer literally clinging for life while there 'ON THE ROPES' ?  Should not be too often BUT I'm quite sure each of us have been through that 'ON THE ROPES' experience at the very least once in our lives. I myself, been there, done that, endured that.  At least twice in my lifetime, indeed my life was 'ON THE ROPES' and thankfully, I endured and survived both ordeals.

Running away when your life is 'ON THE ROPES'?  No sirs, while running away is akin to dodging a bullet, it's totally different once you're 'ON THE ROPES' because by that time, there's no bullet to dodge because that bullet, astray as it may be, has already pierced through and it's breaking up right where it did hit you.  A gentle reminder to us all, Running away when your life is 'ON THE ROPES' will never extricate you.

Clearly enough, in case your life is not yet 'ON THE ROPES', yesireee ESCAPING from SURVIVAL MODE is doable but let us just NOT NOT NOT mix this up once your life is 'ON THE ROPES'.  Once you're in that 'deep s__t', things are about to snap off and you got to summon anything left yet in your tank [and that includes your will power].  Too bad, we have heard numerous 'horror stories' when that person deep down in that pit just threw up the towel.

Indeed, having your life 'ON THE ROPES' will need everything in you to do a balancing act no less.  And that's the biggest challenge 'coz it means more often, you are left with options that are similar in terms of upsides [and even downsides].

Bottomline is, we don't need to reach this far when our life is literally teetering 'ON THE ROPES'.  When and where are able to prioritize things in life, it will be very rare your life will be 'ON THE ROPES' because planning and prioritizing your life down to the last detail  and even doing a 'balancing act' between work and life will lead you to a more orchestrated approach in running your life.  Heard of folks with topsy-turvy priorities, if at all ?  Heard of folks, when you asked WHAT's YOUR TOP PRIORITY, he will retort that he's awaiting for 'updates' from the friend of a friend of a friend', whew.

Fast forward to today as we speak.  Everyone's life is indeed 'ON THE ROPES' all because of this covid pandemic.  Just never be complacent.  In case you and your family have not been hit yet by this covid virus, let's be thankful but on the same breadth, remain as WATCHFUL and as CAUTIOUS [and it's fine to be paranoid] because only GOD knows what's in store for us.  GOD BLESS US all while our lives now are 'ON THE ROPES'✅✅✅

Zapped & Drained ? Rewire and Reconnect

Zapped & Drained ?  Rewire and Reconnect

This is the vicious cycle we're in.  We're all-in in our lives, go through the motions till we get zapped and drained.  From the time we hit the sack till we wakeup, we're all gung-ho for a new day that dawns upon us.  Now, it used to be when the cyclical period was long enough but did we realize that of late, the cycles seem to have shrank ?  Which reminds me from the good old song of Neil Sedaka titled MY WORLD KEEPS GETTING SMALLER EVERYDAY.

But before we get so locked in with this shrinking cycle, let's go over the culprit causing our reservoir of energy to get drained faster than it should.  OVERTHINKING ?  LIVING IN THE PAST ?  NEGATIVITY [around us] ?  UNHEALTHY PRACTICES ?  These are the most common low-hanging fruits triggering the premature draining of our energy.  Yesterday, I was in a huddle with colleagues and I confided that I noticed that towards Thursday evening, I would feel drained but obviously it's a welcome relief because next day is TGIF.  Lo and behold, some of my colleagues confided that as early as Mondays, they're ALREADY getting drained.  OMG.

My 2-cents advice to those getting drained WAY TOO EARLY in the game ?  Figure things out and DON'T look the other way when you need to look this way.  Challenge is, there is no formula to find out the triggers of a PREMATURE DRAINING.  Could be your domestic situation at home.  Could be your relationship with your partner/relatives.  Could be financials.  If it's work-related, probably you have an upcoming service review with your client ?  Or here you are rushing to submit your monthly ops report but you tend to seat at the edges of the seat because the sources of your data are so DELAYED?

Indeed, life is an extremely complex web of multifarious variables and more often, figuring out the root cause is akin to finding the needle in the haystack.  But solutioning is never a rocket science because more often, the root cause is right there hanging in front your very nose.  Things may look murkier if there is more than one variable at hand because there are no boundaries as to where one variable ends and the next one begins.  Quite often, they even overlap and that causes a compounded effect on the problems at hand.  And before you know it, your brain is cracking and about to give up.

In summary, let's cling back to the TREE of LIFE because the symptoms that tend to manifest on the surface will eventually be traceable beneath the periphery.  To trace though, you got to be persistent and persevering and relentless in asking WHY to the next possible ROOT CAUSE till you end up with no reason to ask WHY again.  So, if you're zapped and drained, you got to REWIRE back and RECONNECT, pronto✅✅✅

Why We Are at our TIPPING POINT Now

Why We Are at our TIPPING POINT Now 

Yes, this is gospel truth.  That we are all now in our TIPPING  POINT.  Akin to purgatory, we're neither in heaven nor hell but all it takes a nudge, we could end up on either side of this SLOPE of LIFE.  The question is, should there be hullaballoo with this TIPPING POINT ?  Absolutely, because this is the best time we need to grab and come up with the informed decisions that can either BREAK or UNBREAK us.

Your 'financial chest' may be that towering and voluminous but there's no guarantee that towering pile won't collapse and crumble down.  And what our 'CHINKS in our ARMOR' that can turn things from 'GOLD to GARBAGE'?  We won't drill-down much except to focus on two areas where we all fall prey [over and over again] and that's namely:  COMPLACENCY and COCKINESS, all rolled into one.

Yes sireeee, COMPLACENCY no less.  Truth of the matter, we would not have been in this worse shape we are now had we not been that complacent prior to this pandemic breakout.  Health-wise, most of us [and that includes my guilty self] we were not stringent enough, not tough enough to ourselves.  And when did we get tougher [to ourselves] ?  Not until now when we all got stalled by this pandemic.

Success formulae ?  There are tons and tons of them but we won't cover that because that info can be plucked from everywhere.  Just one variable though that makes or unmakes SUCCESS and that's COMPLACENCY.  You can even be somewhere Camp 7 of Mount Everest by now but anytime, you can fall off from there, all because of COMPLACENCY.

Thing is, SUCCESS and FAILURES are just adjacent to each other, just kinda like NEXT DOOR neighbors.  But if they are adjacent, it's not because of proximity but instead it's because of the fact that more often in our life, we are at that TIPPING POINT wherein an action or decision we make or take can lead us to either SUCCESS or FAILURE ❗❗❗

Not Bad [after all] To Be a ONE-TRICK PONY

Not Bad [after all] To Be a ONE-TRICK PONY

There's this raging debate that we should NOT be a ONE-TRICK PONY. but all arguments for it got muted recently in the NBA when for the very first time in NBA history, an undrafted player [that's Duncan Robinson] recently inked a $90 Mn contract with Miami Heat.  BTW, Duncan is a confirmed and certified ONE-TRICK PONY but hey, how can a ONE-TRICK PONY bag this almost a $100 Mn contract with a much coveted NBA team like the Miami Heat ?  That's where we're driving at in this piece, to guide us how to pave the road towards achieving a similar success story EVEN IF you're indeed a ONE-TRICK PONY.

Now, for the tricks how can we be a ONE-TRICK PONY and still end up as a success story:

• Be BETTER THAN THE REST no less
• Be CONSISTENT in delivering things
• Be FOCUSED to continuously improve
• Be FIERCELY COMPETITIVE against yourself
• Be FIXATED to be the best ONE-TRICK PONY
• Be WARY if you get thrown from the saddle
• Be UNWAVERING in your pursuit for success

Ranged against someone who's touted as the JACK OF ALL TRADES, where do we bet then ?  Hmmm, what a 'trap question' I myself can't give a clear-cut answer because what matters most to me is the circumstances.  Where opportunities do abound for you to learn all trades and tricks, then be that JACK OF ALL TRADES.  But where you are isolated, devoid of that opportunity to learn more than just one trick, then go for it, roll up your sleeves and be that ONE-TRICK PONY who'll lord it over.

The most alarming downside of being a JACK OF ALL TRADES though is that you're akin to holding a BIG EMPTY BAG at that and when a job opportunity arises, out there in the job market you'll be competing with other candidates  who have at least one expertise to boot because by then they have established their niche domain which they can buildup upwards till they become an SME [subject matter expert].  So if you have both options, weigh in the short and long-term risks.

One piece you should never miss out is to always do a due diligence check of the situation you're in.  If you're right there in the 'land of honey', find your niche because there are one too many niche markets there but if you're in those offshore oil rigs and platforms, it does pay to be a JACK OF ALL TRADES.  Your call though.✅✅✅

When Life is UNDER SIEGE

When Life is UNDER SIEGE

Apologies.  This piece is not akin to those action-packed movies of Steven Segal as we're more concerned when our LIFE is UNDER SIEGE.  Is our LIFE is UNDER SIEGE ?  Absolutely I think so that way.  With the way this global pandemic has shaped up for last eighteen months, no amount of global powers by the G-7 countries can tame it off.  Not even the combined financial war chest of the world's top billionaires in Bill Gates, William Buffett et al, would be enough to tame off this uncontrolled Covid-19 pandemic.  So, at this point, we are all on the same page that our LIFE is UNDER SIEGE.

What adjectives can we stamp on this pandemic ?  Unprecedented.  Unparalleled.  It just caught the whole world flat-footed, even the world's top policemen like the U.S., U.K. and the rest of the G-7 countries.  Back into our personal lives, has our LIFE been UNDER SIEGE ?  Absolutely, no IFs, no BUTs.  Our health, our welfare, our work, even our financial state have somehow been in tatters.

Factually, we do not have the divine prowess to even discuss about HEAVEN and HELL but as we speak now, who won't agree that we seem to be in LIMBO because factually, we seem to be NEITHER HERE nor THERE.  For businesses, the world has literally turned upside down.  The airline industry is a classic example.  Its load factor is down by at least 95%.  The travel business, it's the 'Siamese Twins' of the airline industry.  For manufacturing businesses, at the very least, their numbers are down by 50%.  Retail business is the hardest because of lockdowns.  And how about the INFORMAL ECONOMY ? They were totally shut off.

Without going around the bush, measures we gotta take now is NO LESS DRASTIC.  Even for those not [YET] impacted with financial strains, NO ONE is SHIELDED at all from worst case scenarios of one getting hit by the Covid virus [and now there's even the ugly head of the variant 'monster' threatening us much more seriously].  So, what exactly do we need to do ?  STRAP our belts.  TIGHTEN our belts.  These are not times to 'paint the town red'.  We could be as healthy as the elephant today but we are NEVER shielded from the risks we face today.

Vaccinations, yes.  Either we had it by now or are now queued.  But the concerns go way beyond the vaccines, it's beyond the roof in fact.  So, we're down to our PREPAREDNESS phase and the core of it is enveloped by our FINANCIAL PREPAREDNESS.  Message here is crystal clear:  we're praying for this ordeal to be over next year but ONLY GOD KNOWS.  The most we can get focused on is our FINANCIAL PREPAREDNESS for the worst-worst case scenarios IF this pandemic turns up its ugliest head.✅✅✅

When Numbers Plummet

When Numbers Plummet

We may not be math wizards but whether we’re students, workers or businessmen, we’ve got to deal with numbers, like it or not.  In school, come next semester, you would realize your final ratings in your favorite subjects did nosedive.  In business, sales is way below break-even.  At work, your performance measures took a beating. In short,  we just can't runaway WHEN NUMBERS PLUMMET..

So, how do we deal with this situation?  Firstly, you gotta detect the skid that's going on.  After detecting it, you got to RECOGNIZE & ACCEPT it as valid as that's the only way to bring you on to the next step, which is TAKING ACTION.

Imagine you kept throwing all the darts but everything is missing the darts board, whew !  So, if you're ending scoreless, get back and regroup.  How?  Reassess yourself.  Do you need to go for re-training ?  Do you need a coach/trainer ?  Or do you just throw up and abandon things recklessly ?

Move over to financials.  Is your piggy-bank now turned upside down? If so, address the financial issues up front.  If you got to drastically cut down your cash outflow, just cut and cut clean.  If your business is in the doledrums, find the big-ticket items where you need to cut down, e.g. labor? rentals?  In two words, tighten your belt, ASAP.

When you're in the red, financially, this is the payback time to cract that emergency fund you built over time.  No emergency fund ?  That's the most difficult pill to swallow but if you have to learn the hard way, so be it.  I had known an entrepreneur whose food business was growing so fast and before he knew it, he was hiring more staff left and right.  When his NUMBERS STARTED TO PLUMMET, he thought that was a rainfall that will just pass by.  Hell no, before he knew it, his staff abandoned him together with his SINKING SHIP.  Be sharp enough WHEN NUMBERS PLUMMET.✅✅✅