Is Your Train off the Rail ?

Is Your Train off the Rail ?

Oh, is your train OFF THE RAIL ?  Oh no, that's unacceptable because the end result could be fatal.  In life, you can't be OFF THE RAIL.  At any given time, you got to be ON-TRACK.  You could be delayed in your timelines and that's fine as long as you are NOT OFF THE RAIL.  Whys is being OFF THE RAIL so dreaded ? It's because if you are on that path, you are guaranteed and doomed to fail unless miracles will happen, which is pure fiction BTW.

And what's the most common symptom to confirm that we're OFF THE RAIL ?  It is when you're on the WRONG WAY, when you're in a direction that further push you down south whereas you're north-bound.  And what's the most common cause of being on the WRONG WAY ?  It is either a WRONG assumption, a WRONG decision or a WRONG judgment call.  And what then is the solution to fix it ?  You gotta RIGHT the WRONG.

Now, what is the hardest part ?  Yes sirs, it is to RIGHT the WRONG.  I've seen numerous situations of one getting OFF THE RAIL or OFF TRACK but the biggest problem is the person him/herself.  If he/she refuses to admit and recognize that he is OFF THE RAIL, and that he made that WRONG decision, there's just no way he/she will RIGHT the WRONG.  It all starts in the triple A's namely, ADMITTING, ACKNOWEDGING and ACCEPTING that you're OFF THE RAIL.

Yes sireeee, this poster is spot on: 'GOING OFF TRACK IS NEVER A PROBLEM, NOT COMING BACK ON TRACK IS A PROBLEM.  That's indeed our most common and recurring problem.  Getting back on track.  Why ?  Because, first and foremost, you gotta accept the triple A's of ACCEPTING, ACKNOWLEDGING and ADMITTING.  Once you hurdle that biggest hump, things may not be a breeze but yet, it will be much easier because at that point, you have 'unburdened' yourself of that remorse or guilt feeling of having gotten OFF THE RAIL.

For us to end up with an informed and happy decision, first and foremost, you need to be honest to yourself with what you really want.  Secondly, you gotta remain healthy no less.  If your health is less than good enough, that throws a monkey wrench on everything else.  Thirdly, you need to be passionate with whatever you pursue.  What else ?  Do help others.  Trust me, after you have helped others, you will have that unique sense of fulfillment.  What else ?  Make sure your finances are 'in order'.  Any finance issue will spoil everything you planned.  Very lastly, be thankful with the place you are in now.  You may not be at the top yet  but at least, you're not languishing at the doldrums.✅✅✅

Make a Good Run for the Pitch

Make a Good Run for the Pitch

We used to believe that hitting a pitch is all that matters and if you don't hit a home run, you'll be fine because more rounds of pitches will come your way.  No sirs, not true.  Whether  you're into college or professional baseball or softballs, there are only between seven to nine innings.  And that's exactly in life as well.  Those opportunities will never be UNLI.  And when you keep missing a homerun, before you know it, pressure is building up too much till you succumb from it, because of it.  If there is a common culprit in all our misses in life, it is pressure that pushes us to eventually breakdown and succumb to it.

That baseball diamond is the best analogy to our life.  And I always compared the three bases we need to cover before hitting our homerun to our phases in life, namely, schooling, working and family phases.  So, it's safe to conclude that life's phases can't be compartmentalized.  They are not akin to the missile silos which are to each its own.  You fail in your schooling, it could shape your remaining phases, and so with your work and family life phases.

We all have those visions in life to succeed and etch our own mark but that's a long road to take and it takes a journey of a lifetime no less.  And the biggest challenge is to piece together the various phases of our life because they are all intertwined.

Oh I plucked out this poster from somewhere to accentuate that life is more akin to baseball than to a 42-kilometer marathon.  Unlike in a marathon wherein you can have pit stops every step of the way, baseball offers you three bases to cover before you go for a homerun.  Going back to our lives, if you fail in your schooling, then you fail in your family relationship and you further fail at work, you're out, it's GAME OVER

So, what's our LIFE 101 ?  It's pretty simple.  Succeed in your schooling.  Succeed at work and succeed in your family relationships and you'll be good to go for a homerun, barring a freak thing that will cause you to hit a snag.  So, what's our lesson ?   MAKE A GOOD RUN FOR THE PITCH and that can guarantee you to have a cinderella finish as long as you don't end up with a fumbling act every step of the way.  LET'S GO FOR A HOMERUN, folks❗❗❗

Do We Need to Work HARD or SMART ?

 Do We Need to Work HARD or SMART ?

What a $64 question is this.  Do we need to WORK HARD or SMART ?  Good relief, there is no wrong answer regardless if you choose HARD or SMART because either path you take, you're not on the wrong path but the thing here is that we DON'T want to be satisfied if we just end up working HARD or SMART because each of these barometers will measure our success separately.  Working HARD doesn't mean we're working SMART enough or vice-versa.

To share my career experiences, I have worked with folks who really worked damn HARD and I've worked with folks who really worked SMART.  And neither of them failed in their job roles but what did matter is the destination or the heights both of those workers did end up.  Both results did end up positively but with mixed results though.  That HARD WORKING operations staff was secure enough in his job until he retired whereas the SMART guy [who happens to be my classmate in grade school] rose up to become the CEO of the biggest telecomm company in a Southeast Asian country.

So, let us NOT be confused and to cut the crap, we need to work HARD as much as we need to be SMART.  This is NOT an 'EITHER OR' thing because this is an 'AND' equation.  Through the years, I had to do the balancing act of working HARD and SMART. Simply put, working HARD is simply doing the needful whereas working SMART means you gotta figure it out how can you go from Point A to Point B at a much lesser time and obviously at a much shorter turnaround time.  That is when things can get tricky because there is no laid out formula you can follow like a RUN BOOK.  This is when our capability to become agile and nimble to quickly adapt leads us to either MAKE or FAIL.

When you're just starting, where in school, at work or even in business, that's how high the cards are stacked against you. Indeed, the mountain slopes are that steep for you to climb.  And this is when working HARD is a no-brainer and non-negotiable.  Until you have climbed 'Mount Rushmore', there's NO OTHER WAY for you/for us but to work damn HARD.  Obviously, in working HARD, you can be that SMART.  Example, going from Point A to Point B, if you seem zigzagging, alway remember that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line and no less shorter than that.❗❗❗

Tomorrow Should Be Better Than Yesterday

Tomorrow Should Be Better Than Yesterday

So sorry, I'm not riding on the bandwagon of the highly popular Korean movies but do allow me to borrow this Korean one-liner stating 'TOMORROW WILL BE BETTER THAN YESTERDAY'.  Sounds a run-of-the-mill but it's not folks.  It's too bad that many of us [even myself in the past], I always [wrongly] thought that for TOMORROW, I got nothing much to prepare because TODAY is good enough, so it won't be wrong to expect that TODAY and TOMORROW is a no-brainer comparison.

Does this sound familiar ?  You wake up, get out of bed, prepare your coffee, hop on to work, boot up your laptop, then, nothing... It's impossible to get in the zone.  Getting past the first few emails is a drag and you're just nor making progress.  it feels like you're not in control of your day.  You don't have the motivation to get stuff done, so you end up in the social media.  Been there, done that.  Hmmm, it's so easy to blame your environment, other people or 100 other reasons why you're not motivated to work.  But generally, it's you.  You need to really WANT THINGS TO GET BETTER.  Because if you skip your work today[or do a terrible job because you feel lousy], it is likely that your tomorrow will probably suck too.  The day after ? That will suck too.  Until you don't remember how this all started.  BREAK THAT CYCLE!

Angling for any tips to BREAK THAT CYCLE ?  So sorry, can't offer any tips other than you need to push yourself to WORK HARDER.  You need to want tomorrow to be better so badly that you can deal with pushing through the monotony today. The thing is, hard work is a NECESSITY, not a choice.  If we look at extraordinary people, they didn't become they were that talented and extraordinary.  Classic example is Tiger Woods.  Before he became what it is today, he was learning the ropes and hitting the balls at 3AM ?  And when it was raining, the more he practiced when it was raining !

The same story goes for extraordinary people like Lionel Messi [that famous Argentine footballer], NBA Great Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan, amongst others.  In one of Lionel Messi's commercials, he said:  'I START EARLY AND I STAY LATE, DAY AFTER DAY, YEAR AFTER YEAR, IT TOOK ME 17 YEARS AND 114 DAYS TO BECOME AN OVERNIGHT SUCCESS'. in brief, 'OVERNIGHT SUCCESS' should not be read literally because your timeline hinges on how lofty and ambitious your goals are.

C'mon folks, you don't need to plot grandiose plans.  It could be bread crumbs on face value, like if in the past you always woke up way past 7am, starting tomorrow, can you try waking up 15 minutes earlier ?  At work, you have been used to submitting your reports just in time for the deadline, starting next deadline, can you aim to submit a day earlier ?  If arguments with your partner are happening daily, can you aim for the next day to be argument-free ❓❓❓

Don't ZIG If You Need to ZAG

Don't ZIG If You Need to ZAG

We all got it wrong [and that includes myself] because all along, we thought that that all we need to do is to go through the motions when traversing ZIGZAG roads in our life.  Apparently, to ZIG is one direction and to ZAG is another direction.  They're NOT one and the same.  So that explains why at times, we seem to be either adrift, disoriented or worst, seemingly lost.  Which means to go the ZIG way is one direction that's different from that ZAG way.  What we need to tackle is how can we figure out that we're on the right path, whether we are on to that ZIG or ZAG direction.

The riddle in life we constantly face is that there is a very fine line that separates one direction [which could be ZIG] and another direction [which could be ZAG].  Unfortunately there are no X's and O's to tell us whether we are on the right or wrong path.  Luckily, there are subtle and tell tale signs that will lend credence that we seem to be on the wrong life path.  Go back to your ACCOMPLISHMENTS till to date.  Ask yourself, what's the level of your SENSE of ACCOMPLISHMENT ?  Does it look barely good to you ?  Or are both your feet still off the ground [till now] because you continue to savor the fruits [and feelings] of your accomplishments ?  We can pair together two people whose accomplishments are also toe-and-toe but what will set them apart is the level of their SENSE of ACCOMPLISHMENT.

When one is so accomplished but he still does not have that SENSE of ACCOMPLISHMENT, it may mean you are on the wrong path in life.  You could be ZIGging when you should be ZAGging.  Don't look too far.  Look at yourself, face the mirror.  Where there some points in your life when you seem to be in that quandary ?  I have to admit that once in my life, i was in that plight and that 'woke me up' to find the ZAG way instead of the ZIG way.

FATIGUED ?  That's pretty normal we all do get fatigued after a day's work but if constantly you're feeling this way to the extent that you seem zapped and drained, relook at things.  Maybe as much as you put your head into something but if your heart is not into it, maybe you're on the wrong path.  OR when you seem to question anything and everything.  OR when you don't feel inspired ?  OR if frequently you feel kinda LOST ?

At the end of the day, please note that like it or not, we all LIVE IN THE FAST LANE.  There is a very limited elbow room for us to wiggle, if at all.  If you have been off-track and off-grid far longer and beyond the threshold, you might be sliding into a deeper trench difficult for you to extricate. Bottomline, DON'T ZIG IF YOU NEED TO ZAG.✅✅✅

DON'T Be An Ink That Smudges & Fades

DON'T Be An Ink That Smudges & Fades

Ink is that good.  Easily visible  And whatever color that ink carries, it does stand out, solid and vibrant.  So, the question is, should we emulate the ink ?  Yes we can as long as we don't replicate those inks that smudges and eventually fades.  Sounds familiar to our ears ?  Yes I can attest that I can do an analogy to quite a number of people who I know on first-hand basis.  They all did standout.  They were visible.  They're recognizable.  They don't get lost in a crowd.  Throw those 'ink folks' in a motley crowd and presto, they stand at least a foot taller than the rest.  What makes them stand out even if you throw them in the middle of a mammoth crowd ?  Hmmm, they have all the attributes of the ink.

Oh yes, enough of the niceties of inks.  Let's dissect it and confront us if we're still that eager-beaver to replicate the bold and vibrant inks ?  Going back memory lane, I had classmates in school who is tireless in raising his hand to volunteer for answers and anything that will raise his stock in school.  I've see newbies at work so gung-ho the first few months.  I've seen owners of business startups never resting in launching their business.

Overnight, that excitement at school, at work, in business and even in new relationships all too quickly fade, fast and quick ?  Is that acceptable for excitement and motivation to dissipate that quickly, sometimes overnight ?  If we dig deep enough, though, we will realize that all those 'fadeaways' didn't happen overnight.  Yes, it may seem to have faded overnight but if you go for a closer scrutiny, things evolved gradually like solid rocks that got chipped and chipped.

Oh, can we blame it to motivation ?  Unfortunately, motivation is our favorite whipping boy.  When we falter, we blame it to lose of motivation.  But hey, motivation is part and parcel of a cycle.  It goes round the full circle.  Today you may be that darn dog [as the NBA superstars are tagged] but come next day, you might be huffing and puffing.  So, while motivation does drive us forward, all things being equal, what drives us to be at least at the cruising speed is DISCIPLINE DISCIPLINE DISCIPLINE.  

Besides discipline, PURPOSE kicks in way faster than we thought.  Only a purposeful life will carry us forward.  And do we still want to personify that ink that smudges and fades ?  YES and NO.  We can emulate its solid and vibrant color as it always does stand out but that's about it.  When it does smudge, when it fades, those are the very last and least attributes we could even have.  DON'T be that lothario swooning heads over heels to his 'FOREVER' only to take another path down the road.  DON'T be that businessman who was so excited the first months of his business but went south thereafter.  DON'T be an INK THAT SMUDGES and FADES.❗❗❗

Keep Your Powder Dry

Keep Your Powder Dry

Let's talk straight here.  To KEEP YOUR POWDER DRY means you are always ready for anything that comes your way, be it a challenge or an opportunity.  From time to time, an opportunity suddenly pops up.  Could be a new business venture you can consider.  Could be an OJT chance for an enrolled student.  Could be an opportunity to reconcile and fix a relationship that's been in limbo.  Could be that opportunity for a project offered for you to manage although it means relocating to another country/location.  Just one too many options.

Why then do you need to KEEP YOUR POWDER DRY?  While this idiomatic expression has evolved [even literally], it still points out to our READINESS to grab an opportunity that was never planned or expected, something that just randomly pops-up  More often, such opportunities do not look enticing on the surface.  It may have been dangled not in the best manner such that the opportunity may appear as a 'step back' instead of a forward-looking step. 

Frankly, being NOT READY anytime won't be acceptable.  Being POTENTIALLY READY maybe acceptable but to me, that is akin to NOT READY because in life, it all boils down to BLACK or WHITE, an AYE or NAY.  I bare witness [on first hand basis] to various lost or missed opportunities of people I know first-hand but they blew up their chances simply because they failed to KEEP their POWDER DRY.  Too bad there's no way to recoup the losses arising from those missed opportunity but in $$$ terms, they were huge losses that even negatively impacted lives.

Yesirreee, life happens even before you're ready. As a first-hand account, I have witnessed various missed chances.  Someone had a job offer with the letter offer sent in black and white.  Why was it missed ?  Because he had to renew his passport and time was running out, phew !  The frustrating part, advices were given way way ahead of time for him to initiate his passport renewal.  And what did that lost opportunity cost him ?  Potentially, it costs and impacted his future no less.

Yes, this is brutally true.  IF YOU WAIT UNTIL YOU'RE READY, YOU'LL END UP WAITING YOUR ENTIRE LIFE.  Indeed, when we see someone missed an opportunity because he didn't KEEP his POWDER DRY, it's not only pitiful and lamentable, but it leads one's situation to become no less miserable, pathetic and pitiful.  Lesson here:  Always KEEP YOUR POWDER DRY.❗❗❗

LIVE LIFE, period

LIVE LIFE, period.

Irish poet Oscar Wilde couldn't have said it much stronger: 'TO LIVE IS THE RAREST THING IN THE WORLD.  MOST PEOPLE JUST EXIST'. Hmmmm, I couldn't agree more.  It's frustrating but as a first-hand account, I am very much aware of tons of people who should be hard hit by this quote from one of the most respected playwright from Ireland.

As this is a most ambitious let lofty goal, where do we start ?  Start with yourself PLEASE.  Find your passion.  Appreciate yourself.  Fine to be tough but at the end of the day, let's admit that most of us got more positives than negatives.  Only the chronic rotten eggs should be at the precipice of giving up not because they are not capable but because they just DON'T CARE, not even to themselves.  Unfortunately, many of those who DON'T CARE for themselves are not aware of it.

Besides appreciating our own selves, look around [NOT JUST lurk around] and appreciate everything around you, even the flowers and more so nature.  Hell, why are witnessing those unprecented floods NOT JUST in the Third World but even in New York and Singapore ? Simple answer to the puzzle.  Nature has become second fiddle to anything and everything.  Not until we realize the predicament of our planet will we shape up, if I may speculate.

Oh, what does LIFE ON YOUR OWN TERMS really mean ?  Too bad [and it's pitiful] that many of us tend to stretch this term [on a direction that leads them to the abyss].  To many of us, living life ON YOUR OWN TERMS is taken that you can plot any path even if that path will lead  you to nowhere.  Those VICES, booze and the like, a lot of people we know did get hostaged to it.  Question is, HOW ARE THEY NOW ? If I may speculate, at best, they have been stalled in that state of stupor.  At best, things haven't worsened [probably because they are financially secure] but the time they wasted, is a BIG WASTE, to be blunt about it.

Oh, I didn't scribble this as this is from noted American poet Diane Ackerman and this one-liner is a 'bagful' because if till now we are remiss in our life, this should hit us hard.  But for those safely on the bandwagon, this should be the motivation that should trigger us to kick our butts hard enough.  Gaps in relationships ?  FIX IT.  Lost credibility at work.  FIX IT.  Floundering business.  FIX IT.  Petty squabbles, rubbish them out, NOW ! Within the past year and a half of this pandemic, more people died more than at any time this century, with the mortality rate catching up that of the 1914 Spanish Flu.  Only by fixing all these will you be in the pole position to LIVE LIFE✅✅✅

Cut The Crap

Cut The Crap

Life seems so convoluted and complicated, or so it seems.  With all the tricky and tangled labyrinths in life, all along, we always thought that this is what it is and we should accept all these hook, line and sinker.  No sirs, that isn't the case.  I myself, for the longest time, I was resigned to accept that wrong notion that our life is really that complicated.  But after I did stumble a few times, I realized I was wrong.  I realized that we got to CUT THE CRAP.

After a lot of soul searching, I eventually realized that life is simple per se and it's never a pipe dream to think that life is all fine and dandy.  But that point-to-point from leading a complex life to keep it that simple could be the worst maze that can puzzle you no end.  Even for those who realized that life can be cut down to the basic level, it's never been that simple because indeed, on the surface, the complication we face is the outcome of many things in life that leads to chaos no less.  As we all live in a world where change is that constant and disruption is a given, it is just expected if sometimes our lives are turned upside down due to the turn of events, of which, this long-drawn pandemic is a best example.

When things go awry, we tend to have no control and sometimes, our power of choice seems to have been taken away from us.  But rather than surrender in exasperation, it behooves to understand why this is happening to us. By identifying the obstacles we're facing, that will even increase the probability of us to eventually live a life that will be LESS COMPLICATED.

Let me quote this relevant anecdote:  'I ASKED LIFE, WHY ARE YOU SO DIFFICULT?  LIFE SMILED and SAID, YOU PEOPLE NEVER APPRECIATE EASY THINGS'.  But this is putting the cart ahead of the horse because we got to understand those obstacles hindering us to simplify our complex life.  Let's go.

First, FOCUS on the complexity.  That complexity bias is a reason why we lean towards complicating our lives rather than keeping things simple.  Second, STOP that CONSTANT WORRISOME attitude. Constantly worrying about your problems and what lies ahead in the future can drain your energy.  Third, TRY to CONTROL as much as you can in life.  Once you accept that life is all about your navigating your way through it rather than controlling it, you will find your outlook in life to BE MORE POSITIVE.  Fourth, DON'T BASE your happiness on others.  Your life will be FOREVER COMPLICATED and difficult if you hinge your happiness on others.  Lastly, DON'T FEED into the drama of life.  As there are certain types of people who live their life through drama, they chose to respond to life's challenges in a way that is not productive.  So, stay away from them.  Once and for all, let's CUT THE CRAP, please✅✅✅

Run It Up the Flagpole

Run It Up the Flagpole

I'm sorry, this piece is not about the school environs where the flagpole has always been one of the normal sights to see.  But RUNNING IT UP THE FLAGPOLE means many things as translated in our life.  Because in life, that 'FLAGPOLE' translates to numerous success stories that only comes into fruition.  That 'FLAGPOLE' is the culmination of the successes that we achieve down the road.  The $64 question is how can we all reach that elusive flagpole ?  Let's then tackle how can we all really reach the FINISH LINE all the way to that flagpole.

To start with, that 'FLAGPOLE' is no phantom dream because the long road leading to the 'FLAGPOLE' starts at that very point when an IDEA pops up and obviously, the end-result of that IDEA is always the culmination when we're able to translate the IDEA to become a success story coming into fruition.  Too bad that road starting from the 'birth of that IDEA' till it comes into fruition is a long, arduous road where land mines are planted with various points booby trapped and ready to explode right into our face.  Translating that 'IDEA' means we got to grapple with some basic fundamentals.

How do we translate ideas into ACTION ?

• BELIEVE in YOURSELF.  
• ENSURE you have a HELPLINE STRUCTURE
• RISKS should make you comfortable
• STRETCH your PATIENCE to the farthest
• CONNECT the DOTS along the way
  

To believe in yourself is a must-do.  No one else, not even your BFF and not even your partner can be as effective to believe in yourself than yourself.  Reduce your self-confidence, you will be reducing your chances of success.  That HELPLINE STRUCTURE, you would badly need that at some points when you need a lifeline to cling.  RISKS, you can't be averse to it because RISKS does kill our chances so instead, you gotta embrace RISK.  CONNECTING the DOTS, that's piecing things together.  

In summary, what should we DON'T do?

DON'T just dream, make it happen !

DON'T just talk, make your move !

DON'T just wait for time, create time !

DON'T just wait for luck.  Lock it for you

DON'T just think positive.  Act positive !

DON'T just be optimistic.  Spin it now !

In a nutshell, THROW AWAY all these DONT's❗❗❗