WARNING: The Circle is Small

WARNING:  The Circle is Small

Oh, this thread could be controversial and debatable I guess.  To argue that the Circle is NOT Small, I'll volunteer to debate all-night long because I'll strongly insist that indeed The Circle is Small.  C'mon, let's liken the circle to all those opportunities that indeed abound in our life.  As go through the motions of life, many of us [wrongly] thought that the circle is sooooo big, such that, even some of us would ardently believe that the circle is actually our door towards infinity because many [wrongly] believe that those pipelines of opportunities will not dry up.

Now, even if we turn that circle into a square, do we think that there will be much more opportunities that will come our way in life ?I'm sorry folks, such is NOT the case because whatever way we shape things out, the truth of the matter is that opportunities are there for our picking only at a very limited time.  Let it go past your fingers like quicksilver, you just can't recoup the losses because again, the fact is the Circle is Small.

Now, even in those moments in our life when the whole horizon was as bleak as the grayed skies before a raging super storm comes to ravage our communities.  Not even wealth.  Not even health.  Neither of them can persuade us to believe that The Circle is NOT Small because that's a fallacy where we won't even lift a finger to tear down the defenses.

So how do we weather and fight off all the negativities that get into our way ?  Clarify your goals no less.  Challenge yourself to revalidate and reconfirm your goals once and for all.  Without your goals, it WON'T matter to you even if I stand my ground and defend that the Circle is Small. At various points in life, we [including myself in the past] would have been guilty for losing by default [which is akin to abdicating the throne you already have].

So, even if the horizon tells us that there are opportunities ahead, it's NOT unlimited.  Even in health, you may be in the pink of the health through the years but one, Father Time will knock on you to let you realize that you got chinks in your armor.  On this note, allow me to [temporarily] signoff for a few days as I attend to my medical remediations within the coming days.  Should be back.  Ciao.💊📌⏳

When All You Have is a HAMMER, Everything Look like a NAIL

When All You Have is a HAMMER, Everything Look like a NAIL

Apologies for being a late comer for this expression because historically, this is an English expression that traces all the way back in 1868 with that 'Birmingham screwdriver' which got derived in the 20th century with this one-liner: When All You Have is a HAMMER, Everything Look like a NAIL.  But this statement means a mouthful because countless realizations came in the way for more than one century now.  Simply put, this is a realization that has been well accepted across cultures and countries.

Even in Behavioral Science, Silvan Tomkins stated that there is always that TENDENCY of JOBS to be ADAPTED to TOOLS instead of ADAPTING TOOLS to the JOB.  And even in this current age of technology, Kenneth Colby stated that the 'COMPUTER PROGRAM MAY BE OUR HAMMER'.  Meaning, we need to remind our developers that the computer program must be intuitive enough to execute beyond what was coded to execute. 

In our life, how many times were you left with a hammer on hand and you were so glued to it such that you were treating things you see as just another nail ?  In school, did you treat academic work as JUST FOR COMPLIANCE?  At work, did you work JUST AS A DELIVERABLE?  In your relationship, did you treat your spouse/partner just as that, just as a partner based on the perceived pre-defined role?  In business, when the cash register was constantly busy, how did you treat your customers?  Just as sources of your revenues?  When you get confronted with the trials and life, when you felt helpless, how did you handle things?  Did you immediately run and cling to the helpline just because they did extend help for you in the past?  

What we are harping here is that you need to think OUT OF THE BOX.  NEVER dictate your next moves based on the tools you are equipped with.  NEVER compel yourself to pound on something where the outcome is unpredictable at best because that means you are NOT equipped.  NEVER demand everyone to toe the line at work if you yourself will be hard pressed to do the same if you were in their shoes.  

When coping with problems, you might be relying on the same coping mechanisms when faced with certain problems rather than finding new solutions.  This over-reliance can often maintain psychological difficulties and inhibit processes of change.  Simply put, it is important to learn different and new ways of thinking and behaving when facing recurring challenges.  Learning these techniques forms a fundamental aspect of psychological therapy and helps us identify factors that are maintaining their difficulties and to develop new ways of responding to them.  What's our wake up call then?  When All You Have is a HAMMER, Everything Look like a NAIL❗❗❗

Your Time to go SOLO Comes Anytime

Your Time to go SOLO Comes Anytime

Yes Your Time to go SOLO Comes Anytime and as everyone lives in communities and in a family-focused environment.  And that's very fine because that's how our human race evolved even way back the Stone Age.  But at some point, Your Time to go SOLO Comes Anytime And that's more than just concerning because once we get into our adulthood, it behooves that we're all ready enough for the grinds in life.

Problem is, till now, many of us remain to cling and remain dependent in the various facets of life.  Which means, that dependency even goes beyond financials and those daily needs.  It even extends to the emotional and psychological structure. But not in the western world, whom I am in awe because their cultures dictate upon themselves to be less and lease dependent as early as possible in life.  We got to remember that Your Time to go SOLO Comes Anytime

Things will seem to turn from bad to worse if our dependence goes way and beyond the day-to-day needs in life.  And that's what makes me envy the western culture because from toddlers up, they are reared to be less and lease dependent  as early as possible in life because they remain mindful that eventually their Time to go SOLO Comes Anytime.  Swing over to the  non-western countries and you witness their cultures that are very family-based which is fine except that more often, many of them overlook the fact that their Time to go SOLO Comes Anytime

As life often hits you with unexpected events that are much more difficult to to deal with than if you simply received a basket of lemons when all you asked was a basket of oranges.  Whether you get hit with an unexpected bill, a death in the family or even as mundane as losing your mobile phone [which seems to be a common story these days], be aware that life is more complex than just a basket of lemons or oranges. And as it now sinks into our mind that our Time to go SOLO Comes Anytime, getting back to basic is a must.  Like KEEPING YOUR KITCHEN STOCKED.  Not only in the event of natural calamities.  Studies show that after a death in the family. shopping is the last thing you want to do.   

Preparing for the flu and cold season is the other side of our readiness.  The last thing we want to happen is falling ill.  As you grind in life, ask yourself, what are the TOUGHEST LESSONS you struggled to learn [but that, you still need to learn it].  Identifying all the chinks in your armor is a MUST-DO because our Time to go SOLO Comes Anytime❗❗❗

The MOST DIFFICULT Point in Our Life

The MOST DIFFICULT Point in Our Life

Setting aside our day-to-day problems [which will never end BTW], what has been your MOST DIFFICULT Point in Our Life ?  Regardless whether you are just starting your academic life or you have now started to carve a niche in your career life or whether you are contemplating to settle down for good or you're contemplating to become an entrepreneur and run your own show,what could be your MOST DIFFICULT Point in Our Life 

It may be difficult to admit it but we got to accept what's probably hounding us throughout our life, that moment when you have a firm plan and you are at the precipice to take the first step towards a concrete goal or plan.  True, either way it is a scary place to be when you aren't sure what the future holds.  Hurdling that crucial point and moving your first foot forward will always be the MOST DIFFICULT Point in Our Life

But hey, noting is more consistent in life than endings and beginnings, and when you embrace that reality, starting over does not seem so daunting.  On a personal note, I'll humbly admit that when I put into action my plan to migrate to another country, I turned upside down the supposed MOST DIFFICULT Point in My Life by turning it as one of my best milestone success to date.

This poster is 'spot on'.  That is, your first step forward does NOT take you to where you want to go.  BUT here's the big BUT.  It does take you out of where you are NOW.  Isn't that a positive note to start with ?  Extricating you from that foxhole.  Rescuing you from that quagmire you were stuck to.  If you've decided to take the risk of migrating to a country new to you, that doesn't guarantee you that you will become an immigrant but that sets you forward towards achieving that goal.

If you're now in a state of stupor because you're struggling whether to push through with your first step or not, it does NOT matter if what you're about to take is NOT yet a quantum leap.  I'd etch on stone my declarative statement that your first step forward brings you one step closer to your goal.  So, do gather that gumption to overcome that MOST DIFFICULT Point in My Life and it has to be NOW, dude❗❗❗

Are You in a FREE FALL ?

Are You in a FREE FALL ?

Mr Webster defines FREE FALL as that state wherein the free falling object that is falling under the sole influence of GRAVITY.  Any object that is being acted upon only the force of GRAVITY is said to be in a state of FREE FALL.  Over to our life, did you experience your life being in a FREE FALL at some point in the past ?  Definitely, each of us must have went through that state at some point in the past.

If it where an event in our life, FREE FALL is part and parcel of our life.  BUT where it concerns the actual state of your life, then we gotta pull the brakes, pull all the stops and trigger the most drastic measures to radically change the situation by pulling and grinding it to a halt no less.

The biggest question though is not that actual FREE FALL itself but rather HOW and WHEN can we detect that indeed our life is in a FREE FALL ?  Fairly simple.  Firstly, when all your fumbling acts and failures hit you consecutively.  Failures that happen close to each other's heels point to a looming and bigger problem that may hit you [VERY SOON] down the road.  When tell-tale signs and/or premonitions are shaping up, those are NOT to be ignored.  Our worst mistake is shutting off our eyes and looking at the opposite direction.  Bluntly, that is a dastardly cowardice act because, even if we ignore and disagree it, not getting into that realization that things may turn from bad to worse will be your worst undoing EVER.

If in school, your LOW marks are becoming a lot more, if at work, you had to explain numerous times your foul-ups, if your relationship seems to have hit rough patches or if your business seems to be in the RED for so long now, this is your last hurrah, your last hope to jump and take your parachute solution ASAP.

BUT when the unimaginable happens and life goes into a FREE FALL, it simply boils down to one choice and that is to face it head on.  When you are kind of stripped back to your bare bones, there is nothing but the PRESENT MOMENT, that uncertainty.  There is only trust that whatever happens or doesn't, it is perfectly designed for our deepest evolution.  And while all of this ricochets through our lives and the people all around us, let me quote this POEM:  When disaster hits, please it rip you open.  Let the pain lead us into our hearts, not out.  Let it show us how much we love.  And let the horror tear down our busy schedules and kick us out o safety.  In the end, IT'S ALL ABOUT OUR CHOICE✅✅✅

Confidence Matters

Confidence Matters

Few days back, I was into my remote work when my wife egged me to watch the final round of the most recent Miss Universe Pageant.  And with no effort, I obliged because finally the 80+ candidates will be whittled down to the Final Five.  And historically, the way they handle the Q & A will dictate who responds 'with flourish' will go up to the Top 3 favorites. To cut the long story short, our preferred candidate in that Top Five to go up to the Top 3 didn't make it. Why ? Me thinks that indeed Confidence Matters and at that juncture of the Q & A, she was quite fidgety and despite even her smile betrayed the veneer of peace she exuded.

Indeed, Confidence Matters and it can lead you to new heights you haven't reached yet in life.  Admittedly, I didn't have that confidence way back my grade school days but when I moved up to high school, with me getting squeezed by our school's cream of crop, I had to push myself more than just hard enough.

Let us not get in a hard-sell on this.  Confidence Matters simply because confidence will lead you up to new heights.  And even if you're in a crowd, the likelihood is that you will stand out from that crowd if your confidence will be there to push you much harder and farther.  Being part of the mainstream is just not enough.

Assuming our confidence level right now is somewhere at the cellar, REPROGRAM yourself.  What it means is you need to convince yourself that you can accomplish a thing and that will exponentially increase your odds of obtaining what you desire.  SET A GOAL and GO for IT.  That's crystal clear enough.  GET FIT.  Simply put, unless you're healthy, your confidence will go nowhere.  PRACTICE GRATITUDE.  When you express it, that will boost how you feel about yourself.  

GET OUT of your COMFORT ZONE.  Force yourself out of your comfort zone, your CONFIDENCE will shoot up dramatically, promise.  Lastly, EMBRACE SPONTANEITY.  Once we force ourselves to be spontaneous, we stretch ourselves, allowing ourselves to be open to potential discomfort and the uncertainty of the unknown.  Being spontaneous exposes us to scenarios where we don't have a script easy enough to rely on.  As such,  SPONTANEITY FORCES US TO ADAPT.  Let's pick up the pieces folks. Don't forget though that CONFIDENCE is ONLY A PART OF THE RECIPE, that's not the only recipe✅✅✅

Be a Flower, NOT a Weed

Be a Flower, NOT a Weed

Being partial or bias to flowers rather than weeds does not make us effeminate, right ?  So, there should be nothing loathsome if we all say in unison that we'd rather Be a Flower, NOT a Weed.  But of all things, why do we want to dump off the weed ?  Simple.  This is like comparing day and night, the sun and the moon.  There's just no room to debate that this is NOT all about gender but instead, just calling a spade a spade.  And we can epitomize the flower, then why settle to become a weed at all ?  In our global village, living life is pretty simple.  It's either you are on the right side or the not so right side.  Either you are on track or you're off track.  Either you'll end up a success or failure.

On the other hand, if we look at things scientifically, they even say that a WEED IS JUST A FLOWER GROWING in the WRONG PLACE.  So, would you rather be tagged as a flower growing in the wrong place because that means you're one of those weeds ?

C'mon, not to put down the weeds out there but here's another non-debatable take, that is, WHERE FLOWERS BLOOM, SO DOES HOPE.  So, that's a second argument for or against weeds versus flowers.  Would you still cling to be a weed if this poster screams that indeed there is HOPE where FLOWERS BLOOM ?  Let's swing back to our lives.  What keeps our life alive ?  What keeps our belly burning ?  What keeps our adrenalin up at an ante ?  What keeps us digging for the long haul ?  It's all about HOPE, the HOPE that we're on the right track, the HOPE that we will make it at the end of our journey, maybe bruised and scathed but another success story securing the success we have all dreamt of for the longest time.

This is all that will keep us going, digging for the long haul, regardless if we have stumbled numerous times.  In life, I can attest [on a first person basis] to witnessing people who not only buckled down but really gradually dissipated, evaporate and simply went pfffffft in thin air simply because they lost that remaining hope which they need to cling to, if only to keep them going, if only to keep them motivated every step of the way.

So, do we agree that generally, weeds do grow BUT they grow in DIFFERENT DIRECTIONS ?  Whereas most flowers we see, even before they bloom, we all effortlessly become aware of its eventual trajectory.  So, WILL YOU BE A WEED with a trajectory that will remain utterly unpredictable ?  Or will you be the epitome of a flower which offers much hope EVEN BEFORE IT BLOOMS ?  Think about the parallelisms of flowers and weeds versus our life.  There's just so much for us to continue learning and realizing what lies ahead in our life if we continue to be nursing so much HOPE❗❗❗

The Apple Does NOT Fall Far From the Tree

The Apple Does NOT Fall Far From the Tree

You don't need to have a green thumb to agree that the Apple Does NOT Fall Far From the Tree at all.  The fallout is as simple and straightforward as a straight line.  There is even no outliier in these cases because the trajectory never varies based on the gravitational force.  Such are opportunities in life as well.  Opportunities that are up for grabs don't need a drone or any other devices for you to drill-down on such opportunities as they are right there around you, within your periphery.  

Indeed, what explains why opportunities, like apples, cannot really fall far from the tree ?  This is a no-brainer.  If you're in the Americas Region, do you think an opportunity in Europe will suddenly pop for you ?  Let us take a cue from entrepreneurs.  They do not even wait for the APPLE TO FALL, not at all.  Instead, they even become the trigger or catalyst to CREATE AN OPPORTUNITY [effectively from nowhere].  And this is quite puzzling but this is indeed true.

So, if opportunities cannot just abound from afar and if indeed we can create opportunities like entrepreneurs, where's the beef ?  C'mon.  Entrepreneurs were tagged really as entrepreneurs because for them, an opportunity can all start as a seed that gets planted.  And how do we plan those seeds of opportunities ?  IDEAS IDEAS IDEAS. And I can attest that in the past, I finally had those opportunities because it all started as an IDEA

So, that's how things started for many of those opportunities I did grab in the past.  It started with a raw, untested and unproven idea.  Then I started to iterate it, validate it until it was bullet proof-ready for me to grab.  Had I sat on the ground and waited, those opportunities would not have come, that I can be sure of.  But how can IDEAS germinate to become a full-blown opportunity ?  VALIDATE if that idea will be feasible, in the first place.  If it is, proceed to PLANT that SEED on the right ground, with the appropriate sunlight it needs [remember, some seeds will not survive when exposed to the sub].

Once that seed lives past its survival stage, nurture it till it matures enough, in time for your picking.  Thinking of those opportunities like LOTTO ?  Forget it.  Your life will be doomed if your life will hinge on LOTTO.  Enough of that LOTTO mindset.  Bluntly, it's time for us to realize that, IN LIFE, there is NO FREE LUNCH.  We got to earn for it, dude✅✅✅

The Sun, The Moon and The TRUTH

The Sun, The Moon and The TRUTH

We may not be Buddhists but I'd like to share this widely quoted statement from Buddha:  THREE THINGS CANNOT BE LONG HIDDEN, namely THE SUN, THE MOON and THE TRUTH.  And this should not be a hard-sell anymore because the sun and the moon are everyday givens.  But with THE TRUTH, that's where we'll get stuck up for a bit as we dissect it down further.  Through generations, societies across have varying versions of THE TRUTH.  And that's when things become murkier because in the real world, how can there be more than a single version of THE TRUTH ?

Do we really need to spend time and debate about THE TRUTH ?  Absolutely since these times, THE TRUTH often have a second version and surprise of surprises, sometimes there is even a third version.  But why is Buddha widely quoted for this ?  It's because tons and tons of TRUTH versions have been churned out by governments, by private entities and in our personal lives, we could bear witness to more than just one version of it.

 Few days  back, in Oslo Norway, this year's Nobel Peace Prize awardees were feted with no less than the Swedish Royalty gracing the occasion.  And if there was anything significant about this year's awardees, both are journalists who have been fighting for the TRUTH and nothing less than that.  And in the midst of their struggles, both of the journalist awardees from Russia and the Philippines were fighting institutions and sometimes, their very own governments

And what happens if we do end up as the vanguards of TRUTH ?  But instead, what if we end up peddling either the half-truths or worse, the non-truths ?  Here's the take.  While you may want to conceal the TRUTH to gain benefits out of it, such dividends will be very temporary because as Buddha says, eventually, the TRUTH will come out and that will be a huge setback for you because you may end up in a situation much worse than what you have been had you settled for the very TRUTH itself.

Look back your academic life if you're still in school.  Look back at your work.  Look back at your relationship with your loved ones.  Look back at your business.  Do you think you will be better off and in better shape if you peddled things other than the very TRUTH ? Think along those lines because we do not want you to end up in a miserable state simply because of your own undoing, that of not realizing that the TRUTH is what matters❗❗❗

Be Wary of Shortcuts

Be Wary of Shortcuts

We all love shortcuts, don't we ?  It save time and probably effort and even money.  But is that true of all shortcuts in life ?  No sirrrrrs, a log of us either failed or at least stumbled down because of shortcuts. And who is to be faulted for those stumbles ?  Don't blame the shortcuts because they never sold themselves to you but instead, you leveraged and stretched them out thinking that they will solve you a big chunk of time, effort and even monies.  This is the irony.  We seem to easily succumb to the shortcuts in life simply by word of mouth.  Why do we easily fall prey to many purported shortcuts in life ?  Be Wary of Shortcuts

The mother of all ironies is that no one is hard-selling us to go for shortcuts.  It's human nature to fall prey to shortcuts even if no one has proven that indeed those shortcuts do work.  Shortcuts in school work.  Shortcuts at work.  Shortcuts in one's relationship[s].  Shortcuts in the business you're running.  What is the common denominator of all those foul-ups ?  We were either misguided or misinformed that that particular shortcut really works when it has hardly been proven.

You might throw the kitchen sink to me and ask as to why there are shortcuts in all the apps we have in our devices?  Oh let me clear the mix up before things get so blurred.  The shortcut in an app is obviously confirmed to be functional 'cos that's part of the apps and solution.  But that is not the case in our lives.  And what is the most common road wrongly taken by most of us ?  It is that road that supposedly leads to our goals, to our success.

And I have to pity many of us who got caught in the quagmire because of the supposed shortcuts in life.  That SHORTCUT to BIG BUCKS.  That SHORTCUT to SUCCESS.  That SHORTCUT to a TOP CAREER.  That SHORTCUT to the most ideal relationship.  That SHORTCUT to be an IMMIGRANT.  True, many do succeed but more than 90% fail.  Why ?  They get lured by offers simply because they are blinded by offers to be an immigrant in a western country.  They end up duped by money-driven tricksters and defrauders.

If there are NO SHORTCUTS, what do we have then ?  Only SURE CUTS, as my brother coined this long time back.  And I admit I took the SURE CUT when I did hurdle my school deliverables.  I did take the SURE CUT with the end view of becoming an immigrant [which I did become until I became a naturalized citizen of my adoptive country].  I did take the SURE CUT in my relationships as well as I did bide my time until I was sure of things.  And I did take the SURE CUT till I realized that the company I've been working with for close to eleven years now will likely be the company I'll eventually retire✅✅✅