Be Your Own Master [Whatever it Takes]

Be Your Own Master [Whatever it Takes]

For many obvious reasons, we all want to be masters of our own lives but the overriding question is:  Have we been successful enough to Be Our Own Master?  It's true we all yearn to be in control of things but how often, even if we are the driver seated right behind the steering wheel', would end up 'thrown out' when our journey becomes nothing but a train wreck ?

Are train wrecks a fact of life ?  Yes they are, indeed.  Much as we do not want it to happen, at some point in our lives, our life was a train wreck, like it or not.  But that is not an embarrassment.  Neither should be a stigma that will get embedded in your lifetime.  The issue is not the train wreck but it is HOW WE SURVIVED out of that train wreck.  Nothing wrong ending black and blue, beaten or bruised.  It's how we 'rise up from the ashes' that matters most.  And what could trigger us to rise up ?  It's BEING YOUR OWN MASTER.  Only then can you prove your mettle that you have survived that acid test of life and that you're back on your own feet to pick up the pieces and restart from where you stumbled down.

When do we detect that we are at our lowest point in life ?  It is when everything in our life seems spinning OUT OF CONTROL  During those skids, we will experience blow after blow even after we have recovered from a previous blow.  Those are times where we are gasping to breathe only for things to snap off all over again.  So, how do we rise up from this ?  REGAIN CONTROL and BECOME THE MASTER of your own.  Have we seen why the most fatal mishaps happened ?  It's because the driver LOST CONTROL of the steering wheel.

When do you think you will regain that brimming confidence in life ?  It is when you are finally back behind the steering wheel and becoming YOUR OWN MASTER even as your life zigs and zags.  Once you reach that new lease of life, trust me, you would feel like a dog unleashed after being held up for so long.  The question is how can you regain to become YOUR OWN MASTER ?  A few ground rules.  STOP DWELLING on NEGATIVE THOUGHTS.  Truth us, our brains can do anything we want to but once negativities creep in, those negative thoughts will absolutely prevent you from moving forward.

We can always argue that things are easier said than done.  But unless WILL POWER takes over and reasserts your control of your life for you to BECOME YOUR OWN MASTER, no amount of resolve will lead you back to that ROAD back to REDEMPTION❗❗❗

Ensure ALL Your Pipes Are CLEAR

Ensure ALL Your Pipes Are CLEAR

It's true has a one long main pipe running end to end but between that end to end, there are multiple and practically countless smaller and mini-pipes that 'criss cross' across.  Regardless or rather, with the complexity of our life's 'PIPE INFRASTRUCTURE', it becomes imperative that we are all aware and focused that we need to constantly Ensure that ALL Your Pipes Are CLEAR at any point anytime anywhere because any single clogging can clog any other pipe.

In fact, our life is a jigsaw puzzle, with tons and tons of pieces which we all need to piece together.  BTW, piecing together tons of pieces is a huge challenge because all it takes is one mismatch to guarantee that you can't come up with 100% error-free.  On the other hand, all it takes is one mismatch, enough to trigger a multiplier effect of problems that compound.  There are one too many real-life scenarios, e.g you could be financially well but what happens if you have a failing health ?  Or, you can be achieving all the successes at work but how do you envision your life if personal relationship with your partner/spouse is hitting rough patches that keeps skidding ?

Thing is, INTERDEPENDENCE in life cannot be understated.  If early on, you have invested so much in building relationships across, as you trudge along, you would never know you need to reach out to any of those invested relationships.    If you are a worker, if all along you took a myopic approach of your career wherein you [wrongly] thought that if you did things poorly in your current work, you can just CLEAR and RESET things when you hop-on to your next pit stop?  Too bad the CLEAR and RESET switch does not happen the way you want things to happen.  As long as you deal with people, people will relate with people.

Swing things with all the do-good be-good.  Embrace your job like it's your life.  Deliver things like it is part and parcel of your passion.  Then wait for the end results.  BTW, those end results can and will reverberate across multiple times, more often throughout your career.  If for whatever reason, some of your 'small pipes' got clogged in the past, ENSURE ALL YOUR PIPES ARE CLEAR.

Oh, this poster says a mouthful.  LIFE IS AN ECHO.  WHAT YOU SEND OUT COMES BACK.  WHAT YOU SOW, YOU REAP.  WHAT YOU GIVE, YOU GET.  WHAT YOU SEE IN OTHERS EXISTS IN YOU.  In fact, this says it all.  Throughout the journey of our life, every chapter may seem to be a silo but it is not.  Because that silo is one single pipe that is interconnected beneath and it cuts across all the other pipes.  The extreme word of caution here.  Never take a myopic view of even the seemingly most petty exceptions in your life because that can haunt you back.  Not tomorrow but maybe in ten, twenty years down the road. So it pays that we  ENSURE ALL OUR PIPES ARE CLEAR. Remember, we're in a LONG-HAUL flight❗❗❗ 

All Hands on Deck

❗❗❗❗❗❗❗All Hands on Deck

Can't be denied now. It's All Hands on Deck.  The once sturdy boat we were all onboard has been hit with leaks, with water seeping in even as it is slowly tilting towards capsizing.  But this is not the time yet to trigger a Mayday Call as long as the global village remains in full control.  All it takes now is for All Hands on Deck.

Quoting these latest CNN numbers, there are close to 305 million Covid cases with the United States and Western Europe alarmingly in the RED.  If yourr country happens to be in the ORANGE alert, this is no time for complacency either.  Even my daughter's school declared a week-long Health Break this coming week.  As for myself, my barometer of our Covid pandemic are the number of company-announced bereavements which is now averaging close to one death per day.

This global pandemic has destroyed all the barriers that separate the First World versus the Third World.  Regardless of culture and even religion, we are now twenty-two months since this became a full-blown pandemic way back March 2020.  And when we let loose our guard during the Christmas Holidays, Lady Covid came back with a vengeance, swathing her sword across us all.  This is our WAKE CALL, in fact.

If you're still stretching the new year holidays or if you're on an extended break, it's time to cut and cut clean now, pronto.  Let us NOT be like the Roman Emperor Nero who continued to fiddle with his violin while Rome was afire and burning.  The scariest truth we want to avoid is if this Covid pandemic breaches the 50% positive rate [which our local tabloid confirmed today].

This book by Grant and Amanda McIntyre struck me hard because Grant McIntyre was touted as the sickest ever Covid patient reported.  While average hospital stays in the UK was pegged at 8 days, McIntyre spent more than four months.  His is an untold story of someone who, in the middle of his Covid ordeals, had a kidney failure and a collapsed lung, among others.  Oooops, I'm sorry I am not here to pre-empt you with this heroic story but I'm sharing this to magnify the fact that the survival rate [if we were in the situation of Grant McIntyre] will be less than 1%.  To accentuate how society can quickly adapt to the intensity of a situation, during that first wave of this pandemic way back March 2020, do we know that the manufacturers of the ventilators in the UK were Ferrari & Mercedes.  

BTW, what we are now witnessing is only the tip of the iceberg, whew. When the world will declare that it has finally clamped down with this pesky pandemic, let's tighten our seatbelts because what comes next will be the global depression, where all economies are literally depressed and for the economies to rebound, governments need to do a lot of articificial pump-priming to get back the sick man that we are now, back on our feet.  For now, it's ALL HANDS ON DECK ❗❗❗

DON'T 'Sell the Farm'

DON'T 'Sell the Farm'

Life is a cycle.  And it is a vicious cycle where we'll be hard pressed to cut and stop the juggernaut.  Add-in this 2-year pandemic and what we now have is a recipe for an utter disaster.  Despite all these, though, DON'T 'Sell the Farm', DON'T abandon what is now in place, DON'T give up on what are ongoing and DON'T dump whatever is on the pipeline.  Worst of everything, DON'T give up on your family because doing such is akin to giving up on yourself.

Such is life.  At various points in our life, we could be badly beaten, bruised or just totally obliterated.  But even if are clutching on straws, there is ZERO-reason for you to give up.  True, life is damn difficult when you face setback after a setback, a problem after a problem.  It will be extremely hard to remain optimistic and keep the same perspective of RESILIENCE  Indeed, when life is tough, GIVING UP SEEMS THE EASIEST ?

The reality is that when we contemplate giving up, there's a lot more in our INNER STRENGTH that remains untapped.  Heard of stories when Hurricane Katrina hit hard Southern U.S. ?  When residents are unable to explain how suddenly he was able to lift a refrigerator with bare hands ?  Or how a volunteer managed to overpower the sheer heat of the Australian wild bushfires all by himself ?  Or someone performing emergency PCR for the very first time and lo and behold, he managed to bring the dying patient to the hospital ?  The biggest challenge though for us when we are at our lowest point is how to OVERCOME that NEGATIVITY that starts to creep from within ?

I may sound morbid BUT the truth of the matter is that there is only one certainty in life and that's death.  As long as you are alive, you just do NOT have any excuse to declare that you CAN'T.  If you put your mind into it, you can practically do anything because anything is possible,  This might sound as a cliche advice that YOU CAN because YOU ARE ALIVE but this becomes extremely important because this should remind us of the ticking clock which is our life.

C'mon guys.  It's but time to get back on our feet.  BELIEVE IN YOURSELF.  That is a pre-requisite.  Then, you don't want to REGRET, right ?  So, dump that negativity.  On the other hand, you NEED TO PROVE [both to yourself and to the world] that YES YOU CAN DO IT.  And look forward to your future success because SUCCESS FEELS GREAT.  There's just no other better feeling in this world than knowing that you did face obstacles in life and only your true GRIT + DETERMINATION helped you overcome that mountain of a hump.  Lastly, remember this trajectory.  WHEN YOU'RE DOWN, THERE'S NO OTHER WAY TO GO BUT UP❗❗❗

Playing Not to Lose

Playing Not to Lose

This can't be denied.  That we're all deployed in long-running games.  You don't even need to know playing Chess, Checkers, Dominoes or even Mahjong.  We're all tied to our lives which are running a lifetime of games.  Hence this thread because it is worrisome to see some of us Playing Not to Lose because that's not the mindset we recommend and expect if only to survive.

Are you aware in what situations [or games] are you most effective and likely to excel ?  And what factors strengthen [or undermine] your motivation ?  Oh well, there is no one size that fits all because PERSONALITY MATTERS.  Thing is, motivational focus affects how we approach life's challenges and demands.  Promotion-focused people see their goals as a CREATING A PATH to gain or an advancement abd concentrate on the rewards that will accrue when they achieve them.  They are the ones eager as they PLAY TO WIN.   Downside is, all the chance taking, speedy working and positive thinking makes these individuals more error-prone, less likely to think things through and usually unprepared with a Plan B if things go wrong.

On the other hand, prevention-focused people see their goals as their responsibilities, and they remain focused at it.  They often worry what might go wrong if they don't work hard enough or aren't careful enough.  They tend to be vigilant and play NOT TO LOSE, to hang on to what they have, to maintain the STATUS QUO.  They are often more risk averse, but their work is more thorough and accurate enough.

Although everyone is concerned at various times with both promotion and prevention type of personalities, most of us do have a dominant motivational focus.  it affects what we pay attention to, what we value, and how we feel when we succeed or fail.  It determines our strengths and weaknesses as well.  And this explains why the decisions and preferences  of differently focused people can seem odd at times.

Now for the harsh reality.  To play merely to participate is SELF-DEAFEATING.  It is a recipe of MEDIOCRITY.  The thing is, WINNING is all that matters in life and in fact, it is the ultimate criterion of SUCCESS.  Bluntly, if you want to wake up come next day simply because of it, you're positioning one foot into the precipice of failure.  But do you really deserve to lose after PLAYING NOT TO LOSE❓❓❓

Don't Disappear Into the WOODPILE

Don't Disappear Into the WOODPILE

True, there will be extreme and stretched circumstances in our life when we may just disappear altogether but it should not be caused by a one-off thing.  Otherwise, the stern reminder to us all is:  Don't Disappear Into the WOODPILE.  Why ?  Simple.  Unless it is the 'end of the world', then it is NOT yet the 'end of the world'.  And if it's not, why do you need to Disappear Into the WOODPIL ?  No one deserves to end up in ignominy unless nothing can be worst than you.

Breakups.  Bankruptcy.  Controversy. Crisis.  Medical Illness.  Natural Disasters. Tragedy. These are all givens in life but not anyone of these should cause us to Disappear Into the WOODPILE because that is akin to raising the white flag.  But still, this is just not acceptable at all.  Why give up when you've got an ounce pf energy yet ?  Why throw everything to waste when you have invested so much time, efforts and probably $$$$$ ?  Why let everything that have been exerted, spent and exhausted suddenly go down the drain ?

BTW, you may have not [yet] disappeared underneath that WOODPILE but if you are just one of those books inserted incognito in the endless run of bookshelves, that does not make things much different because INCOGNITO mode is still INCOGNITO.  But after going through all the chalenges, do you deserve to be in INCOGNITO ?

Why do we need to suffer in IGNOMINY ? Even if our fuel tank is almost running empty.  You still got a liter or two left, right ?  At worst,  you've got that fuel tank with you.  Truth of the matter is that things usually feel out of control when we begin to neglect or ignore the things and people who matter to us, even if it is temporary.  It's at those times that we start wondering how to to get our life back on track.  It is also about understanding that once you let one thing slide, it will become easier to let other things go, which will cause us to feel off balance.

So how do we get back our life back to track ?  This is no simple formula but whatever it takes, you got to anyway.  So how ?  DO A LIFE AUDIT.  You need to figure out what things are running out of control.  Sometimes when life takes over and the frenetic fluidity takes place, we tend to neglect the vital areas that cause us to sacrifice our health, and even overcompensate our time and energy in relationships and things that aren't serving us.  Regardless, please Don't Disappear Into the WOODPILE❗❗❗

Our Weakest Link ?

Our Weakest Link ?

Good morning America and Canada.  Good afternoon Europe and Good evening Asia. Whether you are still up on your feet now or you're still in your deep slumber, we all share this commonality, Our Weakest Link that is.  Unfortunately, the human race is one damn bunch of species.  They all fall on their knees after they have outstretched their fortunes from strength to strength until it goes kaput.

BTW this real-time snapshot of the new Covid cases in the United States is just a sampling.  But across almost all countries today, the number of daily new Covid cases just didn't spike.  Spike will be a misnomer because the stratospheric increases has proven that everyone of us is wrong to a fault, and that includes almost all governments save for states with a tight grip like Malaysia and Singapore.

In Malaysia and Singapore, while theirs are indeed democracies, their governments know enough when to extend the carrot and when to crack the whip.  Swing over to the so called democracies where protest rallies and lawsuits will sprout like mushrooms.  Where do they stand now ?  One particular Asian state had as low as 200 new Covid cases a week ago.  Today, there are 10,000 new cases [and still counting], whew !

What does this all tell us ?  It's that MADAM COVID does not recognize countries, not even the G-10 or other axis of powers.  MADAM COVID is simply that Sword of Damocles hanging on top of us waiting and raring to swoop down once it becomes the best time to spring up the latest surprise [over and over again].  But hey, isn't this deja vu ?  How many times we insisted that we all subscribed to this poster that WE ARE ONLY AS STRONG AS OUR WEAKEST LINK but from thereon, it is all lip service.  No thanks to a human race of a FREE WORLD now kneeling at the mercy of MADAM COVID.

Ooops my apologies I am not trying to sound out Armageddon, not yet anyway.  But how SOON and how QUICK can we learn our lessons ?  When governments clamped down all industries because of this pandemic, the greedy BIG BUSINESS prayed and strongly LOBBIED to open up the economies for the sake of the country.  I hate to bluntly tear off that alibi because BIG BUSINESS is simply motivated by $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$. Now who is paying the price ?  Poor people.

DON'T Hurry Please !

DON'T Hurry Please !

Of course no one gets to admit that he/she is HURRYING UP although in reality, he/she is really HURRYING UP. You could be a student in the academe, a worker in a new job, a partner in a serious lifetime relationship or an upcoming entrepreneur.  Regardless, please.  Once you get into that HURRY UP mode, that throws a monkey wrench to everything else. So, we plead. DON'T Hurry Please !  Regardless of your circumstance, you will be going through a journey [and without being a pessimist or worst an alarmist, it could be a roller coaster ride].  The outcome of that journey ?  We can only speculate but we won't thread into unknown waters for now.

Not our fault that many of us have been so blessed for back-to-back-to-back blessings showered on us but the downside here is that we end up getting used to be on the HIGH ROAD of success.  In the end, when we hit those rough patches, it's like the whole world has crumbled down on our feet and there's no way to eke out.  Can't we just accept the fact that ours is a roller-coaster ride and that will be till the finish line.  What happens then is what should motivate us.

RUSH ?  if at all, the only places where RUSHING will be a constant are the central train stations of New York and Tokyo.  Other than those transit points, there is NO reason to rush through life.  But the harsh reality is that today, we RUSH to do everything, from eating, getting information, from judging and making premature conclusions down to even adulting [because no one wants to be a kid anymore, whew].  But what's the whole point of rushing really ?  Truth of the matter, everyone is in that RUSH mode because we can hardly wait.

    

What a life, indeed.  There is this constant feeling of never being good enough.  Now to insert this latest breaking news [yesterday from local showbiz], the celebrated couple mutually agreed to call it quits [after a whirlwind of about three months since they let the cat out of the bag].  But how did this 'power couple' quit lightning quick ?  My prognosis:  they RUSHED into that commitment phase as if time was ticking out.   

Rushing into action, you FAIL.  Trying to grasp things, you FAIL.  Rushing a project for completion, you FAIL. Isn't that the TRUTH OF LIFE, though ?  Constantly moving.  We are always looking for the next BIG THING.  We DON'T want to be stagnant.  Whether professionally, personally or in our relationships, there is always that constant feeling of us NOT BEING GOOD ENOUGH.  What does this all tell us.  It all boils down to the fact that as much as nothing is good enough to us, we got to accept that LIFE is a PROCESS and there are no shortcuts to go through that gauntlet.  Can we accept this mantra that LIFE is a PROCESS ✅✅✅

Don't Close the Barn Door After the Horses Left

Don't Close the Barn Door After the Horses Left

I guess it's just human nature, that instinct, when we lose or missed out on something, the tendency is to 'shut off' our blinders Whether you failed in a job interview OR you failed to hurdle defending your thesis as part of your university graduation OR your partner/spouse walked out of the door OR your creditors for your anemic business are abandoning you  Whatever situation you are now locked in, just Don't Close the Barn Door After the Horses Left because for multifarious reasons, that is NOT the next logical action you need to take.

If there's a four-letter word we need to dump now as in now, it is the word QUIT because to QUIT means the end of things.  This akin to being dead even before you die.  For the self-doubters, allow us to convince you why you should NOT QUIT.  Where you are now, that is meant to happen.  And so is the fact that you're still alive and kicking.  And who wants to regret for giving up ?

What can keep you going ? Oh yeah, you can have your support structure, your helpline but they can only do so much.  At the end of the day, it's only YOU who can make or break things.  Your loved ones can put up the pressure on you but no one will be better and effective than YOU yourself in cracking the whip, in letting you grind and grind till you hit a concrete wall that's insurmountable

Even when things have seemingly dried up, look up because the fruit-bearing tree will still bear that fruit.  But what's the trade-off ?  Tons and tons of patience, perseverance and persistence.  In three curt words, NEVER GIVE UP.  On a personal note, I can share how did it when I was at my lowest point [at that time when I was not yet an immigrant in that country where eventually I acquired my citizenship naturalization.  Rather than risk the ongoing process of my immigrant papers, when the immigration bureau stamped my visa to expire in two weeks, I made sure I'll fly out [airborne and not via land travel] a day before my visa expires.  Why did I have to fly off and fly back come next day ?  It's simply to comply with immigration re-entry policies.

Did I hit the payoff ?  Yesirrrrs, I eventually secured my naturalized citizenship after all the hardships which really pushed me against the wall.  And at the cost of forking several hundred USD for each round trip airfare ticket [to two other nearby countries where I travelled alternately solely for the sole purpose of 'resetting' passport's re-entry stamps so that I can get stamped for a fresh 30 days].  Just many ways to skin a cat✅✅✅

The Day After

The Day After

Happy New Year !  The Day After New Year's Eve has been always been the most sought day of the year.  And everyone prepares for it, which is that understandable considering that, whether you are Tom, Dick or Harry, we all want to have be the best prepared self come New Year's Day.  But other than that pre-occupation, what other efforts have we exerted for us to deserve the dawning of New Year's Day ?  Surely though, everyone deserves to await New Year but that's just scratching the surface.

BTW, it's true the next 365 days MAY lead to opportunities for us but not to sound an alarmist, those opportunities may NOT arise. Not because they will be as scarce as the Covid vaccines but rather, more often, we are the catalyst of such opportunities.  In fact and in truth, an opportunity may be right there staring in our face but unless we have the motivation and the gumption to take it, it may just slip way behind us.

What then is the FIX ?  Simple.  We got to WALK THE TALK, as this poster from the World Health Organization shows. All the preachings has got to stop.  It's time for us to match the words with actions.  Plans ?  Plans cannot be in the doldrums forever.  Sounds familiar ?  You could have witnessed this kind of conundrum wherein people are so gifted with glib such that he keeps blabbering all bout his PLANS PLANS PLANS but that's it ?

But is it that tough to turn words into action?  YES and NO.  YES if you seem to be steel-footed that it's an agony to lift it.  NO if you put your ideas even if they are initially vague and ambiguous idead and thoughts crystal clear enough as inputs when you grab the pen to start scribbling it.  Truth is. in life, a complex thing can be much more than just complex if we so thought that way.  Voila, a simple thing can even be much simpler simply because you think so.  

Why can the three-letter word 'ACT' seem that simple ?  Simple.  Because ACTION CHANGES THINGS.  No amount of hosannah can really alter this paradigm.  It's akin to crossing that river.  The odds may seem insurmountable and the cards may be stacked against you but if did figure out an action plan to frontally attack it, only then when ACTION CHANGES THINGS  As we clocked in to the first day of 2022, let us think of THE DAY AFTER✅✅✅