Not For The Faint-hearted

Not For The Faint-hearted

Lots of things in life are for everyone.  BUT there are turfs and things that are NOT for everyone though.  Acrimonious divorce. Bankruptcy.  Crisis.  Death-defying situations.  Emergencies.  High Risks.  Near-death.  Life-changing conflicts.  Most of these, if NOT all, are Not For The Faint-hearted.  It takes someone who's battle-scarred and a proven survivor who can be counted in.  But the rest of us, at best, it's a fighting chance💊💊💊

Not to look down on the Third World countries but the burning question is, what keeps the DIVIDE between the First World and the Third World countries to continue widening.  And within the Third World countries, what can explain the enormous gap between the HAVEs versus the HAVE NOTs?  Hold your breath, as of 2021 statistics, there are almost 12% Americans living in poverty and that equates to a 38-milion population, whew📌📌📌

And why are the business magnates and moguls continue to have their war chests zooming up way beyond what statistics can explain?  It's because they DON'T belong to the Faint-hearted.  Why are business conglomerates gobbling up markets unabatedly?  Simple.  NO one else is ready enough to pick up the mantle❌❌❌

So, for the Faint-hearted, what's the journey they can plot to embark to turn around things?  First off, DUMP your fears out there.  Any doubts and apprehensions DO NOT have a place for any Tom. Dick and Harry willing to pick up the gauntlet.  Secondly, ensure you have the sound fundamentals of your trade.  You just DON'T buy a major franchise if you DON'T have that business acumen, period❎❎❎

Thirdly, hope for the BEST but be prepared for the WORST.  Think of the most daunting nemesis you can ever face, yet 'prep' yourself NOT even have your eyes to blink at all.  Lastly, plot your journey towards your pre-set goal BUT ensure to have a feasible alternative plan of action once you HIT THE WALL because time is of the essence in your long, arduous journey❗❗❗

When It's FULL MOON

When It's FULL MOON

I vividly remember our childhood When It's FULL MOON, that's the time when children will run out of their houses after dinner and have fun with endless games, all played underneath the FULL MOON.  BUT the lack of awareness creeps in only when the moon starts to wane right after FULL MOON.  That's where we will draw the parallelism in life.  After the best of things, the only way to go is down south💊💊💊

So, where's the miss here?  It is us enjoying every bit of happiness that can be squeezed during the FULL MOON, totally overlooking that in due time, the FULL MOON will start to wane till it's gone and gone.  In our life, that has been a common scenario.  Everyone seems oblivious when things are nice and dandy.  NOT UNTIL when things turn around, by that time, the realization comes late📗📙📘

So what pricks the balloon after all the fun?  It is that eventuality that GOOD THINGS DO LAST [only until a certain point].  We CAN'T get drank with the coziness of things only to wake up when it is too late to really awaken ourselves to the reality that creeps in at the next corner.  On the other hand, there are those who are aware of the benefits to enjoy when it's FULL MOON but they tend to overlook it, till it WANES and it's gone❗❗❗

So, WHEN exactly should we make a move such that we DON'T end up doing all the catch up?  Good question.  In truth and in fact, we got to be on our toes even way before the FULL MOON shapes up.  Being a few laps ahead of things will give us the headway and breathing space way before things come to crunch and grind to a halt.  In life, that's our common miss.  We tend to do lots of catch up because when the FULL MOON is up there, we get immersed and consumed by its luster and beauty, missing that sooner that FULL MOON will wane💎💎💎

What's our lesson[s] here?  DON'T enjoy the fullness of things way beyond what is just right and reasonable.  DON'T let your guard down as if you are a retiree with a full chest of retirement funds enough till your last breath.  DON'T have too much of things.  TOO MUCH of anything is akin to having an overdose of medicines.  Anything in life has to be lived and enjoyed in moderation.  Never enjoy things by pushing yourself till you reach the edges of the cliff only to realize that all it takes is just one ill-advised step and you're done in life❎❎❎

Rain Falls Harder On A Leaky Roof

Rain Falls Harder On A Leaky Roof

Rain Falls Harder On A Leaky Roof, that's a common expression in Japan.  Simply put, this Japanese proverb points to the obvious need that our FOUNDATIONS in life should be robust and sturdy enough to withstand the unknowns and even the unpredictables in the future, else, worse things can turn to worst📌📌📌

And what are the FOUNDATIONS in our personal life?  It all bolls down to our relationships with our partner/spouse, our immediate family and loved ones, our colleagues and bosses at work, our customer base from our commercial operations.  We can equip and ready up ourselves for any future eventuality but NOTHING equates or supplants the importance of laying the groundwork for solid and strong foundations of relationships in our life⏳⏳⏳

People who end up mas casualties of the difficult phases in life which were not pre-empted, they would claim FORCE MAJEURE, that it is beyond their control.  Dude, when you hear that, that is a HALF-TRUTH because by then it is a fact that things are BEYOND CONTROL but the bigger and puzzling question is as to WHY and HOW you ended up in that FORCE MAJEURE situation.  WHAT have you laid down to prepare yourself when the heavy rains would simply throw you awash and offtrack📘📙📗

Let's play devil's advocate.  So what happens when you laid out the right foundations that are robust enough for whatever rainfall and typhoons that might hit you?  That makes you READY enough.  That leads you to RESILIENCE.  That leads you to be a step ahead of whatever unknown variables that might hit you down the road.  By that time, you have buttressed your defenses in a proactive way, anticipating the worst✅✅✅

Borrowing the age-old Japanese way of doing things, when compared to the western world wherein people spend 20% planning and 80% for the execution, Japanese best practice shows us approximately 80% planning and 20% execution.  What's the rationale for that big chunk of time + effort spent during planning?  They're preparing their roofs to be sturdy enough WHEN RAIN FALLS HARDER❗❗❗

FRAUD & SCAM Advisory: 11.01.2023

FRAUD & SCAM Advisory: 11.01.2023

Taking a break from our various threads, today please allow me to re-share our FRAUD & SCAM Advisory: 11.01.2023.  Acknowledging that I culled and consolidated the following information from various technology and banking sources.  One of the most common and popular activities these days are web-based transactions.  This is NOT a marketing stunt but I'm mentioning McAfee WebAdvisor as one of the popular tools to check the legitimacy of an online store and this offers free download📗📘📙

Bottom line is, NEVER initiate a web-based online transaction NOT UNTIL you have confirmed the legitimacy of the website.  Coming close to the heels of the risks and uncertainty of online stores and websites is the legitimacy of a company.  Even in the United States where technology is at the forefront, one in ten U.S. adults will fall victim to a FRAUD or SCAM every year💴💷💵

To protect yourself, re-sharing these TIPS:

1. Ensure the URL bar is secured via 'https'  
2. Check the CONTACT US page.  Validate it.
3. Review the company's social media presence
4. Double check domain names like 'Yah00.com'
5. Watch out for grammar & typos, that's a no-no
6. Verify the site's WEBSITE PRIVACY POLICY.
7. Run a scan for virus, phishing and malware
8. Validate the site with the Google Safe Browser Transparency Report and it's free @ https://transparencyreport.google.com/safe-browsing/search  
9. Lastly, WALK AWAY if it's too good to be true

For those using either of these browsers [Internet Explorer 11.0 or later, Chromium-based Microsoft Edge, Windows 10 Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox OR Google Chrome], the free download of McAfee WebAdvisor works fine with these browsers

TIPs to check if a company is genuine:

1. Do a GOOGLE SEARCH.  Look into the customer review and feedback pages will tell on a company's TRUSTWORTHINESS
2. Check the company website.  Look for RED FLAGS [e.g. doubtful contact info]
3. Check the company's legal webpage.  Every legit company has a LEGAL PAGE
4. Check for SECURE modes of payment
5. If feasible, visit the company address

The World Is HUGE [BUT We're Small]

The World Is HUGE [BUT We're Small]

The World Is HUGE [BUT We're Small], indeed it is.  We'll just NEVER have enough time for everything we want to do in our limited years.  And that stark TRUTH can bring despair if we constantly fight against it.  BUT instead of struggling, Bertrand Russell, the respected British philosopher, was quoted "LET YOUR INTEREST BE AS WIDE AS POSSIBLE AND LET YOUR REACTIONS TO THE THINGS AND PERSONS WHO INTEREST YOU BE AS FAR AS POSSIBLE FRIENDLY RATHER THAN HOSTILE"📌📌📌

Russell's key message here is that instead of struggling, he advises us to pick up areas of interests that captivate us [like AI [Artificial Intelligence] and the electric cars of Elon Musk] BUT basketball or chess would just as well.  In that way, we could temporarily slip the constraints of time and find momentary HAPPINESS📗📙📘

Modern research agrees with Russell that OPENNESS is very much linked to both creativity and intelligence and even to slow down MENTAL AGING.  Being open to new experiences seems to help us to keep our mind 'YOUNG'.  So, apparently, even science has found new benefits to being FRIENDLY rather than HOSTILE to new people, interests and ideas.  And should that initial CURIOSITY develop into a hobby, so much the better💎💎💎

Studies do show that having diverse interests helps us to develop a broader SENSE of SELF.  Like you're NOT just an entrepreneur or a dad but you could be a bowler and a surfer as well.  Which means that whenever we run into difficulties in one of these areas of life, we can draw STRENGTH and CONFIDENCE from others.  As they say, WHEN BUSINESS GETS ROCKY, THE SURFING WAVES MUST BE ROCKING❗❗❗

Indeed, exploring the world with a sense of wonder, developing a portfolio of interests and identities plus allowing ourselves to get 'LOST' in them regularly is the kind of HAPPINESS ADVICE just about anyone can implement.  Indeed, nothing can make our life less fleeting or even removing all the stress from our lives.  But with all the challenges [and noise] we face in our daily life, it seems like it could help if we can squeeze more HAPPINESS from our 'GOOD DAYS' and then, 'BUFFER' it for some of the 'BAD DAYS'.  We can till make things happen even if THE WORLD IS HUGE [BUT WE'RE SMALL]✅✅✅

Our 'TRUTH BOMBS' In Life

Our 'TRUTH BOMBS' In Life

Has anyone secured immunity or exemption from Our 'TRUTH BOMBS' In Life?  Certainly and absolutely none.  WHY?  Because TRUTH BOMBS are always the second variable of our equations in life.  We can make up stories, mock up things, build a fictitious facade, lead a charade in life, live a 'double' [or triple] life BUT at the end of the day, we have to pave the way for Our 'TRUTH BOMBS' In Life💎💎💎

Even the very much maligned Former U..S. President Donald Trump did drop the TRUTH BOMBS about Hunter Biden, the businessman-son of current U.S. President Joe Biden.  So, even the incumbent president of the most powerful country in the world [which makes its president the most powerful man on Earth] cannot just wear the veneers of teflon because he CAN'T be immune from TRUTH BOMBS.  Enough of U.S. political affairs though.  Let's swing back to our personal lives and look back, because very surely, at some point in our respective past, we did had our own TRUTH BOMBS which we had to drop📗📙📘

We can rattle off a sampling of our very own TRUTH BOMBS in our past.  THAT time in school when your parents had set the bar high with regard your academic performance only to end up with a blight.  THAT time when your parents entrusted you a certain budget for a specific purpose but you ended up squandering it for another thing.  THAT time when as a teen, you impregnated your fiance.  THAT time when everyone thought you were having a nice career until one day you were given the pink slip by HR😈😈😈

We can go on and on, we may need to burn the midnight oil just for sharing our list of TRUTH BOMBS from our past.  BUT the biggest question you might ask me, are TRUTH BOMBS akin to the nuclear bomb such that it will lead to the end of the world?  Let me reply back with a loud NO.  TRUTH BOMBS are NOT the death knell in our life but the severity of the issue at hand gives us a challenge that we need to face up❗❗❗

So, for TRUTH BOMBS, it is common that we eventually get to values, especialluy the ones we hold about TRUTH and honesty.  We tend to have a mixed relationship with TRUTH and honesty.  And many of us have found ourselves flailing in the aftermath of the damage when we drop that TRUTH BOMB on someone, sometimes to our partner/spouse, sometimes to our immediate family, sometimes to our boss.  When it becomes messy, handle it deftly✅✅✅

WHAT IF You Don't Gain Traction?

WHAT IF You Don't Gain Traction?

TRACTION?  Does it ring a bell?  For quite a plurality, TRACTION is NOT even a talking point.  You would hear naysayers just shrugging it off and retort "WHAT TRACTION ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT WHEN WE'RE TALKING?"  And this is where the disconnect lies. Many of us take that as long as things are ongoing or some form of communications does exist, then everything is within control and there are no potential roadblocks that seem to be surfacing albeit in a subtle way.  But WHAT IF You Don't Gain Traction? Isn't that a potential roadblock already❓❓❓

The disconnect here lies in the misconception that as long as things have kickstarted, then it will be like that airborne flight now on auto-pilot BUT that's absolutely NOT the case down here on Planet Earth.  Kickstarting things out remains as such, kickstarting.  What follows suit will be tons and tons of sweat and efforts for it to progress and more often, initially, things will progress until it reaches a snail's pace.  So when should we expect to GAIN TRACTION❓❓❓

Now, here's a visual question. WHO wants to be like this wheels, stuck and unable to inch and move forward?  And if take this as an example as to why the vehicle seems stuck?  It's downright due to the fact that the vehicle's tires miserably failed to gain TRACTION.  Now, let's swing back to our own life as it is here where we're drawing such parallelism📗📙📘

So, frankly, when could one be GAINING TRACTION?  If one is literally progressing towards his goal, be it a literal example of going up the stairs or progressing towards a pre-set goal or a project or initiative you commenced is really literally progressing💎💎💎

So, here's a WHAT IF.  WHAT IF we do not GAIN TRACTION?  The implications are fairly simple.  That ongoing initiative or journey, if you may call it, is NOT progressing from Point A to Point B.  From a project-standpoint, if you have reached Point B way a week ago and if based on your timelines, a week after you should be hovering somewhere Point E already, you are NOT GAINING TRACTION, period.  What behooves then is for you to extricate yourself from that deep morass, dude✅✅✅

Speak Up!

Speak Up!

Speak Up!  Everyone of us would always remember our first-day jitters, whether in school, at work, at a public event, at social events.  BUT that's never an issue because no one is exempted from going through the wringers in those first-day jitters.  BUT beyond the first day, when do we Speak Up

Let's look back the first time we joined a new organization.  It seemed THRILLING yet DAUNTING.  That EXCITEMENT of meeting new colleagues and making new friends.  The 'HIGH' of taking on new challenges.  The opportunities to learn things you never knew before

And the swag.  WHO doesn't like coffee mugs and laptop sleeves and that blazing t-shirt telling the world the great place you work in?  BUT as a newcomer, you also want to prove that you aren't completely raw.  From understanding HOW meetings are run to reading your boss since being new requires a level of focus to UNLEARN the norms of your previous job and train yourself anew based on the needs of your new organization

A very common 'refrain' we hear is that they DON'T know much because they are new in the organization.  What is being sorely missed here is the point that being NEW is NOT the same a being a NOVICE.  There is an apparent 'danger' in that belief because we might be tempted to let things slip under the guise of 'NOT UNDERSTANDING'

What is quite disturbing is that studies show that when people adopt a mentality of "THAT'S JUST THE WAY THINGS ARE DONE HERE" OR "I DON'T WANT TO ROCK THE BOAT", they are less likely to Speak Up.  Even in the confines of your home, if your partner/spouse does somethin or acts in a way that is quite concerning to you, you need to Speak Up instead of just shrugging off like "THAT'S THE WAY HE IS" because, with no bad faith intended, you end up condoning your partner/spouse's behavior or action if you deemed it had to be flagged.  Do Speak Up❗❗❗

Don't Make Moves With NO End Game

Don't Make Moves With NO End Game

No sirrrrrs, this is NOT about the board game of chess [although I play chess on the internet, it is more as my hobby].  BUT for today's thread, please allow me to draw the parallelism between life and chess,  NOT to refer to all the gambits, attacks and defensive moves but rather it infers to us making moves in chess and ensuring to NOT Make Moves With NO End Game.  If there is one thing we should be guilty to ourselves, it is all about starting things and then, oh so suddenly just ghosting !@#$%? Does this sound familiar [without imputing speculative and baseless accusations on you]📌📌📌

We all goals, ideas, plans and very nice dreams.  BUT even if we spend endless hours constructing a narrative about how impactful an idea can be, nothing changes if we DON'T deliver on that idea.  Bringing an idea into fruition is what really causes change to happen.  As responsible persons, parents, partner/spouse, office workers and entrepreneurs, our job is to FINISH WHAT WE BEGIN.  Sharing our completed work can be daunting BUT it also happens to be the most compelling CATALYST for CHANGE💊💊💊

So what's hampering us? It is those ROADBLOCKS.  And surprisingly, the most common ROADBLOCK is that mix-up between BEING READY versus BEING PREPARED.  Are you READY to get into the job market?  Are you READY to settle down and raise a family?  Are you READY to start up your business initiative💎💎💎

And if there is a simple word as our FIX, it is P-R-A-C-T-I-C-E.  PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE.  That's another word for PREPARATION.  But BTW I'm NOT referring to about being prepared because preparation is NOT the same with READY.  Being READY is an emotional choice , that decision to put something into the world and say, 'HERE, I MADE THIS'✅✅✅

At the end of day, let us go back to those points in our life when we start off on an initiative [out of EXCITEMENT] or we kick start a new project [out of sheer confidence because at that point, our 'FINANCIAL CHEST' is still brimming as a war chest.  BUT when the EXCITEMENT wanes, when our FINANCIAL CHEST gets thinner, suddenly we will end up with that ill-advised decision that you DON'T have to plot your moves for the END GAME?  That may be your death knell, dude❗❗❗

Why NARRATIVES Are Damn Important

Why NARRATIVES Are Damn Important

Do we buy it that of all things in life, our very NARRATIVES Are Damn Important?  Even APPLE, the giant company founded by Steve Jobs, hosted a special event last September 12th in Cupertino, California but as events hosting seem so trivial and mundane, APPLE, more than any other company, seemed to have mastered the ART of NARRATIVES📗📙📘

And as APPLE launches iPhone15, the very core of their 'STORY' is focused on how its products affect people's lives.  It has become an essential part of the way it launches its new products.  One of its favorite genres involves the stories HOW the APPLE WATCH has saved someone's life.  APPLE CEO Tim Cook has talked how the company gets letters from people WHO were wearing the APPLE WATCH, notifying them of irregular heartbeats, as an example  👠👠👠

Last September 12th, APPLE's iPhone15 Launch started with a four-minute film titled 'ANOTHER BIRTHDAY' and the film featured eight people [including a mom and her unborn daughter] who celebrated another birthday because their lives were SAVED by a feature on an APPLE device.  Just a snipper of the four-minute clip, there's the mother whose APPLE WATCH warned her of a high heart rate, causing doctors to rush her to an emergency delivery, SAVING both her life and her daughter's❗❗❗

Oh, that was incredibly effective [and that is NOT speaking hyperbole].  It was NOT the company saying 'BUY OUR STUFF OR YOU DIE IF YOU USE GALAXY PHONE' but instead, its NARRATIVE says "WE THINK THESE FEATURES ARE CORE PART OF GIVING PEOPLE PEACE OF MIND [AND THAT EXPERIENCE IS ESSENTIAL TO OUR BRAND].  Swinging over to our life, we got to admit that, as early as NOW [OR was it YESTERDAY], we should be crafting the narrative💎💎💎

Why did Hollywood's 'WALK OF FAME' become such an annual ritual so much so that it is a MUST-DO event for celebrities?  Simple.  It's because the NARRATIVE tells us that Hollywood celebrities are part of our lives in our living room, when we go for a movie binge, when we relish our 'lazy' weekends with movie streaming.  So, dude, do start crafting your NARRATIVE [in case you have yet to start it]❗❗❗