KISS [Keep It Simple, S__]

Wikipedia says that the KISS Principle is a design principle first noted by the U.S. Navy way back the 1960s.  Over time, the KISS Principle was tweaked a zillion times BUT I'd like to relate it to our life for us to KISS [Keep It Simple, S__].  Firstly, we CAN'T have a simple life if we remain adamant and resistant and worst, unwilling to let go of WHAT we were used to.  IF you were used to be a 'road warrior' [WHICH I used to be, WHEN I was literally 'living my life on a suitcase'] BUT if your pace in life today has significantly slackened, it's NOT sufficient to accept it BUT you got to embrace it, be thankful that you are in that situation WHERE you are now because that helps you to KEEP IT SIMPLE📘📙📗

Oh yes, NOT too long ago, we were given tons of options to subscribe for our Cable TV programs.  I remember even HBO had to toss-out several options, e.g. HBO Max, HBO Signature, etc].  Then, the Covid-19 pandemic hit us hard, suddenly even the institutions of local TV channels suddenly went off the air.  And for about five years, the local entertainment industry grappled to survive with the new [harsh] realities in life.  And it impacted all of us, down to the local TV audiences💥💥💥

Truth is, we all have to subscribe to the age-old adage that the only permanent thing in life is CHANGE.  With that Covid-19 pandemic, it turned upside down the job market because, NOT by choice, employers were constrained to keep their engines running and cranking even in the midst of the pandemic.  Today, even after we're over that hump, the 'new normal' these days is working-from-home💦💦💦

So, WHAT happens if we DON'T KEEP THINGS SIMPLE?  It's anything goes and life will be full of distractions, trust me.  Constant internet, social media, movie streaming, those mobile apps, those games, take a hodge-podge of it and you can have a life that is anything BUT SIMPLE.  A recurring dilemma we face is that often, we tend to overcommit, WHETHER that means overcommitting to deliverables, to schedules, to outputs.  We end up stretching up thinly ourselves till we run kaput💥💥💥

Our takeaway:  Much as we keep preaching that we need to KEEP OUR LIFE SIMPLE, do provision for that buffering to cater for overflows either in your time, finances OR even in your attention span because we need to cater for those times when we overshoot our allocated time, budgeted finances OR even our attention.  YES dude, despite the complexities in life, we've got to KEEP IT SIMPLE😊😊😊

Reading The Room

In every gathering, whether formal OR informal, and even amongst those random kibitzers and hobnobbing, there's that explicit discussion happening [WHEN the words are spoken out lout] and the tacit ones as well.  As long as you part and parcel of that discussion, it just makes sense that we understand the underlying conversations and reactions that people in the room are having.  It's WHEN Reading The Room is a must-do📗📙📘

BUT WHAT IF you are NOT picking up on those subtle cues, HOW can we learn to do so?  WHAT signals should we be looking for?  And most importantly, is there anything we can do to influence the unspoken dynamics?  In concrete terms, this is NOT rocket science.  SO HOW?  The best way is to pay attention to the people in it.  Even noting WHO is next to WHOM, WHO seems relaxed, WHO's seated, WHO's standing and even WHO seems to be fidgety😒😒😒

HOW's the mood in the room?  Does it seem to be relaxed? OR is some tension brewing?  BUT it DOESN'T stop there.  We got to think about the possible reasons for the emotional states especially the 'outlier' ones.  LIKE WHAT's happening in their lives and jobs?  This can be tricky if you DON'T know well enough the people 'in the room' although you can still come up with your hypotheses.  Then if needed, you can check and tactfully validate those hypotheses with the relevant person💦💦💦

LIKE, 'in the meeting, I saw you furrow your brow WHEN our discussion turned to that big project.  HOW do you feel about it?  Hold on, you might wonder WHY we're even talking about this today?  It's because psychologists encourage us to improve our 'READING THE ROOM' skills because this is crucial for social-emotional learning.  And this is something we CAN'T get away with, UNLESS we'd like to live in the confines of the cavernous caves at Balochistan💥💥💥

    

Our takeaway:  Through the years, I realized that WHEN we are in 'no man's land' OR if we're that newbie in the organization, YES we endeavor to READ THE ROOM, trying to be incisive.  BUT swing over to the gatherings WHERE we're with our family and relatives OR close friends, we tend to let loose our guard, being that complacent and NOT mindful that even if you're in the midst of your family OR your close coterie of friends.  Regardless, it behooves that we constantly READ THE ROOM to be mindful, to be sensitive and to be conscious as we co-exist with others because at the end of the day, we want to co-exist in a room WHERE there's harmony and euphony [rather than cacophony OR dissent]😌😌😌

Oooops, DON'T Let Go Unless.....

Oooops, DON'T Let Go Unless.....

True, everyday day-in day-out, we meet people, some strangers, some friends, WHO bring out the best in us and splash a palette of colors in an otherwise black-and-white life.  True, WHO we are and WHAT we become is NEVER a one-man effort.  Everyone in our lives holds a stake in turning us into the person we are.  Their thoughts, their outlook, on life and their passion burns beyond our own lives.  Instead, they leave pieces of themselves in us just as we do in them.  YES, they do leave pieces of themselves in us just as we do in them.  And this poster I grabbed CAN'T be farther from the truth, that is, for us to keep people in our life based on those listed criteria. Oooops, DON'T Let Go Unless.....📗📙📘

I might sound emotional BUT the real truth is that we are all the people we've met and all the people we've lost. We are all the exes that loved us and even all crushes that DIDN'T.  We are all the people WHO are still in our lives and all the people WHO'VE left.  True, it seems quite a tragedy that love DOESN'T reign every time all the time.  BUT it is a much bigger tragedy WHEN we erase people from our lives and pretend like they DIDN'T exist anymore OR at all.  We've always heard that we're supposed to let someone go totally.  Oh Oh Oh, that we'll NEVER heal if they're still around.  Heck, even if we said that WHEN something has run its full course, it's time for us to let it go📌📌📌

BUT let's be reasonable and logical, all rolled into one, here:  Letting go DOESN'T always mean forgetting a person OR erasing them because we just CANNOT.  Maybe it's about preserving a place for them in our hearts.  Will erasing them destroy every piece of them that resides within us?  Will removing them make us forget about everything they've taught us?  Will we stop doing something we love because they were the ones WHO got us into it???

NOT really.  True, it's heartbreaking to either leave OR to be left.  That aching feeling WHEN you learn that your love was unrequited love OR that a shared moment with another person could NOT amount to anything more, leaves you feeling somewhat empty and numb.  One second you're head over heels with them as they sit across the dinner table.  Next thing you know, you're wondering if that was the last moment you shared with them.  If this was all there was to it, really?  YES it could be hard, and harder💧💧💧

Our takeaway:  True, there are countless ideal WHAT IFs in life but that's WHAT idealism is all about.  YES, this is a thought-provoking perspective that we rarely come across.  BTW, admiring people DOESN'T always have to be a romantic relationship.  There are multifarious ways to connect with each other and they are NOT less important.  And YES, much as we are encouraged to embrace change, sometimes, we will stumble across that irresistible force and IF and WHEN that does occur, then as this Snoopy poster goes, LET IT GO.  Ooooops, DON'T LET GO UNLESS.......... you have to💥💥💥

Keep Stacking Days!

Keep Stacking Days!

In the competitive and punishing world of the very competitive NBA in the United States, teams are allowed to have up to 15 regular players and up to 3 players on two-way deals [which means they are limited to play up to a max of 50 games and are excluded from any playoffs games.  With a team that deep enough, in every game, the NBA coaches will rotate up to a max of 9 to 10 players. That leaves around 5 to 8 either on the bench or are tagged as 'DNP' [did not play'].  YET, coaches keep encouraging the benchers to Keep Stacking Days!  And more importantly, they are encouraged to be ready AS IN ready anytime their number is called by the coach to come into the game.  And they're reminded to Keep Stacking Days📗📙📘

In our life, that competitiveness in the NBA comes into play every day as well.  LIKE when we're still in the academe and the class includes high-flyers, HOW can you stand out in the crowd?  That's to KEEP STACKING DAYS.  WHEN your name is called OR if there is a chance to 'show up', do 'show up' so that you'll be recognized.  LIKE when you're an upstart entrepreneur just having your startup business in one corner of a busy mall.  HOW can people recognize a relative unknown in the market?  WHEN a customer does come to you, DON'T leave a single stone unturned to impress upon the customer that they made the right choice WHEN they patronized either your product OR your service.  LIKE when you're a novice in the organization and you're still an 'UNKNOWN quantity' [especially to the bosses].  Etch your mark as much as you can and KEEP STACKING DAYS💥💥💥

LIKE when you finally got married and settled down, WHAT happens after the honeymoon?  Reality sinks, right?  So WHAT do we need to do?  KEEP STACKING DAYS.  Those days WHEN the stars were always aligned in your favor, mark those days in the calendar.  WHEN you become a wheeler-dealer with customers, you get embroiled into no holds barred 'give and take'.  KEEP STACKING DAYS✅✅✅

To KEEP STACKING DAYS also means that during those situations WHERE you gave in OR acquiesced to someone's wishes OR request, create that VIRTUAL GOODWILL ACCOUNT where you simply list down every single time you gave in as an ACT OF GOODWILL.  And that will be like your savings account where your deposits keep piling up [even in drips and drops]😌😌😌

Our takeaway:  Our journey, our interactions will NOT always run on paved, smooth roads and highways.  Sometimes [OR maybe many times] there will be potholes OR even gaping holes that will spoil your journey and that will cause you to eventually lose your momentum.  BUT if during the early stretches of your journey, you were able to reinforce your motivation, the temporary threat to your journey's momentum can be pre-empted by your motivation that has piled up when you KEPT STACKING DAYS.  So WHAT happens if you're on a losing streak?  Same story dude.  Dip into your GOODWILL ACCOUNT and clutch to those flickering hopes that will keep your head at the very least above water level [so that you DON'T get drowned].  KEEP STACKING DAYS dude❗❗❗

Putting All Things Together [That's NO Rocket Science]

Putting All Things Together [That's NO Rocket Science]

Awhile ago, out of curiosity, I did a Google Search of "SECRET OF HAPPINESS" and NOT to my surprise, there were over 7,500,000 search results.  My outright conclusion:  That's a hell lot of people writing about and searching for something that has already been found a zillion times through the centuries.  I also stumbled across the 'Grant and Glueck' Studies from Harvard WHICH tracked 724 research participants from various walks of life over the course of 75 years to figure out WHAT is the reason OR factor that helped them achieve HAPPINESS.  And the result was one word:  RELATIONSHIPS.  But the research qualified that it's NOT RELATIONSHIPS per se BUT it means, within RELATIONSHIPS, Putting All Things Together [That's NO Rocket Science]📗📙📘

In the fewest words, the Harvard researches concluded that "THE CLEAREST MESSAGE THAT WE GET FROM THE 75-YEAR STUDY IS THAT GOOD RELATIONSHIPS KEEP US HAPPIER AND HEALTHIER, PERIOD".  Translating into simpler terms, the QUALITY of life, both emotionally, physically and mentally, is directly proportional to the quality of our relationships.  BUT the researchers do cautioned us.  THAT if there's one thing most of us have learned, it is the fact that just knowing a lot of people ISN'T enough.  In other words, RELATIONSHIPS is NOT all about quantity.  You can be the friendliest guy in the neighborhood BUT WHAT GIVES if those are hollowed RELATIONSHIPS❎❎❎

In short, we are counselled that true fulfillment in RELATIONSHIPS is about that genuine 'CONNECTION' and one of the most efficient ways to form that connection is by practicing WHAT the psychologists have coined as 'POSITIVE ALACRITY', that skill we define as creating those micro-micro experiences that can contribute and eventually trigger an emotional uplifting in others✅✅✅

Playing devil's advocate, I was talking to myself and asking:  DID WE REALLY NEED THAT 75-YEAR STUDY?  Probably NOT at all because supposedly, that's a given, a no-brainer we all knew all along.  So, the big puzzler here is WHY do we still [often] struggle to treat many of the most important relationships in our lives with the reverence and priority WHICH all along we know they deserve?  Let's rattle off real-life scenarios.  LIKE WHEN we're under stress, we have that tendency to be ruder to your spouse/partner as compared to a stranger📌📌📌

Our takeaway:  There are many more eye-openers in our life. LIKE when building up a startup business, you're willing to grind in 60-hour weeks and YET you can hardly spare an hour with your family?  OR once in that business, you may fail to consistently and proactively invest in deepening professional relationships that might even provide the breakthrough opportunities you need.  We can go on and on BUT the stark conclusion here is that you got to PUT ALL THINGS TOGETHER in a holistic manner [and NOT SILO'd] so you can achieve that lasting and genuine HAPPINESS you deserve😌😌😌

Viewpoints And Perspective Are Top Life Factors!

Viewpoints And Perspective Are Top Life Factors!

Sharing a Quora.com post by Frank Abah:  WHEN Virgin Atlantic CEO Richard Branson unexpectedly dropped by a Virgin Atlantic branch office, he discovered an employee dozing off on a couch.  He snapped a picture next to him WHICH he later posted online with this shocking caption:  THIS EMPLOYEE WORKED SO HARD TO REMAIN THE FIRST COMPANY IN THE CUSTOMERS' SATISFACTION AND NOW HE'S TIRED, WHICH FORCED HIM TO REST A LITTLE.  Indeed. Viewpoints And Perspective Are Top Life Factors!!!

Indeed, a wider picture represents two individuals standing on either side of the number 9 that has been drawn on the floor.  For one person, it appears as the number 6 and for another, it's the number 9.  WHO is right and WHO is wrong?  Obviously , they both are right yet they both are wrong in the eyes of another individual because of the viewing perspective.  This is the simplest example showing perspective meaning

If people simply understand that a life perspective can be changed. molded and explained, the world can be a better place for all.  It can put end to fights, wars, even daily quarrels and much more.  The only requirement is to see things from another person's perspective.  We can make a perfect society with responsible adults if we teach our children about the PERSPECTIVE and its importance.  To learn HOW to see things from another person's perspective, you must learn the fundamentals of PERSPECTIVE.  You need to know WHAT a life PERSPECTIVE is in the first place.  YES dude, in our personal lives, few things are absolutely right OR wrong.  Mainly, we have two different PERSPECTIVES on one thing.  For instance, for one person, something extremely bad is just something normal for another.  And on the surface, that seems to be a non-issue

YES, it is easy to come across a lot of different debates especially online these days.  And NOT to anyone's surprise OR shock, there are a hell lot of polarizing debates around relationships, politics and even the zillion nuances in life, practically covering anything that has two sides to the story OR binary thinking.  Then, social media gets into the picture and suddenly, we have an entirely different ballgame!@#$%?

Our takeaway:  YESsirrrrrrs, when social media gets into the picture, fasten your seatbelt because even that old school of thought that there are two sides of a coin, that will be thrown out of the window.  WHY?  If there are ten folks giving their UNSOLICITED opinions, expect to hear ten versions. WOW, WOW, WOW, YES dude, VIEWPOINTS AND PERSPECTIVES ARE TOP LIFE FACTORS, indeed!!!

Outliers Are Outliers, Period.

Outliers Are Outliers, Period.

For alignment, let us quote definitions of OUTLIERS.  It is a data point that lies abnormally far away from other values in a dataset.  Let's take OUTLIERS in income.  Someone like Elon Musk WHO achieved a historic first by having his net worth breach $400 billion today, is a concrete example of an OUTLIER.  BUT we WON'T spend time on that.  Instead, we'd like to dissect how do we handle OUTLIERs in life.  YES, Outliers Are Outliers, Period.  Problem is, many times in our life, OUTLIERS do exist in incognito mode.  Even we ourselves, we often miss out to recognize that a particular situation is an OUTLIER📗📙📘

Let's swing back to our own selves.  WHAT IF in one of the stretches in our life, we seemed more mediocre in our performance, WHETHER that could be in our academics WHEN we were still in school OR WHEN we got employed.  And one day, your own boss calls you for a confidential discussion, highlighting a miscue you caused OR a quality defect you own at work.  Come next month, you get flagged down again for a different issue.  One day, you hit the nail on its head and voila, you were commended by your client, whoa!!!

Problem is, you thought the most recent client commendation you received reaffirmed that you are a TOP PERFORMER [really?] WHEN in truth and IN FACT, your most recent work performance was more of an OUTLIER.  That's the issue there.  Just because we had that FLASH IN THE PAN performance, all so suddenly we got 'drowned' with the commendations and we started to [WRONGLY] think that we were indeed a TOP PERFORMER?  Dude, that's the time to separate the shaft from the wheat💥💥💥

SO HOW?  it's plainly straightforward.  Anything that's consistent OR fairly regular, then that's NOT an OUTLIER.  BUT if you do receive client commendations  interspersed with a streak of foul-ups at work, pick up the gauntlet, take on that challenge to turn around that OUTLIER of a good performance and make it consistent enough.  Otherwise, an OUTLIER will remain an OUTLIER.  How about your relationships with your partner/spouse, your family, your work colleagues, HOW is it going???

Our takeaway:  IF it means being compared to your peers and all performance data support that you are the TOP PERFORMER while the rest of the pack are mediocre, then you yourself is the recognized OUTLIER from a positive perspective.  BUT if in your relationships, more often you are at fault and once in a while, you become a FLASH IN THE PAN, then you're a classic example of an unwelcome OUTLIER.  Yes dude, OUTLIERS are OUTLIERS, period.  Would you be one???

The Action Is The Juice

Allow me to quote this one-liner from the 1995 movie 'HEAT' of Tom Sizemore where he said:  The Action Is The Juice.  Point in that one-liner is that the thrill of the action is more important than the payoff.  In real life, that can be translated to mean refers to our desire to continue seeking the thrill of action even in the midst of life-changing twists and turns. In that heist movie, the very payoff [of that heist] fades into the background WHEREAS the thrill of the heist itself is WHERE it's at.  In the fewest words, the message in that movie was that the risk is worth taking.  Such predicament happens in our life many times and the way we arrive at our decision will either tilt it in our favor OR not📗📙📘

Many years ago, WHEN all I can afford as my first car was an old car where I was the third-owner.  And my very close friend WHO happens to know the INs and OUTs of a car mechanic, volunteered to tweak my car such that after I turn on the ignition key, that's the time I will turn on the switch for the radiator.  WHEN I shared that tweak to my boss then, he commented that that SMALL benefit is NOT worth it given the HIGH risk [WHAT IF I forgot to turn-on the radiator's switch].  Indeed, life does NOT tell us to take on all the risks we may stumble across.  WHERE does that lead us to?  It's for us NOT to forget OR miss out the fact that the best part of that whole journey is NOT necessarily the final end, the ultimate result BUT it's the journey itself every step of the way💧💧💧

On a first-person basis, I witnessed a father WHO worked for more than thirty years overseas and through the years, he was dutiful enough to ensure sending all the financial needs of his family, specifically his two sons.  And besides the financial aspect, given the distance between their home and the sons' universities, the responsible father rented a condo unit that was walking distance to their university.  NOT to mention that they had their laptops and iPhones, name it💥💥💥

Fast-forward as we speak now, very sadly, those two sons have NOT graduated from their respective university courses despite the fact that their hard-working father was responsible enough through the decades in fact.  WHERE's the miss [OR misses] there?  YES dude, without really nitpicking, the responsible father seemed so focused in complying with his responsibilities [especially the financial aspect] BUT he missed BIG TIME relishing the action itself😊😊😊

Our takeaway:  That's precisely the point here.  Let us avoid missing the whole picture.  True, we are so glued with and at that final destination BUT what is equally important is our focus as to WHERE THE ACTION IS.  Even the NBA coaches always remind their hoopsters that basketball game will last 4 quarters, so they've got to grind out the whole game and most importantly, they got to remember that the ACTION IS THE JUICE!!!

The Root Of The Rot

The Root Of The Rot

Have you ever had a problem that refused to go away?  NO matter WHAT you did, sooner OR later it would return, perhaps in another form.  Then stubborn OR recurring problems are [in REALITY] often symptoms of chronic OR deeper issues.  True, 'QUICK FIXES' may seem easy and convenient BUT in reality, they often solve only the surface issues and end up waste resources that could otherwise be used to tackle the real ROOT CAUSE.  In short, to get to the very  Root Of The Rot, go deeper, way beyond the surface📗📙📘

In the corporate world, we were always equipped with that 'fish bone' analysis WHICH, in a nutshell, it framed the '5 WHYs' Technique'.  Simply put, keep asking WHY over and over again because that in essence drills down to the very root cause.  Then, WHEN a countermeasure becomes apparent, it is imperative that you will follow-through to 'nip things in the bud', for that recurring problem NOT to recur [again]💦💦💦

Now, let me play the devil's advocate.  WHEN do we use the 5 WHYs Technique?  Experts have concurred that this is the best and simplest technique to tackle and resolve relatively simple OR moderate problems and that includes troubleshooting, quality improvement and problem solving.  BUT for complex problems, it may NOT be that effective because the 5 WHYs Technique can lead you to pursue a single track OR a limited number of tracks WHEN in fact there could be multiple causes.  In those complex scenarios, the CAUSE and EFFECT analysis may be more effective then💧💧💧

Over time, though, the simple 5 WHYs Technique can often direct us quickly to the root cause of a problem.  So, whenever a process ISN'T working properly, let's GIVE IT A TRY  before we embark on a more in-depth approach [and certainly before we attempt to develop a solution].  The past donkey years, I bear witness to multiple situations WHERE people [wrongly[ thought they have FIXED a problem with finality, only to see that problem recur come next week, next month OR next year💥💥💥

Our takeaway:  Let us embed deep within us that discipline to get to the ROOT OF THE ROT because IF and WHEN we miss that out, we will get locked-in into that vicious cycle WHEN problems will continue to recur and haunt us over and over again.  BUT WHO wants to get caught into that chronic cycle?  Obviously no one BUT I've witnessed with my naked eyes many of us unconscious and unaware that we continue to miss out the boat because we fail to address recurring problems head-on with that 5 WHYs Technique.  BUT we DON'T want to be blamed for having done TOO little TOO late.  BUT hey, getting into the ROOT OF THE ROT is the way to go [if we're that dead serious dude]😊😊😊

Life Comes At You FAST

Life Comes At You FAST

In 1880, U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt wrote to his brother "MY HAPPINESS IS SO GREAT THAT IT MAKES ME ALMOST AFRAID".  From the time he got married, wrote a book, attended law school and won his first public office, that STREAK continued even WHEN his first daughter was born.  BUT two days later, is wife died and hours earlier, his mother died.  In his diary, he marked a Big 'X' in his diary and wrote "THE LIGHT HAS GONE OUT OF MY LIFE".  Sadly, Life Comes At You FAST📗📙📘

YES, very very true, as they say, LIFE COMES AT YOU FAST.  It can change in an instant.  Everything you built, everyone you hold dear, can be taken from you.  And for absolutely NO REASON.  [Knock on wood] Just as easily, you can be taken away from them too.  SO WHAT?  That's where STOICSM comes into this thread as STOICS continue to remind us that we need to be CONSTANTLY prepared for every single twist and turn in our fortunes💧💧💧

To swing from my kind of 'Nostradamus' mode now, we are always reminded that much as light flickers off, anytime that light can come back.  With President Roosevelt, after that spate of personal tragedies, that light didn't get extinguished permanently.  He became a great father, a great husband and a great leader of the United States.  BTW, this narrative is NOT just factually for President Roosevelt.  Looking back the past years of our own lives, surely you will come to that same realization, those TWISTS & TURNS in our life.  And BTW, that permeates any aspect of our lives, be it our own personal family life, our work life, our entrepreneurial life and even our social life💦💦💦

So WHAT GIVES?  Any day, anytime, AS IN anytime, LIFE COMES AT US FAST.  Those UPs and DOWNs.  Today.  Tomorrow.  And if there's anything that stands out, those UPs and DOWNs may pop-up WHEN we least expect it, especially those downturns, WHEN we quickly spin down deep south pretty fast.  And this is WHERE resilience gets into the picture as we need to develop and reinforce that attribute as we continue to anticipate any twist and downturn.  Much akin to the weather, the sun could be shining and dandy now BUT that DOESN'T get guaranteed forever❎❎❎

Our takeaway:  Even in the NBA world, things are harsher than it seems.  Today [and maybe for the past months], a hoopster is playing hoops at an A-level NOT UNTIL he gets injured, and gets sidelined indefinitely even as that downtime extends to months and even spills over to the next calendar year.  DON'T look farther.  We can be this healthy today BUT GOD knows.  We can only hope and pray that we remain this healthy through the farthest and longet stretches of our life because one day, YES dude, LIFE COMES AT YOU FAST💥💥💥