All Things BIG Started SMALL!

All Things BIG Started SMALL!

All Things BIG Started SMALL!  YES indeed.  Forage fish are the very cornerstones our marine ecosystems.  Even all the technology innovations we witness around us, NOT a single one from that lot ever sprung like a 'BIG BANG'.  NOT even the Apple products starting from the iPhone.  BTW, do you know that the iPhone itself was conceptualized by Fujitsu in Japan, including its IPR [intellectual property rights] BUT which rights were eventually bought out by Apple.  Even the global networks we now have connecting billions of people started off just as a scientific and academic laboratory initiative by the U.S. military.  Never was it a BIG BANG📗📙📘

Indeed, it is fascinating to consider that many things of those BIG things around us did start from SMALL beginnings.  To whet our appetite for BIG achievements, let us start things with SMALL thoughts that blossom into SMALL ideas until it gets crystallized and concretized.  BTW, when those SMALL thoughts eventually evolve, it's NOT a one-off evolution.  Many of those successes went into hundreds of iterations.  Even that fuel that gets into our car when we fuel-up, they were NOT drilled from the Middle East oil wells AS IS WHERE IS.  I remember when I was an entry-level assembler programmer, we had to run the linear programming scripts countless times, sometimes we ended up in the night, just to meet the Marine Supply and Demands deadline💧💧💧

By analogy, let's do a look-up at the BUTTERFLY EFFECT where a tiny movement in one part of the world can create a major change elsewhere.  SMALL acts, even like the fluttering of the butterfly's wings, can lead to massive impact.  In the university, if you want to finish up a BIG syllabus, start with one page.  Preparing for a major exams?  Start off by answering the first question in the module paper.  Want to write something, have a concrete idea to develop.  Want to have a business.  Draft your feasibility study NOT with aggressive and ambitious assumptions💦💦💦

Even in tiny Singapore, they have that 'SMART SMALL DREAM BIG' initiative officially supported by the government to encourage pre-schools to create authentic platforms for children to innovate, problem-solve and tap their unique strengths to help others.  And talking about Singapore, it was nothing BUT a tiny dot of Malaysia and in the midst of inter-racial tensions, most of the Malaysian Chinese gravitated to that tiny dot which is Singapore today.  As we speak now, Singapore may be a SMALL dot BUT in geo-politics, today Singapore is a respected global behemoth, economically, financially and even politically✅✅✅

Our takeaway:  Indeed, start SMALL before becoming that BIG.  Just to share a trivia, in our country, the  cut-throat competition amongst car dealers have gone too far to an extend that some car dealers even offer a ZERO DOWNPAYMENT to purchase a new car, whew!  True it sounds so enticing BUT I did get it from many bankers that their warehouses of mortgaged cars gone awry are unable to accommodate the overflow of those mortgaged cars with default payments.  YES, I did counsel a friend, start off with a second-hand vehicle for your first car until your financials have stabilized.  YES dude, ALL THINGS BIG START SMALL❗❗❗

Are FIXED DEPOSITS Still Safe From Scammers???

 

Traditionally, we are all taught that despite the scams happening everywhere, once we funnel our accounts via FIXED DEPOSITS, it becomes safe.  NOT so fast, dude, because the answer there is both a YES and NO.  As we all know, bank accounts can be 'taken over' by scammers if they gain access to your banking credentials.  So, are FIXED DEPOSITS safe from those 'bad actors'?  WHAT else can we do then???

In one particular Asian country, just in December 2024, at least 103 people were literally duped of at least US$ 122,00, no thanks to phishing scams involving the inpersonation of banks through spoofed SMSes.  A month earlier, an elderly pensioner lost almost $260,000 to scammers WHEN she sold her unit trust investments that she held WHEN she followed the instructions given to her by someone impersonating as the bank officer and before she knew it, it was GAME OVER💧💧💧

The truth is, with scammers gaining access to internet banking credentials and one-time passwords [OTP] through their deceptive tactics, bank accounts can then be easily 'taken over', and traditionally, secure investment products like FIXED DEPOSITS are now NO longer immune.  One misconception about FIXED DEPOSITS raises that scary risks to innocent people💥💥💥

One think WHERE we need to raise awareness is the misconception that FIXED DEPOSITS can be withdrawn only upon its maturity.  NO sirrrrrrs.  Even premature withdrawals are possible although it will incur some fees [BUT NOT significant enough to deter those scammers]😡😡😡

Our takeaway:  Dude, all it takes is for a scammer to have access to your internet banking account for your FIXED DEPOSIT account to be vulnerable and fall prey to another trick up in their sleeves.  Our fix:  UNLESS you have a compelling reason, please DO NOT ADD OR INCLUDE YOUR FIXED DEPOSIT ACCOUNTS within your internet banking account.  Please DO NOT BE LURED by the convenience of internet banking because in the first place, you DON'T intend to initiate transactions to that FIXED DEPOSIT, NOT UNTIL when maturity comes, right dude???

Heart Health Awareness

 

NO sirrrrrs, I'm NOT switching careers, NOT this late BTW.  BUT I thought it's more than mutually beneficial [for us all] to share these extracts and snippets from the expert sources.  WHAT caught me by my lapels was this recent Quora.com post by Vikash titled "5 SYMPTOMS APPEAR BEFORE THE HEART VEINS GET BLOCKED".  True, this is a scary topic BUT ISN'T this worth a fraction of our time today dude💚💛💜

Sharing EN TOTO:  Early Signs Of Heart Blockage: Nowadays, people with wrong eating habits and poor lifestyle are increasingly falling prey to heart diseases. Let us tell you that heart blockage or blockage of heart veins is considered to be the biggest cause of heart attack. When plaque accumulates in the veins around the heart, it can thin or block the coronary artery. This can obstruct blood flow to the heart, due to which enough oxygenated blood does not reach the heart. Due to this, symptoms like shortness of breath, chest pain or tightness and dizziness can be felt. If the blood flow to the heart is obstructed, it increases the risk of heart attack and other serious heart-related diseases

In such a situation, after recognizing these symptoms, you should immediately go to the doctor so that treatment can be started on time. Let us know in detail about the early symptoms of heart blockage.  

Chest pain - In case of blockage of the heart veins, chest pain or heaviness may be felt. Usually, this pain is felt in the middle of the chest or on the left side. But sometimes it can also spread to the shoulder, neck or jaw. 

Difficulty breathing - Difficulty in breathing can occur due to heart blockage. Actually, due to blockage in the arteries, sufficient amount of oxygen does not reach the body. This causes difficulty in breathing.

Dizziness - In case of heart blockage, the patient may have problems of fainting or dizziness. Actually, this happens due to lack of blood flow in the heart. 

Cold sweat - Excessive sweating can be a sign of heart blockage. If you are sweating cold and sticky without any apparent reason, do not ignore it. 

Extreme fatigue and weakness - Feeling extremely tired and weak can be a sign of heart blockage. If you feel tired and weak all the time even without doing much work, do not ignore it.

Our takeaway:  NOT to scare you out of your wits BUT regardless of age and culture, our HEART'S HEALTH is, call it, primus inter pares.  Amongst all the things we hope and dream in life [count in our landed properties, cars, family holidays, name it], our HEART's HEALTH should be at the top of the totem pole.  In the United States alone, the #1 cause of deaths due to medical illnesses is SCD [Sudden Cardiac Death].  Let's cross our fingers that we'll contribute to prune down these scary statistics😗😗😗

Don't Offer 'NUCLEAR PHYSICS' As A Topic [Unless You're An SME]

 

Allow me to share this Quora.com post by Keshto:  A man was sitting on the plane next to a young woman, without further ado he began to talk about all the titles he had and his profound knowledge, the young woman only listened, but the man did not stop showing off all his knowledge.  As the young lady didn't say anything, the man told her:  Let's chat.... I've heard that flights seem less long if you talk to the person next to you. The young lady who had just opened a book to start reading closed it slowly and said in a soft voice:  What would you like to talk about?  Well, I don't know... What about "nuclear physics"? he tells her in a mocking tone and showed him a big smile😄😄😄

Well, that seems to be an interesting topic, but first let me ask you a question... A horse, a cow and a sheep eat the same thing: grass; But, why is the sheep's excrement like small pellets, the cow's is a paste and the horse's looks like a ball of dry grass?  Why do you think that happens?

The man, visibly surprised by the young woman's intelligence, thought about it for a moment and said:  Hmm... I have no idea.  The young lady replied:  Do you really feel qualified to talk about nuclear physics, when you don't even know shit?  Such is life.  Sometimes, we come across people WHO either tend to carry their weight way more than their shadow.  OR at times, we tend to go beyond bounds and ending up in a domain area that looks like "NO MAN's LAND" for you❎❎❎

On the other hand, with no ill intentions OR no bad faith either, it is remarkably easy to do too much OR say too much particularly WHEN you either love WHAT you do OR if it's all verbals, you might be gifted with that rare glib.  True, you may indeed be fortunate to be in that situation BUT that may also mean that you are less likely to know WHEN you are tilting towards burnout.  Regardless, there are times WHEN we become more susceptible to losing ourselves in that adrenaline rush💥💥💥

Our takeaway:  One lesson I learned the hard way a couple of times now is WHEN I missed out to check my gut.  LIKE some situations will offer us an opportunity to SAY WHAT YOU WANT.  BUT our gut can give us that warning that we should think twice OR thrice if we need to take a step forward OR backward OR just keep up to the status quo.  Word of caution though.  Our gut is NEVER specific BUT it just realizes WHEN something feels OFF with a situation.  Thing is, let us think twice OR thrice before we volunteer NUCLEAR PHYSICS as our discussion thread😡😡😡

Starting On The Wrong Foot?

Starting On The Wrong Foot?

Surely, we have our share of days gone bad, no thanks because we started on the WRONG FOOT.  YES, I had my fair share of days Starting On The Wrong Foot  and despite my propensity [I call it my self-discipline] to remain optimistic, there were [and till today as we speak], there are days WHEN everything just goes unequivocally wrong, NO matter how I sometimes clutch on straws to recoup OR at least attempt to reframe things despite hiccups hitting me left and right early in the day.  BUT I have to admit that reclaiming control of your days can be that damn challenging.  Been there, it's been tough😗😗😗

I've witnessed those rough starts even at the workplace, witnessing colleagues with fumbling acts sometimes piling one after the other.  And the tough pill to swallow is that WHEN we do stumble down in succession, it feels like ten times harder to rise up and pick up the pieces.  Psychologists advise us that our stress response is useful WHEN it helps us to face an immediate threat BUT alas, it often diminishes our capacity to reason, focus and strategize📌📌📌

Ironically, according to experts, those are the very shields we need to get equipped with, for us to hurdle the seemingly tiny-whiny snags we hit.  The despicable afterthought is, WHEN things take a turn from bad to worse, WHEN we fail on the first step and ending to foul-up on the next step[s] and this is WHERE the psychologists are egging us to to RESET our day by activating our 'PARASYMPATHETIC NERVOUS' system💦💦💦

To simply the jargon from the experts, they're advising us to tap our 'vagus nerve' WHICH runs from our brain down to our intestine, forming that 'brain-gut' connection.  And tapping on that connection, we are advised to adopt the 4-7-8 breathing technique WHERE we inhale for a count of 4, hold your breath for a count of 7 and exhale for a count of 8.  To quote them, that is a therapeutic strategy frequently offered to people WHO need to manage anxiety.  BUT WHAT makes me curious is the layman's explanation WHY that technique works.  Apparently, the EXHALE is twice as long as the INHALE, pushing it to interrupt a stress response by activating the PARASYMPATHETIC part❎❎❎

Our takeaway:  HOW often we heard the retort that "IT'S ALL IN THE MIND"?  The problem here becomes chronic WHEN we even end up unwittingly an accomplice to keep that chronic "OH WHAT?  ANOTHER SNAG?"  NOT as we wanted OR expected, we sometimes end up as that unwilling accomplice as we keep stepping with the WRONG FOOT [until our FOOT ends up black and blue].  Insight for this?  Before things exacerbate, CUT AND CUT CLEAN.  'RESET' things ASAP dude because you DON'T deserve a spate of snafus that early in the day.  Ignite the engine and warm it up before you go full throttle for the day dude❗❗❗

YES, The World DOESN'T Owe Us Anything!

From time to time in our daily lives, WHETHER we were courting for one OR not, someone either walks over to us OR confides to us [IN TRUST] either his/her gripes, concerns OR complaints [WHICH remain suppressed from within].  At the workplace, things become much louder and cacophonous.  LIKE 'I hate my boss' OR 'I deserved that role given to that new incumbent' OR 'My job promotion is long overdue'.  BUT to give things the benefit of the doubt, we should be able to often relate to WHERE people are coming from.  And I supposed that's the value of talking to someone because it helps to separate problems from symptoms BUT there is one thing we GOT to remember:  YES, The World DOESN'T Owe Us Anything❗❗❗

NOW, I'm dangling this yellow pad FOR FREE.  Any takers?  Unfortunately, it is captioned to list WHAT THE WORLD OWES us BUT alas, this yellow pad is as empty and blank as it can be.  Nothing we can do, dude.  There is NOTHING to list down in the first place.  BUT I can feel WHERE most of us are coming from.  WHEN we make noise OR voice out our concern, knowing the problem itself is half the solution and I salute someone articulating and vociferously airing his gripes.  WHAT I discovered, though, the past years is that in those conversations, we tend to talk through WHAT's going on and dig deeper into the situation way beyond the surface level.  And alas, they are the reflections of the real problem WHICH can be larger and maybe more corrosive and harder to admit💥💥💥

NOW, where's our common problem here?  The problem is that SOMETIMES, we all feel entitled to something.  Entitlement is then equated to that subtle and implicit belief that we do deserve things and that the world deserves us something.  Oh Oh REALLY?  The truth, however, is something we all know anyways.  That the world owes us NOTHING, NADA, NICHTS.  WHAT makes things harder is for us to remember it at the right time, during those moments WHEN we're feeling entitled!@#$%?

Allow me to grab this quote from famous American author Tony Robbins:  TRADE YOUR EXPECTATION FOR APPRECIATION AND THE WORLD CHANGES INSTANTLY.  Simple words BUT they do run deep way beyond the surface.  Let's look back at one or two instances in the past WHEN we were financially hard pressed.  Surely that was a hard time for you.  BUT I believe it would have been much less harder✅✅✅

You might chase me with,  HOW CAN IT BE MUCH LESS HARDER?  Simple.  if we only remembered during those very moments that there were millions, maybe hundreds of millions of people with financial problems whose severity is maybe 5 to 10 times more serious and more severe than yours.  IF ONLY we thought of that, then we'll realize THE WORLD DOESN'T OWE US except for us to keep grinding, keep going because you've got enough fuel in your tank dude😀😀😀

Are We 'IN SYNC' With Our Own Pace?

Nope sirrrrs, we're NOT covering the olympics synchronization events for our thread today.  BUT in life, Are We 'IN SYNC' With Our Own Pace?  Maybe as we speak now, you are at the apex of your life, accomplished and successful, capable and confident even down the road.  BUT do you have your own BUY-IN and willingness enough to transition from ACTIVE-doing to PASSIVE-being?  Perhaps WHAT you really want is to synchronize your life, integrate your personal and professional lives and along the way, find that common pathway to growth.  BUT HOW???

Listening to the experts, their studies showed that as we age, our desire to synthesize the various aspects of our life into an essential self does increase.  Famous psychologist Carl Jung called this the 'INDIVIDUALIZATION PROCESS'  which means we become authentically aware of WHO we are and WHAT we genuinely seek.  It then becomes that wise amalgamation of our experiences, our mindfulness and our aspirations, all rolled into one

Heard about stacking those Russian nesting dolls.  WHEREIN we have a personal, social and even transcendent self and each is contained above OR below the next.  To quote the experts, WHEN we are IN SYNC, we are cognizant of WHERE these versions of our self touch, align and even meld into one another.  Think about those situations WHERE we feel energized [YESSSSS, I vividly remember my daily walks spanning anywhere between 5 to 10 km per day [WHERE I feel fully immersed]

We could get engaged with various personal activities and it could be as trivial as writing our family history that involves interviewing our aging parents and relatives.  OR it could be as casual as sitting and rediscovering your passion for a specific music instrument [which could be a guitar or piano].  Perhaps it's just doing more of WHAT makes you happy, fulfilled and enlivened [devoid of any external unnecessary pressures on you

Our takeaway:  Being IN SYNC could spin you out of everything that's normal especially WHEN you [wrongly] thought that being IN SYNC should include factoring-in the external variables you either face OR encounter in life.  BUT the stark reality is, the buck starts and stops with you dude.  Get IN SYNC in your life, fix your front yard and backyard because primus inter pares, that is FIRST AMONGST EQUALS that calls for action coming from you [BEFORE mixing things out with the uncontrollable variables in life]😌😌😌

IF You Change The Way You Look At Things....

IF You Change The Way You Look At Things....

Our thread today may seem more of an intellectual discourse BUT I hope it's relevant enough because in our day-to-day life, NOT everything that's happening around us gets accurately read and dissected even by our own selves.  Many years ago, I felt stuck, feeling I CAN''T move forward, feeling like everything was working against me, like I was trapped in quicksand.  And I kept struggling.  And the more I struggled, the more stuck I became.  And one day I confided to my friend WHAT's going on with me.  He retorted: HAVE YOU EVER THOUGHT THAT MAYBE THE PROBLEM ISN'T WHAT'S HAPPENING  BUT HOW YOU'RE SEEING IT?  WHAT he meant was:  IF You Change The Way You Look At Things📗📙📘

At that point, I just CAN'T see things through and I reacted quite vehemently to that advice.  I started telling myself, HOW can I be wrong WHEN my situation was really that bad.  BUT since I trusted my friend, I gave his counselling the benefit of my doubts and I decided to give it a try.  And I started small and modest enough.  I changed the way I looked at my 'healing' process, at the people I was spending time with [like even at the workplace], and even the challenges I kept facing day after day.  Alas, before I knew it, things began to shift, albeit quite gradually and NOT so evidently.  And admittedly, I felt the change was evolving from deep within me.  BUT as I took pains adjusting the WAY I LOOK AT THINGS, I did began to feel much less stressed and seemingly more open💧💧💧

Before I knew it, the same routines that used to be a drag in my everyday life were becoming less of a burden, and instead I look at it as opportunities for me to pause, reflect and reconnect with the deeper parts of myself.  At that point, WHILE my situation had NOT materially changed yet, the way I look at it, it had.  And that made a world of difference because I started to have a better handle of the things around me💚💛💜

At that point, I thought, deep down, we all know that the way we look at the world shapes our experience of it.  BUT WHEN we are in the middle of a chaotic world, it is so easy to forget this.  Instead, we tend to see problems as permanent roadblocks in our way instead of opportunities OR learning moments.  Psychology experts coined the term 'COGNITIVE REFRAMING' and it attacks the very core of our challenges💥💥💥

Our takeaway:  Let's take real-life scenarios here.  Let's say you got stuck at work because of heavy rains, and you CAN'T go home, you could focus on that frustration, thinking about all the time being wasted.  OR you could shift your mindset, LIKE maybe it's a chance to catch up with a colleague who's still around, OR maybe it's a rare moment for you to just breathe and reflect before heading home, grinding through the expected traffic gridlock that comes after heavy rains.  YES, maybe at that point, the rains haven't stopped BUT suddenly you DON'T feel bad anymore by then.  OH YES, our problems might still be there BUT they DON'T weigh you down in the same way😌😌😌

Do Small Stuff Matter?

Do Small Stuff Matter?  Probably NOT to the members of the billionaire's club.  Probably NOT to those business behemoths.  And probably NOT for someone seated on that exalted C-suite job role.  BUT dude, you got it all wrong in that case because the small things in life are much more important than those BIG things.  So, WHAT makes your day special to you?  WHEN you hit the sack at night, do you find yourself grinning WHEN you reflect on anything that happened during the day?  It may seem insignificant.  YET, that is where the beauty lies📗📙📘

Thing is, as we work on our goals and dreams, most of us [YES, I'm guilty of that many times in the past!] do focus on taking and making those big, huge strides.  Getting that fat big paycheck instead of a paltry small amount.  Almost every time we only consider BIG things as an achievement and the SMALL things AREN'T that an achievement.  WHAT explains that convoluted thinking?  YES, it is much easier to see the progress OR see the effect of something if it is that BIG💚💛💜

Very true, we WON'T notice those SMALL waves as often we notice BIG waves on the beach.  If that is so, WHY are SMALL things important too?  It is that imperative to appreciate the SMALL things OR SMALL waves as well because that would allow us even life from a different perspective.  We would NOT be overwhelmed.  We would be able to 'break' down BIG tasks and celebrate the SMALL wins.  Taking the time to appreciate the SMALL things is indeed rare these days.  NOT everyone focuses on the LITTLE details OR SMALL things.  It is also one of the reasons WHY we give up easily on the process.  We forget that we are learning OR progressing along the way✅✅✅

One thing that is quite often overlooked is the obvious fact that even SMALL things can be achievements by itself.  I am NOT one to beat my chest BUT looking back WHEN I was an entry-level I.T. systems engineer, there I was, sprawled on the floor, soldering hundreds of coaxial cables to ensure that those terminal end-points are firmly attached and WON'T loosen at all.  At hindsight, if I DIDN'T drive myself into those SMALL stuff, there is a palpable chance that I may NOT have progressed in my career.  And YES, I can cite tons and tons of SMALL stuff which I humbly achieved.  And without those SMALL stuff, I CAN'T surmise HOW or WHERE I could be right now😔😔😔

Our takeaway:  Think about it.  For the sake of argument, let us conservatively assume that you are NOT that kind of a BIG achiever.  As such, you end up with SMALL stuffs achieved from time to time.  Over time, those SMALL stuffs would have piled up.  Seriously.  And once they have all piled up, do ask yourself.  Could you have get to those piled up SMALL stuffs if you DIDN'T achieve multiple times in the past?  Let's NOT look far.  Even walking across streets, I see long winded queues of LOTTO bettors.  NOT to bad-mouth those bettors because they are betting on their hard-earned monies but most of them, if NOT all, are so enamored hitting the LOTTO JACKPOT.  Sadly, I can bet my whole salary, 99.999999% of them have NOT hit that jackpot yet.  So, DO SMALL STUFF MATTER?  YES dude, it matters a hell lot❗❗❗

Perspective Is Everything!

Obviously, there is NO sure-fire formula for success OR happiness.  BUT if there's something that's NOT debatable at all, it's the fact that Perspective Is Everything!  It signifies that HOW you interpret and view a situation, WHETHER in business OR in your personal life, it significantly impacts our decision-making, problem-solving and even interrelationships we have around us.  Was there a time in the past you were walking by yourself and a stranger walks opposite your own direction and deep inside, you tend to internally react that you CAN'T fathom that stranger [WHEN that stranger has got NOTHING to do with you, AS IN, NADA, NONE, KEINER.  Blame your perspective for that skewed view

I did interact with some personalities WHO were damn stubborn WHEN it comes to PERSPECTIVES because they dug a deep foxhole and would insists that once you framed something from within yourself, it goes beyond PERSPECTIVES.  BUT WHAT we're missing here is that opportunity for each of us to expand and transform our own PERSPECTIVES in life.  HOW crucial are PERSPECTIVES?  It is crucial dude.  BECAUSE PERSPECTIVES shape our lives.  It is HOW we see the world, the people around us and even ourselves.  WHAT we often forget is that NO two PERSPECTIVES are exactly the same.  In fact, they are opposite poles no less

BUT again, WHAT we're missing here is that WHEN we see things from different perspectives, we open ourselves up to personal growth, empathy and even that greater sense of fulfillment.  It is NOT just about seeing things differently.  It is all about transforming HOW you experience life.  HOW we see the world dictates the choices we make

Truthfully, our lives are made up of choices so if we do end up stuck in that narrowly lit PERSPECTIVE, it will be easy to feel disconnected and unfulfilled.  Having a limited viewpoint will likely lead us to isolation as we get stuck going deeper and deeper in our own beliefs and eventually shutting our other possibilities, PERSPECTIVE and even people.  This has become more and more apparent as we get closer to reality itself as we tend to view things through that clear BUT damn rigid lens shaped by our own personal beliefs and experiences.  Unfortunately, regardless as to how much and how far you and me are experienced, that's a drop in the bucket WHEN realistically looked at

Our takeaway:  Throughout our life, we were always taught about standing to our convictions BUT that can prevent us from truly understanding WHERE others are coming from.  WHEN we practice PERSPECTIVE-taking, we allow ourselves to step into someone else's shoes, thereby adding a different dimension and depth to complement your own view.  YES dude, PERSPECTIVE IS EVERYTHING❗❗❗