Here Comes the World's MOST POWERFUL Language !

Here Comes the World's MOST POWERFUL Language !

Here's my $64 riddle.  What is the world's MOST POWERFUL LANGUAGE ?  English?  Nope.  Russian?  Ngek.  Chinese?  No way, COVID.  Time is UP.  It's BODY LANGUAGE folks!  For the longest time, no language can beat it black and blue.  As this poster goes, 'BODY LANGUAGE IS LIKE AN ICEBERG.  90% OF WHAT IS UNSAID LIES UNDERNEATH THE SURFACE'.

Oh c'mon, here's another dude who insists that programming languages are the most powerful ones because they are now lording it all over the place, in our connected world.  Hmmmmm, well, how to disagree with this discourse because indeed the techies have taken over the global trade and marketplace but oh no, I won't turn my back on BODY LANGUAGE being the most powerful one!

In terms of recency, no one beats Former US President Donald Trump in his four years in the White House.  To see him, whether in Photo-Ops or Off-cam shots, he is one of the living proofs of body language.  Take this shot of President Trump with Pakistan PM Imran Khan.  It's just picture-perfect to know who's stronger, more dominant, aggressive, name it, you got it all in this shot.

Former US FL , Senator and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is another 'class act'.  You don't have to look far as to who's dominant, domineering and daunting.  In hard-ball negotiations, she'll be the front act and it's curtains down.  So, during this pandemic, forget all those language online schools offering eye-popping discounts.  You can learn the world's MOST POWERFUL LANGUAGE by honing on the sound fundamentals, pronto.

Oh BTW, what's going on for more than a year on with this pandemic?  Almost everyone of us are locked-in online, right?  Oh what about those arguments and debates?  Hmmmm, 99% are running online too, real-time in fact.  So who means those online jousts?  Sorry folks, there's barely a runaway winnah! Why?  Because most protagonists get so locked-in with verbals than with non-verbals.  Had they turned on their cams and argue online nary a single word to be typed, we would have easily figured it out who'll be the runaway winnah.

Oh everyone would miss this, badly.  Those breaks from class or from work, where everyone will rush to the cafeteria but even before they could grab a coffee, each one seems to be hostaged by their gadgets.  BUT, but don't get glued with their gadgets. Instead, dissect their body language. Can you figure out who's the active versus the laidback?  The giver versus the taker  The trailblazer versus the laggard?  

So, where do you start to pick up your sound fundamentals?  Firstly, do you know that person inside-out?  Better be sure because studies show that only 50% know welll enough their partner inside-out.  That explains why a partner [wrongly] thought the other half is soft?  Submissive?  Timid?  Not until when all hell broke loose.  Too late the hero.  So, better get your fundamentals sound enough before the waters get rough. 📌📌📌

Are You Walking on Eggshells ? Or in a Minefield ?

Are You Walking on Eggshells ?  Or in a Minefield ?

Either way, whether you're walking on eggshells or you're now walking in a minefield, those are times when you gotta be sharp and incisive with your instincts and your judgment call as well.  These are instances when an snafu will lead to a problem which later on compounds into a much bigger one, a complex problem which, in hyperbole, you end up creating a 'monster'.

Oh, I liked this concoction of what ASSUME is.  And seriously, this strikes a chord because when the assumption is off-track, you and I know what will happen next.  And you end up either with a pair of protagonists or one of them turns into an antagonist.  It's akin to waking up at the wrong side of the bed and from the time you rise up, you end up committing in succession a combination of bloppers and misjudgments which may end up in a mess which you need to clear up pronto.  

Probably, you were just into a casual convo or if at work, you were in a feedback session, which to everyone's chagrin, turns out to be a disconnect that's simmering to shape up as a real problem to deal with.  You can even with your BFF or partner but suddenly, a friction got ignited probably by just a word or two.

What's just trickier, though, is if you're right in the midst of a minefield, a situation with just more Nays than Ayes, situations where there is a high probability of an issue pushing you in a corner you can't wiggle out from.  Multiple issues, compounded problems, these are ingredients of a minefield where you need to walk through deftly but likely hitting a mine.

During this pandemic when the labor force were the hardest hit, many jobseekers are exerting their darn best in their job search.  What if you didn't had a college degree.  What if you had just one too many job changes.  These are eye-popping lowlights in your Resume where you need to prepare an airtight explanation.  But if you come prepared for it, then you can end up unscathed from the mines.

And BTW, don't miss this out.  Even if you burned the midnight oil to prepare, there will always be unknown variables of the equation.  It's how you run the bases that will dictate the end-result because the ball is solely in your hands.

When You're Thrown a CURVEBALL

When You're Thrown a CURVEBALL

Curveballs in life, that we experience over and over again infinitely.  These are the unexpected things that just pop-up, sometimes throwing a monkey wrench on your situation that very moment.  It could be surprises that could be positive and pleasant as it may present opportunities for you but unless you handle it well enough, you won't get to be aware that there was indeed an 'opportunity' in that curveball.  There are just one too many curveballs in our lives.  Imagine you were so pumped-up for that long-drive only to find that there is a kilometric-long jam just at the entry point to the highway.  How will you handle that ?  Will you do a U-turn?

Getting into curveball situations is very tricky.  It's not just the rightness of your countermeasure that very moment but what's equally a priority is your quickness to make swift and sound decisions.  A right decision made one or two minutes late could go wrong because it was late for a minute or two.  Two Sundays ago, we woke up early for an early market schedule but  towards the market, there was a long traffic snarl that early morning.  

Pronto, we made a U-turn and went to another market instead, much smaller with fewer options and prices slightly higher.  But the fact we're off early morning to market on a Sunday meant that we valued time more than anything so that quick reflex  for the U-turn necessitated figuring out the difference between the prices and the price point.

Surely in your lives you were thrown with curveballs but you were just too oblivious and less discerning.  Imagine this scripted dialogue with LIFE that finally you felt happy.  BUT don't speak prematurely because LIFE will tell you 'LOL, wait a sec', and i'll spring another surprise for you.  That's when things begin to whirl and twirl all over again.  But curveballs are not something we need to be averse because a lot of those 'curveball' situations will sublimely come knocking with a window of opportunity slightly opening for you to grab.

Sorry folks, this is NOT Flowcharting 101 but simply sharing with you the ideal way for us to validate your decision-making process.  BTW, some decisions require a thorough and incisive approach because sometimes, things can never be more complex than what you have at hand.  And if NEGATIVITY prevails over you [with that 2-horned creature whispering through your ears] because you thought we're making a mountain out of a molehill with this flowcharting, no sirs, this is as basic as ABC and 123.

And as this poster goes, 'THROW ME TO THE WOLVES AND I'LL RETURN LEADING THE PACK'.  Well said.  Just too picture-perfect but this is the way to go, remain positive, get motivated, continue to be self-driven, never waiver, never wither and remain consistently FOCUSED with what your goal and keep a close tab with your game plan so you don't get waylaid when you hit the crossroads from time to time.  And what better way to self-motivate you than aiming to be at the top of the totem pole, spearheading your group with your trailblazing efforts every step of the way.  Any disrupted focus, any reduced effort will result you to falling short of leading the pack, a position that will offer you multifarious opportunities because you'll catch the prey ahead.

Going back to our school academics for a minute, can we revisit this equation:  WHAT YOU WANT TO DO IS EQUALS TO THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN WHO YOU ARE AND WHO YOU WANT TO BE.  Where's the pitfall here ?  If you dunno WHO YOU WANT TO BE then that is a sorry state of affairs because it's only you can decide on that.  PROXY DECISIONS are untenable in life because it's you and not any one else will live your life except YOU.📌📌📌

Of Post Mortems and Retrospectives

 Of Post Mortems and Retrospectives

Yeheyyy, happy weekend !  How time flies, indeed.  It used to be, when we wrongly hit something, we paused and would go back to what got hit.  When we committed a faux pas, we will pause and ponder how did we end up with that mess.  Problem is, these days, the surface is hardly scratched when it comes to post mortems & retrospectives.

In the old school, once you commit slip-ups, you will be berated no end by your boss, sometimes to your chagrin, in front your colleagues and peers.  That doesn't work these days with millennials.  With the millennials and Gen Z, things will surely boomerang on you, frankly.

To quote Francis Kong, learning from 'a mistake is MORE IMPORTANT than the mistake itself'.  BUT are we really learning from our mistakes ?  I'm afraid not.  WHY?  Probably we veered away just because we are all in a 'rat race'?  That continuing the fastbreak after a bad pass is the only tempo to go ?  But that's in a hoop's game.

But hey, even in a fast-paced hoops game, the coach won't waste time for a time-out after a recent boo-boo and to recoup from that, the coach will plot a countermeasure to estop the opposing team's momentum.  So, whether it's your own life or you're in a team play [at work], never lay by the wayside the value of these quick timeouts.

So what do we need ?  hmmmp, do paste these post-it-notes within your eye-view no less because you gotta take a balance relook at things, both the right things and the not-so-right things you did and ask yourself, how could you do this right because either the game is not yet over or this may recur in the future.

Oh, this pic may look sooo boring but bear with me because we just need to improve our retrospectives.  BTW, you don't initiate a retrospective a year after the game is over.  In fact, agile retrospective tells us that we should initiate this even for what's ongoing, to tweak things even things are going right but who knows we can further improve our efficiency or productivity ?

What tools do we need then to initiate a post-mortem or a retrospective ?  Nothing as in NADA.  WHY ?  Because by then you have all the data, all the hard facts as to what made you reach where you're standing now.  So, c'mon, let's not be too tied up with the 'up tempo' pace in our lives because what matters most is not just reaching the finish line but reaching it way ahead of the competition ✅✅✅

WHAT IF You're Not Prepared for 'WHAT IF'

WHAT IF You're Not Prepared for 'WHAT IF' 

Lines are everywhere.  How I wish all are straight lines, if only to make like simpler. Too bad, there are just one too many WHAT IFs.  From the wavy, to the curvy, to the punch line, to the broken line and that's even skipping diagonals, horizontals, name it. That saga about lines is just analogous to our life because instead of a straight path, quite often, we end up in various turns.

Which brings us back full circle to the chess game.  Inevitable indeed to go back to the chessboard because life has as much iterations as the chess game itself.  Without going into the seeming complexities in chess, we gotta realize that life is ten-fold much more complex than chess.  Why ?  Because ours are real life scenarios where sometimes we are bordering between success or failure, walking that fine line.  

Question for us:  are we prepared without preparing for the WHAT IF scenarios ?  Surely we'll fall flat when such exceptions do happen.  Why ?  Because you get caught flat-footed.  Because you didn't provide for contingencies.  Because you were just living on a single dimension, that is, a single assumption that things will go your way.

In any 'unknown' that pops-up, the ramifications will be dependent in the way you handle things during those 'pop ups'.  Worst, if you were not in control during those moments, whatever chaos prevailing that time might end up in pandemonium.  Not because the 'unknown' evolved but it's because we didn't run a 'damage control' to contain the impact that eventually hit us.

To quote Bruce Bochy, the famous French-American  baseball player: "if you're not prepared, it's not pressure you feel, it's fear".  Exactly, and fear is worst unknown because when fear creeps in, even our judgment gets impacted.  And as the dominos get tipped, panic creeps in.  God knows what happens next.  LESSON HERE ?  Be prepared for all possible WHAT IFs.

MAKE SURE You Add a Cherry on Top !

MAKE SURE You Add a Cherry on Top !

Prior to this pandemic, every add-on you wanted means you got to fork more $$$.  With more than a year with this pandemic when businesses are severely hit, businessmen have become innovative in their come-ons.  Those milk teas ?  They will now offer Xtra pearls for free ?  Other add-ons, you can get it for a song.  Why things can become this so enticing ? 

It's because it's 'crunch time', man.  During the hard, difficult times, things get tighter, roads get narrower, belts need to be tightened, loose ends need to be tied up.  And if you need to take risk to recoup the lost financial opportunities, you won't think twice to throw your lot.  And if someone offers you an opportunity based on a contract that, even on paper, looks so onerous, surely you would grab it without the slightest alacrity.  Humans behave exactly that way.  When you are in dire straits, all you want is to survive.

And since you've got fuel in your tank, that's all that is left on your deck of cards and if you have to ace things up, surely you're willing to empty the tank if it leads you for a homerun.  That's the QUID PRO QUO, that give and take in life.

In real life, a QUID PRO QUO is simply a give and take.  I'll scratch your back if you scratch mine.  I'll part off with whatever is left in my pockets if I can expect something in return.  And that's fine.  And that's ethical and morally correct as well especially when you're in SURVIVAL mode.  And getting into this nerve-wracking pandemic when anxiety and mental health is getting into our skin, if it takes to GIVE and TAKE, go for it.  Sure, I can scratch your back as long as you scratch mine too.  When it is survival time, if you have to be shrewd, so be it.

When things become dicey, kinda go for broke, that's when all hell will break lose.  Those will be the trying times that will separate the men from the boys and for the men left still eking it out, it will be the last man standing.  And even in a worst case scenario, you end up with a fumbling act, that's just fine because you will end up fighting with your teeth down to the very buzzer of the game with your head unbowed. ✅✅✅

How Motivated Are You in Life ?

 How Motivated Are You in Life ?

Ask any Tom, Dick and Harry.  Is he motivated ?  Absolutely you will hear a chorused response of 'OF COURSE'.  And I just won't doubt the truthfulness of such responses because by nature, we humans are motivated.  And frankly, even the 'lazy dogs' are motivated.  Motivated ?  Yesirreee, even 'lazy dogs' are motivated to be 'lazy dogs'.  So, let's not get caught with a roundabout discussion whether one is motivated or not because everyone is.  Instead, let's dissect this motivation further.

But c'mon, flip the calendar because the next day is a Monday.  Monday ? Oh c'mon.  suddenly, temps go down, energy levels simmer down, the adrenalin suddenly evaporates in thin air.  What is wrong with Monday for temp levels and energy levels all go down ?  Let's blame the calendar because Monday means it's the start of another week-long 'calvary'.  Oh really ?

Yes, either you need to catch that elusive motivation or that will just elude you no end.  It is that tricky because many of us just take this in stride, taking it that motivation is just there, off-the-shelf.  But it's not there

Take this motivation by FEAR.  Anywhere between 10-80% at any given time, FEAR motivates us to whatever it takes.  And studies have shown that motivation by FEAR is damn effective at 80%.  The 20% shortfall is attributed to the inferior outcome a.k.a. quality defects.  So, the damning question is, why can't we just implement MOTIVATION by FEAR across the spectrum? No way, Jose.  Not for the long-run, not for the long haul.  Because motivation by FEAR 'kills'.  It 'kills' the health, it kills the kindred soul.  No takers for MOTIVATION by FEAR.

And how is MOTIVATION by INCENTIVE? Oh, i luv it, luv it, luv it because that's $$$.  And studies have proven that motivating via incentives have achieved a 90% hit rate but where is it now.  Oh no, it badly hits the P&L.  Finance was not buying into this.  It's hitting hard the books and no amount of accounting window-dressing can cover-up the extent of financial incentives dangled just to motivate 'lazy dogs'.  Finance folks were all in a consensus that MOTIVATION by INCENTIVE is NOT the way to go, not by a long shot either.

So, what works ?  It is MOTIVATION by ATTITUDE.  And I can attest to this proven formula whenever I remember that test of a barracuda in an aquarium.  Once we get motivated by our attitude, getting into 'auto pilot' mode becomes a no-brainer.  Why ?  Since you are self-driven, the effort comes out instantaneously and once you achieve the result, you tend to get that sense of fulfillment, that sense of achievement.  C'mon, let's get MOTIVATED by ATTITUDE ❗❗❗

A Tale of Two Countries

A Tale of Two Countries

Singapore and Malaysia are two countries I quite know like the palm of my hands simply because of my 9 years residing in Singapore which brings me to the next point.  Once you're a Singapore resident, it's as good as you live in Malaysia too, at least that side of Johor Bahru [where I recall I'll cross the Causeway [that short bridge linking the two countries] just to go for grocery at GIANT before I go for that UNLI sumptuous lunch for half the price had I taken my lunch in Singapore].

Other than their distinct flags and respective government structures, everything else between Singapore and Malaysia is kinda 'mix and match', just one too many commonalities.  Their cross-cultural environments, the way they manage their infrastructure with a long-view [unlike in other third world countries where the government's infra projects are more catch-up and reactive rather than proactive & forward-looking.

Without becoming an interventionist in the domestic affairs of either countries, as someone looking in from the outside, the past months, it may not be apparent unless you are a darn political student of international affairs because what shaped up in their political landscapes are the real real real colors of their key leaders, namely Malaysia PM Muhyiddin Yassin and Singapore Deputy PM Heng Swee Keat.

Few days back, Singapore DPM Heng dropped a bombshell by advising PM Lee that he was shying away from where he stands now, a breath away from taking over the PM's reins once PM Lee walks off.  Reason ?  He admitted that he's got a short runway ahead, not enough to prepare him for the rigors of a PM's job.

 As the pandemic exacerbated, here comes PM Yassin who eked out the approval from Agong, the Malaysia King to suspend the Dekan Rakyat [Parliament] sessions. all because of this pandemic.  With the rising tide of opposition, the UMNO-controlled Barisan Nasional Coalition has declared their withdrawal of support in the upcoming GE 15 [15th General Elections]. Which means, PM Yassin is now clutching on straws.

Here's the apples-to-apples:  While Singapore DPM Heng requested PM Lee to remove him from Singapore's succession plan, over in Malaysia, the government of PM Yassin, who's parliament majority is now seriously questioned and doubted, by invoking the emergency laws, he suspended Parliament Sessions to avert a no-confidence vote.  

Going back to our lives, it is imperative that, day-in day-out, we are accepted and embraced by our families and our workmates, which includes your bosses.  If there a dissenting view across them, it behooves that you work hard and earn their trust and confidence in you.  It cannot be demanded.  It has to be earned.  But there's a challenge in life.  Sometimes, it is damn hard to understand once we rejected unless we re-examine and soul-search ourselves.  That is on the assumption that we, you, are willing to re-examine ourselves in good faith and if and where it is needed, to reboot and reset your life.  When we loose our foothold, let us recoup our losses in life.  Not all is lost.

What lessons we learnt from this tale of 2 countries ?  Whilst in Singapore we witnessed selflessness by its leader, in Malaysia, what we're witnessing is the utter greed for power.  Let us pray that eventually that our human greed will dissipate, insyaallah.