5 Major Bosses

The common chronologies in our life were:
- got born
- learn how to walk, talk & eat!
- go to school
- then go to bigger school
- if didn't drop out, then go to another bigger school called the college / uni
- graduated.....if can...
- find a job
- earn money
- if risk appetite is high, invest or do business or businesses....
- earn more money
- find a partner
- got married & have kids
- sigh......tired to talk about it, you know the rest of the stories.....finally, we are buried 6 feet under!

Besides targeting the highest Maslow's hierarchy of needs which is Self-Actualization & Significance, money is kind of orbiting our lives all the time.
And whatever we do, is like ....we are serving 5 major "bosses" in our life all the time!

Our 1st Boss: The Real Boss!
Of course the one who pay our salary.

Our 2nd Boss: The Government!
This is due to the existence of the 1st Boss. Of course in the name of nation-building, we pay tax.

Our 3rd Boss: The Bank!
Due to climbing the ladder of needs, we buy car or cars....then a house to put it in of course! Then a major portion of our money goes to the bank.

Our 4th Boss: Spouse / Family!
Our parents took good care of us, of course we will take good care of them as well. We buy them good food, nutrition ranging from birdnest, ginseng......all the way to super-multiple-variable-awesome-vitamins!
Then we spend time with them and if possible, bring them for a holiday! Hopefully, we serve them well.

Our 5th Boss: Children!
We feed them, bring them up, pay for schooling all the way until their life is sort of settle down & steadily earning a decent income.

At the end of the day, what's left?
A small-teeny-weeny portion of time & money left for us to do what we like....if there is anything that we like afterall. Sounds a bit sad huh?
No wonder people talks about setting Goals & Mission in life.
But most of the time, nobody plans to fail, just fail to plan.
I've once heard a prominent business person said, "Unhappiness is caused by Comparison."
Hmmm, quite true in a way. Some people compares negatively while some compares excitingly.

After knowing such a small portion of resources left for our ownself, we really have to cherish great moments with friends & family. Whatever we want to do, let's try to do it. Succeed or Failure is one thing but at least we don't regret trying it out.

For those who want to say "Thank You", say it.
For those who want to say "I'm sorry", say it.
For those who want to do things that's never done before, do it (I'm referring to the right thing!).

At the end of the day, we want to Live a Non-Regrettable Life.

Mr. Honda

Most of us drove or sit in a Honda car before, but do you know that Mr. Honda is one of the most persistent man ever.

In 1938, Mr. Honda had a little workshop and he developed a special piston ring concept and thought of selling it to Toyota Corporation. He is so passionate and dedicated in his work until he slept in his own workshop and pawned his wife's jewelleries to continue in his business research!

Finally, he completed the piston ring technology and presented it to Toyota. You know what.....he got rejected! It was due to the reason that certain standards were not met.

Then Mr. Honda continued to study for another 2 years to deepen his knowledge. After another 2 years, he eventually got a contract with Toyota.

We would thought Mr. Honda lived happily ever after.......

But at that time, Japanese government was gearing up for war and it was really hard to get concrete to build factory. Did Mr. Honda quit? No, he created his own concrete, then built his factory & get the job done!
What a true winner!

But....another bad episode happened!
During the war, the factory was bombed twice, destroying major portion of the factory.
Mr. Honda didn't dwell on it. Together with his team, he picked up gas cans that the US fighter had discarded and positively said, "This is a gift from President Truman!" Now he used that as the raw materials for the manufacturing process.
Talking about innovation, creativity & persistency, we can't beat Mr. Honda....!

What we didn't know was after the war, it followed by an earthquake!!
Most of us would have quit but not Mr. Honda.
Challenges after challenges, he persisted until he secured a long deal with Toyota.

But after the war, there was petrol shortage. Therefore, Mr. Honda couldn't drive his car to even buy food as he used to. Instead of putting himself in the corner facing dilemma, he thought of ways to go above it or under it or around it.....and finally he had a breakthrough!
He attached a motor to his bicycle to get around......
The neighbours saw it, like it and of course asked Mr. Honda to install it to their bicycles as well and they called it "MOTOR RIDE". The so-called "business" was so good until it ran out of motors!

Guess what? Mr. Honda set up a small factory producing motors. But, he has no capital....
Therefore, he appealed to almost 18,000 bicycle shops for his great invention and finally got 5000 of them to pay an upfront capital to fund his factory. Then he found out another problem.....the motor was too big & bulky!
He re-designed and created a scaled-down version of it and called it the Super Cub, exported it to baby boomers in US and ....... THE REST IS .....HISTORY....!!!

Anyone felt tired reading it? Not to mention the person experiencing it and solving endless problems & challenges that got in the way.

Now, when you see a Honda on the road......what do you really see? A CAR or a DREAM?

Eh, you got STUDY or not?....(Part 3)

To me....
Life Education is to unlock and enhance the potential of both Academic & Financial Education gained.

Because Life Education is about ....

- Mindset

- Attitude &

- Experience

Mindset:
It is about our PRE-CONCEPTION and BELIEF that we've build up over the years towards people, events, societies and the world. It affects how we see things, how we think and how we behave.

You'll find short-term thinkers tend to focus on small-people & insignificant events while long-term thinkers discuss on ideas, strategies and vision. It is all about having a Microscopic-Mindset or Telescopic-Mindset.

Sometimes people tend to put a lot of time scratching and digging the ground looking for a RM1 note while they ignore the RM100 note which just flew by their head! They are busy worrying not to lose the RM1 but forgot to look at how to earn RM100!

It also touches on how we PERCEIVE FAILURE; do we personalize it, magnify it, ignore it or USE IT?
You know the answer!

Attitude:
Besides being positive, SOCIAL INTELLIGENCE will help us tap into the Network entity to create success.

Success is about the wealth of having good friends around us as well, besides monetary gain.
It is a person's down-to-earth personality that enable him / her to blend well in societies. What I like the most are those friends / relatives from "kampung" or far from the city. They are so genuine and free from manipulation! It is rare nowadays.

RESPECT & APPRECIATION are another 2 significant factors to build bridges & bonds with people instead of walls. Because our association with people determine our quality of life. It is a war between Virus & Anti-Virus in the society, depending on which program we want to install in our mind!

I've known a person who is not highly educated, got divorced, no goals or directions, not much discipline but managed a few businesses with success lately. Why? He changed and mix with the right crowd! He had developed quite a healthy level of social intelligence!

Experience:
It is all about being RESOURCEFUL to gain valuable experience. It is our personal journey, personal understanding, personal encounter, personal learning & personal adaptation that form our experiences. But make sure we keep uplifting experiences and dilute-off the bad moments.

Keep a wide experiences of knowledge & exposures!

Let's triple-up our Education!

Eh, you got STUDY or not?....(Part 2)

Well, Academic Education does form an elementary staircase for us to climb. But it is definitely not enough.

We need Financial Education.

To make money, there are 4 entities for us to tap into; P-I-C-N

Physical - which is our Neck-Down ability or commonly known as Hard Labour.
We can't progress much using this part of our body. Perhaps RM5 - RM20 / hour! We can survive but can't afford to support a complete family expenses or retired.

Intelligence - which is our Neck-Up ability. It is the ability to manage, analyse, rationalise and calculate. It enable us to look at where we are and where we want to go.

Capital - Use money to make money. The best is to use Intelligence + Capital to generate more Cash! The difference is using our own Capital or Other People's Capital. We can venture into business or investments.

Network - which is our contacts. I've known some people creating investments or business opportunities through the contacts that they have established in the past years. That's where learning to play Golf came in, haha....! Hence, I totally agree with "It is not what you know, it is who you know that matters!"

Today I've got to know a person making RM30,000 in a day in which most people use a year to earn it.
Surprisingly, that person is using "C" & "N" entities only, not using any "I" entity at all!
Hmmmm.....that got me thinking a little.....

Financial Education is about creating Wealth, expanding Wealth and managing Wealth, tapping into the I-C-N entities.
It is about knowing which tools or methods to go about it as well.

In wealth creation, it involve risks. That's why some people are meant to be employee while risk-takers have the potential to be great entrepreneurs or investors. It also depends on whether we are looking at Fast-Short-Term-Income or Slow-Long-Term-Income.

Those who tapped into I-C-N entities are normally creating a Steady & Long term income. While those who tapped into C-N entities only are creating Fast & Unsecured income.

Success is build on the basic pyramid of Academic Education --> Financial Education --> Life Education.
Let's explore that...

To be continue....

Eh, you got STUDY or not?....(Part 1)

Education....
Is it a Springboard or a Stumbling Block?
It depends....
In my opinion, there's 3 main significant types of Education:

1) Academic Education
2) Financial Education
3) Life Education

Academic Education - that's the foundation of equipping us to Read, Write & Calculate. I wanted to put "Think" as well but I beg to differ on this. Sometimes Academic Education crippled most people than bringing them up to explore life. Why?

Looking at my own academic life, did I use any of the knowledge to achieve a very successful life? The answer is a big "NO".

In Academic Education,
...We are taught to memorize, not to question...
...We are taught to learn, not to think...
...We are taught on theories, not on applications...
...We are taught on scoring grades, not on exploring alternatives...
...We are taught that "A" students are the best and "D" students are the hooligans!

Don't forget, normally "A" students work for "B" students and "B" students work for "C" students.
Eventually, "D" students own the business!!

Quite commonly, I've found out people of low education are more Flexible, Resourceful and Street-Smarts than the graduates who are more Rigid, Planful & IQ-oriented.

Therefore, it is not surprising to see Ah Beng who sells Fish-Head noodle or Hakka Yong Tau Foo can afford a banglo and drive a Mercedez than Mr. Manager, Mr. Engineer or Mrs Accountant.

Later in our life, until we realized something is wrong, we'll begin to question....
"Why am I broke?"
"Why can't I afford that car?"
"Why do I need to pay my house for 30 donkey-years and some can afford to buy cash!"
"Why do some people earn a yearly salary that is equivalent to some people's monthly salary?"

Well, it is better to ask the "Why" now than later. That's why we need to explore Financial Education.

To be continue.....

You Bhd: A great company or a PN17 company?

Wow, time really flies....

Remember the time that we talked about Y2K? Some are afraid of the "bugs" will shut down certain computer systems!
Here we are... 2010, almost ending!

10 years already past.
Some thought 2020 is still a long way to go.
Yeah, try wasting another 10 years and calculate how many extra wrinkles on our forehead by that time! We won't be able to smile by then as we have extra 2382 fine lines when we do! Well, definitely it is not the fine lines that matter, it is our journey that counts.

Time is only moving in one direction, which is Forward.
But thoughts can be travelling Forward or Backward.
To move Forward, sometimes we need to scan a little Backward.

Perhaps reviewing some aspects of our life will help. Especially in terms of:
1) The income that we earn? Surviving? Satisfying? Enriching? Or "Fatt Tatt" already, haha....?
2) The job that we do? Is it based on passion or merely a surviving tool?
3) Family: Are we settling down? Do we have the correct budget for family planning? Any education fund for our kids?
4) Who is our hero in life? Perhaps any mentor around?
5) Are we happy with where we are? Job, Biz, Charity, Education...etc
6) Do we want to excel in our job, or starting a small biz or try investing?
7) What else do we want to learn more? Leadership? Entrepreneurship? Self-Enrichment? Socialising? Parenting? Playing musical instruments? A different job scope? Property? ...etc
8) The circle of friends that we associate with? Is it the same? Do we want a change?
9) Satisfy with our body weight & posture? Overweight? Fit? Big tummy? Stamina?
10) Our personalities, habits & attributes? Do we want to be more extrovert, risk-taking, positive, open-minded, prudent, generous, caring, result-oriented or people-oriented? ...etc

Well, the list could be endless.
Perhaps we can provoke ourself this question:
"If I have a 100k to acquire a stake in someone's life and expecting a consistent or higher return, who would I invest in?"
Is it "John Wong Sdn Bhd", "Adeline Tan Sdn Bhd", "Shukri Enterprise", "Krishnan Bhd" or etc....
Just think about everyone as a company for a while.....

Then we'll begin mapping People in Business aspects. We'll start searching for the relevant attributes don't we?
Are you going to invest in Intelligence or Emotional Intelligence? Knowledge or Attitude? Certificates or Leadership?

The interesting part is "Are you going to buy a stake of your ownself?"
If "YOU" are listed in Bursa Malaysia as YOU BHD, are you going to buy? Do you think others will buy? Or all of them who have bought it, sold it coz you are a PN17 company!! haha.....
Joke a bit lah...you are not that bad! All of us are unique and I truly believe we have our own spark plug to ignite our real desire and potential in life.

When you think about companies like SPSetia, Maxis, YTL, IOI, Amway, Petronas, HongLeong (of course it is not an endorsement or recommendation to buy!), what are the attributes that we like about them? Perhaps mapping it in-person like Ananda Krishnan, Liew Kee Sin, Francis Yeoh, Tony Fernandes, Idris Jala...etc...
Attributes like Integrity, Growth, Performance, Trust, Confidence, Management, Leadership, Branding, Ethics, CSR....etc, comes to mind.

Well, I hope it can provoke us a little.
Afterall, we are after a balance circle of success and on top of all, HAPPINESS & SELF-SATISFACTION!
Hmmm.....let's think about it....