Uploading My First Video

Here is my first video that I have created for the Better Dining site.



The best way to upload the video is through YouTube. In my opinion YouTube is the second largest search engine behind Google. By having video or other forms of media in your site, It helps to reaching out to other audience. In return, it drives traffic onto your site.

When Dreams Can Be Nightmare. Nightmare can be Dreams Too.

My car is 26 years old. This car is older than some of my colleagues. I got this car second hand, and have been driving it for five years. Being an old car, it had its fair share of tantrums which includes three road side breakdowns during my first two years of ownership.

Ever since the first breakdown, I have been dreaming and eying for a brand new car. Having tested numerous cars and reading countless advertisements, I can never find the right car at the right price. The whole experience wore me down. Every-time I see a new car on the road, I look at with envy and wonder when I can own a similar car.

Sometime ago, a friend showed me his brand new car which was also his dream car. He has been talking about this car for years. I was very happy him, and we would discuss the car whenever we hangout. A disturbing trend become apparent, the conversation went from praises to the car to complains and stress that my friend was going through. The dream car was giving him nightmare! Whenever he needs to park his car, he has to pick spots that are isolated so no one would bang or scratch his car. He has been chronically late for his appointments because he was too busy looking for the perfect parking spot. Furthermore, he has to install dual security system to deter any attempted car theft. Besides the nine year loan and the huge interest that he has to pay, the car only takes high grade fuel which is not exactly cheap to pump. He became a slave to his car!

How many times in life, we always tell ourself that “After I got this, I will be happy!”. We literally wishing our life away because we are never happy at the present moment. I may not own my dream car, but I do not suffer from the stress that my friend was going through. The stress of repair is not as bad as worries about theft, scratch marks and financial burden which all can be long term. In short, I am free from those burden. Happiness was right in front of me but I was too busy looking at what I do not have.

The more we believe certain material object would determine our happiness, the tighter we would hold on to that object. The tighter we hold, the less happiness there will be. Everyone has their own “dream” object to acquire whether is a car, a house or a holiday. It is perfectly fine to go after your dreams, but do not let the dream become your nightmare. Enjoy the happiness of the present moment, whether or not you have achieve that dream. Of course, there are also times where we have to learn on letting go of that dream.

I am still chasing my dream car. But I have stop to envy other car owners for I am no more slave to that dream and enjoy freedom that many has yet to taste. After two years of extensive repairs, my current car runs well with minimal cost and I have learn much about car engineering. Who knows, I may not even want to buy that dream car when I am financially ready. The freedom is too precious to give up.

Success Through Failure

The Financial Times has a great article about gaining success through failure. It is really about being resilient, passion and optimism. It never talks about intelligence, college results, and know how. Basically, to built a business or to be successful in anything, it is really about the human character.

One more point that I may add, as long as we do not learn from the mistake. The journey to success will remain distant as the same mistake will happen again until we learn it.

CNBC Explains

Knowledge is always power. Like it or not, financial news affect us in  many ways. Therefore, it is important to have reasonable understanding of the economy and the financial news.

With the internet, you do not need to go to school to learn about financial and economic terms. The news site, CNBC explains it all. I strongly recommend it.

Link: CNBC Explains.

Conversation with Robert Kwouk

Mr Robert Kwouk, the richest man in Malaysia. As far as I know, he does not usually give out public interviews. One of the most humble businessman. If you understand mandarin, it is worth spending one hour listening to the interview.