Do Not Let Your Innerlight Snuffed Out

To the frustrated,

You may have difficulty waking up in the morning and wondered what lies ahead. Everything seems bleak and no one in the world seems to care. I know, I have been through it and I am going through it. There are thoughts of regrets, remorse, revenge, self pity and even suicide. You know what? Those feelings are normal.

Take a deep breath and start breathing. Pay attention to your breathing. Fill your lung with air and let it out gently by emptying your lung. You are still alive. Take stock of what you have, write down five things that you are grateful for. Think and thank the people who has helped you in the past.

Are you drinking? Cut those out now. You do not need any form of alcohol. Alcohol affects your thinking and your sleep. You need to think clearly and sleep well. What is over is over. You cannot change the past, you cannot predict the future. Now is the most important time. Think about what is the outcome that you want to achieve. Do not wish. If you wish for something, you are expecting someone else to do the heavy lifting for you. At this point in your life, you have to take charge and figure out what to do. Set a goal, look at the goal and write down your options and action items.

Write down your options. Finished? Write down some more.  Finished? Write down even more. Go through the list. Some are down right bad ideas, cross those off. Filter through the ideas and short list the best ones. Is it done? No, not really.

Find a mentor, find someone whom you can trust and give you an honest feedback. Talk to this person, discuss the issues and talk about your ideas. Do not expect the person to give you any action items. No. You have to take ownership of your action items. At best the mentor can only tell you what is their opinion and assign a timeline for your action items.

During this period, make sure you eat well, sleep well, stay active and spending enough time with your love ones. No TV, no idle surfing the net and no gossip. Clinch every moment you have and work on your goal. Review your action items and talk to your mention as you progress.

Will things get better? Of course not! You will encounter more frustrations and set backs as you move towards your goal. Failure is because you have tried. Frustration is because you are doing something different. Keep going and keep moving.

What if you do not have the sufficient knowledge or resource to make things happen? Read and reach out into the internet. Chances are your problems is nothing new, someone must have encountered it. Read and learn as much as possible. People can bring you down and take away your possessions. However, they cannot take away what you know. To be competitive, you just need to know a little bit more than your competitor.

The hard truth about life, all these will come to an end. Nothing stays forever. Sorrow and setback will come to an end, so is happiness too. Hang on there and stay strong.

Kind regards,
Simon.

Change of Direction

The year of 2013 has ended and a new year has started. This year our business performance is actually way better than the year before. However, the profit margin is rather low.

The board of directors had few meetings and dig deeper into our business performance. We realized that our core strength in our business is actually inventory management and sourcing. No doubt we understand the hospitality business well but we are not getting right customers nor the margin to sustain the company.

We review back our past year projects. Our customers were most impressed by how we set up their restaurant's inventory management system. They are able to track their stock levels and know when to replenish the inventory. As such, one of the directors asked whether the same concept be used in other industries? The answer is actually yes. Maybe some changes but the basic ideas are there.

The existing team is small and we cannot afford hiring employees. As such, the amount of projects that we commit is very little. Managing building/ renovation projects involves long hours. The hours could have been spend on other activities that can generate revenue for the business. This was also one of the main factor that drives our decision to change the business model.

To further push the business ahead we need to generate revenue for the company with the minimal cost but the maximum benefits. Sadly, our 1.5 years old company has not found a constant stream of revenue that will cover the company's annual operation cost. As such, our new trading model will work for us.

Customer has already expressed interests for our products and we were also able to find a reliable supplier. The next phase is to built in the process and get the necessary paper work done to import our goods.

Do Your Part No Matter How Small: Lesson Learned from Agent Coulson

I have a confession, I am not exactly a fan of any Marvel Comics. Nonetheless, I enjoyed their movies and the way they set up their movies. In today's blog entry, I do not want to talk about Iron Man or any other major super heroes but a character that started off with a minor role but eventually given top billing with his very own TV series. The person that I would like to discuss is Agent Phil Coulson.

Agent Phil Coulson is played by an actor Clark Gregg. According to IMDB, he is a veteran of both TV shows and movies. What fascinates me is that how could a character who had less than five minutes of screen time in Iron Man when on to have his own very TV series. In short, this actor has won over the hearts of fans and leadership of Marvels.

I do not know Mr Clark Gregg in person, but I would like to hazard guess about his success. Despite having a minor role in Iron Man, Mr Clark has worked hard to play the role of Agent Carlson. He went on to appear in multiple Marvel movies and short films. Most of his screen time is relatively short, but he is portray as Agent Phil Coulson has made an impact and has won fan's support. Fans wants to see more of Agent Coulson and the inner workings of SHIELD. Thus, giving birth to the TV series -- Agents of SHIELD. In life many people and including myself complaining that they are not given any big opportunity. The thoughts is always -- "I can do more, I deserve better". There is nothing wrong with having such thoughts. Rather the question that we have to ask ourselves is -- "Have I played my role as best as I can play?". If we cannot even play a small role well, how could we expect others to give us a chance to play a bigger role? Just when we thought that no one is watching, please think again. No matter how small is our action and role, someone is watching and judging. Mr Clark Gregg is a good example -- short screen time with huge impact.

There is really no such thing as a small role in life. Each role has a part in life's puzzle. Play your role well and do your best. You will never how your hard work will be rewarded. Please let Mr Clark Gregg be your inspiration.

Two Minutes With Sir Richard Branson

Richard Branson one of the richest man on this planet and he cannot stop learning. So you should never stop learning too.

A Thought on Lance Amstrong Interview

Lance Armstrong the former winner of seven times tour de France had admitted to taking drugs on the interview with Oprah Winfrey. This individual literally went from hero to zero within 24 hours. I fully understand the outrage and disappointment. In fact, I got even suck into reading his book -- It's Not About the Bike.I was touch by his struggled against cancer and it has been inspiring. It came to me as a surprise that he admitted for taking drugs. Through the book, he has been a strong advocate of against taking any performance enhancement drugs.

I do not follow any cycling sports nor his career in any way. All I knew he was someone who beat cancer and went on to dominate an era of sports. With the recent confessions, he has lost his winning results, his sponsorships and his legion of fans. The question now for him is, what next?

Apologize. Besides just being coming clean with his actions, he would need to spent the rest of life apologizing to the world. If I am were him, he has to wear the badge of shame and reach out to the younger generation about the danger of drugs. Spent time at hospitals talking to cancer patient on how he has messed up and wanting to make a change. I understand the whole wold refuses to forgive Lance Armstrong, but I also willing to see the fact that he has done a lot for the cancer community. He still has an able healthy body, for many that's already a blessing. Lance should use that to reach out and touch everyone's heart that he is indeed sorry. Could this also be a potential reality TV series?

During the interview with Oprah, Lance has mentioned that he want to compete again. I do not think that is something that he should pursue in both short and medium term. This is not what he should be doing as his brand is in tatters. Whether he wins or loses, it is still a lost to him as a brand. Why? There are lack of trust.

Speaking of brand. The brand of Lance Armstrong will never be the same again. Nonetheless, it still catches attention for both right and wrong reasons. From now, his brand should be someone who is fighting an uphill battle to gain trust, to come clean and to live an honest life. This brand may not come with wealth and fame, but it will still reaches the hearts of many for doing what is right. If Lance Amstrong can play his cards right, his brand can be bigger and more relevant than just cancer survivor and former touch de France champion.

If he is sincere about turning a new leaf and willing to reach out to the masses face to face about how he was driven by greed; I am willing to stand inline to support him.

It is about being Resilient

Watch this video, enough said.

Tell Yourself This... I Derserve Better and I am Good Enough

I grew up in an education environment where I brought to beleive that I am never good enough. Since young, I learned that someone will always be better than me and I have to try my best to raise to the occasion. Even when I started working, the annual face-to-face discussion it is always about gaps to overcome, slipped opportunities because of certain qualities that I lack.

By no means I am perfect, and there will always be challenges and issues to overcome before I can achieve what I want. I was brought up to be humble and should not underestimate the competitor. Unknowingly, I have also developed a self-defeat mentality. Whenever I see opportunities, the first thing that I would pick out is how I am not good enough for it. I saw a position that I wanted, I also see chasm that is between my ability and the required skills. I wanted to bid for a contract, I saw other giant corporates who are also bidding for the same contract. I have already say no on behalf of the prospective opportunity.

We are human beings, there will be gaps. It is how we choose to overcome it. Instead of gaps, why don't we see opportunities that connect us to the opportunity. Please tell yourself and remind yourself.

"I deserve better and I am good enough!"

Go out there, take some chances and explore. There will be times we will suffer failure. It is ok, it is part of learning. More importantly, you can stand up and fight another day. Never say no on behalf of the other person.

Small Mistakes Big Impact

I know someone who works in a shipyard. He is one of the most detailed project manager that I have ever met. In every meeting, he would say, there should be no leakages. He would pour through every single aspects of the project. This project manager delivers successful project but everyone was groaning behind his back due to his thoroughness.  I never fully grasp his idea and beliefs in project management.

Nonetheless, I have learn his lesson through the hard way. Recently, I managed a tax project for a China business. I have gathered the necessary resources, gotten all the approvals signed well ahead of time, and everyone knows the vision of success.

Of all the preparation, there was a tiny component that one of my resources did not look into. Due to that careless, the project came to a halt and I have to seek approval for additional 50% funding to get it working again. The analysis shows that it was really not my fault but as the project manager everything stops at my level. I should be fully accountable to the failure of this project.

It is an important lesson for me. I cannot make any further assumptions and could have handled better by going through the project's critical path. A small leak would no doubt sink a big ship. Yes! There should be no leakages.

Planning, Adjusting and Mistakes

Last Saturday I visited a cousin's newly opened cafe. It was one week old. He told me that he is not getting the crowd or the desired revenue. Curious, so I decided to pay him a visit.

I asked for the shop's actual address. He said he is not sure and asked me to check out the Facebook page. Instead of registering as a local business, the cafe was registered as an individual. The address was not even there, good news was there is a location map. Maybe a map would be clearer? Wrong! The map contains two marks, one mark for his house, the other for his shop. I have to guess which was which. The page only has a picture of the cafe and did not show what was offered on the menu.

It is obvious that him and the partners did a poor job in planning. In any business, the first impression matters a lot. Even though the cafe is only one week old, I wonder how many customers had turned away.

At the cafe, I wanted to know the cafe's maximum capacity. He was not sure either. In any food retail outlet, the owner has to know how much each customer must spent and how many turnarounds per table in order to make a profit. On average, there should be at least three turnarounds in one business session.

As I spend more time with him, the more issues I noticed. Besides just poor planning, he has thrown himself into the deep end by dealing with customers and adjusting the operation issues. It would have been better to if he had a dry run with family and friends instead of enraging the wrath of the customers. In my opinion, he has 7 more weeks to get his act right. All the issues and mistakes are costing the business money. The business would have run out of money if the mistakes still remains.

I am a strong believer in making mistakes and taking risk. However, going into anything without proper planning is pure suicide. Thus far, he has adjusted his Facebook page. Hopefully he can sort out his operation kinks soon.

An Hour with Jim Collins

I am a fan of Jim Collins. My first book was Good to Great. Now I am reading Great by Choice. If you want to spent the next hour learning something. Check out the four videos below.

 

  

A Thought About Employee Empowerment

Over the weekend, I took my family to visit a newly opened theme park. One of the rides that we were waiting had a problem and has to be shut down. At that point of time, we have already waited for at least 40 minutes in the line.

I started to notice problems when other park visitors are walking against the line leaving the ride area. The family have to hear the news about the breakdown of the ride through other park visitors. At that time, no announcement was made nor any park attendants were to be seen. By the time, an announcement was made. The announcement was made over the blaring Christmas music where I can hardly make out what was being said.

At the moment of that crisis, the theme park does not have any leadership at the local level to take charge of the situation. In any business and organization, empowering employee to take charge in an usual situation is very important. Imagine, if the situation is not a breakdown but a small fire. It would have caused a stampede. In a production line, if there is any problem employees are expected to resolve the problem while making reports or suggestions to the local leadership.

The management should be able to nurture employees to show initiative and willing to take charge. One of the main root cause of the unwillingness is the fear of failure and getting into trouble. Problems are not like wine, it does not get any better through time. Employees are expected to take charge and solve the problem as soon as possible. Whether the initiative is success or not, employees should be given the credit for trying.

As organizations are getting flatter and less hierarchy. It is important for employees to have a sense of belonging and understand the amount of influence they have towards the company. Gone are the days of lets wait for instruction. If it is the right thing to do, employee should go ahead and do it.