Insights, Inspirations, Tranquility, Peace and Harmony » Knowing13 http://www.wailoong.com Unique Insights and Other Writings By Wai Loong Fri, 29 Apr 2011 00:58:16 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v= Looking Back at 2008 and Moving Forward to 2009! http://www.wailoong.com/596/looking-back-at-2008-and-moving-forward-to-2009/ http://www.wailoong.com/596/looking-back-at-2008-and-moving-forward-to-2009/#comments Sat, 27 Dec 2008 14:08:01 +0000 Wai Loong http://www.wailoong.com/?p=596 Year 2008 is almost coming to an end (or have already ended by the time you read this!)!  I would love to take this precious opportunity to thank all my valued readers, friends and acquaintances for their invaluable support and insights!  Without you all, my learning progress may not have grown so fast and far!

Truth to be told, most folks never really take a serious thought what they have done, and more importantly, what they have not done in the year that is to be expiring (or have whichever point in time you’re reading this).  Even then, only a very small percentage of those who did so do not pen it down… or rather blog about it.  After all, we’ve advanced quite a bit technologically have we?  So there’s no excuse for not doing so…

Whichever is convenient for you, do keep a record of all your achievements for the year.  It’s your own report card – something only you along can create and review over if you’re serious about your own life.  Some areas of my life which I focused on  (I conveniently take them from my coach) are as follows:

  1. Business (career etc)
  2. Finances (relations with money etc)
  3. Relationships (family, relatives, friends, enemies etc)
  4. Life (spiritual development in general)

For me, it has been a very really fruitful year!  I have set out with an intention to attract an amazing amount of learning in many areas of my life, especially on core competencies such as managing my own finances and take charge of my own investments… and I’m happy and blessed to report that I’ve progressed quite a fair bit!

I know what you’re thinking about…

Most people by this time may have been completely wiped out financially as the major tsunami has finally crashed onto the shores of our economies.  And if you believe me, I have seen this coming at the beginning of the year and it is very obvious that the coming year will be an extremely tough year for businesses.  Many folks will be retrenched, more will have their pay cut or reduced, and many will witness their bonuses evaporated.

Many have asked, “Is there light at the end of the tunnel?”

My simply answer, “Definitely YES!“.

Financial disasters are excellent wealth creators and if you have been working smart (and not hard) by equipping plug yourself into the necessary networks, up your financial knowledge and boost your emotional intelligence by going against the fears of the herd (majority), you will be like me to emerge with for financial abundance when the tide goes down in the coming years!

Of course, financial success does not comes without a lot of environmental support and spiritual growth.  It is naive to pretend otherwise because the laws of the universe simply works that way.  Your inner mind and your outer environment is extremely crucial and it shapes your very present moment.  If you’re broke, it’s because your inner mind (or financial blueprint) has been subconsciously conditioned for financial failures.  Your environment is most likely non-supporting too; it drains you off your precious time and mental energy, resulting with very little time you can spare to concentrate on improving your own finances.

If you’re not so sure what I’m talking about, allow me to share my learning and may you be inspired too!

January-February 2008

I began the year with a very humble beginning thinking how I can contribute back my time and energy for the community.  A rare chance came along for me to join some like-minded friends to give out food to lonely and elderly folks in Chinatown.  Although I didn’t know most of them, it dawn on me that it wasn’t really important after all because our common objectives were met.

Very few Singaporeans actually know that there are many unfortunate old folks who are living very much alone in the heart of the buzz of Chinese New year… commonly known as Chinatown.  Most Singaporeans only know Chinatown as a modernized shopping spot for the Chinese festive season.

Most of these folks live in a block of over 30 levels of single room HDB flat just next to the much elaborated Fuo Ya Si (Buddha’s Tooth) Temple.  It sounds very ironic isn’t it but this is the sad truth in life.  If you take the life up to the 15th (mid-way) level and check out its surroundings, you can quickly contrast the bright afternoon sun ray with the extremely dark corridors where hundreds of old folks live behind closed doors – some of them alone and no more relatives in Singapore.

It saddens me that some of these old folks have quite a number of children.  Unfortunately, most of them have decided to abandon them for their own families and careers outside the country.  The only consolation part is that there are often volunteers who come along to help distribute food and living necessities to them, and some even help out in some cleaning and mopping.

Having experienced the short trip and still being able to reply much of the memory till today has been a great blessing for me.  So while you’re struggling on to provide for your own family, do remember to spare some thoughts how you may end up be lonely and need someone else to take care of you when you’re too old or unable to feed yourself.

Owning one of these little digital gadgets has been one of my desires and I am finally blessed to be able to own one myself!  It’s a little hard to justify a $500++ gadget unless I can convince myself to put it to good use.  Now that I know how to work out the compounding mathematics, it turn out that this device will cost me $4231 if the money were to be put to compound 15% for 15 years!

9 months later, I have been enjoying this valuable gadget… something that can help me review lots of memorable moments, pictures and videos.  It certainly did add a lot more excitement and colours to my family and friends!

So was it worth $4000++ future money?

As the saying goes, there are some things money can’t buy!  :)

March 2008

March was both a shock and a surprise for me.  It never occur to me that on my birthday, my father was admitted to the hospital for mild stroke!  Life is simply unpredictable.  Suddenly, I realize that our bodies are so fragile… and that our time on this little planet is so limited!  Even my elder brother admitted that his health has not been so good after years of hard work in the insurance business.  The money is good but one is trading health for wealth.  Is our time and wealth all that is worth?  It makes me contemplate deeply…

Waiting at the A&E (accident and emergency) at Changi General Hospital is one unpleasant experience.  You can witness all sorts of people who can carried in on stretchers for all sorts of reasons.  There was even one military escort case for a handcuffed detainee.

For the whole day, I was not quite sure what to expect… and it seems to me that the only thing I could do was to stay with my father.  Fortunately, the doctor finally declare that the stroke was not deadly and my father could recover well with proper medication for mild diabetes coupled with physiotherapy.

Through this incidence, I came to realized that now I am a lot more closer to both my father and my elder brother… especially my brother; for he is rarely at home.  Having a dialog with him in a month is most certainly a rare opportunity these days!

Do you have a very similar situation like mine?

Perhaps, constant in-depth communication with your family is the single most important aspect of your relationships.  I vividly remembered the wise words from my coach: “When the dialogue is stopped, the relationship is over.”  How beautifully phrased can that be!  If only more folks can appreciate the depth and wisdom behind that statement!

I’ve finally gotten a glimpse of what it feels like when I was introduced to the concept of investing in commercial real estate.  If you were like me who have never understand what various forms of investment is all about, much less about understanding the risks involved in each type of asset classes, you’ll be amazed at how much I have learned this year alone!

To most investors and speculators, real estate is commonly viewed as owning a piece of land, residential property, REITs or Royalty Trusts.  If invested wisely, real estate investment can generate substantial cashflow periodically along with possible capital gain if the property market is in your favor.

Unfortunately, Singapore’s property market is on the downturn since the beginning of the year and it is likely to hit its low soon.  Thus, many investors start to look for real estate opportunities such as those in Canada, USA, UK, Malaysia and even Thailand.  In my case, I was looking at fundamentally strong economics of oil, gas and tourism industry of Canada, in particular to the state of Alberta, Calgary.

As in any form of investment, liquidity and foreign exchange are one of the highest type of risks one can be exposed to.  It seems strange for me to get started but I guess one has to get take the first step after evaluating all the evidences of sound investment principles.  After all, I can either end up as a sucker or winning reasonably well.

So far, the rental income from that investment had increased in despite the severe decline of the US housing markets.  As of last week, I have received a 3% bonus and tax-free passive income.  The first rental income, as I was informed earlier, will be scheduled for payment in April 2009.  This is the first passive income stream that I’ve built this year.  :)

April 2008

One of most memorable speech I’ve heard this year comes from the famous founder of Apple Computer and Pixar Animation Studio in a graduating message to MBA graduates of Stanford University.

If you’ve noticed many of my previous posts, I’ve sign off using the tag “Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish”.  This is a really awesome statement when applied to your own life.

Stay hungry, stay foolish!

I met Adam Khoo in a workshop last year and I quickly felt very blessed to learn from him.  Interestingly, I’ve gotten another chance this year to learn from some of his best trainers for the cooperate world!

Many folks are not well exposed to the styles of coaching in this part of the world, therefore some students may find the course pretty uncomfortable or unable to appreciate the depth of experiences that were shared.

In fact, the trainers gave a lot of insights on what our economy is heading and how one should develop certain competencies to engage the coming challenges.  I can tell that possibilities are boundless, and it’s only possible if one is constantly ready to challenge oneself, adapt quickly and embrace changes.

This is an obviously a new paradigm but it seems strange that most people are not ready for it yet.  The challenges of our generation (Gen Y) is facing an increasingly complex environment that demands us to handle a lot of information.   Information is useless until we make sense out of them, or find important meaning behind them.  This implies that thinking, understanding, imagination and creativity is absolutely necessary.  Finally, the ultimate purpose of these constant exercise is to find clarity.  Without clarity and purpose in what we are doing, there is no way we achieve what our mind set out to do.

It was a simple course, but there are profound messages embedded behind it.

May-June 2008

I started taking health supplements again after a 3-year break.  Looking back, it seems that I have already survived 6 months later!  :)

Combining with a special breathing exercise, I feel myself a lot healthier.  In fact, I have not been sick, not even once since the day I took the special supplements.  However, I still feel tired and very soon, I discovered that it is due to insufficient sleep.  With some good recommendations from a close friend, I have been sleeping before, on and around mid-night.

So whenever possible, I force myself to get to bed as early as possible (preferably before mid-night).  This practice also force me to concentrate only on the important tasks at hand and help me focus and get things done very efficiently.

On 25th November, I took a comprehensive health screening exercise (DaySpring Wellness) and received a scientific “report card” over my health conditions.  I am blessed to discover that all areas of the test appear to be normal and some even optimal.  However, I believe that my HDL and LDL cholesterol level can be further improve upon.

With this purpose in mind, and for a new commitment in year 2009, I intend to take on more natural vegetarian food as often as situation allows, and reduce on meat consumption.

Why Go Vegetarian?

Perhaps, you may not see the benefits I’ve seen recently in a series of videos.  Humans are not designed to eat meat.  By eating meat, we humans have created scarcity in food and create more hunger and poverty in 3rd world countries.  Furthermore, if vegetarian food is taken correctly, there are perfectly no health issues.  Personally, I am a bit “Kiasu” (a Singapore Slang – it means not to loose out) in nutrition and I will continue to take health supplements, solely for health insurance.  :)

If you’re so blessed like me, you are most welcomed to view the following short videos to learn all about going vegetarian – the whys:

A seed for a better world (让世界更美好的善种子) Part #1

A seed for a better world (让世界更美好的善种子) Part #2

A seed for a better world (让世界更美好的善种子) Part #3

A seed for a better world (让世界更美好的善种子) Part #4

A seed for a better world (让世界更美好的善种子) Part #5

A seed for a better world (让世界更美好的善种子) Part #6

Watch all 6 Parts Here!

—

A New Mobile Gadget For Me!

I’m a pretty frugal person.  Since graduation, I have never paid more than $50 for a mobile phone.  Interestingly, I caught a good deal this year in a StarHub roadshow this year.  This deal comes perfectly timely as my Nokia 6610 batteries are starting to fail quickly and IDA recently announced the freedom in mobile number retaining when customers port between Telco service providers.

Without a shadow of a doubt, I switched over to StarHub on a 24 months contract, paying $48 for the cool Nokia E51 security sensitive device!  Along with it comes a 6 months free subscription, rendering the service an 18-months deal.

It’s a no-brainier deal to a value buyer (Ha!  Speaking of value investing!).

July 2008

  • Millionaire Investor Program -
    Perhaps The Only Course in Asia for Investing the Warrent Buffett’s Way!

July is a life changing month for me…

I have been studying diligently about investing in common stocks, attending free seminars so far but I have yet to make any progress in action.  As the saying goes, “Knowledge without Application is Lame”.  Indeed, no amount of books will prepare me to make any move until I discovered a very important deal in July…

I caught sight of a headline, an advertisement, in one of my private forums run by my close buddy Leroy.  It said: “Investing The Warren Buffet’s Way” or something like that.  It was a preview seminar to teach people how to evaluate businesses using Buffett and his teacher, Benjamin Graham, methodology.

I am not an idiot or newbie to this industry… that such preview seminars are out to sell you something by giving you an idea, or something free so as to entice you to sign up for a course.  Also, I am no new comer to the legendary value investor, Warren Buffett and his teacher Graham.  I have personally read his original publication, “The Intelligent Investor” and I’ve always found it inspiring if his methodology can be applied equally in this part of the world.

I invited a few guys to join me on this seminar, but only my colleague CY was interested.

Being a skeptic of scams myself, I still keep an open mind throughout the presentation and understood all the marketing gimmicks presented.  I was ready to shut off my mind when one benevolent presenter went on stage and presented a little game… and this game changed my perspective and understanding immediately!

I thought I was able to understand financial statements after all the reading I had been doing.  The game instantly revealed my deficiencies in understanding various aspects of the financial of any company.  The game had only 4 listed companies, yet I was unable to pick the only winner in the list.

I was no dummy.  I knew from the bottom of my heart that this knowledge and experience in refining this skill alone and itself will put me way ahead of most speculators, traders and so call professionals and analysists in the markets.

Unfortunately, there was one problem – the course fee started out pretty steep – $4,995!

I knew I had to pass this one off, but deep down inside me, I knew its value.  Price is merely a concept of money.  Value is what you can get out of it perpetually for the rest of my life.  I knew that if I had to pay that figure, I would… but my trained skeptical protection immediately kick in and warn me – “Not so fast baby!“.

And true enough, all sort of marketing gimmicks were thrown in… but I was not moved.  I gave myself a target price to pay for the value of the course.  Nothing more than $x,xxx.  Eventually, the price fell below my target price and I gave myself the green light.  I’m already sold on to the course at a huge discount!  It’s a steal – I know it intuitively!  :)

It’s still above 3 figures, but I’m not a newbie to paying for something valuable, especially for my own personal improvement that is invaluable for life.  Most people cannot understand beyond this and that is why most people struggle in life.  They failed to identify value and grab opportunities when the price is right.  I must warn you that there are plenty of opportunities around you everyday.  Unless you’re trained to see them, there is no way to know, much less take advantage of them!

That’s it!  I was glad to locked in at a very low price what others are still willing to pay about 2x more than I paid for at the time I’m writing this.  I suspect that there is a huge demand for this kind of course, and much more as economic cycles gets shorter and shorter.  It’s really easy to become really rich if you follow through at least 2 bear markets as it is happening right now.  Maybe by the time you read this, the course fee might have skyrocketed back to $4,995 AND without all the bonuses and access to our private mastermind group.

If you are interested to find out more, you are most welcome to send me a comment for more information.  There are no obgligations to take this course, but somwhat, I would like as few people to know about it as possible… ahh… my small self is kicking me again!  Well, let’s just let nature discover you then!  There is no enlightened wealth if folks are not convinced of the benefits.  However, I will be most blessed and grateful to share this with any willing and open individuals who are tired of trading for a living.

August 2008

Yes!  I have been doing a bit of research by now and I’ve zeroed in a few possible low cost brokers to get started and gaining ownership in my own investments!

I’ve identified CIMB-GK, Kim Eng, DBS Vickers and Philips Capital as one of the most established and lowest cost authroized brokers in Singapore.  Coincidentally, I found a $1 deal for 8 trades with CIMB and I signed up immediately!  Brokerage fees are at least $25 and this means I saved $200 already!  What a no-brainer especially for value investors!

The Invest Fair was a very good event to understand more about value investing and understanding the property market in Singapore.  It’s like a mini-crash course all in one seminar!

You can read in much more detail on the exhibition on the link above.

  • Millionaire Investor Program Batch #1

End of August was a time for me to absorb the course I’ve taken up.

After the first day, I was like slapped on the head already!  I can challenge you that I have learn more in a single day than most investment courses out there you have ever taken – in a single day!

Investment psychology is so darn important yet people fail to take notice and treat investment like a big gambling game.  You have heard of the concept of “Buy High, Sell Low” right?  It’s a no-brainer, but most people take it the opposite way!  It’s no wonder why most people in the markets are loosing money!  Their psychologies are playing against them, and I’ve read somewhere before… that extensive research have already proven this phenominal, and it’s consistent even with folks who are very high in IQ.

As legendary value investor, Warren Buffett, pointed out: “You don’t need an IQ of more than 125 to invest.  Any more higher is wasted.”

I’m beginning to realize the wisdom of his approach.  The more I keep to that practice, the more I find it intellectually profound and easy to implement as long as you keep your emotions at bay by not following the crowd.  Achieving a compounded return of 15-20%pa is possible and achievable to most retail investors!

September-October-November 2008

Millionaire Mind Intensive is a 3-days seminar over the first weekend of November.  With over 5,000 people from all over the world, folks get to experience and understand their relationships with money.  Though the seminar was heavily peppered with marketing and sales talks, careful filtration enables one to extract really valuable information that can be readily applicable in one’s financial life!

One important concept I find very applicable is the 6 financial jars.  Personally, I like the concept of “Play Jar”.  It helps relieve one from the stress of spending money, which can cause one to feel guilty when one is supposed to be investing it or saving it properly.

The 6 jars form very important money management system which most folks do not have an idea how powerful the technique is.  For me, I’ve already established my FFA, LTSS, NEC and PLAY jars.  The 2 jars remaining I have not sort out is my EDU and GIFT jar.  I am currently adjusting my GIFT jar with my time so that I can maximize them for important FFA and EDU jars.

Besides applying the 6 jars concept, I’ve gotten to experience first-hand how powerful marketers can whipped up so quickly and got so many people to pay their hard-earned money.  It’s a lot like powerful Internet marketers who can craft emotional and triggering words to entice people to buy irrationally.  Having seen all their marketing gimmicks and very little genuinety in their offers, there were very little reasons to pay them any money.  Having said that, there is but one course, “Train The Trainers”, which I think makes the most sense.  Harv himself was a clear example of applying that single skill to make a lot of money in all his seminars.

  • Millionaire Investor Program Batch #2

November was a great time to review the MIP after having seen the major market drawdowns in September and October 2008.  I was blessed to attend a complete and slightly revised MIP.  Through this review, I improved my understanding of financial reports by sharing my knowledge with my fellow graduates, as well as students of MIP #2.

You see, you cannot improve quickly unless you can share genuinely  with an open heart and mind with the intention to learn too.  And this can only be accomplished with people who are willing to reciprocate.

I was also blessed to meet many more like-minded friends whom I have increased my learning too!

  • Dividends – My First Passive Income Stream!

It’s kinda hard to imagine that I have received my very first passive income stream at the end of the month only having stayed invested for a little over 3 months!

Now, dividends are very nice cashflow to receive in times of financial meltdown.  Coupled with reinvestment and proper money management skills, it its not hard to figure out amazing compounded returns over a long time-frame when one invests in the right type of businesses.

December 2008

  • Rental Income – My Second Passive Income Stream!

On the second week of December, a 3% early bird bonus was credited into my bank account!  This cashflow is a one-time payment because I had stay invested since March this year.  Rental incomes are very exciting for me to receive when I know that I don’t have to do any more work and the cash keep coming in for as long as I hold an ownership to the property after paying off all expenses to maintain the professional management services.  It’s a small glimpse for me to be a little business owner… cool!

My first 4.5% rental income is scheduled to flow in by April next year.  It is interesting to note that by April, I will be taking time off from the market to focus on my Internet projects, and I’m still getting paid!

  • “Tuesdays With Morrie” By Mitch Albom

I was really blessed to have a chance to borrow this book from LR and have invested a few days finishing it.  Man!  I must kick myself for not taking a friend’s advice to read this book when I was introduced to it more than 3 years ago!

This is an awesomely profound and spiritual book to read in under 3 days!  I urge you to read this little novel in the light of your own spiritual practice and see if you can find deeper meaning in your life.  Some of the most beautiful quotes I’ve extracted are as follows:

  • “Once you know how to die, you know how to live.”
  • “If you can accept that you can die at any time – then you might not be as ambitious as you are.”
  • “So many people walk around with a meaningless life. They seem half asleep, even when they are busy doing things they think are important. This is because they’re chasing the wrong things. The way you get meaning into your life is to devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning.”
  • “A casual stroll through the lunatic asylum shows that faith does not prove anything.”
  • “Love each other or perish.”
  • “Love is when you are as concerned about someone else’s situation as you are about your own.”
  • “Love is the only rational act.”
  • “Without love, we are birds with broken wings.”
  • “The most important thing in life is to learn how to give out love, and to let it come in…”
  • “As far as men go, it is not what they are that interests me, but what they can become.”
  • “You’re not a wave, you’re part of the ocean.”
  • “In truth, there was only one Christian, and he died on the cross.”
  • “What’s wrong with being number two?”
  • “You talk, I’ll listen.”
  • “Only an open heart will allow you to float equally between everyone.”
  • “Money is not a substitute for tenderness, and power is not a substitute for tenderness.”
  • “There is no experience like having children.”
  • “People are only mean when they’re threatened.”
  • “You see, you closed your eyes. That was the difference. Sometimes you cannot believe what you see, you have to believe what you feel. And if you are going to have other people trust you, you must feel that you can trust them too – Even when you’re in the dark. Even when you’re falling.”
  • “I see it all perfectly; there are two possible situations — one can either do this or that. My honest opinion and my friendly advice is this: do it or do not do it — you will regret both.”
  • “Dying is one thing to be sad about, living unhappily is another thing.”
  • “The sick are the greatest danger for the healthy; it is not from the strongest that harm comes to the strong, but from the weakest.”
  • “I need to respect my children worlds, or else this disease will have ruined the three of us instead of one.”
  • “The culture we have does not make people feel good about themselves. and you have to be strong enough to say if the culture doesn’t work, don’t buy it.”
  • “Why are we embarrassed by silence? What comfort do we find in all the noise?”
  • “People act as if death is contagious.”
  • “Death takes away life, not relationships.”
  • “You live on – in the hearts of everyone you have touched and nurtured while you were here.”

In fact, my buddy LR wrote a short article on his feelings and afterthoughts that moved me quite a bit.

This little book is selling in Popular Book store for as little as $16.00 ($14.40 if you use the 10% discount card) and it gives so much beauty to the meaing of our lives!

If you’ve never ponder how you are going to die, then I’m sad to affirmed that you’ve never learnt how to live.  Death is the beginning, not an end as you might have been taught incorrectly.  In fact, if you’re well versed in Buddhist teachings, death itself is not frightening.  It is when one is not prepared for it that is frightening!  Death is a natural process that cleans out the old for the new, a universal law that no man have yet breech, and cannot be breeched.  Not even great emperors, or the presidents of supernations.

If you happen to know a very famous MediaCorp artist, Zhou Chu Ming, you would have realized that he has forgotten all that is to life until he was dignosed with his terminal disease.  He has been doing financially well over the years with MediaCorp movies and all his part-time property businesses, and yet, he failed to realized the truth, even when his best friend MC King collapsed and died recently.

What do you want yourself to be remembered as when you die?

Were there anything meaningful in this world that you should be doing, you know it and you’re still not doing, however small it may be?

Give yourself a punch or a slap in the face and set a resolution to get started in year 2009!  You deserve it!

And don’t forget to grab this book and read it.  I promise that your life will become much more fulfil somehow!

—

  • Investing In Pure Gold!

Gold to most investors are but mysterious and elusive diversifications.  Recently, I was introduced to this concept of investing in solid pure gold, 24 Karat and 999.9 fine gold bars!

I know, this sounds very skeptical to me too…

Nevertheless, I kept an open mind and checked out the presentation.  It was nicely presented with lots of information to follow up.  The gold bars presented were real 100g gold pieces that anyone can carry around in their pockets.

I’ve verified further that each gold bars were wrapped in special pastic wraps that were supposed to be tamper protected.  Tearing open each pack will breech the security marks which nullified their certification.  Each gold bar is certified by PAMP, that is claimed to be on par with International Standards and rating as solid as gold issued by Credit Suisse, Switzerland.

Indeed, these gold bars are highly in demand world-wide and are open to investors to buy at 2% discounts.  Under the contract, you can sell them back at the end of the month for the original price you’ve paid.  That is a whopping 2% capital gain while locking down the volatility of spot gold prices for 1 solid month!

Sounds too good to be true?  I’m not sure yet but I’ll probably will not be investing in this one.  I am currently quite strapped up for cash in some solid investments and business, so I cannot commit something new yet.

However if you are interested, feel free to drop me a comment with your details and I can get back to you.

  • Onwards To Year 2009!

It’s been a long article, and I must thank you for reading my blabberings (if you have been so faithful, I thank you from the botton of my heart)!

Year 2009 is not going to be easy for most people, but with a little good planning, a little luck and some disciplines, we can expect a very wonderful year to accomplish great things for the benefit of humanity.  Do keep your comments rolling in and perhaps even to engage me intellectually too!

Stay hungry, stay foolish!

Be Blessed, Peace, Inspired & Enlightened in Year 2009!

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]]> Year 2008 is almost coming to an end (or have already ended by the time you read this!)!  I would love to take this precious opportunity to thank all my valued readers, friends and acquaintances for their invaluable support and insights!  Without you all, my learning progress may not have grown so fast and far!

Truth to be told, most folks never really take a serious thought what they have done, and more importantly, what they have not done in the year that is to be expiring (or have whichever point in time you’re reading this).  Even then, only a very small percentage of those who did so do not pen it down… or rather blog about it.  After all, we’ve advanced quite a bit technologically have we?  So there’s no excuse for not doing so…

Whichever is convenient for you, do keep a record of all your achievements for the year.  It’s your own report card – something only you along can create and review over if you’re serious about your own life.  Some areas of my life which I focused on  (I conveniently take them from my coach) are as follows:

  1. Business (career etc)
  2. Finances (relations with money etc)
  3. Relationships (family, relatives, friends, enemies etc)
  4. Life (spiritual development in general)

For me, it has been a very really fruitful year!  I have set out with an intention to attract an amazing amount of learning in many areas of my life, especially on core competencies such as managing my own finances and take charge of my own investments… and I’m happy and blessed to report that I’ve progressed quite a fair bit!

I know what you’re thinking about…

Most people by this time may have been completely wiped out financially as the major tsunami has finally crashed onto the shores of our economies.  And if you believe me, I have seen this coming at the beginning of the year and it is very obvious that the coming year will be an extremely tough year for businesses.  Many folks will be retrenched, more will have their pay cut or reduced, and many will witness their bonuses evaporated.

Many have asked, “Is there light at the end of the tunnel?”

My simply answer, “Definitely YES!“.

Financial disasters are excellent wealth creators and if you have been working smart (and not hard) by equipping plug yourself into the necessary networks, up your financial knowledge and boost your emotional intelligence by going against the fears of the herd (majority), you will be like me to emerge with for financial abundance when the tide goes down in the coming years!

Of course, financial success does not comes without a lot of environmental support and spiritual growth.  It is naive to pretend otherwise because the laws of the universe simply works that way.  Your inner mind and your outer environment is extremely crucial and it shapes your very present moment.  If you’re broke, it’s because your inner mind (or financial blueprint) has been subconsciously conditioned for financial failures.  Your environment is most likely non-supporting too; it drains you off your precious time and mental energy, resulting with very little time you can spare to concentrate on improving your own finances.

If you’re not so sure what I’m talking about, allow me to share my learning and may you be inspired too!

January-February 2008

I began the year with a very humble beginning thinking how I can contribute back my time and energy for the community.  A rare chance came along for me to join some like-minded friends to give out food to lonely and elderly folks in Chinatown.  Although I didn’t know most of them, it dawn on me that it wasn’t really important after all because our common objectives were met.

Very few Singaporeans actually know that there are many unfortunate old folks who are living very much alone in the heart of the buzz of Chinese New year… commonly known as Chinatown.  Most Singaporeans only know Chinatown as a modernized shopping spot for the Chinese festive season.

Most of these folks live in a block of over 30 levels of single room HDB flat just next to the much elaborated Fuo Ya Si (Buddha’s Tooth) Temple.  It sounds very ironic isn’t it but this is the sad truth in life.  If you take the life up to the 15th (mid-way) level and check out its surroundings, you can quickly contrast the bright afternoon sun ray with the extremely dark corridors where hundreds of old folks live behind closed doors – some of them alone and no more relatives in Singapore.

It saddens me that some of these old folks have quite a number of children.  Unfortunately, most of them have decided to abandon them for their own families and careers outside the country.  The only consolation part is that there are often volunteers who come along to help distribute food and living necessities to them, and some even help out in some cleaning and mopping.

Having experienced the short trip and still being able to reply much of the memory till today has been a great blessing for me.  So while you’re struggling on to provide for your own family, do remember to spare some thoughts how you may end up be lonely and need someone else to take care of you when you’re too old or unable to feed yourself.

Owning one of these little digital gadgets has been one of my desires and I am finally blessed to be able to own one myself!  It’s a little hard to justify a $500++ gadget unless I can convince myself to put it to good use.  Now that I know how to work out the compounding mathematics, it turn out that this device will cost me $4231 if the money were to be put to compound 15% for 15 years!

9 months later, I have been enjoying this valuable gadget… something that can help me review lots of memorable moments, pictures and videos.  It certainly did add a lot more excitement and colours to my family and friends!

So was it worth $4000++ future money?

As the saying goes, there are some things money can’t buy!  :)

March 2008

March was both a shock and a surprise for me.  It never occur to me that on my birthday, my father was admitted to the hospital for mild stroke!  Life is simply unpredictable.  Suddenly, I realize that our bodies are so fragile… and that our time on this little planet is so limited!  Even my elder brother admitted that his health has not been so good after years of hard work in the insurance business.  The money is good but one is trading health for wealth.  Is our time and wealth all that is worth?  It makes me contemplate deeply…

Waiting at the A&E (accident and emergency) at Changi General Hospital is one unpleasant experience.  You can witness all sorts of people who can carried in on stretchers for all sorts of reasons.  There was even one military escort case for a handcuffed detainee.

For the whole day, I was not quite sure what to expect… and it seems to me that the only thing I could do was to stay with my father.  Fortunately, the doctor finally declare that the stroke was not deadly and my father could recover well with proper medication for mild diabetes coupled with physiotherapy.

Through this incidence, I came to realized that now I am a lot more closer to both my father and my elder brother… especially my brother; for he is rarely at home.  Having a dialog with him in a month is most certainly a rare opportunity these days!

Do you have a very similar situation like mine?

Perhaps, constant in-depth communication with your family is the single most important aspect of your relationships.  I vividly remembered the wise words from my coach: “When the dialogue is stopped, the relationship is over.”  How beautifully phrased can that be!  If only more folks can appreciate the depth and wisdom behind that statement!

I’ve finally gotten a glimpse of what it feels like when I was introduced to the concept of investing in commercial real estate.  If you were like me who have never understand what various forms of investment is all about, much less about understanding the risks involved in each type of asset classes, you’ll be amazed at how much I have learned this year alone!

To most investors and speculators, real estate is commonly viewed as owning a piece of land, residential property, REITs or Royalty Trusts.  If invested wisely, real estate investment can generate substantial cashflow periodically along with possible capital gain if the property market is in your favor.

Unfortunately, Singapore’s property market is on the downturn since the beginning of the year and it is likely to hit its low soon.  Thus, many investors start to look for real estate opportunities such as those in Canada, USA, UK, Malaysia and even Thailand.  In my case, I was looking at fundamentally strong economics of oil, gas and tourism industry of Canada, in particular to the state of Alberta, Calgary.

As in any form of investment, liquidity and foreign exchange are one of the highest type of risks one can be exposed to.  It seems strange for me to get started but I guess one has to get take the first step after evaluating all the evidences of sound investment principles.  After all, I can either end up as a sucker or winning reasonably well.

So far, the rental income from that investment had increased in despite the severe decline of the US housing markets.  As of last week, I have received a 3% bonus and tax-free passive income.  The first rental income, as I was informed earlier, will be scheduled for payment in April 2009.  This is the first passive income stream that I’ve built this year.  :)

April 2008

One of most memorable speech I’ve heard this year comes from the famous founder of Apple Computer and Pixar Animation Studio in a graduating message to MBA graduates of Stanford University.

If you’ve noticed many of my previous posts, I’ve sign off using the tag “Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish”.  This is a really awesome statement when applied to your own life.

Stay hungry, stay foolish!

I met Adam Khoo in a workshop last year and I quickly felt very blessed to learn from him.  Interestingly, I’ve gotten another chance this year to learn from some of his best trainers for the cooperate world!

Many folks are not well exposed to the styles of coaching in this part of the world, therefore some students may find the course pretty uncomfortable or unable to appreciate the depth of experiences that were shared.

In fact, the trainers gave a lot of insights on what our economy is heading and how one should develop certain competencies to engage the coming challenges.  I can tell that possibilities are boundless, and it’s only possible if one is constantly ready to challenge oneself, adapt quickly and embrace changes.

This is an obviously a new paradigm but it seems strange that most people are not ready for it yet.  The challenges of our generation (Gen Y) is facing an increasingly complex environment that demands us to handle a lot of information.   Information is useless until we make sense out of them, or find important meaning behind them.  This implies that thinking, understanding, imagination and creativity is absolutely necessary.  Finally, the ultimate purpose of these constant exercise is to find clarity.  Without clarity and purpose in what we are doing, there is no way we achieve what our mind set out to do.

It was a simple course, but there are profound messages embedded behind it.

May-June 2008

I started taking health supplements again after a 3-year break.  Looking back, it seems that I have already survived 6 months later!  :)

Combining with a special breathing exercise, I feel myself a lot healthier.  In fact, I have not been sick, not even once since the day I took the special supplements.  However, I still feel tired and very soon, I discovered that it is due to insufficient sleep.  With some good recommendations from a close friend, I have been sleeping before, on and around mid-night.

So whenever possible, I force myself to get to bed as early as possible (preferably before mid-night).  This practice also force me to concentrate only on the important tasks at hand and help me focus and get things done very efficiently.

On 25th November, I took a comprehensive health screening exercise (DaySpring Wellness) and received a scientific “report card” over my health conditions.  I am blessed to discover that all areas of the test appear to be normal and some even optimal.  However, I believe that my HDL and LDL cholesterol level can be further improve upon.

With this purpose in mind, and for a new commitment in year 2009, I intend to take on more natural vegetarian food as often as situation allows, and reduce on meat consumption.

Why Go Vegetarian?

Perhaps, you may not see the benefits I’ve seen recently in a series of videos.  Humans are not designed to eat meat.  By eating meat, we humans have created scarcity in food and create more hunger and poverty in 3rd world countries.  Furthermore, if vegetarian food is taken correctly, there are perfectly no health issues.  Personally, I am a bit “Kiasu” (a Singapore Slang – it means not to loose out) in nutrition and I will continue to take health supplements, solely for health insurance.  :)

If you’re so blessed like me, you are most welcomed to view the following short videos to learn all about going vegetarian – the whys:

A seed for a better world (让世界更美好的善种子) Part #1

A seed for a better world (让世界更美好的善种子) Part #2

A seed for a better world (让世界更美好的善种子) Part #3

A seed for a better world (让世界更美好的善种子) Part #4

A seed for a better world (让世界更美好的善种子) Part #5

A seed for a better world (让世界更美好的善种子) Part #6

Watch all 6 Parts Here!

—

A New Mobile Gadget For Me!

I’m a pretty frugal person.  Since graduation, I have never paid more than $50 for a mobile phone.  Interestingly, I caught a good deal this year in a StarHub roadshow this year.  This deal comes perfectly timely as my Nokia 6610 batteries are starting to fail quickly and IDA recently announced the freedom in mobile number retaining when customers port between Telco service providers.

Without a shadow of a doubt, I switched over to StarHub on a 24 months contract, paying $48 for the cool Nokia E51 security sensitive device!  Along with it comes a 6 months free subscription, rendering the service an 18-months deal.

It’s a no-brainier deal to a value buyer (Ha!  Speaking of value investing!).

July 2008

  • Millionaire Investor Program -
    Perhaps The Only Course in Asia for Investing the Warrent Buffett’s Way!

July is a life changing month for me…

I have been studying diligently about investing in common stocks, attending free seminars so far but I have yet to make any progress in action.  As the saying goes, “Knowledge without Application is Lame”.  Indeed, no amount of books will prepare me to make any move until I discovered a very important deal in July…

I caught sight of a headline, an advertisement, in one of my private forums run by my close buddy Leroy.  It said: “Investing The Warren Buffet’s Way” or something like that.  It was a preview seminar to teach people how to evaluate businesses using Buffett and his teacher, Benjamin Graham, methodology.

I am not an idiot or newbie to this industry… that such preview seminars are out to sell you something by giving you an idea, or something free so as to entice you to sign up for a course.  Also, I am no new comer to the legendary value investor, Warren Buffett and his teacher Graham.  I have personally read his original publication, “The Intelligent Investor” and I’ve always found it inspiring if his methodology can be applied equally in this part of the world.

I invited a few guys to join me on this seminar, but only my colleague CY was interested.

Being a skeptic of scams myself, I still keep an open mind throughout the presentation and understood all the marketing gimmicks presented.  I was ready to shut off my mind when one benevolent presenter went on stage and presented a little game… and this game changed my perspective and understanding immediately!

I thought I was able to understand financial statements after all the reading I had been doing.  The game instantly revealed my deficiencies in understanding various aspects of the financial of any company.  The game had only 4 listed companies, yet I was unable to pick the only winner in the list.

I was no dummy.  I knew from the bottom of my heart that this knowledge and experience in refining this skill alone and itself will put me way ahead of most speculators, traders and so call professionals and analysists in the markets.

Unfortunately, there was one problem – the course fee started out pretty steep – $4,995!

I knew I had to pass this one off, but deep down inside me, I knew its value.  Price is merely a concept of money.  Value is what you can get out of it perpetually for the rest of my life.  I knew that if I had to pay that figure, I would… but my trained skeptical protection immediately kick in and warn me – “Not so fast baby!“.

And true enough, all sort of marketing gimmicks were thrown in… but I was not moved.  I gave myself a target price to pay for the value of the course.  Nothing more than $x,xxx.  Eventually, the price fell below my target price and I gave myself the green light.  I’m already sold on to the course at a huge discount!  It’s a steal – I know it intuitively!  :)

It’s still above 3 figures, but I’m not a newbie to paying for something valuable, especially for my own personal improvement that is invaluable for life.  Most people cannot understand beyond this and that is why most people struggle in life.  They failed to identify value and grab opportunities when the price is right.  I must warn you that there are plenty of opportunities around you everyday.  Unless you’re trained to see them, there is no way to know, much less take advantage of them!

That’s it!  I was glad to locked in at a very low price what others are still willing to pay about 2x more than I paid for at the time I’m writing this.  I suspect that there is a huge demand for this kind of course, and much more as economic cycles gets shorter and shorter.  It’s really easy to become really rich if you follow through at least 2 bear markets as it is happening right now.  Maybe by the time you read this, the course fee might have skyrocketed back to $4,995 AND without all the bonuses and access to our private mastermind group.

If you are interested to find out more, you are most welcome to send me a comment for more information.  There are no obgligations to take this course, but somwhat, I would like as few people to know about it as possible… ahh… my small self is kicking me again!  Well, let’s just let nature discover you then!  There is no enlightened wealth if folks are not convinced of the benefits.  However, I will be most blessed and grateful to share this with any willing and open individuals who are tired of trading for a living.

August 2008

Yes!  I have been doing a bit of research by now and I’ve zeroed in a few possible low cost brokers to get started and gaining ownership in my own investments!

I’ve identified CIMB-GK, Kim Eng, DBS Vickers and Philips Capital as one of the most established and lowest cost authroized brokers in Singapore.  Coincidentally, I found a $1 deal for 8 trades with CIMB and I signed up immediately!  Brokerage fees are at least $25 and this means I saved $200 already!  What a no-brainer especially for value investors!

The Invest Fair was a very good event to understand more about value investing and understanding the property market in Singapore.  It’s like a mini-crash course all in one seminar!

You can read in much more detail on the exhibition on the link above.

  • Millionaire Investor Program Batch #1

End of August was a time for me to absorb the course I’ve taken up.

After the first day, I was like slapped on the head already!  I can challenge you that I have learn more in a single day than most investment courses out there you have ever taken – in a single day!

Investment psychology is so darn important yet people fail to take notice and treat investment like a big gambling game.  You have heard of the concept of “Buy High, Sell Low” right?  It’s a no-brainer, but most people take it the opposite way!  It’s no wonder why most people in the markets are loosing money!  Their psychologies are playing against them, and I’ve read somewhere before… that extensive research have already proven this phenominal, and it’s consistent even with folks who are very high in IQ.

As legendary value investor, Warren Buffett, pointed out: “You don’t need an IQ of more than 125 to invest.  Any more higher is wasted.”

I’m beginning to realize the wisdom of his approach.  The more I keep to that practice, the more I find it intellectually profound and easy to implement as long as you keep your emotions at bay by not following the crowd.  Achieving a compounded return of 15-20%pa is possible and achievable to most retail investors!

September-October-November 2008

Millionaire Mind Intensive is a 3-days seminar over the first weekend of November.  With over 5,000 people from all over the world, folks get to experience and understand their relationships with money.  Though the seminar was heavily peppered with marketing and sales talks, careful filtration enables one to extract really valuable information that can be readily applicable in one’s financial life!

One important concept I find very applicable is the 6 financial jars.  Personally, I like the concept of “Play Jar”.  It helps relieve one from the stress of spending money, which can cause one to feel guilty when one is supposed to be investing it or saving it properly.

The 6 jars form very important money management system which most folks do not have an idea how powerful the technique is.  For me, I’ve already established my FFA, LTSS, NEC and PLAY jars.  The 2 jars remaining I have not sort out is my EDU and GIFT jar.  I am currently adjusting my GIFT jar with my time so that I can maximize them for important FFA and EDU jars.

Besides applying the 6 jars concept, I’ve gotten to experience first-hand how powerful marketers can whipped up so quickly and got so many people to pay their hard-earned money.  It’s a lot like powerful Internet marketers who can craft emotional and triggering words to entice people to buy irrationally.  Having seen all their marketing gimmicks and very little genuinety in their offers, there were very little reasons to pay them any money.  Having said that, there is but one course, “Train The Trainers”, which I think makes the most sense.  Harv himself was a clear example of applying that single skill to make a lot of money in all his seminars.

  • Millionaire Investor Program Batch #2

November was a great time to review the MIP after having seen the major market drawdowns in September and October 2008.  I was blessed to attend a complete and slightly revised MIP.  Through this review, I improved my understanding of financial reports by sharing my knowledge with my fellow graduates, as well as students of MIP #2.

You see, you cannot improve quickly unless you can share genuinely  with an open heart and mind with the intention to learn too.  And this can only be accomplished with people who are willing to reciprocate.

I was also blessed to meet many more like-minded friends whom I have increased my learning too!

  • Dividends – My First Passive Income Stream!

It’s kinda hard to imagine that I have received my very first passive income stream at the end of the month only having stayed invested for a little over 3 months!

Now, dividends are very nice cashflow to receive in times of financial meltdown.  Coupled with reinvestment and proper money management skills, it its not hard to figure out amazing compounded returns over a long time-frame when one invests in the right type of businesses.

December 2008

  • Rental Income – My Second Passive Income Stream!

On the second week of December, a 3% early bird bonus was credited into my bank account!  This cashflow is a one-time payment because I had stay invested since March this year.  Rental incomes are very exciting for me to receive when I know that I don’t have to do any more work and the cash keep coming in for as long as I hold an ownership to the property after paying off all expenses to maintain the professional management services.  It’s a small glimpse for me to be a little business owner… cool!

My first 4.5% rental income is scheduled to flow in by April next year.  It is interesting to note that by April, I will be taking time off from the market to focus on my Internet projects, and I’m still getting paid!

  • “Tuesdays With Morrie” By Mitch Albom

I was really blessed to have a chance to borrow this book from LR and have invested a few days finishing it.  Man!  I must kick myself for not taking a friend’s advice to read this book when I was introduced to it more than 3 years ago!

This is an awesomely profound and spiritual book to read in under 3 days!  I urge you to read this little novel in the light of your own spiritual practice and see if you can find deeper meaning in your life.  Some of the most beautiful quotes I’ve extracted are as follows:

  • “Once you know how to die, you know how to live.”
  • “If you can accept that you can die at any time – then you might not be as ambitious as you are.”
  • “So many people walk around with a meaningless life. They seem half asleep, even when they are busy doing things they think are important. This is because they’re chasing the wrong things. The way you get meaning into your life is to devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning.”
  • “A casual stroll through the lunatic asylum shows that faith does not prove anything.”
  • “Love each other or perish.”
  • “Love is when you are as concerned about someone else’s situation as you are about your own.”
  • “Love is the only rational act.”
  • “Without love, we are birds with broken wings.”
  • “The most important thing in life is to learn how to give out love, and to let it come in…”
  • “As far as men go, it is not what they are that interests me, but what they can become.”
  • “You’re not a wave, you’re part of the ocean.”
  • “In truth, there was only one Christian, and he died on the cross.”
  • “What’s wrong with being number two?”
  • “You talk, I’ll listen.”
  • “Only an open heart will allow you to float equally between everyone.”
  • “Money is not a substitute for tenderness, and power is not a substitute for tenderness.”
  • “There is no experience like having children.”
  • “People are only mean when they’re threatened.”
  • “You see, you closed your eyes. That was the difference. Sometimes you cannot believe what you see, you have to believe what you feel. And if you are going to have other people trust you, you must feel that you can trust them too – Even when you’re in the dark. Even when you’re falling.”
  • “I see it all perfectly; there are two possible situations — one can either do this or that. My honest opinion and my friendly advice is this: do it or do not do it — you will regret both.”
  • “Dying is one thing to be sad about, living unhappily is another thing.”
  • “The sick are the greatest danger for the healthy; it is not from the strongest that harm comes to the strong, but from the weakest.”
  • “I need to respect my children worlds, or else this disease will have ruined the three of us instead of one.”
  • “The culture we have does not make people feel good about themselves. and you have to be strong enough to say if the culture doesn’t work, don’t buy it.”
  • “Why are we embarrassed by silence? What comfort do we find in all the noise?”
  • “People act as if death is contagious.”
  • “Death takes away life, not relationships.”
  • “You live on – in the hearts of everyone you have touched and nurtured while you were here.”

In fact, my buddy LR wrote a short article on his feelings and afterthoughts that moved me quite a bit.

This little book is selling in Popular Book store for as little as $16.00 ($14.40 if you use the 10% discount card) and it gives so much beauty to the meaing of our lives!

If you’ve never ponder how you are going to die, then I’m sad to affirmed that you’ve never learnt how to live.  Death is the beginning, not an end as you might have been taught incorrectly.  In fact, if you’re well versed in Buddhist teachings, death itself is not frightening.  It is when one is not prepared for it that is frightening!  Death is a natural process that cleans out the old for the new, a universal law that no man have yet breech, and cannot be breeched.  Not even great emperors, or the presidents of supernations.

If you happen to know a very famous MediaCorp artist, Zhou Chu Ming, you would have realized that he has forgotten all that is to life until he was dignosed with his terminal disease.  He has been doing financially well over the years with MediaCorp movies and all his part-time property businesses, and yet, he failed to realized the truth, even when his best friend MC King collapsed and died recently.

What do you want yourself to be remembered as when you die?

Were there anything meaningful in this world that you should be doing, you know it and you’re still not doing, however small it may be?

Give yourself a punch or a slap in the face and set a resolution to get started in year 2009!  You deserve it!

And don’t forget to grab this book and read it.  I promise that your life will become much more fulfil somehow!

—

  • Investing In Pure Gold!

Gold to most investors are but mysterious and elusive diversifications.  Recently, I was introduced to this concept of investing in solid pure gold, 24 Karat and 999.9 fine gold bars!

I know, this sounds very skeptical to me too…

Nevertheless, I kept an open mind and checked out the presentation.  It was nicely presented with lots of information to follow up.  The gold bars presented were real 100g gold pieces that anyone can carry around in their pockets.

I’ve verified further that each gold bars were wrapped in special pastic wraps that were supposed to be tamper protected.  Tearing open each pack will breech the security marks which nullified their certification.  Each gold bar is certified by PAMP, that is claimed to be on par with International Standards and rating as solid as gold issued by Credit Suisse, Switzerland.

Indeed, these gold bars are highly in demand world-wide and are open to investors to buy at 2% discounts.  Under the contract, you can sell them back at the end of the month for the original price you’ve paid.  That is a whopping 2% capital gain while locking down the volatility of spot gold prices for 1 solid month!

Sounds too good to be true?  I’m not sure yet but I’ll probably will not be investing in this one.  I am currently quite strapped up for cash in some solid investments and business, so I cannot commit something new yet.

However if you are interested, feel free to drop me a comment with your details and I can get back to you.

  • Onwards To Year 2009!

It’s been a long article, and I must thank you for reading my blabberings (if you have been so faithful, I thank you from the botton of my heart)!

Year 2009 is not going to be easy for most people, but with a little good planning, a little luck and some disciplines, we can expect a very wonderful year to accomplish great things for the benefit of humanity.  Do keep your comments rolling in and perhaps even to engage me intellectually too!

Stay hungry, stay foolish!

Be Blessed, Peace, Inspired & Enlightened in Year 2009!

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]]> http://www.wailoong.com/596/looking-back-at-2008-and-moving-forward-to-2009/feed/ 8 What I Discover From The Inner Mind of Adam Khoo and The Patterns of Excellence http://www.wailoong.com/233/what-i-discover-from-the-inner-mind-of-adam-khoo-and-the-patterns-of-excellence/ http://www.wailoong.com/233/what-i-discover-from-the-inner-mind-of-adam-khoo-and-the-patterns-of-excellence/#comments Sun, 04 Nov 2007 14:32:46 +0000 Wai Loong http://www.wailoong.com/2007/11/04/what-i-discover-from-the-inner-mind-of-adam-khoo-and-the-patterns-of-excellence/ It was back in 2006 when I first heard of Adam Khoo and later Merry Riana. I was quite defensive against how Adam made his presence in Singapore and I thought he was another of those hoo-haa marketing tactics to grab mass attention. Frankly, have you ever felt that way before? The feeling of how your ego rises up even though you know you might be wrong? I felt that personally, many times a week – and to that my friend, comes only with inner realization.

All of us are wrong in one way or another, so don’t be too hard up on yourself.

And so I’m here for a surprise to you…

Something you can take home at the end of this blog post.

Note: Please be aware that I’m not here trying to defend Adam in any way. I’m just stating from facts and insights I draw from my own experiences.

Oh, and in case you aren’t sure how Adam Khoo and Merry Riana look like, I’ve included some pictures of them (their books actually) here…

Adam Khoo - Unleshing The Winner and Genius In Your Child Merry Riana - A Gift From A Friend
—

It came as a surprise to me when I found out that Merry is from the same class of NTU graduates in the School of EEE as me! Anyway, she found a way into an already competitive coaching business and is a self-made millionaire by the age of 26, in just 4 years past graduation! Now, that’s something to ponder about why even the elite students of my graduating class were not even smelling anywhere near a quarter million dollars in pure net worth.

Of course, my purpose here is NOT to dig into Merry, but to focus on on something about Adam (also a self-made millionaire by age 26) that I might be wrong about him.

Not many people dare admit they’re wrong. It takes tremendous courage to even blurt out, much less to ask for forgiveness.

—

Revealing… Adam Khoo’s Pattern of Excellence:

So, I guess to make up for my lack of understanding about what Adam teaches, you can rush down to the link below (before Adam decides to remove it), download it and read everything in this very useful resource – something made only available by Adam to all his subscribers:

Patterns of Excellence Live CD 01

Click Image or This Link to Access The Seminar Blog Download (135MB)…

For your sake, I challenge you to finish this 46-pages resource in a day.

I’ve personally blazed through it in 1 hour flat. Believe me – this little resource is jam packed with values, and more values stacked on values – for something that’s free!

It’s not for everyone though, especially if you have the kind of belief system I had. My perspective has since changed as I got to know more about Adam and having personally met and shook his hands sometime earlier this year.

I’m thinking that it’ll be an excellent idea to summarize what I thought about “Patterns of Excellence” and the experiences I had with my private coaching course some years ago.

—

Inside the Mind of Adam Khoo:

#1: Personal Mastery:

Adam talks about a series pf concepts that draws from the science of human psychology.

  • Body Postures
  • Sianz…
  • The art of breathing
  • Tone of your voice
  • Smile! You’re only on Camera?
  • Internal Self-Representation

Personal mastery is about knowing yourself physically and how carry yourself physically.

Did you know that your body posture is critical to your self-image? Your body is talking to you. For example, are you slouching? What happens is you’re losing energy and maybe even self-confidence.

Are You Feeling “Sianz”…?

As you combine the feeling of “Sian” (literally means boring in Singlish), your mood will gets worse. “Sian” is a typical Singaporean remark but did you know that you affirm that further by proofing it to yourself? It’s contagious and it can harm your mental well-being. Folks with that habitual feeling easily spiral downwards without realizing its detrimental effects. Adam made a good effort illustrating it in his “Patterns of Excellence” seminars.

Breathing can affect your mood?

Believe it or not, a simple practice of breathing CAN change your day! See if you can sit upright now and take a few deep breaths before reading on. Notice the cool air entering your nostril, enters your chest, then your lungs. Slowly exhale, noticing the warm air passing through your nostril this time. Repeat for as many times as you need to get that energy in you before you start any laborious work.

Are you a smoker?

There’s good news for you! Adam made a good connection between breathing and smoking cigarettes.

You can save a ton of money by sucking pens instead – because all smoking is doing for you is merely helping you breathe slowly! That’s the major component, other than the effects of tobacco. Not only can you save yourself from hefty medical bills when you get older, you can also help not to pollute the air.

Did you ever realize that the tone of your voice has the power to affect the people you talk to? In fact, all powerful communicators project their voices beyond themselves, through the person or audiences he/she is addressing. Change your tone and hence change your feelings. Think about that.

S.m.i.l.e!

Not many people dare to do this, but I did this experiment on the SMRT (train) a few years ago. I went around smiling to everyone I see… and surprisingly, people smile back! ;-)

What a concept! Works especially well on babies, where their mothers will smile back at you!

Of course, if you have a face of a stalker, please don’t attempt anything above!

What I’m getting at, is the power of effective smiling! Not many people discover its power, so I hope you’ll put that to good use.

—
Internal Representation:

Happiness is all internal, inside You. It’s happening NOW, not in the Past, because that’s what you were.

It’s not in the Future, because it’s not happening yet.

It’s about being in the present, the NOW!

One of the ways Adam uses to illustrate being in the NOW is visualization. Think of a lemon and immediately you’re iced and cool from a hot afternoon.

Get the picture?

So… when you’re feeling down… visit this blog post again and look at the pictures below. Deep down inside us, we all love adorable visuals – they all stimulates the same chemicals of happiness in your brain!

Sleepy Kittens 01
Lovely Kittens 01

And of course… some unintentional porn. ;-)

Naked Baby In a Laundry 01

Hey, no offense but I’m thinking that everybody almost enjoy everything about babies (except the pool).

—

#2: Inter-Personal/People Mastery:

Have you every wonder why certain folks are so much lovable, able to build rapports with all sorts of people?

It’s the skill of selling and effective communication.

Something I draw from my own experience is to be genuine with people. A lot of times, you’ll face people putting on the mask of society.

Maybe you’re one culprit yourself. How about being true and genuine with yourself first. You can’t be any genuine to others without being true and genuine to yourself first.

As Adam also pointed out, effective communication includes the tone – the way you say it. Your tone energizes the people you talk to and often, delivers a punch, an impact.

Try observing an effective communicator and you’ll find no less than hand and body gestures as he/she speaks.
—

#3: Patterns of Thoughts:

Have you ever got up in the morning and groan…

“10 more minutes and I’ll be up”… you mumbled to yourself.

It’ll become 1 hour or more for some people. And by the way, Steve Pavlina has written an excellent article “How to Wake Up Feeling Totally Alert” in one of his earlier post, so I’m thinking if it’s great for you to review it!

Same thing for procrastination. It’s a disease, a deadly virus to humanity.

Again, that thought of “Sian” may arise.

Some common symptoms I’ve identified if you’ve been infected:

  • “I’ll just get that done later” (it may never come)
  • “I can come back again tomorrow” (Actually, there may be no tomorrow)
  • “Maybe next year” (Wait for another Christmas?)
  • “No time left… ” (You’ll never find enough time to do otherwise)
  • “Another day?”

Most of us fail in our goals because these deadly patterns of thought can thwart our own success. I remembered a very powerful phrase that I put up as my own dream board at home and here it is for sharing:

The chains of habits are too weak to be felt until too strong to be broken.
- Samuel Johnson

Powerful phrase indeed!

The message Adam wants to point out is: “Getting started and keep on going, is better than thinking all day and taking no action”.

In addition, persistency, discipline and commitment forms part of all the non-negotiable ingredients to any success.

Just remember that at the end of the day, it’s your results that matters.

As my coach has always say:

You results are your Guru.
- Manoj Sharma

—

#4: Drivers of Human Behavior:

Human beings are driven by emotions and desires.

Surprisingly, most people are taught goal settings the wrong way.

Goal setting alone will not get you anywhere, without aligning your passions and triggering your emotion hot buttons. Before all these can happen, a meaningful driven purpose must be well thought out. Some call it vision, or dream.

Unfortunately, vision here is not quite suitable because goals are a short-term milestones into achieving a bigger objectives. Purpose is precisely the word as it is articulated from your very intention and values.

—

I guess that’s pretty much to Adam’s live seminar!

Do let me hear your story or share your thoughts in the comments area… and do remember to finish reading your transcript download today. Never procrastinate or put it off for another day!

Life’s just too short to put things on hold…

Have a great week ahead and live life with passion!

—

PS: If you’ve missed the download link mentioned above, here it is again.

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©2012 Insights, Inspirations, Tranquility, Peace and Harmony. All Rights Reserved.

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]]> It was back in 2006 when I first heard of Adam Khoo and later Merry Riana. I was quite defensive against how Adam made his presence in Singapore and I thought he was another of those hoo-haa marketing tactics to grab mass attention. Frankly, have you ever felt that way before? The feeling of how your ego rises up even though you know you might be wrong? I felt that personally, many times a week – and to that my friend, comes only with inner realization.

All of us are wrong in one way or another, so don’t be too hard up on yourself.

And so I’m here for a surprise to you…

Something you can take home at the end of this blog post.

Note: Please be aware that I’m not here trying to defend Adam in any way. I’m just stating from facts and insights I draw from my own experiences.

Oh, and in case you aren’t sure how Adam Khoo and Merry Riana look like, I’ve included some pictures of them (their books actually) here…

Adam Khoo - Unleshing The Winner and Genius In Your Child Merry Riana - A Gift From A Friend
—

It came as a surprise to me when I found out that Merry is from the same class of NTU graduates in the School of EEE as me! Anyway, she found a way into an already competitive coaching business and is a self-made millionaire by the age of 26, in just 4 years past graduation! Now, that’s something to ponder about why even the elite students of my graduating class were not even smelling anywhere near a quarter million dollars in pure net worth.

Of course, my purpose here is NOT to dig into Merry, but to focus on on something about Adam (also a self-made millionaire by age 26) that I might be wrong about him.

Not many people dare admit they’re wrong. It takes tremendous courage to even blurt out, much less to ask for forgiveness.

—

Revealing… Adam Khoo’s Pattern of Excellence:

So, I guess to make up for my lack of understanding about what Adam teaches, you can rush down to the link below (before Adam decides to remove it), download it and read everything in this very useful resource – something made only available by Adam to all his subscribers:

Patterns of Excellence Live CD 01

Click Image or This Link to Access The Seminar Blog Download (135MB)…

For your sake, I challenge you to finish this 46-pages resource in a day.

I’ve personally blazed through it in 1 hour flat. Believe me – this little resource is jam packed with values, and more values stacked on values – for something that’s free!

It’s not for everyone though, especially if you have the kind of belief system I had. My perspective has since changed as I got to know more about Adam and having personally met and shook his hands sometime earlier this year.

I’m thinking that it’ll be an excellent idea to summarize what I thought about “Patterns of Excellence” and the experiences I had with my private coaching course some years ago.

—

Inside the Mind of Adam Khoo:

#1: Personal Mastery:

Adam talks about a series pf concepts that draws from the science of human psychology.

  • Body Postures
  • Sianz…
  • The art of breathing
  • Tone of your voice
  • Smile! You’re only on Camera?
  • Internal Self-Representation

Personal mastery is about knowing yourself physically and how carry yourself physically.

Did you know that your body posture is critical to your self-image? Your body is talking to you. For example, are you slouching? What happens is you’re losing energy and maybe even self-confidence.

Are You Feeling “Sianz”…?

As you combine the feeling of “Sian” (literally means boring in Singlish), your mood will gets worse. “Sian” is a typical Singaporean remark but did you know that you affirm that further by proofing it to yourself? It’s contagious and it can harm your mental well-being. Folks with that habitual feeling easily spiral downwards without realizing its detrimental effects. Adam made a good effort illustrating it in his “Patterns of Excellence” seminars.

Breathing can affect your mood?

Believe it or not, a simple practice of breathing CAN change your day! See if you can sit upright now and take a few deep breaths before reading on. Notice the cool air entering your nostril, enters your chest, then your lungs. Slowly exhale, noticing the warm air passing through your nostril this time. Repeat for as many times as you need to get that energy in you before you start any laborious work.

Are you a smoker?

There’s good news for you! Adam made a good connection between breathing and smoking cigarettes.

You can save a ton of money by sucking pens instead – because all smoking is doing for you is merely helping you breathe slowly! That’s the major component, other than the effects of tobacco. Not only can you save yourself from hefty medical bills when you get older, you can also help not to pollute the air.

Did you ever realize that the tone of your voice has the power to affect the people you talk to? In fact, all powerful communicators project their voices beyond themselves, through the person or audiences he/she is addressing. Change your tone and hence change your feelings. Think about that.

S.m.i.l.e!

Not many people dare to do this, but I did this experiment on the SMRT (train) a few years ago. I went around smiling to everyone I see… and surprisingly, people smile back! ;-)

What a concept! Works especially well on babies, where their mothers will smile back at you!

Of course, if you have a face of a stalker, please don’t attempt anything above!

What I’m getting at, is the power of effective smiling! Not many people discover its power, so I hope you’ll put that to good use.

—
Internal Representation:

Happiness is all internal, inside You. It’s happening NOW, not in the Past, because that’s what you were.

It’s not in the Future, because it’s not happening yet.

It’s about being in the present, the NOW!

One of the ways Adam uses to illustrate being in the NOW is visualization. Think of a lemon and immediately you’re iced and cool from a hot afternoon.

Get the picture?

So… when you’re feeling down… visit this blog post again and look at the pictures below. Deep down inside us, we all love adorable visuals – they all stimulates the same chemicals of happiness in your brain!

Sleepy Kittens 01
Lovely Kittens 01

And of course… some unintentional porn. ;-)

Naked Baby In a Laundry 01

Hey, no offense but I’m thinking that everybody almost enjoy everything about babies (except the pool).

—

#2: Inter-Personal/People Mastery:

Have you every wonder why certain folks are so much lovable, able to build rapports with all sorts of people?

It’s the skill of selling and effective communication.

Something I draw from my own experience is to be genuine with people. A lot of times, you’ll face people putting on the mask of society.

Maybe you’re one culprit yourself. How about being true and genuine with yourself first. You can’t be any genuine to others without being true and genuine to yourself first.

As Adam also pointed out, effective communication includes the tone – the way you say it. Your tone energizes the people you talk to and often, delivers a punch, an impact.

Try observing an effective communicator and you’ll find no less than hand and body gestures as he/she speaks.
—

#3: Patterns of Thoughts:

Have you ever got up in the morning and groan…

“10 more minutes and I’ll be up”… you mumbled to yourself.

It’ll become 1 hour or more for some people. And by the way, Steve Pavlina has written an excellent article “How to Wake Up Feeling Totally Alert” in one of his earlier post, so I’m thinking if it’s great for you to review it!

Same thing for procrastination. It’s a disease, a deadly virus to humanity.

Again, that thought of “Sian” may arise.

Some common symptoms I’ve identified if you’ve been infected:

  • “I’ll just get that done later” (it may never come)
  • “I can come back again tomorrow” (Actually, there may be no tomorrow)
  • “Maybe next year” (Wait for another Christmas?)
  • “No time left… ” (You’ll never find enough time to do otherwise)
  • “Another day?”

Most of us fail in our goals because these deadly patterns of thought can thwart our own success. I remembered a very powerful phrase that I put up as my own dream board at home and here it is for sharing:

The chains of habits are too weak to be felt until too strong to be broken.
- Samuel Johnson

Powerful phrase indeed!

The message Adam wants to point out is: “Getting started and keep on going, is better than thinking all day and taking no action”.

In addition, persistency, discipline and commitment forms part of all the non-negotiable ingredients to any success.

Just remember that at the end of the day, it’s your results that matters.

As my coach has always say:

You results are your Guru.
- Manoj Sharma

—

#4: Drivers of Human Behavior:

Human beings are driven by emotions and desires.

Surprisingly, most people are taught goal settings the wrong way.

Goal setting alone will not get you anywhere, without aligning your passions and triggering your emotion hot buttons. Before all these can happen, a meaningful driven purpose must be well thought out. Some call it vision, or dream.

Unfortunately, vision here is not quite suitable because goals are a short-term milestones into achieving a bigger objectives. Purpose is precisely the word as it is articulated from your very intention and values.

—

I guess that’s pretty much to Adam’s live seminar!

Do let me hear your story or share your thoughts in the comments area… and do remember to finish reading your transcript download today. Never procrastinate or put it off for another day!

Life’s just too short to put things on hold…

Have a great week ahead and live life with passion!

—

PS: If you’ve missed the download link mentioned above, here it is again.

No Tags

©2012 Insights, Inspirations, Tranquility, Peace and Harmony. All Rights Reserved.

.

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]]> http://www.wailoong.com/233/what-i-discover-from-the-inner-mind-of-adam-khoo-and-the-patterns-of-excellence/feed/ 4 Buddhism, Tranquility, Peace and Harmony? http://www.wailoong.com/35/buddhism-tranquility-peace-and-harmony/ http://www.wailoong.com/35/buddhism-tranquility-peace-and-harmony/#comments Wed, 09 May 2007 15:20:09 +0000 Wai Loong http://www.wailoong.com/2007/05/09/buddhism-tranquility-peace-and-harmony/ green-leaf-01 deep-blue-sky-01

Dear friend,

For the past few days, I have been busy working on a project with some help from some automation software tools.I like automation because:

1. I’m pretty lazy and I attempt to get things as automated as possible.

2. I’ve been a software programmer since I’m 16-17 years old.

3. Things can run with or without me around (that’s some sort of peace isn’t it?).

Seriously, I’ve sort of turned quite philosophic. And that happens sometimes between while I was serving the nation, and between the time I have finished my university studies. That’s over the course of about 5 years.

So what have it got to do with the topic:
“Buddhism, Tranquility, Peace and Harmony?”

Here’s why…

I’m quoting 1 feedback I received today:

Reflection from a tranquility will simply observe the peace no one could at the moment of impermanence.

I’ve found some answers from a lot of reading, attending a coaching course, listening attentively to Buddhist discourses and of course, lots of self reflection from those experiences.

I have been sharing with some of my close friends and colleagues, some of the findings I have a little understanding of, and hopefully sharing them occasionally on this website.

Let’s face it. We are all distracted in some point, or most part of our lives!

Even the little things we do and interaction with the universe around us can cause us much emotional disturbance. Then, how can we experience peace in a chaotic world, where there are so much distractions around us?

Perhaps, there is a good way to cut out the external and inner noise.

The Buddha taught meditation as a method to achieve concentration. And that my friend, is so vital as the key to inner peace!

A very important quote I got from a course:

To imagine is to be creative.
To be creative is to have a still mind.
To have a still mind is to contemplate clearly.
And only in clear contemplation can you create aligned possibilities.

Clear contemplation, achieved only through a still mind… isn’t that very close to concentration taught by the Buddha?

Here’s a little secret I used effective in the recent months to cut out external noise:

“Stop watching television, especially news!”
I realized that it’s such as waste of time. We get attracted to all sorts of emotions by watching television news. Do you realize by now that most news reports are strategically positioned around disasters, accidents, riots, politics etc. The answer is because such information are of high demand and hence profitable for their commercial advertisers!

Content like disaster sells, and they will continue to sell for as many years as long as they keep bring in profits.

So, the Big Question is:
What do you really want to get out of it? ;-)

Are you in a position now to be able to figure out how much time you have already lost in Your lifetime staring at your electronic box?

Why not do something that is of value to your loved ones, maybe to your family, or your community, or at a very bold statement here – to the world at large!

I don’t know if it resonates with you in anyway but please leave me comments on how and what you personally think of this article.

Thanks for reading this far! It’s time for me to get back to work!

No Tags

©2012 Insights, Inspirations, Tranquility, Peace and Harmony. All Rights Reserved.

.

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]]> green-leaf-01 deep-blue-sky-01

Dear friend,

For the past few days, I have been busy working on a project with some help from some automation software tools.I like automation because:

1. I’m pretty lazy and I attempt to get things as automated as possible.

2. I’ve been a software programmer since I’m 16-17 years old.

3. Things can run with or without me around (that’s some sort of peace isn’t it?).

Seriously, I’ve sort of turned quite philosophic. And that happens sometimes between while I was serving the nation, and between the time I have finished my university studies. That’s over the course of about 5 years.

So what have it got to do with the topic:
“Buddhism, Tranquility, Peace and Harmony?”

Here’s why…

I’m quoting 1 feedback I received today:

Reflection from a tranquility will simply observe the peace no one could at the moment of impermanence.

I’ve found some answers from a lot of reading, attending a coaching course, listening attentively to Buddhist discourses and of course, lots of self reflection from those experiences.

I have been sharing with some of my close friends and colleagues, some of the findings I have a little understanding of, and hopefully sharing them occasionally on this website.

Let’s face it. We are all distracted in some point, or most part of our lives!

Even the little things we do and interaction with the universe around us can cause us much emotional disturbance. Then, how can we experience peace in a chaotic world, where there are so much distractions around us?

Perhaps, there is a good way to cut out the external and inner noise.

The Buddha taught meditation as a method to achieve concentration. And that my friend, is so vital as the key to inner peace!

A very important quote I got from a course:

To imagine is to be creative.
To be creative is to have a still mind.
To have a still mind is to contemplate clearly.
And only in clear contemplation can you create aligned possibilities.

Clear contemplation, achieved only through a still mind… isn’t that very close to concentration taught by the Buddha?

Here’s a little secret I used effective in the recent months to cut out external noise:

“Stop watching television, especially news!”
I realized that it’s such as waste of time. We get attracted to all sorts of emotions by watching television news. Do you realize by now that most news reports are strategically positioned around disasters, accidents, riots, politics etc. The answer is because such information are of high demand and hence profitable for their commercial advertisers!

Content like disaster sells, and they will continue to sell for as many years as long as they keep bring in profits.

So, the Big Question is:
What do you really want to get out of it? ;-)

Are you in a position now to be able to figure out how much time you have already lost in Your lifetime staring at your electronic box?

Why not do something that is of value to your loved ones, maybe to your family, or your community, or at a very bold statement here – to the world at large!

I don’t know if it resonates with you in anyway but please leave me comments on how and what you personally think of this article.

Thanks for reading this far! It’s time for me to get back to work!

No Tags

©2012 Insights, Inspirations, Tranquility, Peace and Harmony. All Rights Reserved.

.

Share

]]> http://www.wailoong.com/35/buddhism-tranquility-peace-and-harmony/feed/ 4