Time for New Year's Resolutions again

Christmas has come and gone, it's now going to be the end of the year again. So as usual it's time again to look at New Year Resolutions again.

What do you think? Are New Year Resolutions necessary? Does it work? How many times have I made a new year resolution and end up not keeping it? Hahaha

So what do you Guys out there think ? Does it work ? Have you ever Kept to it? If you did how long did you keep to it for?

Focus .... Focus on the good things in life

Sometimes life can really get us down. It is tiring and difficult to face the world, the challenges and the people around us.

One way to face this would be to focus. Focus on the good things in life and we will be able to get through each step in life, one step at a time.

It is difficult sometimes to see people whom we treat as friends and have a good time together to just avoid us. Just because of the profession that we are now in.

All we have to do is to just focus, focus on the good things in life. Remember, we are doing them a favour to help them. It is people who are ready to be helped can be helped.

Just remember the story about the man on the roof trying to escape from the flood. When God sent the first boat he said. "No I know God will help me, just go"

Then the flood got worse, and the second boat arrived. He said "No, God will help me" and he continued to pray.

The flood got worse, then a helicopter arrived. The man then said again "No, God will help me. Just go". He then died in the flood and went to haven. He asked God, I prayed all my life and has been very loyal to you. I served you well and do all that you have asked of me. Why did you not save me when I needed you.

God replied, I sent 3 boats and a helicopter but you said no.

So just take life one step at a time, though we live with passion to help them. We cannot do anything unless they are ready.

New Job

A few weeks ago I approached a potential customer to propose an insurance policy to him. He said that he wanted to maximize his taxable income relief so that he does not have to pay so much income tax.

This person as I know, is pretty wealthy with a nice bungalow in the centre of the city.

He accepted what I proposed and purchased an insurance policy from me. This was then approved and I had to deliver the policy contract to him today. He informed me today that he forgot to tell me that at the point of purchasing the insurance from me. It is his practice that the agent who sells him a policy must rebate a portion of the first year commission to him.

I explained to him that if I give a rebate of my commission to him, I still have to pay income tax for the amount I give him. Suggested why not I give him other things in return and he just refused to listen and said that I can afford to give my commission to him.

If I do not agree to give this portion of my commission to him, he will not want the insurance and that he wants to cancel the policy.

Canceling this policy will effect my performance ratio with the company and also not allow me to reach my this years sales target. I only have 2 more weeks to go to achieve this years target. So I have no choice but to agree to give part of my commission to him.

This really feels bad. It feels like getting a new job, work for 1 month and at the end of the month the boss tells you that you must give half your salary to him for hiring you. Otherwise he will not pay you your salary for the month and you are fired.

Haaaaiiii such is this world.

Blank Totally Blank

My mind is Blank ... totally blank .....

On a cold lonely night, with the rain hitting on the roof and my window next to me. I'm surprisingly blank. Is this the effect of not drinking on a Friday night? Well only god knows if this is coz I'm still blank.

Well this season has seen a lot of people getting sick and for the second time this year I am sick and first time I really cannot go to work. Well at least I survived the day. Thank god that for letting us have one more day.

Remember, we are just a mirror and will attract what we portray. So when we portray something that is not good, we will attract things, events and people who are not good to us. Always think positive, always focus on the good things in life and we will be magnificent one day.

Diabled in Pairs - Black and White

This is a truly classic case of a pair of twins who are truly disabled together.

Truly a Malaysian way of life where both that parties ignore and totally do not respect the reserved parking for the disabled.

We should encourage Pornography and Sex Education in Malaysia

Man fined RM10,000 for having porn clips in his laptop

Can you imagine these people really have nothing to do but to go and check other peoples laptop.

These good for nothing money wasting self righteous idiots who want nothing but their own political gain should think of the nation and national development instead of going round to check on people holding hands, kissing or peeping into other peoples rooms in the hotel or homes. They should really go round to resolve social problems and other crimes that is detrimental to the nation development.

Don't tell me these people do not have sex with their husbands or wives. If they do have sex with their husbands or wives, then they are committing a crime by performing what Pornography is showing. I believe pornography is a good source of education for people to know about sex. Pornography should be shown together with sex education so that our young minds do not take it as just fun.

Can you imagine a society with no sex education and the Sex topic is taboo. Nobody mentions anything about sex ever. Do you think young people will know about sex? Of course they will ! ! ! This is something natural. So tell me "HOW CAN SOMETHING NATURAL BE A CRIME?".

If people have sex they are performing what pornography is showing. "Can we have a society which do not have Sex?" THINK THROUGH THIS QUESTION BEFORE ANSWERING. So what's wrong with Pornography?

Go help clean your mother's hand.

I read this in one of the blogs and really wanted to share this with you.

One young academically excellent person went to apply for a managerial position in a big company.

He passed the first interview; the director did the last interview, made the last decision.

The director discovered from the CV, that the youth's academic result is excellent all the way, from the secondary school until the postgraduate research, never has a year he did not score.

The director asked, "Did you obtain any scholarship in school?" and the youth answered "none".

The director asked, " Is it your father pay for your school fees?" the youth answered, my father passed away when I was one year old, it is my mother who paid for my school fees.

The director asked, " Where did your mother worked?" the youth answered, my mother worked as cloth cleaner. The director requested the youth to show his hand, the youth showed a pair of hand that is smooth and perfect to the director.

The director asked, " Did you ever help your mother washed the cloth before?" The youth answered, never, my mother always wanted me to study and read more books, furthermore, my mother can wash cloths faster than me.

The director said, I had a request, when you go back today, go and help to clean your mother's hand, and then see me tomorrow morning.

The youth felt that its chance of landing the job is high, when he went back, he happily wanted to clean his mother's hand, his mother feel strange, happy but mixed with fear, she showed her hand to the kid.

The youth cleaned his mother's hand slowly, his tear drop down as he did that. It is first time he found his mother's hand is so wrinkled, and there are so many bruises in her hand. Some bruises incites pains so strong that shiver her mother's body when cleaned with water.

This is the first time the youth realized and experienced that it is this pair of hand that washed the cloth everyday to earn him the school fees, the bruises in the mother's hand is the price that the mother paid for his graduation and academic excellence and probably his future.

After finishing the cleaning of his mother hand, the youth quietly cleaned all remaining clothes for his mother.

That night, mother and sons talked for a very long time.

Next morning, the youth went to the director's office

The director noticed the tear in the youth's eye, asked: " Can you tell you what have you done and learned yesterday in your house?"

The youth answered, " I cleaned my mother's hand, and also finished cleaning all the remaining clothes'

The director asked, " please tell me your feeling."

The youth said, Number 1, I knew what is appreciation, without my mother, there would not the successful me today. Number 2, I knew how to work together with my mother, then only I can realize how difficult and tough to get something done. Number 3, I knew the importance and value of family relationship.

The director said, " This is what I am asking, I want to recruit a person that can appreciate the help of other, a person that knew the suffering of others to get thing done, and a person that would not put money as his only goal in life to be my manager. You are hired.

Later on, this young person worked very hard, and received the respect of his subordinates, every employees worked diligently and in a team, the company's result improved tremendously.

A child who has been protected and habitually given whatever he did, he developed "entitlement mentality" and always put himself first. He is ignorance of his parent's effort. When he started work, he assumed every people must listen to him, and when he became a manager, he would never know how suffering his employee and always blame others. For this kind of people, he can have good result, may be successful for a while, but eventually would not feel sense of achievement, he will grumble and full of hatred and fight for more. If we are this kind of protective parent, did we love the kid or destroy the kid?

You can let your kid lived in a big house, eat a good meal, learn piano, watch a big screen TV. But when you are cutting grass, please let them experienced it. After a meal, let them washed their plate and bowl together with their brothers and sisters. It is not because you do not have money to hire a maid, but it is because you want to love them in a right way. You want them to understand, no matter how rich their parent are, one day their hair will grow gray, same as the mother of that young person. The most important thing is your kid learns how to appreciate the effort and experience the difficulty and learn the ability to work with others to get thing done.

You Think ! ! !

Yesterday afternoon I was sitting in Kayu with a client and having a late lunch discussion. Late lunch was at 4:00 pm.

After the discussion, my client left and I packed my stuff, took the bill and wanted to leave. As I got up from my chair and turned around I saw someone in the next table eating alone who look extremely familiar, except that he is now a few times the size when I know him earlier.

A few times the size does not mean fat but muscular. I just couldn't figure out who this person was and where I met him. Then he looked up at me and said "What ! ! "

"I replied you look familiar I think I know you fr..."

He then jumped in and said "YOU THINK ! ! Huh! !"

and he continued eating.

Hmmm dunno to consider that an embarrassing moment or just met a really rude person. Have you encountered such situations before?

A day in the life ...

I had an appointment at 11:30 am and when I was on the way there, the client called and canceled. As it was near to lunch and I started felling hungry I decided to just stop by somewhere for lunch. Then decided to walk in to all the offices in one of the office towers to mine for new prospects.

Have not done this for a long time. I have to say that it was a bit scary but then when you get the hang of it, it's not too bad.

Thanks Robert Cheah for telling me that all I am trying to do is to help them. If they are not interested or do not give me a chance then maybe they are just not ready. Don't be disheartened, when they are ready they will accept your help.

Results, I walked 8 floors of one tower, got 3 telephone numbers and 1 appointment next month. Good or bad? I don't know only time will tell...

Is KFC, MacDonalds, Burger King, etc Fast Food or Slow Food

I saw this in the local newspaper and that reminded me that I need to put this article up on my blog.


According to my classification, KFC, MacDonalds, Pizza hut, Dominos Pizza, Carl's Jr, Burger King, etc are classified in to a fast food restaurant.

To me fast food means it should be served fast, and it is meant for people who are in a hurry. I used to think and still think that when I am rushed for time I will go for one of these options when I need to grab a bite.

Whenever I visit any one of these restaurants in Kuala Lumpur I will curse as the line moves too slowly.

The reason why I curse is because this fast food takes too long to be served. I have calculated the time taken for a customer to be served in MacDonalds and KFC to be approximately 5 minutes. So if you get in the line and there are 3 people ahead of you, you will expect to wait 15 minutes, if there are 4 then 20 minutes.

The same amount of time is also required even if you were to go to a drive through, especially at KFC. Can you imagine, waiting 20 minutes in the car with your engine on to buy a quick bite because there are 3 cars in front of you? Then you take 3 minutes to finish the meal. It is totally ridiculous.

That is if all the customers ahead of you are Malaysians. If there are any foreigners, please expect to take a longer time. The reason for this is because the cashier or the person serving usually do not understand or speak any English. Worse if the foreigner in front is an Arab, they cannot speak English properly either adding to the confusion.

I have since developed a strategy to queuing up at a fast food restaurant line. My strategy is to make sure that there are no foreigners in my line, make sure I have exact change and never use a Credit Card. The cashiers usually do not know how to accept a transaction with using a credit card.

I believe that a fast food restaurant should serve food fast for people who are in a hurry or on the run. So I pose a challenge to MacDonalds and KFC, the two restaurants I visit most to bring their customer serving time down to 1 minute per customer. Otherwise they might as well revert to the old way where we just go to the restaurant, sit down and wait to be served.

Not to just offer nonconstructive criticism, I would also offer some suggestions as to where they can improve;

1. Hire staff who can Speak more than 1 Language, where English is preferred
   
2. Modify your work-flow or
3. increase your staff strength
   
4. Staff who cannot converse in English should be placed in the outskirts where chances of serving foreigners are more remote. Do not place these staff in the city centre where the main tourists spots are.

Thanks whoever it is who put up this picture in the Star on Saturday 16th October 2010.

Starting Life again @ 40

It has been some time now that I just cannot take the pressure of corporate politics and the pressure of management.

I have been lamenting to myself, wouldn't it be good if I were just an ordinary salesman? I don't have to worry about the target of the company, I don't have to think about the intricacies of mechanics and implementation. I don't have to think about the different ways to manage different people and get them all to be happy working with me. Don't have to manage the expectations and unreasonableness of bosses.

All I have to do is to just go out, see my customer and make them happy. I get my sales and come back. Life will be .... simple.

I have also been looking in to what my dad is doing for the past year. I have tried but not given my best shot at it. The main reason is that I always has this excuse of my full time job and not able to concentrate on this.

Perhaps now is a great opportunity for me to start doing what my dad has been doing and pick up from where he has left off. I know it is tough, as it is rated as the toughest career in the world. However, if I don't pick it up now I will not be able to take over from him. Over the next few years, I need to meet my targets and proof myself so that I may be able to take over his role. Only upon that I can take over his residual income that is enough for him to retire comfortably.

This is the start of a new career, and as I will be turning 40 soon, I guess I'm starting life again at 40.

I have to say that it's scary, but I have to take this leap as my income previously although considered high is still not high enough to keep my dad should he retire. Time to just close my eyes and take this leap, this leap of faith.

Come to think of this, it is the second time in my working life that I have opted to take a huge pay cut with the hope of getting something more in the future. Hope all things will go well this time.

1 Malaysia

I had to take my car for a repair job yesterday. Did not have the chance to eat anything before I went for the repair appointment so I asked the guy at the workshop if there were a place nearby to eat.

So he brought me to the stalls behind the workshop near the entrance to the Renault Service Centre. There were a few Indian stalls. As I was picking out my food I heard an Indian Lady standing behind me and chatting with the owner of the stall in Tamil fluently.

Then I heard another Chinese lady said something I could understand. She said "Orang India". As I turned around to look, I noticed that she wasn't an Indian lady, she was a Chinese lady translating the deal for her friend in to Hakka.

Mr Najib, just to let you know we were already 1 Malaysians in 1963. This spirit was destroyed by your father's affirmative policy in 1969. I do hope you can bring it back, only then I will respect you as a Malaysian, as a Prime Minister.

I droped the Bad News

Haaai on the Lunar New Year's Eve I dropped the bad news on my dad. Not sure how he is taking it but so far it seems like he is taking is very well.

I just informed him casually that there is another bank that is making me an offer to start up a new department. The package there is significantly higher than my current job. So he is encouraging me to take it up.

What he doesn't know is that I really do not want to work for other people any more. All I want is to do the insurance business. Then hopefully I can prove myself and then take over from him. In that way I can get out of employment.

He is just saying that in order for me to achieve the level of income that I am currently earning will take me a few years in the Insurance industry. That it is good for me to go ahead and take up that offer. Well I don't mind if I don't have all my current loan commitments. This money is not that important to me. One thing I am really worried about is that if I just quit and do insurance now. I will not be able to meet my loan commitments and I will then loose my house and car and other things as well.

Yes, I also admit that one big contributing factor to me doing insurance is also for him anyway. In that way he can retire as well and not loose his lifestyle. Life just get's complicated as we age.

Danger on MEX

Last weekend, as I was traveling back from the Airport I was using the MEX Highway. As there were not many cars, I would usually speed around 130 - 140 Km/h.

As I was approaching the Bukit Jalil exit there was a turning and I went in to an area that was raining for some time. Then suddenly something caught my eye on the rear mirror.

There was a Gen2 or it a persona behind me just kept spinning around I saw it spen around 4 - 5 rounds and then finally come to a halt.

Luckily there were no cars that were just too close behind that car or there will be a bad accident. My friends whenever you are on the road, please drive safely. Check your tyres, change them if they are running bald.

Since the Spring festival will be happening in 2 weeks. May I remind all of you who are travelling to at least check the safetly features before heading home for your festivities or holidays.

Till I write here again. All the best, take good care and have a nice hilidays.