What do you give a person who has nothing, or everything ?

Happy Carefree Days

This is a rhetorical question which some of us, (well me for one). When we have enough, (by very modest standards), what do we want then or strive for ?  Or what do we give to someone who is struggling financially, with massive worries, with day to day issues, health and relationships for example ? 

Say it is Mr. or Ms X's birthday... What do you get for him  or her ? Lets say he is middle aged, relatively well off and although COVID has hit many countries hard, his job is stable, and he is feeling blessed.

Money ? Alcohol ? a good time? Massive parties with cakes and candles ?

A new ring ? Car ? Latest Hermes Bag ? 

The answer is : Peace of Mind.

Jesus of Nazareth some 2020 years ago told his flock : "Peace I give unto you, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand".

Can you have peace of mind while we are in this world ? Yes you can. And you can help yourself achieve it.  

> Set simple goals for yourself ; once there, just maintain them. 

> Monetary

- Never borrow more than you need to finance your lifestyle or your business.Bankers are never your friends from the word go. You have been warned. Aim to be debt free or have at least debt to equity ratio as low as possible

> Health

- Take care of your health, eat wiselt, and less as we grow older (70%), exercise like there is no tomorrow, and sleep a good 8 hours each night. Cut the alcohol, parties only for festive occasions and cut the excessive binge eating. I am doing it. 

> Family

- Most important to have good relations with your nearest and your dearest.

> Relationships with relatives and friends

- Make time for them ; and they should also make time for you. Drop the losers and whiners.

It takes massive discipline, a lot of letting go of the ego (personal identification), taking criticisms and reflecting on them, to make myself a better person.

> Be Humble

- Listen to advice . As I continue on this path, the more I travel, the less I seem to know. 

> Help Others 

- Obvious. But the act of giving patronage to the less lucky is a must do. 

> Ignore what others think (listen to the 'others' that matter).

> Serve a higher purpose ; Religion or do good. 

I had written many posts before whereby the pursuit of material wellbeing only brings temporary happiness but not satisfaction.The desire for higher status and even high posts in life or career will one day all come to an abrupt end. It will come crashing down with the next health crisis and you realise that you only have 6 months to live.

Satisfaction comes when one has balanced his life well. It takes a lot of effort, but it can be achieved.

 

Leveraging on the Business Ecosystem to achieve the results for my business

 

All of us live in an ecosystem, with nature, amongst people in our society and in business. This was so eloquently elaborated by Dr Lim Chor Peng during his lecture on Business Ecosystems and levereging on Platforms to reach out to customers. The key takeaway from this lecture was and is to network aggressively and with a purpose to get to the 'industry captains' or people who will ultimately help me steer my little ship into the right oceans and manage the upcoming storms with confidence.

To not do so, would be to imperil and through sheer ignorance, lead the little ship into seas of unrecoverable and the threat of sinking would be a real risk going forward.

To link up with the ecosystem, I need to make sure that my little business not only thrives in uncertainty, but lets people khow who we are, where we are from, what we stand for and how may we help them in doing their jobs better. That is the very crux of creating a platform to leverage on all of the players knowing and unknowingly thrust in this ecosystem and profit from it, with the profits delivered to all the stakeholders after a certain time. 

So, I have identified the Blue Ocean, have engaged a pathfinder or lead vessel and now I am charting the course ahead for a journey - hopefully a profitable one for me and my crew. 

Hermann's Whole Brain Thinking - Design Thinking

 As my course for Business and Digital Transformation is in full swing, here are some key takeaways from this amazing course with some world renowned lecturers who have been there done that :

There are 4 queadrants or  equal segments of the human brain ; How much of the time my brain is spent at each quadrant, I need to be cognizant, and not be goverened by the circumstances around me, or based on the job function which I perform most of the week or the year. This way, my decisions will be based on whole brained thinking rather than emotional or feelings based which many of us are wont to do. "To go with the flow" is simply a non thinking decision which is to the detriment and will pull down many people's aspirations.

Left Top                            Right Top 

Logical                                Holistic 

Analytical                            Intuitive

Fact Based                         Integrating

Quantitative                        Synthesizing

Left Bottom                        Right Bottom 

Organized                            Interpersonal

Sequential                            Feelings Based

Planned                                Kinasthesic                

Detailed                                Emotional 

As a small business leader, I must perform and do the following :

a) Ask catalytic questions

b) Collect data

c) Experiment

d) Embed innovation skills

e) WALK the TALK

f) Expect others to do the same ; and push them in that direction

To that ends, for Innovative Design Thinking, I need to do the following :

1. Learn from other people's mistakes and successes

2. Find patterns in the events unfolding before me

3. Design principle future proofed products

4. Make tangible these products into sales and revenue

5. Iterate relentlessless.

DEFINE -->    DISCOVER  -->   DEVELOP  -->   DESIGN

ASK BOLD     USER NEEDS    CONCEPT         PROTOTYPE  -->  DELIVER

QS                  & TRENDS         BENEFITS      < SECURE SPONSORS>

                                                                           < LAUNCH PLAN>

                                                                        <COMMERCIALISE> 

My Goal before 2022 ; return to do 1 more marathon below 5 hours !

 

The 2007 SC Marathon was the year I ran the fastest marathon of my life, or 4 hours 48 minutes ot so. 

I have set myself a Big and Audacious Goal (BAG) by aiming to return to that form some 15 years later !

If I succeed, I will have immense satisafaction of attaining the unattainable. If I fail, I will have rotten eggs on my face.

Do take a look at those days of a younger, and slimmer me above. My BIB No. is 4304 and I weighed almost 10 kg less ! 

COVID - 19 ; the great equalizer of our time.

We are into the final stretch of an unprecendented year. The whole world has been caught in the wake of the COVID 19, originating from Wuhan China. As the world enters the winter months, many of us are left without a job, many have lost loved ones, students cannot pursue or continue with their overseas educations, and livlihoods are destroyed all by a microorganism virus. It is a shattering blow and the world has yet to recover from its effects, from the first wave, to the second wave, from lockdowns to partial reopenings to life changes in our daily appearences (all have to wear a mask before going out). From the number of people we meet (5) to the preoccupation with washing our hands ever so often.

The world had only seen something where everyone was so similarly adversely affected was during the World War 2. And many of us have never experienced the horrors or the inconveniences it wrought, me included. 

Many households will be adversely affected and millions will be pushed down the economic stratum brought about by this perfect storm of weak Government will, and strong pushback for individual freedoms. The way to keep things under control is to do the following interchangebly which Singapore had done so (and several other countries such as New Zealand,Taiwan, Vietnam, Hong Kong) are listed below :

a) Test the front line personnel quickly (we use Polymerase Chain Reaction - with results within a day)

b) Test all the high risk people (we had a horrible run from the foreign workers all living closely together in dormitories)

c) Contact trace everyone (we now have the Trace Together App and use QR codes for everyone entering a public building)

d) Quarantine everyone for 14 days coming in from overseas. Test them upon arrival and  after 7 days.

e) Give all retrenched workers work opportunities and grants to stave off the worst of their economic malaise.

f) Keep up the good fight by coaxing the general population to seek help from depression, lost jobs, failed relationships and business failures. There must and will be an end to this. 

g) New Normal expectations for social events, work (work from home) and meetings via Zoom or Whatsapp will be the norm.

h) Finally, reward and acknowledge that the Health Care professionals who once again have saved many people's lives are indeed the true Heros and should be rewarded monetarily (bonuses) as well as given due recognition (such as discounted meals and free travel on MRT)

The death rate stands today at over 2 million, with many more expected to succumb to this horrible pandemic before the vaccine kicks in (expected early next year). Countless people needlessly have to die, so it is my singular wish that the Governments that be stop all that politicking and just work together for the common good of humanity - to save lives and end all the pain and suffering wrought on by this awful pandemic.

Holding countries accountable should not be the priority. There is enough time down the road for that. Opening up economies when there are literally thousands dying daily is the most risky yet painfully necessary thing to do. Either the quick death from the virus or the slow death from the knock on effects caused by the decimation of the  leisure and travel industry.

A Hobson's choice of which is the path to proceed.

There are plentiful opportunities, if one is careful and cognizant, there are plentiful opportunities awaiting enterpreneurs just around the corner. Risks will be high, and stakes will be higher. 

Look out and seize them, for they are aplenty as far as I can see from my little bumboat of a company floating in this small segment of the vast ocean which for many are experiencing vast storms, battering rains and sinking fast.

Courage to stand up and go forth. 

Bring on 2021.