Cognitive Dissonance

          I am currently reading a fantastic book called the Art of Thinking Clearly. This is by Rolf Dobelli, I believe is an Italian thinker and ha been translated into many languages. In it, he describes how the human mind works and its biases towards many things and its outlook towards life.

          One particular topic is fascinating, which is called cognitive dissonance, whereby he cites the fable from Aesop about the fox and the grapes. The fox is hungry around lunchtime and spotting the grapes hanging overhead from a nearby farmer's yard, he makes several attempts to jump at and reach the grapes.

         First, he envisions the grapes to be sweet as they look juicy and inviting. So he musters all his strength and jumps up high and far. Snap, he bites nothing but air. Argh ! he mutters, and puts in his all 110 percent to try again, he leaps into the air and slightly higher, but again, he is only chomping dry air.

         Finally, he gives it one last and best shot at it ; He runs from afar and jumps. Up he goes and Snap, again he lands with nothing but a bruised ego and a mouth munching at dry air.

        "Bah" he says. "they're probably not sweet and small. Its not worth my effort !"

         The fact is many of us when faced with failure, delude ourselves that the prize we have sought so hard to win is in fact not even good and worth it in the first place. This is cognitive dissonance ; we distance ourselves and put down the meaningful pursuit and prize as 'not worth it'.

         Push yourself to achieve your goals, once you fail, you pick up and press on again. You can and will achieve them !!!!  

Gender Bias

Socialite Jamie Chua

        I read a very enlightening book called Lean In by the COO of Facebook, Ms. Sheryl Sandberg. In it, she highlighted the fact that women in modern society face a negative bias when they are rich, successful and pretty.  They are always criticized for the way they look. If they look  really good, glamorous or sexy, other women (especially) will label them as 'sluts' or women of vile character  who use their sexiness to make that pile of cash.

        Terms such as 'bitch' , 'ah lian made good', 'back-stabber' and 'sleeping to the top' are bandied around as the reasons why they make it. On the contrary, the lady may very well be talented, speaks her mind, and seizes opportunities (just like any man) to make it. So why are  so hard on their 'sisters' she asks ?

        On the other hand, if a man has made it to the top of the business world and socializes with the captains of industry. Have you heard anyone claim that he 'slept his way to the top', 'slutty' or has a 'vile character'  ?  So why the double standards ?

        Men and women give women a doubly hard time to get there. Gender bias. It exists in our society and its time we changed our mindsets and let women 'come to the table' to talk,debate and even rule the organization.

ICC International Commercial Center Kowloon 100 stories tall

                                                 

View from 88th floor ICC building

Another development in China

4th tallest Building in the World ICC Tower

Malacca Part 2 - Holiday Inn

Fresh from a trip last month to Malacca, I stayed at this fabulous hotel (4 *) along the beach front next to Malacca Raya (or Main street). Holiday Inn has been open for about 3 years now, and it definately is value for money costing only RM 330 or S$ 132 per night on weeknights. I had a 2 day 1 night work trip and the hotel is located right next to the entertainment center called the Jetty.

View of the Infinity Pool from the Gym

          The gym on Level 3 is right next to the spa which offers both Balinese and Shiatsu massages for couples, families and single travellers. I did my 5 km after driving almost 220 km on the road, so in total it was 225 km for 220 for the car and 5 km for the legs !   

Infinity Pool on 4th Floor 

      

             Breakfast is on level 2 and starts from 6.00 am till 10.00am, serving Intercontinental Halal food (no pork and according to Muslim rites). All in all, it is a perfect getaway for a couple of nights from the hustle and bustle of the cosmopolitan cities like Singapore and Kuala Lumpur. I understand, on weekends the town is packed with 'tourists' from these 2 cities plus many international travellers from Asia and the world over. 

             This is a modern business hotel with all the amenities for the business traveller plus holiday makers who want a classy short holiday. 

Malacca, West Malaysia, just 2 1/2 hours from Singapore.

The Resort Hotel next to Holiday Inn by the beach

Just 2 and a half hours drive from Singapore is this World Heritage town (small city) called Malacca. It was once a fortified port of first the Portuguese settlers and then the Dutch. It is roughly half of the way by car from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore by the North South Highway and is a gem of a town with a decent beach (not too good for swimming)facing  the Straits of Malacca, one of the world's most populated waterways linking West to the East.  On a clear day on the high floors of the hotel, you can see Indonesia island of Sumatra in the distance. That is how close the 2 countries are.

The Infinity Pool on the 3rd Floor of the Hotel

Malacca is famous for its Portuguese food, in the Portuguese settlement. It also is famous for its Peranakan (local Baba Chinese, this is the intercultural Malay - Chinese) food featuring classic dishes such as Ayam Buak Keluak (Chicken with the spice Buak Keluak in currry), Item Thim (Duck in Giam Chye soup), Otak Otak (Fish mackerel spicy cake wrapped in banana leaf), Babi Ponteh (braised Pork stew) amongst others.    

          Most of the Peranakan food restaurants are located along the main street called Melaka Raya. There are easily 10 such joints from the famous Ole Sayang, to Bibik Neo to Makro. Each has their own special offerings of Peranakan food, and many Singaporeans who are retired take the time to make a 2 days 1 night trip by car just for the food, away from it all feeling and decent shopping at the Malacca Raya mall.

          

          Historicallym there is the St Paul's Church which has some ancient cannons. to protect the city. The Stadthuys (or Red building) is the old administrative center when the Dutch where the rulers some 300 odd years ago. There is also a Portuguese Man-o-War warship museum docked by the riverside. Cruises along the Malacca river are also popular for the tourists.  

          The cultural mix is very similar to Singapore as there are majority Chinese, some Malay and Indian citizens living in the vicinity of the city. Give it a visit, you will be pleasantly surprised !

4 months till the Marathons silly season

      
          It will only be slightly more than 4 months till the Silly Season of the year end Marathons for me. This year, I promise it will be different. I want to be fit enough to run 2 or even 3 marathons, some of them overseas. So I am prepping myself physically and mentally to get the body conditioned to be able to run the whole 42.195km for at least 2 times this year.

        Provided I take care of my limbs, have the daily supplements, and not over-exert myself, I believe I can achieve this goal without too much of a stretch to my system. I recall today while running, that 10 years ago around this time, I was getting on the road to my physical peak of my 40s (that was in 2006 - 2007), so this time 10 years later, I am again trying for one last hurrah - in my 50s. So 2 marathons this year would be my target. Normally the body would then indicate to my it was overstraining itself, and naturally I would return to my lazy self.

     If I can maintain my fitness level at this peak for about 6 months after the year end, there are 2 wonderful marathons I would love to try 1. Paris (April each year)   and 2. London (May each year).Then I would really have the bragging rights to say I have run International marathons !!

     Boston, Chicago and New York would then be achievable goals.  

     I believe I can achieve it with the correct planning, determination and resilience as before. 

5 km run is my Constant

         This morning, I finished my second back to back 5K run in the early morning. It is a whole new world for those who remain sound asleep at 6.00 am in the morning, dead to the world.  I normally start my day by waking up at 5.30 am, do the toiletries, drink 2 glasses of lemon infused water and off I go into the darkness.

         I am not blessed with good cholesterol levels, my HDL and total LDL levels will scare even the most experienced of heart surgeons. So I take my medications (Lovastatin 20 mg) faithfully, every evening before bed, and with the buzz of my sportswatch at 5.30am, I am up and preparing. I intend to continue this regimen, hopefully every day except Sunday (when I have my 1 1/2 hr Karate session at the CC). 

        This is my constant, every thing else may change around me, the business model, the children growing up, the family and friends aging, but 5K is still 5 K. Nothing else matters, it is the fixed distance whether you are in Frankfurt, Paris, Budapest, Rio de Janerio, Luxor, Cairo, Shanghai, Chongqing or Delhi.

       Respect it.