100% Participation

Do you ever had the following experiences:

1. You attend some activities with friends, but when they play, your sit alone in the corner and watch. And when they ask you to join in, you say "you guys have fun!".

2. In a seminar or workshop, the speaker ask for show of hands for some items. You never raise your hand in any thing, as if you have no opinion.

3. Attending some talks, while the speaker talks, you were also talking with some friends. Chit-chating about other things.

4. You were required to do some additional homework for your work/ training. When you got home, you either do not do it, or simple scribble something just to show you done the work.

5. You know that you should do something or change something in your life, but you never do it. Maybe hoping someone will help you or do it for you.

6. You always seated at the middle row if not the last row, when ever you attend some classes, or seminar.

Have you ever wonder why you do that or behave in that way?

The above are just a few examples of not 100% participating in what you are doing at that particular moment. The list of examples are long and it can happens in anywhere at anytime to anyone. It will happen when we lost focus of what we are doing NOW and what we need to do NOW.

100% participation means that when you do something give it your 100%. Which also means that if in doing that something require you to do something else, you will not hesitate to do that extra work. Also when you do all those things, you give all the effort, focus, energy into them without holding back, so that you can maximize the result. That's 100% participation.

It is simple. When you work, you work. When you play, you play. When you listen, you listen. When is your turn to talk, you talk.
And not, when you work, you play and when you play, you try to work,neither nor, when you suppose to listen you talk.

Another fine analogy:
Yesterday is history;
Tomorrow is unknown:
Today is a gift, that's why it is call PRESENT!

To be 100% participating, is to be living at present. Be mindful of the present, and not focusing on other things like the past, or future. Take a more proactive part, be part of what ever you do, now! Carpe diem!

Too many a times, people regret too much about yesterday, about the past. Too many a times that people wish they can go back in time to fix something. Too many a times, people thinks that they can still wait a while before doing something. Too many a times people regret that they did not do something sometimes in their life.

But,too many a times people wasted too many times regretting and forgotten that they can do something NOW. They are simply not participating 100% in the present.

So lets be 100% participating in our life now.
DO IT NOW, FOCUSING ON NOW, GET THE BEST FROM NOW, CALL THEM NOW, FORGIVE THEM NOW, LOVE THEM NOW, VALUE WHAT YOU HAVE NOW, TELL SOMEONE THAT YOU LOVE HIM OR HER NOW, HUG THEM NOW, CRY NOW, LAUGH NOW, DO WHAT YOU NEED TO DO NOW, BE INVOLVED IN WHAT YOU DO NOW, BE WHO YOU ARE NOW.............

And you will not be regretful again.
Now that's the power of 100% participation.

What is your Intention

The last time I posted any blog here was 17th January 2007. That is like more than 2 years ago. The title of this blog is exactly the reason why it takes me 2 years to be back in blogging. - Lack of intention...

Often we do things without really considering why we need to do something. Most of the time we were so influenced by our surroundings, our friends, and even our family and relatives that we did something just to pleased them instead of us. We did things just for doing sake, and therefore most of the time, we are not doing what we really want to do for our self.

No matter what we do, be it for others or for our self, be it something we want do or otherwise, whether we like it or not, the question is, when we do that something, are we clear about our intention. Or simply put it, when we do something, do we really put our heart, our effort into it? Are we really doing what is needed and making sure it will be completed?

There were too many times that we never finish what we started doing. Far too many times that we gave up the instance we face problem. And then, we give excuses, "Way too difficult", "I have no luck", "No one helped me" and more.... the list go on....

The real reason is simple, we are lack or intention, no intention of doing what we set out to do, or worst, we have other intention.

The formula is simple, if we have 100% intention of doing something, then no other other external influence would be able to distract us from completing it. For example, you were doing task A, with 60% intention, while subconscious you want to something else (other intention) which is another 40% of your mind capacity. So while doing task A, your mind wonder around other thing, and in the end you only completed 60% of task A. And you stop to rest, start indulge in the other 40% of what you wanted to do, or worst give up on task A.

Success (Completion of task) = 100% intention.

It simply says, if you set your heart (intention) 100% in doing something, you will eventually be successful in that thing, no matter how you do it, no matter how long it takes.

Sometimes people will say, I have the heart, but there is no way I can do it. But actually in reality, there are far too many ways to accomplish one thing. The number way is infinity. For example, just to get rich alone, we can conceive many many ways (legal), even by selling fruit, you can get rich, it is just a matter of time. If it is so easy, why are we still not rich? Simple, we do not have that intention.

We all read about Warren Buffet, or joined Amway one point in our life, they all teaches the way to get rich. But at the end of the days, only hands full of people really follow those teaching and got rich. What happened to the others? I am sure they also want to get rich, just that the intention is not that strong as those who succeeded.

If the intention is strong in us, we would do anything to complete what we set out for. ANYTHING...

Excuses like "OOH! I can't do that", "This is beyond me", "No one will buy from me"... All these are just example of trying to avoid doing something that we do not feel comfortable with. So, our intention is doing what is comfortable than getting rich.

What I am trying to say is when you want to do something, make sure that your intention is clear and strong (100%).

If you can be as clear and as specific as possible in what YOU INTEND TO ACHIEVE and 100% sure YOU INTEND TO ACHIEVE it and then work into it, then I guarantee you, you will be success in what ever thing you set out to do.

So starting now, set it clear what your intention is in what ever you do.

We always have a choice.

In life we made alot of choices, infact we make choices all the time. The fact that you are reading this, is also a choice you made.

When we have choices, we feels that we are more empowered and happy, we feels that we can choose what is more comfortable to ourselves. When we have no choice in something we do, we feels that the sky is falling down on us, unhappy, and demoralized. Some of us may even feel being victimized by the situation.

The power to choose influence deeply in our life, how we look at the world, how we react to the choice and most important of all, how ourselves are being treated by ourselves and the environment.

Yet, most of us do not understand that when we say we have no choice, we ARE actually making a choice. Most people just simply believes that when they have no choice, they in fact have no choice.

Here I would like to share something about choices we have when we say we have no choice.

We always like to say this "I have no choice, I have to ......". But is that really true? Not quite. Why? Ok, lets do it this way. Think of what consequences that may happen if you have to do A but you are not doing it. Therefore :

If I don't do A, I will B
If I don't do B, I will C
.
.
.
If I don't do y, I will Z.
Z being the worst possible scenario that could happened.

Then u ask your self.. Would you want Z to happen? Surely, no, right? So, You would rather do A than have Z. And there you go, you have just made a choice, and a good one. You still don't see it? YOU HAVE JUST CHOOSE A OVER Z.

Thus, when you say "I have to do it, I have no choice", you have in fact made a choice. And it was the best choice that you can made under that circumstances.

If you are able to think in this paradigm, you will always feel happy and empowered. Why? Simple, because you have a choice.

We always have a choice.

What do you believe?

Definition of believe (verb)
to think; to feel sure of; to accept as true; to trust

What do you believe? A very simple question with a simple answer. And yet, most of us do not understand the significant role that our beliefs play throughout our life. A believe is not just a believe, but a mechanism that could eventually control us.

You do not believe in what I am saying? But why? What actually make you not to believe in me? Are you aware of why you choose not to believe me? Hmm.. your experience tell you so huh.. Well, was your experience a good one or a bad one, which made you you today? Think about it.

But, the truth is, you cannot prove the statement is wrong. Some people may still believe in what I am saying. So, your believe is not a universal fact. Cause if it is a fact, then everyone would have the same answer. Yet, you choose not to believe me, and risk losing a potentially good advice. Now, why? What is more important for you, a potentially good advice that may change your life, or losing your comfort zone of your past experience?

Isn't it irony, most people would rather risk loosing a potentially good opportunity, then stepping out of their comfort zones! Comfort zones that are based on ,believe, your past experience.

Well, this doesn't mean it is bad, but just something that we should be aware of all the times.

Yet, our believes are there for a reason, it is to protect us from being hurt. We simply believe that in such and such situations we will get hurt. Again, something we learned from past experince. And again, what we believe in may not be true at all, it is just something that we perceived. Not a universal fact.

So eventually, so to speak, our believes that trying to protect us from being "hurt" will become a fact for us. Because the more we believe in something, the more we are going to prove what we believe in is right, right? No body wants to believe in wrong things, do you? So, you starts to be critical, and search up and down for something just to prove yourself. In turn, you "forgot" to look at the big picture, you neglected the real message, you starts to stereotype, prejudge. You choose to see what you wanted to see.

Like the cycle of life, the little tiny piece of prove you found reinforces your believes. Day by day, it keeps on adding, until one day, your believes become so strong that it becomes a fact to you. And it roots in your subconscious, so that all your action regarding the believes become so instantanious, it becomes all automatic.

And that, my friend, is you now. You are what you believes in.

Are you aware of that now?

The cycle goes on and on, for eternity, unless you intervene. But that is another thought.

Viewing work from the aspect of gaming

Are we doing what we are supposed to do? Most of the time, we think we are. But most of the time, we changed the objectives of the game, unconsciously. At that time, we no longer follow the rules set by the gamemaster, but playing by our own rules. This is something I learned from a seminar. I kept wondering, is that why most people are not happy with their job?

My humble opinion, we are being hired to perform certain function, to achieve certain goal, and we are expected to do all these under an environment created by the boss. In other word, we are to "play" a game, with objective and environment preset by the "gamemaster", a.k.a the boss.

Therefore, to succeed in this "game" we are to conform with the given rules, and play along with what the gamemaster gives. And must I emphasize enought, we only need to play along, only if we want to succeed in THE game. And obviously, if u "join" another game, there will be another set of rules, and environment.

Now, what if the rules aren't inline with my personal values? Do I still play along? Well, in everything that we do, we always have an alternative choice, the alternative way of doing thing. The alternative may not be as confortable as what we usually choose to do, but still it is a choice. Ok, back to the question, If your personal values conflict with the set of rules, you can either, continue to "play", and try to stand in the gamemaster's shoe, try to see what he or she is looking at, then perhaps you will understand why the rules are the rules. Or you can quit, and look for another "game" that do go along fine with your value. That will be a hard one, but if you found it, you have already won half the "game". There is a catch though, let say you have been searching high and low, almost all the "game" you tried to join, the rules just seems to be conflicting with your values, then, my friend, my advice is, you should seriously re-examined your values. Perhaps you are viewing the world from one angle, while everyone is viewing from the other.

Hmm.. another thing, what if you are very very certain that the rules are flawed or wrong, and simply too complicated or troublesome? Well, if you still using another "game" 's rules to validate the current one, then it will be a problem. You see, the world is imperfect, different "games" are played on different scenario with different set of players, and the most important of all, different set of OBJECTIVES. And remember, the "gamemaster" are different people, different people has different point of view and different way of handling issues or manages situation. Nevertheless, your objective is still to comply and achieve goal set by the "gamemaster". Nothing more, nothing less. Thats how you play a game.

What about the strategy of playing the "game"? Guess you might have thought of that already. As what a hardcore gamer will tell you, different "games" required different set of strategies. This is especially true, when you are not the only player in the "game". Devise a new strategy to tackle the new set of rules, and "gamemaster". Here's a tip, the strategy should compliment the rules and not the other way round.

Lastly, do not forget about the game you play for yourself, to succeed in that, is the real objective in your life. You may need to play lots of "games" in between, yet, they are just stepping stone for you to achieve your own objective. But this time, it might be easier, cause part of the rules are set by you, your values, and of course your own objectives.

So, what are you waiting? Set your goal and let's play game.