Did Your Mum Ask You to Drink Water?

Drink Water. Drink More Water.

Whenever you left home, your mum will ask if you have brought your water bottle.

However, sometimes we are lazy, or sometimes we think that it's not 'cool' to carry a water bottle around (I look like a schoolkid with a water bottle).

This article I'm writing is not about carry water bottles around, or how to be 'cool' by carrying water bottles. It's not the bottle. It's the Water. Pure, Clean Water. (Not soft drinks/coffee/teas...)

Water is an incredible compound.

I never heard what's so wonderful about the water we drink, but I can tell you it really shock me after I learned how essential and powerful Water can improves our lives - just by drinking water.

When we are thirsty, we drink water. But do you know that by the time you felt thirsty, some of your cells have already died?

The human body is anywhere from 55% to 78% water depending on body size. And we need at least one to seven litres of water per day, depending on the temperature, humidity, activity and other factors.
Our body is made up close to 50 Trillion cells.

What is a trillion? It's 1000 billion, 1 million million, 1 billion thousand - 1,000,000,000,000.  Okay, you know what is 50 trillion.

We have so many cells in our body, and they need water to live, to grow. 

How often do you need to drink water?

You need to hydrate your body every 15 mins. Drink water every 15 mins.

Haha. I think I hear someone "Just drink every 15 mins will improve our lives? That's easy!"

True. It's really that easy.

But wait!

Did you see "every 15 mins?"

Ah! That may seem a challenge.

First, to do it, you need to have water with you every 15 mins. You can carry a water bottle with you whenever you go. Or you have a water cooler beside you whenever you go, or you can buy 1 bottle of water every 15 mins.

Second, you got to have the discipline to drink every 15 mins! I still remember in my school days, I can bring a bottle full of water out of home, and come home with the same water untouch. It's the past anyway :D

Constantly remind yourself to drink, before you felt thirsty.

I have developed this habit after I attended Anthony's Robbins' 4 day seminar last year, where he mentioned about the miraculous benefits of drinking water only.

What I did:
- Carry a bottle with me everywhere I go. In school, football games, shopping centers, seminars...etc
- Drink and Refill.
- If I run out of water, I will buy one, or get some from others :P

Benefits:
- Hardly fall sick
- No morning sighness
- Won't feel lethargic at the end of the day (I even feel more energitic at night!)
- Didn't doze off in lectures. Water keep me awake :D
- Less pimples growing!
- No Bad Breath (Lack of water causes it!)
- Less Constipation
- Lose weight!
- So far so good!

Wake up in the morning, drink lots of water to keep yourself hydrated, before you put starch (bread, rice, bee hoon, chicken pie...etc) into your mouth. Your 'sleepy' stomach is not ready to 'stir' the hard starch you put into it.

Before you start eating your meal, drink water first. Drinking water before you start eating, is to let your stomach get ready for digestion for any food that you eat later.

If you can, stay away from cold drinks. Especially if you are having an oily meal (Fish and Chips/Macdonalds,KFC,Popeyes...etc) don't take cold drinks. Cold drinks will cause oil to coagulate in our stomach. This would make it more difficult to break down. It will be stored in your body then!

When you feel that the more you sleep, the more tired you are, especially you have slept 14 hours and you are still tired. Go drink some water. You are probably dehydrated. 

Sighness. You wake up sneezing. Your nose is running like a tap. You stuff it with tissue papers, and you breathe with your mouth. Your tissue is drenched, and you are feeling uncomfortable. You feel dizzy and don't feel like doing anything. Go drink water. drink more water, and rest.

How to know if you are dehydrated?

Okay. Everybody knows this. Your mum would have probably taught you when you are young.

Look at your pee. Drink more water, when your pee is yellow. (it stinks too! haha!)

Keep your pee clear, by drinking more water :D

Alright! That's my little tip on Water!

Take a 10 day challenge to drink water every 15 min.

Share your results here with everybody!

Hong Kong Trip in December '09

I visited Hong Kong in December with Valerie :D

It's an amazing journey. I have a lot of pictures with me, and of course, there are videos too!

So I have decided to make a short clip about my Hong Kong trip!

Don't drool when you watch it!

:D





How's the video?

Would you like to make a guess then?

2010! New Year New Resolutions!!

It's finally 2010. It's been a decade since 2000.

In year 2000, I'm still at primary 6. Waiting to take my PSLE at the end of the year.

2010. I'm at university.

10 years has passed. For me, more than 20 years has passed in my life.

Time really flies, don't you think so?

If we look back at the past 10 years of our lives, what are the things you feel happy that you have done them?

What are those that you feel that you should not have not in your last 10 years?

or What are the things that you wanted to do for the past 10 years, but have not yet done them, till today? *Losing weight is the most common one. hehe

If we look forward, we can comfort ourselves and say that we have 10 more years to acheive all these 'yet-to-accomplished' goals.

However, most of these goals will still be 'yet-to-accomplished' goals in 10 years time, if nothing is done to achieve them.

Every New Year, 1/1/XXXX, we love to write down new year resolutions.

We love to share with others what's our resolutions for this coming year.

We love to tell others that ''We want to have a better life this year" , "We want to lose weight this year", "I want to get promoted this year"... etc

But many times, we forget our resolutions on the 2/1/XXXX, 2nd day of new year. In fact, some of us can't remember what are the goals we set, when we approach December of that year.

Some of my friends say that, "Why set new year resolutions when you can't even remember them at the end of the year?'

And when you can't even recall your goals, you are not going to achieve them too!

Hence, I would like to share some reasons why many people can't achieve the goals they have set at the beginning of the year...

1) Vague, UnClear Goals. Not Specific enough.

Like the above-mentioned goals. People like to lose weight. People like to get promoted. People like to earn more money. These goals are too Vague!

When your goals are vague, you will not do anything to do it! Clarity is Power. When you know Specifically what you want to get, you will know How to get it.

If you want to lose weight, to be more specifically, 20 kg in 6 months, then you know that how much exercise you need, and how much excess food to cut down daily.

If you want to be promoted, to be more specifically, position of manager, then you know the demands required by the company for you to be promoted.

If you want to earn more, for example in sales, to be more specifically, $1000/month, then you know the amount of effort you have to put in to generate leads, no. of appointments/day...etc

Solution: Be Specific.


2) Lack of Consistent Focus

Many people 'talk' about new year resolutions when asked. When they are not asked, they won't talk about it. In fact, people talk about new year resolutions only on new year's days!

Or many write their resolutions down, and put it aside, and discover them at the end of the year, when they did some housekeeping.

What they lack is consistent focus on their goals. They are not reminded of their goals daily, and hence, they are not taking actions daily to achieve that goal.

After writing down a goal of losing weight, 20kg in 6 months, they may be fired up to run 5km per day, for the 1st week. However, when they are caught up with other things in life, they lost the focus of their goal, and went back to their usual habits.

Solution: The key is to stay focused with your goals everyday, by writing it down in paper, and put it in visible everyday. Read them out everyday, every morning, to remind yourself of the goals.

3) Just an Interest, Not a Commitment.

Many of us give new year resolutions for 'fun', since it's a new year, and we hope for something nice, something sweet, something good.

We 'like' to lose more weight, we 'hope' to earn more money, we 'hope' to strengthened our relationships...

We 'like', We 'hope'... so, even if we didn't achieve them, we will find some excuses to justify these promises. "Ah, I have a different body from others, and losing weight is exceptionally hard for me. Anyway, nobody knows that I want to lose weight this year"

Solution: Make a public commitment. Tell everybody you know, you see everyday, and share it everywhere you can too. On Facebook, Twitter, your blog, forums...etc. By making a public announcement, you have put yourself on the line! And this makes you very hard not to achieve your goal. (You don't want to look like a NATO (No-Action-Talk-Only) person to your friends yea).


Alright. We have started 2010. Let make our goals as exciting as we can, and hopefully you can share your goals here with all the readers on my blog (making a public commitment!!).  We will cheer you on to achieve them!

*Of course, I will share my goals too in upcoming posts!

Self-Marketing Part 5 - Price

This is going to be the last post for this series on Self-Marketing. And we will talk about the last P.

Price.

Price is an important factor in Marketing. Price of products will determines the amount of money that returns on your investment. If you have spent $50 to develop a product, you will want to mark-up the price to, let say $100. You will earn a profit of $50. You will hardly want to put the price below $50.

Price is the only P that money comes to you. Product, Place, Promotion require you to invest money into them to get them done. Hence, if Price is not correctly, amount of profits you receive on your investment will be affected too.

One reason why companies are not able to get their products sold and increase profits, is because is due to PRICE. Why Price?

If the Price of the product is too high, there are only people who are able to afford. And if your price is high, the quality of the product must match its price too! If customers feels that the money they pay for your product is much higher that what they receive from it, then your company will risk losing this customer. And unhappy comments spread too!

However, if Price is too low, it's a problem too! So, don't think that low prices will attract more buyers! Imagine going into a shopping mall, and you saw a LV bag on the shelf. You love it, and you are going to buy it. You opened the bag, check its quality, and you saw the price tag too. $50!! $50 for a Louis Vuitton Bag. What comes to your mind now?

Fake LV.

You may say that there are a lot of people carry fake LVs on streets too. But there are also a lot of people who don't want to associate themselves with fakes.

Wait! The LV bag can be a genuine one. But to a customer, a $50 LV bag, even though it's made of genuine material, it's fake!

You can't do it the other way round, selling a fake LV at $1000 to let people think that it is a genuine one. You may get to sell a few fake LVs at real price, but that's cheating. Not business. And buyers, especially LV bag lovers, they will know how to identify geniune bags. So, you may get exposed even before 1 bag is sold.

In this last P-Price, we see that it plays a very important role in your business. Your business can go bust, or bloom with price of your product. Set the right price!


Let's go into Self-Marketing. Price.

Since we are the product, we must set a price for the product(we) too.

How much do you want to be?

A $10,000(ten thousand)/year person, or $10,000,000(ten million)/ year person?

There are many people with many outstanding personal traits, but they are not fully utilizing them. They may worth $10 million/year, but they are doing work that are just worth $10,000/year.

They have very good personal traits. They are leaders in the society, they are winners in sport games, they can learn fast and adapt fast to any environment. They did all these during their school years. But when they graduate, they get behind-the-scene jobs. They are trapped in low-positions for years.

Sometimes, it is not their choice to be given these kind of jobs. They may be in a position they liked so much, meeting clients, travelling around..etc But there are unforseen circumstances such as Company Layoff, Retrenchment, Closing down of departments. Or worse, Merger and Acquisition.

When your company is 'eaten up' by the other one, there are way to many people competiting for positions in the company. So you're either kicked out of company, or kicked to other departments you don't like.

However, there are clever ones who will want to make good use of their talents, to do work that greatly benefits them and others too.

The 'not-so-clever' ones will persuade themselves that 'it's okay. Maybe I don't have the talent for it. It's right for company to put me in that position". Companies just like this people. Because they don't have to spend time persuading these people, as these people will persuade themselves. These 'not-so-clever' people, just lacked Self-Belief. They never belief they can do it.
When they wanted to do something, and one person tells them, "its impossible for you". And sure enough, they gave up. They talk themselves to it, "He's correct. It's impossible for me"

People with Self-Belief, and high Self-Esteem, will do the Impossible. Invent a Plane, Invent the Light Bulb, Invent the Telephone...etc

So, the Price-tag you want to carry. Is it determined by your boss? or by your friends? or by Yourself??

Set a price for youself, for your work, for your services. And it should not be determined by others. Not by your boss, not by your teachers, not by your friends, and not by me also!

I said you are worth $10 million/year, but why take the price i set? You can set it higher at 100 million/year!

Set your price, and take actions to prove that you're worth that price. Go and learn skills and input knowledge that will increase your Self-Worth.


Guys, we have come to the end of the Self-Marketing Series. We talked about the 4Ps of businesses, and our businesses (our lives!) too. Think about them, and put them to good use.
Hope you benefit from it, and leave your comments on Twitter/Chatbox/Comments...etc.

See you soon!

Self-Marketing Part 4 - Promotion

I will talk about the Promotion Part on Marketing. If you missed out on Self-Marketing - Product and Self-Marketing - Place, read them first! It will help you a lot :D

Promotion in marketing, we usually mention about the ways to bring the product to the market. It can be done in many ways.

We can do it through advertising through the mass media, the radio, the TVs, newspaper ads.
Or it can be done through online advertisement, which we can see on Yahoo's Frontpage everyday.
Companies buy the online space of Yahoo.com, and ads will show up when people visit the site.

There are other methods like public relations, and direct marketing, which Dell and other companies have made good use of it to market their products. There is also IMC, Integrated Marketing Communication, a holistic approach to marketing communications. A combination of all or some marketing methods that company can use.

No matter what, companies are always looking for the best IMC, the best way of promotion mix to bring their products into the market.

When promotion is discussed, the amount of money required to promote the products is an issue to. Companies would like to have the highest Return On Investment on the money spent on promotion.

If a company spend $100,000 on marketing, they would like to have at least a sales volume of $100,000 , which means to cover the cost. But of course, companies would like to see higher returns! For example, $300,000, or $500,000. If not company will not be earning any money.

If ROI is lower than expectations, companies will review their IMC, and design another one, which may probably include one or more additional marketing methods. One example is Social Media.

Social Media wave is sweeping by, and many companies see the strength brought about by this wave. Many companies have used Social Media Platforms like Facebook and Twitter to reach out to their customers, to keep them with updates of their latest promotion and updates. This platform has proven its effectiveness, and does not cost much as compared to traditional advertising.

Overall, a company will implement IMC, and review its promotion mix to improve it further so that they reach their customers better, and in other words, increase the sales of the company.

So on to Self-Marketing part on Promotion.

We mention the product- We, Ourselves. Products need to be promoted, to make it known to others. For us, We must also promote ourselves, to make us known to others!

Coming to promoting ourselves, what should we promote? Of course, we will want to promote our Strengths, and hide our weaknesses from others. In your Resume, we will write our Best Achievements, our Best Records in schools, Best results, Best Experience...etc

When we are meeting new people, we are promoting ourselves. When we met up with old friends, we are promoting ourselves too. Our friends want to see how different are we, how much we have changed, are we becoming better persons after so many years?

When we have friends around us, do we help our friends by bringing out their strengths, and inform them about their weaknesses, so they can minimize them?

When we have a friend who get frustrated easily over little things, do we help them to think of bigger things, and ask them not to take it personally? or harm them by calling them 'petty' ?

When our friends met with difficulties, do we encourage them by giving our hands, or we just simply let them struggle themselves?

There are many more instances where we can always lend a hand and help our friends.

Helps others so people will help you.

See that again.

"Help others" comes first. "People will help you" comes second. Not vice-versa.

That's about the Promotion part of Self-Marketing!

Next up, the last P...

Self-Marketing Part 3 - Place

Coming to the 2nd P. Place.

In business, when we mention place, we mean location, location, location.

In brick and mortar businesses, companies want their shops to be placed in front of huge crowds, the place where there is endless crowds of people.

In Singapore, we have Orchard Road.

In Taiwan, we have Xi Men Ting, 西门丁。

In Hong Kong, we have Causeway Bay, 铜锣湾。

Of course, the rental rates at these places are very expensive, since these are the popular places that draw huge number of crowds.

However, even though rental prices may be high, there are companies who are willing to pay them as it is part of their marketing plan.

You can hardly find a Louis Vuitton shop at a neighborhood market. You only find them in Big shopping plazas. Same goes with famous hotels, famous restaurants, famous hair saloons...etc


Self-marketing...

Place.

I will say, where do we find ourselves most of the time?

At home?

At shopping centers?

At clubs/bars?

At libraries?

At golf clubs?

Where we find ourselves, determine the people we will meet. It may sometimes determine our Price.

The famous saying goes, "Our Network, is our NetWorth".

What kind of person you wanna be, greatly depends on the people you spend time with :D

And that also means the places you go to, to find these people!

Next P=>Price!

Merry Christmas to all my friends, and all readers of my blog! Have a wonderful and enjoyable holiday season, and may all your Christmas wishes come true!!

Self-Marketing Part 2 - Product

Let's go to the 4Ps, and let PRODUCT be the first P.

We all know that for any business to be in place, there must be a product or service. Bank sell their saving plans to you, MacDonald sell fast-food, Hair Saloon sell their hairstyling services, and maybe shampoos too. Universities sell their expertise to students.

All business have products or services.

For business to thrive, their products have to be unique, and is not easy to duplicate. This is very important. If your product is very easy to duplicate, easy to be copied, people can do the same, or even better than your product!

China is an expert in this field, and they can clone many things that seem so Complicated to us. iPhone & iClone. YouTube & YouKou. Paypal & AliPay...etc. and some of these clones are much better than the ones they copied from.

Hence, to allow ur business to survive in this competitve world, it has to be unique, or ur product have to compete on price and convenience, and will eventually went out of business.


Now, we look at the part on Self-Marketing .

The Product is Me=You=Ourselves!

We are the product.

This is about how we sell ourselves.

What is unique about us?

Everybody is created special & unique from others. However, time to time, we will slowly mould ourselves to look more like others.

This can be dangerous, but on the other hand, can be a good sign too, but that depends what kind of person we hang out with.

If we hang out with night clubbers who drink all night long, we will then follow, club and drink all night long.

If we hang out with scholars who study 24/7, we will become scholars sooner or later, studying 24/7.

If we hang out with sports person, we will become sporty, heathier, more active as time goes by.

If we hang out with goals achievers, positive and encouraging people, we will reach and achieve more of our goals.

So that's what I mean.

When you go for an interview, you(the product) are selling what you can provide for the company, and why the company will need your skills/expertise. If you are not unique, not valuable, the company will not see why you are urgently required by them, and they may 'keep looking' for other candidates first.

Hence, it's important to know our selling points!

Are you a good leader, are you a good influence around your friends, are you a good speaker, are you a really motivated person, are you an achiever, are you someone who talk the talk, walk the walk? ... etc

For Interviews, we are not only selling our certifications, our qualifications. Company may buy our high qualifications. First class honours. But what if there are 100 other first class honours? That's when the unique one will stand out!!

Talking to people, is part of selling ourselves too. Our GRC leaders, MPs, government officials are best at doing these. They are able to relate to people from all walks of life. They can communicate with little kids, students, working adults, professionals, CEOs, to retirees, aunties, grandmas...

What kind of person we want to be in front of others? Are we caring, helpful, responsible, trustworthy, or demanding, arragont, irritating to others?

Everybody have these positive and negative characteristics. But those who are able sell themselves well, are able to Present all the Positive ones to others, and at the same time, minimize all those negative characteristics.

Define our 'OWN' unique selling preposition today. Sell yourself well, and you can get whatever you want in life :D

Next up! The 2nd P = Place.

Self-Marketing Part 1

Hi Guys,

How do you find the previous 2 posts on managing your money well, and the way to do it right?

I hope it has somehow given you an idea that people who managed their money well are always richer than those who doesn't know how to manage them. Of cos, this are not all that I have learned!

If you would like to know more, you can ask me, talk to me, or simply wait for me to post up another article next time (when the time is right!).

Today, I'm going on to my next topic which is very very very interesting, useful, valuable. Something which YOU have to know in order to be successful in anything you do.

I'm referring to Self-Marketing, ie, How to Market Yourself.

In this world, no matter what your previous thoughts are, what you have learned, the truth is,
People Buy People First. In other words, first impression counts!

I know we have learned Marketing modules in school, learning the 4Ps, learning how to target market, segmentation, strategic recommendations...etc.

We are learning this to know how companies are using marketing strategies to bring their products out to the customers. Increase sales, branding, positioning... etc

I do not know about you, you may be a future marketing director, or a manager in the marketing
department, or a boss of a company. No matter what, you can see that marketing is important.

But today, instead of learning how to do marketing for products, services, the brand of the company, why not learn to market Yourself?

Learn How to Create your own Personal Brand, Put a Personal Price, Position yourself well in the minds of other people...etc.

That's what I mean- Self-Marketing.

The number of friends we have today, is the result of how we market ourselves. If we have many good friends, it is because we have been trustworthy, reliable, caring, helpful to our friends. We market ourselves and people buy us because of our good qualities.

What if it's the other way round? You may find that you only have a few friends, is because you are selling your bad habits/bad character to others, and unless they like your bad character (which is highly unlikely), they may not find you again, and look for you again...

Hence, every company, every body, will like to hide and diminish their bad points, and sell their good points to others!

Since I have learned the principles of marketing, and some of you have studied it too, I guess you should know the 4Ps and STP of Marketing. Yes.

I will start writing the first P - Product.

So stay tuned!

Money Management Habits 2

So now you know how to put your money in 6 different jars. You can recap the 6 Jars System here again. :D

Next up! How should you do it? When should you start putting in your money into these 6 jars?

The answer is...

Divide all your money up into these jars once you get them!

In other words...

PAY YOURSELF FIRST!

Once you get your pay/allowance, divide them into the 6 jars accordingly. 6 jars, and just divide them up.

Nothing is more important than yourself. Not your phone bills, not your latest gadget, not your monthly car loans/rentals... You are most Important!!

Why I say this.

I had a friend while I'm still serving national service in APD. He's a regular. And his monthly salary is about 2000+. He has to minus CPF contributions, so that left with around 1700+.

Whenever he got his money, he use it to pay his monthly bike installments, his bills, then upgrade his bike also. In the end, he is just left with around $500 for the entire month. He have not add in his daily expenses, petrol for his bike, his indulgences.

And so, he always complained that he has no money. Not enough money to use, no money to buy his stuffs, no money to save.

When I pop him this statement, "Pay Yourself First". He said he can't, 'cause he has too much loans/bills to clear, and he always left with $500 plus after the 2nd day, to spend for rest of the month.

And I told him what he can do. Set aside a sum of money for himself first when he get the money. And use the remainder to pay for his bills. However, he told me he don't have enough money in the end to pay his loans/installments.

Then, I told him, this is the time to force you to look into opportunities outside the world, to improve your income. If this income stream is not enough to supply water for your BIG POOL, you should create another stream so that more water can flow into your BIG POOL yea?

And it should not be the case where you lower down your means of living to pay off your bills/installments. Instead, look to increase your income bracket!! And that is the way to get more money, become Richer!!

So guys, Pay Yourself First. If your planned expenses is not enough to cover for your desired/actual expenses, Look to create another income stream, increase your income bracket, get more money IN!

And not lower down your living standards to pay for installments/loans/bills. You are more important than these banks/companies who are after your money.

:D

What do you think? Feel free to share with me!

Millionaire Money Management Tip 1

OK!. Let's start with tip 1 on how you can become a millionaire by managing your money well.

Eh? You may ask, why this tip is not really about making more money, or methods on multiplying your money fast?

Alright, maybe this can come at later blogposts. But why most people are richer than the others, is not that they know how to make a lot more money, but they know HOW to manage their money better than others!

You can have a lot of money flowing in, from your job, from your business, from investments, from lucky draw, or whatever. But if it is not managed well, it will still flow out of your hands in no time :D.

First things First, let me tell you the 6 places you should place your money in. We call them your Money Jars. And how much money you should put inside these jars.


1. "Financial Freedom Account" Jar. (FFA) - 10%

Place 10% of your income, monthly salary, profits into this Jar. And money in this Jar must not be spent. It should be used for you to acquire passive income streams. Think of these as the golden goose that keep laying golden eggs. If you spend the money inside, it is like killing the mother goose that gives you golden eggs (your wealth). Start putting it, month by month, and you will see your goose become fatter (more money), and you can acquire more passive income streams to lay more eggs for you (money!).

Strictly speaking, the money in this jar MUST not be spent! In the future when you stop working, you can spend the eggs, but not the goose!

2. Long Term Saving/Spending Jar. (LTSS) - 10%

This jar is used for your long term expenditure, such as your end of year holiday, wedding dinner, house mortgages... etc. As it is 10%, you can also divide this 10% into small percentages, like 5% for holidays, 5% for my car... etc, if you have more expenditures.

3. Education. (EDU) - 10%

Save 10% of your money to learn. Equip yourself with latest knowledge, latest skills. Everybody needs to learn, and the world is changing really too fast. If we aren't learning new things, we are already behind others. And I mean NEW.

Take this money to buy books, audios/videos, attend courses, seminars, go for big events etc. Real education begins after academic education ends.
"Poor people stop learning once they graduate from school. Rich people start learning after they graduate."

4. Necessities (NEC) Jar - 55%

Let 55% of the money cover your necessary daily expenses. Food, transport, phone bills, house rents (if you have any). Many people tend to spend too much on this section, hence, they usually don't have any savings in the end. It's 55%. It may be lower than what you are currently spending.

If it's difficult to maintain at 55%, simplify your life. You don't have to eat at restaurants everyday yea? you don't have to spend so much on branded, or new stuffs so often too yea?

5. Play Jar - 10%

OK!! This is the Jar everybody is happy about. Erm, but it's not everybody also. Why you need the play jar?

There are people who spend too much time at their jobs, that they hardly have the time to play. They save up a lot , a lot, a lot of money, but they never get the chance to use it. Workaholics. This make their life severely unbalanced. This is not life!

On the other hand, this is the Jar that many people broke it on their first day they get their pay. They get their pay, and just spend it! but they still have another 30 days to go before their money come in again. Often or not, they spend more than their income.

So to keep everything in balance, keep 10% of ur income for play, and BLOW (spend) it every month. Spend it at a good restaurant, a short trip, have fun with it, to keep your life in balance. And only use the money in this Jar for your fun. Don't tap into other Jars for money .

6. Giving - 5%

Giving is you have to do, everybody have to do. Giving is a spiritual need for someone to grow.
Save at least 5% to give, give it to charities, give it to help others who are in need. If 5% is not enough, you can tap into your Necessity account for another 5%. So giving account-10%, Nec account- 50%. This is alright.

So this are the 6 Jars.

I've started putting the money I got in Nov into these 6 jars. Yup. So let's start doing it together yea! It's the simplest system to manage your money. Any queries, call me up, leave a message here, or email me.

Next! - The Secret Habits of Millionaire :D

Now is the time! It's Now!

Now is the time! Why?

My Exams are over! And yes! It's time to do everything I want this season!!

Next up, I'm gonna to write posts on...

1) The Money Management lessons I learned from T.Harv Eker's Millionaire Mind Intensive Seminar.


2) Marketing Tips on Life - Based on Marketing Modules Learned School.

Then, I'm gonna write books too! I have written one on violin playing. Completed!
I'm gonna write 1 more! That's 2 books!

I'm gonna grow, and contribute more!

This is going to be the most productive time for me!!

End 2009 with a BANG!!

Next post, Millionaire Money Management Tip No. 1.

A Small Tip in Midst of my Exams

Last Friday, I shared a short message about consistency and faith with my good buddies. It's my first time doing it, and I think I wanna do it again! and again! and again! And I wanna get better at doing it, improving each time I did it :D

And on Saturday Expo Svc, Rev Casey Treat shared the same thing! Consistency and Faith! Wow! Is it such coincidental? Haha. It may appear coincidental at first, but after few thoughts, it's not really that coincidental I think.

Just to recapitulate, I talked about doing things consistently, continuously, and not once and for all. For all the things in life we have achieved till now, we did it again and again and again, and then we finally achieved it. Don't you think so?

Students who get A in their subjects, don't study one whole chunk in a day before exam, but little bit by bit, everyday. People who got their slim body exercise everyday, and not exhaust the body in a day. Sounds like our National Service? Wake up so early in morning everyday? Why some people can live so healthily till such ripe age? They consume healthy foods and supplementation everyday, or start eating just before they are falling sick?

Ya. So basically, the answer is every(whatever). In fact, everyday is enough for most of us. For me too. For every action to become a habit, it takes 21 days (some say 28) of consistent actions. This goes the same for good habits, and bad habits. Bad habits are easier to form anyway :D
Ok! that's basically what I mentioned that day, and simplified of what Rev Casey said.

Why I wouldn't say it's coincidental for me to share the same message as him.

Because this is the truth! :D It is one of the factors for success! Hence, anyone who is sharing tips for success, to get what you want etc, will mention this. Doing simple things everyday. It is always these simple things that we neglected that will actually give us what we want. We always think that we need to do BIG, Difficult things in order to be successful. E.g. We need to run marathons to get fit. But simple runs of 30 mins everyday is enough. (everyday appears again -.-)

I get this tip of 'doing simple things everyday' not from a book, but from a successful person I know. We often complicate things, and often forget the simple stuffs to do. As things get complicated, we get confused, and in the end we won't get started.

Alright, so here's the little tips to kick start a great weekend to you guys :D. Do simple things everyday. Don't complicate matters.

I just completed my 3 papers in 1 day. Last being Marketing. It's open-book test. I brought in a handout, and a textbook, which I never opened before, but I brought it in, since it's allowed.

Even though I didn't read the Marketing textbook, I read many other books on marketing, ways to increase sales for companies, marketing ideas for free, and some super salesman books. In the end, I referred to the textbook once, to look for definition of 'Integrated Marketing Program', and that's all. For the rest of the paper, it asks you to give ideas on how to market this, market that. They want ideas and more ideas and suggestions from you!

Thank God I'm being exposed to these marketing books, if not I wouldn't have written down those suggestions. It's always good to read books other than textbooks. Especially for Marketing. Marketing is Living, and not Dead. In other words, knowing all marketing definitions and terms got no use. It is only useful when we know how to use it! And these marketing ideas are found in these marketing books! :D

*If your company needs you to market something, surely you are not going to define what is advertising/public relations/marketing mix/4Ps.. yea? Your boss only want creative ideas from you!

I had fun answering those questions like "discuss how can you market...", "if you are the manager, how would you...". I wished there are more just now. But it's okay, I'm tired of writing already :D. Marketing is in my blood, and I do it everyday, so I smile at every question just now :))

I love myself more everyday and night! :D

Pst Joel Osteen. Author of "Become a Better You"

This Gentleman is interesting. Hope to hear him 'live' one day. He is Joel Osteen. I got to know him after I read his book, "Become a Better You". And then, I decided to look up online to know more about him.

He formed the biggest church in America, Lakewood Church, with a hall which can fill 18,000+ people. Wow. I looked up Youtube for more of him, and I found this interesting video! Enjoy it guys! You will sure enjoy his jokes :D

A brief Update from 29th Oct- 12th Oct

A few Updates from Me :D

From 30th-1st Nov, I spend my 3 days in Taipei, Taiwan. Wow. It was really a wonderful 3 days in Taiwan. Our Taiwan friends were really friendly, heart-warming, fun, lovely... everything la. There are photos uploaded to my Facebook already. You can view it here: Taiwan 09 .

Of cos, other than just enjoying tasty food in Taiwan, my main objective to Taiwan this time is to attend DASH 2009, 成就未来. It's held in Taiwan World Trade Center, just beside Taiwan's Tallest Tower, Taipei 101.

I just got to know the best 臭豆腐，best 卤肉饭, best 卤味，best 花生冰, best 爱玉(a famous drink in Taiwan), best 蛇肉／蛇酒, from my fellow Taiwanese friends. They are just great people. People out there! If you're going Taiwan tell me, I give you all the places for good food, shopping, low room rentals, best attractions :D

Alright, coming back to school life, it's gonna end soon. :D yippee! Of cos, as usual, it gonna ends with the Examination! I'll end all the papers on 30th Nov. Still 10 days left for me :D. Studying is part of my time table since Sch starts, and I have to add in a bit more time for revision. However, no matter how much time I put in studies, I always use time for personal education a.k.a Self Improvement.

After cramming so much notes, which I can say only 60% of what I read is remembered, I took a rest. And, I picked up a book to read. And recently, I read the book, "Become a Better You" by Joel Osteen. Awesome book. Just when my energy has been used up in revising those 'dead' notes, reading just a page of two of Joel Osteen's book got my mind thinking, with thousands of thoughts & ideas flowing through, and I'm refreshed!

I feel that everybody Must invest time educating themselves to become a better person. This can be done through reading books, attending training seminars, listening to mentors, or at least, get tips from people who have skills you want to learn from (e.g. time management?)

I have some friends who told me they got a lot to study, so they study day and night, sacrificing sleeping time for study, but struggle in exams. I also have friends who told me that there are not much to study, and they continue their normal lifestyle, sleeping 8 hours/ day, and score well in exams. By the way, both groups are taking the same exams, but what's the difference?

Some says, they are born smart, thats why they don't have to study so much.
Some says, they have good A level results. So coming to uni, they don't have to study much.
Some says, they are lucky.
Some says, they come from TOP JCs. So its easy for them to do well w/o studying.

Oh really? When my friends gave me these answers, I don't believe any, and I squash them up. All these answers are Bullshit! By saying all these, we are pushing away our own responsibilities! We are not taking responsibility for our results. But instead, we are giving negative/jealous comments for those who do well.

In my opinion, it boils down to 1 word discipline. Talk is Cheap. Everybody, Anybody out there can say they have discipline. "I brush my teeth everyday, I bathe everyday..." Yup. These shows that you have discipline! :D However, do you know what's the most scariest thing to do that have frightened most people about Discipline?

The most scariest thing is to do it EVERYDAY. Doing the action is not a problem. But doing it EVERYDAY is a problem. Reading a book is not a problem, but doing it EVERYDAY may be a problem. Stop smoking for 1 day is possible. But stop it every single day? Running 2.4km is not a problem, but doing it EVERYDAY may be a problem. Standing in front for public speaking is not a problem, but dare to do it everyday? Haha.

When I learned it, it makes a lot of sense! Doesn't it? The reason why sometimes we stop doing something, is because we lack the discipline. And I'm guilty of that too. Haha. Hence, if you got a chance to know some successful people, ask them, talk to them. They will tell you that, they are successful, because they are doing things that bring them success, every single day, and it's been part of their lives!

Yup. So my friends here, hope that you have learn a little bit more about discipline :D. I'll elaborate more next time :D Still have some more tips to share here. Next time maybe? See yea!

T Harv Eker's Millionaire Mind Intensive Ticket Giveaway.

T. Harv Eker's Millionaire Mind Intensive 3 day event will be held in Singapore Expo from 13th-15th November 2009. You can get a free ticket to attend this seminar , "A Weekend that will change your Financial Life Forever!". Just message me, email me, comment at this post, at the chatbox, whatever, to know how to get your free ticket :D

i

"I Need You" by Leann Rimes. Video is Up!

Yes. As promised, the video of the recording is up! Enjoy it guys, and share with me your comments, like how I can improve, or any song you would like to hear in the future! Thank you guys, and I will put it up at the sidebar of my blog too :D

Wonderful Performance again!

YES! Another wonderful performance on stage. But this time, there are 3 times more audience than the last time when I perform 'Viva La Vida'. Yesterday, I played in 2 songs this time round, in 'Kiss Goodbye', song by Wang LiHom, and 'I Need You', song by Leann Rimes. Andrew sang in 'Kiss Goodbye', and Maria in 'I Need You'.

It's Touch of Heaven 3, and probably the last episode of the year. And all performances did extremely well, till everyone don't want to leave in the end. Haha. It's a series of impressive performances, with singing, dancing by the 'Lady GaGas', Beat-boXing, etc.

Maybe the pictures can say more :D

Beat BoXing by Reynaldo



安静 by Royston

I'm Yours by Sean and Jag


The GaGas on stage!



The V-Girls! Val and Vanessa with their self-composed song :D

"Kiss Goodbye" Andrew singing, I'm on the violin, and Jeff on the Guitar.



Waiting to play.


"I Need You", sung by Maria.

John and Ryan with Bon Jovi's "I'll be there for You!"


Last but not least, the Fantastic Audience!!


There are a lot more pictures on my Facebook albums, and many other uploaded by others. I heard there are recordings of the performances too!! Haha. I'm gonna get it and uploaded it to YouTube so you guys can see. :D

For this mini-concert, I was only notified to be involved in it 7 days before it. Then, the song I was playing was only decided last Tuesday, 4 days before the concert. We had only 1 combined performance on Wed night, 3 days before concert. I transpose my piece 3 times into different keys, and was settled on Thursday, 2 days before concert. And we had a final run through 3 hours before concert. Despite all these last minutes, we did it with a BANG!! ( or Boomz if you want :P )

All these last minutes would not have been possible, without the help of guitar pros like John & Jeff & Jag, singing pro like Valerie, Vanessa, Royston, Maria, Andrew, Sean... :D

Lastly, no matter it is last minute or not,

If there's a will, there's a way :D

Yup.

Before I end, thanks Kenneth for his camera skills.


This picture is nice, and I love it! :D

A Meetup with Mr Tony.

After 1 month, I met up with my mentor, Mr Tony again. He reached Sg from KL. Yes. It's always great to meet up with him, when my life will just be recharged again! :D Superb life-changing tips from him.


,
I met him in office around 5pm on Wednesday, and me and Bingyang talked with him till 2am the next day. Yea. But we are not talking only. We are exchanging ideas, and he shared a lot of tips with us, on time management, influence, world issues, relationships, peak performances, leaderships, communication and thinking skills, and persuasion skills. That's all i remembered now. I can say he's a supreme being, and he's the Chinese version of Anthony Robbins. Seriously.

He told us his life story, when he was in university like us. He was a Top student from TungHai University, one of the top universities in Taiwan. There, he studied computing or (computer engineering), which is one of the hottest topic for the future. It was 20 years then. 20 years ago, 1988-1989.. what are the computer we have? haha.

He was studying the designing of programs for computer, connecting network connections...etc, all those computer stuffs... he's in Taiwan Navy while serving their NS, and he's responsible for connecting the computers and networks in the Navy department. Then, 20 yrs ago, he told us, anyone who studies computer stuffs are considered geniuses...

He was approached by US university MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, top 10 university in the world now) to further his studies in computing, and sponsored by US Navy. He did not proceed then, and he told us why.

His senior, also a lieutenant in his Navy, graduated as a Top student from NTU(National Taiwan University). He then continued his study at MIT. He sent back letters to Mr Tony and his friends in the Navy, to tell them about the school life in MIT. However, after a few years, he stopped sending letters. They wondered if anything had happened to him. And they knew that he has become mentally unsound.

He suffered tremendous stress at MIT, and even though he was a Top Student from the Top University of Taiwan, he was just a nobody in MIT, where all the world computer geniuses gather. The point he was trying to make is...

"The best is yet to be, and there will always somebody who is better than you, when you think you are the best".

This is the quote by him:
"世界上没有 “最好”，只有 “更好”，没有 '最烂'，只有 '更烂' ”

And looking at the world now, computers are everywhere, even 2-3 year old kids know how to blog! Things are changing too fast, and he don't know what is he studying all those computer stuffs for...

I watched this video before, and since it has been recently brought up by many people on FB, let's watch it together yea...






If you have watched it, you would have think that the world is changing Super Fast, not just 'fast'. Everything we used 5 years ago have changed.(where is Facebook 5 years ago)? This is a reminder to us that everything is going to change, and if we are Unable to change, we will not be able to survive.

Another quote for you guys...

"It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change."
~Charles Darwin

Undoubtedly true.

Let's look at the whole wide world, and compare yourself to the world if you want, and not think that you're the best in Singapore( you're just 1 in 4 million people). Because in China, there are 325 people just like you. (1.3 billion / 4 million). Then, you are just the top 325 people...

There's no point comparing and fighting with these people. And if you're studying in NUS/NTU, you guys know better. And a lot more better!!, because you and me have first hand experience with them -.-

People who are smart, tap into areas where these Chinese geniuses have not excelled, and WE excelled in them, and NOT competing directly in areas where they have dominated, e.g. Engineering, (esp. EEE. Of the 10 Chinese student I know in NTU, 5 of them are PhD in EEE students -.-)

Discover new areas, tap into uncovered niches, before the Chinese and Indians came and dominate it.

So, this is just a very very short story of Mr Tony in his school life. I haven't even shared what he told us on how he excelled as No.1 for 4 years in his Uni, and his success in life.

Stay tuned guys!

Real life after midterms!!

Yup! My midterms are over in just 1 day. They ended together on Saturday, and it's time to get back my real life! Tests wise, I'm satisfied with my performance that day, even though test results have not returned. Pass or fail, I will still take it:D

And next, my real life!!

Never waste your life studying away. Get a real life. Life is NEVER about waking up, going to Macs to find a seat, put on your ear phones, lay the table with all your assignment and papers, and start MUGGING!! This will shorten your life, and you will look back how much time you have sacrificed mugging.

Right after my tests, I create another video from my violin concert recording. I wrote up another page for my violin webby. I wrote up October's violin magazine for my subscribers on my violin site. I wrote up a page about my concert, everything about it. Click here to read it. I wrote up another draft for my site, just waiting to post it up.

Then I went out to find my friends! Talk, laugh, joke, eat, tell stories. These are basic needs of human beings. Connection with others. No matter how strong a person is, he cannot live alone. So when you guys mug, do take some time off during mugging too. Talk to someone, and watch some funny videos to relax your mind after forcing in so much information.

I also printed a list of scores I'm preparing to play on my violin again, with val on the piano!
Haha. I got a few pop songs with me(had a hard time finding scores). And I just printed out the songs I'm familiar, and available to me. I have "Bleeding Love", "Everything" by Michael Buble, "Speed of Sound" & "Yellow" by ColdPlay, "Reason" by Hoobastank(quite an out-dated song though:P).

Any songs you guys like to hear? post it in the chatbox or reply to this post, and I'll go find it! :D
I'm planning to put 1 up soon, while I still have the time! :D

I'm giving my 1st speech in Toastmasters this Thursday, and I'm planning to give an exciting one:D More details up next! :D

Enjoy your life my dear friends! See ya next post!

This Video makes me HIGH!!

Watch this video.
You'll enjoy this even when you are feeling sleepy, down, sad... whatever negative feelings you have!



My violin concert has just ended, but violin performance is still burning hot in me. Just feel like playing and performing again!!. I'm addicted to playing the violin. :D

I wanna record and post more videos here on my blog and youtube to share with you guys:D
I will write up the post about my concert in the next post! :D