Day 150 - Facebook

Day 150 - 850 days to go

Facebook is a very amazing invention. Many people including me, initially, think that it is only for social networking i.e. mainly for socializing and networking. However, after I use it for a few months, I find it more and more useful as a multipurpose platform that can achieve a lot of purposes, which include but not limited to the followings:

1. Meet new friends
2. Get connected to old friends
3. Get free information
4. Get free stuff
5. Knows about certain announcement or events
6. Get involved in an interest group
7. As an option to advertise
8. Earn and spend money
9. Seek opinion, help for information or other requests
10. Play games
11. Learn about new information, knowledge, skills and the like
12. Get employee or get employed
13. Get inspired to do something
14. Get or give support for somebody or something
15. and many more as facebook has been evolving...

Happy Events:

1. Attended first year anniversary celebration on Globex at Arthur's Bar and Grill. Tasted the best ever pizza with big prawn, scallop and mussels.
2. Catch up with colleagues from other departments.
3. Had a fruitful meeting with a foreign bank on fixed income, foreign currency and interest rate products.
4. Drop by 1MDB to meet former colleagues.
5. Received two phone calls for new career options, one from a former colleague and the other one was from a former course mate. Tips: Should work in more companies and attend more courses.

Creativity: Read from all possible or interested topics or sources.

One of the most interesting sources of creative idea is to read jokes. Technically good jokes are similar to creative products.

New Record - How to be a regular record breaker

Day 149 - 851 days to go

Some people or companies can always break new record from time to time but the rest can only dream of it from time to time. One of the main reasons is that regular record breakers create record but others wait for the record to happen. One is playing an active role while the other is a passive one.

How to create record? The easier way is not to reinvent the wheel i.e. apply copycat 101 method. Just have to find out how the previous records were broken or created and try using the same technique to create another record. Of course, in order to break the last record, the same technique need to be improve further. In other words, you should know what contribute to the new record then only you are in control to break it again and again. Input contribute to output and hence we have not know the input and control it very well in order for us to break record again and again.

Happy Events:

1. Bursa Malaysia Derivatives's trading volume achieved a all time high for the last 31 years yesterday.
2. Attended another Raya open house and had some interesting conversation with colleagues.
3. Pick up my medical check up report together with my good friend and we both have improved health condition compared to last year.

Creativity: Creativity means create lots of new activities

Doing the same thing with the old ways will not be able to create any new things. Similarly think with the conventional method will not create any new idea. Think backward, from top to left and from bottom to right instead of top to down and right to left.

German Jazz Night

Day 148 - 852 days to go

Today I attended a German Jazz Night performed by Max Bab at KBU, near One-Utama. It was my first ever Jazz experience and I learned that Jazz is much more than what I knew. I always think that Jazz music is very soft and gentle. However, now only I know that Jazz can be quite loud and heavy. Of course not as heavy as heavy metal.

From the concert, we toyed the idea of organising one mini concert for out colleague, May. She is a great singer and we always enjoyed her song in the company. Since our friend's church group own a studio, we said why don't we organise a concert to make our friend's own concern dream comes true. Hope that we can make it happen.

Happy Event:

1. Attended a wonderful Jazz concert and had a great time with friends.
2. Attended a Raya Open house organised by MSD or Bursa. Thanks for invite.
3. Had a good meeting with the Group Treasurer of Am Bank. Thanks Yvonne Phe who is a nice and successful lady in the capital market. We know each other since 1994 when we were just junior executive in the market.

Creativity: Same technique, instrument or technology applied and used in different and non conventional situation, event, project, activity etc.

I remember some bands use non ordinary musical instruments in their concerts such as kitchen utensils, cleaning utensils, glasses, Iphone, Ipad etc to perform.

Warga Bursa Open House

Day 147 - 853 days to go

Today is Bursa Open House for staff only. Itinerary includes foods, performance contest, best dress award, lucky draw, karaoke and of course, networking among staff. The part I enjoyed the most is networking with colleagues as we may not meet and talk to each other for month despite the fact that there are only about 600+ staff in this building. I think the company should organise more cross functional types of gathering to enable staffs to know each other better for a better work relationship.

Many staffs leave a company or under perform their best capability due to office politics or any types of unhappiness. Most of the time has nothing to do with salary or bonus. When they do not feel the sense of belongings or recognised, they will leave. Of course there are many other factors. However, to me the work environment and leadership are two of the most important factors that will help me to decide if I want to stay in a department and a company or not.

Happy Events:

1. Had a good time with colleagues for the company open house.
2. Building a closer relationship with the google and facebook runner group after receiving all the birthday wishes. Now I know I have roughly how many friends and also how many active facebook friends.

Creativity: Composing poem is one of my favorite way to train the brain to work harder than normal.

One of the best sources to get idea to compose poem with rhyme is www.onelook.com

Happy Birthday Marathon Run and the Power of Facebook

Day 146 - 854 days to go

Today was the first time I woke up very early on my birthday. I woke up at 3am to prepare myself for the Jungle River Marathon held at Ulu Langat - the place famous for durian in Cheras. About 300 plus marathon runners signed up for this race compared to about 60 for last year. I think three possible reason for that: 1) It was a good race for last year and hence past runners recommend to other runners this year, 2) Like me, got to know from social media i.e. marathonshop newsletter that I signed up or from their website for other non subscribers, and 3) More and more runners taking up marathon as their eventual challenge in the running experience.

Well, it was raining cats and dogs after 5 hours. For those who ran more than 5 hours, they were caught in the rain. It was also quite a good experience to enjoy running in the rain, a bit dangerous though as drivers may not see runners, etc.

Happy Events:

1. I received more than 40 birthday wishes and mostly were from facebook. They live as far as NZ and Dubai. I started active in facebook a few months back and I have only 400 + friends now. In other words, at least 10% to 20% of facebook users in my networks are active and hence they know today is my birthday. Out of the 40, about 10 of them are not my direct friends as we are connected because we shared other common friends.
2. Completed my 5th marathon in 6 months.
3. Met a few friends in person instead of in facebook only.

Creativity: Think backward

We always think from the beginning to the end but sometimes if we think backward, we may be able to create something new.

Charity Dragon Boat Race

Day 145 - 855 days to go

Today I went to Putrajaya for dragon boat training for next Saturday's charity dragon boat race. The beneficiary for the fund raising event is Skrine. Other participating companies are HSBC, KPMG and a few more.

Happy Events:

1. Had a good family dinners and birthday celebration for my grandmother-in-law. Since my birthday is tomorrow, my family members celebrated for me as well together with my cousin-in-law too. Therefore, we had 3 birthday cakes for the dinner.
2. Met my Tax deed and tax lien instructors at the Banker Club, Amoda building. He gave a copy of his new book to me too. Very happy to see him again and hope to join other student to his master mind class in Florida next year.
3. Had a good practice session with my colleagues for the above charity dragon boat race.
4. Bought a magazine and a book from Borders bookshop from Times Square.

Creativity: It is the core element of improvement and innovation.

Brainstorming is very important for new product development. Besides asking what could lead to the success of a new product, we should also ask for the negative aspects.

Johnny English

Day 144 - 856 days to go

Mr. Bean is a successful TV program and liked by lots of audiences. Mr. Bean became Johnny English in the big screen and became another success story. It was a OK show to us but to many children and teenagers, it was a great movie. Maybe when one is getting older, one will be more difficult to be happy.

Sometimes people say one is more happy when one knows less. Life is full of unsatisfactory events and experiences. As such, if one always want to get the best out of everything, it will be a uphill task. When one cannot reach the desired goal, one will be unhappy very easily.

Happy Events:

1. Continue to receive many thank you emails from runners for their own achievement in rat race and how much they appreciate my encouragement and arrangement for the training.
2. Had a simple but fruitful lunch at the canteen with colleagues.
3. Completed a few outstanding tasks.
4. Able to propose 5 alternative solutions to my friend on his nipples chaffing problem.

Creativity: Logical thinking is one of the many methods for creativity

Proposed 5 Think out of the Brain solutions to my friend for his nipples chaffing problem.

PNB Hari Raya Open House

Day 143 - 857 days to go

Today I attended the PNB Hari Raya Open House and met many capital market participants including my existing and ex colleagues, old friends and IMD classmate. It was a big event with a few thousand guests attended. Lots of delicious local foods and fruits plus desserts. Besides enjoying the good foods, I really enjoy meeting old and new friends at this type of happy occasion.

Before the event, I attended 3 meetings since 9am as part of market engagement and consultation for our new derivatives products. Gained some insightful information which is helpful for our new products development and also existing products revival plans.

Happy Events:

1. Obtained some useful feedback from market participants on our products launching plan.
2. Met some old friends from the meeting visits and also in the open house.
3. Had a good chat with my staff and the MA after our last meeting in the afternoon as part of team building and coaching session on human relationship, office politics, etc.

Creativity: There is always more than one idea as there are always two sides of a coin for any type of situation

Never stop at one proposal, always think from different angles to create multiple options

Encouragement - A Must Have for Great Performance

Day 142 - 858 days to go

Today is another great day as I received lots of well wishes, thank-you mails, and congratulations messages from all over the world via email, facebook and in person. I am so touched that they feel thankful for my leadership and management shown in the rat race running team and the event as a whole.

Not sure if I am closer to this group since the beginning of the year when I organised a biggest slimmer challenge or other reasons, I received such a great deal of compliments. Maybe was also due to my 10 years contribution in the rat race event and as a team captain that made them feel appreciated.

Regardless of the reasons, I am very grateful and happy to be recognised and it was a bonus as I have never expected anything in return. I have been involving actively and in rat race due to passion and interest. I am looking forward to more exciting activities to be added in future events and also better team results for the company. Of course the most important thing is to break record in the total amount of fund raised for charity.

Happy Events:

1. Received lots of compliments, well wishes and thank you messages all over the world via social media.
2. Still very happy with the ream results but could be better if more efforts have been put in to plan better

Creativity: Copycat is the building block of innovation

• Copycat need not mean copy the same idea, design etc from the similar or same products/services. A similar idea could be used in the production of another totally different products/services.

TheEdge Bursa Malaysia Kuala Lumpur Rat Race 2011

Day 141 - 859 days to go


Today is very happy as our company team won 2nd placing in the run. The race is getting much more competitive as companies hired state and national runners to represent their companies. In other words, charity and business or commercial interest are part of the game.

To organise charity event is a very good way to promote a particular industry, company or products/services. Bursa has been organising the event for the past 12 years and I believe some particpants have never heard about stock market and Bursa Malaysia before they participate in this race.

Of course the main objective of the event is to raise fund for the needies. This year the race contributed RM1.93 million to 20 beneficiaries. It is the lagest charity running event that raised the highest amount of fund in Malaysia.

Happy Events:

1. Our team won the second place in the open category.


2. Able to run the similar timing like last year despite with less training due to other commitments.


3. Met and made a few new griends in th eevent and now connected in facebook.

Creativity: From good to great.

e.g. you are not the number one as you are beyond any comparison or ranking.

Day 140 - Happiness - Law Of Attraction (LOA)

Day 140 – 860 days to go

Today I went to settle the bill for Rat Race runner shoes at the New Balance store in Sungai Wang and met a friend whom I did not meet for years. He told me that he is studying MBA and will be doing research paper on derivatives related subjects after I told him that I am heading the financial derivatives product development.

Then he shared with me that he has been doing briefing on Options which is related to my existing project. I told myself in my heart that “wow, LOA and it always work on me”. Just the day before I met the author, Dr. Mel Gill, for the best-selling book in many countries – Meta Secret when I was attending a book writing workshop and my subject is about Happiness. I experienced many times of LOA i.e. whenever I need something or work on something, people, information, resources etc on the something will always come to me or encountered by me. As such I am always happy for what LOA brings to me.

Happy Events:

1. Settle the payment issues for Rat Race running shoes and now just wait for the big day to
come tomorrow.
2. Get connected to more professional in my fields i.e. the capital market in LinkedIn and the
power of social media start working for me on my job.

Creativity: the most creative cap is Thinking Cap

• The de Bono Hats system (also known as "Six Hats" or "Six Thinking Hats")

Meta Secret

Day 139 - 861 days to go

Today is a lucky day. I am able to meet two of the most successful gurus, mentors and best-selling authors at the same place. They are my mentor and coach Mr. Robert G. Allen (Bob) and his friend, Mr. Mel Gil. Bob is the best selling author for a few book and Mel is the author for a very successful book - Meta Secret which has been sold in more than 40 countries and still growing. The book has been translated into 24 languages worldwide.

I met Mel on the last day of the three-day info-preneuring workshop conducted with Bob. He was Bob's friend from Chicago and now we became friend after I found out that he is the brother of my friend Param Gil and also my company's BOD from CME, Mr. Phupinder S. Gill. It was my pleasure to have lunch and dinner with these two outstanding brothers before they left Malaysia.

I learned a great deal on Mel's sharing on his life experience, the meta secret success story and his philosophy in life. He also shared with me his billion dollar business venture which new technology that which sweep the world by storm just like his best selling book - Meta Secret. All the best to him.

Happy events:

1. Met Dr. Mel Gill and learned about the Meta Secret Book.'
2. Had a great lunch and dinner with the two outstanding brothers.
3. Learned a great deal from the 3-days info-prenuering seminar conducted by Rober G. Allen and Patric Chan.
4. Met my other inner circle friends from Singapore and made some new friends too.

Book Writing

Day 138 - 862 days to go

Yesterday I sent a mail to my group of runner friends to ask them to provide feedback for the title of my Happiness book. I received a few comments and also suggestions. Really appreciate their reply.

Today we continue to learn book writing and we had a good discussion on book title in the class. In addition, we discussed about chapter titles as well. Group discussion is one of the best ways to learn and teach in classes.

Happy Events:

1. Met my friend with her soon-to-be husband. All the best to them.
2. Had supper with my girl before going back to our home sweet home.
3. Did some reading on happiness book that is useful in my preparation on my new happiness book.

Info-Preneuring Workshop

Day 137 - 863 days to go

Info-preneuring is producing and selling electronic information on the Internet. According to information in Wikipedia, the word infopreneur was registered as a trademark (USPTO) on February 1 1984 by Harold F. Weitzen. In 1988, H. Skip Weitzen published "Infopreneurs: Turning Data Into Dollars" (John Wiley & Sons).

I am attending a 3-days workshop on info-preneuring from my two gurus and mentors - the best selling author Robert G. Allen from the USA and Patric Chan from Malaysia. They are the best combination for a very good info-preneuring as one is the expert in writing best selling books and the other one is an expert in internet marketing.

I am sure with their guidance, I will be able to be an infopreneur in this year.

Happy events:

1. I am one step nearer to be an infopreneur. What is better than getting pay for sharing what you are passionate about?
2. Had a good dinner with some Singapore friends. happy birthday to his 2-year old daughter Navia.
3. Had a brief but good discussion with my mentor on a business venture. I am confident it is a viable venture.

Never Give Up

Day 136 - 864 days to go

Today is a very fulfilling day. I managed to identify a few market makers from various social networks based on bottle up and top down approaches. Sometimes I think God is helping me as I found useful information by chance, in a way. Well no matter what is the reason, I am very happy as I have been trying to find them for the last few months. Thanks God and thanks the powerful internet resources. This is a classic example of "Never Give Up".

Made some recommendation for Terry Fox Run T shirt price changes and finally a new price is fixed after some good exchanges of ideas among committee members. Hopefully th eT shirt will be produced ASAP so that we can start selling them for fund raising.

Happy Events:

1. Found a few new market makers for Option trading
2. had a business lunch meeting with an old friend and obtained some useful information for my projects.
3. Had a good briefing conducted by my friend from Kluang about a new business venture.
4. Learn some new information on Ipad2.

Not so happy events:

Not able to train for rat race for the last two days due to rain and business lunch.

Inflation or Greed of Merchants

Day 135 - 865 days to go

Today I had a wonderful lunch with my friend for my very early birthday lunch as she will be away from KL for the next one month. We went to Ayam Kampong and really enjoyed the food there. I am not sure how much she paid for the lunch as my last visit to the restaurant was months ago. I am not talking about the food price of this restaurant as we know that they command premium on their foods as they are delicious and worth the price.

After lunch, we went over to the nearby white coffee shop for its famous white coffee. When she paid for the drinks, we got a shock and asked a few rounds on the price which was RM7.0. The price charged was as high as the Old Town White Coffee's price. The issue was that the price was around RM2.5 one year ago and it has been increased by 40% since then. The shop is just an ordinary coffee shop without aircon. Similar type of coffee would be charged at Rm2.0 to RM2.5 only. Well, of course we were not forced to drink at the coffee shop but I would think twice as a smart consumer if I want to drink coffee there in Future.

Happy Events:

1. Had a good lunch with a good friend whom I met a couple of times every year. It is about the quality and not quantity of time that we meet each other.
2. Had a good briefing on Rat Race preparation. Looking forward to next Tuesday.
3. Found and read some very good market activities related research reports from HKEX. Well done to their research team and hopefully we will have a research team to be able to produce the similar types of report.

Not so happy events:

1. One manco and one manager left the company today. All the best to them. Not sure what is not so right or just that they have better choices. These few months had many farewell lunches...new blood is good....old birds are also needed...where is the balance...

Pleasure and Pressure

Day 134 - 866 days to go

Ever wonder or realize that sometimes pleasure and pressure are the same feeling or experience for different people? For instance, to many, public speaking is pressure but to some others, it is pleasure. It is not the same as "beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder" as it refers to a personal preference. However, somehow they share the similar results i.e. for the same thing, two persons view or feel it differently.

Some people will change their intonation when they are under pressure while other change when they are excited. The only similarity is that their hearts pump very hard for both scenarios. Of course, other parts of their body may show changes too such as their face, neck, body skin and so on. For non physical changes include the ability to talk, think, response and behave normally. With the observation, regulators around the world such as FBI has been using all kinds of detectors and readers to identify if a suspect is telling the truth. It is part of NLP - neuro linguistic programming.

Happy events:

1. Time passed very fast and but fond memory will stay forever such as the experience of a bow of delicious Assam Laksa.
2. Blessing in disguise - heavy rain and hence not able to run outside the office building but had a good one in the building.
3. Getting more prepared for rat race and had a suggestion to increase Terry Fox run T shirts selling price and supported by committee members.

Hari Raya Open House

Day 133 - 867 days to go

For companies, festival Open House is a good event to show appreciation to customers and also a good venue for relationship building among participants. Participants may meet their long lost friends as well.

To the country, it will boost economy growth by encourage spending on the whole event which include transportation by participants. It can also promote harmony and unity among people of different races.

Happy Events:

1. Able to provide further clarification to the SC in order to enhance the chance of approval when the Index Options paper is submitted later.


2. Met my ex colleague for the first time in the last 5 years.


3. Got to know a few new friends from the open house.

Mid Autumn or Moon Cake Festival

Day 132 - 868 days to go

Tomorrow is Moon Cake Festival for Chinese around the world but many families celebrated it today as today is Sunday i.e. a rest day. There have two extreme development for this festival. The positive side is that the varieties of moon cake and lantern have been increasing over the year. The year the most popular type of lantern should be the popular Angry Bird. I doubt Apple earns any copyright fee from it at all. For moon cake, one of the most popular flavors is Durian flavor in Malaysia and Singapore. The very authentic and most one is still the single yoke lotus paste moon cake.

In Malaysia, it is learnt that restaurants will be able to cover the whole year operating cost from two festivals i.e. the Chinese New Year and the Moon Cake festival. On top of more business during these two periods, the actual determining source of income is the high-margin and high volume Yee San (raw fish) and moon cake sold during these two periods. Therefore, they try their best to make the most during these two periods so that they will be making money for the whole year, and otherwise.

Happy Events:

1. Had my second facial in my life after a 5-year break. Felt good and refreshing but not able to sleep during the facial service though.
2. Had a good moon cake festival dinner with family.
3. Finally passed my various insurance policies to a friend who yet to sell me any policy, for overall review of my various types of policies coverage. Time to do a health check of my insurance coverage.

Property Investment - Split the Unsplitable

Day 131 - 869 days to go

This afternoon I attended a briefing on property investment on how to split one unit of 1765 square foot condominium into two units. The reason is to be able to rent it out faster and easier coupled with higher combined rental income.

This is a very interesting way to do it as one unit becomes two units with all independent water bill, electricity bill and so on. Normally a unit of house or condo can be rented out to many tenants in terms of room but this is in terms of two independent condo.

Happy Events:

1. Learn the above property investment tip which is never shared in book.
2. Ran the best ever training time in the morning thanks to my two team members who set very good pace for me to catch up.
3. Had a good but relatively expensive dinner at PappaRich. Maybe I did not fully understand their value as I found that foods offered are similar to WhiteCoffee, Oldtown and other similar restaurants but are much more expensive.

Day 130 - Smurfs

Day 130 - 870 days to go

Normally I don't watch animation movie, maybe similar to many other adults who think animation movie is for kids only. This is despite the fact that I know Finding Nemo, Ants and many other animation movie were very popular and considered good movie for kids and family. A lot of good value can be learned from this type of movie.

For Smurfs, I saw more than educational value. I think it will bring in great commercial value to the owner of the copyright as many other derivatives products can be produced from the theme Smurfs such as DVD, cartoon, toys, comics, theme park and so on.

Happy Events:

1. Enjoyed a great movie with family.
2. Had a good training in the afternoon.
3. Almost completed the distribution of shoes and socks to Rat Race runners.
4. Found many good websites and articles that will enhance the quality of my works.

Hutong at Lot 10 Shopping Mall

Day 129 -871 days to freedom

Lot 10 Hutong is a gourmet heritage village that offers 26 of the country’s best eateries or local food that have survived a few generations. Each is hand-picked and distinguished by its favourite signature dish. My favorite includes Hor Weng Kei Wanton Mee and Kum Leen Kei Fukien Mee, among others.

Regardless what is the main intention of bringing all these famous and popular local foods to Lot 10, I think it is a great idea to promote the foods and Lot 10 at the same time. Frankly, if not because of Hutong, I hardly go to Lot 10 as it is not a big shopping mall that will attract anyone to go there purposely. Normally it is the anchor tenant - Isetan, that will attract the crowd to do shopping there during sales period. With Hutong, there is another reason to be there from time to time. Thanks to Apple products especially the Ipad2, I went to the Machines which is the largest Apple Premium Re-seller in Malaysia.

Happy Events:

1. Had my favorite wanton mee at Lot 10.
2. Finally completed my Rat Race shoes arrangement and everyone is happy about the New balance running shoes.
3. Had a very good run training with the best two runners in Bursa.

Bursa Rat Race 2011

Day 128 - 872 days to go

We had the 5th meeting today. happy to know that we are just RM113,000 short of last year target. Look very positive to erase last year's record of more than RM1.7 million with another two weeks to go. In other words, each of the 20 beneficiaries will get more than RM85,000.

With a new CEO, we are instructed to make it different from previous year despite the fact that we have been improving it year after year and the fund raised has also been increase since year one. This year will add some carnival-like activities to make it a more fun event besides a more fund event.

Happy Events:

1. Did rat race training during lunch time and also after work. Felt a bit tired but fulfilled. will continue for the next two weeks until Rat Race Day on 20 September.
2. Obtained some useful information from the internet on market making for derivatives contract from overseas exchanges.
3. Reach home by 9pm....happy event??? yes...

New Balance Shoes

Day 127 - 873 days to go

I always like New balance shoes for running. It is light and good looking but the most important factor is the width. Not all brands provide 2E to 4 E width for running shoes in the market. For certain people like me, size D is just not comfortable.

However, New Balance is famous or popular only among running community. Nike, Reebok and Adidas are more well known as they spent lots of money in advertisement and publicity in major sports such as basketball, football, golf and so on that have much more participation of people. Is NB doing the wrong thing or focus? No really. Just different niche markets. Nevertheless, NB needs to at least protect it niche market from stolen away by other major brands.

Happy Events:

1. Most Rat race runners like the NB shoes provided by the company. For those who dpnt like it, they should be grateful to get free things.
2. Went for a run with the new pair of shoes and felt good.
3. Had a good birthday lunch with an ex colleague and now friend. Glad that she is in a new position to learn new function. It is a recognition to her ability and work performance. I wish her all the best.

Sushi King - A success story

Day 126 - 874 days to go

I started eating at SK more than 10 years ago and found that the restaurant or rather the company has been improving over time and as such they are getting better and better. Initially they are using cheap or low price to attract Japanese food lovers. Subsequently they added quite a number of choices to cater for a larger group of customers. They even moved their target market to a higher class customers who are willing to spend more.

Their success actually invited some other Japanese food restaurants to venture into the similar segment of the Japanese food industry despite the fact that they are targeting to higher end customers. Well, I would say Sushi King read or analyse the market well in terms of the selection of food, affordability of customers, and other business strategy.

I saw many similarity between AirAsia and Sushi King. They both started from cheaper pricing strategy in their respctive industry and slowing move up to a higher value. They studied the market well and keep on offering products that people want.

Happy Events:

1. Had a good lunch with mum and sister family at Sushi King. After the 10% discount, we still paid more than RM160 for 6 adults and 2 kids. Cheap? not quite but value for money is the key.
2. Went for second slimming session and not as painful as before that was created by the fat burning creme used.
3. Had a good chat with my friends on facebook. One of the best ways to communicate and build friendship.

Singapore Education Scholarship - Talents Recognition Strategy

Day 125 - 875 days to go

Singapore is a very successful country in a lot of areas which include talent management. The national university is recognised as good quality university based on global ranking. Not only the facilities and lecturers are of high quality, the students are also of high quality. It is a very effective and also interesting strategy to recruit the best ever students from the neibouring countries such as the ASEAN countries.

As such, Singapore has been offering ASEAN scholarship to high school students from the ASEAN countries. This is to ensure that they have continuous supply of very good quality students, in turn, PR or citizen. My high school friend who was the top student in the entire form (same level of study) studied in Singapore for university degree and settled down there after getting his degree. This year I learned that there is another high school scholarship offered by MGS Singapore.

Female students have to sit for GAT, English and Maths tests for the first round. After the first round, about 10% of the students will be selected for an interview on the following day. It was a recognition to be selected by the school to sit for the exam as only a few out of a few hundreds students will be recommended for the exam, i.e. around 1% chance.

Happy events:

1. My daughter is one of the few students selected by her school to sit of the MGS scholarship exam.
2. Finish reading Chai Lan second book this week.
3. Went for Rat Race training and knew that I still have room for improvement.
4. Finally bought my G2000 work clothes at 50% discounts after trying to buy for a few years. I always plan ahead for non critical activities and plans but will normally execute when time is right.
5. Have dinner with my uncle after so long. Will spend more time with him as I am his closest relatives after my dad passed away last year.

Business and Politics

Day 124 - 876 days to go

Went to Singapore for a meeting and realize some interesting fact about business. It is not about Singapore or Malaysia but it is about politics in general. Sometimes we wonder why certain things can be done and other cannot or certain things are done certain way but not others. If we know the background behind the development of the issue, we may realize that one of the reasons is because of politics. Things are done certain ways so that it is politically right. When we talk about politics, it may be at the country level or at a company level or even at an individual level.

Can we avoid political costs just like referring to regulatory compliance cost? Well, I would say is difficult. A country or a company is built on a group of individual and politics is about the similarity or difference between the philosophy or ideology of individuals. If there is no differences, the world will be at peace but businesses will be less vibrant as everyone will want to buy the same or similar things. Hence, there will be less innovation or creativity needed. Therefore, it is good to have differences in view and preference. However, we need to be mature when dealing with politics i.e. should not be emotional rather we should look at the big pictures and work towards a common goal or benefits. Compromise is the key and is key to success in a community.

Happy events:

1. Had a meeting with a derivatives dealer from India and learned that the development of derivatives activities have developed rapidly in many not-so-developed capital markets.
2. Foods industry is one of the most important and forever green industry in any country. Local people and foreign visitors must spend money on foods but not other things.
3. In order to be competitive, businesses and regulators in any countries must equip themselves with the latest development in other countries and the world is flat and will be more flat than we thought. We will either excel and survive or lag behind and die.

Copycat 101

Days 123 - 877 days to go

Sometimes I wonder why it is so difficult to be a copycat. It is very difficult to copy the success of others? I think it is yes and know. It ha little to do with IQ but EQ and other forms of Qs are more important.

Companies and countries can always apply the same strategies used by other companies or countries with the aim to achieve the same level of success. However, as long as the people behind the scene are not as good as the model organization, similar level of results are not expected to be produced. Hence, human resources actually determined the success or failure of an organization but not other types of resources. In fact, as long as you have a good team of personnel, a company or a country has a fairly good chance to perform even during very difficult time. In other words, it is useless or not a good excuse to blame on economy scenario, crisis, and other factors that result in the bad performance of an organization or a country.

Happy Events:

1. Had a delicious brunch with family members before they left for Kluang organic farm. heard the traffic was quite heavy.
2. Finish reading a very interesting book authored by a famous Hong Kong author - Chai Lan. He is a man with wisdom despite the fact that not many people can accept the way he provided recommendation in his books about the affair between two genders.