The world of my thoughts and ideas

In exam, u aim for an A. About solat, what's ur target? merely not to miss one?

2010-05-19T10:00:00.007+08:00

This post is about an idea i got in the process of updating my facebook status a few weeks ago. The idea was about this common advice in our society which goes, "belajar bersungguh2 ye, sembahyang jgn tinggal"(do ur best in study, don't miss a solat). it's a good advice, but not good enough. There's some degree of materialism in it.

Let me explain. What does it mean by 'doing ur best in study'? It could mean never to skip a class/lecture, doing ur assignments excellently and to be fully prepared for any quizzes/tests.

The 2nd part of the advice is where i found something wrong. U do ur best in study(to achieve worldly success), but about success in the hereafter, ur commitment about solat is only not to miss one?

This is really not right! Ideally, we should give 100% commitment in achieving success in this world n also in the hereafter. but above all, success in hereafter must come first. Example of an act resulting from being a 100% committed muslim is always trying to improve the quality of solat - maybe by trying to perform solat at the mosque as frequent as possible or by understanding what u recite in solat. The point is to constantly improving - even by 1% each day.

Many of my friends strive to improve their performance in exams. But r they improving their performance in practicing Islamic teachings? They wanna get more A's in exams but they only perform Subuh prayer if they r still awake to do it or they luckily get up a bit early. Why aren't they planning their time well so that they'll be sure that they r gonna be able to wake up early? This shows what their target is regarding solat. (i've been mentioning only about solat. there r many things other than that we can improve on)

This is what i think is missing in most of the self-improvement materials - because most of it come from the western world that doesn't really care about life in the hereafter. My last words, to be truly successful in this world, u must give 100% commitment to achieve it. So, for The Almighty God, for heaven - the ultimate success, do u intend to give any less than 100%?

Accepting harsh realities

2010-05-19T00:52:00.005+08:00

In the course of living this life until it's time to meet our Creator, we r bound to go thru hard times - the death of someone u love, letting go of someone u love just because u have to, facing a terrible failure, betrayed n so on. I want to share with u what i say to myself in hard times.

How do u treat someone u love? parents would do their best to provide the best for their children - healthy and delicious foods, cozy bed on which u can sleep sound, the best education they can afford, etc. And true lovers would do anything to see their partner happy( i don't have to give an example for this do i? coz i think u r more expert in this. =P)

U see? when u love someone, u'd do anything/everything u do is for his/her goodness. Now that's the love of human! How about God? He is The Almighty, The Most Loving! - if ur parents/partners love u, how much better do u think God loves u?

The connection is this, everything we r going thru in this life is in God's plan - He wants it to happen to us. So, would He allow anything bad to happen to us? Just like parents who provide the best for their kids, He surely allows only the best things to happen to us!

I told u that lovers would do anything to see their partners happy. Now if God loves us, why don't all the things that He puts us thru make us happy? Why does sometimes He put us thru grief n sorrow? Doesn't He wanna see us happy? Well, God certainly does! in fact He wants us to achieve the eternal ultimate happiness - the heaven.

There's a price to pay to succeed in this world. If u wanna be a self-made millionaire, u have to work hard, have a solid self-discipline n many more. U have to be 100% committed to be truly successful in this world n u also have to face some tests (eg, betrayal of a business partner or someone in ur company embezzle the company's fund.)

What does this has to do with the topic? ok so there's success in this world. How about success in the hereafter? To me, success in the hereafter is being able to stay in heaven. N just like the worldly success, u don't get to enter heaven for free - u have to pay the price. It may include: being a 100% committed Muslim(i'll write about this in the next post) n also passing God's tests excellently.

Can't u see? the reason why He put us thru grief n sorrow is that they are part of His tests which ultimately will lead us to heaven.

Finally, i want to state again the most important point of this post - everything we have gone/are going/will go thru in this life is in God's plan. And because He loves us very3 much, His plan must be the best for our goodness.

What is ur ideal job?

2010-05-16T02:30:00.010+08:00

This is a post about the ways of making sure that u r doing the right job for ur success - from what I've read or listened. This may not be so important now, but its importance grows as u get older in the pursuit of success.

Ask urself these questions:

1. If u get 1 million today, would u still be doing ur job tomorrow?

- If u ask Chef Wan this, would he stop cooking? I bet no because he really3 love cooking. But if u ask someone whose reason for working is merely to 'cari duit', this guy will definitely quit his job straightaway n do something else.

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2. What job would u still be doing even when u don't get paid a penny

- Did u know that Donald Trump has been on the brink of bankruptcy and in millions of debts? He was not only getting zero(not a penny), in fact it was negative!(less than zero). U see, because he loved what he did, he continued doing his job until he succeeded.

- Think of it this way : do u think singers only sing when someone is paying them? no! a true singer would sing anywhere n anytime - whether there's anyone listening or not. For example, they'd sing in the toilet, waiting for someone in the car alone, riding a motorcycle, and definitely on a stage. U see? a true singer not only sing when they get paid(on a stage), but also when no one's paying(anytime n anywhere else).

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3. What is something that u would u do if u were guaranteed to succeed?

- the question says it all. what is it?

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4. What job would u do if u only have 3 years left to live?

- same with this one. ask urself.

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* Ur ideal job should be smthg that doesn't make u think about retiring - how old do u think Sir Alex Ferguson (manager of Manchester United F.C) is? He's 68! The average people would've retired at least 8 years ago but he's not coz he really likes his job.

* Ur ideal job is something u do bcoz u choose to. Not bcoz u have to.

* Ur ideal job should make u feel that sometimes, when u r going to bed at night, u feel like u cant wait to wake up to do the job the next morning.

To finish, the answer may not come now. i myself haven't got the answer, but we have to keep asking ourselves these questions till we get the answer.

Melayu janganlah melayu

2009-12-07T20:57:00.016+08:00

[Please read this post till the last word to avoid any misunderstandings]

I remember in a public relation class the lecturer asked us to do a debate about whether or not we should allow the government's boarding school [sekolah berasrama penuh(SBP)] to be opened to non-Malay. The topic really had caught my attention to an extent that i almost lost control of my emotion. And the best part was, i can't express what i felt because it was a debate! - i had to wait for my turn! I was very very frustrated and in the end i was only able to express about 25% of my opinion. Man, i hate debates.

Okay, some of u may argue that it is important to be able to control the emotion - yeah, exactly what the debate taught me. Don’t get me wrong! I agree with that. 100%! But the reason that my emotion almost went out of control was that the things that i wasn't able to tell the class that day was the things that i thought was very very very important. And here I am, through the power of technology, presenting the remaining 75% of my thoughts and ideas that i wasn't able to present that day. =P

To begin, I would surely agree if the topic that was discussed in the class and the similar one regarding UiTM is implemented. The reason is, by doing that, we (the Malays) can improve our education level through competition. The Chinese’s education level is far better than us. If we stick to the same old stuff, how are we gonna get ahead? What’s the point of keeping UiTM as Malay right if its students study just to pass the exam? (Look, I’m just suggesting a way for us to improve our education level. If u can think of any other better way to do that, then you are most welcome to share it. The point is, we must improve our education level!)

“I fear they will conquer us little by little if we do that”. Well, that is unnecessary! We are afraid because they are educationally and economically better than us! If we are at the same level with them or above them, what do we have to worry about? Let me explain.

A piece of land was up for sale in my kampung. The owner was Malay and he wanted to sell the land only to Malay. That land ended up being sold to a Chinese because the Malay man the owner sold the land to was actually buying the land for a Chinese. Now, if the Malay man was a rich man, do u think he would’ve accepted the Chinese man’s offer? Definitely no! if the Malay man was at the same level with the Chinese(in terms of wealth), he wouldn’t have been so desperate to do such a despicable thing!

That illustrates the importance of improving our economical strength and I think it’s more important than education level. It is because even if there were 5 Malay university and only 1 Chinese university, if the majority of the Chinese student’s CGPA are above 3.5 and the average for the Malay students is 3.00, who’ll get the better jobs? It’s obvious! Moreover, the average Chinese students will still get good jobs because most of the employers in Malaysia are non-Malay – mostly Chinese.

So? We must improve our economy! Study entrepreneurial strategies and business tactics. When we are economically stronger, we are richer. And when we are richer, they can’t buy us!

We don’t have to worry about them conquering us. We should worry about our attitude instead! Our lack of commitment to excellence! No, the UiTM issue isn’t the problem and neither is the Chinese. The problem is us! We are not strong. And it would be the same for the centuries to come if we don't change our attitude. If we are strong, no one can bully us.

In what way should we change?

Dream big dreams! never settle for less. A Malay friend of mine told me that her friends (Malay) said that she was being materialistic when she told them she wanted to have her own nice car, a big house and so on in the future. Come on, that's no materialistic man.. That just mean that she set a high target for her achievement. If u talk to the Chinese about this, i bet there'll be no problem at all because high achievement is in their culture. To me, it’s not about being materialistic. It’s about being the best u can be. Ideally, everyone should be the best they can be.

A student should always set 4.00 as his target.
A restaurateur should always think about expanding his business. e.g. by opening more branches.
A songwriter should always try to make genuine music of the best quality.
A father should always try to understand his wife and kids better and his kids and wife should do the same to him in return.

If u think that I’m not being realistic, here’s an example: for my diploma, my targeted pointer for every semester is definitely 4.00. But 4.00 isn’t what I’m targeting. What I’m targeting is actually to get the best possible pointer! I was only able to be get on the dean’s list for the 1^st sem and I messed up for the rest – only able to maintain my pointer around 3.30. Now if I I didn’t set 4.00 as my target, my pointer could’ve been <3.

Finally, i never meant to portray the Chinese as crooks, greedy or anything. Anyone would be the same if he is in their place. I've met a good Chinese and a bad Chinese. i've met a nice Malay and also a crooked one. Okay, enough. Enough thinking about other people! Stop blaming anything for our own weaknesses! Think about how we can improve ourselves instead. Only we can change our own fate.

"You'll keep on getting what u've always got if u keep on doing what u've always done"

Success is not an accident

2009-08-21T04:14:00.014+08:00

We are living at the greatest time in all of human history. The number of people who are able to acquire great wealth in today’s world is far higher than what’s possible in the past. Statistics show that there are about 7 million millionaires in America and about 250 billionaires. The number is growing at 15% – 20% each year. We’ve never seen such a fast wealth creation in all of human history.

Here’s the good news, virtually everyone starts with nothing. Most of the millionaires are self-made. This fact is backed by a research done by Brian Tracy (He is a motivator who has done research and interviews with thousands of self-made millionaires). Self-made means they all started with nothing – zero!

That means that anyone can do it! You can do it! Why? Because they’ve done it! They’ve proved that you can become a millionaire starting with nothing.

But how can you be like them? Another main purpose of this post is to tell you this – if you think the same way and do the same things as the successful people do, you will become one of them. Success is not an accident! It is the result of doing certain specific things. The equation is simple:-

1. Think what the successful poeple think.

2. Do what the successful people do.

Zero -------------------------------------------> Success

My third point is this, read self-improvement books. The golden rule of life is this – your life only gets better when you get better. So you must read to improve yourself! Don’t just read those romantic, fantasy, love novels. I tell you what, even the already successful people still read self-improvement books regularly. So who are we not to read them? Most importantly, you must read such books to understand the 2 points at the center of the previous equation.

To finish, I want to tell you that I used millionaire just as an easy example of success. It doesn’t mean that you must be a millionaire to be successful. No, that’s wrong! There are many middle-income people who are much happier and living a more meaningful life than the rich people. Remember, money is never good or bad, it’s just a tool. It can be either good or bad. It can be donated to charity fund and it can also be used to bribe a politician to betray his party. My last words - embrace it! success is not an accident. it's the result of your thoughts and actions.

Choices

2009-05-18T20:17:00.003+08:00

When someone said to me, "man i think ur income will be higher than than mine. What a shame". Then i responded, "hey come on, that's ur choice! Whatever income u get now is because of the job u chose".

Think about it. If his income is lower than mine, he can quit the job to find a higher-paying job - choose higher paying job. "But based on my academic qualification, this is the most i can get!", he might argue. Hahaha. Well, did the late founder of Genting Group go to school? The answer's no!

Now let's look at it in smaller perspective. As usual, about
examination. The choices of preparation:-
a) Fooling around and playing games till tommorow's the exam
b) Begin revising and doing past year questions a month earlier
Which one would u choose? I don't have to tell u which one will lead to a better future right?

The principle is, u choose ur future. U can choose to be rich and u can choose to be poor. Did anyone tell u to be poor? Did anyone order u not to be rich? Maybe this principle doesn't apply to a family with a disabled breadwinner, but i can see that in most cases, people don't choose a better future because of excuses!!!! Remember, rich people make money, not excuses.

To finish, if u r not happy with what u r getting or something that's happening to u, why don't u check the choices u have made and choose something better. Choose a better fufure! =)

Insanity

2008-11-14T07:30:00.004+08:00

I just don’t get it why some people do the same thing but expect to get a different result. When the exam’s just around the corner, some of my friends do nothing to make sure that they are well prepared for it. Then, when the results are out, they complain, “why are my results so bad?!..” And then comes the next exam, still, they do the same and get frustrated over their poor results – “aw.. my results are terrible..”

Hahaha that’s crazy!! They complain about something that they were certain that they’ll get! If the input (effort) is not good, the output (result) is surely the same - if u don’t prepare for the exam, terrible results are what u’ll get – it’s that simple! What they do is like expecting to make a Ferrari out of scrap metals. Um yeah! I remember someone defines insanity as this, “continuing the same behavior and expecting a different result.”

U have to do different things to get different results. In this case, my friends have to do extra preparations (do different thing) in order to get better grades in the exam (get different result). The same applies in anything else:-

U have to plan ur spending or else u’ll go broke every end of the month.
U have to eat less and do exercise in order to get slimmer.
U have to stop coming late to work or else ur boss will keep on scolding u every day.
U have to practice harder or else ur skills of playing the piano won’t improve.

I learnt something related through Jack Canfield’s Success Principles which is, “Event + Response = Outcome”. Whatever it is that u r getting is the result of ur responses to the past events. For example, event: [u smoke] + response: [u never try to quit] = outcome: [u get a lung cancer]. This can happen instead – event: [u r a smoker] + response: [U realize it’s harmful to ur body, u quit] = outcome: [u don’t get a lung cancer].

What I want u to realize is that, again, whatever it is that u r getting is the result of what u were doing in the past! U r responsible for anything that’s happening in ur life. So, stop complaining!

Don’t complain if ur exam results are bad – u didn’t prepare.
Don’t complain if u r broke – u didn’t plan ur spending.
Don’t complain if u r overweight – u don’t eat less and exercise.
Don’t complain if ur boss is yelling at u – u never try to come early.
Don’t complain if ur skills of playing the piano is not improving – u don’t practice.

To finish, I want u to look at this again:-

[ Input = Event + Response ]
[ Output = Outcome ]
[ Event + Response = Outcome ]

Read this article again, think about that equation very deeply and u’ll see everything clearly.

Key points
1. If the input (effort) is not good, the output (result) is surely the same.
2. U have to do different things to get different results.
3. WHAT YOU ARE GETTING IS THE RESULT OF YOUR ACTIONS IN THE PAST.

A question that shouldn't be answered

2008-09-27T22:21:00.001+08:00

Here it goes - Why do we live but not to be successful? Why do we? Well, as i said, that shouldn't be answered. Because if u do, that means u r making an excuse. Rich people never make excuses, they make solutions - as Dr Fadzilah Kamsah put it, "they make money, not excuses".

I know we all like to have a good time n enjoy. U know, - karaoke, computers, comics, futsal, playing music, concerts, gigs n so on. U know what, the Chinese do these things too! But they do it after hard work. They work all out, n then play all out!

I tell u what, u really should try it! - work all out, then play all out!!! The enjoyment u'll get after working hard is far better than the one u get after u've done nothing - u know, the common Malay problem - what they do is just enjoy, enjoy n enjoy. And even if they do something, they do it just to make it through(eg, study just to pass the exam).

What's the point of living if we don't be successful? Just to eat? sleep? date? play? pass the exam? God has given us the brain right? So i think we're wasting God's gift if we don't use it to the fullest.

C'mon.. my friends(particularly Malay friends), let us all strive for excellence. Do ur best in study, business, sports or in any other area. Be the best u can be. Don't waste the God-given brain's potential. Or else we will be left behind by other races.
And maybe the saying - "takkan Melayu hilang di dunia" - will still be true, but it's meaningless if the 'Melayu' that will remain is a weak race. Agree?

Lastly, I really hope that the Malays will learn to be good in doing business in order to regain control of the economy. There's little point in defending UiTM as a Malay right if we don't control the economy. Because those who control the economy controls the country.

"Be the best you can be"
"Work all out, play all out"
"You work hard, u get what a hardworker gets"

"I love u"? or is it, "I love your pretty face"?

2008-09-27T22:18:00.002+08:00

-People always go, "hey, that guy's really cute!!" or "that girl's so hot!!"
-Well, i've been thinking, "Is love all about good looks?".
-Do you fall in love with someone's face/look? or heart?
-haha.. i dont know.. do u?
-Maybe both r possible. but i think when u fall in love with someone because of his/her heart, the relationship will last longer. don't u think?
-um, hey even if u fall in love with someone's face, u can still get to know him/her deeper right? yeah.. that's not too bad..
-hmm ok. enough 4 now. i think my message would be - don't fall in love with anyone solely because of his/her look.
-yeah3.. enough of this crap.

Believe me

2008-09-27T20:07:00.002+08:00

> i just dont get it.
> why don't people appreciate relationship?
> having 2 bf/gf at the same time?!
> what the **** is this?!
> to the players out there, i know i may sound naive or boring.
> but u know what? u never really appreciate anything till it's gone.
> U NEVER REALLY APPRECIATE ANYTHING UNTIL IT'S NO LONGER THERE FOR U TO APPRECIATE IT.
> u better believe me.
> because i believe u dont wanna live in regret.

Muse - a crappy version of Radiohead?

2008-06-24T12:32:00.004+08:00

“Muse is a crappy version of Radiohead”
“Radiohead is a million times better than Muse”

Haha. Such statements r quite funny. Ok, the question that I’ll ask is, “To whom?” To me, Muse not only isn’t a crappy version of Radiohead, in some aspects, Muse IS better (in my humble opinion). But obviously, for the person who’s made the statement, Radiohead IS better (or as he said, million times better) =P.

Now, that’s it! It’s all up to the individual preference! What u like might not be liked by others. For instance, I like rock but I’m not really into r&b n hiphop. However, there r million others who love r&b n hiphop. U see? To mock or curse certain kind of music just because u don’t like it is so childish n absurd.

Both bands are great. If u don’t listen to either one, u r missing out on a superb music. N if u don’t like these 2 bands at all, don’t listen to them! Listen to what u can enjoy. That’s totally fine. There’s no need to say, “Music like Muse n Radiohead is shit”. Because the bottom line is, music is meant to be enjoyed, and not to be discussed whatsoever. So, just shut up n enjoy the music.

Is this how the freedom of media of a democratic nation should be?

2008-06-24T12:20:00.005+08:00

Full of one-sidedness. That's the word i use to describe the current state of media's freedom in Malaysia.

Do u realize how terrible the situation is? U know Harakah? The opposition's newspaper(PAS's)? It is only allowed to be published only once every two weeks! Worse, these words - "Untuk Ahli PAS Sahaja" - must be printed on it's frontpage. God..

How bout the government's? Their publication? - daily! N there's no restriction on who can read it - "Untuk Ahli **** Sahaja"?

Now, how bout the tv n radio? To a opposition's supporter like me, they're obviously biased as well. The proof is the existence of PAS.tv on the internet. Supposedly, it shouldn't exist if the govt allows the opposition to share to use their platform(the media).

Enough. Ideally, there shouldn't be neither the government's nor the opposition's tv, etc. There should be only neutral media which is free from both the govt's n the opposition's influence, agree?

The tv, radio n the newspaper - all conquered by the government. Hmm, you call this democratic?

About the Terengganu's Royalty Thing

2008-06-24T12:02:00.008+08:00

(Malas nak speaking=P)

Jadi, kerajaan nak kembalikan royalti kpd Terengganu.. ok.. wah.. baik nye kerajaan..

Baik la sngt. korg tau x? royalti ni dah memang hak org terenggganu. ni ha baru nak bagi balik? maknenye kerajaan dah ambik hak org2 Terengganu sejak sekian lame ni.

Fikir2kanlah..

[I'm not saying that the govt is totally evil or something - even some of the opposition's supporter work with them. It's just the leaders of theirs that I'm not satisfied with]

Of the oil price hike and the freedom of media

2008-06-19T18:48:00.008+08:00

Oil price increase? Well, this is a pretty sensitive topic, isn’t it? And perhaps, i think, it's the topic of the month. Everywhere i go, i can hear people talking about it; discussing whether the action taken by our government was acceptable or not. Some might say it's ok while some might as well disagree totally.

Now I’m not gonna write about my stand regarding this topic, instead, i'd like to suggest u guys something. Do u read newspaper? haha the answer's definitely a yes right? Ok, but what kind of newspaper do u read? Is it just the mainstream ones like Utusan Malaysia or Berita Harian? If ur answer is another yes, chances r u may be viewing the things happening in Malaysia in just one point of view. Here's why - do u realize that the freedom of the media in Malaysia is very low? Most of the mainstream ones r not neutral - they're pro-government.

Media must be neutral. It mustn’t be on anyone's side - whether it is the government or the opposition. Media is only supposed to be the platform on which the both sides r gonna provide info to the Malaysian citizen. But what’s happening in our country is that the media is conquered by the government. Even though they do publish some stories bout the opposition, they’re very minimum n often biased. That is so unjust.

Sometimes I got fed up with this. I even felt like giving up reading the mainstream newspapers. Man.. why? U ask? Because almost every time I read them, I’ll feel like setting the papers ablaze – caused by their biased news. But can I do that? Can I stop reading them? No! I’ve no choice! If I don’t read them, how can get the non-politic news such as sports news or car accidents? The opposition’s papers can’t provide this because their organizations r small compared to those of the government’s.

My suggestion is, in order to get a broad view of the current issues, why don’t u read the newspapers from the both sides? Since the mainstream ones like Utusan or Berita Harian are controlled by the government, it’s not wrong to say that they’re the government’s newspapers right? I read Utusan/BeritaHarian(government’s) as well as Harakah/SuaraKeadilan(opposition’s). That means I’m getting a broad, non-biased view of the issues. Not just from one side.

So what I wanna tell about media’s freedom n the oil price hike issue is regarding the report on the issue that I read from both the govt’s n the opposition’s newspaper. U know what? They r very different from each other! Of course they don’t just report for nothing - they have their own arguments. But which one do u trust? Well, it’s totally up to u. What’s important is that u won’t become the victim of the one-sidedness of the media.

Finally, i’ve only been talking about newspaper right? How about the t.v n the radio? They r all controlled by the govt too – the public n private alike. Isn’t this some kind of tyranny? Is this how a democratic nation should be? I really hope that someone will do something about this. And I really think that it’s us – the rakyat – who’ll have to do that.

There was a billionaire who never went to school

2008-06-19T18:46:00.005+08:00

Last nite, I bumped into a friend of my dad and he asked where was i studying.

"Um.. uitm. Jengka. I’m doing my diploma. In business", I answered.

"Oh.. I see. ok then", He said in a rather strange way.

From the way he answered, i mean his tone, i knew that he was looking down on me. Anyway I smiled, and walked away.

I think these are the reasons why he looked down on me:

1) I'm studying at UiTM while his daughter is studying at USM.

2) I'm doing diploma while his daughter is doing her degree after finished her matriculation program.

3) I'm taking business study while his daughter is taking biotechnology.

Well, did i feel inferior? haha not at all! because after reading stories about millionaires/billionaires/successful people, it’s very surprising that some of them never went to school! One good example is the late Tan Sri Loh Boon Siew – the man who’s brought Honda motorcycles to Malaysia. This billionaire(billion man.. not million!) never had any formal education!(meaning, never went to school!)

Now back to the story, such incident happens because of this – mindset. The one that this man has is very common, and in fact, very very common - “Go to school, study hard, get a good result, and find a high-paying job. Then ur future is bright”, I guess, in fact, most of u still have that kind of mindset right?

Actually, the purpose of writing this is that I want u to change ur mindset. You don’t necessarily have to work for anyone to be successful. Instead, you can be self-employed or be a businessman/woman. And more importantly, you don’t necessarily have to have a degree for ur future to be bright.

Success really has nothing to with ur educational level. Whether it is SPM, diploma, degree, master or even nothing at all(like Mr. Boon Siew), what determines ur success is u! Most importantly, that thing between ur ears – ur mind. Why? Again, what u set in ur mind (mindset) is essential . Think about this: some people have this planted in their minds – “I only have SPM, there’s no way I can be rich” and such. So, the result is, they’ll never be rich! Because they’ve set in their heads that they can’t! Such mindset is called the “limiting belief”.

Even if u r a disabled or physically handicapped person, that’s not an excuse to be unsuccessful. If u read Zig Ziglar’s book entitled Steps To The Top, u’ll find a lot of successful people with handicap or disabilities. So get rid of ur limiting beliefs and replace them with this, “Success is just a matter of decision. If I’m not successful, that means I haven’t decided”.

What is unit trust?

2008-06-19T18:42:00.008+08:00

Unit trust is a great investment tool. It works like this: Firstly, all the money from the investor will be pooled. Then, the fund manager will invest that money for you. Well, that’s the most basic thing.

Now I’ll explain more about it. The fund is managed by professionals – the only thing they do is to find the best place to invest in. And because they are well educated and well experienced, they are very good at it. Next, the fund is invested in a diversified portfolio. Which means the money will be put in a variety of sectors such as properties, consumer products, plantation, and so on.

These are some of the reasons why people invest in unit trust:

1) Minimized risk – because the money is put in a variety of sectors, the risk is minimized and managed.

2) Professional management – like I said earlier, the money will be invested by pros.

3) Diversification – you might need a really big amount of money to invest in such a diversified portfolio if you want to do it yourself.

4) Affordable – Unlike any other investment tool, you can begin investing in unit trust with just RM500.

5) Liquidity – You can always get your money back because if you wanna sell your unit back, the management must buy it. You need not to worry because that’s the rule and the longest the process could take is just a few days.

Now there might be some other reasons but I think those I listed are the popular ones. And I think they’re convincing enough to make you invest some of your money in unit trust, aren’t they? Anyway, any question is always welcome.

Wanna be like Bill Gates? Pay the price then

2008-06-19T18:42:00.007+08:00

Lately I realized that it’s pretty simple – whatever it is that you want, if you’re willing to pay the price, you’ll get it. Yeah! Doesn’t that make a good sense? Okay, I’ll explain.

Well, coming back to Bill Gates. If you wanna be as big as him, you must be as courageous. Do you think you can take the risk of dropping out from university just to work on something – his software business - that its future was still uncertain? He took the risk and then faced another problem – His parents. Of course his parents went mad, and moreover, he was studying at either Harvard or Oxford man! (Hey! How could I’ve forgotten!?) And I’m sure any other parents would’ve gone mad too. Then he managed to make it through and the rest is history.

Now you might say that he’s just a very lucky person to be so wealthy. Oh come on, that’s a very short-term, thinking. He must’ve worked really hard! Would you be lucky if you just lay your butt on the couch sipping coffee latte? But hey! Maybe a good-looking dude will knock on your door and tell you, “Congratulations sir, your house is picked for our lucky draw for today. Just scratch here and you’ll win some cool prizes” Now, that’s very ‘lucky’.

Look, even to buy a lottery ticket will need you to go out and get to the nearby shop, right? My point is that I think if there’s no effort, there’ll probably be no luck. And the bigger the effort, the luckier you’ll be. Again, back to Bill Gates. I think to take the first major step he took which was to drop out from university is difficult enough for most of us. Imagine, can you afford to stop studying and do something else? You are in one of the top universities in the world. How would your parents react? Will you be able to handle it? That’s the price he had to pay. And remember, that’s just one of his initial steps.

How about being a famous singer? Having to avoid cold drinks, there’s nowhere you can go without people chasing after your signature, having to memorize about a hundred of lyrics and most importantly, it’s very likely that you’ll get bored because you’ll sing the same songs over and over again. That means you have to put your heart into it. Well, that’s the price you’ll have to pay to become one. You think it’s easy?

In any field, the more successful you become, the more responsibility you’ll have to shoulder. But that shouldn’t let you down. When you know that it’ll make you fit and healthy, would you stop exercising? When you know that you it’ll make your future brighter, would you stop striving for first-class upper? There’s always a price to pay and if you really want it, then pay! Finally, work harder, so that you’ll be luckier and don’t consider yourself unlucky if all you do is waiting to be lucky.

I love him

2008-06-19T18:41:00.003+08:00

“Him?” “Who? Man, you can’t be serious.” I hear you ask. Well, easy. It’s just the man on my I.C. It’s me! Haha. Yeah, I ain’t kidding. Okay, okay, let’s get things straight. Let’s love ourselves first before we love someone else. Because if you don’t, who else will? “But sir, my girl loves me. Don’t you baby?” Someone from the back speaks holding his girlfriend in his arms and was looking into her eyes. Okay, that’s true. But do you think their relationship is gonna last? With the fact that a lot of marriage end up with a divorce in this modern age, the answer is very likely to be a no.

“How about my parents?” I hear another voice. “They love me so much.”, He added. (What an understatement!, I think.) Okay, good point. Now, that’s what I’m about to say. Yeah, it’s true that your mom and dad love you. But what if they pass away? What if they leave you? There’ll be an end for that right? Well, my point is, if you love yourself, you’ll do even until a sun-sized comet hit the earth. (Hope you get what I mean)

But how do you love yourself? I think to make it short, never do anything unbeneficial. Always ask yourself, “Am I doing something that’s helping me reach my goals?” Always think long-term. Like me, I love Shauki. (Haha. That’s kinda weird isn’t it?) That’s why I always remind him, “Cigarette? No pal. Think about your rotting lung when the smoke passes through”, “Buddy, you haven’t been jogging for a while, let’s go out and get some fresh air” and about anything else. (For me, it’s never too early too stay fit and healthy. I think the earlier I start, the longer I can live.)

Well, of course it’s not easy. Sometimes I forget and sometimes I ‘deliberately forget’ about my own self. But I’ll always improve and try my best to love myself. (I think I’m still very bad at it) There’s still plenty of room for improvement. Lastly, my advice is, love yourself first in order to be loved by others – not excluding your boyfriend or girlfriend.

Failure anyone?

2008-06-19T18:37:00.003+08:00

Hey here! Me! I want one! Haha. Well, that’s kinda strange isn’t it? But I mean it. Why? I’m sure that’s what you are having in mind. Okay, the reason is easy. If I don’t fail, hey! That means I’m not doing anything. How can anyone fail by lazing around the house and watching TV 24/7? (Meaning 24 hours a day and 7 days a week) or perhaps sleeping throughout the year? So it’s perfectly fine to fail. It means you’re taking action. Just make sure that you learn something from it and move on!

I’ll share with you my failure in the matriculation program. For the second semester, the pointer that I got was zero! At first I couldn’t believe it! “Zero?! God, this can’t be! This must be a typing error”, That’s what I thought. But when I think again about it, haha, nothing was wrong with my result, absolutely. Because I made it happen. That’s the result of my own action. (Hmm.. I guess, zero being the pointer; you can easily guess what I was doing in those times can’t you?) I think I wasn’t really studying at all. Haha. So there was no typing error. The error was in me. My final pointer was below 1.5 – I was entitled for a “gagal dan keluar” - Which means I can’t even repeat – I dropped out. But it’s funny that I dropped out after I had already finished the program. Lol.

It wasn’t easy actually. I had to pay the price – The seemingly never-ending lectures from my dad, the shame when people asked “What’s your pointer buddy?” and much more. To add to the situation that had almost made me go mad, I realized that my file full of my certificates was lost. Can you imagine the situation!? My SPM, PMR and most of other certificates was lost! My dad was so damn angry. He said, “What’s wrong with you huh? How could you lose such an important file!? You’re such a useless!” At this time I felt like dying. And I even felt like running away from home.

So the lessons that I learnt was, most importantly, I must plan my future. Well, I didn’t. I just went with the flow. Secondly, it’s pointless in questioning the unfavorable situation a failure brings. Instead, I should ask myself, what was I doing to make this happen? And how can I avoid doing the same thing again? Thirdly, don’t do what you don’t really love to do. Maybe I still love to learn, but not science. I realized that I didn’t belong there. I should’ve been doing something else somewhere else. And last but certainly not least, never be careless with important documents such as PMR and SPM certificates. Haha! You never ever want it to happen - I mean to lose such documents like I did. Believe me, or else you’ll go crazy to experience it.

To me, the bigger the failure, the bigger the lesson it has. My matric failure was pretty big that it gave me a slap in the face. I think thus far, it’s the biggest. Maybe I made it through UPSR, PMR and SPM quite well just by going with the flow. But my matric failure had shouted, “Wake up pal! You can’t just go with the flow! You must plan your coming days! Or my other miserable “failure friends” will come to you. It’s ok to fail only if you’ve planned everything”. Well, I’m glad to get this awakening at an early period of my life because I know there are many grown-up men out there who are still going with the flow. I really hope that you’ll not be one of them. Lastly, failure is just your path to succeed. So never run away from it.

The Power Of Compound Interest

2008-06-19T18:36:00.002+08:00

Yes, it is one of the best reasons to start saving. But what is it actually? Well, look at this table:

Age

Ali’s Contribution

Abu’s Contribution

1,000

Nothing

Nothing further

2,000

Total

10,000

50,000

Return at 12% Average Per Year

334,129

298,668

Profit

33 Times

5 Times

Can’t you see it? Okay, let me explain. Firstly, look at Ali. He started saving 1,000 a year at the age of 21 and continued to do so until he is 30 – that’s 10 years. Meanwhile, Abu had contributed nothing to his saving until he is 30.

After 30, Ali stopped while Abu began to save 2,000 a year until he’s 55. Total money saved by Ali was 10,000 and 50,000 for Abu. Now look at the return they’d got. Ali had got 334,129 Abu had got 298,668. Hey isn’t that amazing!? Consider these: 1) total contributions by Ali were only 10,000 while it was 50,000 for Abu. That’s 5 times bigger man! 2) Yearly contribution by Ali was 1,000 while it was 2,000 for Abu – Abu saved twice as much. 3) Ali had saved for only ten years while Abu had saved for 25 years! Still, Ali’s return was about 30,000 more than Abu’s. Now imagine, what’d happen if Abu had saved from 21?

Next, look at the profit they’d gained. 33 to 5! God, I don’t know what’s wrong if this still doesn’t bring you into realization. Abu had lost so much money for waiting till he was 30 to start saving. You’re not a loser, are you? The same will happen to you if you don’t start saving now!

Wealth begins with this

2008-06-19T18:35:00.003+08:00

Okay, so you really want to know what it is, don’t you? It may not be as exciting as you might think. Well, here we go- start saving. That’s it. You might cry, “That can’t be it!” But, it undoubtedly is. Come on, accept the fact that in reality, not many of us can do it. (I think that’s why most of us are not wealthy.) Maybe some of you do save that extra money left at the end of the month. But that’s not enough. In fact, it’s very likely that you’ll spend all the money and end up with a few ringgits left at the end of the month. Don’t deny this folks. Most of you don’t have a good money habit. Face it.

Saving is simply too essential. Even if your monthly income is RM30,000, if you spend it all, isn’t it the same with someone else with RM1,000 income but spends it all as well? See? That also means that you’ll never be rich. Someone who earns RM1,000 a month and sets aside RM100 for saving might be richer than you at the end of the month. So, my point is, learn to save. When is the perfect time? Now! I think to tell you why and convince you, read my next post entitled The Magic of Compound Interest. (I suggest that you also read Azizi Ali’s books to get started)

I haven’t mentioned anything about debt right? Okay, this will just make matters worse. If you’ve spent all your money, that’s still fine. But if paying debts wasn’t included in your spending, all hell will break lose then. You’ll feel like this world isn’t safe anymore. You want that to happen? So, do your best to avoid debts. A good point to ponder is that if you don’t settle all your debts before the grave give you a call, forget about going to heaven. You’ll never make it, unless someone who’s still on earth pays it for you.

Well, after you’ve develop this habit of saving then only you can think of becoming wealthy because it’s the very fundamental thing. Lastly, from my reading I can say that what makes the rich become richer is that other than saving, they manage their money well and know how to make their money grow. And most importantly, they have this thing called millionaire or billionaire mind- a distinctive mindset that the rich have but the poor and middle-class don’t. So start saving now, find a way to learn about these three things and you might become rich one day. Who knows?

God! Tomorrow's my birthday!

2008-06-19T18:34:00.002+08:00

Hmm..? Birthday should be a great thing right? But the real sentence is- God! Tomorrow is already my 56^th birthday; I’ll retire in 3 days! (Official retirement age in Malaysia is 56) But I haven’t save a single penny for my retirement. “Wait! I have money in my EPF* account. In fact, about 20% of my monthly income went there. The money should be big enough for my retirement”, you might think. That may be true, but only for 10% of you folks. The reality is that most of you don’t have enough for your “golden years”. About 90% of the EPF accountholders have less than RM60,000 in their account.

My friend, that amount of money isn’t enough. Okay, let’s say you’ll spend RM2000 a month in your retirement years. Saying that you’ll live on for 15 years, you’ll need RM360,000 .( I don’t know if this isn’t big enough to scare the shit out of you) That’s purely for normal living expenses. But you said that it’s a “golden years” remember? That would mean to go wherever you want, eat whatever you feel like, basically do whatever you want. And for Muslims, you might as well want to do some charity work. With that amount of money, do you think it’s enough for all that? Well, that’s not taking into account your deteriorating health in those years and other things that are unexpected and unwanted such as car accident. Now you can see that it’s not enough right? So what to do now? Start saving. That’s the first fundamental step. It’s never too early to do that. I’ll write more about saving in my next post.

Oh one more thing, I wrote that you’re going to live about 15 years more after retire, which means that you’re going to pass away at around 72. But do you expect to live on for just 15 years? No right? What if you live beyond 72? You’re welcoming a disaster then. My suggestion is that you read a book entitled Retire Rich by Azizi Ali. It’s a comprehensive guide on retirement- particularly in Malaysia. Not many books in available on the market focus on retirement in Malaysia. Lastly, it’s a 90% chance that you too is one of the EPF accountholders who have less than RM60,000, so better start to think about it seriously now and anyway, start saving!

* EPF stands for Employees’ Provident Fund which it’s compulsory for every worker in Malaysia to set aside an amount of money from his income to be put in it.

Do what you love to do

2008-06-19T18:33:00.002+08:00

Wanna be happy? Do what you love to do. I’m a strong believer in doing what you love to do to lead a happy and meaningful life. Let me explain. Do you have something that you really like to do that you’d still do it even though you don’t get paid a cent? For example, me. I like to sing (fortunately, they say that my voice is not bad. I really thank God for that.), play the guitar and listen to music. When I do those things, it gives me some sort of joy and I truly like to do them. Is anyone telling me to do it? No right? I do it because I want to. Now why would I not do it when it makes me happy? For you, it might be something else. It may be repairing a car, doing business, riding a bicycle, helping people, fixing computer, playing with children and so on. It can be anything and maybe not in just one field. Again, look at me for instance. The core of my passion is music, but I also like English language and writing.

What if you can make it your career? Isn’t it fabulous? You’re doing what you really want to do and get paid. You get two great things man!- happiness because you’re doing what you like and also money. Don’t you wish you can do that? That’s how life should be. Think about it. Think about you future career. Is it going to be something that you like? Many people are working solely for the money- although they don’t like the job. This is just not right! I think that’s one of the reasons why most of us aren’t happy. Believe me, there must be a way to make your passion your career. I strongly believe in that. Come on, there’s a man who make a living just out of jumping and skipping. He gets the money to live on because people pay him to do it. With the money he gets, he can continue skipping! And most importantly, that’s what he loves to do.

If you like to talk, you can start a seminar. If you like to meet people and make new friends, job such as consultant would be great for you. If you’re passionate about helping people, well, this is the tricky part. My friend, helping doesn’t necessarily mean physically. You can help people from the inside. Maybe you can help them overcoming their low self-esteem or self-confidence by writing motivational books on that topic. Perhaps, maybe you can design a course to improve one’s productivity, help them manage their time and money well and so on. There must be something you can do for your passion.

Now I want you to believe there’s no boundary for possibility. Believe it, firmly. The reason why I told you to do that is simple. If you don’t believe, you won’t get anywhere. It’s like this; let’s say your child is missing. Take the recent search for Yin(Hope the spelling’s correct) for example. What if his parents didn’t believe that they’ll find him? If they didn’t believe that it was still possible for them to find Yin, they might’ve just gave up and say, “Honey, forget it. It’s been a week already. We’ll never find him”. But they didn’t do that. They believed that they’ll find him, no matter how. Get it? It’s the belief that gave them energy to make all the efforts to find Yin. So, believe in boundless possibility to get you going. To finish, determine what your real passion is and read the next sentence very carefully. Do what you feel happy to do, so that you can be happy. Think about that deeply and sincerely.

Iqra

2008-06-19T18:32:00.004+08:00

Iqra. That’s the very first word our prophet received from our Lord. Hmm.. Well, isn’t that obvious? I think it’s clear enough. God told us to read- first and foremost. So it must be so significant that the fist thing He told us to do was read. Yes, it certainly is. Maybe this topic has become boring and most of us take it lightly. But it is still important as ever. What I’m focusing here is about reading something beneficial, not those crappy entertainment magazines.

To get started why don’t you read motivational books such as Success Principles by Jack Canfield or Awaken the Giant Within by Anthony Robbins. These books will kick-start your reading habit and will also give you new brilliant ideas of how to live your life to the fullest. I really, really, really encourage you to read them- any of them. So try, if you ever get the chance to read them, by any means, read. You got nothing to lose by doing that. But you may say, “I’ll lose time”. Okay, that’s true. You’ll lose some time. But is it wasted? Is doing something beneficial a waste of time? Okay enough. Read first, and then we can argue more.

Well, now maybe you’ve read one of the books. Then keep on reading! It’s never enough man! Don’t make the same mistake I made- after I’ve read one of the Chicken Soup for the Soul series; whenever I came across other motivational books, I was like, “Motivational book? Aw.. Enough. I’m already motivated enough”. Haha. I thought I had had enough. But I was totally wrong. It was never enough. I’m not saying about motivational books only. In other cases like marketing strategies books, one might feel, “I’ve read 30 books on it. My knowledge is enough”. In this case, the situation is very likely to happen because many of the books on marketing are almost the same. But what if the 31^st book he found is a book of new fresh ideas? Maybe new strategies have been developed or its approach is differently ingenious. He’ll miss out on something that’s really helpful for his business to grow. Now, my message is clear right? Read, learn and grow until a shinigami- god of death in Japanese (Death Note’s fans must be familiar with this) come knocking at your door.

Let’s face it- learning is a lifelong process. One way of learning is by reading. So, read. Again I really would like to suggest you to read those two books I mentioned earlier in the first paragraph or any similar books. Never ever underestimate their power.