It's not how good you are, it's how good you want to be

I read this book in less than an hour, on my Saturday off day.

This is a pretty good book, from advertising guru Paul Arden, who used to work for Saatchi and Saatchi in London.

I picked up the book because it was a catchy phrase, and when I browsed through it, it had big fonts (!) and also a broader business slang on it.

Normally not to do book reviews, but in my current state of the work I am buried under, I found this book to be inspirational. There were a few key things in it which struck me pretty much.

Idea#1 - Do not seek praise, seek criticism - there is always a deisrable need for each of us to seek approval in our work, and suggested instead we should seek criticism - asking "what is wrong with it?" or "how can I make it better" is more likely to get a more frank and critical answer which we can use to improve, and we are still able to reject the criticism if required.

Idea#2 - Don't be afraid to work with the best - the best can be intimidating but if approached with the right attitude, they will respond positively. Though the chances of gaining the respect of the best may not be easy, it was definitely better than working for the average guy.

Idea#3 - Don't look for the next opportunity - the one you have in hand is the opportunity - we always seem to be waiting for the next big thing to happen - but we should focus on the one at hand - do the best you can with the one at hand.

Idea#4 - It's not what you know, it's who you know - the illustration was the guy who works hard and heads down vs the new executive who goes to talk to people and hands out his cards with a good name for himself. The who you know eventually helps to overcome what you don't know. But what you know if not popularised to who you know is not useful.

Idea#5 - If you can't solve a problem, it is because you are playing by the rules - My favorite as it stands.

Buy the book and internalise it your own way.

Hooking it right

If you do it, do it well. That is me, Hooker's Cup queen! I always believe to do it well, I need to be really interested in the game.

Again, a very philosophical thought, but doing it well means enjoying the game, enjoying the company and also enjoying the fun it brings, regardless of whether one wins or not!!

My drive of 4 hours to Rompin last weekend was well rewarded as for the Hooker's Cup golf tournament was held at the same time during the company outing, we had a good time at a quiet Lanjut Golf resort in Rompin at Pahang/Johor east coast border.

The game was fun because of the camaraderie from colleagues, the newcomers, and friends from the fellow lady golfers who took on the course fearlessly despite being new in the game, and above all, the lovely little cup the organiser has been kind enough to buy for the "ladies champion"!!!

I did not play well, but I had a pretty easy game, it was my 4th game of this year, as pathetic as this seems, it is the truth. But nevertheless, I have comeback to enjoy the game.

Golf is a game which is really about challenging yourself, and each stroke is like an action you take, if you hit it well, it influences a good outcome, if you hit it badly, you have to salvage your own actions.

Thank you

I would like to just take the two minutes to thank those my colleagues who reads this or even virtually express my thanks to those who don't for their kind comments on influence survey in the Global Employee Survey for my company. I had a lot of positive and honest and touching feedback from all of you - it keeps me going when I have my doubts about my actions or about doing the right thing at work. Normally I prefer not to blog about work or identify to my day job in this forum, but there are some days when all things cross our paths that we need the stress relief of blogging.

I had a tough day at work today.

I was at my fiery best, in my most passionate moment about a matter I care about a lot.

I had also overstep my boundary of being emotionally disappointed at the interim outcome. Regardless, I felt I lost the game at the end.

I did two things today, I went to do my hair at 6pm at KLCC. It took me almost 3 hours. During that three hours I cooled down. And I got home and after dinner, when I sat down again to take on this thinking challenge back, I read those comments again.

Thank you, it made my day yesterday, and it made my day today. I know I have my weaknesses, but I also know my diligence, drive and energy and not giving up easily is something you appreciate.

Above all, I am not willing to give anything short of the best because this is what my team expects from me.

I'm a hooker queen

I'm a rather stressed hooker queen... No, do not think the negative stance, I only mean, I have retained my cup - the Hooker's Cup golf tournament for the 4th year in a row!

This year, I have been presented with a lovely little cup for the Ladies Champion. I will insert the photos here the next time.

Viva Hookers

Zipangu vs No Dinner

Down-trodden.

I passed a dinner at Zipangu for working throughout without dinner.

Small victories mean nothing when it is not celebrated with those who worked for it. I tell myself this everyday because I have always been wrong to push people to their limits - and then I am not there to savor the moment with them.

Defeats must be faced with courage. Real heroes are those who acknowledge defeat and know when to walk away, for they must fight another day.

The sweetest victory is those we enjoy as a team, because we have stared defeat in the face, walked away, and come back to claim the biggest victory.

Processor on philosophical drive.

Lesen saya mungkin digantung

Blogging in Bahasa! Well I could try.

Lesen sudah "luput" - this was what my colleague told me another of our colleague had been told before her license was suspended for 3 months as she produced an expired license after being involved in an accident.

I cannot imagine what I will do if I cannot drive for 3 months. Where am I going to find a driver?

I am getting desperate and worried. Maybe I will take half a day off next week to "appeal".

I also cannot imagine appearing in Slim River and appealing in Bahasa Malaysia.

Alcoholic Anonymous

I have a secret.

I have a bottle of Johnny Walker Black Label whiskey stashed under my desk for those long late nights where I have to slog through the barrage of terrible nonsense called work.

:-)

In case you thought I was serious... I am not an alcoholic. Last Friday I was amused with my own actions, I had the previous night spoken to my other colleague about our upcoming company trip where some of the more senior staff had to sponsor drinks as we did not have budget. I was definitely against open drinking as it just did not sit well with our Malaysian Malays (yes I am patriotic and nationalistic, if there's such a word).

What I did was even more funnier : I asked one of my vendors, as he was coming in for a presentation, to buy me a bottle at the airport where it was tax free.

My SMS - "If you are still at imigration, can you please buy me a bottle of black label. It is for personal use and I will reimburse you when I see you. Thanks".

Its funny, the person I sent to was the CTO of a product company. He came by my office for the preparation to presentation, and handed me the whiskey and said, "May Ching, please dont drink it all up now before the presentation!"

So, the latest is that I got it stashed up at my office, until the party weekend... the last few days has been stretching my limits, I wonder if it can last.... :-)

Suey comes in twos

Suey is the chinese word for bad luck. I had two unfortunate events over the weekend. Firstly was my trip to Ipoh and my encounter with the police. Secondly was my car being hit from the back by a Lexus.

Suey#1
Cannot believe I got up at 5:30am to go for a golf game. Truthfully, I was almost ambitious enough to go for both the game and the Ipoh International Run the next day, luckily my more sensible side got the better. In any case, at around almost 1.5 hours, I think around just past Tapah, I was stopped by the traffic cop who had probably placed a "gunner" about 5 km upfront because we saw lots of cars flashing on opposite side of the road and had slowed down for at least 2-3 km. How fast was I travelling - probably at most 120km/h at a 110km/h max stretch. I guess the cops were really shooting.

Thereafter comes the interesting part - my license has expired!! And expired 3 months!! Even I was surprised, because I thought I had renewed recently. The fact is that my memory of the renewal was 5 years back!! (In this case, my processor has too much memory!).

So, got off the car, let my friend drive and gracefully feigned ignorance and also quite truthfully so, and got a schedule letter from the cop.

This morning I found out I could not pay the compound - I had to appear in COURT!!! AT SLIM RIVER, PERAK!!! Where? Uh, where? Sigh, time to get my horses in action to sniff out the best way to get out of this. Otherwise the courts will be crowded if everyone really has to appear for "not bringing driving license" offence. Please let me know if you know how to do this the "pay the fine" way.

Suey#2
As though that was not bad enough, the next day, whilst I was on my way to the Curve, stationary waiting for a jam to move on, the car at the back HIT me! It was a Lexus, and the gentleman was slightly apologetic. And I confirm it was not to pick me up, because the guy was late 40s, has a wife in the car, and is a Malay. Hopefully he will be ok to pick up the tab. 8233 (I call my car by its number plate), is now "scratched" officially. Sigh....

Please let me know if you know of a good car docter for "scratches". Ok, it was not so bad, but I felt very low chi after that incident.


Suey comes in twos, hopefully three's a crowd ...