3

PROTECT YOUR DREAM

"You got a dream... You gotta protect it. People can't do something themselves, they wanna tell you you can't do it. If you want somethin', go get it. Period."

One of my most favourite lines from a movie and one which hits home all the time. The Pursuit of Happyness (yup, that's spelled right if you watched the show you'll know why).

We all have dreams, places where we want to be when we grow up. It is common for us to have those dreams in our thoughts and every once in a while, we verbalize it particularly when someone else asks us about it.

But who amongst us dare put it down in pictures for everyone to see? A friend reminded me with his words the other day

"Quite often people fail to achieve their goals because they could only put their goals into words but fail to formulate a pictorial vision of the final picture that they want to see."

How true, my friend, how true.

THIS GUY IS GREAT!

2

ABC - Always Be Contactable

This will most likely be a generalization, but recently I've come to observe that as a group, the older generation are more responsible in the area of being contactable as compared to the younger ones.

With the advancement of technology and the multiple forms of communication available to the masses, are we in danger of losing common courtesy of picking up the phone or returning calls?

I had the privilege of having spent more than half my life without a cellphone. One could be excused for not being at home or for being occupied if he doesn't answer a call. Moreover, you will never be able to know who called and therefore will not be able to return the call. The only way a contact can be made is if the caller calls again.

But things have changed since then, haven't it? We have our cellphones with us most of the time and the portability means that we can have it with us wherever we are. And then there's the caller ID to identify who called. Even if your phone was turned off, the service providers nowadays will send you an SMS to inform you that someone called. What excuse is there now?

It all boils down to responsibility, a responsibility to respond. If we are in the middle of something and we receive a call, why don't we pick it up and say that we'll call them back? That takes only a couple of seconds, doesn't it? I'm sure the caller will understand. If we don't, how on earth will the caller know we are in the middle of something? Of course, we've got to be sure to return the call when we can.

This is a matter of phone ethics which I'm very much aware of at this stage of my life. At the end of the day, we have to remember the Golden Rule.

"Do unto others what you want others to do unto you"

If all this doesn't make any sense, the next time you try to contact someone for an urgent matter and he doesn't answer repeatedly, then maybe it will.

1

THE ONLY TIME YOU'LL FIND SUCCESS BEFORE WORK IS IN THE DICTIONARY

The term success holds a different meaning to different people. It really depends on what our dreams and aspirations are. What level of achievement do we need to get to before we call it a success?

In order to fully embrace the meaning of success, we have to have life goals. Where do we see ourselves in 10 years time? When we were in school, making it through the examinations meant success. Getting into a top University and getting a degree meant success. After that, we realize that this success was based on a goal we set many years ago.

A wise man once said "Success is the progressive realization of worthwhile, predetermined goals". Whatever our goals are, it has to be worth something to us. Otherwise, realizing those goals would not have given us the satisfaction of success.

One thing we have to understand is that success does not come by without any work put in. In order to realize those goals, we have to put in the work to get there. There is no shortcut to success.

~ THERE IS NO SHORTCUT TO SUCCESS ~

Of course, if it were simply work we have to put in, it would seem to easy. There are also other ingredients to a success recipe, many of those are shown below.

Another simple idea I like which simplifies everything. It's very interesting to note that these are the 3 elements required. Now how many of us are in this position?

DO WHAT YOU'RE GOOD AT, LIKE WHAT YOU DO AND MAKE MONEY OUT OF IT

The bottomline is that we all can choose success, but are we willing to pay the price for it? Ask yourselves, is this your next exit?

Remember, success is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice AND success is not for a chosen few but it is chosen by a few.

Wishing you all the best in your pursuit of a successful life!