http://www.investopedia.com/printable.asp?a=/articles/05/012705.asp
The Idea of Intrinsic Value.
Intrinsic Value: the underlying fair value of a stock based on its future earnings power.
From a retail investor context, when we think of using Intrinsic Value to outperform the market we have to bear in mind that:
1. there are many smart people out there that know how to mathematically compute the intrinsic values of a company. In this area, it is no doubt that these smart people are more advance than any average retail investor
2. hence, for retail investor, using statistical & mathematical valuation alone is DEFINITELY not enough to outperform the market. We can only beat the market by looking at INTANGIBLE values, something that cannot be mathematically computed. What could be the INTANGIBLE values then? These are mainly: (a) management (b) company culture. No expert can put dollar value on how much a management or company culture is worth...
3. to outperform the market, retail investor need to look at a longer time horizon because prices reflected in market are very much short-term in nature
My main conclusion is this:
- mathematical valuations like PE & NTA are just the foundation
- the most important thing is still the management
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Sunday, September 16, 2007
Sales - the no.1 thing in business
I attended a talk yesterday and one of the most inspiring speaker will be Merry Riana, a nice looking 27-year old Indonesian lady. She has made her 1st million at the age of 26. The Sunday Times has featured her early this year.
The key points that she shared with us are:
1. Entrepreneurship is the best way to become financially independent
2. Sales is the key to any business
3. Keys to successfully Sales: mindset to be able to take rejections, hardworking, and great discipline
The key points that she shared with us are:
1. Entrepreneurship is the best way to become financially independent
2. Sales is the key to any business
3. Keys to successfully Sales: mindset to be able to take rejections, hardworking, and great discipline
Monday, September 10, 2007
Lee Kum Tatt's answers to my comment
http://www.leekumtatt.blogspot.com/
Why Study Science?
Anonymous said:
At times I wonder . .. without all those advances in science, will human life be less happy or will it be less satisfying. I truly doubt so.
So what have all these advancement contributed to? They simply give us more reasons to earn more, to be financially successful so that we can enjoy them. Do the poor get to enjoy them? No.
Science saves more lives but it also kill more lives.
Improvement in science without improvement in our spiritual level is basically a zero sum game.
My Reply.
You commented that:
(i) you have doubts that without the advances in science human life will not be less happy or less satisfying and
(ii) that the poor do not get to enjoy what the advancement in science contributed.
These are very general statements. The issue is not on the study of science to generate more knowledge, which is neutral. It has more to do with the our wisdom (the ability to use the knowledge and experience) individually, collectively or as a country,to make sensible decisions and judgment.
As a country Singapore has not done too badly in transforming itself from a third world country to a 2nd if not 1st world country within a span of 48 years since we gain self governing status in 1959. We should ask ourselves how did we do this and what more could have been done? This is a question which many in the developing countries asked us.
We never had much science education and its application during the colonial days. We just existed and had hardly enough to live on. Now science education has given us more to live on and something to live for. The rest is up to us.
We must never allow ourselves to kill the spirit of science, the spirit to ask questions to get knowledge which can help us move forward. During the colonial days many of us have been taught the virtue of ignorance as expressed by the poem by Thomas Gray “On a distant prospect of Edon College” It reads as follows:
“Yet ah : why should they know their fate?
Since sorrow never comes too late.
Any happiness too swiftly flies,
Thoughts would destroy their paradise.
No more, where ignorance is bliss
‘Tis folly to be wise “
Gray emphasized that WHERE ignorance is bliss, ‘tis folly to be wise.
As I grew up I discovered that
Not all ignorance is bliss
Remaining ignorant is easy. It makes one lazy and selfish – two of human beings most pronounced and common trait. It only makes it easier for others to manipulate or control us.
After that I tried to learn how to be wise to search for wisdom with integrity and honesty for the good of others because “ When Wisdom reigns, Knowledge is Divine.”
Fewer people will be confused if we can do that.
Posted by Tan Kin Lian at 10:48 PM 0 comments
Why Study Science?
Anonymous said:
At times I wonder . .. without all those advances in science, will human life be less happy or will it be less satisfying. I truly doubt so.
So what have all these advancement contributed to? They simply give us more reasons to earn more, to be financially successful so that we can enjoy them. Do the poor get to enjoy them? No.
Science saves more lives but it also kill more lives.
Improvement in science without improvement in our spiritual level is basically a zero sum game.
My Reply.
You commented that:
(i) you have doubts that without the advances in science human life will not be less happy or less satisfying and
(ii) that the poor do not get to enjoy what the advancement in science contributed.
These are very general statements. The issue is not on the study of science to generate more knowledge, which is neutral. It has more to do with the our wisdom (the ability to use the knowledge and experience) individually, collectively or as a country,to make sensible decisions and judgment.
As a country Singapore has not done too badly in transforming itself from a third world country to a 2nd if not 1st world country within a span of 48 years since we gain self governing status in 1959. We should ask ourselves how did we do this and what more could have been done? This is a question which many in the developing countries asked us.
We never had much science education and its application during the colonial days. We just existed and had hardly enough to live on. Now science education has given us more to live on and something to live for. The rest is up to us.
We must never allow ourselves to kill the spirit of science, the spirit to ask questions to get knowledge which can help us move forward. During the colonial days many of us have been taught the virtue of ignorance as expressed by the poem by Thomas Gray “On a distant prospect of Edon College” It reads as follows:
“Yet ah : why should they know their fate?
Since sorrow never comes too late.
Any happiness too swiftly flies,
Thoughts would destroy their paradise.
No more, where ignorance is bliss
‘Tis folly to be wise “
Gray emphasized that WHERE ignorance is bliss, ‘tis folly to be wise.
As I grew up I discovered that
Not all ignorance is bliss
Remaining ignorant is easy. It makes one lazy and selfish – two of human beings most pronounced and common trait. It only makes it easier for others to manipulate or control us.
After that I tried to learn how to be wise to search for wisdom with integrity and honesty for the good of others because “ When Wisdom reigns, Knowledge is Divine.”
Fewer people will be confused if we can do that.
Posted by Tan Kin Lian at 10:48 PM 0 comments
Tuesday, July 03, 2007
Youngest vs Eldest - The Impact
From my observation on how my youngest brother behaves towards our parents and his elder brothers, I noticed that he is a person who don't have the urge to share good things with his brothers. I mean he is not the type who will pro-actively share.
Though there could be many reasons why he behaves that way, I think one of the possible cause is the fact that he is the youngest among us.
Such behaviour is quite a contrast with me as the eldest. I have in my heart a natural tendency to share. I'm not trying to say that I'm a better person than him. I know my youngest brother is a good person, but I realized that I cannot expect him to be like me in term of caring for our brothers.
My expectations on him to be as care as me were compounded by the fact that I knew he learned Dharma teaching. But I think living all these years being someone who is youngest in the family, I should be aware that I can never expect him to care (and show the care with concrete actions) as much as I care for our brothers.
Being the eldest or the youngest does contribute to who we are. It also contributes to our natural tendency to care & share. It will be interesting if there is a statistical figure to back my observation.
Though there could be many reasons why he behaves that way, I think one of the possible cause is the fact that he is the youngest among us.
Such behaviour is quite a contrast with me as the eldest. I have in my heart a natural tendency to share. I'm not trying to say that I'm a better person than him. I know my youngest brother is a good person, but I realized that I cannot expect him to be like me in term of caring for our brothers.
My expectations on him to be as care as me were compounded by the fact that I knew he learned Dharma teaching. But I think living all these years being someone who is youngest in the family, I should be aware that I can never expect him to care (and show the care with concrete actions) as much as I care for our brothers.
Being the eldest or the youngest does contribute to who we are. It also contributes to our natural tendency to care & share. It will be interesting if there is a statistical figure to back my observation.
Friday, June 08, 2007
Stock Picking
Next Tue 12th June 2007 will be 4 weeks since the accident that get me into what medical term called as "mid-shaft humerus fracture". Now I'm still typing with one hand.
Anyway what I'd like to put up here is some of the stuffs that can IMPROVE my chance of picking winners in the volatile stock market. The list here are sequenced from the most to the least important point.
1. Excellent/Good Management.
This sounds very logical and no-brainer. But deciding which management is good & which is not, is truly a tantamount job, especially if you are just an average retail investor which means most of the time you don't have chance to meet the management team. It's save to say that most retail investors rely on analyst coverage reports. So I think investing some monies in getting those reports is a must, however never never never made your decision solely based on analyst report. The number one thing about management is trustworthiness. You must do you homework to figure out if you can trust the management or not, if you do not have confidence or not clear about the management you better stay out of this stock. Blue chip companies tend to have more reliable management and good corporate governance. This is to me one of the key reasons why PE of blue chips is usually higher. For small caps, you really need to do lots of homework to figure out about the management. Track records are important, example consistency in delivery quality profit (= profit supported with strong cash flow) year after year, consistency in paying out dividend (= which means the profit is not just paper profit), good branding, certification of excellent (e.g. Singapore Quality Award), etc..
2. Pick the right industry, at the right time.
Timing is important as it gives us a better chance (higher probability) in selecting the BEST performers. Deep understanding on bussines cycle is extremely useful. Example: those who placed their bets on Construction/Property sector starting from last year would by now have benefited strongly from the boom in this sector, especially when compared to the laggards in the technology sector.
3. Margin of Safety.
To me there are various type of margin of safety. Those I like: High discount on Nett Asset Value (especially when the asset is backed strongly by cash) - But beware of loss making companies as the loss can easily wipe out the NAV. Another thing that I consider is intangible assets like brand, proprietary knowledge, patent, etc. Last but probably the most important: select stocks that are trading at discounted PE (to its peer in the same industry and also to general market).
4. Dividend
If you got all the above items cleared and the company is giving good dividend, then you should be ablle to bet on this company without having restless nights.
5. Speculative Buy
Invest about 15% of your portfolio in the ultra small caps. These stocks will for sure have high beta, but they could offer you great return, examples are recent RTO-mania like Digiland (10 cents to 65 cents cents, Rowsley 7 cents - 25 cents, and many more). For this type of stock, again look for management who is a potential deal-maker. Don't by them when the price is going down, but buy only after the price has stablized a the low absolute price, especially if you noticed that the price is battered down but with LOW volume. Jet Technics falls into this category: low absolute price, price down but with low volume, business is suffering loss (hence the down trend in stock price), have great potential to recover if they manage to break export market, environmental theme which offers significant long-term opportunities, and most important thing is "do you have confidence in the HONESTY of the management?". Speculative buy is only best during MARTKET UPTREND, during bearish market avoid speculative buy.
Anyway what I'd like to put up here is some of the stuffs that can IMPROVE my chance of picking winners in the volatile stock market. The list here are sequenced from the most to the least important point.
1. Excellent/Good Management.
This sounds very logical and no-brainer. But deciding which management is good & which is not, is truly a tantamount job, especially if you are just an average retail investor which means most of the time you don't have chance to meet the management team. It's save to say that most retail investors rely on analyst coverage reports. So I think investing some monies in getting those reports is a must, however never never never made your decision solely based on analyst report. The number one thing about management is trustworthiness. You must do you homework to figure out if you can trust the management or not, if you do not have confidence or not clear about the management you better stay out of this stock. Blue chip companies tend to have more reliable management and good corporate governance. This is to me one of the key reasons why PE of blue chips is usually higher. For small caps, you really need to do lots of homework to figure out about the management. Track records are important, example consistency in delivery quality profit (= profit supported with strong cash flow) year after year, consistency in paying out dividend (= which means the profit is not just paper profit), good branding, certification of excellent (e.g. Singapore Quality Award), etc..
2. Pick the right industry, at the right time.
Timing is important as it gives us a better chance (higher probability) in selecting the BEST performers. Deep understanding on bussines cycle is extremely useful. Example: those who placed their bets on Construction/Property sector starting from last year would by now have benefited strongly from the boom in this sector, especially when compared to the laggards in the technology sector.
3. Margin of Safety.
To me there are various type of margin of safety. Those I like: High discount on Nett Asset Value (especially when the asset is backed strongly by cash) - But beware of loss making companies as the loss can easily wipe out the NAV. Another thing that I consider is intangible assets like brand, proprietary knowledge, patent, etc. Last but probably the most important: select stocks that are trading at discounted PE (to its peer in the same industry and also to general market).
4. Dividend
If you got all the above items cleared and the company is giving good dividend, then you should be ablle to bet on this company without having restless nights.
5. Speculative Buy
Invest about 15% of your portfolio in the ultra small caps. These stocks will for sure have high beta, but they could offer you great return, examples are recent RTO-mania like Digiland (10 cents to 65 cents cents, Rowsley 7 cents - 25 cents, and many more). For this type of stock, again look for management who is a potential deal-maker. Don't by them when the price is going down, but buy only after the price has stablized a the low absolute price, especially if you noticed that the price is battered down but with LOW volume. Jet Technics falls into this category: low absolute price, price down but with low volume, business is suffering loss (hence the down trend in stock price), have great potential to recover if they manage to break export market, environmental theme which offers significant long-term opportunities, and most important thing is "do you have confidence in the HONESTY of the management?". Speculative buy is only best during MARTKET UPTREND, during bearish market avoid speculative buy.
Sunday, December 31, 2006
Cut Lost
I got 2 free GV tickets which we suppose to watch on 29th Dec 2006 at GV Bishan. I managed to arrive at Bishan at arround 18:45, however my wife could not reach there on time. So at this juncture we actually have 2 options:
1. to watch the 18:40 show (Curse of the Golden Flower) but missed about 20 minutes of the show
2. Or to watch the same show at 21:30
Alas, we decided to watch that show on the next day, so I bought two tickets for 30th Dec 18:40 show. I kew that on the 30th Dec we would be going to JB with friends but I was thinking that the trip won't be a long trip. How long can you spend in JB?
That decision proves to be a bad decision as what we get the next day is: to pay $16.00 for the taxi from Woodlands checkpoint to GV Bishan and yet we still missed 30 minutes of the show. Plus we have to leave our friends in Jusco (JB) as they have not finished with their shopping.
Financial lost is only $16.00 but the emotional lost is much more, as I think there are so many things that could have prevented the kind of lost.
1. we could have watched the 18:40 show on 29th Dec, and missed only 20 minutes, no financial lost
2. we could have watched the 21:30 show on 29th Dec, and miss only the TV show at home, no financial lost
3. we could spend only 30 mnt (instead of 1 hour) in Jusco (JB) and rush back to Bishan to watch the FULL show. No financial lost. There was a great traffic jam near Jusco which caused more than 1 hour to reach there from City Square (JB). We also have wasted 30 minutes in the immigration as my friends refused to queue frist then fill the immigration form, instead they filled the form first then go for the queue.
4. we could just forget about the 2 free GV tickets, and hence go straight home from Woodlands checkpoint. No direct financial lost, but indirect financial lost is the cost of 2 GV tickets.
The key lesson learned here is:
When you are already in lost position, analyzed situation in a cool and calm manner, and CUT LOST when that makes the most logical action. Remember: when you are already in a lost position, be LOGICAL and detach your emotions. Be aware that your emotions will make you try to win back your lost, and those emotions will MOST likely cause you to fall into a deeper lost.
I think cutting lost is NOT an easy thing to do, as that requires us to detach our emotions and think very logically. However, if you want to achieve great things in life you got to be able to do that! Gud luck to you.
Happy New Year 2007. May God bless you with good health and may 2007 teaches you to be a wiser soul.
1. to watch the 18:40 show (Curse of the Golden Flower) but missed about 20 minutes of the show
2. Or to watch the same show at 21:30
Alas, we decided to watch that show on the next day, so I bought two tickets for 30th Dec 18:40 show. I kew that on the 30th Dec we would be going to JB with friends but I was thinking that the trip won't be a long trip. How long can you spend in JB?
That decision proves to be a bad decision as what we get the next day is: to pay $16.00 for the taxi from Woodlands checkpoint to GV Bishan and yet we still missed 30 minutes of the show. Plus we have to leave our friends in Jusco (JB) as they have not finished with their shopping.
Financial lost is only $16.00 but the emotional lost is much more, as I think there are so many things that could have prevented the kind of lost.
1. we could have watched the 18:40 show on 29th Dec, and missed only 20 minutes, no financial lost
2. we could have watched the 21:30 show on 29th Dec, and miss only the TV show at home, no financial lost
3. we could spend only 30 mnt (instead of 1 hour) in Jusco (JB) and rush back to Bishan to watch the FULL show. No financial lost. There was a great traffic jam near Jusco which caused more than 1 hour to reach there from City Square (JB). We also have wasted 30 minutes in the immigration as my friends refused to queue frist then fill the immigration form, instead they filled the form first then go for the queue.
4. we could just forget about the 2 free GV tickets, and hence go straight home from Woodlands checkpoint. No direct financial lost, but indirect financial lost is the cost of 2 GV tickets.
The key lesson learned here is:
When you are already in lost position, analyzed situation in a cool and calm manner, and CUT LOST when that makes the most logical action. Remember: when you are already in a lost position, be LOGICAL and detach your emotions. Be aware that your emotions will make you try to win back your lost, and those emotions will MOST likely cause you to fall into a deeper lost.
I think cutting lost is NOT an easy thing to do, as that requires us to detach our emotions and think very logically. However, if you want to achieve great things in life you got to be able to do that! Gud luck to you.
Happy New Year 2007. May God bless you with good health and may 2007 teaches you to be a wiser soul.
Thursday, December 14, 2006
Learn to let go, be soft at heart but hard in head
We need to learn to let go and let nature takes its own course.
We can be hard at head, but always be soft at heart.
Do not let emotion or hurting words sour our heart, be forgiving and always emphatizing.
But remember to remain hard at head!
I will always pray for you bro, pray that you will someday learn something useful for your soul and mind and may you be wiser. I pray that God be with you, always.
We can be hard at head, but always be soft at heart.
Do not let emotion or hurting words sour our heart, be forgiving and always emphatizing.
But remember to remain hard at head!
I will always pray for you bro, pray that you will someday learn something useful for your soul and mind and may you be wiser. I pray that God be with you, always.
Sunday, December 10, 2006
Lesson learnt from Heart vs Head
Remember my previous posting regarding the "Tough Decision"? Well at the end I followed my heart, I emphatized my brother and let the lady continues to work with us. My brother had make a damn serious promise that thing is over between them and everything is back to normal. I gave him the benefit of doubt, I took the risk in believing him. Well, well...what I realized today is that he is a person who does not care about his promises, and he will lie just to get what he wants. I was deeply dissapointed by the way he thinks and behaves. I don't know how I can help him. How can I teach him that he needs to be responsible? Responsible many times means: to give up what we like (to sacrify) and to do what we should do, to do what we have promised, and to think for others (are we hurting others?). I can only pray that God be with him and that He will always guide him. I think that's best thing I can do for now, and let nature takes it's own course.
Though the events turned out to be negative, I did not feel any regret for following my heart. Why? Because I think when I made the decision to follow my heart, which is to show emphaty and to give people chance, I've at the same time been fully aware of the worst-case should things don't turn out positively. So the key point that I've learnt here is that we should always be ready (mentally or physically) to take the worst-case. This sounded simple, but many people are not actually ready for such worst-case scenario, and when the worst-case does really happen they will start to feel regret with their decision and they will start the blaming-game.
Think worst-case and be responsible with our own decision.
Though the events turned out to be negative, I did not feel any regret for following my heart. Why? Because I think when I made the decision to follow my heart, which is to show emphaty and to give people chance, I've at the same time been fully aware of the worst-case should things don't turn out positively. So the key point that I've learnt here is that we should always be ready (mentally or physically) to take the worst-case. This sounded simple, but many people are not actually ready for such worst-case scenario, and when the worst-case does really happen they will start to feel regret with their decision and they will start the blaming-game.
Think worst-case and be responsible with our own decision.
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
Do it right the first time
"Do it right the first time" is more about attitude rather than intelligent. It means that it does not matter how smart you are, but whether you bother to try your best to do it right the first time. I've seen smart people spending unnecessary time and effort to troubleshoot problems that could have been prevented right from the beginning. The recent case is the good example. This case involved 4 parties, my company, my joint venture company in China, my external consultant in Singapore and my external consultant in China. There was a request to this consultant in Singapore to customize certain part of the software, and this customization is to be deployed to China and be supported by the consultant there. The customization is simple and if the singapore consultant try his/her best to do it right in the first time, there wont' be any need for such a long process of to-and-fro communication to fix the bugs. The main problem here is the singapore consultant never spend enough time to test and make sure everything is ok before deploying the solution to China. The consultant is smart, but his/her attitude is bad!
So, next time try to do it right the FIRST time.
So, next time try to do it right the FIRST time.
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
Tough decision
Sometimes, in life you just gonna meet a situation where your feeling and your logic could not agree. Tomorrow is my brother's wedding and I'll be there celebrating the joyous event. But tomorrow or probably tonight is also the moment where I'm confused whether to follow my heart or my mind.
It's regarding the problem of my other younger brother. He fell in love with someone whom he should not. And now he is asking my permission to let his lover to continue to work with us. He said thing is over between them and the only reason why he asked for her to be allowed to work with us is because he feels pity for this lady. The lady likes to work with us and she will be deserted if we let her work in other place.
I could understand my brother's reason and I empathize him. However, logically thinking I should not trust him, because he has broken many of his promises before. And I really don't think things can be so easily over between them.
If I allow the lady to work with us, there will be many foreseeable problems that we are going to face but if I don't allow her, I feel I'm being too cruel. My brother is begging me for help and empathy and I personally do feel sory for the lady. I feel that my brother is the main culprit for all the saga though there are some parts on the lady to be blamed too.
Anyway, it's a tough decision...and probably I'll just follow my heart because my heart is not hard enough to follow my mind. I might be making a very big mistake, and I can only pray to God that everything will turn out to be ok (at least).
Catching the flight...
It's regarding the problem of my other younger brother. He fell in love with someone whom he should not. And now he is asking my permission to let his lover to continue to work with us. He said thing is over between them and the only reason why he asked for her to be allowed to work with us is because he feels pity for this lady. The lady likes to work with us and she will be deserted if we let her work in other place.
I could understand my brother's reason and I empathize him. However, logically thinking I should not trust him, because he has broken many of his promises before. And I really don't think things can be so easily over between them.
If I allow the lady to work with us, there will be many foreseeable problems that we are going to face but if I don't allow her, I feel I'm being too cruel. My brother is begging me for help and empathy and I personally do feel sory for the lady. I feel that my brother is the main culprit for all the saga though there are some parts on the lady to be blamed too.
Anyway, it's a tough decision...and probably I'll just follow my heart because my heart is not hard enough to follow my mind. I might be making a very big mistake, and I can only pray to God that everything will turn out to be ok (at least).
Catching the flight...
Monday, September 04, 2006
Proud of your achievements?
It's not what you have achieved that matters, because what you have achieved is mainly God-gifted. Even when you think you have achieved all those things because you are smart and hardworking. The hardworking part is not God-gifted, but your conscious efforts and that's commendable. But let me tell you, it takes luck too to reach what you have reached. Even your great IQ is God-gifted, think about that. So, my point is, a large part of what you have achieved is God-gifted, and only a smaller part is the result of your conscious efforts to work hard. Instead of feeling proud, we should be feeling blessed.
You should only be proud if you could consciously give back all those gifts to society and left only a minimum part of them for your family and yourself. When you have done that, that's where your true success lies.
Btw, I met a member of Jehova witnesses yesterday, any comment on them?
You should only be proud if you could consciously give back all those gifts to society and left only a minimum part of them for your family and yourself. When you have done that, that's where your true success lies.
Btw, I met a member of Jehova witnesses yesterday, any comment on them?
Saturday, August 19, 2006
Learn to forgive & Open your way to happiness
In Chinese culture, there is an expression called "small people", which refers to devious and often small-minded human enemies, or even evil spirits, who backstab you, who are bent on giving you a hard time - either for their personal benefits, or out of plain hatred and jealousy. In other words, these "small people" are anything but "great" to you. There is a mildly voodoo-like folk custom of venting anger on these often unrecognised enemies, by beating a shoe on human-shaped paper figures. Doing so is supposed to ward away bad luck. In the media, feisty old ladies are often portrayed to uphold this ritual, by vengefully banging these paper figures on the floor with wooden clogs, while uttering horrendous curses and swears. But what if one's enemies likewise wish ill upon them? Will there be truce, or will mutual hate thicken? Ironically, probably the only hurt caused is to the old dames' tired hands, and being out of breath. Less tangible is the spiritual damage they do to their minds by nursing seething rage.
Sounds like a pretty harmless or even amusing practice? Well, it's always sad to encounter the elderly, who are resentful to the boiling point. It is as if they had, despite decades of living, still not learnt to forgive, unable to release the burden of hate. It is already suffering enough to be old, much more so to be continually bitter. The thought of growing old and angry is frightening indeed! The person who makes you unhappy is never really an enemy out there. The cause is always you - because it is you and you alone, who allows an external person to "condition" your very own happiness. We are our own small-minded "small people". Why let someone else hold your personal happiness ransom? All others can do is "tempt" us to be unhappy; we decide whether to take the bait and suffer the consequences. Part of becoming spiritually mature is to realise we are responsible for our own happiness, to the extent that others can neither truly grant us happiness nor unhappiness. However, as Shantideva put it, "Enemies and hindrances are my greatest teacher", because they train us to rise above enmity and obstacles. It is thus wiser to be more grateful than resentful.
We cannot force others to be nice to us, but we ourselves can be willingly nice to others. Hopefully, this can touch our enemies, and transform them to be friends. Not always possible instantly, but doing so is to become blameless to others, instead of just blaming others. The main unrecognised enemy is us. The eye that sees others cannot see itself. We are the most invisible to us. We are our immediate and ultimate foes, strengthened by our unmindfulness and delusions. Atisha taught us to "Drive all the blame into one." This "one" is none other than our ego-clinging, that divides others into friends or foes of our ego. Either way, we are all just folks who want True Happiness, with the common enemy of ego-clinging. Why not forgive each other, and help each other subdue this enemy instead?
Do so... before you grow old... and angry!
Sounds like a pretty harmless or even amusing practice? Well, it's always sad to encounter the elderly, who are resentful to the boiling point. It is as if they had, despite decades of living, still not learnt to forgive, unable to release the burden of hate. It is already suffering enough to be old, much more so to be continually bitter. The thought of growing old and angry is frightening indeed! The person who makes you unhappy is never really an enemy out there. The cause is always you - because it is you and you alone, who allows an external person to "condition" your very own happiness. We are our own small-minded "small people". Why let someone else hold your personal happiness ransom? All others can do is "tempt" us to be unhappy; we decide whether to take the bait and suffer the consequences. Part of becoming spiritually mature is to realise we are responsible for our own happiness, to the extent that others can neither truly grant us happiness nor unhappiness. However, as Shantideva put it, "Enemies and hindrances are my greatest teacher", because they train us to rise above enmity and obstacles. It is thus wiser to be more grateful than resentful.
We cannot force others to be nice to us, but we ourselves can be willingly nice to others. Hopefully, this can touch our enemies, and transform them to be friends. Not always possible instantly, but doing so is to become blameless to others, instead of just blaming others. The main unrecognised enemy is us. The eye that sees others cannot see itself. We are the most invisible to us. We are our immediate and ultimate foes, strengthened by our unmindfulness and delusions. Atisha taught us to "Drive all the blame into one." This "one" is none other than our ego-clinging, that divides others into friends or foes of our ego. Either way, we are all just folks who want True Happiness, with the common enemy of ego-clinging. Why not forgive each other, and help each other subdue this enemy instead?
Do so... before you grow old... and angry!
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
My Hope
Last night before falling into a deep sleep, a thought flashed into my mind. At that moment I was wondering if I could ever help my family to see through many illusions in this life. To help them reach a higher spiritual level. I've seen through many things in life, I could feel peace, love and compassion. Can I help my family to experience the same things ? Is it possible ? Is it that I was born to seek the truth but the rest were not ? Actually, this is one of the biggest question that I've not yet found a satisfying answer.
For now, I can only pray that God will guide all my family members to truly understand what is the essence of living. To see through that life is just a temporary arrangement. To know that what truly matter is our soul. To believe that at the end it is how unselfish our soul have become that matters.
There are many things in life that I still don't understand, and there might be many challenges ahead that I have to go through. It is my faith in God and my believe that life is a test, that will bring me to the end; to the end, not with a broken soul but to the end with a better soul, a stronger soul who has passed all the tests and a soul who is no longer selfish.
I hope I can help my family to become that kind of soul. I hope I can help the rest too, but if I can't even help my family, could I possibly help the rest?
For now, I can only pray that God will guide all my family members to truly understand what is the essence of living. To see through that life is just a temporary arrangement. To know that what truly matter is our soul. To believe that at the end it is how unselfish our soul have become that matters.
There are many things in life that I still don't understand, and there might be many challenges ahead that I have to go through. It is my faith in God and my believe that life is a test, that will bring me to the end; to the end, not with a broken soul but to the end with a better soul, a stronger soul who has passed all the tests and a soul who is no longer selfish.
I hope I can help my family to become that kind of soul. I hope I can help the rest too, but if I can't even help my family, could I possibly help the rest?
Sunday, August 13, 2006
The Starfish Story
While tiding up my apartment, I found an old print out about a story which I like very much. I like this story because many times I've asked myself: can I really make any difference to the world? The problems in this world are just too many, and I realized those problems truly are part of the "defintion" of this world, the world that you & I are living at the present. Everytime I've the feeling that whatever I've done (or am going to do) will not be a matter, I'll think of this story.
And this is the story:
The Starfish Story
adapted from The Star Thrower by Loren Eiseley
1907 - 1977
Once upon a time, there was a wise man who used to go to the ocean to do his writing. He had a habit of walking on the beach before he began his work.
One day, as he was walking along the shore, he looked down the beach and saw a human figure moving like a dancer. He smiled to himself at the thought of someone who would dance to the day, and so, he walked faster to catch up.
As he got closer, he noticed that the figure was that of a young man, and that what he was doing was not dancing at all. The young man was reaching down to the shore, picking up small objects, and throwing them into the ocean.
He came closer still and called out "Good morning! May I ask what it is that you are doing?"
The young man paused, looked up, and replied "Throwing starfish into the ocean."
"I must ask, then, why are you throwing starfish into the ocean?" asked the somewhat startled wise man.
To this, the young man replied, "The sun is up and the tide is going out. If I don't throw them in, they'll die."
Upon hearing this, the wise man commented, "But, young man, do you not realize that there are miles and miles of beach and there are starfish all along every mile? You can't possibly make a difference!"
At this, the young man bent down, picked up yet another starfish, and threw it into the ocean. As it met the water, he said, "It made a difference for that one."
===== The End
And btw, my whole apartment looks much better now, plus I've saved $250 from not going to IKEA Sale to buy another two more bookshelves. Plus...controlling my temptation to go to Expo for the ongoing National Library Book Sale (12-13 Aug).
And this is the story:
The Starfish Story
adapted from The Star Thrower by Loren Eiseley
1907 - 1977
Once upon a time, there was a wise man who used to go to the ocean to do his writing. He had a habit of walking on the beach before he began his work.
One day, as he was walking along the shore, he looked down the beach and saw a human figure moving like a dancer. He smiled to himself at the thought of someone who would dance to the day, and so, he walked faster to catch up.
As he got closer, he noticed that the figure was that of a young man, and that what he was doing was not dancing at all. The young man was reaching down to the shore, picking up small objects, and throwing them into the ocean.
He came closer still and called out "Good morning! May I ask what it is that you are doing?"
The young man paused, looked up, and replied "Throwing starfish into the ocean."
"I must ask, then, why are you throwing starfish into the ocean?" asked the somewhat startled wise man.
To this, the young man replied, "The sun is up and the tide is going out. If I don't throw them in, they'll die."
Upon hearing this, the wise man commented, "But, young man, do you not realize that there are miles and miles of beach and there are starfish all along every mile? You can't possibly make a difference!"
At this, the young man bent down, picked up yet another starfish, and threw it into the ocean. As it met the water, he said, "It made a difference for that one."
===== The End
And btw, my whole apartment looks much better now, plus I've saved $250 from not going to IKEA Sale to buy another two more bookshelves. Plus...controlling my temptation to go to Expo for the ongoing National Library Book Sale (12-13 Aug).
Tuesday, August 08, 2006
Why must there be a war ?
Maybe, that is part and parcel of human life. I think it is the imperfection that is built into our genes. The gene that makes us behave aggressively in order to solve our problems. The gene that makes unable to control our selfishness, greed and emotions. Until science can come out with a powerful genetic re-engineering to take away these genes from human race, there will always be war.
War will only benefit few persons at the very top, these are the people that manipulate many others to go into war. These are also the very same people that could prevent and stop the war.
What can I do? I'll pray for you to have compassion to know that there is no good outcome from any war.
Amin.
War will only benefit few persons at the very top, these are the people that manipulate many others to go into war. These are also the very same people that could prevent and stop the war.
What can I do? I'll pray for you to have compassion to know that there is no good outcome from any war.
Amin.
Wednesday, July 26, 2006
Happiness
What is happiness ? To me, happiness is when you have love, peace and compassion in your heart.
When you have peace in your heart, you are happy.
When you feel love is in your heart, you are happy.
When you have compassion in your heart, you are happy.
I have contentment, but i don't want to be complacent, no, never. Contentment is good, but complacency is BAD.
I will always try to be better, but I should never be attached to the results. Results depend on controlable factors and UN-controlable factors. So, there is no need to feel discouraged when we don't achieve the results that we are expecting. Most importantly is we must learn, and lessons learned are TRULY what I think as the "results".
To find peace, look for courage and seek the wisdom of Tao.
To have love and compassion, have a giving and caring heart. Ignorance is sin.
Life, in essence, is a chance for our soul to fully embrace love, peace and compassion.
At the end, it is how much love we have given.
At the end, it is how much peace we have enjoyed.
At the end, it is how much compassion we have shown.
At the end, it is our soul that matters!
When you have peace in your heart, you are happy.
When you feel love is in your heart, you are happy.
When you have compassion in your heart, you are happy.
I have contentment, but i don't want to be complacent, no, never. Contentment is good, but complacency is BAD.
I will always try to be better, but I should never be attached to the results. Results depend on controlable factors and UN-controlable factors. So, there is no need to feel discouraged when we don't achieve the results that we are expecting. Most importantly is we must learn, and lessons learned are TRULY what I think as the "results".
To find peace, look for courage and seek the wisdom of Tao.
To have love and compassion, have a giving and caring heart. Ignorance is sin.
Life, in essence, is a chance for our soul to fully embrace love, peace and compassion.
At the end, it is how much love we have given.
At the end, it is how much peace we have enjoyed.
At the end, it is how much compassion we have shown.
At the end, it is our soul that matters!
Wednesday, July 12, 2006
What I've learned these past few days
My staff resigned unexpectedly during a business trip in Batam, and the trigger point was just because I asked with him about the work status in regards to his previous trip to Guang Zhou. Cutting the story short, the resignation was a result of pent-up frustation built over the time.
I've all the while been thinking that he was doing fine and happy. So the suddend and unexpected resignation prompted me to review deeply what have gone wrong all these times, without me truly aware.
I've learned many lessons in these past few days through objective self analysis, and these are the summary of things to note to prevent the same incident from happening again in the future:
1. Never again think that people could be so objectively take work arguments as simply a discussion for the sake of finding the best solutions. Especially, if that person is your subordinate or someone whom you have power/authority on. Take good care of their sensitive feelings. As much as we want to say work is just work, we are sensitive Asian, not objective American.
2. Control or manage constantly their expectations (and importantly, right from the very beginning) and let them know your expectations too. Serious communication in a RIGHT setting is crucial. Cannot depend simply on informal mode, mixing formal and informal will be best. Don't expect them to align themselves to your goals, you MUST put effort to align them to you. Well, initially they might seem to be able to align to you automatically (meaning: without you spending effort to align them), but it will be a fool to think that the auto-mode can last forever.
3. Effective communication does not mean having a good command in the language, but also right usage of tone and constantly be aware of the other party reaction and feeling.
4. Try to understand their situation, for example their work load and their mood. Help them manage their work load and motivate them when they are down (which could likely be caused by some non-office matters)
5. They won't understand whatever dilemma you are having, and they don't need to as long as you pay attention to point no.1 to no.4 above.
Bottom line is: we really need to spend time and effort on those so called non-technical stuffs to achieve the best working relationship in the hope to achieve maximum results.
I've all the while been thinking that he was doing fine and happy. So the suddend and unexpected resignation prompted me to review deeply what have gone wrong all these times, without me truly aware.
I've learned many lessons in these past few days through objective self analysis, and these are the summary of things to note to prevent the same incident from happening again in the future:
1. Never again think that people could be so objectively take work arguments as simply a discussion for the sake of finding the best solutions. Especially, if that person is your subordinate or someone whom you have power/authority on. Take good care of their sensitive feelings. As much as we want to say work is just work, we are sensitive Asian, not objective American.
2. Control or manage constantly their expectations (and importantly, right from the very beginning) and let them know your expectations too. Serious communication in a RIGHT setting is crucial. Cannot depend simply on informal mode, mixing formal and informal will be best. Don't expect them to align themselves to your goals, you MUST put effort to align them to you. Well, initially they might seem to be able to align to you automatically (meaning: without you spending effort to align them), but it will be a fool to think that the auto-mode can last forever.
3. Effective communication does not mean having a good command in the language, but also right usage of tone and constantly be aware of the other party reaction and feeling.
4. Try to understand their situation, for example their work load and their mood. Help them manage their work load and motivate them when they are down (which could likely be caused by some non-office matters)
5. They won't understand whatever dilemma you are having, and they don't need to as long as you pay attention to point no.1 to no.4 above.
Bottom line is: we really need to spend time and effort on those so called non-technical stuffs to achieve the best working relationship in the hope to achieve maximum results.
The Position Myth - Part 2
From: Boss
Sent: Tuesday, July 11, 2006 7:49 PM
To: Me
Cc: HR Manager
Subject: RE: Opinion on "The Position Myth"
Hi Subordinate,
Thanks for your opinion.
Not disagreeing with what you have mentioned....but when you said TOP....what does it mean....meaning one is in a leadership position already? If so, then a team or project leader is in a leadership position.
In organisations, its very difficult to promote someone to the very TOP position eg General Mgr and then "demote" that person....that is very difficult for anyone to accept. (Not like politicians, which runs election every 5 years). Hence, usually, organisations would "test" one's leadership capabilities by empowering him or her to run projects or lead a small team. Once he has proven himself in terms of delivering the results -- both in terms of "hardware" and the "software", then we can say that he is really a Leader -- both in name and in substance.
Regards
Boss
===============================================================================
and my reply to the above email
From: Me
Sent: Wednesday, July 12, 2006 9:28 AM
To: Boss
Cc: HR Manager
Subject: RE: Opinion on "The Position Myth"
Hi Boss,
In my opinion, sometimes people get trapped into what I think as one of the greatest fallacies in leadership: the Initial Support must (and in extreme case, always) be coming from the bottom first. To put it in another way, I made a distinction between a profit organization and a country.
Again, like what I have said, at the end it needs to come from BOTH directions.
On the “demotion” issues, I think that really depends on the culture of the company, in a high-performance company (and under high-performance manager like Jack Welch) maybe there is no such thing called “demotion”, the person gets fired. I believe, people like Jack Welch is NOT everyone idol, ask those who were fired by him, ask those whose comfort zone has been taken away by him. For the same number of people who praised him, there could be an equal number of people who hate him. But for many, he is considered one of the greatest managers, why? I guess, at the end it is still the results and achievements that count.
I just asked myself, if Jack Welch did not bring continuous excellent growth to GE that made GE’s market capitalization bubbled up few times during his tenure, will anyone say he is one of greatest managers and that he has a good team leadership (keeping in mind that he had offended and fired many people too)?
Regards,
Me
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sent: Tuesday, July 11, 2006 7:49 PM
To: Me
Cc: HR Manager
Subject: RE: Opinion on "The Position Myth"
Hi Subordinate,
Thanks for your opinion.
Not disagreeing with what you have mentioned....but when you said TOP....what does it mean....meaning one is in a leadership position already? If so, then a team or project leader is in a leadership position.
In organisations, its very difficult to promote someone to the very TOP position eg General Mgr and then "demote" that person....that is very difficult for anyone to accept. (Not like politicians, which runs election every 5 years). Hence, usually, organisations would "test" one's leadership capabilities by empowering him or her to run projects or lead a small team. Once he has proven himself in terms of delivering the results -- both in terms of "hardware" and the "software", then we can say that he is really a Leader -- both in name and in substance.
Regards
Boss
===============================================================================
and my reply to the above email
From: Me
Sent: Wednesday, July 12, 2006 9:28 AM
To: Boss
Cc: HR Manager
Subject: RE: Opinion on "The Position Myth"
Hi Boss,
In my opinion, sometimes people get trapped into what I think as one of the greatest fallacies in leadership: the Initial Support must (and in extreme case, always) be coming from the bottom first. To put it in another way, I made a distinction between a profit organization and a country.
Again, like what I have said, at the end it needs to come from BOTH directions.
On the “demotion” issues, I think that really depends on the culture of the company, in a high-performance company (and under high-performance manager like Jack Welch) maybe there is no such thing called “demotion”, the person gets fired. I believe, people like Jack Welch is NOT everyone idol, ask those who were fired by him, ask those whose comfort zone has been taken away by him. For the same number of people who praised him, there could be an equal number of people who hate him. But for many, he is considered one of the greatest managers, why? I guess, at the end it is still the results and achievements that count.
I just asked myself, if Jack Welch did not bring continuous excellent growth to GE that made GE’s market capitalization bubbled up few times during his tenure, will anyone say he is one of greatest managers and that he has a good team leadership (keeping in mind that he had offended and fired many people too)?
Regards,
Me
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
The Position Myth
I just finished the workshop conducted by my boss. The workshop is about leadership and it was conducted after one of my people, who is very capable, resigned from the company. I'll talk about the whole saga pertaining to his resignation in another chance as I want to focus on the leadership issue here.
My boss gave everyone a copy of a chapter from one of the books written by John C. Maxwell (her favorite author). The title of that article is "Myth #1 The Position Myth - I can't lead if I am not at the top." Having read that article, I ended up with writing her an email (which I cc to my HR Manager, with the hope she could comment on that too). And this is my email.
start of email - "
Hi Boss,
Thanks for sharing with us the interesting article on “The Position Myth”.
My opinion is this:
I agreed 100% if we say “Title and position are not what a leader need”. In fact, in some organizations, position and title are totally screwed up. What leaders truly need is SUPPORT.
Support can come from Top or bottom. In country, the support is coming from below. In organization, I think it is most importantly must be coming from the TOP. At the end of the day, it must be coming from BOTH directions. The problem here is should it come from the BOTTOM first then top, or TOP first then bottom? My bet is in organization, unlike in a country, the support should come from TOP first, and let the leader build the rest (of the support) from the BOTTOM.
Egg first or chicken first?
Hi Mrs.HR Manager, I thought it will be good to cc you too as you are much into organization/leadership stuffs.
Regards,
Me
" - end of email
My boss gave everyone a copy of a chapter from one of the books written by John C. Maxwell (her favorite author). The title of that article is "Myth #1 The Position Myth - I can't lead if I am not at the top." Having read that article, I ended up with writing her an email (which I cc to my HR Manager, with the hope she could comment on that too). And this is my email.
start of email - "
Hi Boss,
Thanks for sharing with us the interesting article on “The Position Myth”.
My opinion is this:
I agreed 100% if we say “Title and position are not what a leader need”. In fact, in some organizations, position and title are totally screwed up. What leaders truly need is SUPPORT.
Support can come from Top or bottom. In country, the support is coming from below. In organization, I think it is most importantly must be coming from the TOP. At the end of the day, it must be coming from BOTH directions. The problem here is should it come from the BOTTOM first then top, or TOP first then bottom? My bet is in organization, unlike in a country, the support should come from TOP first, and let the leader build the rest (of the support) from the BOTTOM.
Egg first or chicken first?
Hi Mrs.HR Manager, I thought it will be good to cc you too as you are much into organization/leadership stuffs.
Regards,
Me
" - end of email
Thursday, June 22, 2006
How much wealth could you have?
How rich will you be? How much wealth could you have during your whole life time ?
What I'd like to address is this question: What are the key factors that determine how much wealth someone could/might have?
I concluded that there are 3 factors:
1. Luck
2. IQ/EQ and some other "Q" or even new "Q" that might not be discovered yet. I consider attitude as part of EQ.
3. Hardwork
Luck: anything that you get (or do NOT get) but NOT because of IQ/EQ or Hardwork falls under "Luck".
Example:
1. you are stupid and lazy but still have millions to spend, how come? because you are LUCKy...you are probably the grandson of Bill Gates.
2. you don't truly have the knowledge needed to be someone at managerial post, but you are holding a title of "XXX Manager" and continuously drawing quite a good salary. How come? Because you are LUCKy!!! to have a NOT so intelligent boss who does NOT really understand what you are doing...Yes, you can continue sitting on your position because you boss is kind-of-stupid in your field..and as I said u r LUCKy.
3. and the examples continue....
IQ/EQ: you are born with it. A great IQ/EQ is supposedly a blessing because you have the power to contribute alot to society and make our human life better. But you also have the same power to destroy it/us. IQ/EQ is a double-edge sword. Use it wisely. Last, great IQ/EQ does not guarantee great wealth. With good/great IQ/EQ but without luck, you should NOT be in a bad shape though you might not go into the top 100 richest man in the world.
Hardwork: if you don't have luck and IQ/EQ, you better do this well. Unfortunately, without luck and/or IQ/EQ there is no possibility for you to go into the top 1,000,000 richest man in the world. But if you are hardworking, at least you won't have problem solving your family 3 meals. So you see, hardworking is still very important. Combining hardwork with great IQ/EQ and a little bit of LUCK, you will very likely make your way into the top 100 richest person in this UNPERFECT world..
have a nice day....
What I'd like to address is this question: What are the key factors that determine how much wealth someone could/might have?
I concluded that there are 3 factors:
1. Luck
2. IQ/EQ and some other "Q" or even new "Q" that might not be discovered yet. I consider attitude as part of EQ.
3. Hardwork
Luck: anything that you get (or do NOT get) but NOT because of IQ/EQ or Hardwork falls under "Luck".
Example:
1. you are stupid and lazy but still have millions to spend, how come? because you are LUCKy...you are probably the grandson of Bill Gates.
2. you don't truly have the knowledge needed to be someone at managerial post, but you are holding a title of "XXX Manager" and continuously drawing quite a good salary. How come? Because you are LUCKy!!! to have a NOT so intelligent boss who does NOT really understand what you are doing...Yes, you can continue sitting on your position because you boss is kind-of-stupid in your field..and as I said u r LUCKy.
3. and the examples continue....
IQ/EQ: you are born with it. A great IQ/EQ is supposedly a blessing because you have the power to contribute alot to society and make our human life better. But you also have the same power to destroy it/us. IQ/EQ is a double-edge sword. Use it wisely. Last, great IQ/EQ does not guarantee great wealth. With good/great IQ/EQ but without luck, you should NOT be in a bad shape though you might not go into the top 100 richest man in the world.
Hardwork: if you don't have luck and IQ/EQ, you better do this well. Unfortunately, without luck and/or IQ/EQ there is no possibility for you to go into the top 1,000,000 richest man in the world. But if you are hardworking, at least you won't have problem solving your family 3 meals. So you see, hardworking is still very important. Combining hardwork with great IQ/EQ and a little bit of LUCK, you will very likely make your way into the top 100 richest person in this UNPERFECT world..
have a nice day....
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