Sunday Series -- A Different Insights

My new list

2009-04-29T23:08:00.000-07:00

I have to jot these down before I lost them in the piles of paper I have on my table. That's the fun part of blogging.

Here are additional recommendations that I've comes across which are highly recommended in your reading list.

It's probably too overwhelming if you are not a "read book" junky! I konw I am.

In fact in the last 2-3 months, I covered over 7 books that I have listed in my blog - somewhere.

Here are additional 5 books which will literally sky rocket your understanding. These recommendations will help you think big, get things done, influence and leading people.

Let me tell you what these 5 recommendations are not.

They are NOT fiction.
They are NOT make up stories.
They are NOT books that I walked into Borders or any bookstores for that matters and simply pick them.
They are NOT the mainstream books (b'cos I don't recall seeing any one of these books in a clearly display shelves in the bookstores).

But let me tell you what they are.

They are books that are recommended by top marketers. These are the exacts books top marketers and millionaire used to sky rocket their business.

I'm not top marketer and neither a millionaire, but when these people recommend something, I listen. Being open-minded and willing to listen have always been my philosophy in whatever I do.

But of course, everyone have to prioritize what is important to them, whether to read this book now or do other stuff or to do begin doing & applying what you read or simply just spending leisure time reading. Either ones you choose, I personally think it's fine as long as it makes you happy.

The most important thing is that you must enjoy it.

Here are the 5 recommendation tonight:
1. Think Big Manifesto by Michael Port
2. Becoming A Person of Influence - John C. Maxwell & someone
3. How to Have Power & Confident In Dealing With People - Leslie Giblin
4. Get Things Done - David Allen
5. Yes, [couldn't recall] by Robert Cialdini (you can google Robert Cialdini & you'll find the title.

If you are motivated enough, you'll find these books for your reading pleasure.

Have a nice evening!!

Best regards,
Kian

Busy Months.... Really??

2009-04-17T01:04:00.000-07:00

I had been rather busy these few weeks. Just started my day job at Visa. Wake up 6am every morning, walk to shuttle station takes 20 mins (one-way), and shuttle itself takes another 45 mins to reach Visa at Foster City.

Long travel!! Really long travel!! But it's a blessing as I don't need to drive and I got to exercise for 40 mins everyday!!. Isn't it amazing??

Then, I think for a while. The same situation might be happening to someone else. I meant, there are many people who are like me. Their job requires them to travel 45 mins to 1 hours to work every single day.

But some complains about it but others say it's a blessing!! I chose to be the latter one.

It all boils down to which perspectives you are looking at. It does eat up the time you need to spend with your family, hobbies etc. But I decided to make full use of it. Here are what I included in my daily routine:

1. Every 20 mins walk to the shuttle station, I spent time with myself. I think of how grateful my life is every single day. No kidding!!

2. In the bus, I read, read and read. Ok, occasionally I felt asleep... what do you expect, waking up at 6am everyday!!

3. Every 20 mins walk to my home, I spent visualizing what I want. I know this sounds like "Law of Attraction" thingy. But I felt really happy and enjoyable doing that. So, who cares? I choose to do what I enjoy.

So, no matter what situation you are in. There is always a good side of it. You just have to find it. If you find yourself "busy", find ways to distort time.

If you find yourself "trapped", find ways to unlock that conflict within you. If you couldn't find the answer to your challenge, post it here and I believe someone else with higher purpose will help you solve yours.

Ask and you shall receive.

Happy Reading!! It's 1:15am (Thursday night.. I meant Friday morning) and I have to work today. So, talk soon.

Cheers,
Kian

Today I Met Robert.....

2009-02-06T14:04:00.000-08:00

Feb 6, 2009..... I walked into the new Peet's Coffee at the corner of Van Ness & Bush St in San Francisco looking for my favorite "Hot Chocolate" drink.

Something caught my eyes... when I walked in... it's a book written by Deepak Chopra. I didn't quite catch the title, but I know there is a large print of the author's name, Deepak Chopra. It was Robert who is reading the book.

Somehow, something happened and it sparks a conversation between Robert & I. In less than few minutes after I ordered my drink, we were talking to each other at his coffee table. Robert is "somebody" but I don't know who exactly he is. He called himself a life coach, an author and a speaker. He was on stage with Robert Kiyosaki speaking to over 7,000 ppl and he's the person who attended or help arranged for Tony Robbin's wedding. Robert is probably at his 60s...

I could totally feel that he's a man of deep insight and deep spiritual beliefs. We chat about casual cultural differences in Malaysia, Singapore, China and India. I also get to know more about Robert and his business around the world.

Before I left his table back to mine, I asked him again the same question I'll asked someone that I think I could connect with.... that is "Robert, if there is only one book that I should read, what would it be?".

Phew..... so, he gave me not 1, not 2 and not 3.. but 7 series!!! (No kidding). If you want to know what this wise spiritual being recommend me, then read on.

Of course, most of the books he recommends will be of spiritual in nature and just in case you are not that type, I want to let you know that it will also help you in someway. Because, Robert says.... "Mind + Force = Ego" and most books out there are of mind, and less of being.

So, there are the list of books of "being" that Robert recommended:

1. Psycho Cybernetics
2. Think & Grow Rich
3. The Dynamics Law Of Prosperity (Catherine Ponder) and it's entire series
4. The Power Of Now & The New Earth (Erhart Tolle)
5. Power Vs Force & Transcending Level Of Consciousness (David Hawkins)
6. Conversation With God (3 of them!!)
7. The Play Of Consciousness (Babamuktanada from www.syddhafoundation.org)

If you finishes these books, you'll have many "Ah-Ha" moments, understand why Obama was elected and not Hilary Clinton and simply understands more about yourself and being.

Enjoy and have fun!!

Cheers,
Kian

2009-01-28T22:01:00.000-08:00

Today I went to Toastmasters Meeting at the 1 Sansome Street. It's called the Golden Gate Toastmasters Club.

35 attendees!!! It's no kidding. This is one of the largest crowd (if not the largest) attendees in any TM meeting in Bay Area!! But it's not entirely surprising because I think it's the 2nd oldest TM Club in the world!!

Today, I witnessed 3 speeches and all are rather inspiring but one of the speech really go above and beyond. It's speech presented by Michael. I think the speech title is "Changing Mind".

In the speech, Michael shared 3 stories and 3 lessons. Lets jump straight to the lesson.

1. Everything You Do Matters

The moment you switch on the TV, open up the e-mail or using any of your 5 senses, the wiring system in your brain changes and it repeats itself. That's how addictive bad or good behavior repeats in a pattern form.

2. Your Brain Is Changing

Knows that it's capable of everything and anything that you could ever imagine. It'll evolved and adapt if you keep training it.

3. Life Is Shape By Your Mind

The Law Of Attraction......

After the end of the meeting, I walked over to Michael and congratulate him and asked him 1 question.

"If you could recommend me 1 book to read, what would it be?"

Michael responded......
"The Brain That Changes Itself" authored by........ (to find out)

For someone who could give such inspiring speech, I guess it must be a great book.

I'll pick it up from the library.

To all... have a pleasant week!!

Cheers,
Kian
PS: If you like the post, please drop a line and give some of your comment.

The Psychology Influence of Persuasion

2009-01-09T19:28:00.000-08:00

I just completed one of the Top 10 Books In My 2009 List - The Psychology Influence of Persuasion by Robert Cialdini.

This is a classic book that I think all marketers around the world should be reading. And, I'm not the only one who said that. Even Journal of Marketing Research says...

"For marketers, this book is among the most important books written in the last ten years!!"

This is a no nonsense book. Here is what briefly entailed in the book & what I've learned with respect to the principles of persuasion:

1)Expensive = Good - Use to overcome the stereotype, who thinks expensive means good quality (So, who says, we should sell ourselves down or in business compete on price!!)

2) Contrast principle - Sell the high price item first, because when it comes to selling low price item later, it will not seems as high, in comparison (applicable in selling real estate by introducing expensive inflated run-down houses before presenting the actual house for sale, clothing and even automobiles, and also applicable reduce your parent's anger when you fail your exam - yes, it's on page16, attractive women magazines rated lower)

3) Law of reciprocation - get yourself a coke & get one for your friend too, free sample, offer coke then raffles tickets for sale, returning favors,

4) The power of the word "Because" when asking for favor

5) Rejection & re-treat techniques (submitting high proposal & lowering it down later)

6)Commitment & Consistency (Greet everyone with this.... "How are you feeling today?", and everything following the reply will be consistent, responsibilities when requested, consistency by action taken, how toy manufacturer get you to buy again after the Christmas or New Year season even after you've exhausted your budget for your children, how American POW claimed Communist is better, Amway "writing it down principles", public commitment = lasting commitment, lowball techniques)

7) Social proof (Canned laughter, watching group of peers reacting in a movie, influence by ppl just like you, courtroom, pluralistic ignorance phenomenon on the Catherine Genovese's story where she was attacked & stab 3 separate attack over 35 minutes watched by 38 respectable law abiding citizen but no one take action to call the policy, direct responsibility will get ppl to do the things he need to do, imitating behaviour of ppl just like you, the influence of headline story in newspaper on car & plane crash - calle dthe Werther effect

8) The Friendly Thief principles - physical attraction similarity in are of opinions, personality traits, background, or life-style & that explain why conjoint efforts toward common goals bridged rancorous rift between groups, weatherman pay price for nature curve ball due to the power of association, the use of word "We" and "They" changes to avoid association with public image)

9) Authority principles (Milgram's shock test 450-volt shock to audience, Dressing - clothes & trapping, Title (such as Dr., Judge, Professor or Commissioner, 12% daily-medication error happens given US Helaht Care Fianncing Administration estimate,

10) Law of Scarcity (rebellious action such as Romeo & Juliet and how the couple's feelings & devotion develop so quickily, also why young women date old man, how competition drive scarcity, psychoogical reactance words such as "censored, restricted availability, rare, banned, exclusivity", scare-supply news are not generally available information, ABC's Barry Biller (commonly known as the "miracle mogul" in the TV and motion-picture industry pay USD1 million for learning this principle, setting 5 appointments for a car sale

These are the 10 things I learned from this book that I could extract out. It's a 300 page book & I could list them all here. So, you can go and get yours at local bookstores.

I'll be back to amend this page for grammar error & to make it easier to read, when I have the time. I felt I remembered more when I write this down and recap it after reading the book. I think I should do this for the next 9 books that I'm going to read this year. So, not only I learned, but the reader of this blog will learn something too... without reading the book. :)

If you like the post, please leave your comment below because I read every comment posted here.

Cheers,
Kian

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Top 10 Goals For 2009

2009-01-01T15:41:00.000-08:00

Wow!! It's New Year Day Today.

1st day of 2009.

I guessed it is the trend of doing some goal setting during this time of the year. It's the society which shapes the way we think, how we react and eventually what we do.

Who is there to say that goal setting must be set on the 1st day of the year?!? If you think about it, it could be done everyday and the best, anytime of the year!!

Now... lets penned it down, the achievement to be made in 2009. Here are my brief list:

1. My achievement is enjoying more time with my wife and make her feel happy, certain and grow her self esteem.

2 My achievement is asking better questions to myself, so that I can focus on achieving what I really want in life.

3. My achievement is exercising 3 times a week for better health, mind clarity, physical energy and mental alertness to do what I want to do everyday passionately.

4. My achievement is to run 6 online businesses, creating new sources of income in 2009 that will generate Monthly, Instant and Future Revenue (MIF's Revenue) that requires little of my attention.

5. My achievement is to improve my knowledge in marketing, persuasion, leadership and observation skills and applied them in my daily life.

6. My achievement is to expand my network of friends, colleagues and partners, supporting each other to greater heights in all aspect of life.

7. My achievement is to connect with my inner-self in a deeper manner so that I could be more grateful of what I have in the moment.

8. My achievement is to give a speech in front of 500 audience or more, just for the sake of getting the experience.

9. My achievement is to connect with my family members (parents, sister, aunties, uncles and cousins) through better communication and more frequent contact.

10. My achievement is to find the simplest, fastest and out-of-the-box methods and strategies in everything I do.

Em... I know it, I know it. Some may says it's not specific enough... and I could totally agreed and that's why I say that this is only a brief list. I've a more substantive, precise "achievement for 2009" that I've written.

The fact, is.... not me. But if you so happens to read this blog, you might just want to start writing down your goals/achievements in 2009 regardless of when the time you read this blog.

But... there is something more important. Goals should cover these 6 different areas of our lives... (it's called the "Wheel Of Lives) that are as follows:

a) Physcial
b) Relationship
c) Spirituality
d) Career
e) Finance
f) Emotional

Then, chunk it down into smaller pieces, know why you want to achieved them and what are the action plan for each of these achievements.

Then... only it's called a complete goal for 2009.

Okie... I've to get down to work and if you like what you see or read in this blog, please do share your ideas, goals and dreams here. I would love to hear your feedback and remembers, goals that are not share, often get buried.... communicate it to the world (eg. listing them here in the comment below), will strengthen them and force yourself to commit to it.

Don't worry about what the world is going to say or even judge you, if you did not achieve them. Because I believe, we are accountable to ourselves more than to others.

Your friends, family and colleagues have more things on their plate, busier that ever today then, spending time judging people.

In fact, if they are true friends, family and colleagues, they will even support you, right?!? :)

So, go ahead and give your comment, list and share your goals here.

Have A Splendid And Splashing NEW YEAR!!

Cheers,
Kian

Top 10 Books For Maverick Entrepreneurs

2008-12-28T08:28:00.000-08:00

I'm currently half way through reading the infamous book by Robert Cialdini. Heard about the book for quite a while and have read about the similar content in some of the other books I've purchased. Have also been to a seminar which taught about the content of this book.

But.... not until recently, something pushed me to pick up this book. And, yes!!! I'm now reading it and totally amazed even when I've already read book of similar kind and even been to a seminar covering the same information. The book is "The Psychology Influence of Persuasion". Currently, this book ranked #1 in my list of MUST READ book!!

So, I've decided to compile the top 10 books for maverick entrepreneurs. Here are my picks (some I've personally read it and some I've heard a lot about it but just wanted to pen it down so that I remembered to pick it up one day):

1. The Psychology Influence of Persuasion by Robert Cialdini
2. Scientific Advertising by Claude Hopkins
3. Tested Advertising Method by John Caples
4. How To Make Millions With Your Ideas: An Entrepreneur's Guide by Dan Kennedy
5. Magic Words That Bring Riches by Ted Kennedy
6. The No B.S. Time Management for Entrepreneurs by Dan Kennedy
7. Unlimited Power by Anthony Robbins
8. Mind Control Marketing by Mark Joyner
9. Think And Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill
10. Breakthrough Advertising by Eugene Schwartz

I've no doubt that there are more books that I could list here. But as far as becoming an entrepreneur, and if I really have to pick one of the 3 most important skills such as 1) sales & marketing ; 2) management ; and 3) system implementation, I think "Sales & Marketing" ranked #1 and that's why the Top 10 Books I've recommended herein are on this particular topic.

I personally read all the comment on this blog. If you have any other books which you think falls into the Top 10 Books For Maverick Entrepreneurs or any life-changing books, please do share with us. We love to hear from you all.

Kian

PS: Additional add on... to my Top 10 List are as follows:
11. Getting Everything You Can Out Of All You've Got by Jay Abraham
12. Ogilvy On Advertising by David Ogilvy (a legendary classic book on Advertising, might just worth reading)
13. Triggers by Joe Sugarman

My first meditation with Deepak Chopra's chakra meditation CDs

2008-10-27T05:37:00.000-07:00

We were sitting in a lightly dimmed room, where Deepak Chopra's chakra meditation CD was playing behind the scene. There were 7 of us meditating effortlessly guided by the soothing musical. It was a 40 minutes meditation but it feels like 15 minutes.

My first thought come in for a few seconds and then it dissipated. Then, the second thought comes in and it disappeared again. Then the third, fourth, fifth so on and so forth. Each time my thoughts come and go. I recognized them and just stayed focus again and aware of the existence of the thoughts that came in. But during the meditation, one thing struck my mind, how come my goals, dreams and the things I want to achieve did not even once come into or across my mind.

I was thinking at that time, why didn't such thoughts ever crossed my mind in 40 minutes!! Why?? Why?? When I was thinking about this, I was still fully aware of the fact that I'm thinking about this. After the 40 minutes meditation, I'm still thinking what is the possible reasons that could explain why my immediate goals, dreams and things I wished to achieve did not bother me during the meditation.

Is it because my lack of desire? Or, is because, I'm too confident of its achievement. Or, is it because the goals did not bother me at all? Or... perhaps, is it because there are no pressure to achieve these goals and dreams? Could it be the fact that dreams are not time driven, not communicated or because of my lack of focus?

I'm still searching for the elusive answers. Or.. maybe there are no answers to the question.

Just thoughts. :)

We all gathered together to watch a powerful touching movie called "You Can Heal Your Life" by Louise Hay. To share with everyone, here are the 5 things I've learned from the movie in a nutshell:

1) To change your life, you must first change your thinking

If you start to change your surrounding by changing the mechanics, it won't works. Then the host bring in a good point, that if you keep cleaning the table that is always piled up, even if you clean it 10 times or 100 times, it will still piled up after few days or few weeks. The key is to first change the thinking, then, things around will start to change)

2) To change your thinking, you starts with affirmation

Affirmation could help us in life to break through FEAR, hatred, jealousy and even depression. But it's not mere affirmation that will bring results. Many people bang on "words" affirmation to bring results, but it's not the word or phrase itself that would attract results. It's the affirmation with emotion and feeling that sends out the vibration to the universe. Affirm with strong beliefs and conviction as there are power inside our body which sends the molecules of emotions to the universe to support us. Here are few affirmation that could helps:

a. I forgive and I set myself free
b. I'm safe, it's only change
c. Life support me
d. I'm a YES man
e. I'm doing the work I love
f. I'm passionate about life
g. I trust my inner wisdom
[Note: It will be more effective if you practice the selective affirmations in front of a mirror. It may takes 300-400 times a day or just a few affirmation to send out the vibration.]

If during the dry season a farmer try to pray for rain. Rain won't happens. The farmer instead feel the muddy ground, smell the rains and show gratitude for what had happen... and rains will keep pouring like cats and dogs.

3. Guard Your Thoughts 24 hours a day

What if you were drinking a cup of coffee and your friends accidentally drop a few poison pills into your coffee? You'll die, my friend!! So, we should be careful when our mind wonders around or what people (especially our close friends) tell us or response to us. When we face with negative statements or thoughts, first acknowledge it. Then replaced it with positive affirmation immediately. It's like planting a seed and you'll never know when it will grow.

4. Belief in your affirmation

It easy to say to build in emotions in your affirmation. But if something is against your belief system, you'll resist it no matter what. So, you have to find the grounds that support you. You have to find the evidence to support your new belief system.

If your belief system is you will never be successful in whatever you do in life, then you can replaced that with positive affirmation like I'm successful in whatever I do. To support the latter affirmation, you have to take action and do something, like sweeping the floor, cleaning up your desk, set small goal and achieve it. Once you get enough support, you'll have a stronger foundation to support your new belief system. Got it? But it's not enough... we have to do it, experience it and internalize it.

5. Follow Your Inner Wisdom

Action starts a flow of positive energy but even if we do the right things and do the things right, will it guarantees that we get everything that we want? The answer is obviously no, because even if we are doing everything in the right direction, the universe will test the depth of our commitment. Only through persistence that the red carpet will be laid out for us.

But if you don't know what you want in life..... it's still okay... (to me) because, if you are doing the right things in the right direction, the universe will give you baby steps, small steps, one at a time, moving you toward the direction and slowly revealed your ultimate destiny. Oprah Winfrey would never imagine herself to be a multi-billionaire 20 years ago when she started her talk show, so does Louise Hay did not know that her little book distribute to churches will turn into an international best seller!!

So, for those who still struggling to find out what is your purpose in life, or what is your ultimate destiny or simply what you want to do.... it's okay... because it's a process of searching. That's why sometimes, we have to follow our inner wisdom.

Hope you enjoy the 5 lessons I learned over the weekend. If you think it had benefited you in someway or if you have other things or reflection that you made from this blog, feel free to leave your comment.

Regards,
Ken Tan

Reviving Your Organization Through ABC

2008-09-14T06:30:00.000-07:00

I wrote an article recently to the Toastmasters District 51 Newsletters which is publish in Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei. But how would that be relevant to you if you are not a Toastmasters. The point is the same ideas and concepts shared here would be equally useful in our day-to-day life. Here is the article:

Empowering Member's Inner Force Using A-B-C
(The simple and proven ABC ideas to make more progress in your Club's DCP goals in less time)

Introduction
Just slightly over a year and 9 months ago, our membership fell below charter strength and we were on the brink of deciding whether to return this Club to its former glory or let it crush into oblivion .....

Once the decision was made by members to revive the Club, we scrapped through 9 months, breaking the vicious cycle of low members' turnout. We achieved more in just one year, than we had in the past 7 years since our Club was chartered!!

Our Club accomplished 10/10 DCP goals, attaining the President's Distinguish Club status for the very 1st time in our Club's history.

How does a Club which was in such severe recession swing itself upwards to such great heights in just a short period of one year? A Chinese proverb goes like this "Success is when opportunity meets preparation"

We analyzed and discovered certain strategies that were in place that contributed to the boom of our Club. We summarized and simply named it A-B-C ideas. These are no more than simple, practical, easy to follow tools, which aim to aid members, Clubs, Divisions or Districts to succeed in achieving their Goals.

1. Aim For The Stars

Planning is bringing the future into the present so that you can do something about it now - ALLAN LAKEIN

At the very beginning of the term, we set a precise goal and developed a comprehensive action plan. Our goal back then was to achieve 10/10 DCP goals by 30 June 2008.

We thought then it was already an impressive goal until our Area Governor, ACS Dennis Wee, called, "Hey, what if your Club could achieve 10/10 DCP goals by 31 December 2007 and be the 1st Club in District 51 to achieve it!?!?".

That idea blew our minds OFF and it got us all excited and we set to achieve our goals by 31 December 2007. That is the starting point that empowered the members to such miraculous results today.

We also did something different that we announced our Club goals loud and clear in our Installation Dinner to all members and guests. Psychologically, this helps to held the EXCO members accountable to the goals.

Then to keep the momentum, we must first lead by example. A Leader Walks his Talk. A leader can't motivate the members to progress if the leader themselves did not progress. Action speaks louder than words. Therefore, to live up to the standard we set, few of the "hardcore" members (Meyyappa, Derek, Kheng Chuan and myself) to achieved their goals in the first 6 months. Their relentless efforts have unconsciously set the momentum of the Club!!

Here are the elements we think are essential to formulate a Club Goal:

a) Excitement Drive
b) Well announced
c) Time buffer
d) Lead by Example

2. Barter Trade Concepts

The beginning of a habit is like an invisible thread, but every time we repeat the act we strengthen the strand, add to it another filament, until it becomes a great cable and binds us irrevocably, thought and act - ORISON SWETT MARDEN

Prior to the use of currencies as we all know, in the past goods were exchanged on a one-on-one basis with the intent that the value was of relative equal hence the birth of Barter Trade.

One of our main challenge was to get the members to progress on their Basic Communication Manual. To overcome this we simply barter traded with them!!

I remembered when one of my fellow members asked me before I went on a vacation, "Can you send me a postcard for my personal collection during your vacation overseas?".

I responded, "Certainly, but..... can you do a speech on either Jan 9 or Jan 23?" Whichever options she chose, she committed herself to a speech slot.

I've also barter traded in these for speech slots:

1. A drive home after TM meeting
2. Time spent on mentoring a mentee
3. An opportunity to attend semi annual TLI training
4. Helping a member to take up a pre-assigned role play (eg. Substituting as TME, Ah Counter etc)
5. Information or news sent to members

Currently, only few members in our Club discover this powerful concept and it had already brought us astonishing results. What if ALL MEMBERS acquire this as a habit? The effect would probably spiral up to other clubs, divisions and even districts.

Other crucial factors when encouraging members to do their speeches are:

i. Timing Ask at the correct time
We encourage member to take up a speech slot usually after our TM meeting, Club Visits, Contests or after the members completed their speeches, as these are the times when they are "H-O-T, High on Toastmasters".

ii. Put them on a ferries wheels
Schedule members for speeches early (a month in advance), to minimise the "last minute pulled-out syndrome". The key is to communicate with mentor to do the follow up and remind the member again 2 weeks before the schedule date. In that case, the Club will get its speech slots filled continuously

3. Coaching and Connections

True success comes only when every generation continues to develop the next generation - JOHN C. MAXWELL

Mentor-mentee system was established in our Club to provide coaching for members. Our motto all members are keen to present their speeches until proven otherwise. All they need is guidance, like a toddler learning how to walk.

If members are prepared, they are more confident, and when they are confident, they are more willing to present their speeches, and this massively increases the likelihood of giving a speech.

But....... Will mentor be regarded as "pushy" if he keeps asking the mentee to do speeches again and again, one after another?

Possibly, and as such, we sourced and spread the mentor's responsibility to others. For example, instead of encouraging the mentee directly, the mentor could indirectly encourage the mentee by asking the AG, Assistant AG, President, VPE or even ask TMs from other Clubs to invite mentee to do speeches in or outside of the Club!!

This may come as a surprise to you, but we found that many members are much more inspired and motivated when invited by TMs from other Club!! This also opens up the networking door for our members to flourish outside our home ground.

Conclusion

On its surface, the A-B-C ideas shared here may appear simple and provide a mere subtle effects, but if these ideas were put into practice it will yield astounding results as they did for us. Through the A-B-C ideas, we recruited 13 new members, achieved 6 CC's, 2 AC's, 2 CL's and crowned President Distinguished Club, the very first since this Club was charted in Sep 2001, 7 years ago.

On behalf of the Club, I wish to express our gratitude to my Exco's and all the amazing individuals that have contributed to this success namely Sue Ding, Dennis Wee, Meyya, Stephen Fernando, Vincent Hor, Bill Sim, Parames, Daniel Teh, Sheila Wong, Dominic Joseph, Ramdas Nayar and Ron Lau.

Alas.. I'm proud to say I belong to a President' Distinguished Club

Ken Tan,
President of Deloitte KassimChan Toastmasters Club 2007/2008

PS: If you like the article, please feel free to leave any comment here as I read all my comment personnally. Share with us your ideas and thoughts on how you could use this in your day-to-day life and benefit from it. Thanks!!

Your Network Is Your Net Worth

2008-09-07T09:56:00.000-07:00

I first heard this phrase from Robert Kiyosaki in his book "Rich Dad Poor Dad". Then, many people.... start using the phrase again and again, as if it was a phrase from the Bible.

But I though for a while, is it true? Does the extension of your network, simple reflected in your net worth? Or does the quality of your network determine your net worth?

I was curious. So, I ventured out to find the elusive answer through books, friends and eventually I stumpled upon a workshop. A workshop conducted by DU Advanced Toastmasters Club. Here is what I understand from the Singaporean trainer.

(1) What is networking?

Networking can be anybody. For example, the toilet cleaner, your child's friends or your friend's mother, or even the waitress serving you could be your network. They may be the next one, who introduce you to the CEO, General Manager or Head Of Department ("HOD") of a company. If this is true, then in short, networking can be built by anyone, at anytime, to anybody. This simply means you got to be nice to everybody.... huh.. (smiling)

Networking also means sharing your competence with your alliances.

Network refers to someone, who knows someone,... who knows someone,... who knows someone....... who knows someone (They may not do the job for you, but that someone may open doors for opportunity to you when you're in need)

Networking is about being professional, it is about being connected, being involved and being interested in people.

(2) So, why should people even network with you?

There are only 3 reasons, why your friends network with you, now.

(a) Your POSITION,

Just imagine this. If you are the CFO of a company, i bet you, that bankers, lawyers, partners of audit firm and all the HOD will be begging to be in your network. For a simply reason, you have the authority to deposit money into their bank, to appoint/engage them for certain service and also to approve their budgets. But the risk is, what if you no longer working as the CFO of the company? You have to think about it... because nothing is evergreen.

(b) The INFORMATION you can provide them

The second reason why people network with you is because you have certain special knowledge, skill or experience that they don't have. If you know all the gossip at your workplace, I bet, you'll have more friends. Because, whenever your collegues want some update in the office, they will go to you.

Let says if you have always known to be a person, who poses high problem solving skills among your friends. And the next time your friends, have a problem, do you think it is more likely that they will look for you or someone else on the street? Do you think they will want to keep you in their network over someone who have nothing to share. Think about it....

If you know the best place for food, or you know the cheapest car repair workshop or even the best deals for online purchases..... you'll definitely have an edge over your other friends.

(c) The CONNECTIONS you have

You knows everyone in the town, or you know all the bankers..... rather than investing hours and hours networking with hundreds of people, your friend could simply tap on the vast network you already have. The just need to know you and they'll have the key to hundreds of your friends. Likewise, it will be the same for you too.... this is call 'leveraging'.

So, most important question is, which one of the above do you poses? Position, Information or Connection? If you have all 3, well done.... your network should be extensive by now. If you have none of that, your network should be limited.

But no worries. Because, now you already know the three reasons why people network with you and guess what many of your friends, don't even realised it yet.

If you already have a huge extensive network then, well done. But if you have limited network or you would like to expand your network further, here are something you could do:

(i) make the most of your existing connections (re-connect with them thru e-mails, social community)
(ii) build your social capital (e.g. find out the best eatery place in town, the cheapest flight tickets around, the happening events in your area, the best lawyer, the most trustworthy contractors, the most reliably insurance agent, etc) and
(iii) creating new connection

A common networking session that I've been to, often happens in this manner.

First, introducing yourself to strangers, then talking with them, asking them questions, knowing them, having drinks and then...... eventually forgetting about them. Usually the last line is.... "We shall catch up again someday". But the truth is, they never catch up. Maybe at the end of the conversation, they even forget about the person name.

Most people spend time SOCIALISING, but they thought they are NETWORKING... Networking... is about maintaining closed contact thru offering and sharing with other people your social capital, so that both can connect.

Here comes my thought… expansion of network is crucial. But the quality of your network is even more important than the quantity. The simple fact is, if you lie down with dogs you come up with fleas. If you network with positive and like minded people, you'll be positive minded as well. If you network with negative people, you'll turn negative.

It's really not that difficult to figure this out, isn't it??

If you read this article and finid that it is useful, I would appreciate if you could leave me a comment. I read all my comment personally. You could even add me into your facebook to expand your network or simply subscribed to the Sunday Series's Newsletters

, so that I could update you whenever I've any valueable information to share.

Thanks,

Ken Tan

How Simple Concept Of Maths Can Make You More "Creative"

2008-08-07T23:00:00.000-07:00

I want to share with you what I deduce from my 2 hours meeting with 4 friends (Chee Wah, Joyce, Shee and Fish) in Bangsar, Kuala Lumpur. We were sitting around a small table trying to piece out the agenda for the coming speechcraft project, which we called it the Project Communication Tutorial (PCT). This is conducted for a group of project managers to improve their communication and leadership skills at work.

Something about Chee Wah – I didn't know I could learn so much from him until I've spent that 2 hours with him. Most people knows him as one of the best master of ceremonies in town and someone who is creative and definitely a right-brainer type of person.

But, he showed me his creativity in just a merely 2 hours meeting and the best part, I could tap into his creativity concepts from now on. You wanna know how you could be more creative? Then, just bear with me and read on....

Many friends I know (including myself, hmm) find it difficult to be "creative". This is because we were train to use more of our left brain in school, and almost everything in professional firm taught us to be logical. Then, how in the world, do we, they, our bosses, parents expect us to be "creative"?!? Don't even bother to talk about the whole-brain balance "thingy", to maximise our brain power.

In the meeting, when we are trying to develop a new creative case study for the participants of PCT, Chee Wah ask Shee a question, "What do you have in mind for the case study section?"

Shee replied something about debate for petrol price increases, so on and so forth (smile - I don't wanna bored you with the details of a 2 hours meetings).

Then... Chee Wah asked me, "What do you have in mind for the case study section?" I cracked out something about a survival case study scenario blah, blah, blah....

Chee Wah paused for a couple of seconds (there was total silence). He then responded and came out with a creative survival game with petrol as one of the survival tools. He carefully cross pollinate, mix and match both our thoughts and make up a unique case study!!

Sound simple - this is what I term it the concepts of "addition" by combining two different thoughts, things, events, scenarios, situations, people and brand it to become something creative of your own. Think about it. Many creative stuff out there today... are derived from this powerful concept of "addition" - mixing and matching them together. Here are just a couple of the examples:

1. japanese food + american food = fusion food
2. roller ball concept + fragrance = deodorant
3. shower gel + aromatheraphy = aromatherapy shower gel
4. chicken floss + bread = Breadtalk innovative bread
5. Air conditioner + Air purifier = air purifying conditioner
6. Raisin + normal bread = Raisin bread

Take a deep breath, paused for a while and look around the room. Are there things you could mix and match them together to create the next breakthough ideas? Hhmm... something to ponder about. The fact is, there are many.

There are actually a lot more ideas that you could deduce from the other mathematical concepts such as the concept of "substration", "multiplication" and "division". This could be applied anywhere, anytime at home, office, or your next business venture. I'll share more examples of how to get creative using the other concepts in my next blog. You can visit my blog next time or you could sign up for the 'Sunday Series'

newsletter, and I'll keep you inform once my blog is updated.

I now realised creative is not born, it's a learnable concept, if you understand the concepts. Subscribed to our newsletters

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If you like what you read, it’ll be cool if you can leave a Comment as well. I’ll definitely appreciate it very much because I read every single Comment posted here personally

Take care.

Kian