Live Your Dream

Action will remove the doubt that theory cannot solve. - Tehyi Hsieh

Many of us live a life, but not many of us are living a life we want to live. Having left Corporate Singapore at the end of 2007, life has been a dream for me.

Why?

I'm achieving many things which I had always wanted to do, but excuses often got the better of me. I had no time, I was exhausted, I was overwhelmed. You know the story.

In the past 5 months, there weren't any excuses left for me. Guess what? I just did what I had to do. Here's the list of actions taken;

1 I wrote and published a book.
2 I set up a company
3 I set up my website (with level 3 eCommerce capbility)
4 I started this blog
5 I contributed articles to 10 websites
6 I ran a longer weekly distance than I ever did in my life
7 I created a Sales Training Program
8 I spent more time with the family

and read more books than I ever did.

Who says you can't live your dream? I'm living mine.

Wait no further!

There is only one success - to be able to spend your life in your own way. - Christopher Morley

Be Your Own Brand

Be Your Own Brand

Originality is simply a pair of fresh eyes. – THOMAS W.HIGGINSON

Branding, in a simple manner of speaking, is a way of saying that something belongs to us. You own your body, your personality, so you are in every sense of the word, your brand.

Brands carry values. These can be functional, expressive and central values. Functional values concerns product performance. Rolex watches deliver quality timekeeping; Coca Cola refreshes; Singapore Airlines offers high quality customer service.

Expressive values focuses on what the consumer wants. Harley Davidson motorbikes epitomises freedom and adventure; Tag Heuer watches convey youthfulness and athleticism.

Central values form the key to any product and it permeates the very core of consumer’s belief systems. Virgin, through its founder Sir Richard Branson, conveys an image of irreverence and daring do. Apple, through its iMac, iBook and iPod, convey iconic ownership status.

How then can we be a brand?

Our functional value can be the way we work, the way we carry out tasks, the way we solve problems. We can convey a sense of dependability and credibility by the way we carry out our duties and responsibilities, on the work, family and social fronts. Punctuality, thoroughness, efficiency are manifestations of our functional values.

We can convey our expressive values through our attire, our adornments (watches, jewellery, cars) and our hobbies. It is revealed through the music we listen to, the books and magazines we read, the movies we watch. These reveal our personality, how we feel about ourselves and how we want the world to see us. These can work for or against us, depending on the image we want to portray and the environmental context we are in. For instance, trying to look Bohemian in a

legal firm, for example, would not be too appropriate.

Central values are within us and it shows itself through our character. These values are revealed in the way we treat our family, our co-workers and our friends. It is unveiled in times of crisis, in times of celebrations and in times of achievement. It manifests itself through our integrity. It shows what we really stand for in life. Central values are what we really are and it is felt by one and all who encounter us.

We are, therefore, in many ways a brand. How we want to position ourselves to others is entirely up to us. But the values must match the positioning, otherwise our `branding’ becomes a fallacy.
See yourself as a brand. Discover your own Unique Selling Proposition and create your own story.

Never Measure The Volume Of The Sea Using A Scoop

This Chinese saying cautions against making decisons and judgements based on minimal information. It is a natural tendency to make cursory analysis based on first impressions, particularly in the area of human relationships. There is usually much typecasting and stereotyping that such and such a personality can't be trusted, or that someone looks so dependable.

Looks can be utterly deceiving!

There is much wisdom in this sage advice. I for one have been proven wrong many a time when I relied on a first glance, superficial assessment of a particular person or a business situation.

Truly, one can't measure the volume of the sea using buckets for that matter, let alone a scoop. Hence, avoid making superficial or cursory assessments on anyone or any given situation. Much more needs to be uncovered before making a judgement or decision.

The World Is Flat

Am reading Thomas Friedman's book The World Is Flat. It's a treasure trove of revelations. Like the 10 forces that flattened the world; just mind boggling. Freidman landscapes the present and future scenarios and not surprisingly, mentions blogging as a flattener.

Well, in case you're wondering what's a flattener, it's a phenomenon or event that greatly levels the global playing field. Think Berlin Wall, World Wide Web, Uploading, You Tube, Self Publishing, Outsourcing.

As with Chris Anderson's book The Long Tail, The World Is Flat is akin to looking at a crystal ball and envisaging what the future holds.

Apologies for the dramatics, but I strongly feel that it's a worthy read.

Your Thoughts Create Your Future

If you had read Rhonda Byrne's book on The Secret, my bet is that you would embark on a serious personal campaign to manage what thoughts go into your mind. Basically, the Law of Attraction states that everything that is coming into your life, you are attracting it!

We are creating our future with our thoughts. Thoughts become reality, so thinking positive thoughts create positive outcomes; negative thoughts create negative outcomes. And whatever we think, we attract from within the Universe.

Our future is certainly not uncertain. We can manage it; provided we think the right stuff.

Feed your mind, with healthy thoughts.