Jeff 's Daily Excellence Pill

In between gongfu performances that displayed their amazing agility, and mental and physical prowess, these young men showed me yet another side to the very serious nature of martial arts.  When it's time to play, you play with passion, 100% passion.  How often do you play your life with 100% passion? Start now!

Visited Shaolin Temple in central China last week - it's my fourth time in two years!   Watching the performers and martial arts experts there always inspires and motivates me and this trip gave me more of the same wonderful experience.  Here's some pictures.

imagine standing on one leg for hours

wOw!!

the intensity (just look at her eyes!)

the joy of achievement (ah.... the beautiful smile)

This is another of life's lessons from my 10 year old Hannah (who seems to be wiser than her 10 years!). I brought her for a session of archery the other day and her attitude towards this ancient sport was a timely reminder of how to live our lives.  It's interesting that Hannah's telling us to: 

- Focus Intensely on our targets and goals in life, and then,

- Enjoy the Moment when we hit the target! 

We often forget to enjoy the moment and that's a shame isn't it?  So take a moment now to reflect on all your recent achievements, and enjoy the experience and put a huge smile on your face.  All this means is you shift your attitude and get in a better state to face the day - which is what we need everyday.  Do it now!

I've met a few people lately who are a little overwhelmed by life's little hiccups. They all wanted quick fix solutions to continue charging around at 100kmh everyday. Instead, what did I suggest they do? I gave them a slow fix solution! I shared with them the secrets from the best and most successful in the world who all take the first few minutes of the day to spend quality time with themselves.  That's right - it's such a simple thing to do and it's something we can all do isn't it? Start the day right by spending quality time with ourselves!

Of course, most of us would say "I have no time", "I'm always running late", "too many things to do in the morning" ......  But what if it took only 5 minutes? I'm sure we can all spare just 5 minutes each morning to do a little deep breathing, a little reading, a little reflection and journaling.  5 minutes - that's all it takes and I know everyone can spare the first 5 minutes of the morning to get in touch with our best friend - ourself!  

How does this work?  It's no different from warming up and stretching before vigorous exercise, or switching on the lights when entering a dark room, or making sure we have everything we need before we fly off on vacation.  In other words - it's all about preparation and your 5 minute ritual every morning will prepare you for the day to come.

Once we do this (for just 5 minutes by yourself each morning 365 days of the year), we'll be so much more prepared for life's little hiccups and curve balls and surprises, wouldn't you agree?

That's my daughter, Hannah, in a photo from a few years ago enjoying a hose down in the garden. Her smile is one of sheer joy in the simple pleasures in life - like taking a shower in the garden!

Life's too complicated isn't it? So just for this week, let's all enjoy what kids enjoy ok?  And that's to have absolute fun!  And after this week enjoy another week of fun, and then the week after and the week after ......  In other words, make having fun a habit.

Yesterday was an interesting day.  I had the "pleasure" of speaking to 3 different customer service providers.  It was an odd, frustrating, hair-pulling, hypertension-inducing, heart-stopping experience each time!!  And what caused this?  These people from the customer service department needed to discuss some issues with my house move, and yet, within 3 words of answering their question, I'd be interrupted, interrupted again, and then interrupted repeatedly with every few words I uttered.  I was thinking to myself, "What's the point of asking me a question if you don't bother listening to the answer that would make your job much easier?!!"

I had to finally resort to shouting at them a simple conversation strategy (yes, I really had to shout loud!).  I told them "one person talks and the other listens and we'll get through this conversation really well".  This simple strategy worked and we actually got down to the crux of the issue.  After all, if both are talking at the same time who's listening?

How often have we been guilty of interrupting someone who's answering our question? Next time this happens  -  Shh... Hush .... Quiet... Listen and may the "one person talks and the other listens" strategy live forever!

Had a really hectic day today.  Met three people during the day, and then had two Skype meetings in the evening.  That's five people, and almost six hours of meetings.  And at 10:40pm tonight as I write this, all these meetings have left me completely energized, utterly motivated and full of optimism.  That's what happens when you meet passionate, honest and congruent people - they recharge you and fill up your tank!

While I don't suggest meeting five people in a day, it's clear that spending time with just one great person a week is really just what the good doctor prescribes. Who have you planned to meet this week that will make a wonderful difference in your life?  If you haven't, do it now!!

For some strange reason during an internet search, I found myself diverted to Time.com's First Annual Blog Index. It's an interesting list and I noticed Time.com had rated the blog of one of my favorite books, Freakonomics - the hidden side of everything. Some really interesting questions are posed in the book, e.g., "Which is more dangerous, a gun or a swimming pool? What do schoolteachers and sumo wrestlers have in common? Why do drug dealers still live with their moms?" The blog continues asking and answering such unusual questions.

What I love about the book is that it turns conventional wisdom on its head. And that's exactly what we need to do in life isn't it? Instead of always following the herd and going where everyone goes, thinks, feels and acts, imagine what type of interesting life you'll have when you follow your heart and passion.

So do something to add that little Zing and Zest to your life. It could be as simple as taking a different route to work in the morning, or having lunch with someone super interesting outside your usual circle of friends, or planning to go skydiving in the Spring. Zing and Zest - You deserve it!

Kids know the secret to a great life. In fact most of them probably follow the great Nike tag line of "Just do It". They don't need proof, they don't need evidence, they don't need a written assurance to do something. All they need is to answer one key question, "Is this going to be fun?" and off they go with gusto, enthusiasm, 100% effort. Their reward? They experience sheer pleasure!

What happens to these kids then? They start growing up and society and culture stops their fun and makes them serious boring adults!

The next time you're faced with too many choices that all have large degrees of uncertainty, imagine you were a kid again and when you make your decision, you might find the kid in you showing you the way, so that passion, pleasure and fun is a natural consequence! Learn from kids - they have lots to teach us. Life is short so enjoy every moment of it!

Okay, I really wanted to share Seth Godin's book, Purple Cow, with you. It's got nothing to do with red elephants or pink hippos.

I first laid eyes on Purple Cow way before I knew who Seth Godin was and the book cover forced my eyes to look at it. It had the spots of a cow on it but the spots were purple! Then I read the book and what a difference it's made to my life. While it's essentially a marketing and branding book that tells companies to be different and stand out from the crowd, we can certainly apply this idea to our personal lives as we prepare to blast off from this annoying thing called the global recession.

Why not become a purple cow yourself and stand out from the crowd and be noticed? Instead of waiting for things to happen, why not prepare yourself before things happen? Instead of wishing and hoping for things to change, why not take charge and do something about it? Instead of blending in with the crowd, why not force people to take notice of you?

Good news is that to stand out from the crowd, all you need is to become an expert at just one thing - the one thing you're most passionate about! It could be reading unusual books, it could be public speaking, it could be good food, it could be writing, it could be Chinese martial arts (hey - this is a list of all my passions!) it could be anything. As long as you have a passion for something that means a great deal to you, it's easy to become an expert and people will start to notice you for all the right reasons, and life becomes oh so much better. Become a Red Elephant, or Pink Hippo, or Purple Cow! Now!!

This is a world class world famous painting by the late Yves Klein. I first saw it in a museum in Paris and thought to myself, "gee, this is so ridiculously simple and even I could have done it." Trouble is I didn't do it, hadn't thought of it, and probably never will. By the way, this painting is really a canvas of ultramarine blue paint. Simple, pure, elegant. And that's why I like it.

Imagine life being simple, pure and elegant. I suspect very strongly that we would all really live happily ever after. Yet, humans have this strong desire to complicate matters when simplicity, common sense and more simplicity is the order of the day. I realized this myself some time back and it's no wonder that my favorite authors today have this unique ability to follow the KISS rule (Keep It Simple, Stupid) when explaining pretty complex issues. For marketing ideas, I devour everything from Dan Kennedy and Seth Godin, for inspiration, there's no one better than Robin Sharma (check out his books The Greatness Guide and Who Will Cry When You Die), and the list goes on.

Don't just know about KISS, become a KISSer yourself! In other words, embrace KISS, live KISS, and be the ultimate KISSER. Start by looking at the difficult parts of your life that cause you the most grief and stress on a daily basis. Ask yourself what really really causes the grief and stress (and be honest here), and you'll probably find just one key area that when tackled first and done well, will eliminate all the other stress points! Simple isn't it? Find the source and do something about it. KISS, KISS, KISS and your life becomes simple, pure and elegant!

Just read Malcolm Gladwell's new book, "Outliers: The Story of Success". Like his previous books, "The Tipping Point" and "Blink", "Outliers" offers a fascinatingly different look at humans, human behavior, and with his latest offering, how the super successful got there. I won't spoil your enjoyment of the book so I won't say anymore about it - just go grab a copy now!

What I will share with you is one interesting chapter from the book. Gladwell says that genius is a product of the 10,000 hour rule. In other words, if we practice a skill for 10,000 hours, we reach genius or near genius levels at that skill. 10,000 hours - wow, how many of us have the patience, determination and single-mindedness to doggedly pursue a dream in today's "I want it now" society? Think about this as you ponder your place in the world and what you want to become or pursue in life! Natural talent and creativity are great starting points but determination to achieve and excel to become the best in your field will ultimately make the difference. And to excel there's a simple formula - you work for it!!

I told a group of friends a few months ago that the recession is the best thing that could happen to them. No, I haven't gone mad - not yet anyway. The recession is the best thing to happen to ALL of us because it gives us a good reason to ask the difficult questions about what we need and want in life, and where our life is heading. The end result is that we look deep within ourselves to understand who we are and why we're here on Earth!

George Bernard Shaw, the famous Irish playwright, once said,


I first heard this quote a few years ago as I was faced with an absolutely uncertain life. I had reached a major crossroad in my life as I had to leave the very safe and well-paid confines of being a pilot to venture out to the real world. After serving as a military pilot for 26 years, I felt I didn't have the skills, I was too old to be a businessman, I didn't have the experience, etc, etc. My entire vocabulary consisted of I cannot, I don’t have, I don’t know…. It was all pretty negative.

Then I heard George Bernard Shaw's wonderful little quote, and I’d like to now say that it changed my life right there and then but unfortunately, that didn't happen so quickly. But what it did was to set my mind in motion to ask myself how good did I want to be in life, and even more importantly, how good did I dare be!

That theme has fascinated me ever since – how good do people dare to be? The Steve Jobs of the world, the Bill Gates of the world, even the David Beckhams of the world are those that choose not to follow the rules and do the safe thing. They dared to dream and they dared to follow their dream.

This idea emerged again last week when I met about 300+ fresh graduates and young adults with a few years of working experience. The gathering was for me to share my views on how they could attract me, as a business owner, to notice them in an overcrowded and saturated job market. I told them that while educational qualifications will get them noticed, passion would get them the job. A young lady was following my message very closely and agreed that passion and soft skills training was the way to go, especially in a city like Shanghai with over 6 million new graduates fighting for 5 million jobs. What really caught my attention was despite her agreeing with me on the need for passion, she ended with the words “But realistically speaking….”

I had to interrupt her immediately, and that’s not something I usually do! She went from passionate and filled with hope to completely deflated in a flash just by saying those awful words "but realistically speaking". Was David Beckham realistic when he signed a USD250million dollar contract to play soccer in the USA? Was Bill Gates realistic when he envisioned "a PC on every table" over 20 years ago? Was Steve Jobs realistic when he said "being fired from Apple was the best thing that happened to me". Were they being realistic or did they dare to be the best?

Psychology Today offers great advice on how to change. Check out their post Strategic Change for an interesting read. The biggest takeaway I got from that post was to "Take a Risk". Even if you're not a risk taker, take a few mini risks, remember the great adrenaline flow you felt as you thought about it and when you successfully did and, and then take more mini-risks again. With each little experiment, you’ll realize that it’s easy to change, it's fun to change, and most of all, you can change to be what you must be to enjoy your life to the fullest!

"How good do you dare to be?" The only answer is "The very best!" With this mindset, economic woes and financial crisis are nothing but a small blimp on your horizon.

Dream It Live It
Jeff Tan