I just read something interesting about policies in organizations in the book “Rework” by Jason Fried. He suggests that the urge to create a policy because someone did something wrong or when something goes wrong, it amounts to scarring the organization. “Someone slept on the couch till 5 mins after lunch!”, New Policy- “Every time you want to use a couch, you need to have an alarm beside you to wake you up.” How ridiculous is that?

It does suck, especially when it’s not your fault
Why is there a need to have a collective punishment for all just because of an individual’s misdeed? You could give a stern warning at first or tell the person not to do it again. If he/she persists, then it’s the problem with him or her. Nothing really to do with the whole team. It is not only unfair to punish the whole team but it creates the much hated culture of bureaucracy, one policy at a time. Tragic.

When to have policies then?
The above is how policies can ruin or degenerate a good culture. However, I do agree that policies are important for certain situations though. If the problem is collective and keeps coming up over and over again. If something keeps going wrong, it might be the system or the lack of checks put in place which affects everyone, not only a certain individual. You will see this when something goes wrong very often or people get recalcitrant. Thus, it becomes a collective problem and maybe a policy to correct or put certain regulation in place for people to follow and solve the problem.

Find the policy/welfare sweet spot.
There is big talk about welfare too. Policies and welfare don’t exactly go hand in hand but I think by considering welfare of the people before implementing a policy, it will make a policy seem less invasive and more respectable. Welfare usually means that there is a chance to bend the rules a little to give people some breathing space to take a step back and enjoy certain privileges. Policies tend to crush welfare, strangle it by the neck and control it, leading to mistrust and negativity. What can be done is to complement the policies and welfare. There can be some give and take when it comes to being stringent or flexible. Make some policies stretchable or less stringent while making welfare more accessible while still observing some rules in the policies made.

Yes, there might be scarring in an organization’s culture through the wrong implementation of policies. I believe that finding the balance between welfare and policies might just do the trick of creating a better and more versatile culture. This can allow the people to express themselves better, fear less and do more, feeling less forced and more motivated.

Love,?Kelvin Kaizen Koh

Policies- A form of Organizational Culture Scarring? is a post from: Kaizenkoh's Life's Journey and Lessons

Some people call me positive, I call myself a possiblist. Whenever someone says “cannot!”, I say “try first!” However, I realized that when it comes to my father, I start to negate the negative and think less of the possibilities and what can be done to move forward. In other words, I start using negative language and sound negative. I think this behaviour is a cause of being emotional.

When my dad does something “outrageous” or out of line which is very usual, I will roll my eyes and say he will make a fool out of himself. For example, parking in some illegal parking lot. Though he got away thousands of times he still got fined many times. After each fine he will go and appeal with some reasons which he deemed valid and got the fine voided. However, most of the time, I said he will not be able to do so because they already had a record of him being a multiple offender and will reject his appeal. Guess what? I was wrong each time I said that. He manage to appeal and get the fine voided. -.-

Instead of negating the negative. Which means, trying to say “it’s not possible to get out!” because you are already in deep trouble or saying “you should not have done it in the first place!”, I’ve learnt that we ought to look forward. Look at what’s possible. Do this by changing a few things.

Changing my thinking
I have to see things as they are, especially problems. What state are we in now? What’s the situation? Is it really that bad?, maybe not.

Think about “what can be done for the future?” How do we prevent the problem from happening again? More importantly, think that it is possible to get out of the deep end onto dry land.

Instead of being too emotional about the situation and retorting back negatively straight away, take a step back and mentally assess the situation, then think forward.

Change my language
We react emotionally sometimes and what comes out of our mouth does not reflect well about what we want to mean to change. We have to be aware of the language and the words used.

The point is, keep quiet first, think about what can be done, then think about how you are going to express it. Are you going to be harsh and nag or serious, firm and assertive? Nagging, usually expressed in past tense, and focusing on what has been done does not help put the other party into the “what can be done next” state but hinder him from doing that. We will need to use future tenses and focus on what can be done while expressing it in a serious and firm tone.

Instead of saying “why did you do it so badly! You should have done better after practise!”, say “You might have been careless, but I am sure with more practise, you will be able to do well again next time”. The meanings are almost similar but expressed very differently.

My dad has the wonderful ability to say “let’s try first!”, ignoring external critics. He is able to “play with the possible”. He looks forward and has the confidence to try things out first before thinking or saying that it cannot be done. By trying to negate his negatives, I learnt that it’s much better thinking and changing the way we speak to others about how to think forward and solve problems. Try it and may you be amazed that you will end up getting more done well and becoming happier.

Love,
Kelvin Kaizen Koh

Don’t Negate the Negative, Just Play with the Possible is a post from: Kaizenkoh's Life's Journey and Lessons

I like to give. Giving make me happy. Without giving, I will be reluctant to take. I realized that taking is as important as giving though. It is alright to take after you give and I’ve learnt this as a good value to take note of based on a few reasons.

It is polite and courteous to take after giving
After you give something e.g. a favour or a token of appreciation, it does not mean that the other person owes you anything. It just means that he is given a reason to give back and for you to take. If he does so with his heart, he is acting out of his kindness and is trying to be fair to repay the favour in some way. By receiving something from him in the future e.g. a gift for the favour done, you are expressing a form of gratitude. This extends your consideration or courtesy of taking his gift as a value of his gratitude which will make him feel like he has repaid the favour in some kind.

Accept, not reject “taking” back.
Building upon from the above reason, you might even consider rejecting the person’s gift which you ought to take. I do this quite often because I feel that the person does not owe me anything nor do I have the need for the gift or return of favour. However, just by rejecting the “return of favour”, more often than not, you’ve made the person feel bad. He feels bad because he wants you to accept it wholeheartedly but you did not allow it and pushed it back to him. He feels rejected and maybe even dejected. He subconscious might question himself “is my gift not good enough for you?” and other drifting negative thoughts which might not be true. This makes you look bad in the end, though you have your good reasons not to accept the gift. Point it, don’t think so much, when something is returned in favour, accept it, it will make the giving party feel good.

Reason for you to do more good
By accepting and taking back after giving, you now have a reason to do more good for the person. You will be compelled to be kinder and considerate to the other person’s needs. This builds on the relationship or friendship and the principle to reciprocate. You will be seen as someone who is willing to help whenever they need help. They will be willing to give back to you as long as you accept it gladly, while you will be willing to help them because they gave back. It’s the cycle of give and take.

Of course with the above being said, we cannot hide from the fact that people take our “givings” and favours for granted sometimes and never give back. Those are the people who take without giving and we would naturally stay away from them. For those who do give back, however, there are good reasons like the above to accept what they’ve returned, be it in kind or physical gifts. Give as much as you can, but remember to take back too =).

Love,
Kelvin Kaizen Koh

To Give and Take is a post from: Kaizenkoh's Life's Journey and Lessons

It has been 7 days since the start of the New Year. This is day 8. So far, I am happy with my progress. It has been a busy week though not rest depriving as of yet. Sunday shall be recovery day and today shall be reflection day.

Blogging Everyday
Though I did not declare, I’ve made a promise to myself to try to blog every day since the start of new year, stretching the goal of blogging more often, doing the extreme. I’d be honest. I am writing this on Sunday, not the Saturday as the date stated above. In fact, some of the above posts were only completed 1 day after. Therefore, I’ve missed a few days but made it look like I blogged everyday. It doesn’t really matter though. In relative terms to last year, I’ve made tremendous progress. Last year, I barely blogged once every month. This year, my keyboard is dirtier in 1 week than the whole of last year combined.

Although I made it look I blogged everyday, I am proud to announce that I managed to blog almost everyday since the start of the year (technically). That took me much discipline and perseverance because there were days when I did feel like not blogging. However, I told myself that there is information out there or that I’ve experienced in the week where I found interesting and ought to be shared and I should make the effort to craft something meaningful.

Distraction Cut Out!
Another contributing factor to my progress was the decision to cut off MSN temporarily. I know, I did say I will cut it off for 1 month entirely but I needed to use it to communicate and arrange meetings with people so I ended up using it anyway. I disciplined myself to access it only at night. My friends were asking me about the commitment, I told them the above reason, which is true. I think I can go one step in answer to cut down usage. I will only access it a few minutes before I sleep then go off exactly the time when I planned to sleep. Let’s experiment with that next week =).

Cutting off distractions is a gradual process as I’ve described in my previous post : My Commitment to Cut Out Distractions. What are your distractions in 2010 that you risk being affected by in 2011 as well? Consider them and take steps to try to cut them out. It will do you good as it has done for me, even in just 1 week.

Crafting and Delivering My Advanced Speech
Another success I would like to highlight is the speed I was able to craft a speech in a shorter time then I expected. I often read and am told that we need not craft perfect speeches. I feel that we need to have a sense and attitude of excellence though. In Toastmasters, every speaking chance is another precious moment to practise a speech. If we don’t put in the effort to craft or prepare a speech that will have an impact for the audience, you will feel that you’ve let yourself down even more. It has happened before to me. I crafted a speech, did not practise and fell horribly flat during delivery. You can see it in the eyes of the audience right after the speech ends, they aren’t impressed. Whereas, when I prepare a great speech, practise it and deliver it with confidence, it gives the audience something to enjoy and think about the subject/topic spoken about. Ok, that was a small digression…

Even though I crafted my speech on Wednesday which was supposed to be delivered on Thursday, I was able to deliver it with confidence. However, the Advanced Speech Projects absolutely need a higher level of skill in crafting a great speech. I fell short in the “content” aspect of the speech and was evaluated and marked down based on that. That will be my focus for future speeches and I will be strategizing as well as seeking advice on how to improve on content.

Lastly, I would like to share points about being inspired.
In my previous post, I talked about the things I’ve learnt while leading in the army. However,  that particular place really isn’t an inspiring place to be in. I try my best to get inspired by sources outside. From static materials like books, videos, articles and websites to dynamic experiences with people and other organizations like Toastmasters. Getting inspired isn’t really that hard at all.

If you’ve noticed, most of the posts I’ve created touch about motivation and inspiration themes in one way or another. By creating such posts, it reinforces the things I’ve learnt in the materials, people and other experiences. I think that’s the reason I am keen to focus on creating posts on such topics too. So that’s one way of getting inspired, reflecting and creating something (e.g. writing/blogging) about it.

Another way I discovered that’s very important is meeting people who you can learn from and continue to get inspired to take action. We must be willing to go out there, pursue our passions and meet people to learn from. By joining Toastmasters, I’ve networked and managed to meet very motivated people who consistently take action for the organization and other passions of theirs. Just by meeting them, knowing them, listening to them, you will feel like you can make a difference and will be spurred on to do so as well. It is that powerful. So, I do encourage all to join an organization or group whereby there are people you can look to for support and more importantly, inspiration.

That all for now…
These are a few of the learning points for this week. I plan to write more useful and practical information with a personal touch. This is mainly for application sake. After all, what good is knowledge and reflections if they can’t be applied for future use. What do you think? What style of blogging should I adopt? Would like to hear from you too.

I hope this post inspires you to take more action and have a great 2nd week in this wonderful new year.

With Love,
Kelvin “Kaizen” Koh

Week 1 Round-Up is a post from: Kaizenkoh's Life's Journey and Lessons

Well, not exactly very long. I had to wait 50 weeks before the 2 weeks break which went by in a glimpse of an eye. It’s was indeed an eye opening experience during the first day I stepped into the office this year. It was mostly mentally frustrating though as the flaws of the systems in the office unveiled themselves. That totally made my Tuesday feel like a week instead of a day. I went home quite tired out.

There are big problems with the work environment which won’t be and can’t be changed unless the people want to change. I feel like blaming people and things but I will take it as if I am responsible for most things though my sphere of influence is small, I still have a small stake in influence as I am somewhat playing a mini-leader role. Below are a few problems and “sound” solutions which seemed to work well when I am put in charge of leading.

People don’t initiate and direct, I do
Honestly, I am glad that I am given this mini-leader role because I have learnt a lot from it. I learnt that I have to lead myself first, then lead others. I would very much like to take on the mindset of being there for only 2 years and getting such a low pay, thus the work and effort I put in should be relative, but I can’t seem to. I have the urge to be responsible for any work I am given because there are always consequences, good or bad, depending how you do it.

With this sense of responsibility, I need to act and get things done by starting first, to initiate. I noticed this seemed to work well too. Once I start doing the work, some people will automatically follow, others won’t. They won’t because they don’t know how to or don’t want to. If they don’t know how to, I will teach them and they learn and do. If they don’t want to, they will end up feeling somewhat guilty, seeing me start and others follow and start doing the work anyway. For those who are dead reluctant to start, they eventually understand the consequences like being despised or even outcasted. Of course, it doesn’t really get to that extreme but it is a possibility.

The phrase “lead by example” is truly practical and ought to be taken literally.

People don’t see a need to put in the effort to THINK how to get things done efficiently and effectively, I do
Firstly, people will need to at least care for the work. This isn’t motivation but rather having the sense of responsibility which I described earlier on. Next, they will need to understand that there needs to be a system to follow, a step by step approach to get the work done. Then, to deal with changes when they arise and tweak the system accordingly for optimal results.

The problem arises when people don’t bother to go through that thought process. Likewise, they might not know how to. For those who don’t know how to, there are always people around to direct them. However, for those who know they can, don’t want to THINK.

I find it quite sad. Being in school for about 15 years for most of us, we were made to think every single day to tackle classwork or homework. When it came to work, the brain just seems to shut down. The education system has seemingly failed to instill practical wisdom in students. Though that’s another issue altogether, I can see it’s effect on people at work.

We need to have the belief that things are possible to get done efficiently and effectively. The next step is just to THINK how to do it and then DO IT. 1,2 steps and things get going and get done. Tweak along the way and get things done better. I am repeating it because it is worth repeating and remembering. It isn’t so hard to do, so people, DO IT.

People just don’t have the motivation, I try to have it.
This is the most important reason. It is the crux of the matter. The place I work in has neither extrinsic nor does it arouse intrinsic motivation. Without this, people won’t feel driven to start work much less completing the work. They won’t even bother being responsible, therefore, won’t even bother to think about how to do things properly. Other factors include things like the boss, things will NEVER be finished as there is always things to be done or the fact that they don’t know how to do. That is the general mindset and I don’t blame them because of the situation/place we are all in.

However, being given a responsibility to be a mini-leader, it means I am also responsible for the people and how they perform. Therefore, I have no choice but to lead well. I force myself to have the motivation by having a positive mindset about things. For example, I treat them as my friends or how I would like them to treat me. When I start to do things, I ask them do it too but also do it along with them, not just leaving them to do it alone. This has seem to work.

So what do I do?
I do what I can do. When people don’t do things, nothing moves. I guess the only way for them to do things is to make myself the example to initiate the process and direct those who don’t know what to do to do them. For those who really don’t know how, I try my best to help. Like what I mentioned earlier too, I genuinely become their friends and lend support even outside the workplace. This builds trust and ultimately good working relationships which enables things to flow and get done easier.

It indeed takes a lot to lead. You have to be aware of your attitude, character and of course actions that have an effect or have an impact on people. Leadership is also experimental. You need to test out what works to lead some people and what doesn’t. People prefer to be lead differently as they are different. To lead well, you will need to find a balance between the pressures of work as well as the relationships between the people.

Well, that’s just some of my thoughts of leading and how I manage to overcome some obstacles while trying to lead and gain support to get work done. For those leaders out there, “The only real training for leadership is leadership”.

With Love,
Kelvin

Leadership Epiphany in The A*** is a post from: Kaizenkoh's Life's Journey and Lessons

Ignore the title. This is a huge disclaimer that is the irony. In actual fact, I don’t recommend multitasking, especially with work. However, based on certain circumstances, you will need to multitask and complete the tasks as well as you would if you are focused only on one task. I had this wonderful experience in such a long time today at Telok Blangah Toastmaster’s Club SpeechCraft Session #3.

Due to certain changes in the program and waiting time for replies, I was challenged to look for more evaluators for the speakers within the Holiday Month (Xmas and New Year) whereby most people are busy. I tried my best but still could not find enough to replace myself. So I ended up taking up the role. I also took on an Advanced Project from the Storytelling manual. All these were on top of organizing the meeting and coordinating it, being the host then. I ended up doing 4 things for and in the meeting, Coordinator, Host/Introducer, Speaker and Evaluator.

I eventually managed to handle all the roles pretty well, albeit some hiccups here and there. The main reason was because they were all not all to be done at one go. Technically speaking, it isn’t the typical multitasking at a certain moment but rather multitasking for the different periods in the same session of “work”.

Even if it’s so, by multitasking in this manner, I learnt that I am able to do it despite it being seemingly overwhelming. This gives me the confidence to take on projects or tasks in the similar situation and execute. I have identified a few areas that one will experience, learn and accomplish by plucking up the courage to multitask in such a manner.

Be clear of the action steps
I mentioned that I was the coordinator of SpeechCraft. This meant I had control over the planning of the meeting and was the leader during the session itself. This given role meant that I had to learn to be clear about what I am doing and how it can affect the whole session’s procedure.
Planning and coordinating meetings is a dynamic process and not absolutely step by step. The level of awareness has to be very high. Having to be aware of the people, what want to do and whether they will end up not doing or pull out are concerns of a planner like myself. I will then need to take the action steps to rectify the problems of “pulling out” if it does happen by either getting replacements or dropping a slot (like speaking).

During the sessions, I will need to organize the materials to be used at each point of the different roles I will be playing. For example, at the start of the meeting, I have an introduction sheet to the meeting program and the various things I need to speak on (agenda for the day, revision etc.). Then, it moves on to introducing the next segment and so on. While doing evaluation, I will need my rough paper, template and the Speaker’s manual. As you can see, in reality, things can get messy logistically.

You can tell from the above examples that I was indeed clear about what I needed to do and the appropriate action steps to take. I managed to plan the session well and dealt with the last minute changes. During the session, I was clear about the materials I needed to prepare and action to take at each segment of the session. However, this leads me to the next point to…

Stay calm and focused
The hiccups I mentioned was not because I was nervous but rather feeling a little overwhelmed at times. A gush of adrenaline and stress hormones seemed to be made active. My brain went from no stress to distress and I became careless and unfocused. The action steps taken were sometimes messy and all over the place, whilst I involuntarily missed out or forgot some points to note.

Staying calm and focused while facing change and transition is indeed difficult and easier said than done. There are ways to do so though.

One of which I found to be useful is to be prepared and confident about following through. By going through mentally on the spot what has to be done next allows your conscious and subconscious mind to be prepared to take the next action in a confident manner. Think about “What’s the next best step?” will trigger the answers or at least more relevant questions to be addressed concerning the situation. When I thought of the “next best step”, quickly assessing it’s consequence (usually good) and doing it, you tend to feel more focused and calm, in turn becoming more efficient and effective in execution of the tasks.

Know that there’s always support groups

Although I would love to clone myself sometimes, that’s not entirely possible. What I am grateful for however, is the support that I know I have and can get. In Toastmasters, my support groups are my Exco members and dedicated Toastmasters from other clubs.

While I’ve feared about not being able to handle things, I know that there is always a group of people supporting me. This is definitely reassuring for someone who’s planning because organizing the sessions can be (although it’s better not) a one-man show, but running them is a team game. Luckily, I have both groups supporting me for both organizing and running. My role seems to be the glue to bring the appropriate people together to run a successful session.

This is support by the groups is sustained by being grateful and appreciative, reciprocating the favors in a long term, especially when they need help. In a non-profit organisation like Toastmasters, we don’t trade money for favours but favours with favours and it takes a big heart to commit and do so, making it more meaningful. I am always grateful when I ask for help and I show this through my reciprocation of favours (e.g. helping out at their meetings). This is not just fair trade, it is essential trade to preserve good relations and bond the group together.

Just to end off…

As you can see, multitasking in such circumstances isn’t that bad, as long as you know what to do. The thing is, know when and how to multitask and aim to multitask well. Don’t multitask when not need as it has been proven to lower quality of work. However by multitasking the way I did has indeed taught me how to be more efficient and effective as well as less careless, more careful in dealing with people and things. I felt the sense of achievement at the end of the session when my support group and I managed to ensure the smooth proceedings and we all left happy, enriched and fulfilled. From what I know, more of this to come, in school, at work, especially when planning and running programs like workshops or events. At least I know now, I can do it!

With love,
Kelvin

I am able to multitask! Well, not really unless… is a post from: Kaizenkoh's Life's Journey and Lessons

In life, we have our ups and downs. We make mistakes, big mistakes that are life changing but after making those mistakes, we feel miserable. So miserable that we want to change our lives and get things back on track. I think this is what happened to one individual, Mr Ted Williams. His story made headlines after being another “youtube sensation”. However, I feel that his sudden good fortune goes deeper and lies in his life story. Ted Williams a normal life, making big mistakes like getting addicted to drugs dragged him down to a miserable painful state, only to have a stroke of luck and a short “showcase” of his skill which he developed, led him to a life change for the better. A fuller explanation in this story : Man with the Golden Voice

As much as the media loves controversy stories (usually negative) and feeds the minds of the public every single day with them, sudden doses of inspirational stories like this one can make a difference and shift the thinking of the public to a more positive one. We’ve seen it happen many times in these recent years, the most famous one being Susan Boyle which incidentally, stories like these will get referenced to. Ted Williams did not stun judges like Susan Boyle did, but he did something which all “sensations” did, reaching out to touch the minds and hearts of millions of people. View the video that made him famous and you’ll understand why.

Such a short 1 minute video managed to encapsulate his story of struggle and his desire for a better life when he’s down. What made Ted Williams so special and inspirational to me can be summarized in the following points.

Hope
Ted Williams was decisive. He decided he had hope. He found the strength in god which he is repeated in the video and interviews with him time again. He found strength in himself, with the desire and drive to change for a better life. He did not want himself to destroy his own mind and own soul, knowing what he was and is still good at, using his voice.

His golden voice which was his talent in turn offered people who are down and out hope too. It gives people a glimpse of how, no matter how down and out we are in life, there is always a way out for a better life. All we have to look is at our mindset, skills, talents and desire for one.

Humbleness and Being Genuine
If you watched the video carefully and try to identify the kind of person Ted is that’s makes him so attractive, you would notice that it is not how he looked but how he made people feel. Of course, the showcase of his voice was the Unique Selling Point that create a theme that allowed the video to go viral, but it was his character and sense of identity that managed to draw people in, take notice and feel for or with him.

Despite being down, he remained humble and genuine. In the video, when the reporter greeted him and asked him to “work for his dollar”, Ted smiled and obliged immediately. He did not beg or hassle for the money nor did he decline before being “paid”. It was clear that he was sober, not a typical homeless, sick or drunk person which made him real and authentic. After the showcase of his voice, there was an interview where he showed his genuine self, no holds barred. He highlighted that he is down and out but wants to change and would like anyone to give him the chance to do so. Nothing sale-sy about it only his true self which connected with people at a even deeper level.

Being Different
Being a homeless person is no big deal. It really isn’t, there are millions of them around. Most of them are stuck and don’t know or don’t want a better life, thus don’t even try to take their chances at trying to attain a skill or be useful or productive to earn a living and have a better life.

With the decision and hope to change, Ted used his WOW factor of his, his golden voice to feature his talents. This had caught the reporter’s eye and heart which did lead him to video him down for a story and in turn, changed his life.

By showcasing his voice, he was immediately different from the rest of the homeless people who often offered nothing in return for the money given to them. He offered something of value to the world that can be used to create even more value. The voice itself is valuable, but companies who use his voice and ride on his fame would allow their products to be marketed both directly and indirectly.

I think talent scouting became revolutionized recently. With people like Ted, companies are able to utilize their skills on top of their instant fame and make their products and services “different” from their competitors. It’s a win-win for Ted and the companies.

A stroke of Luck or the Law of Attraction
I don’t often believe in luck but creating your own luck and using the law of attraction. First by putting the intention out and taking action towards the intention or goal. Falling or failing in the process but have the strength to pick yourself up, learn and continue towards the goal.

Ted literally asked for it. Having almost nothing to his name, he only used a piece of cardboard to attract passing cars and people to at least hear him out. Starting with “I have a God-given voice…” , it attracted attention and spurred interest and was backed up and compelling when he featured his voice.

He was then at the right place, right time and got to meet the right person. If Ted had deliberately captured a video on his own and posted it up on youtube while looking well dressed and clean shaven, it would not have such a huge impact. However, what happened was that someone else, a reporter, validated him and gave him the chance of his lifetime. His only chance, to show what he’s got to the world. This was pure social proof which humans are psychologically hardwired to gain interest and agree to and thus allowed him to gain popularity so quickly.

This viral video is not just an inspiration for life, but also an inspiration for marketing greatness. We sometimes only get to see and experience the “effects” of the such videos, but I feel that the lessons behind them for life or even business is even more interesting to take note and learn from. Kudos to Ted Williams, who made me think about life and marketing even more.

With Love,
Kelvin

Ted Williams, The Man with the Golden Voice- Lessons I’ve learnt is a post from: Kaizenkoh's Life's Journey and Lessons

This is day 3 of 2011. It proves that time really flies and I have made some progress so far.  I started to cut off my distractions one by one, gradually and did succeed today. I would like to celebrate it by writing about it. It is said that incremental success should be celebrated to keep the motivation to take more action going. But first, the introduction to the problem…

Background of the “Distraction Struggle!”

We all have distractions that hinder us from taking productive and efficient action to get the real stuff done. Stuff that matter for your professional and personal lives, areas such as financial or general learning and education. Usually we struggle with a few and these are activities that yield little or no value (you might count entertainment as value). Things like, watching television, reading magazines, and the current biggy Smartphones and Social Media. I also have such struggles and I will share about it below.

Starting with MSN messenger. It has been a major distraction since secondary school and hindered any serious work that I had to get done on the computer. I did try turning it off totally on October 2010 for about 2 weeks and boy was I amazed by the results. I managed to plan, set up a website, write 20 or so articles while juggling other commitments. Then I turned it on again and most of the work I did for the website practically stalled.

Despite knowing that it was a major distraction, I ended up switching back to “use MSN” mode. The reason was because I needed to communicate with certain people through it to set appointments. Now, looking back, majority of the time was spent chit-chatting and not just for work purposes only. It wasn’t serious stuff I was discussing but just socializing and keeping in touch with my friends.

Commitment to Control and Stop the Distractions

However, I have committed to be more productive this year than last year. One of my strategies is to cut out distractions such as MSN. Today I succeeded, not totally but still good progress. Throughout the day, I had the urge to click and open MSN as I was suffering from “Chatting withdrawal symptoms”. However, remembering my commitment to the tasks on hand, I only logged in at 11pm to check on my friends who are enjoying their new year. I’ve just logged out and closed the application promising not to use it tomorrow.

This is easier than I expected it to be. Whenever I felt the urge to use MSN, I questioned myself. “Kelvin, do you really need to use it?” then I answer a firm “No! Then don’t click it!” and I continue doing my other tasks. I also paired an emotion of detest for wasting time when I asked myself that question. That somehow allowed me to control the urge and not attempt to start the application, thus saving me precious minutes, if not hours.

Incidentally, while browsing the net for inspiration, I can across this article about Finding Focus while dealing with Social Media attention demands. “Labrat: How a Social Media Addict Found Focus” The author has to attend to the social media needs of her personal and work life on a daily basis but struggled to deal with her core projects at hand because the social media needs were becoming a distraction. She experimented with ways to regain focus and to ultimately spend more time taking action and completing her core projects and succeeded doing so. Do read it to get a good insight and maybe even be inspired to control or even rid distractions.

Back to myself. I guess I am still experimenting with ways to cut out and control my distractions like what the above author did and eventually succeeded. It is easier said than done of course as I have mentioned the innate urge to go back to the distraction. I recognize that this is truly very normal because it is a habit after all. Habits are hard to break and change. I would say that it is a struggle sometimes, but it can be done. I am sure in points in our lives, we are able to cultivate the good habits and change bad ones.

My strategy for this distraction is simple. I will just write down the time and duration I will log in and use MSN and Facebook/Twitter. I will gradually reduce it and eventually restrain myself to use it maybe once in a 2 or 3 days, depending on the need to use (need to communicate and ask people stuff). With that, the challenge continues. I shall report back on 31st January with the result, my thoughts and share the experience and wonders of cutting out distractions.

Love,
Kelvin “Kaizen” Koh

The First Step Taken to Control Distractions is a post from: Kaizenkoh's Life's Journey and Lessons

Happy New Year! It’s day 2.

I believe in planning, dynamic planning. We need the flexibility and mindset of variability to create plans that are truly dynamic enough to suite change, after all, change IS the only constant.

My plans for 2011 are quite concrete but at the same time can be tweaked anytime. Sticking to the same principles applied last year, I have a list of intentions and goals to be met. Amongst them will be those that are qualitative while some quantitative result oriented goals.

List of 2011 Intentions (in no particular order):

1. Market or introduce products and services of value to others and let them reap the benefits of these products.
2. Be free of the forces of distractions. Instant Messaging, Facebooking only when required, not when I yearn or want to.
3. Be more efficient and productive by systemizing what’s possible and even outsourcing when needed
4. Be 100% responsible and accountable for any outcome or result from the decisions I make in my plans.
5. Be sincere and honest in the way I communicate and do things with others for they will do the same back.
6. Be financially free by building a few passive income streams, making my money work for me and my worth work the money I get
7. Attract people and make friends who are sociable, sincere, understanding and empowered to achieve and strive for excellence in all areas of their lives.
8. Attract passionate people and teams who are in pursuit of never ending excellence with moral and ethical grounds whilst still seeking to synergize with me for success at work or in school, adding value to others as well as to our own lives.
9. Keep my close friends close by having frequent social meetings.
10. Pursue my passions with much FACE and continue to initiate, have the discipline and persistence to carry through what I’ve started
11. Always take the chance to experience and learn from people who provide value in one way or another.
12. Fail fast, pick myself up faster and move on to succeed like never before.
13. Carpe Diem! every moment, every day. Take consistent action and leverage and build on my strengths.

I went further this year to create a list of objectives/goals and action plans to start and carry them through. It is imperative to have action plans because it keeps me on track with step by step instructions which I can tweak along the way if I learn something new and better that can be applied and executed.

Kaizenkoh’s 2011 Plan

The areas covered include Personal, Professional, Financial, Social, Health and Leisure. In each area, it involves me as an individual acting or executing the action plan to achieve the objectives/goals set. My life for the next 8 months before school starts will be straightforward with the same daily tasks on weekdays. On weekdays, I will have 7 hours each day whilst weekends I will have 16 to 17 hours per day. (taking into account 7 to 8 hours of sleep per day, I need the energy). The focus of this plan is mainly for this 8 months before school starts. When school does start, it would seem that a new plan will naturally be set up and adjusted accordingly.

Time management often takes into account what is urgent and/or important. With such a mundane work life and my plan with so many self-motivated objectives, I have to define what’s urgent or important very carefully. For now, most my resources are set up, so that makes things a whole lot simpler to start. I will be able to get things done much faster than last year because I’ve already organized all the materials needed. This include my workspace, my library, my in-tray and other files. Digitally, the search button is usually best relied upon.

For now, the most urgent and important tasks are about my Professional and Financial areas. These 2 areas will be the focus. The Personal projects are my blogs which are recurring projects although urgent as I plan to blog almost everyday, they are deemed less important. Social, Health and Leisure areas are important with less urgency but will be consistently worked upon. As usual, I will read everyday and squeeze 2 to 3 days for exercise to keep my body in shape and my mind alert.

I will be planning my weeks in advance every Sunday night. Review and reveal what I’ve managed to do for the week the following Sunday and check of action taken for the week in my plan. I have a diary calendar to keep track of my appointments as well as jot down ideas that come along the way. Actionable Items will be on different A4 paper lists to be clear and portable as well.

Though these are not fixed and as mentioned, will change as time and circumstances change, these are areas which I want to focus on for this year. This is my trial to continue forward. Though some tasks may seem overwhelming, I’ve already simplified most of the things that need to be done to improve and learn new skills.

Do you have a plan for the new year? If you don’t, I think it would be great to start planning. You need not read all the time management and project management books in the world to understand how to plan well. To me, taking action is more important. A drafted plan written or typed out will allow you to have an overview of how you would like to carry yourself forward this year and allows you to be more accountable. Thus, with a plan as such, at least you would know where to direct your energies towards. Along with the good intentions put out, utilize the resources you have or try to get them to pursue excellence in the different areas of your life. No more excuses, just do it!

Happy New Year and Carpe Diem!

“At the end of each day, I will ask myself: “Was I better today than yesterday?”. At the end of the year: “Was I better this year than previous years?”. =)

Love,
Kelvin “Kaizen” Koh

Happy New Year 2011! Kaizenkoh’s 2011 Plan is a post from: Kaizenkoh's Life's Journey and Lessons

Happy New Year everyone!

Reviews are reflections about reality. Doesn’t matter whether it is a performance review or a personal yearly goals review like this one. We rarely do reviews of our life because most of the time it is an exposure. It exposes what we’ve accomplished and more often than not, did not achieve. Thus, the fear sets in and these life reviews are not done. However, I’ve known the importance of doing it in order to push myself to improve and live life meaningfully.

To me, reviews serve as a measure and gauge of areas in life where I’ve spent my time well or not so well. It is essential because the time I did spend is gone and gone forever. By reviewing, I get to know whether I’ve invested my time wisely and whether I’ve grown in the process. If I didn’t, it would indicate what not to do or what has to be changed.

My review of my life 2010 will be even more objective as what I’ve did in 2009. In 2009, I had the freedom I never had before, 7 months of it. I admitted that I did not do much. Perhaps I was unclear and did not plan what to do and postponed the plans because of the unknown date of enlistment to the army. It did expose my weaknesses. I knew that I lacked the focus and attention to combat information overload. I wanted to “self-learn” certain things but ended up doing too many things and accomplishing nothing. Basically, priorities were all over the place.

Knowing my weaknesses in how I spent my time, I decided to follow a simple acronym in 2010 called FACE to achieve more and grow.

Review of 2010’s FACE

FACE means:
Focus
Action
Challenge
Energy

Focus- Absolute lazer guided focus to get things done and done well. It was a struggle in 2009 to deal with my short attention and lack of focus because of certain pitfalls like succumbing to information overload. I identified focus as my weakest link in 2009 and shall focus on focusing better in 2010 to get things done well, fast and bring awesomeness back.

Action- With a high level of focus, I have to focus on the things that I want to achieve but also take action. This is the most important of FACE to me. Without action and focus to support action, I will only fall behind and lose precious time. Taking action and failing has been fine with me because I get to learn from the failures. I guess in 2009 I regretted taking minimal action and did not even give success or failure to result. In 2010, I will focus and focus well on taking good action. Just Do It!

Challenge- Challenging myself to do more and achieve more but be wiser in what I want myself to do. Setting up the right challenge is the important bit. I can have big goals but what’s the point if I look at it realistically with the time and energy I have knowing that I won’t be able to accomplish but only to disappoint myself? In 2009, that happened and now I realised and learnt. I have to be realistic with what I want to challenge myself with. Challenging myself has always been part of my character but in 2010, I need to be wiser with what I want to challenge myself with.

Energy- In order to perform properly and perform well, I have to have the energy to carry the above 3 values through. Inspired on this aspect by The Energy Project that Josh recommended a video about. Basically I have to focus, build and maintain high levels of 4 energy aspects in life. Physical, Emotional, Mental, Spiritual. Body, Heart, Mind and Soul. With high energy in these 4 areas, I would be able to follow through what I want to achieve. Thus, in 2010 I have to focus on building upon these 4 areas which I felt in 2009, I neglected (mainly through inaction and determination), to do well.

I shall be honest here. I did struggle with FACE. Why? Another realization. It takes more than just FACE to really accomplish anything concrete. FACE required discipline, persistence and a hell of a lot of motivation to do. All of which, were intrinsic. This meant that I needed to “want” to use FACE.

FACE needed to be integrated to work too. Even if I had the “Energy” to “Focus” on a “Challenge”, it didn’t mean I would want to take “Action”. This could be due to the lack of motivation which stems from bad habits like procrastination or I was just having a bad day and not feel like doing anything. Other reasons could be situational such as a drain of “Energy” which leads to a lack of “Focus” and thus, no “Action” is taken on the “Challenge”.

Though those were the limitations of FACE or things that I had to be aware of, I only realized it by reflecting about it. Why I managed to do certain things and accomplish others while others seems to fail. I then realized that FACE needed a FACELIFT. I needed find out the ingredients to integrate the 4 components and make it work better. These are some of the core intrinsic emotions or characteristics I would need to develop to make FACE work even better.

FACE needs a whiff of Passion. Ok, not just a whiff, actually I have to be utterly passionate about what I want to do. I’ve only known of the value of choosing things that I am passionate about through seeing successful people who kept mentioning about why they’ve achieved what they’ve achieved because of their passion in what they do. I had whiffs of passion when I did things willingly, openly and with “flow”, sometimes even forgetting about time. Developing passion requires experimentation. Only after trying to learn a skill will someone know whether he enjoys doing it or not. This enjoyment of learning that skill could eventually turn into a passion. For me, currently, Public Speaking is really one of the things that I’ve been truly passionate about and it shows with the progress I’ve made.

FACE needs Initiation. I’ve been doing this my whole life but I did not particularly taken note of its value, now is a good time to do so. Being an initiator allowed me to really take action and focus on challenges. It flows nicely. With the Energy –> I take Action –> and Focus –> to FACE the Challenge. You need to really have to bring out the “initiator” with you to throw away procrastination and kick start an action.

FACE needs Discipline. More specifically “Mental Discipline”. This is the force that carries things through and get things done. The ability to initiate and execute has to be sustained by one’s strong mental discipline to stick with it till completion. I learnt the value of this as I’ve admired my friend Josh’s relentless pursuit of knowledge and his mental discipline to get things done well, no matter how last minute or whether he has to even do it on his own. He pointed out that many people do not have the mental discipline to achieve and thus they don’t.

FACE needs Persistence. I did a speech about persistence once and still vividly remember how much people valued it. The speech did have an impact on them but what people remembered was the fact that we do need persistence to pull through on top of discipline. Pushing the limits and pushing through just a little more makes the difference between success and failure. People realized they often lack the persistence and thus did not achieve. With passion, persistence is somewhat “in built” and it only feeds the passion to achieve even more.

This year, I will continue finding and developing my “passions”, continuing by being an “initiator” and develop and train the “mental discipline” and “persistence” to achieve.

Review of Intentions

List of Intentions (in no particular order):

1. Market or introduce products and services of value to others and let them reap the benefits of these products.
2. Be a better planner and organizer of information to be more systematic, clear minded and line myself up for ultra productivity
3. Be sincere and honest in the way I communicate and do things with others for they will do the same back.
4. Be financially free by building a few passive income streams, making my money work for me and my worth work the money I get
5. Attract people and make friends who are sociable, understanding and empowered to achieve and strive for excellence in all areas of their lives. They may also be great people to work with in the many projects that I have installed for in 2010. Reconnect frequently with current friends as well.
6. Raise my energy and motivation levels to a level whereby I feel that I can overcome all odds and push through to success. Focus these energies on productive activities.
7. Carpe Diem! every moment, every day. Take consistent action and leverage and build on my strengths.
8. Skills-wise: Be proactive in my learning. Learn fast, enjoy learning and apply what I’ve learnt to yield the results I want
9. Be socially responsible and give back. Whatever I do earn, I give some back to society, especially those who really needs it. Whatever I do have but don’t need, give it away to someone or somewhere that can be reused or recycled to something for future use.
10. Harbour less on the negatives, more on the positives and always be a possibilist for it will open my mind, enrich my soul and I will feel great!

Of the 10 intentions, I am happy to say that those that are qualitative were more or less achieved. I continued to be sincere and honest to my peers and at work and friend too. I did reconnect with my friends and made new friends who are excellent in their own right too. I gave back to society by being active in Toastmasters.

Some qualitative intentions which I faltered in. I was pretty negative this year. Many times, my dad who’s pretty relentless and stubborn I might add to get things done though I thought it wasn’t possible. He truly is a testament role model of a possibilist. I did raise my physical energy level with good food, ample sleep but my motivation levels dipped below a desired level, thus the lack of achievements. Carpe Diem! didn’t seem to apply to most days as I was practically living through the motion on weekdays. All these led to…

Me resulting in not completing anything concrete for the remaining quantitative intentions. I did not end up marketing great products, nor took the advantage of the soaring gold prices or grow my income (which is sadly, spent to 0 every month). Though I did think more systematically, I did not manage to execute and experiment enough to push my plans through. Though it did not lead to any downfall, it just meant wasted opportunities. No matter, opportunities are aplenty and I will take advantage of my time left to turn them to results.

Review of 2010 Goals

1. Build a successful, valuable and profitable blog. Kaizenkoh.com. – Not Completed
2. Start my internet marketing journey and direct it to success. – Not Completed
3. Toastmasters Competent Communicator and beyond. – Achieved
4. House Renovation. – Cancelled
5. Develop Design Thinking and Learn Design Skills. – Recurring
6. Learn a new sport and continue with Qigong. – Learnt Yoga
7. Learn Basic Piano. – Not Completed
8. Read more books. – More than ever
9. Exercise 2 to 3 times a week. – Most weeks
10. Learn about investing and grow my family’s wealth safely and carefully. – Not Completed

I completed or changed 6 of my initial goals which I’ve planned for year 2010. I was going to focus on learning last year which I mostly did in some areas. I mentioned that goals changed and some of them did as you can see from above. I would not bluff myself by saying that I feel very accomplished but instead focus on what I can and need to do this year. More of which will be covered in my next post tomorrow.

What I am most happy about 2010 is the fact that I have grown despite being in an environment of boredom and mundaneness. In my workplace, though given a small leadership role, I learnt much about working life and how people act and react to situations. I developed even further in the second half of the year by being in a team of motivated leaders who share the same vision and agree to take a seed and grow it to a magnificent, self sustaining mega tree.

What I feel that I should improve upon is the cultivate the habit to achieve. In 8 months or so, I will be in a different environment. It is only wise to prepare to adapt, survive and thrive in it. It will have abundant opportunities to apply my skills, work with teams and prepare myself for a career path that I will choose in the future. More importantly, I will meet people who are hardy, determined to succeed and are motivated to do well in life. These are people whom I will network, associate and befriend with. They will work with me, play with me and be with me in the journey of learning and achieving. It is another phase of my life that will set me up to apply and create from what I’ve learnt in my life to add value to lives and to the world.

What I’ve reviewed and reflected here are the realities of the time I’ve spent on my learning and things I’ve done for the past year. Though it is a self reflection, I believe what ever it put out in writing goes a long way. The intentions, goals and strategies, though a result of my personal input about my life might make you ponder about yours. I tend to take my life pretty seriously, maybe because I am quite a serious person. I put these thoughts out to the universe with faith and hope in myself to continue doing and living life to the fullest. In turn, all these thoughts will manifest to my reality somehow or rather. With that belief, Goodbye 2010 and Welcome 2011 with opportunities aplenty to learn and grow.

Love,
Kelvin “Kaizen” Koh

Review of My Life in 2010 is a post from: Kaizenkoh's Life's Journey and Lessons