[picture of ad taken in subway, December, 2007]

Consumers buy things for a rush of passion, truely,
but not always, not even often.
Marketing a brand like marketing oneself to making friends,

think about the long term!
Lies not only cover yourself from the truth,
lies resist people to approach you.

Relationships are built on trust,
trust are built on honesty.

Rather than looking for excuses to tell a lie,
why don't we just behave ourselves better-
think from others' point of view,
from others' value and standard,
so that chances to lie & to hurt people are avoided.
I care about:
How important is trust in a relationship?
Had you been lied by someone you trust so much,
if so, how did that experience feel?

 

Semi-Vegetarian

Posted In: , , . By Ally

Take the Veggie Challenge


Let's go for vegetarianism!
[Check out the website for more information.]
It is the best to be a vegan,
but it's not bad to try at least limit animal intake.
I feel cool to make this decision before a new year comes.
So should you!!
I doubt that I would want to become a perfect vegan
but I am determented to be a semi-vegetarian
from NOW on!


I care about:
Is eating meat really important to you?
Look at the animals in eyes,
do you feel nothing about eating them?

 

MERRY CHRISTMAS<3

Posted In: , . By Ally

Years of independent living
being far away from hometown,
holidays are no longer a family gathering time for me.

If you are a family guy and
have your family with you this time of the year.
Please appreciate their presence,
and enjoy a happy holiday with them.
Let them know that,
you love them!

If you are not a family guy,
be one!
You will soon find how much love & support a family provide you,
you'd feel so only if you are also willing to give out your love to them.

If you don't have your family with you this holiday,
let me wish you a very happy Christmas!

And after all,
MERRY CHRISTMAS
to everyone<3

I care about:
Which holiday you like most?
Why? What does that holiday represent to you?
How important is family gathering to you?

 

A Lesson from Pictures

Posted In: , . By Ally


I went out in a snowing afternoon,
and took some pictures of the area I am living in.

I found the scene really cool & pleasing!
Things are always beautiful,
People are always lovely.
All you have to do is,
pay attention and realize them.

Then , take a step forward and let people know:
take a picture to tell people how beautiful our place is;
find a private time, authentically tell your frinds& family,
how much you appreciate them,
how important they are,
how deep you've been loving them.

I love pictures!
More than a visonal pleasure,
Pictures remind me to enjoy life,
to capture great moments,
and to cherish them deeply in my heart.
To transform love snapshots to life-long treasures.

I care about:
How would you present your love?
How important is consistant appreciation and care
compared to a ruch passion?




 

[picture from JPG magazine]

Pressure to Decide
Pressure to Perform
Pressuere to Resist
...
Pressure is everywhere,
especially the lifes of people with greater vision,
the lifes of people taking responsible for themselves,
the lifes of people taking care of others.

Pressure, however, scare NOT effective people,
but motivate them.

Master your pressure,
don't be distress's slave
.

Pick up MUST have habits!
[mastering pressure is definitely one of them]
Day after day,
you will find life easier and cooler
than you had thought of !!

I care about:
Where does your pressure come from?
Does pressure sound positive or negative to you?

Let me pressure you to pick up MUST have habits!

 

NOW

Imagine you are at the funeral of yours,

What do you want your beloved family, friends, co-workers say about you?

Achieve victories that are not empty, that are valuable to you.

  • Begin today with the image, picture, or paradigm of the end of your life as your frame of reference or the criterion by which everything else is examined.(P98, Covey)

  • By keeping that end clearly in mind, you can make certain that whatever you do on any particular day does not violate the criteria you have defined as supremely important, and that each day of your life contributes in a meaningful way to the vision you have of your life as a whole.(P98,Covey)

All things are created
twice

  • Mental, first creation
    >blueprint
    >define accomplishments
    >what you want
    >destination determination
    >route planning
    >
    ENVISION
  • Physical creation, second creation
    [Habit 3]

By design or default

  • We are the second creation of our own proactive design(first creation),or
  • We are the second creation of other people's agendas

Leadership vs. Management

  • Leadership- first creation
    >direction, purpose, overall feeling/impression
  • Management-second creation [Habit 3]
    >thinking of control, efficiency, rules
    >immediate satisfaction but high risk of working on WRONG direction!

    "Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things." –Warren Bennis

  • Clarified our values first, and then manage with efficiency, setting and achieving goals!

Write your own script-become your own first creator

  • Self-awareness, imagination, conscience
    empower us
  • Proactive design for your own may be deferred by circumstances and social constructions
  • Tie yourself to limitless potential instead of limiting past
  • Make decisions based on value not emotion!!

Personal mission statement

  • Focus on what you want to be (character) and to do (contributions and achievements) and on the values or principles upon which being and doing are based. (P106, Covey)
  • Define your
    sense of self
    , your unique value
    , so that you can live with change(from circumstance, people), and are stilling working on your ultimate goals

The center of our life

  • The source of our security, guidance, wisdom, power

  • Security represents your sense of worth, your identity, your emotional anchorage, your self-esteem, your basic personal strength or lack of it. (P109,Covey)
  • Guidance means your source of direction in life. (P109, Covey)
  • Wisdom is your perspective on life, your sense of balance, your understanding of how the various parts and principles apply and relate to each other. (P98,Covey)
  • Power is the faculty or capacity to act, the strength and potency to accomplish something. (P98,Covey)

Alternative Centers

  • Spouse centeredness (P111)
  • Family centeredness (P112)
  • Money centeredness (P113)
  • Work centeredness (P114)
  • Possession centeredness (P114)
  • Pleasure centeredness (P114)
  • Friend/Enemy centeredness (P115)
  • Church centeredness (P117)
  • Self-Centeredness
    (P118)

  • All these centers mentioned above limit your personal effective and provide you security, guidance, wisdom , power with condition, thus you become emotional dependant to circumstance and other people

  • Principle-centered
    >stand apart from the emotion of the situation
    >resist other factors acting on you
    >looking at the balance whole, i.e. the social need, the pleasure need…
    >
    make decisions based on value not emotion (Did I mention this already!?)

[Personal notes from The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People –Stephen R. Covey]

I appreciate your effort to read to the end!!

I think I went too long for one entry
and you probably got tired by now!
Personal Mission Statement writing will be discussed later
.


I care about:
What is your vision for your future?
What center do you think you belong to?
And go back to the question at our beginning-

What do you want your beloved family, friends, co-workers say about you?
What character, contributions, and achievements of yours would you want them to remember?

 

There are things unavoidable.
But there are many others in our control.
THINK ahead,
PLAN ahead,
don't complain at the very last moment
for lack of preparation.

Don't close your eyes and say you can see nothing.

Crisis management sometimes can be replaced by
better time management.

&
Prevetion is the best treatment to remedy.

I care about:
What are your mid-term, long-term goals?
Are you working on them?

 

"We DETECT rather than INVENT our missions in life."
-
Viktor Frankl

Think hard & look deep into your heart,

there's an internal voice reminding you what is your ultimate goals in life.
We call that CONSCIENCE.
Many people forget about their own conscience as time passes by,
people are trapped in patterns invented by society and our environment.

Everyone nowadays are selfish, why shouldn't I?
Everyone nowadays are money-driven, why shouldn't I?
Everyone nowadays are materialized, why shouldn't I?
Everyone nowadays are cold-blooded, why shouldn't I?


Here's why:
YOU are UNIQUE.


There's sometimes we will eventually be knock out of our patterns,
STAND BACK & ASK ourselves:
"What matters most to me?"
"Am I doing what I really want to do?"

However, those are often extreme thought times-
lost of a loved one,
a life-threatening illness,
a setback in career...

We don't want to take life serious
until the circumstances force us to.

Make your choice now.
Live for yourself-
not acting out selfishness
but
UNIQUENESS!

In Frankl's word:
"Everyone has his own specific vocation or mission in life...
Therein he cannot be replaced,
nor can his life be repeated.
Thus, everyone's task is as unique as is
his specific opportunity to implement it."



I care about:
Are you doing what's really important to you?
Or are you just being what others want you to be?
What's there preventing you from being yourself?
Do you have courage to take the responsibility
and act out your own script in life?



 

"I am what I am today because of the choices I made yesterday."

Self-awareness

Stimulate>Freedom to Choose>Respond.


Proactivity

Proactive: decisions based on value.

Reactive: decisions based on feeling- a product of conditions.


3 Central Values

  • Experiential, what happens to us.
  • Creative, that which we bring into existence.
  • Attitudinal, our respond in difficult circumstance such as terminal illness.


Taking initiative

"Our basic nature is to act, and not to be acted upon."


Language

Reactive Language: "people become reinforced in the paradigm that they are determined, and they produce evidence to support the belief."


Circle of Concern &
Circle of Influence

  • Where we focus our time and energy

  • Proactive: focus efforts in the Circle of Influence; work on things you can do something about.
  • Reactive: focus efforts in the Circle of Concern, on the weakness of other people, the problems of the environment, and the circumstances over which you have no control.


Problems

  • Direct control: are solved by working on our habits.
  • Indirect control: are solved by changing our methods of influence.
  • No control: accept these problems and learn to live with them, do NOT empower these problems to control us.


Consequences
&
Mistakes

  • Consequences: When we pick up one end of the stick, we pick up the other.
  • Mistakes: It is important to immediately admit and correct our mistakes so that they have no power over the next moment and we are empowered again.

[Personal notes from The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People –Stephen R. Covey]

I care about:
Are you proactive or reactive?
Do you always complain but never take responsibilities?
Are you ready for the 2nd EFFECTIVE HABIT?

 

[picture from JPG magazine]

*Why should i permit the petty happenings of today to disturb me?
*Each day will be triumphant only when my smiles bring forth smiles from others
and this I do in selfishness
!
*Only with laughter and happiness can I truesly become a success,
can I enjoy the fruits of my labour!

[citation from The Greastest Salesman in the World + intrepertation of mine]

I care about:
Do you live in today?
Or you are still staying in yesterday?! MOVE ON!


 

McDonald's newest "smart" way to target its kids market.

In Seminole County,
McDonald's paid for the cost of printing reportcard jackets
for the year 2007-2008,
and it's then allowed to stick
a Happy Meal coupon on the card's cover.
There's even a more innovative way to encourage kids to have Happy Meal:
children who earn all A's and B's, have 2 or fewer absences,
are "honored" to a free Happy Meal.

Now that the children are connecting a good child image
with a reward from McDonald's.

This is certainly a nifty marketing idea.
But
concerning all those health issues.
Is McDonald's putting children's health at risk?
However,
fairly i would say,
McDonald's is targeting at kids who potentially will be
addicted to its food heavily!

On the other hand,
parents, instead of complaing the fast food giant,
should educate their children adequately.

I knew a mother with a 10-years old daugther.
The mother always tells her daugther
Happy Meal can be and only can be her award,
which means they would have McDonald's once a month
or twice at most.

Now with the report card,
logically speaking,
childrend would have and only have Happy Meal
3-4 times a year.
NICE~ ay?

The point is,
we don't fight with each other,
we LISTEN to the children.

If children want Happy Meal,
McDonald's is kindly offering them a free one,
and parents are fiercely againsting children's want.
The result is: they want MORE,
and McDonald's wins.
It is tremendouls important to realize that,
when we open our mind and listen to others,
others listen to us.
I care about:
What do you think of McDonald's?
What do you think of how children would think of McDonald's?
Do you always assume how people think
and don't bother to listen to them?

 


Consistency
is not just the actions to keep up doing something.
It’s more about reflecting the strong will and believe
behind the actions.
Consistency=Skill=Value

It’s incredibly important to develop one skill
that you are really good at.
To be the best one on what you are good at,
it’s your target.
Correction: there‘s no “best” on earth,
what I meant is to be better on a specific skill than anyone else;
To have your own style on doing such things
such that no one else can replace you.

And keep in mind that
always challenge yourself,
ya, be consistent in challenging yourself.

How to make sure that you can always be better than you were?
PRACTISE, PRACTISE, & PRACITSE!

The idea is old, but it works.
To practise not just helps with improving your performance
but also helps with finding new ideas, generating new thoughts.
Also,
always be passionate about your interest
[what you good at should be your interest in the first place!],
and don’t lose confidence EVER.

BELIEVE in YOURSELF!

Often times,
there are 2 types of people
good at stuffs.


1]
they really are the top players on earth,
and they feel no space to improve the skills anymore.
This especially happens on musician, chess players, sport players,
people who are good at stuff
whcih seem to have a limit on the skills.
Unlike writing, painting,
such skills are only limited to one’s imagination and ability.
Still,
no one should lose passion and confidence
on things that you are proud of.

Try to take a break, a long vocation.
New environment always refreshes your mind
and gives you new thoughts.
I am not good at those professions
which I said “seems to have a limit”,
but I believe in those who are really good at music, chess or sport
would find a better way
or an innovative style to perform
or the willingness to become a mentor,
after some refreshment.

2]
it is almost opposite of the first type.
People think they are the "best" on things
they are interested in.
However,

it’s always and only
people who are not the best think they are the best.


"Good" is not how you think of yourself
is how others think of you!

They don’t see the rest of the world.
Being self-centered is limiting one’s vision
and the willingness to listen and learn.
These people are afraid to face the fact
that there are really some ones else out there
do things better than themselves.
Being close-minded is the enemy to success.
But at least,
they have strong interest and the hope
to be the best.


Both types should be consistent in practising.
Improvement is never enough,
so is practise,
so is passion,
so is consistency.

If you don't categorize yourself in any of these two type.
If you don’t find yourself good at anything YET,
go find one!
Find something that interests you,
you are passionate about,
then consistently practise it with confidence.

Success is in your hand,
unfold it!

I care about:
What are you interested in?
Are you proud of yourself?
Did you think that you can't be successful before trying?
How much time and effort did you put in pursuing success?

 

Let me tell you the BEST BEST way to discover yourself EVER-

to WRITE!

Write down anything that comes to your mind.
Take it from me, it really works.

Writing comes after thinking,
it reflects &reminds you of what you've been thinking.

The more you've wrote, the more/deeper you will think.

Does writing sound old-fashion to you?
Does wrting sound boring to you?
Does writing sound useless to you?

So tell me,
How to be up-dated/improved without knowing what had been done?
How to find your real interest without knowing what is not your cup of tea?
How to be useful/efficient without focusing on your interest and improving yourself?


Regardless what your career/interest is,
writing always reminds you with:
who you are,
what you have done,
where you have been,
when you should get going [obviousely, now!],
why you did something wrong/right,
which result you'd prefer,
& how you can do things BETTER!


You can keep your writings personal or share them with everyone.
Don't care about how well/bad your writing is!
It's the ideas that is significant!
Start to write one morning,
& keep it as a habit, ever.


I care about:
Have you ever lost yourself?
Have you ever felt that no one understands you?
Have you ever tried and felt the power of writing?