NS Life

It's been a long time since i made a entry into this blog.

for those who are still tuning in thanks for staying tune :D

NS life has been a challenging one for me, one that has brought about alot of insights for myself .

It really challenges one's mental capacity and one's ability to "win friends and influence people".

It's also interesting to note certain key patterns in people that becomes noticeable after a period of time and see what kind of results they are producing in their own lives.

On a financial stand point, my income has adjusted to approximately S$1,000 per month which would be less than ideal (well if you include my NS allownace and personal allowance it would add up to about S$1,800) =) So thats still alright.

To all those whom i've promised to succeed together with, stay tune to my blog! I will be opening a new blog for the group of people whom i shall be working closely with soon as well =)

stay tune!

Success Habit 5 : The secret to changing the way you feel

Thank you everyone for your continual support for success habits. As habit 5 comes out of the "oven" , i would like to thank Mr Anthony Robbins for his guidance through his books "Awaken the Giant Within" and "Unlimited Power"

3 factors affect the way we feel (our emotions) and they are:

1 ) Physiology
2 ) Langauge we Use
3 ) Beliefs / Focus

Today i'll be sharing with everyone point 2 ) , the words we use

Simply changing the words we use can change the way we feel!

For example when someone made me angry last time , i realise this was what i told myself

" He got my raw nerve now ! Hes REALLY irritating me"

can you see what a strong langauge i had? raw nerve , REALLY , IRRITATING

Its no wonder i felt so angry!

The next time i felt myself feeling angry and hitting the "raw nerve" i asked myself

"What colour is the raw nerve?"

"What if i cooked the nerve , would it be edible?"

That absolutely broke my "Anger" pattern, cause i found it ridiculous and i started laughing.

Then i went on to tell myself this

" He made me feel a little uncomfortable"

" Yea , he pisses me off a little"

I realise after i changed the words i used with myself, i didnt feel so angry anymore!

The above dictates anger.

The same applies to every single emotion we have!

Just follow the two steps :

1) Break your pattern - ask yourself something ridiculous
2) Replace your old words with new & better words

For those of you readers out there , try it out now! (Remember habit 4)

Credits goes to Mr Anthony Robbins for teaching me about the power of words (Please buy his book for further information)

Direct all questions to my email : gmaluku@hotmail.com

Have a great day!

Success Habit 4 : DO IT!

Hi all, success habit is back and running again!! :) Sorry for the gaps between habit 3 and habit 4 , I was personally on a little "retreat" of my own to better my own personal development =)

So as our habits move on to habit 4, dear readers, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE about your life ? (After reading habits 1 to 3)

Today's habit is something very straight-forward - and often over looked. And that is actually getting yourself into the dirt and DO IT!

How often have you heard these statements below....

"I wanna top my class"

"I wanna lose weight"

"I'll change this bad habit of mine"

"I'll get over this my relationship break-up soon"

And a few months later, they are pretty much still the same.

Why ?

The reasons that engulfs this mysterious force of never getting into the dirt cannot be un-vealed in simple words .

But basically, we can draw examples from successful people

A successful person when he sets himself to do something , he will get it done by the following format (adopted from Adam Khoo's book - please buy his book , MASTER YOUR MIND DESIGN YOUR DESTINY for very good info)

Step 1 - 4 :Beliefs --> Goals --> Strategies --> Action
They set a belief for themselves and really believe in it (i.e a great SAVER of $)
They set a goal for themselves (i.e save $10 per week)
They outline a strategy (save at least 20% of allowance everyday)
And DO IT (ACTION ACTION MORE ACTION)

So readers, have you adopted STEP 4 ?

Most un-successful people stop at GOALS and never go on to map out anything.


“Leaders establish the vision for the future and set the strategy for getting there; they cause change. They motivate and inspire others to go in the right direction and they, along with everyone else, sacrifice to get there.” - John Kotter


To learn more about how you can TRANSFORM YOUR LIFE , please visit :

http://alkalini.tripod.com

or contact me at :

alka_lini@hotmail.com

or add me to msn at :

gmaluku@hotmail.com

Success Habit 3 : Learn to fail - and embrace it

"I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed. "

- Michael "Air" Jordan


As success habits comes to release number 3, special thanks goes out to Gregory for his continous support and all that has been supportive of my success habits series :)

Today's habit is to Learn To Fail


Funny as it sounds, we've been influenced by our surronding that a mistake is bad. This belief comes in many forms which may sound familiar to us ... like...

"C'mon, you can't do such a simple thing?!"

"My gosh, you messed up again!"

Is that really so?


A mistake is truly only bad when one learns nothing from it. Then its a bad mistake.


Successful people never look upon their mistakes as something bad - they see it as a optimum learning oppourtunity.


e.g.


The light bulb was invented after 999 failed attempts ;


successful people says " He found out 999 ways that didn't worked"

not-so-successful people says "He screwed up 999 times"

Don't be afraid to fail, ask yourself what you've learned.


So where does all this leads to? LEARN TO HANDLE RISKS

This is what successful people do, they take calculated risks.

Eg (My own dilemma)


I always wanted to renovate my room by shifting and throwing some stuff away. But these thoguhts held me back...

"What if it looked worst..."

"What if i screw up..."

"What if i damage something..."

Well , one strategy as taught by Mr Dale Carnegie is to ask yourself

1) "What is the worst to happen?" --> I screw up my whole room and it looks like a pig sty

2) "Can i accept that?" --> Yes , i'll just sleep in my living room and work from there

3) Work to improve upon the worst case scenario

*bingo*

I did up my room in 3 days and it looked absolutely gorgeous :)

(Of course you need to be confident about your own abilities before carrying out anything)

Keep in mind before trying anything , make sure it is ethical and abide by your own moral integrity!

"Always turn a negative situation into a positive situation"

-Michael Jordan

Success Habit 2: Be Responsible

Its crucial to know that success habit series does not come in a chronological order , instead it comes in the form of qualities and values which successful personality possesses.

Today's habit is about being responsible. Now that may sound ridiculously simple , and the strange thing is, so many people miss the point .

Being responsible means to take responsibility over your own life. Dont blame that teacher or flame that friend, you - and only you - are responsible for your own life. Can you accept that ?

Well , in most cases , people would "agree" with the above statement . Then he turns to the pile of homework stacked beside his computer desk and sigh "oh my, homework again , school makes me miserable!!"

Did school really made you miserable?

Successful people never blame their situations or friends, they take responsibility over whatever that happens !

Then in the case of the homework , you may argue "But i didnt give myself those homework!" . The answer to that is simple , "What have you done to finish those homework?"

The problem with life is that it is always giving us alot of stuff - like it or not. Sometimes it falls a mountain of oranges on us and we complain.

Heres the deal :

1) Successful people take these oranges, make them into juice , and make money

2) Not-so-successful people trash and kick at the oranges - a mess is made and the oranges are deemed worthless


“Simply put, you believe that things or people make you unhappy, but this is not accurate. You make yourself unhappy.” - Wayne Dyer

Success Habit 1 : HOW?

Success Habit will be a thing i'll try to include in my blog, it basically shares attributes common to successful people around the world and today's habit is HOW? (yes with the "?" together ^^)

One key difference between successful people and those not-as-successful is their mentality towards issues they face in life.

A successful person asks himself "How can i overcome this problem"

whereas

A not-so-successful person tells himself " I can't overcome this problem"

A typical example would be

2 students from the same class had a whole lot of homework to do within what seemed like a ridiculously short period of time.

The successful student's mentality is "How can i finish my homework in X time? "

The not-so-sucessful student's is "This teacher is crazy, its impossible to finish so much homework in X time!"

In general , this quote sums it all up :

"
Some people see things happen
Some people ask why things happen
Some people find out why things happen
Some people make things happen
"

What is Success to you?

Today's topic is something that has recieved much controversy over the decades . When it comes to the term "success" , various people have differents definition of what it means to "make it" .

Success - in my opinion - has 5 very important factors revolving around it at all times.

[Factor 1] : The WHAT

What is success ?

[Factor 2] : The WHY

Why do you consider [Factor 1] to be such ?

e.g. Who gave you the impression or what gave you the impression

[Factor 3] : The HUH

huh? Is that really "making it" ? Are there alternatives?

[Factor 4] : The HOW

How am i suppose to reach success? How many strategies do i have?

[Factor 5] : The DO

DO IT! How many methods have i tried? Have i given myself the most chances to be successful? Am i a passive man whom sticks to ways I feel can "make it" ? How many alternatives have i tried?

Many people whom i observe nowadays are doing next to nothing to become successful because they do not know what they want .

So heres the most important three questions i hope you take into consideration (even if you dont understand the above, please take these three questions back with you)

What is success to you ?

What have i done to make sure i will become successful ?

What am i doing to make sure i will become successful ?

"It is common sense to take a method and try it. If it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something." - Franklin D. Roosevelt

"Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly." - Robert F. Kennedy

“The poor, the unsuccessful, the unhappy, the unhealthy are the ones who use the word tomorrow the most” - Robert T. Kyosaki

Short Course to Ace Your Studies

Greetings to all friends,

I am currently giving out a short course on how to ace your studies (in case you dont know, course in this case means a single session or around 2 hours where all tips and tricks on how to ace your studies is taught to you)

This course aims to target youths and to improve their studying habits and thereby achieving a target of effective and efficient studying through means such as...

1) Good time management

2) Effective studying methods

3) Analysing where you stand

4) Goal settings and prioritising your life

5) ETC

what you will stand to gain from this course if you put it into practice

1) More time to do what you like

2) Easier studying methods (no more falling asleep on that textbook)

3) Score good grades (As :) )

4) Sense of achievement

5) Skill can be used on anything you wish to accomplish


Interested parties can pm me on msn/or email @ gmaluku@hotmail.com

Please note that the dateline for sign up is 3rd August 2007 , Friday , 2359 hours

Thanks

Values In Life

Today was a fair saturday morning, good breakfast that didnt contain too many unhealthy stuff and that perhaps set my mind into a bit of a thinking and analysing stuff. The topic that came to mind was "what valueS do we value in life ? "


The spark for this topic was when i think of my social circle and the values i see in younger generations (1992 - present) . If you ask a 13-16 yr old kid these days "what values do you value in life? ", they probably have close to no answer . If you ask how i came to this
conclusion , heres a quote i find self explainatory


“Values are like fingerprints. Nobody's are the same, but you leave 'em all over everything you do.”' — Elvis Presley, American rock 'n' roll icon (1935-1977)


A few values which i find indispensable in a value of a human life are as follows


Responsibility (filial piety.. being a good student etc all falls here)
Compassion (Generousity , kindness falls here)
Improving (it means a passion to always improve yourself on a day-to-day basis)
Moral Integrity (self explainatory)


There are many other values which are important (alright i can't think of anymore off the top of my head) . But then another question struck me "why are values important?" Thats probably what you as the read is wondering right now, "why are values important?"

In my opinion, values make you. Ask yourself, what do you want to be 20 years down the road? Then find role models, want to be a CEO? Find one thats already a CEO and read all about him.
If you have ever done such a thing (reading up on role models) you will find characteristics
common to highly successful people . A few i've noted myself are

1 ) They all seem to have a library (Meaning they read a whole lot)
2 ) They know what they wanted before they started
3 ) They take risks
4 ) They do what they love
5 ) They had great personalities (meaning good values as well)

Now look at people whom are not-so-successful , you will realise they too have something in common. (wont list here)

The aim is not to discriminate anyone, but to see for yourself that what you are and what you do is what you will become. For those who understands and believe in "cause and effect" , this is merely a simple and lay-man proof of it. For you to be successful, you need certain things - and no you cannot do it any other way (Creativity here wont help =D ) .


If you are to be, you must begin by assuming responsibility. You alone are responsible for every moment of your life, for every one of your acts. - Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Happiness

Today was a wonderful day.. movie , friend's company and bball followed by intense ros-ing (game) , nothing could've dampen my mood other than the day itself .

Happiness , that is what dampened me. Funny how the best delicacies craved by most would turn into food for the mices?

I thought that if i gave life to my happiness , it would be a crying baby that never grew up. It is always dependent on outside things to survive. Maybe today you feed it friend's company and tomorrow you feed it the best exam results ever, everyday it feeds only and only on your experiences and one day when you stop feeding.. it dies. Then only to be revive then.. die.. then revive..

Is that all that there is to happiness? A cry baby? Or maybe someone out there can give me an answer.. where do you find happiness that never fades.. always there.. like a "Song" tree amongst the forest .. independent and strong.

This made me think about my name.. "Yu Song" , i was once told it meant to be a "song" tree amongst the forest , independent and strong .

Maybe now i can appreciate my name better..

"The mind is its own place, and in itself, can make heaven of Hell, and a hell of Heaven." - John Milton

p.s xin hao if u're reading this, i have a pretty good idea what ur answer is gonna be - just keep in my that the ppl reading my blog dont visit palelai *hints*

Value Of Friendship

Today ,

Chee Liong , Ryan , Nicholas & Zheng Bang came down to yuhua cc for a short and brief bball session (only played 3 matches in total) . For those who wonder, they were my ex-dota-clan-mates. I used to think dota was all there was to our friendship (not to all of them but a few) however today, they proved me wrong.

They didnt mind making that extra journey to come down to yuhua cc to meet me for bball and to top if off, they had something on later too! (k maybe they lied =.= ) Truly touched by their actions and just wanna give a shoutout to them here =)

"A friend is someone who is there for you when he'd rather be anywhere else." - Len Wein - Sent by Paulo Louro

Most fitting statement i.m.o to end off today's post

Opinions & Love

The man who never alters his opinion is like standing water, and breeds reptiles of the mind. ~William Blake

Interesting quote that i've found .

Relating to this, i realise that i've been very stubborn with my opinions towards alot of issues. In order to be a good listener and a good friend, one must learn to accept the views and opinions of others while embracing the other party.

This is truly difficult to accomplish towards people. It may be easier to do this towards someone you really love like your girl/boy friend however not as easy on people who are your friends.

As the good saying goes "If you want to know the character of a person, look not at how he treats his equals but his servants"

In the same way , one can only truly proclaim himself to be a kind and loving person only when he treats not just his loved ones well, but to a higher level which comprises of (in order of hierachy) best friend , good friend, friend, classmate & lastly enemies.


P.S

What is love ? Do you love your mom? Do you love your dad? Do you love your spouse? Are they the same? So what is love? Is time a factor? If love is susceptible to so many conditions for it to exist, then how can it be ever-lasting? We all know nothing stays the same way forever . So what is love?

Goodbye DOTA

Today at 2 a.m , 18th July 2007 , DOTA was terminated from my life for good.
It was a tough yet very much needed decision on my part . I also had a good pal to help me along and he's xin hao - he helped me along by using "fire-power" to urge me to do the right thing and later use "ice-cold ice pack" to console me after the deed was done.

Deleting the game of DOTA (which i've been playing for one year avidly now) was a two phase action . 1) Delete WARCRAFT folder 2) EMPTY RECYCLE BIN . When i did 1) , it took me another 5 mins to do 2) . Because , all those emotions, memories and attachment for the game is so huge , its like parting with a way of life - almost a lifestyle by itself. The thing that brought me courage to do 2) is due to a little cut-scene from terminator 2 it goes like this

...
John Connor : is he dead now ? (referring to T-1000)
Terminator : Terminated
John Connor : (phew) it's over now
Terminator : No , there is still one more chip (pointing towards forehead) , and it must be destroyed also
(fast-forward)
John Connor : NO , please dont leave me , please NO
Terminator : I am sorry john i am sorry
John Connor : I ORDER YOU NOT TO GO I ORDER YOU NOT TO GO (with tears)
Terminator : I know now why you cry , but it is something i can never do
...

If a terminator can self-terminate for the sake of mankind (which has nothing to do with him) , then i can terminate dota for the sake of my life and well-being

I suppose the core reason why i quit dota is because i find that it hugely increases my craving , ego and greed . For some unknown reasons, i crave for sex more , crave for recognition more and crave for friendship more. The same goes for the other two attributes.

This may well be the effects of online gaming, as xin hao rightly pointed out , online gaming does not affect us on a conscious level , it attacks on a sub-conscious level. This is the scary part of most things - online gaming is but one of them.

As for myself, i just had faith that dota was ruining my life and if it wasn't why would i give two hecks about deleting it? BECAUSE IT WAS.

Anything that has a tinch of addiction to it cannot be trusted , and how do you know whether you are addicted to it? - try going one week without it and see how it feels. (refers mostly to conventional things - going one week without sleep is of course not applicable in this case)
For those who do not understand what i mean, take milk for an example, can you go one week without drinking milk? i suppose most would say yes

Then why can't you go one week without [insert whatever]? its because you are addicted!
Try it.. dont believe me. Go and try. think u're not hooked on TV? try one week without TV , how does it feel.

To sum it up, i guess a quotation fits best

"Men have to do things the right way - not their own way"

I did what i have and had to do. Have you?