Appreciate those you love and those who love you...today!

A husband, his wife and six-year old son were saying their night prayers before bed one night when the son ended his prayers with: "Goodbye Colonel." Colonel was their pet Alsatian. The next morning, Colonel was run over by a cab. A few days later, their son ended his prayers with: "Goodbye Grampa." The next day, Grampa slipped in the bath, knocked his head on the sink and died. Months passed and one fine day, the son ended his paryers with: "Goodbye Aunt Marjorie". They were relieved. Aunt Marjorie was only 35 and fit as a fiddle. To their dismay, the next day, Aunt Marjorie was ironing clothes and got electrocuted and died. Soon after, the son ended his prayers with: "Goodbye, dad." The father couldn't sleep a wink all night. The next day, he played it safe and didn't dared drive to work. He skipped lunch and stayed in the safety of his office. By 6pm, he was weak, and a nervous wreck. When he finally staggered home, he was shocked to see his wife distraught. "What's the matter?" he gasped. His wife retorted: "You brother Kenneth dropped in this morning and right before my eyes, he had a heart attack and dropped dead."

On a more serious note, the MD of a top supporting client was playing golf when he dropped dead a couple of weekends ago at the 16th hole. he was at the pinnacle of his life and was in his 40's. Just two days ago, news came to me that a dear old friend, whose company and humbleness I treasure, had died of dengue in JB. he, too was in his 40's and the zenith of his life.

Herein lies a lesson in life. Today I will hug and kiss the special ones in my life, tomorrow they will be gone and so will I. Today I will help my son with his shoe laces; tomorrow he will no longer ask for my help. Today he needs me to hold his hands across the street, tomorrow he will not walk beside me. Appreciate, love and express your love to those you love and those who loves you - today. Tomorrow will be too late.

Building a Championship Team

"Paul, Command a Great Ship!", Captain D. Michael Abrashoff, former commander of USS Benfold and author of It's Your Ship authographed into the inside cover of my book. How many coaches in EPL spend time fantasising how wonderful it would be if they could replace their entire team with Sir Alex's EPL and Champion League's winning team? In sports, it is done through buying and selling players; in business it is done through recruiting and selecting and motivating productive people. The chemistry that exists between leader and team, as well as among the team members themselves, will strongly impact whether a company's goals will be achieved. During the recent Mid Year Performance review, we spent a full day doing experiential teambuilding activities, so that, as a wolf pack is led by the Alpha male, each wolf will assume his/her share of responsibility for the welfare of the pack as they travel in search of their prey. What a gorgeous sight!

Being happy in life and work

Many of us become different people in order to please others - our family, our boss. All these while the gentle whisper inside us asks the questions: "Am I missing anything in my life that's important to me?" "Am I living a balanced life?" "What are the important elements in my life that deserve more time?" Recently a couple of cherished family outings....all three of us......turned out to be the best of times.

Why I start blogging

I am a Blogger.......finally. Switching from marketing and filling up hotel rooms and golf courses, sourcing for distressed hotels to buy, developing hospitality business models and concepts, identifying new revenue streams to blogging was no mental torture to me. And far be it for me to be the dumb black crappie fish (pronounced "craw-pea") and allow the hens to get away with it? Haven't you heard? The black crappie lays 60,000 eggs; the humble hen lays one. But eh black crappie does not cackle, to tell you what she's done, and so we scorn the black crappie, while the humble hen we prize. Which just indicates to me, it pays to blog.