No shame fessing up

"I can't stand him. He is Mr Know-It-All. He pretends to omniscience," Anh sounded irked.

While it's bad form not to know what we clearly should, it's no shame fessing up to not knowing something we'd like to know or need to know.

Play the cards and play them well

Don't miss what is happening now while waiting for something else. There is nothing fundamentally wrogn with our lives or our present challenges.

I always try to play the cards I am dealt, and play them well, until I get dealt a new hand.

I live each day on purpose, one small step at a time. We never know what surprises await us.

Parent of determination

ACE achieved 88% in his Maths prelims...finally beating his long time buddy's score of 82%

Commitment is the parent of determination and determination is the one quality I find common in the lives of all successful people.

OW and UP

The lacquerware I bought from HCMC were a great bargain. A jewellery box for only 80,000dong. But wifey just found out that it's grossly full of defects

Most of us have been overseas to buy some souvenir, only to discover that while it's cheap, the workmanship is poor. Only quality people produce quality work.

When it comes to salary, an overwhelming majority of people feel they are overworked and unperpaid: OW and UP

And since many people feel they should be paid much more, the tendency is to produce Minimum Acceptable instead of aiming for Maximum Possible. But quality people give a quality performance. That's what I do. Count on me for quality. No discounts. Regardless of the actual pay.

Don't be a negatron

"This cannot be done. We don't do paper RFP," Elle snapped.

We all know negative people - or "negatrons"- in the workplace. They're the people who are contritutionally incapable of saying something positive or complimentary to any suggestions. You could walk into their office with the cure for cancer and the 1st words out of their mouth would be, "Let me explain why that won't work." This is pure unadulaterated negativity under the guise of being helpful.

If you fall into that category, you would be wise to monitor your statements....because it turns people off. This is a serious flaw

After tradeshow backlog

My colleagues from Jakarta and Melbourne came to say g'day. They are in town for our Marketplace tradeshow event on Thursday.

When we return home from trade shows, there's all the things that are stacked up while we were at the show. We, sales leaders who attend trade shows are often overwhelmed upon returning home and focus on daily activities to most avoid the show follow-up.

On the contrary, I ensure I schedule time after the show to follow-up, refusing to let other activities degrade my show investment.

from left: Dom, Dennis, Kim

Expressing strengths

"Britain's top officer said he expected around 3,000 people to face the courts over the riots,"the Economic Times reported.

Restlessness grows like a cancer. It can choke the life out of us, in the form of workaholism, divorce, throwing in the towel and quitting our jobs. I see far too many people out there: working in jobs they hate, often because they are operating out of their weaknesses, rather than expressing their strengths.

To me, finding out who I am, and being able to express my gifts and talents, has been a most beautiful and fulfilling experience

Love dialects

"The London 2012 Olympic football is to be called The Albert because of cockney rhyming slang - with Albert Hall (a London landmark) meaning ball" reported The Guardian.

I now realise that the way we feel loved is usually the same way we express love.

A person from Singapore speaks the same Chinese as a person from Malaysia, but their dialects can be so drastically different that they may not understand each other at all! Therefore a woman can try to convey her love to a guy by doing things for him, but because his "dialect" with which he communicates love is different (perhaps his is by tell her how much he loves her), these deeds she does for him didn't seem important to him, and she feels unloved.

Forgive and move on

"I'm sorry Paul. I really am," Sharifah apologised profusely in her sms.

Forgiveness, I have since learned, is a gift that means more to the giver than it does to the receiver. When we deal with someone else who has offended us.....forgive the offender and move on.

The new Rich

The TODAY ON SUNDAY paper ran this headline today, "Hey, Big Spender". The story is about the people who chalk up over $50,000 a month on their credit cards - and whom the banks are all out to woo.

What separates the New Rich from those who save it all for the end only to find that life has passed them by?

Here's what I have recently learned: Being financially rich and having the ability to live like a millionaire are fundamentally two very different things.

Putting effort into love, even while it is good

"Showing love in every way. That is one of my criteria for a boyfriend," Sue Chie said blankly.

Making the effort when things go wrong is common and quite expected, but, putting effort into love even while it is good builds it up for the future.

Parental love

"I can't seem to think of any memorable childhood moments with my father," KC admitted.

I have come to recognise that although many people love their parents and have good relationships with them, others do not. But I think everyone wants to. Every child, whether young or old, wants to love and be love by his/her parents.

Dissatisfaction is motive to progress

"I have been a GSA with MI for 20 years," Charles declared.

Dissatisfaction sometimes can be the motive of true progress. Dissatisfied with the pen, man invented the printer; dissatisfied with the chariot and locomotive, he invented the airplane.

Past laurels must be put aside as we press forwasrd. To stay complacently where we are is to be a caterpillar that stay without enjoying the glorious life of a butterfly.